Those damn roads.

Our Toastmaster for the evening Tony guided us through an action packed and fun evening which included two speeches, Table Topics and an Educational.

Our timekeepers for the evening were shared by three members, two of which Greg and Jack being newer members were assisted and guided by Craig.

Brenda as our grammarian gave the word for the evening as "adverse" and all its variations. Her report at the conclusion of the evening revealed it was used nine times along with other interesting phrases spoken by members which she commended as excellently done.

First up we enjoyed Paulo' Ice Breaker Speech titled "Life in Progress". This was Paulo's first speech and he stepped up to the challenge with an entertaining and fully memorized speech to boot! We also got to enjoy a little of his native Brazilian language and his backstory from moving from Brazil to New Zealand with his family.

Ian gave an excellent introduction and Evaluation of Paulo's speech with constructive CRCs to assist him for his next speech which we are all very much looking forward to. Well done Paulo.

Nigel was our second speaker and he choose a topic we can all certainly relate to... "Those Damn Roads". This was Nigel's third speech of which he was applying feedback from his previous speeches into this speech. We all certainly learnt a lot about roading infrastructure in New Zealand and its history and current format. Who knew that the phrase "Potholes" were originally from the Roman days were from cobble stones set in clay of which the people would dig up the stones to get to the clay so they could make pots! Hence the word "Potholes".

Patrick introduced and evaluated Nigel delivering constructive CRCs and an excellent summary. Nigel's confidence certainly was evident as it was clear that he has been working hard in his speech delivery.

Peter was our Table Topics master and had stepped up to the challenge at short notice and did an excellent job. Members were invited up to speak on different scenarios that people may find themselves facing.
Members invited up to speak were Greg, James, Karen, Joyleen, Jack, and Craig.

Evaluating Table Topics was Peter Manson whose evaluation was just as entertaining as the Table Topics themselves. Peter gave great comments in a friendly and humourous were to all our speakers tonight.

In our Business Session led by our Club President Karen, we welcomed guest speaker Anna who shared a bit about herself.

This was followed up by an excellent educational from Graeme on the topic of Mentoring. He enlightened us on his personal experiences when he started as a toastmaster forty odd years ago (when it was woman only - goodness me!) and how it has developed since then. Graeme was encouraging that even being an experienced toastmaster, it is never to late to learn new tricks and was encouraging with the Pathway system and also more importantly, that Mentoring was important and beneficial for all us - regardless of how long we have been a toastmaster.

Craig reminded members that club fees are due by 20th September and encouraged members to avoid paying an extra $10 if they were able to pay by this due date.

The conclusion of the evening well delivered by our Toastmaster for the evening Tony who did an excellent job maintaining a flow and connection to all aspects of the evening which concluded on time at 9pm.

The following awards and certificates were presented to:

Best Speaker: Nigel
Best Evaluator: Ian
Best Table Topics: Karen
Best Contribution: Peter