Munificent Weather

Hot on the heals of the Division Conference was our regular club meeting chaired by Peter. In his relaxed, yet capable style, Peter opened the meeting and welcomed guests, Dot, Esther, Heather and Andy.  Apologies were received from James, Paul and Mengying.

The word of the evening was chosen by grammarian Amy – "munificent" and Amy warned us not to confuse this with the word magnificent! While a most unusual word, it did manage to get utilised and within the correct context.

Sarah introduced Table Topics and got the participants doing a weather presentation for television! The whiteboard was made available a home-adapted pointer to help highlight locations. With a slight twist, each person had to incorporate a pre-determined metrological term e.g. vortex tornado, cumulus cloud etc. While one would have thought this should be a straightforward TT, most participants were eager to see the green light. Emma took the "best" presentation, having introduced her topic with the weather music theme, and then talking about the monsoon – soon coming.

Sarah did a lovely wrap-up, thanking all participants for their participation and stated that even Dan Corbett would have been proud of our efforts.

The two speeches given tonight, were both Ice Breakers by Daniel and Jane. This is always a well received item on the Agenda as it provides our new members an opportunity to introduce themselves and give us their background.  From the intrigue of Daniel's title – I am so sorry. Daniel went on to speak of the time constraints he had in writing this, his first speech. In doing so, Daniel highlighted all of the activities he partook in during the week – all of which somehow took precedence over the assignment. The evaluation was capably handled by Craig (the recent winner of the Division D Evaluation Contest), with excellent feedback.

Next, Jane titled her speech – Me. Despite the title, Jane managed to pack some wonderful aspects of her life, her capabilities and aspirations into her speech. Great use of the theme "mother" and the mother visual aid.  It is so uncommon to see an Ice Breaker be given so confidently, and I feel Jane will continue to build on such a high standard. Another excellent evaluation was given by Emma, with Emma opening with the unusual term "you blitzed it!".

Two great speeches, two great evaluations which made picking the best of so difficult. Daniel nosed out Jane, by two whiskers of a guitar string; with Craig edging out Emma.

Another great Educational session was run by Steve on the topic "elevator speech". In essence - a short (less than 60 seconds) where one has an opportunity to quickly grab the attention of the listener, and sell a succinct message relating to your capabilities and aspirations.  Great tips were given ensuring the message was being delivered in a confident and positive message. Steve left ample time to answer any questions, to which a great example was demonstrated when Steve was asked by Ashley about "his" elevator speech.

Kate, our VP Membership, inducted Delan, who is our latest member. Delan has been a regular guest and has now taken up the challenge of being a Toastmasters member. We look forward to hearing his Ice Breaker at the next meeting.

Christine provided a summary of the Division D Contest (clubs from the Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, Gisborne, Napier-Hastings catchment) held on the weekend. The highlight of the day, was the winning by our two Napier Club members, Craig and Amy, who won their respective contests. Craig provided a very thoughtful evaluation utilising the CRC formula on what proved to be a thought provoking speech – the scourge of our society, the drug P.

The calibre of entrants in the International Speech Contest was very high, and the speeches were all well delivered, had a strong message and any Toastmaster would of be proud of. Of note was a former NZ winner and World Champion, Kingi Biddle, however, this did not deter Amy, who delivered a very impassioned speech relating to her fairy god mother aka her grandmother. With a title of Join the Dots, Amy was a well-deserved winner and now represents our Division at the District (NZ) finals in Wellington (12 – 14 May).

Another great Toastmaster evening, with Peter asking guests to comment.