Meeting report for 13th August 2020
Meeting theme was: Safety First.
Sometimes we attend a business or community meeting and wonder why we bothered as it may have turned out boring, one sided nonsense, but at Toastmasters I have never experienced this phenomenom. I am usually informed persuaded or inspired and always entertained as was the case this week at Three Kings club.
Ivo D’– the Chairman pulled together a wonder meeting with exciting talented speakers and duty holders while Emily T – as Toastmaster introduced those same speakers with enthusiasm and encouragement. Before we get to those speeches however let me say a few words about some duty holders.
This meeting was held via a Zoom link as we had once again gone into level 3 lockdown due to Corona 19 Virus.
Saane T – presented the night before an educational session on Zoom meetings to those who needed a refresher and for those who had never experienced such a meeting before and this was so invaluable to the success of our online meeting.
Members and guest were well prepared as 7pm came around some 24 people were now online for the meeting, one was a member in Australia and it was so good to see Franziska G – again as she is visiting family over there.
Apologies were read, seconded and approved.
Duty holders explained their roles with assurance and knowledge even those doing roles for the first time.
The word of the night was CAUTION and Les J – explained the origins, the meaning and how to use it in a sentence.
Um/Ah counter Ratul B – told us that he would be looking out for the use of such words and other filler words that detract from our speeches.
Timer John D – explained the use of the timing lights and kept the meeting to time even when some went past their allotted time.
Chris W – gave us two humorous smile stories to make us laugh and smile setting the scene for the evening.
Emily T– then introduced the prepared speaking segment.
Sarah W – who is doing the Pathways Innovative Planning, level 3 project 3 (third elective) Know your sense of humour. objectives: to develop a collection of humorous stories to present a speech that includes humour. The title of her speech “Children should not have holidays”. Sarah did entertain us with three short stories about the frustrations of minding children and not wanting to be the Taxi driver running them around everywhere when they wanted to friends places or the mall etc, nor to be the Fairy Godmother for cheeky children ,and to not be a toilet assistant when the little ones wanted to stop all the time for toilet breaks. She entertained us with hilarious situations that many of us could relate to and her use of gestures and vocal variety added to our pleasure.
I was nodding and smiling often through this wonderful speech.
Lakshman S – Has chosen the Pathway Motivational Strategies Level 3: Increasing knowledge, Understanding Emotional Intelligence. The purpose of this project is to cultivate an understanding of how his emotions impact his relationships, It is also designed to help him identify how other’s emotions impact his emotional state. His speech title was “I am getting there”.
He set the scene by telling us a personal insight into what he has been experiencing lately with anger frustration and a lack of understanding why others may say things about him.
This was a powerful and informative speech which I felt was by far his best performance I have seen him deliver. His message is don’t’ take things personally. We won’t always know what is happening in the lives of those who say things that may hurt us. Ask for help when you need it and never be afraid to show your weaknesses.
He told us about being in meetings and not being heard or understood and how this upset him or when he spoke to friends or family and was misunderstood and how he sometimes got angry about it. He kept a diary of all those times his frustrations turned to anger and there were a lot. Separate sanity from insanity, be self-aware. A lesson here is when someone says something that upsets us or offends us it is not them at fault, but it is our reactions to what is said.
We must foster our own deep listening abilities and be aware of others. We need to understand the difference to reaction and responding plus we must accept that we might not always be right. Lakshman spoke in a calm manner using vocal variation to connect with us through our hearts and minds in this very though provoking topic.
I was mesmerised by the change in Lakshman from his usual speeches.
Bhoopali D – One of our newest members was giving her Icebreaker speech after joining us at our last meeting.
The title of her speech was “Fresh of the Boat” and she is doing the Presentation Mastery pathway and the objectives of this first speech was to speak before and audience and to tell us something about herself.
Bhoopali told us her speech title is a synonym for outlander of immigrant. She is from overseas and she and her partner decided to come to NZ and upon arriving at Auckland airport was astounded by the cleanliness of the air and how fresh it is. She was struck by the colours of green grasses bushes and trees. Her speech was also about how she often felt inadequate when she was not understood due to her accent. She wanted to learn as much as possible and to speak better so to be understood. She did show nerves but it was so refreshing to hear her story and we know that Toastmasters will help her to improve her confidence and speaking ability which is why she joined Three Kings club.
I was impressed with this icebreaker.
Jacquie L- Our second Icebreaker speech, Jacquie has chosen the Motivational Pathway and the objectives for this speech are the same as Bhoopali. Jacquie was inspired to join Toastmasters after a friend had done so and has become a speaker on the USA speaking circuit.
Jacquie felt that most people like a love story and as she revealed hers. We did enjoy it very much.
