"GRUMPY GRAND PARENT MEETS WONDER WOMAN"

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.

"THE FEAR OF GOING BUSH IN A RED DRESS!"

Special 2-hour meeting – 28 September 2017

It’s not often Pania Toastmasters has the opportunity and luxury of a 2-hour meeting, so four speakers took full advantage of the extra time today.

Being a lunch-time club with mostly employed and busy members it’s hard to fit in more than two 7-minute speeches in our fifty-minute time frame. Each additional speech means sacrificing other equally important components of a meeting. We hope to provide this opportunity at least twice a year. Not everyone was able to stay for the extra time – hopefully by planning in advance everyone will be able to stay for the whole meeting.

Craig, our Toastmaster demonstrated excellent chairmanship and smoothly slipped in several programme changes to accommodate last minute arrivals without impacting the time scheduling. Slick chairmanship Craig!

After opening with an enthusiastic welcome and correctly following procedure for the taking of apologies, Craig moved on smoothly by introducing and asking Jen to present her Educational speech titled ‘Controlling your fear’.

Jen spoke from personal experience as she described the brain numbing, body incapacitating phenomena that seem to appear in times of threat – especially when asked to speak in public! Her demonstrations of these manifestations were like watching the exorcist all over again! Great acting Jen!!(Or maybe it was real??) She then continued to offer us very practical tips to help us when we feel that fear. These included sniffing something – no not what you were thinking! A gentle aroma in a tube that can be sniffed to calm the nerves, or a spray in the room to create a soothing ambience. Thankyou Jen for an action packed, yet practical educational presentation, sprinkled with humour in the usual Jen way.

Noel then introduced Sandy who mentally took us into the bush with her speech # 4 – Your Body Speaks. Sandy began with a brief role play of her brother humorously checking whether she had correctly chosen what to put in her backpack. She then began to describe her ‘Going Bush’ trip using vivid visual and physical language. Every one there was on that trip with her, especially when Sandy was trying to escape the severe storm - we were all running with her! Very effective body language Sandy!

She was ably evaluated by Noel who stated that recommendations were difficult to find with Sandy’s standard being so high. He did raise a possible difference in interpretation of what ‘Going Bush’ meant to Kiwis but we’ll let that debate simmer in our minds.

Next on the agenda was an advanced speech from Russell ‘Conquering the Cold Call’. Not an easy assignment as this topic is the stuff of nightmares for many - cold callers and those being cold-called alike.

Darryl expertly introduced Russell by reading the introduction for this project speech directly from the manual. This helped us to understand Russell’s specific challenge.

Russell explained there were three parts to his presentation – an explanation of cold calling, a role-play to demonstrate how cold calling can work and lastly wrapping up. After smoothly covering the explanation, Russell invited Graeme to play the part of his prospect in the role play. Quickly going into role, Graeme adopted a suspicious, closed body language pose and made Russell work hard. With Russell’s quieter and softer approach, he eventually broke through Graeme’s defences and achieved an agreement to receive more information. Given that Russell’s product was a Defibrillator, this was never going to be easy! Russell then followed by including some statistics and reiterating the steps to a successful cold call. It’s really good to hear the advanced manuals being used as they certainly expand our knowledge and issue a real challenge – well done Russell (and Graeme!)

Darryl gave an excellent evaluation of Russell’s speech by reiterating the objectives, commending Russell’s response to an unrehearsed role play (that’s really thinking on your feet!) and the statistical detail. Darryl recommended that Russell sell a bit harder by using a stronger use of questions as recommended in the manual – he backed up his comment by giving an example of such as question. He finished by nicely rounding off.

Our last speaker was a motivational speech by Anna, introduced and evaluated by Graeme.  Graeme introduced Anna by clearly stating the objectives of Anna’s speech, followed by a brief personal background, followed by the title ‘Red Dress Thinking’.

Anna explained that in her role as a coach and mentor she often comes across barriers that individuals place in their own way. Speaking from personal experience Anna explained how our experiences can create ‘triggers’ that cause us to choose certain behavioural choices that may not be resourceful. She drew an ‘H’ shaped model on the whiteboard and after acknowledging her sources she explained how we should try to raise our thinking above the bar to be more resourceful and helpful for ourselves. She then gave multiple examples including how she felt and thought dressed in a cardigan as opposed to a special red dress which enabled her to feel very special and empowered. She also spoke about stretching and extending our thinking to achieve change. This was a 15 to 20 minute presentation so congratulations to Anna for sustaining her energy and enthusiasm for that long.

Graeme began his evaluation by asking us to confirm whether Anna’s three objectives had been met and whether she had achieved her call to action. The answer was ‘Yes’! He followed with three recommendations for Anna to be firstly more explicit when introducing unfamiliar terminology, suggesting that a deeper explanation may be needed. Secondly to secure permission to use a model before doing the presentation not during, and lastly to give more clarification around the concept of ‘red dress’ thinking by introducing the concept earlier.

