Table Topics with a Twist

Under Wayne's chairmanship, the meeting started right on time, included every item on the agenda (there were no surprise changes), and finished just a whisker past 9 p.m. And that is no easy job to achieve, especially with seven table topics, three speeches and an educational session.

There wasn't any frotting tonight (although it was talked about), with everyone keeping at least 20 cm from each other thanks to Graeme's careful seating arrangement.



The agenda for tonights meeting, is perhaps, the most comprehensive agenda we have had - ever, with additional information about the club executive, meeting times, website details, mission statement and the green, yellow and red light timings. Wayne has raised the bar and will definitely be rostered onto the TM role again!

Our guest Tom was welcomed, and apologies for the evening came from Sarah Hall, James Kan, Gayle May and Paul McPherson.

Steve had a busy evening, being both the general evaluator and having to run an educational session on the upcoming table topics contest that will be held on the 26th (next meeting). Steve introduced his assistants:
- Craig who gave us the word of the night 'August', which was used at least 21 times, and
- Dee who explained the lights and when they would be used.

Table Topics

Chris's table topics came with a twist. Not only did the speakers have a topic, they had to incorporate three of four random words thrown at them whilst giving their speeches. For some, these words meant changing the direction of their speech, and this was done seamlessly, while for others, the words became much needed inspiration. Whatever the need, everyone got into the spirit of things and there were plenty of laughs.

Christine started by telling us about her day at the national aquarium and through the course of her speech, effortlessly incorporated the words diver, sleepy and ladder.

With great enthusiasm Peter spent a day in space. He launched into space only to find he was hungry when he got there. Luckily, pizza was on the menu, but there were issues with the space toilet.

Hannah, with every intention to travel, spent the day at the airport having bought tickets. While at the airport Hannah dealt with security, ate cookies and delivered a news flash.

Amy spent her day at the Big Day Out. As you can imagine, this was a well suited topic for Amy who on getting there was also hungry, holding onto her pack and food so it wouldn't get stolen with the expectation of listening to Pavarotti. Amy also introduced her own word frotting which when at a concert means 'gaining pleasure from rubbing up against people'.

Craig told us about his birthday party and that he was ecstatic that it was to be held in Mexico, where he could take lots of baths, because it's dry and dusty.

Wayne spent a day on Masterchef cooking a big leg of horse. Luckily the judges had buckets which they duly used after learning they had eaten horse meat.

David spent his day as a bull fighter. He wasn't too popular with the audience (the bull-fighting audience that is) who showered him with tomatoes. He recommended not to wear glasses when bull fighting and while given the word candle, he made use of the word he heard (handle) which wasn't of much use for fending off a bull.

With much laughter, the table topics speakers and table topics master were evaluated by Graeme and Amy.

Table Topics Evaluators Graeme and Amy

Speeches

All the evaluators included valued background information about their speakers in their introductions; setting the scene for the speeches.

Lana gave her icebreaker speech, the first speech from the Competent Communicator manual; telling us about her strong dislikes (public speaking) and what she likes about New Zealand (population diversity). Having emigrated from Russia 18 years ago, Lana told us how she was invited to dinner and asked to bring a plate. Not only did she take an empty plate, she took knives and forks as well! Lana arrived in New Zealand as a structural engineer and is now an entomologist, managing a company called Bio Bees that breeds bumble bees. Congratulations Lana on your icebreaker speech.

Sheryl gave us a demonstration from one of the advanced manuals. Sheryl's introduction painted the picture of a sumptuous meal and finished with a bang, that is, the actual explosion of a christmas cracker banger. Sheryl brought along the materials required to make christmas crackers and showed us, step-by-step how to make them. We also learned that home made crackers have many more uses other than for christmas. Making christmas crackers is a great activity for children.

Ian focused on vocal variety this evening, with his take on a foreign scammer's accent. The scammer tried hard to persuade Ian that he worked for Microsoft and wanted Ian to hand over his credit card details as a payment for removing non-existant computer viruses from Ian's computer.

The speeches were evaluated by Netta, Sarah and David respectively, with plenty of commendations and recommendations for the speakers to take away with them.

Speech Evaluators: Netta, Sarah and David.    General Evaluator :Steve

Business

Craig covered off six points in the business session, and Chris ran through the roster for the next meeting.

Craig's six points (+1) were:
- 23 members and family attended the Awards Dinner.
- The club gained seven points (out of ten) towards distinguished club.
- The next executive meeting will be held at the usual venue next Monday
- Subs will be advised at the next meeting.
- There is worksop held by Astarte in Waipukurau on Friday evening for anyone to attend.
- Craig and Graeme will be judging the Hastings club's table topics contest this Thursday.
- Graeme, Amy and Steve attended the Junior Secondary Schools speech contest last Wednesday.

General Evaluation

Steve's team delivered a thorough general evaluation of the meeting and it's evaluators, with timings from Dee and comments about grammar from Craig.

Awards

Congratulations go to:
- Lana Bigg for winning the Best Speaker award
- Steve Tutbury for winning the Best Contribution award
- Christine Tutbury for winning the Best Table Topic award, and
- Netta Brown for winning the Best Evaluator award.

Thanks to Craig and Sarah Hall

And of course (as Graeme mentioned), a big thank you goes to Craig and Sarah Hall for organising the Awards dinner held in July. It was a great evening with a lot of fun had by all.