The chairperson Gretel set the scene with some energetic background music to the theme of chocolate. Gretel coped admirably with several adjustments to the roster
Her accomplice for the evening was Toastmaster Clement whose warm introductions referenced each speaker’s preferred style of chocolate.
We soon felt that the evening’s five speakers hardly needed enrichment as they came with powerful stories to tell.
First was Hazel who gave an absorbing historical story about a ship called Triton.
Next was Kylee, a guest speaker, who treated us to an inspiring perspective on life titled “Rewriting Your Future”. She described speaking at Toastmasters as “way out of my comfort zone “. Well done Kylee!
Third off the blocks was Liz whose Pathway’s Icebreaker speech, “To Slide or not to Slide”, was later described as “phenomenal” by the General Evaluator. Liz had the audience spellbound as she described a time in her youth when she was “delirious with fear”. Then she informed us that she repeated the sensation when giving her Icebreaker speech at Toastmasters a few years ago!
One of our promising newer members, Victor, used a well-prepared power point presentation to illustrate different styles of leadership in his Pathways speech.
The final speaker, Kevin, recounted with consummate skill an experience he had when driving to Disneyland.
After a delicious supper Evaluators, Chris, Jie, Faqir, Monique and Richard provided speakers with three minute reflections of what they liked about the respective speeches together with a recommendation for what they might want to challenge themselves with for their next speech.
The General Business session was conducted by our new President Hazel assisted by VPM Kevin. They reminded us that Membership fees are now due. Two new members were inducted (and there were two guests who decided to join the club during the evening). The programme for the next three months was outlined replete with competitions, workshops and Pathways training.
Abhijeet conducted Table Topics for the first time. He chose topics focussed on chocolate. He persuaded many of the guests, namely Rosetta, Waiora, Helen, and Neven as well as the two new members, Yona and Sumer, to admit to their sweet tooths. Brief, encouraging evaluations of the table topics speeches were given by Ted and Lakshman
To conclude the meeting, reports were presented from the Grammarian, Lakshman, on what a “Remarkable” evening we had participated in; from the Ah Counter, Linda, on how fluently the speakers had spoken; and from the Timekeeper, Jacky, on how closely everyone had kept to their allotted time.
General Evaluator, Steve, provided his usual high standard of evaluation on every aspect of the evening capping it off by reminding us of the importance of adhering to proper process of parliamentary procedure. Finally the eight guests commented on the warm welcome, the well- organised structure, the good vibes and the multicultural nature of the evening.
