"Past (7), Present (Walking) and Future (???)"

You could say that we had a 'humdinger' of a meeting at Napier Toastmasters. Humdinger was the word of the night selected by our Grammarian, Denise and it was used regularly during the evening.

The Toastmaster for the night was Ian and he had prepared an excellent program and ran the meeting professionally and almost to time! There was a good turnout of members and a guest, Jamie, who all took part in the evening's program. We got underway with Table Topics run by Steve and he choose to nominate an occasion to the speaker who then selected from an envelope an emotion which they then spoke about on the occasion selected. All four speakers, Ian, Tony, Ros & Jamie were able to speak well to their emotion on the occasion i.e. All Blacks and Surprise ; Car Accident and Shock; Dentist and Pleasure; and Day in the Office and Joy.

We had a really exciting night due to the fact that two new members were to give their "Ice Breakers" (the first speech they do in the Club). First up was Andy (a previous Toastmaster of some years ago) who spoke about the "Number Seven" introducing himself to us through his life's experiences and what brought him back to Toastmasters. The seven involved mainly seven words that changed his life "I don't want to be with you!". An excellent speech that involved some deep thought but also told us a lot about Andy.

Next prepared speech was presented by Song (a recent member) and this was entitled "Walking". A tremendous speech about the values of walking with good background data to substantiate the benefits of walking. Extremely well presented with great enthusiasm and gestures. Song has come a long way in a short time at the Club and this speech certainly proved it.

The third speech of the night was again an "Ice Breaker" presented by Mondie entitled 'The Past, Present & Future'. Again an excellent first speech to the Club, which while not including much about Mondie's past gave us an insight into his deep thinking, which augers well for future presentations from the Visionary Communication Pathway.

Graeme evaluated Table Topics in his usual efficient and humorous style, which gave the speakers something to think about for their next selection to answer a Table Topic. The three speech Evaluators, Joyleen, Jan & Tony all gave excellent feedback to their respective speakers, which will assist them in their next assignments. This was on the lines of Commending, Recommending and Commending again which is how the speaker can improve for their next speech.

During the Business Session members were reminded that due to Anzac weekend , the next meeting will be 2nd May and then back to 2nd & 4th Mondays (9th & 23rd May). Andy & Mondie were inducted into the Club by V/P Membership Ros, while members were also advised of the upcoming online District 112 Conference where Ros is representing our Division in the Table Topics contest and Jan is presenting an Education session on Podcasts (which just shows the strength of Napier Toastmasters Club!).

General Evaluator, Craig concluded the meeting with his overall Evaluation assisted by the Time Keeper Ros, and Grammarian Denise with her 'humdinger' report.

Best Table Topic; Roslynn

Best Evaluator; Jan

Best Speaker; Song

Best Contribution; Graeme (Sgt@arms and chockie biscuit supper man!!)

NEXT MEETING MONDAY 2nd May (All welcome)