The Path to Happiness: Cultivating Joy in Everyday Life was the theme set by Dilshani for our club meeting on Thursday evening the 18th April when 26 members and guests enjoyed another fun night together.
She explained why she had chosen this theme and had two slides to further enforce our understanding of it. Brilliant.
This was further carried through by Leon with his word of the night “joyfully” and in presenting it he was so animated and excited which saw him explain how to use the word in our speeches and his Grammarian’s report at the end of the meeting was a recap of his excitement and we loved it. Well done Leon.
Ben explained the timing lights with aplomb and his succinct report later was appreciated. Spot on for is first time at this role. Oh – he also brought his partner Ash along to enjoy the night with us and it was so nice meeting her.
The Smile story by Sara was really light and a little humorous which went well with the theme.
Um/Ah counter Brenda had a good a short report revealing who did and did not use filler words which is so helpful in keeping us from making silly mistakes when speaking. No Fillers for Kevin ????
Liz as Toastmaster not only pulled the meeting together but found last minute replacements to fill the gaps for those who were not able to come to the meeting and did she do well, yes she did by introducing the speakers and explaining their speech objectives and which pathway they were on plus she gave a short bio about several of the speakers to help us further.
Each speaker had us so interested in their topics and the room was buzzing after they all spoke.
Richard shared his experience visiting 7 Maori Marae and sharing his learnings with us even speaking the language throughout his delivery even becoming quite emotional and his use of Winnie was so good which added to our enjoyment.
Sastha shared his Icebreaker speech and showed no nerves at all in his speech titled “Journey of a Marketeer” This was so interesting, and he shows a lot of promise, and I am looking forward to his next speech.
Bek spoke about his own management style which along with several others in an entertaining look at who he is and how he has learnt to listen before he jumps to express his thoughts about roles others in the workplace do. This was a good lesson for many to think about the feelings of others before we speak or give critique.
Regine gave her best performance yet after returning from a 7 month sabbatical from the club, she was so animated and her vocal variety was spot on as she explained what she does in the workplace and shared helpful tips for all of us in setting goals and ensuring that we achieve them. Brilliant stuff.
Kevin delivered an original story he wrote about Sarah a young woman who had a job and chose to live on the street saving money to buy her first home while being accosted by others and mistaken as unsociable by others. This story was so powerful with lots of unexpected twist and turns and use of props and Kevin showed us how to not only read a story but to live it in his characters. There were so many twists in this story and it had us captivated throughout and the ending was so so unexpected it had many thinking about poor Sarah and the life she led.
The REFRESHMENT Break saw everyone move to the complimentary buffet to mix and mingle for 20 minutes while enjoying all the delicious foods on offer and there was so much of it, so well done everyone.
The meeting was called to order and the speech Evaluators entertained and informed us about their observations of the speakers and their speech delivery in what was an interesting session that I felt everyone benefited from.
The business session was short and sweet and two new members were inducted into the club.
The guests all were given a table topic to speak to and they did and it was so good to see Patrick from the Mt Albert Club again who not only gave a table topic but also evaluated one of the prepared speeches.
The night was another success, and I am looking forward to our next meeting.
