Monday 14th February bought us our first club meeting for 2022. Attended by 17 members and guests. It was great to see two guests returning.
The meeting was a great success. Ably chaired by
Craig who, with his team, had gone to the trouble of decorating the room with
red hearts, 💖 balloons 🎈 and chocolates 🍫 to celebrate Valentines Day.
We enjoyed a full programme with three speeches and two educational presentations on top of the usual Table Topics. Steve was kept busy as the Table Topics presenter and General Evaluator - both roles being ably accomplished..
Table Topics was a selection of questions that proved thoughtful, but easy to answer and encouraged some great responses. Andy spoke to "What made you smile recently?" His answer rolled off smoothly and included information from one of his favourite sources of inspiration. Next up, Joyleen, "What is your happiest memory?" Joyleen recounted the tribulations leading up to her mothers recent 90th birthday. Humorous and something the audience could relate to. Jeremy gave us plenty of insights on what he believed "Defined Success". Lastly Song told us "How she would spend her ideal day" - an insight into her favourite pastimes. Tony gave each speaker valuable feedback in his evaluation with commendations and a recommendation. Well done to all.
Our first Speech was from Joyleen on the benefits of having a mentor, leaving us with no doubt a mentor can be a motivating source of inspiration and encouragement. Full of her appreciation for her TM mentor Ian and how he has helped her progress through her speaking journey.
Next up was Jessie explaining the different styles of communication - Initiative, Supportive, Analytical or Direct. A humorous presentation incorporating examples from her home life and how the different styles result in different communication and results with her husband. Great visual aids helped her humorous explanations.
Our third speaker
Jeremy told us why he joined Toastmasters and his goals for 2022. Refreshing to
hear someone's personal goals and what it means to be able to achieve
them. Each speaker had a different style of presentation that
informed and amused us, while keeping to the objectives of their project.
All three speakers were evaluated using the tried
and tested third party commentary with well deserved commendations and
recommendations for each. Well done to Karen, Roz and Graeme.
With two speech contests at our next meeting - Evaluation and International, we were treated to well researched and presented educationals from Jan and Ian. Both presenters gave us plenty of reasons to take part with a liberal sprinkling of humour to encourage us along. Indications are for a good number of members taking part in each contest. Jan and Ian's message obviously got through 😃:)
Our Grammarian, Karen gave us feedback on the use of
language, filler words - thankfully being very few and her word of the
night, Protégé She had encouraged us to use it
with a French accent which was accomplished with varying degrees of success. A
BIG thank you to Karen for stepping in at the last minute to fill in the
role.
Awards were presented to the Best Speaker - Jessie, Best Evaluator - Roz, Best Table Topics Speaker - Joyleen and Best Meeting Contributor - Ian.
Another very enjoyable meeting setting a
high standard for the rest of the year. Those members unable to make it missed
a great meeting and learning experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment