Clubbable

This was Napier Toastmaster’s meeting on 11th August with an excellent turnout of members and a Guest, James for the second time. The word of the day was ‘clubbable’ (meaning suitable to join a Club) and the members at Napier Toastmasters certainly are suitable!

Clubbable

Toastmaster of the night was Graeme, and he produced an excellent, clear programme with just the right amount of information required. He ran the evening extremely well (as we would expect from one who has reasonably long experience) and started and finished on time, even though he only allowed us 8 minutes for the cuppa break! Excellent comments between items allowed the meeting to flow smoothly and kept everybody’s interest.

The meeting commenced with Christine reading the Club’s Mission Statement in an exemplary manner and this followed with an explanation of the role of the General Evaluator. Tony, assisted by Timekeeper, Colin and Grammarian Sarah L, who gave us that word ‘clubbable’.

We moved right into Table Topics (an impromptu speaking exercise) led by Steve who gave us topics, being one line sayings/quotes, which the speaker was required to disseminate in 60-90 seconds. Steve started with what some may call a controversial quote “that a women’s brain is different to a man’s brain because it is always changing!!”.

Amy was the first speaker with ‘People only see what they are prepared to see.’ She told us in no uncertain terms that we all can turn a blind eye to things  we do not agree with and actually started the topic with her eyes closed and then removed her glasses. The word ‘insensitised’ was well used in some folks attitude to things in life.

Rebecca, had ‘Anger is like a thorn in the heart’ and commented on people losing their temper and doing things they may later regret, often effecting people around them.

‘Happiness walks on busy feet’ was an excellent topic for Kim, who was able to place it alongside Hohepa’s  Ho-Down last Saturday night when the residents had dancing feet and were obviously joyfully happy!

Christine spoke to ‘change your thoughts and you change the world’ a very good answer with the idea of changing your own actions first and hoping that it will have a ripple effect on those around you and who knows? The World!

Graeme had ‘you cannot be everything to everyone’. Individuals have different expectations of others and what you get in life is often dictated to by your upbringing. Graeme (says! ) that he cannot cook, because his father just expected the meal to be on the table- times are unfortunately changing!!!(have in fact).

‘To measure the man measure his heart’ a tricky one for Chris, we envisaged hearts being cut out to see what type of man (or lady) was there, callipers and bios were mentioned but in the end we settled on a hearty laugh to keep the topic beating!

Craig was last man up and had ‘No good comes from hurrying’ - well he certainly did not, a long pause to start with, slow speech rate and even some sensible comment about not rushing into something without giving it due consideration.

Great topics Steve, which everyone was able to speak to-which is the name of the game!

Speaker 1. Wayne

Fibre-optic Communication: Amy introduced Wayne’s speech from the Advanced Manual “Speaking To Inform”. Wayne adopted the rather difficult task of explaining to ‘us lay people’ the method and reasons for all the fibre-optic cabling being installed, and with the use of some excellent visuals, I believe succeeded in assisting us to understand this. We discussed “Total Internal Reflection” but space prohibits going into detail here (give Wayne a ring!) and found that fibre-optic cabling is smaller and cheaper than the old copper type, so it’s got to be good for you! Well done Wayne, I for one learnt a lot in the limited time available.

Speaker 2. Peter

Beauty of Beast?: This was the title of Peter’s presentation introduced by Ian. From the Advanced “Persuasive Speaking Manual”, this was a presentation which Peter will be utilising in his work to attempt to convince the powers that be that pampas grass is a problem (particularly North of Tutira). Pampas grass is different to the native Toitoi and needs to be controlled or it will take over many wet lands. It was a very interesting presentation and his case was well put. We had visuals to assist us in differing the two, and Peter made a lot of good sense to us ‘lay’ people. I say control the stuff, before it controls the wetlands. Well done Peter and we wish you success in your endeavours to persuade others.

Speaker 3. Netta

Anti-anti biotics! Kim introduced Netta with a very interesting and persuasive speech about the need for anti-biotics, being prescribed by the Doctor for just about everything from sunburn to a Heart attack! With the constant use of anti-biotics, the human body will be forming a resistance to them and when you really need them, they will be ineffectual. Netta put her case extremely well and told us a relevant story about the Germans in North Africa during World War II and how “an alternative cure” (it’s a smelly subject!) worked for the locals, so it also worked for the Germans. The moral of the story is look for natural cures, cheaper, better for you and often more effective. Excellent presentation Netta and only one to go for your CC!

The Evaluators did a very good job of assisting the speakers with commendations and some very pertinent suggestions for improvement. In Table Topics Kane and Hannah acted as a team in commenting on all the speakers, they had commendations for everyone and were able to offer some advice on suggestions for improvement next time, they also commended the Topic Master, Steve for his choice of topics and the thought provoking session it provided. Well done to both.

Amy stated that Wayne clearly met the objectives of his assignment and was able to suggest that he perhaps utilise some links of the information with individuals, alternative handling of visuals and to critique the content beforehand to better manage the time factor. Wayne did have a lot to cover in his 5/7 minutes.

Ian’s comments for Peter were positive with lots of commendations, particularly in that this presentation was really designed to present to people ‘in the know’, excellent handout given and perhaps the call for action at the end could have been more persuasive.

Kim’s evaluation of Netta’s speech again covered many well deserved commendations with suggestions for better use of the hands and a stronger summary to round out the speech.

Chris gave us an Education session on the Table Topics Contest coming up at the next meeting, and what an excellent presentation this was, particularly the Handout (with Crunchie Bar attached). By far the best handout I have seen in many years for a Contest (and not just because of the bar!) and also a very interesting and informative Educational, which should have EVERYONE giving this Contest a go! No preparation needed, just turn up on the night and treat it like a Table Topic , which is what it is!! Congratulations Chris!

Don’t forget the formulas:

• PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE
• POINT OF VIEW-REASON-EXAMPLE-POINT OF VIEW
• PROS and CONS

Just use one of them!!

President Sarah ran the business session and once again thanked those who made the “Awards Night” possible and a success. Steve, Sarah H, Chris and Craig-well done! And congratulations to the winners who are listed in the last blog! Amy now represents us in the Area Toastmaster of the Year Stakes!

Craig presented another “Best Speaker Trophy” to the Club to replace the one that went missing (but turned up again!) we now have two - what to do??

The evening was wound up by the hard working General Evaluator Tony, who gave an excellent round up of those who had not been evaluated, i.e., the evaluators, toastmaster, grammarian etc. I like the way that Tony concentrated on brief comments for all, without a lot of detailed information, particularly as some evaluators are want to repeat what people have said, not necessary. We all heard it the first time, so it really is 'how they said it' that we are interested in.

Colin gave a succinct timekeeper’s report and rang the bell at least three times during the meeting (no wonder we finished on time!) and Grammarian Sarah L told us who had used the word of the night (remember CLUBBABLE) and some excellent word pictures that she picked up.

Toastmaster Graeme allowed our guest to comment on the meeting and he  (James) wanted to know where to sign!!

• Best Table Topic: Craig
• Best Evaluator: Kim
• Best Speaker: Netta
• Best Contribution: Christine (for doing the extra jobs on the programme that Graeme had assigned for her!)

SO YOU WILL ALL BE ENTERING THE TABLE TOPICS CONTEST NEXT MEETING?  Yes!!

Craig Robinson