Table Topics Contest 2015

The meeting opened on time with a warm welcome to our guests. To Louise, Ian, Helen, Robyn and Nick, welcome, and I hope you enjoyed the contest and our two set speeches. Netta read out the club's mission statement, then it was straight into the Tables Topics Contest with Dee at the helm.

I wish I could tell you about all the contestants' speeches and how deftly they handled the topic, but being the second to last contestant, I missed the majority of them. The topic was along the lines of "If you could be younger again, what age would that be and why?"

The following members participated in the contest and wowed, entertained and made the audience laugh:

• James
• Chris
• Johno
• Craig
• Sarah Lee
• Amy
• Alastair
• Wayne

With the contest over, Chris introduced General Evaluator Wayne and his team Craig (Grammarian) and Alastair & Steve (Timekeepers).

New member Rachael, gave us a great deal of insight into who she is and where she has been. It was a confidently presented ice-breaker speech. Nick, in his speech, introduced the concept of externalities; the positive and negative consequences people can experience as a result of a commercial activity. It was a really interesting speech that used forestry to explain the concept.

Nick

Paul and Amy warmly introduced and evaluated Rachel and Nicks speeches respectively. There were plenty of commendations and recommendations for both Rachel and Nick to take on board.

Amy

Peter delivered an educational on humour, with plenty of examples on how we can go about incorporating humour into our speeches. Of course, it's the Humorous Speech Contest coming up at the next meeting, so this educational proved to be just what we needed.

Peter

Chris conducted a short business session with the main segment being an explanation of the subs by Craig. While the subs remained the same, the discount was reduced thanks to an externality called the exchange rate.

Wayne provided feedback to those who had not received any and Alastair told us how long we all took. Craig commented on the usage of his word of the night. Being so long since the meeting, all I can recall is that it was quite a big word!

Dee presented the placegetters. Congratulations go to:

1. Amy
2. Craig, and
3. Wayne

With a set of glowing comments from our guests and judges, the meeting closed pretty much on time.

Chris