Well,
what a fantastic meeting we had last Thursday 8th November.
Lou
was our Toastmaster and she did a wonderful job, kicking the meeting off
slightly early just to keep everyone on their toes. A well-prepared agenda from
one of our toastmasters that always continues to blossom.
Tamara
did a grand job of reading the mission statement, berating her audience for the
lack of applause as she came up to read it. Go you!
Barely
had she got back to her seat and she was called up to introduce our first
speaker, Carol. I loved the way she related Carol’s life to her own, bringing in
some humour before covering the speech objectives.
Then
it was time for Carol’s speech “Naked Wisdom”, which was about an experience in
Fiji finding herself locked out of her room while completely starkers. This was
probably the funniest speech I have heard this year. I firmly believe Carol
would’ve won the recently held Area Contest with it and only hope she enters
next year.
It
was a special moment during the general business section of the meeting, where
Sandy was presented with her Competent Communicator award and Carol was
presented with her Advanced Communicator Bronze award. A wonderful achievement
for them both.
Linda
introduced Trish with another copybook introduction, covering a bit about the
speaker, as well as the objectives; I liked the way she covered them by saying
“these are the things I will be looking for”. At the end of the intro the
correct protocol is Speaker, Title, Title, Speaker.
Trish
outlined what her “How To Train A Puppy” was going to be about, focusing on
research methods. Trish brought in some great comparisons from her experience
with horses and relating them to puppies. We learnt about making rewards
immediate (probably works with humans too!) and I finally understood why women’s
bags are so heavy, or at least in Trish’s case its because they’re full of dog
treats. An entertaining and educational speech from Trish.
Table
topics was next, and our Topic’s Master, Mike had a theme based on Rhyme or
Reason.
Craig
had to explain why Jack and Jill went up the hill and enlightened us to the fire
at the bottom of the hill. Graeme thought that Wee Willie Winkie sounded a bit
rude and was more interested in protecting his sons from such language. Paula
didn’t see too many problems with inter-species relationships with the Owl and
the Pussycat and even compared it to grafting plants. Julie finished off the
session with Old Mother Hubbard, adding a realistic touch by bringing in soup
kitchens. Well dome to all those who took part.
Tamara kicked off the evaluations with a detailed and
through analysis of Carol’s speech. She had a recommendation for her and a great
summary at the end. I mentioned there were a few um’s that she managed to sneak
in during her evaluation.
Linda
also had an excellent evaluation of Trish, providing plenty of feedback and two
recommendations for Trish and the audience to take away.
Sandy
did a superb job of evaluating table topics. I used words like energetic and
honest to describe her feedback. Sandy’s gestures and vocal variety were
excellent; she was animated throughout; something we tend to let slip when
evaluating.
Jen
presented her timekeeper's report in an efficient manner, leaving me (Marc) to round off
the meeting as general evaluator, which I did with a few minutes to spare.
Everyone
decided that lunch was more important than filling up the void with any more
speaking. These lunches just get better and better, not only for the food but
also the conviviality. A huge thanks to those that stay behind to help clean up
– you know who you are and our club is indebted to you.
Best Table Topics; Craig
Best Evaluator; Tamara
Best Speaker; Carol
No comments:
Post a Comment