Our eyes met across, a crowded dance floor falling in love at a young age to them man of her dreams, the relationship lasted until she was around 35 years old. Single and feeling that she would never marry again like her mother and grandmother she wandered along believing she did not need a man in her life until she joined a dating site. The first meet up wasn’t so successful, she liked the chap, but he never called her back, was she supposed to call him.
A second time she met a nice chap named Craig and they clicked but again no follow up until they met once more.
He told her he was interested in her when she asked why he did not call her last time and he explained that they Meet group would not pass her number onto him. He started going to all their functions hoping to meet her again and finally he did. This was a true love story and Craig was with her this evening as guest.
This was a delightful story that had all of us smiling throughout and I felt that Jacquie gave a masterful performance for her first speech. It was very entertaining, and we smiled a lot.
Heather R – is doing the Presentation Master Pathway and her level 3 speech was to use vocal variety to enhance her speech. Heather started by telling us that this is not the speech she had initially prepared for us and shared a little of that one, then went on to say it is not the second speech she prepared for us either as situations changed over the last few days due to Covid 19 and the lockdown. She instead told us about sharing a large house with lots of other people and that she suddenly noticed that Mark had not been seen for a few days. Upon asking the landlady she was told that Mark had passed away. He was just 61 and was always the smiling happy chap and a professional chef who made fantastic meals loved by all. Her use of vocal variety showed her concern for Mark and we empathised with her. We felt her loss and when she told us to appreciate others and to be kind to our-selves we understood. Well done Heather on this timely speech.
The following evaluators gave helpful thoughtful and constructive feedback to the speakers which will assist them with their next speeches.
Jeffrey L – evaluated Sarah W, reminding her to look at her speech structure and pace while commenting on the interesting stories.
Raymond K – evaluated Lakshman S and asked for a clearer structure and to explain the acronyms he used as not everyone might understand them, while also commenting on how well Lakshman created interested in revealing himself and his journey.
Saane T – evaluated Bhoopali and said that it would help to use more pauses throughout the speech and commended her on her first speech which was very-interesting and one she related to as well.
Richard W – evaluated Jacquie opened with “it is a privilege to evaluate this speech” for Jacquie which I felt would have her smiling. He liked the emotions and humour in this icebreaker speech recommending that he felt it was a little brief.
Saphiya Z – evaluated Heather R speech saying that Heather gave us a warming speech about Mark and that she could use pause a little more and to let your voice assume emotion from the beginning of a line where your express that emotion in it so as to draw the audience to feel it as well.
The business session saw Andre M being inducted and he has chosen Richard W to be his Mentor. Liz D explained the two meetings where we will hold our Table topic contest on the 10th September and then the Humorous speech contest on the 24th September with the Area contests being held on the 3rd October in our meeting room.
We ask that those who wish to compete in the contests let her know ASAP and all other members will be allotted duty roles for the contests.
Richard W – mentioned more about the Smile story segment in our meeting becoming Humorous tales instead.
Kevin P – congratulated Saane T + Ivo D and Raymond K for volunteering and speaking at Avery Rest home entertaining the staff and guests mentioning that they would like more Toastmasters to pop along and do something similar again.
He also congratulated Rizwangul N for receiving the Fulbright Scholarship and for speaking on TVs Sunday programme.
The Table Topic session was introduced as an opportunity to tell larger than life exaggerated tall tales in situations presented to the unsuspecting audience.
Liz D – had us laughing straight away telling us about her extraordinary attempt on Everest where she had Ghurkas instead or Sherpas climbing with her on a journey that was exhausting and satisfying.
Franziska G – had us smiling and l giggling as she relayed her experience as to what it was like being caught up in a bank holdup. Fun stuff.
Riz N – was a little confused as to why she was picked for the topic why was she in a Police patrol car. As she struggled and strangled this topic we all could see ourselves in the same situation. Lost for what to say.
Craig H – our guest told us about an actual event that did happen when given the topic about how did you run over a cow. This was not only funny it was quite dramatic.
Andre M – our newest inductee and member had us smiling and laughing as he shared his topic: who was it that jumped out of a plane with you. Tom cruise was his jumping partner in his wonderfully funny imaginary talk.
Raymond K – was given Where did things go wrong in your car race and said it was at the start line in the Drag race and immediately had us guffawing and smiling with his tale of woe.
Tony T – another new member was stunned to be given, When did it hit you that you won Lotto. Yet he quickly had us laughing when he said it was this Saturday coming when he wins the $50m million draw and then quickly stopped. We wanted more.
John D – was given. Standing on stage singing must have been fun tell us why and he quickly got into stride by going off topic somewhat.
The Evaluators Chris W and Jie D – both gave succinct and helpful evaluations.
The duty holders then gave their reports and the meeting came to an end after the General evaluators report and the club President Saane reminded us all to be kind and safe.
Twenty six people enjoyed a fun and inspiring night together via the Zoom link. Well done everyone.
I am busting to be at our next meeting on the 27th of this month and ivite many guests and members to join us.
