Three Kings CLub

30^th July 2020 Meeting report:

Learnings from Covid 19 was the theme for Three Kings club meeting on the 16^th July and the colourful agenda invited members and guests to sit back and enjoy an evening of interest and fun.

Members and guests were warmly welcomed to the club by Chris W – Saane T & Kevin P.

Liz D: prepared a fabulous array of speakers and duty holders whilst Chris C: and Jeffrey L: pulled it all together, keeping in touch with presenters and getting helpful information from them as to what they are speaking on and a little background about them.

The smile story was delivered by our newest member Bhoopali D: who had us guessing what was coming next and we smiled and laughed as she spilled her story about two men on a hill and betting each other to answer questions from the other. We were held captive as the story unwound. Her first time speaking to the club and it was special.

 

Jeffrey L: introduced each prepared speaker with interesting facts about them and told us what they speech objectives were. He was so professional and demonstrated to us how it can be done.

Speakers:

Jie D: Enthralled us with her speech titled: making masks. Her slide show was brilliant demonstrating how we can make our own protective masks to combat Covid 19. She was matter of fact and informative while the slides supported the presentation. We laughed with amazement at some of the styles and materials used. Her informative speech was timely for all of us.

Riz NM: with her speech motivational strategies titled Challenges not Difficulties” enlightened us with an informative presentation about how we need to look at challenges not difficulties but as obstacles that we can overcome.

We need to recognise the challenge (obstacle) look ahead to what the outcome is that we want and to create a path towards that outcome. A good lesson for all of us surely.

Ivo D’S: told us about “Understanding his Leadership style” You can see he put a lot of effort into this speech with lots of slides and information. He covered his time in various management roles and volunteering roles.

Raymond M: Inspired us once again with his story about contemplating suicide and finding that his true friends were there to help him past that. His speech was to have us think long and hard about the upcoming referendum on assisted suicide. He did not tell us what way to vote but to consider how we do. Get informed information check it out for ourselves and then make a decision that are happy to live with.

 

Break Time: Everyone mixed and mingled around the complimentary buffet of absolutely delicious food, Yummy yummy yummy in a big mans’, world wooo hooo. It all went fantastic. This 20-minute break saw members and guests sharing stories and getting to know each other better.

 

Anji A: Entertained us with a masterful humorous tale titled “Scottish Mothers” We were laughing lots through this speech as we could not only see what Anji was telling us because she used very good exaggerated gestures and vocal variety to engage us and have us right there in each scene as it unfolded.

 

The Evaluators then stepped up to give their observations about how the speakers had presented their speeches and if they met the objectives of their assignments.

Lakshman S: Gave a warm enthusiastic evaluation of the speech by Jie: which had her smiling broadly. He has a way with words that encapsulates the audience and we all grinned widely.

Ratul B: In evaluating Riz NM repeated some of the wonderful words used by Riz and gave helpful and constructive feedback that we could all appreciate. A very good evaluation.

Kevin P: In his evaluation of Ivo D’S covered the amount or preparation done plus the number of slides and shred with us all that we need to limit the amount of words on our slides and used a bigger font when we do.

He also said that a picture speaks a thousand words therefore it is far better to use pictures as the audience then understands the information better and quicker. He liked the eye contact Ivo used but did also mention that this could have been better as Ivo did read from the slide show looking away from the audience. A good lesson for all of us.

Richard W: Delivered a textbook evaluation to Raymond M encouraging him to come to speak more often.

He was very empathetic and understanding of how Raymond’s journey must be. Well done Richard.

Rin NM: Took on a second role for the night delivering her very first evaluation of another speaker and in sharing her observations about Anji’s Speech she felt that she was right there beside Anji in many of the scenes and felt it was a wonderful professionally delivered speech And very very funny.

 

Saane T: Presented the Table Topics leading with Chris C and many guests stood and delivered humorous responses to the topics they were given. Speaking off the cuff can be very daunting or it can be entertaining. It certainly was Entertaining.

The Topic evaluations again were textbook and helpful by Heather R and Sarah with encouraging and helpful hints.

