Three Kings CLub

At Three Kings Toastmasters it’s always a treat to welcome new members and last meeting was no exception. We welcomed Selina to the club and assigned her two mentors to get started on her Toastmasters journey.

Other highlights for the evening included a twist on an unusual fairytale from Debbie; Alex shared an architect’s view of the Auckland unitary plan; Janice exhorted us to try some new ideas when travelling; Ivo inspired us to new heights with his educational speech; Hazel gave us some new insight into the life of an apiarist; and Chris clarified some of the finer points of performing the Chairman, Toastmaster and General Evaluator meeting roles.

Jillian was presented with her Advanced Communicator Silver award (a looong three years in the making!) and Sheela topped the evening off with an entertaining round of Table Topics. It was lovely to see so many guests in attendance and we hope you’ll visit us again next meeting!

What a brilliant variety of speeches we enjoyed at our club contests last night! Our evaluation contest guest speaker Helen brought a smile to our faces with her talent for humourous speaking – the contestants had their work cut out for them finding recommendations for improvement.

Evaluation contest place-getters

1st place – Cliff H
2nd place – Peter R
3rd place – Roger G

After a very educational Table Topics session in which the contestants shared their speech evaluation tips and tricks, the evening continued with the International speech contest. This is the only contest in Toastmasters which progresses beyond the District (national) level, with the NZ winner going on to compete at the World Championship of Public Speaking in Washington, D.C. Could it be someone from Three Kings club?

With so many inspiring speeches it must have been a tough call for the judges – but in the end they voted not just one, but TWO first-time contestants into the top three. Congratulations Debbie and Liam, we’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on your future progress!

International speech contest place-getters

1st place – Debbie W
2nd place – Grant R
3rd place – Liam L

Well done to everybody who competed, and thank you to all those who helped by judging, chairing, timing, vote counting and Sergeant-at-Armsing (or is that Sergeanting-at-Arms?) especially those who joined us from other local clubs. We hope to see you back at Three Kings club again soon!

(Thanks to club member Richie for the photos)