What Motivates You to Get Out of Bed?

The Table Topics contest, of course!!

With a very full programme on the agenda, Toastmaster Amy welcomed our esteemed visiting judges from Te Pania and Hastings clubs, new members Sally and Fiona and guest Rob. Our Sergeant at Arms, Graham, read the Mission Statement as directed, in a “quick and sassy” manner, before Amy asked Sarah to introduce her well-chosen topic for the Table Topics contest: “What motivates you to get out of bed each day?”

Graeme - Surprised at what motivates people to get out of bed.

Competing speakers were Emma, Nick, Amy, Craig, Peter, Sally, Mona and Ashley. It was impressive to see our newest members stand up and enter the contest; this attitude certainly bodes well for their speaking careers!

In her well-structured Table Topic speech, Emma told us about her wonderful work team, saying it’s the people in her life who are her motivating factor. Nick repeated the question which is a good way to gain thinking time. He wove clever word pictures and humour into his take on the topic. Amy began by greeting the audience, a good technique which gave her time to think, before telling us frankly that the need to work is a prime motivating factor for her getting out of bed. She made good use of pauses, vocal variety and summarised the main points to close her speech. In his conversational style, Craig spoke about the effect of recent routine changes in his life on his motivation to get out of bed, expanding on the topic with examples, incorporating a quote and the use of humour.

Peter acknowledged the audience, grabbing our attention with a surprise start. He used a story telling technique, working it around to incorporate the topic. Sally drew on her own experiences, weaving her background and interests into the topic. This is always a valuable technique in Table Topics. Mona showed good awareness of her audience, greeting us at the start and thanking us at the end of her speech. She listed a wide variety of factors which motivate her to get out of bed each day, which included her boys, sunshine and new challenges. Ashley also acknowledged his audience, building up to his topic by hypothesising on other people’s motivating factors before confessing that it is not his own will but his wife’s ambition that gets him moving each day. He finished with an open invitation to anyone who wished to take on his role, so he could enjoy a slower pace of life!

What an enjoyable contest, with a marvellous range of different approaches and personal speaking styles in evidence! It’s great to see our members responding to evaluations given in the Table Topics section of our meetings by using so many speaking techniques which are identified as effective.

Following our break, Amy again took the floor, congratulating Sarah on running a well-timed competition. After apologies were given and accepted, General Evaluator Craig explained his role for the benefit of guests and new members and introduced his team; Timekeeper Kate and Grammarian Robyn, who introduced their roles.

Robyn with the word for the night - Alacrity

Our word of the day, “alacrity” was a fitting tribute to the brisk and cheerful readiness with which our Table Topics contestants responded to the challenges of the contest.

Emma warmly introduced Speech One, given by Rachael, with her speech entitled “Pull my Finger”. Emma stated Rachael’s objectives for Competent Communicator Project 4 and quoted Rachael’s personal objective: to be “the best like no one ever was” at playing practical jokes. If the tales Rachael told us of her exploits as a prankster are any indication, she must be well along the track to success! Rachael’s speech showed great use of humour, enhanced by juicy descriptive language and alliteration.

Speech Two, Ashley’s Icebreaker speech from Competent Communicator Project 1, was enthusiastically introduced by Nick. Nick advised us of the speech objectives before praising Ashley’s debut performance in the Table Topics contest and assuring the audience that on the strength of this, we were surely in for a treat.

Ashley with the Best Speaker Award for his Icebreaker

Nick’s hunch proved correct. A strong opening in his speech “Who?” saw Ashley set the scene for us by recalling pop culture icons from the year 1987, expanding on this to invoke memories of what was happening in his life at that time. Ashley’s use of ironic humour was a highlight, as was his conclusion with relevant quotes from three great philosophers, including Garfield the Cat.