The Business session run by our president Saane saw 3 new members inducted into the club and they were all allocated Mentors. Welcome to the club Bhoopani D – Jacquie L and Tony T. We look forward to hearing their first speeches to the club soon.  Kevin P had completed tonight 25 years with the club and he never missed a meeting and Saane shared more about him to us. He got a standing ovation.

 

The duty holders gave their succinct sometimes humorous reports and we could see that they had listened well and prepared well.

Liz D as Grammarian: had given us “Dire” as the word of the night and it was used often in the first half of the meeting, she noted but it tended to drift way later. She also commented on who used it and other interesting words  or phrases that caught her attention.

 

John D: As the um Ah counter had us smiling and laughing as he read his report saying that he found very few um or ahs or other fillers words and that for his role was a bit dire indeed.

Timer Keeper Les J: Delivered a witty quick short timers report that had us all smiling some more. Les is not short it was his report that was short.

Ted L: The longest serving member in our club was the General Evaluator giving his observations about the duty holders and he kept this brief, witty and pleasantly helpful. His years in Toastmasters shone through tonight.

 

A fun night came to an end with Kevin P inviting the guests to share a few words about their being in our company and all spoke glowingly about their experience with three saying that they will become members.

The meeting came to an end and many of us stayed to chat after all was cleared away.

See you again on the 13^th August. Keep well and stay safe.

Kevin Prohl DTM

 

Meeting report for 18^th June 2020

“Weathering the (Covid) Storm” was the doubly appropriate theme chosen by the Chair, Franziska, for the evening. Doubly, because the rain was bucketing down outside, while inside 16 of us were back to hand- or elbow- shakes and a delicious supper. Notwithstanding the layout was in the form of a ‘U’ with tables spacing us out and all attendees signed in.

What was impressive was that several members were willing to take on a second role for the evening to plug gaps left in the programme.

After the the President’s welcome, first time Chair, Franziska, fired up the meeting with the quote, “ Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path”.

She introduced the Grammarian, Ratul, who had plucked the word ‘Rejuvenate’ out of the stormy skies for the word of the evening; the Ah Counter, Anji, who warned us that she would be listening intently for any type of filler words that we might use during the course of the evening and Sarah, who was taking on the Timekeeper role for the first time, and who gave a clear explanation of how the timing lights would be used.

To get the meeting underway Jeffrey was called up to give a Smile Story in which he identified the two main types of gym user, namely the Grunter and the Mirror Man to good effect.

First-time Toastmaster, Raymond, was called on to introduce the prepared speeches. The first speaker was Richard who reworked the story of Goliath and David in a present day context.

Otako reflected on his journey of taking on leadership roles, and, with stories, identified the qualities that he felt make a person an effective leader.

Next up was Saane who entertained and inspired us as she talked about Success being ‘what you (not others) make it’.  ‘Failure is good.’ ‘Never quit – the courage to continue is what counts.’

Ivo gave a detailed power point presentation concerning the 4 cornerstones of being assertive, illustrated with the description of a situation he had found himself in.

Finally Liz took to her wings (but did not wing it) as she described the life and times of the bar-tailed godwit with some fascinating slides to illustrate the distances these birds cover.

After a chance to recharge the batteries and refuel the tanks at the supper table we reconvened to listen to helpful evaluations of the prepared speeches given by Saane, Sarah, Jeffrey, Jie and Emily respectively.

The club’s Business Session saw the presentation of the committee for the coming year, plus a plan to celebrate the club’s 35^th anniversary at the beginning of August.

The Table Topics Master, Lakshman rejuvenated us with a selection of storm-related sayings to speak to. Members rose to the occasion with gusto. Perhaps the best saying was “The storm is an artist, the rainbow its masterpiece,”  which Raymond nailed, saying that it is only when challenged that you find out what you can do.

The two table topic evaluators, Anji and Kevin, with nearly a half century of Toastmastering between them, gave admirable, concise feedback to each speaker.

Finally, Les had his first go as General Evaluator, covering every aspect of the evening with the interesting observations of someone who has been a Toastmaster for just 5 months, concluding that Franziska and Raymond had excelled in putting together a warm and enjoyable meeting in spite of  the storm.

16th July 2020 Meeting report