The Ultimate Meeting

What turned out to be another cold winters nightand slight reduction in our members attendance, was in fact the ultimate evening. Due to the late cancellation of our Toastmaster, Steve stepped in and took over the program for the evening.  Other apologies were well handled, including some small changes to the program.  It was at this time, our outgoing President, Craig, acting as Grammarian, then introduced the 'ultimate' word – ultimate.

A change in order to the standard start to the program was to have all speeches first. First up, and completing the 10th speech from the Competent Communicator manual was Graeme, introduced by James. James wasted no time providing some background to Napier's longest standing member, outlined the objectives with the overall objective to inspire your audience. James cautiously introduced the title of Graeme's speech; 'the C word'.  To cap things off, Graeme opened his speech with an apology regarding the content of his speech, stating that he didn't want to offend or upset anyone – intriguing indeed. Graeme gave an emotional and heart wrenching deliver regarding his brother-in-laws brush with cancer, and if that wasn't enough, his own experience. Graeme concluded with the ultimate warning – cover up, and stay out of the sun!

Our second speaker was one of our newer members, Bill. Bill was introduced by Peter Manson with a title of Escape Innovation. As Toastmasters we are all encouraged to use props but on our second speech, Bill had the ultimate audacity to actually use a real prop (propeller), which was at least as tall as Bill. This lead to an intriguing tale of an NZAF exercise in Singapore,  simulating an escape over a 12 hour period. Sadly, Bill was captured and while this may have been an ultimate failure, Bill sought an appeal as his captors located him due to someone else's physical footprints leading to the heavily bush area where Bill was hiding. With all the twists and turns this adventure took us on, Bill then gave spoke about our 'electronic footprint' and some pretty handy tips on how to protect your wallet full of swipe cards from emitting signals e.g. paywave, (by wrapping them in aluminium foil). Even our passports can be placed in protective wallets that an x-ray machine can not penetrate – the ultimate digital protection.

Bill - Literally with his prop

Third up, came another newbie in Karen, with the fascinating title of 'how to change your life in 12 weeks, and become a body builder. Karen, with that lovely English accent outlined how she wanted to provide an attention seeking tale for anyway asking what exciting things have happened in one's life (oops, sorry Peter. Well why not tell them about the highs and lows about taking on Body Building, and the fascinating people involved in the industry.  From the grunters, to the hoodies, to the mirror watching, Karen took us on the ultimate roller coaster ride when she struggle to lift her 5 Kg container of supplement onto the table.  A great speech, with everyone wanting to see the spray tanned lass back for installment two.

Karen - Talking about body building

Time for a nice tea break, and surprisingly we were able to indulge in some hot coffee and tea, with some lovely chocolate mellow puffs – my favourites.

The second half kicked off with Table Topics, introduced by Peter B, who has only been with us for 3 months. Clearly, Peter was not to be out muscled by Karen, and created the theme of being 'the interviewer' and posed those wonderful soul searching questions one gets in an interview situation. Our candidates were Christine, Carol, James and Steve with all handling questions ranging from most difficult decision, to ones greatest challenge. The ultimate candidate to win the interview was James, who had his own Everest to climb – on a bike, cycling 201 km starting at 2.00am in the morning (definitely not kidding).

Neighbour's rabbit came over to congratulate James for his cycling effort

Carol - What she would say to a particular politician

Christine - Handling a challenging situation

Our evaluators were equally up to the high standard set in the speeches.  James noting of Graeme's speech, one could hear a pin drop, such was the delivery with all in anticipation of the outcome of the treatment. Peter M of Bill, noting the opening prop, the controlled delivery with the exceptional twist and great tips when using eCards in the new digital era. Jane, with hood in place, and noting that pulling her buttocks in, while keeping her stomach tight was not enough, yet praising Karen in using a prop, the use of word pictures and gestures  To wrap things up, our interview panel of Daniel and Kerry, aka Table Topics evaluators, provided great feedback to our interviewees. Good all round commendation – recommendation and conclusion.

The Business session was run by Craig, who noted the upcoming Awards Night at Shani's on Monday, 30th July. Also, for Napier TM achieving Select Distinguished by obtaining 7 of the 10 goals. Craig also acknowledged various committee members for their respective contribution to the club.

Christine - Acknowledged for her Treasurer role

Graeme - Acknowledged for his Sergeant-At-Arms role

Jane - Acknowledged for her VP Membership role

Steve - Acknowledged for his VP Education role

As part of the GE feedback, we had new members Kelly and Carolyn, who shared the timekeeping role, provide times for all participants. This meant all attendees had the opportunity to speak, and thus feel part of the program.


While I believe all attendees were ultimate winners on the night, our awards went to James Kan (Best Table Topic), Peter Manson (Best Evaluator) and Graeme Valentine (Best Speaker). Best Contribution Craig.

A great night, the ultimate meeting.