The Toastmasters evening for the 1st of December was a Mexican themed meeting that set the scene for a fun, lively and very interesting one, and it proved to be all this and much more!!
Jillian the Chairman of the evening, not only stepped up to the role at last minute after her hiatus but came to the party with a bang!! She set the scene with beautiful colored props, lively music and a relaxed atmosphere and this helped the audience loosen up and join the party.
Our Toastmaster Zainab did an excellent job for her first time, introducing the speakers and conducting her role efficiently.
The word of the night “ETHEREAL”- introduced by Fakir was explained with its meaning and use in sentences and this word was used quite a bit in the evening.
The Ah Counter was Clare who said she had an easy job because everyone that spoke on the evening did really well using minimal Umms and Urrs!
The Time Keeper was Sam who conducted his role with precision and the whole meeting ran to time.
We had a beautiful smile story shared by Raymond that set the mood for a fun evening.
The Prepared evening was a fiesta of Speeches- Ranging from beautiful story telling of a folklore by Aurora, who rendered the classic Sleeping Beauty in her most beautiful way of storytelling to Clement breaking down a complex medical condition to simple understandable terminology with clear visuals for better understanding; to Gretel – speaking on the Ripple effect of Christmas and beautiful meaning of it being in its simplicity and generosity – to Kevin’s speech on the update of the Invercargill Convention and the effect of the speeches delivered to a proud moment of Three Kings hosting the 2018 Convention, and the finale speech by Hazel, on Gratitude and the fact that she did not have a prepared speech but had topics she wanted to talk about ended up being a beautiful speech in its entirety.
The evaluator for this evening seemed to be from the Maestros comprising of Kevin, Steve, Chris, Grant and Anji and they provided strong. valuable, insightful and practical commendations and feedback for not only our speakers that spoke but advice that could help the audience pay attention to for when they prepare their next speeches.
The fun part of Table Topics was conducted by Hazel who kept to the theme of fun and holidays and had some interesting topics and impromptu fun speeches from Richard, Tammy, Chris and our newcomers Natalie and Rui too. Hazel added a different element and got the Table Topic Evaluators Ted and Theresa to speak too and then evaluate each other. This was a fun segment with a lot of “athletic foot gestures” that came out as something new this evening.
The Business Session was conducted by Anji who presented a few awards – to Clare for completing 5 Speeches, Aurora on achieving her Bronze Award and a special mention of Lisa at the District Convention and her wonderful contribution to the club activities.
The food catered by Kevin at break time as always was never disappointing.
In conclusion, a very well organized meeting from beginning to start; with a smooth flow from one segment of the program to the other and an excellent participation from all members at the club.
Till next time, Adios from your Meeting Reporter.
Supriya
