Soaring a Mile High

When our hostess for the evening Christine greeted everyone at the door handing out tasty treats we knew that we we're in for a special night; and our toastmaster for the evening Captain Chris did not disappoint us with a themed evening of in-flight entertainment. Complete with the drone of aircraft noise, Captain Chris wasted no time in taking off with his introduction of his crew for the evening. These being Graeme Valentine as General Evaluator, Sheryl as Grammarian and Steve and Aaron as timekeepers.

Soaring High with Napier Toastmasters

Opening the night's in-flight entertainment was table topics master Craig creating an immediate air of turbulence with his secret list of participants to be invited to speak on their views and experiences on various aspects of flying such as abseiling off Te Mata peak, the fear of flying and having a ticket to fly anywhere in the world. Our visitor Jen from the Pania Toastmasters Club was voted best table topics speaker of the night with her recollection of her overcrowded turbulent plane journey where children were chasing chickens up and down the aisles, closely followed by a barrage of fruit.

Hannah

Our first prepared speech of the evening was from Hannah; completing her 10th speech from the competent communicator manual which completes the series of speeches from this manual and thus entitles Hannah for her first toastmasters award. A speech entitled "A Windy Day" took us on Hannah's gruelling experience of taking part in the Auckland 1/2 Iron Man triathlon. Being cheered on by her dad, her grandma and even the lady at the water station helped Hannah to do what she was beginning to feel was an impossibility for her; motivated by their encouragement she kept putting "one foot in front of the other" and successfully make it across the finish line of her first ever 1/2 Iron man competition. Well Done Hannah!!

Evaluating Hannah's speech Ian gave a perfect critique of compliments and recommendations. I think voicing everyone's opinion, Ian managed to convey how Hannah's speech had inspired us all to battle when the going is tough and keep focused on our goals.

James

James was our second speaker of the evening completing project 3 from the competent communicators manual "get to the point". Complete with a practical demonstration of making a picture frame, James spoke about the sentiment of a gift meaning so much more than the price tag. Relatively new to our club, James is already showing himself to be our DIY guru and so I like many of his other fellow toastmasters eagerly await more handy tips on projects to do around the home.

Amy's evaluation of James' speech hit the nail right on the head when she said he'd engaged his audience from the very start with his wood and velcro being a focal point and the added bonus of his humour throughout his speech made it even more interesting.

Following a quick refreshment break the in-flight educational session by Kim had everyone scribbling down notes from her presentation on planning, preparing and presenting the perfect speech. Kim spoke about the distinct parts of the speech, beginning, middle and end, comparing it to a McD Hamburger, highlighting the importance of ensuring you have included all these parts into your speech to give it meaning and substance which will ensure your audience understand what you're talking about.

Coming to the end of our "in-flight entertainment" Sheryl as grammarian for the evening commented on the great use of words and common phrases throughout the evening speeches; and Graeme as general evaluator spoke the final words of wisdom about tonight's meeting as being "nothing airy fairy about it, it was kept really down to earth".

A fabulous evening of entertaining speeches. Well done to all those who participated

Best Table Topic: Jen
Best Speaker: Hannah
Best Evaluator: Ian
Best Contribution: Kim

Thank you. 

Dee