Pania ToastMaster 5th October Meeting
Patrick started the meeting on time with not a hair on his head flustered
when a mobile phone rang from within the audience, it was as if it never
happened, perhaps I only dream't there was a phone ringing... Um, ah maybe I did,
maybe, um I didn't... Patrick was ably supported by Jen who, as grammarian for
the meeting, informed everyone that she would be counting the um's and ah's that
people would use during the meeting. I hope you are feeling at home reading
this report Jen; ah, a busy person's work is never done.
Anna introduced David and his speech entitled Grumpy Grandparent David. Off
course David had to dig really, really deep to find the passion and anger that
this subject rightly deserved as he touted the position that tertiary education
gets far too much money (!) in the education system; money that really ought to
go to our preschoolers who could and would make much better use of it. Ah, then
we had um...
Craig introduced Linda who clearly has missed her calling and really should
be considering acting as a possible career change. With great use of the stage
- and clearly Linda does listen to and take on board feedback - and great use
of a single tool (a hat), Linda entranced us as she endeavoured to convey her
interpretation of two very interesting young conversationalists about Galgatot
(i.e., Wonder Woman to the uninitiated). Her point, or the point of her
split-personality portrayal in play was perhaps that friendship will always win
out over other less scrupulous and desirable behaviours. You may have got a
different understanding given Linda's great portrayal.
Ah, then there were Table Topics, what a treat! Jane, clearly still focused
on social issues affecting Aotearoa/New Zealand posed some challenging questions
for her victims.. errr, um, I mean fellow Toastmasters: Mike, Ian, Carol &
Darryl. Mike tried to blast his way into our minds demonstrating great volume
control with his voice to convince us that wearing seatbelts was good for us; IT
REALLY IS, YOU KNOW...!. Ian attempted to educate us into the need to be
cautious at railway crossings but after establishing his credibility on the
subject (I was impressed with his credentials!), he went on a little Segue. By
the way did you know that, um... (the name Segway was chosen by the American
Company that invented the physical Segway to mean ' a smooth transition from one
place to another'). Ian certainly did that even if he forgot to return to where
he came from and the actual question; most interesting Ian. Carol left us with
no doubt at all that tourists visiting NZ really should be driver tested before
they are given a hire car and Darryl ever so sensitive to the rights of others
(you go for it Darryl!), he also gave us clear reasons why encouraging personal
responsibility around sugar consumption is the sweetest choice we could possibly
make.
Jane must have been quite worn out thinking up those topics as she had
delegated the Table Master Evaluation task to Graeme who did this job well even
giving Jane excellent feedback. Good delegation Jane, I will keep that idea up
my sleeve for when I really need it and I am sure the day will come.
The evaluators, Anna, Craig & Graeme, all provided great feedback to the
speakers; there was absolutely no doubt about that fact, thereby, making it very
difficult to decide who to award the best evaluator award to in 30 sec's 29, 28,
27.... In the end the best evaluator was that person who provided their
evaluation in a way that was as educational for the audience, and new members as
it was for the speaker. Being such a newbie still, I got a very clear idea of
exactly what was expected from Linda's Interpretative Speech from Craig's
evaluation and for this reason he was awarded best evaluator for the
meeting.
Ian's Segue was achieved so seamlessly that it was clear that if one was
ever get off track one should really speak as clearly and interestingly as Ian
did; we all owe our audiences that, to keep them entertained and Ian did just
that so he was awarded best speaker of the meeting.
Patrick ensured that Russell, as the time keeper for today's meeting had time to
give his report and also this applied to the Grammarian too. When Jen gave her,
um, grammarian report she surprised,
um... everyone who spoke about the number
of um's and ah's each used. But, no representation of the actual figures are
here in this report...because "What happens at Pania Toastmasters stays at
Pania Toastmasters..." 😳
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