"DIVE INTO YOUR CLOTHES!"

Meeting report for 28 March 2019.

“What are you wearing and where is everybody?”

With a list of apologies as long as your arm we were faced with an agenda more shuffled than a deck of cards.

Our Toastmaster Paula showed the hallmarks of outstanding leadership, taking the challenge up and assigning tasks with aplomb; even our guests were included, with Israel showing great competence with the timing lights. He also showed what a quick learner he is by deferring a Table Topic, saying he was too busy with the lights!

Sahar and Michael were also back for another look, with all three indicating their willingness to join the club.

Carol introduced Lou, who was presenting a speech from the Competent Communicator manual; Research Your Speech.

Lou had clearly spent some time on this as she spoke about certain clothes in her wardrobe; what they are made of, where they came from and the environmental impact of each. We also learnt which were natural or man-made and also how long they’ll take to breakdown (as opposed to wear out). Probably the most startling fact was on average we throw out about 30kg of clothing per year!

Certainly plenty to think about in a thought provoking and educational speech.

Next on the agenda was a humorous speech by Marc. Graeme introduced him in what only can be described as a mini educational, outlining the importance of bringing humour into your speech as soon as possible, among other things.

Marc’s speech was about a tandem skydive he took in Taupo last year, in what was a trial run for the Division contest in a few weeks’ time. He covered many aspects of it, from the colour of the jumpsuit, through to it all being recorded on video and even including a pirate joke!

It was then time for Table Topics, led by Lou who carried on her theme on clothing.

We found out about Carol’s second-hand clothing exploits, including a pink top picked up in Havelock North and likely to be worn at our meeting next week.

Michael is not a man of many shoes, while his partner Wendy (otherwise known as “Imelda”) manages to pick up the slack.

Sahar gave many of her clothes away to her sisters and has since discovered clothes purchased here at Kmart don’t last as long.

In General Business it was mentioned that the next executive meeting will be delayed a couple of weeks due to a clash with Napier Toastmasters Speech-a-thon, which is this Monday.

Carol then evaluated Lou’s speech, giving her plenty of encouraging feedback and a couple of recommendations as well. I’m a lover of simple language used effectively, and I thought Carol saying something “warms my heart” was a great example of this.

Graeme evaluated Table Topics, his experience coming to the fore with humour, recommendations and thoughtfulness all part of his repertoire.

Israel showed he’s picked up a lot from the meetings he’s already attended by providing a concise timekeepers report. Well done!

This left my General Evaluator's report, during which we held a group evaluation of the humorous speech. I appreciated the valuable feedback on this, as well as everyone’s contributions to the meeting as a whole.

Thanks again to Paula for running an excellent meeting and taking her development in TM up another notch. Another fabulous Pania meeting.