Deep Lyrics, Dark Tourism and Big Decisions

Greetings fellow Toastmasters and Guests

Welcome back to you all.  Monday night was our first formal meeting back for the year, and what a wonderful fun and informative one it was!   A warm welcome to our guests for the evening Alistair, Wayne and Cody, it was great to have you all along and hope to see you back again next time.

The Toastmaster for the night was Sheryl Mackie who directed the proceedings for the evening.  The meeting got off to a yummy start with some chocolate treats left by our favourite Dentist, Sarah.  The audience was encouraged to participate and test their memory in the reading of the Mission Statement by Steve.

Craig Robinson was our capable General Evaluator, providing an excellent summary of the meeting.  His equally capable team consisted of Netta, who kept us to time assisted by Sarah, and Graeme the Grammarian, who kept an ear out for LOQUACIOUS speakers.

Sarah produced an excellent selection of random and fun subjects for a creative and entertaining Table Topics session.

• Graeme describe the characteristics that make his ideal superhero.
• Sarah Lee highlighted the differences in talking to someone and talking with someone. 
• Jan confessed how she is a “fool” for shoes and handbags in her talk on Fools and their money are easily parted. 
•  James W was a famous rock star explaining the deep lyrics to his latest song.
• Steve explained how to make a pizza – taking us on a surprise history lesson about how a “pizza” originated in Italy out of a social need and was actually a gathering place.
• Ian took us back to his childhood with a story about how he dealt with his unwanted nickname Mr Wrong.
• Craig explained, rather loquaciously, how to modify a snail so it could go faster by feeding it Baked Beans.

Well done Sarah for coming up with such a diverse range of topics and an excellent job of impromptu speaking by all those who took part. Chris and Sarah Lee worked well together in ably evaluating our Table Topic Session.

We were treated to three fantastic speakers.

Amy gave a dramatic and attention grabbing speech on ‘Dark Tourism”.  Amy delivered a high energy and theatrically look at tourism borne out of disasters and adverse events, which included a sample routine from her Napier Prison performance.

Christine showed us there is more to music than just the beat in her speech that examined the meaning behind the lyrics in the song “For My Children”.  I am sure we will all be paying greater attention as we sing along to our favourite songs in future.

Bryce Adams highlighted the various types of decisions we face in life and gave us some insights into a couple of big decisions he has made recently in his speech titled “It’s a hard one”.

 Our speakers were well introduced by James Ward, Danny Mills and Jane Alve respectively, by providing relevant background on each speaker and explaining the speech objectives.  The evaluations that followed were filled with insightful comments, commendations, and recommendations.

 Ian prepared us for the Evaluation Contest to be held at the next meeting with a very informative educational.  Ian stepped us through how the contest will be organised, run and judged and gave us some tips regarding preparation.

 The business session was run by Craig.

• Thanks were given to Bryce for his contribution to the club as Sergant at Arms and he was wished the best for his very busy year ahead as he returns to full time study.  We look forward to seeing Bryce back at the club at some time in the future.
• Thanks were also given to Craig and Jan for their hospitality hosting the superb BBQ function in January.
• Reminder that executive training is this Thursday the 14^th of February, commencing at 7:00 at the Hastings Baptist Lounge, Lyndon Road, Hastings.                          
• Reminder was given that there is an executive meeting at Craig’s place starting at 7:30 on the 18^th February.
• Area Council day is set for the 15^th of March.
• Some members from the Hastings Club will visit us and participate in our meeting on the 25^th March.
• A Spirit of Success certificate was handed to James Ward
• Graeme was seeking Judges for the lunch time meeting at Pania Club.  If you can help get in touch with him.

Awards for the evening were presented as follows:
Best Table Topics: Steve Tutbury
Best Speaker:  Bryce Adams
Best Evaluation: Danny Mills
Best Contribution: Sarah Hall

Well done to all another successful evening, finishing just a whisker over time.

Good luck to all for your preparations for the Evaluation Contest next meeting – 25^th February 2013.  See you all then.

 

Sheryl

VP Ed.