The meeting sprang into action on time when Ivo called to order and Kevin welcomed guests esp the Area Director Saane Tuakalau.
Chris, the Chairman, introduced each duty holder with a mention of their favourate things in spring such as the young lamb grazing on grass for Ivo and the beautiful cherry blossoms for Bao.
Jie‘s Smile Story about Chinese former president DENG XiaoPing’s well-rehearsed two line response to a curious US policeman’s questions was hilarious.
Jessica Fitzgerald, first-time Toastmaster, introduced each speaker with warmth, speech details and a brief comment between speakers.
We were engrossed in Liz‘s vivid story telling about a ship mutiny and she engaged us with her vocal variety and imagination. Jeffery spoke with ease about his valuable lessons as a gym member: self-discipline, perseverance and curiosity. Lakshman gave us a PEBBLE as path to presentation mastery: Pause, excited, body language, beauty and listen. Proper practice prevents poor presentation. Yaona talked about mental nutrition using chicken soup as a metaphor and encouraged us to balance our soup with more positive ingredients. Ivo demonstrated us 5 steps to a successful negotiation with a real case: do your research, negotiate towards a win-win outcome, listen, know the best alternative and closure on a high note.
Ratul provided theme related table topics and allowed impromptu speakers to talk about spring to their hearts’ content. Theresa talked about the University of Auckland Open Day as a festival in spring with enthusiasm. Steve, instead of creating a new season, wished to have four seasons distinct so that we don’t have to live with four seasons in a day. Francisco, graciously talked about German spring where she’s originally from.
Speech evaluators gave encouraging feedback to speakers to acknowledge their efforts and to improve in future. Tony, former member, gave quality comments to table topics speakers. Steve Peters, General Evaluator, commended on Kasanita and Healther‘s excellent prepared speech evaluations as well as giving individual feedback to all other duty holders, including the supportive evaluators Ted, Victor, Rchard and Emily.
The meeting ended in an auspicious tone as the Grammarian Ivo hoped, with a high member attendance rate. On a side note, thanks to Jillian who set up this meeting reporting tool and the whole user-friendly website which I repetitively referred to for member names and role responsibilities during my report writing. Look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting.
