Napier Toastmasters Club, New Zealand: The Lighthouse Keeper

Toastmaster James welcomed everyone, ran through the apologies, agenda changes, and read the mission statement. General Evaluator Peter introduced:

Grammarian Craig who gave us the words Symbolic and Symbol for us to use, and
Timekeeper Ian who explained the lights and bell.

Table topics came around very quickly, and Chris with his not-so-extensive knowledge of TV game shows asked each speaker to describe a show and their involvement:

Steve skilfully dodged the topic of what it's like to win 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire on Millionaire Hotseat' and instead gave us a lesson in financial planning. Why, after all would you leave your financial future to chance!
James described the game of Family Feud after only ever watching one episode.
Netta, with great energy outlined her experience on The Chaser and how she thought it was a 'jack-up' with the chasers always knowing too much about every question.
Amy told us all about the picture she drew for 7 Days, complete with banana guns if I recall correctly.
Ian slid across the floor as Steve Parr used to do back in the days on introducing Wheel of Fortune
Craig told us about how he met Jan on The Dating Game
Graeme explained how he upstaged Bruce Forsyth on The Generation Game
Emma, as we discovered, was a real contestant on the more recent series of 'Wheel of Fortune'. Emma won the prize, much to Jason Gunn's surprise by guessing the word 'Matariki', then telling us why it was such an easy word to figure out; it was the brand on her favourite bottle of wine!

Amy and Netta gave a humorous and informative evaluation of the table topics

Graeme introduced Duncan's icebreaker speech. Duncan outlined his school life, professional life, sporting life, family life and goals. It was an all round and informative introduction to Duncan. Duncan - we all look forward to your next speech.

Ian introduced Amy's winning speech from the Area D2 contest last Friday. "The Lighthouse Keeper". A poignant speech about fear and how to overcome it. It was a personal account along with the epiphany of likening it to the fear of a 'scare attraction', that is, the fear of the unknown when in the dark. It was a great opportunity to repeat and fine tune her speech in time for the Division contest in Rotorua on the 10th of April.

After our tea break, Steve presented an educational on meeting roles and what is expected of members when they are allocated a role.

Steve - Outlining Meeting Roles and Responsibilities

Whether you are unsure of what to do in preparation for a role, when filling the role on the night, or you just want to brush up on what you need to do, please check out Steve's Meeting Roles and Responsibilities pdf. It's an informative summary of the responsibilities of each role.

Graeme gave Duncan a warm evaluation of his icebreaker with commendations on Duncan's word choices, humour and eye contact.

Ian commended Amy on her use of word pictures. It was a well composed evaluation with a great combination of commendations and recommendations relating to the expression of certain words and phrases with more vocal variety for effect.

Chris conducted a small business session, congratulating both Amy and Ian on their Area contest wins. For photos, see the previous blog post.

Peter (General Evaluator) gave friendly feedback to the evaluators and others who were not formally rostered an evaluator.

Peter - General Evaluator

Craig (Grammarian) reminded us of the creative phrases that were used, e.g., "getting on the phone" "funny little gentleman" "bananas are real cooler" "turn the fricken lights on" "whet our appetite"