On the 11th of February 2019 Napier Toastmasters convened to hold an art deco themed night. We saw a wonderful array of garbs, jewels and hats as the team rolled back the years with a stylish fashion display.
Toastmaster Kerry accompanied her fine costume with a gracious introduction to all. She was quick to notice that the club did not have a Table Topics Master in attendance. Like Ashley's word of the day ("conjure"), Amy magically took on this role.
Carol embodied the manners of yesteryear in the first speech of the night. She talked about how we should be grateful of the little things that life gives us. As a true role model of this message, Carol likes to write thank you notes for the chef each time she has a nice meal at a restaurant. We were all left enthused with her message, "make gratitude our attitude."
Layeeq followed with an introspective icebreaker. It was an interestingly written speech where Layeeq confidently presented his journey in life and toastmasters in third person. The speech of the night was reserved for our third and final formal speaker, Ian. Ian quoted Frankin Roosevelt when he said that "it's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder and see no one behind you". Unlike this quote the whole of Napier Toastmasters was behind Ian's clever talk which spoke about leadership styles. At one point he was even transformed into Winston Churchill!
After the scrumptious supper break Kerry gratefully introduced Amy, the think on her feet table topics master. And wow, how deep Amy's mind travels. She delivered ponderous questions such as "what is the difference between falling and being in love?". In response Jan tried to explain how one of the terms would relate to putting your 15 year old dog down. Literally, nobody expected that line – it was a classic comment that won't be forgotten quickly. Other table topic participants included Ashley, Brenda, Wayne, Jariel and Tony (great first table topics Tony and Jariel!). In fact Jariel did so well she took out table topics speech of the night – uber congratulations, you are a natural up there and will be a great new member for our club!
The evaluator speeches followed. Carolyn followed up her beautiful introduction with an energising review that addressed and critiqued how Carol's speech had achieved her set pathway goals. Christine similarly explained Layeeq's pathway programme telling the audience what she would be looking for in his speech and then reviewing how Layeeq had performed according to these goals. Kelly was rated as the best evaluator of the night by his detailed review of goals, material and delivery. Kelly did an excellent job at picking out some of the more poignant quotes, humorous examples and a body language point (eyes closed) where Ian could find a small point of improvement.
Steve delivered a rousing call for international speech contestants in his educational session. He clearly explained the rules of the contest and gave the club an opportunity to ask questions and have points detailed further as required. Jan gave a short business meeting detailing upcoming events for our calendar. Make sure you watch the emails and lock dates into your calendar so you don't miss any exciting nights over the coming weeks!
Later in the night, Karen and Campbell looked like a true double act when they evaluated the high standard table topic speeches. Campbell is a natural comedian when he takes to the stage.
Overall it was another high standard toastmasters night which was well attended. Our club has an enthusiastic and supportive vibe which everyone wants to be part of.
Excellent, well written report on what was another great meeting!
ReplyDelete