Mike was in charge of Table Topics today and as was expected, had prepared excellent questions based on current affairs. He gave clear, specific instructions and expected exciting, dynamic answers, which were delivered. Not everyone’s ideal subject so well-done Mike for pushing boundaries!

Barbara sincerely gave her balanced opinion of the American National Anthem vs NFL players and teams debate.

Linda was energised by her topic around head injuries in sport and whether more dangerous parts of contact sports should be removed.

Graeme was very firm, passionate, even adamant in his condemnation of the debacle between Donald Trump and North Korean penchant for playing with missiles. Patrick supported MMP elections as he has grown up with them and it works in Holland!

Four excellent, impassioned responses!

Jane evaluated the Table Topics and demonstrated her listening skills by reiterating the content of each topic and commending each speaker. As General Evaluator, I suggested that Jane gives one recommendation to each speaker if possible as this is the way we learn.

Patrick slickly told us that we were a little over time in the first half of our meeting but pulled it back in to be on-time for the second half.

Congratulations everyone for a great meeting! There was an apparent energy in this meeting that was good to see and feel.

As General Evaluator, I found the meeting much more of a challenge – just shows how soft we get with a short meeting, or maybe it’s just me getting soft!

Evaluator of the Day – jointly awarded to Darryl and Graeme

Table Topic of the Day – a highly impassioned Graeme!

Best Speaker of the Day – Sandy

Great meeting and congratulations to everyone on achieving such a high standard!

Laurel – General Evaluator

"FORGOTTEN SOMETHING? WORLD ALZHEIMER'S DAY!"

Jane was our Toastmaster on the day and she did her best to keep the meeting in order by hoovering left of stage when the speakers time was drawing to a close. The extra 5 mins at the beginning was useful as the meeting was kept to time. 

Marc was our first speaker and he took the opportunity to inform us that it was World Alzheimer's day. He spoke of his personal experience especially with his mother, Celiy. His speech was a call to action for those who may observe one of the 10 warning signs he showed us in ourselves or someone close to us that we should have it investigated further. Marc took out speaker of the day.

Our second speaker, Helen, gave us a report about how the open five Hawkes Bay club's demonstration meetings went. There were 17 visitors across both meetings and we will be expecting a visitor to Pania in the near future.

Craig did a stellar job of introducing and evaluating Marc's speech and he took out evaluator of the day.

Anna introduced and evaluated Helen in fine style with vocal variety and enthusiasm. 

Darryl ran the Table topics session and he did a fabulous job picking the appropriate members to have a go at his topics which required an opinion to be expressed. Unfortunately the table topics were cut back to one minute again for this meeting. Sandy was nominated as having the Best Table Topic. 

Stephanie did a fine job of evaluating table topics however I did suggest that she remember to evaluate the delivery and not just the content.

Our timekeeper Mike did a good job although self evaluated his missing of the lights for Marc. He was obviously engrossed in the topic when he assisted the General Evaluator, Kerry, who summed the meeting up very well and had good comments for the Evaluators to follow up on..

My recommendation to the members at the end of the meeting is that we could have a focus on fillers, the ums, ahs, so's and if you are Bill English the ah well's. 

http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/stop-um-uh-filler-words/

Kerry

"AREA TABLE TOPICS & HUMOROUS CONTESTS"

Friday 15th September Area D2 (the five Clubs in the Hawkes Bay) held their Council meeting, Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests at Greenmeadows Community Hall. Approx 30 Toastmasters attended  and I believe enjoyed a entertaining and enthusiastic evening.

Following a brief Council meeting ably run by the Area Director, Christine, during which the Club Presidents gave brief reports on their Club’s activities recently.From those reports it seems that generally Clubs in the Area are doing well and if not currently at Charter strength(20 members) are positive about achieving that status over the next 12 months. Three Clubs are currently sitting comfortably over Charter strength.

'WHY CUBA"

A fabulous sunny day and a meeting to match !!

Kerry was our Toastmaster , she had mailed us all the previous night to say how much she was looking forward to seeing us , so the metaphoric welcome mat had already been rolled out .

'WEDDINGS, FALLS & FUNERALS!"

"Weddings, Falls and Funerals".
Yet another very interesting and entertaining Pania meeting. The wedding theme was set by Toastmaster Helen, as it was her 21st wedding anniversary. The theme was maintained by Graeme with his wedding related Table Topics. 1) Why do women have a shower and men don’t? 2) Why doesn’t the bride marry the best man? 3) The term Maid of Honour is misleading. Answered by Marc, Carol and Craig repectively.

"Victim or Aggressor?"

What an amazing presentation we had from Jen our main speaker today!  She was giving a 5-7 minute impromptu talk and was required to give five speech titles to her evaluator.  Barbara (her evaluator) selected one of them and so began a speech called "Victim or Aggressor". 
Read more.