Bromance, water quality and just over 50 days to Christmas

A great night transpired with all of the above was in store for the evening. The meeting was opened on time by Toastmasters Sarah, who then efficiently handled apologies (of which there were six; Steve, Christine, Emma, Rachael, Paul and Amy), together with some small amendments to the programme. Sarah had also conveniently introduced her favourites or is that her favourite favourites – little chocolate bars, which was a really nice touch to the evening.

Our Grammarian, Fiona introduced the word of the evening - "bantering" and invited all to use.


Table Topics was introduced by Ian, who highlighted Christmas was not too far away and to alleviate the pressure of such a wonderful event, certain aspects should be given consideration now. Sarah liked her Xmas tree topic and even produced a photo on her phone as being dressed up as one. All other members contributed meaningful views on the vast range of topics ranging from a virtual Santa, do we send real Xmas cards, decorate the outside of our house with lights, the good old secret Santa gifts, the long shopping hours right through to the discounted sale items on Boxing Day.

Sarah - On dressing up as a Christmas tree (!)

The first of our prepared speeches was given by Peter, from the Advanced manual. While the topic was about water quality, the speech also challenged us to think about our own role both around water, conservation and also the bigger environmental picture. A speech from the heart and a message for everyone.

Peter - Water usage and beyond

Our next speaker, Ashley, talked of a weekend away with the lads – a bromance, which seemed as necessary as the high quality of drinking water that Peter talked about. While some of the content was tongue in cheek, Ashley kept this façade going for a solid 10 minutes. Sadly, our timer, Kate did show some leniency in using the bell, even though the delivery and content kept us all amused. A definite candidate for the Humorous Speech contest.

Ashley - Importance of bromance

With the upcoming Evaluation Contest, we were honoured to have Graeme present an inspiring educational on what to do, and of course, what not do. As many of you know, Graeme has won this contest not just at Club level, but also Area, then Division and yes, even District. Graeme really knew his topic, was passionate about the topic and challenged everyone to give it a go. Some handy notes around the process and also the judging criteria were circulated.

As part of the Business Session, President Craig outlined a ‘change’ in the way we determine the Best of…..awards each evening. The Table Topics evaluator will choose the winner for Table Topics, the General Evaluator will determine the best speaker and best evaluator, with the best contribution still being selected by the Toastmaster of the evening.

And it was Craig, as the Table Topics evaluator, who had the first crack at doing this. As usual, Craig used the CRC format, which provided some useful observations to all the speakers. The best Table Topic went to Ashley who got a little excited about sending a traditional Christmas card and implored all of the audience to ‘get with it’ and send an email or virtual card. No wonder NZ Post are going broke, then again it compensates by saving the environment and reduce the use of an envelope, getting your tongue all sticky from licking the stamp and no cardboard.

Likewise, a very competent evaluation was provided by the champion himself, Graeme, about Peter’s water quality presentation. James also provided pertinent feedback to Ashley, especially around the use of gestures and to be more animated. The evening was rounded off with Ian providing a general evaluation. First call was made on Fiona - one of our newer members - who not only highlighted the use of the word "bantering", but also gave a nice summation of pertinent words / word pictures by the various presenters. A great effort.

Fiona - Delivering a very comprehensive Grammarian report

Kate was called upon to read out the times and most importantly we were going to finish within our allotted time. Ashley took out the quinella by winning the Best Speaker, with James edging out Graeme by a nose. A very good evening helped by good chairmanship by Sarah and great contributions from all of the attendees.

Awards presented:  

Best Table Topic : Ashley

Best Speaker : Ashley

Best Evaluator : James

Best Contribution : James and Graeme