Chairperson Theresa chose astrological animals and signs of China and the West for the theme of the meeting. Theresa’s enjoyment of chairing the meeting was infectious and she remembered to speak loudly almost all the time.
Beginning at the end, the views of the guests for the evening were instructive.
Alex, a member who has been away for some time, said that he felt inspired again by attending.
Misi felt that he thrived on the energy of the meeting and learned a lot from the content of the prepared speeches
Rui reported that she was surprised by the friendly and stimulating atmosphere with people from so many different countries and cultures
Angela noted what good organisation and structure the evening displayed
Michael reckoned the evening was “cool” and that giving feedback, or evaluation is a great idea.
Inspiration:
Awards were presented to Vikram (Competent Communicator) and to Audrey who also deserves a commendation for an excellent supper.
Kevin’s speech was not simply entertaining but inspirational. “You will be remembered not for your words but for your deeds.”
Friendliness:
This was evident at interval where many interested conversations occurred.
Energy:
“Don’t just break the ice, melt it away.”
Organisation:
Theresa and the reporters kept the meeting in order and on track with her mischevious humour. BAA!
Feedback: Please refer to the evaluations below.
Janice tailored the table topics (where Impromptu 2 minute speeches are the order of the day) to the theme of astrological signs and animals.
Janice asked Michael, a guest, whether he prefers cats or dogs. The dogs won. Cats are boring.
Angela, also a guest, was asked if NASA introduced a thirteenth star sign how would she be affected. Her astute answer was that she would see family and friends in a different light and would “rediscover” people.
Rui, another guest, was asked whether her star sign aligns with her personal characteristics. She eloquently described how they do.
Vikram was asked for his favourite animal. He held the audience’s attention for a while before surprising us by nominating the bushbaby.
Ted got himself off the hook with a tale about a poor millionaire or was it billionaire?
Before that Sam had intrigued into politics by introducing each speaker with what pitch they would make when announcing they were running for President of NZ.
Kevin, who would raise the minimum wage to $26 an hour, gave a moving speech titled, “The Silver Marble”, from the Entertaining Speaker’s manual about the value of generosity.
Hazel, who would introduce a matriarchy along the lines of our Sister Bees, fascinated us with slides about and samples of beeswax in a most informative speech called “So…beeswax”. A fellow called Virgil wrote about bees 2,000 years ago and he would have had competition if Hazel had been living then.
Richard, who would make NZ great again, tried to persuade the audience into “Taking a Risk” through Win- Win negotiating by staging a role play in which he wanted to be taken on as a volunteer worker at Supriya’s imaginary rest home. He was rebuffed, at least in the short term.
Tammy gave an impressive CC3 speech entitled “Peopleology” in which she interwove her knowledge of the people service industry with 3 golden rules and with great humorous anecdotes taken from real life. Her maxim, “ Don’t just break the ice, melt it away”, stuck in the mind.
Listen to these evaluatory comments on the speeches and table topics from the evening’s evaluators Supriya, Andrew, Chris, Mandy, Steve and Rik.
‘Vikram was fluent, fascinating and has the ability to rapidly crystallise ideas in his head.’
‘Rui was fluent, made good eye contact with the audience and drew people in.’
‘Angela had the courage to clarify the ( table topic) question, took time to mould her answer and used her hands expressively.’
‘Kevin set the mood for his speech, painted vivid pictures with his use of words and had the audience engrossed.’
Liz had begun the evening with a Smile Story about the last day of the year at school and a case of mistaken wine tasting.
The reporting team of Rik – the mercurial grammarian, ah-collecting Audrey, light- switching Paurnima and generalist general evaluator Phil kept the meeting on track efficiently and effectively in the friendliest of manners.
Chris and Liz reminded us of an additional meeting next Thursday, 24 November. Please advise whether you will be attending for catering and evaluation purposes. Liz stressed the importance of everyone bringing their Competent Leader manuals along each meeting and to not be shy in asking others to provide written feedback.
