"FEELING WELL?-DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"

HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY/DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM

Julie was our Toastmaster of the day, and she welcomed us all in a professional manner, introducing us to the theme of the meeting:  Bullying – Kindness is one size fits all. Many supported Pink Shirt Day wearing their pink shirt or scarf. Mission statement was read by Carol in her gorgeous pink dress and apologies  tabled and passed.

Julie invited Laurel up to introduce our first speaker Jen. Laurel explained that Jen's speech was to be a touching story told in a story telling way, and that is exactly how Jen's speech was delivered. Her speech was called Do You Know Who I Am. Jen's speech was very personal and emotional  story telling us how, when they lived in Geneva, her son at age 7 was bullied by a boy called Ali at school. Jen demanded to meet Ali’s father hoping to iron out the behaviour of his son. Ali's father said to Jen, do you know who I am and he turned out to be Saddam Hussein’s brother. The bullying of Sam stopped but Ali bullied the other boys instead. Very moving story that brought tears to some eyes in the room.

Laurel evaluated Jen’s speech in a very organised manner. She went through the objectives and gave them all a tick. She made lots of commendations and one recommendation.

Next up was Paula to introduce our second speaker Patrick. Paula explained how Patrick had been doing a journal of his emotions for this speech for the last 2 weeks. This was to monitor his emotional intelligence. She explained what she would be looking for and welcomed Patrick up to present his speech called How Are You Feeling Today.

Patrick talked about how this emotional monitoring gave him new self- awareness. Realising he is very direct in the normal Dutch way which is not the normal Kiwi way and how he needs to make a few minor changes in his directness. He decided his strategy should be listen, digest then act.  What a great speech.

Paula made an excellent evaluation. She went through the objectives and made many commendations and a recommendation about deep breathing.

Next item on the agenda was table topics. Julie welcomed Sandy up to be Table Topics Master. Sandy stayed with the bullying theme and asked the first speaker Sahar What is your Definition of Bullying.  Sahar had no hesitation and got straight into the subject of work place bullying in NZ. She observes that Kiwis are very polite to your face but then criticise behind your back.

Second speaker Carol was asked to Give An Example of Personal Bullying. Carol’s daughter had very recently had first- hand experience with bullying at her school where she bravely stuck up for the victim and took the issue to the principal. Carol was very proud of the way her daughter dealt with the situation.

Third speaker Jenni was asked Where do you think bullying is most prevalent. Jenni told us a very emotional story about being bullied in the work place and what effect it had on her life. She believes bullying is everywhere.

Fourth speaker Anna was asked whether she thought there was good strategies people could draw on for bullying situations. Anna told us 70% of children are bullied at school in some form or other. More physically at primary school and emotionally in secondary school and that there is not enough done to educate children on how to deal with it.

Sandy thanked everyone for their honest personal, emotional answers.

General business was next on the agenda. Patrick told us about the AGM next week and that there would be no table topics. Jen ran through next week’s roster.

Craig evaluated the table topics in the little time that was left. He commended everyone for their excellent answers and awarded best table topics speaker to Jenni.

Israel was time keeper and very efficiently read out the times.

Lou did a very quick General Evaluation and awarded the Best Evaluator to Laurel and Best Speaker to Jen .

Who would’ve believed this was the first time Julie had been toastmaster. She ran a very well organised meeting with a very serious theme. Well done Julie you were a really great Toastmaster.

Don't forget next week's AGM and Election of Officers for the 2019/20 Toastmaster's year!

We also have a shared lunch afterwards.