Meeting report for 18th June 2020
“Weathering the (Covid) Storm” was the doubly appropriate theme chosen by the Chair, Franziska, for the evening. Doubly, because the rain was bucketing down outside, while inside 16 of us were back to hand- or elbow- shakes and a delicious supper. Notwithstanding the layout was in the form of a ‘U’ with tables spacing us out and all attendees signed in.
What was impressive was that several members were willing to take on a second role for the evening to plug gaps left in the programme.
After the the President’s welcome, first time Chair, Franziska, fired up the meeting with the quote, “ Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path”.
She introduced the Grammarian, Ratul, who had plucked the word ‘Rejuvenate’ out of the stormy skies for the word of the evening; the Ah Counter, Anji, who warned us that she would be listening intently for any type of filler words that we might use during the course of the evening and Sarah, who was taking on the Timekeeper role for the first time, and who gave a clear explanation of how the timing lights would be used.
To get the meeting underway Jeffrey was called up to give a Smile Story in which he identified the two main types of gym user, namely the Grunter and the Mirror Man to good effect.
First-time Toastmaster, Raymond, was called on to introduce the prepared speeches. The first speaker was Richard who reworked the story of Goliath and David in a present day context.
Otako reflected on his journey of taking on leadership roles, and, with stories, identified the qualities that he felt make a person an effective leader.
Next up was Saane who entertained and inspired us as she talked about Success being ‘what you (not others) make it’. ‘Failure is good.’ ‘Never quit – the courage to continue is what counts.’
Ivo gave a detailed power point presentation concerning the 4 cornerstones of being assertive, illustrated with the description of a situation he had found himself in.
Finally Liz took to her wings (but did not wing it) as she described the life and times of the bar-tailed godwit with some fascinating slides to illustrate the distances these birds cover.
After a chance to recharge the batteries and refuel the tanks at the supper table we reconvened to listen to helpful evaluations of the prepared speeches given by Saane, Sarah, Jeffrey, Jie and Emily respectively.
The club’s Business Session saw the presentation of the committee for the coming year, plus a plan to celebrate the club’s 35th anniversary at the beginning of August.
The Table Topics Master, Lakshman rejuvenated us with a selection of storm-related sayings to speak to. Members rose to the occasion with gusto. Perhaps the best saying was “The storm is an artist, the rainbow its masterpiece,” which Raymond nailed, saying that it is only when challenged that you find out what you can do.
The two table topic evaluators, Anji and Kevin, with nearly a half century of Toastmastering between them, gave admirable, concise feedback to each speaker.
Finally, Les had his first go as General Evaluator, covering every aspect of the evening with the interesting observations of someone who has been a Toastmaster for just 5 months, concluding that Franziska and Raymond had excelled in putting together a warm and enjoyable meeting in spite of the storm.