Peter gave an entertaining Educational presentation on the rules and some useful techniques for the upcoming Humorous Speech Contest. Although going by the rules alone, Peter realised it is “technically possible to win this without making anybody laugh”, he assured us that this would certainly contradict the spirit of the contest. After going over the technicalities of the contest, Peter showed us how easy it is to find a suitable speech topic in the humour in everyday situations, demonstrating this with his “dilemma of the supermarket.”

Peter left us with a comprehensive handout containing an example and some useful hints, along with the judging criteria. One of our guest judges volunteered the helpful advice that although the speech is set at 5-7 minutes long, writing a 5 minute speech would allow time for the audience to laugh without the speaker going over time.

In the Business Session, Craig reported back on the recent Awards dinner and congratulated our award recipients. As Nick had been absent from the dinner, Craig presented him with his award, for Most Improved Speaker. Craig invited Kate to tell us about the club Facebook page she’s recently set up. Craig regretfully announced that our former president Chris has decided to take a break from Toastmasters. We all value the extensive work Chris has put into the club and we’ll miss him at our meetings. Craig also gave a warm welcome to our new members Sally and Fiona, saying “new blood is the lifeblood of our club”.

Peter enthusiastically introduced Sarah and advised the audience of the objectives Sarah was working to in her presentation of Project 4 from the Advanced Communicator manual. Sarah’s speech “The Fall” was based on the experience of being winded, but there was a great deal more to it than that! An experienced speaker, Sarah cleverly drew her audience in, holding our attention and engaging our emotional responses.

Speech evaluations came next and all speakers were commended by their evaluators on having met their project objectives. Emma commended Rachael on her clear purpose, her storytelling skill, the use of vivid examples we could all relate to, great speech structure and clever use of imagery. She urged Rachael to trust herself to rely less on her notes and recommended that she experiment further with rhetoric tools.

Nick was delighted to announce that Ashley’s speech “lived up to the hype that I gave it”. He praised Ashley’s use of humour, clear structure and his use of a variety of anecdotes, examples and snippets of different timeframes, which kept the audience engaged. Nick commended Ashley on the “trifecta of quotes” with which he concluded his speech. He recommended that Ashley slow down the pace and elaborate further on certain key points, rather than trying to fit in too much information and advised him to make use of pauses to enhance effect

Peter commended Sarah on her very effective opening, use of pause, humour and the surprise twist at the end of her speech. He commented on her great use of eye contact and expression of varied emotions, which engaged the audience. Peter demonstrated how Sarah could have built attention and enhanced her speech even further with strong body language and expression in the opening sentence and recommended her to try to avoid the use of notes.

Sarah announced the Table Topics contest winners as follows:

• 1st - Ashley MacDonald 
• 2nd - Emma George 
• 3rd  - Amy Edwards 

Fellow contestants Mona, Sally, Peter, Nick, Emma and Amy watch on as Ashley receives his award.

The Table Topics Winners - Emma (2nd), Ashley (1st), and Amy (3rd)

Craig gave the General Evaluator’s report, thanking the visiting judges, commending Toastmaster Amy on her warm and inviting introduction, creating smooth transitions between items and her lively, enthusiastic manner. He commended the evaluators who all gave good commendations. Craig suggested that when introducing a speaker, evaluators balance personal information about the speaker with giving the speech objectives and he reminded us why we need to give evaluations in the third-person, rather than addressing them to the speaker directly.

Kate, whose role this evening was very busy, gave a competent and conscientious Timekeeper’s report. Robyn gave the Grammarian’s report, identifying some excellent examples of language used, reminding speakers how to pronounce the tricky word “alacrity” and encouraging speakers to avoid words which may potentially be seen as objectionable, in favour of challenging ourselves to find alternatives.

Toastmaster Amy presented the evening’s awards as follows:

• Best Evaluator - Emma George 
• Best Speaker - Ashley MacDonald 
• Best Contribution - Sarah Hall 

When invited by Amy to give feedback, our guest, Rob, praised the good, positive environment and said that hopefully he will be back. We hope so too!


Meeting closed at 9.20pm