Despite a number of apologies from some regular attendees including Philip, Peter, Chris, Rowenna and Kymberley we had a very well attended meeting with a formidable group of Guests including; Isobel, Josh (returning to his second meeting), Jessica, Belinda, Nhung, John B and Gavin who has belonged to another Toastmasters Club in the past. Of special note we also welcomed Brett’s mother Lindy who was visiting from the south coast.
We were delighted to welcome them all.
We missed our Sergeant-at-Arms, Daniel calling the meeting to order as he was marginally delayed by a flat tyre. Past President Paul got us underway with a brief word of Welcome and handed over to Natasha as Chairperson for the first half of the meeting.
Glenn D (with 2 n’s) read the Mission of the Club and Brett (as Grammarian) presented us with the challenge of utilising the word – flounder – in our various opportunities throughout the evening as Word of the Day.
Natasha asked us to think about the beginning of a new Season and extracted a variety of thoughts on the subject as part of our Introductions. Natasha then stood in for our VPE Chris to undertake the Agenda Update before Dai Fei very capably handled a very demanding Guest Welcome.
The Toastmaster for the first Speech Session was Sam who set on a very clear example by carefully explaining procedures to our Visitors. Sam introduced 2 Speakers and their Evaluators.
Speaker One was Dai Fei who presented the 6th Project from the Competent Communicator Manual – Vocal Variety – in a speech about the basis of the Chinese Language. Utilising an overhead projector Dai Fei intrigued us with the seeming complexity and uniqueness of her native language in a highly informative and intriguing presentation.
Dia Fei was Evaluated by Glen H (with one n) who gave text-book Evaluation in third person and referred to the Objectives of the speech with great engagement and solid points for improvement.
The second speaker was Glenn D (with 2 n’s) who presented Project 3 – Get to the Point – with an intriguing speech title of ‘Back Flipping and Bending Over Backwards to Add Just One Letter’. Glenn took us on the roller coaster ride he has experienced dealing with the monumental difficulties of trying to realign the spelling of his first name. Glenn with two n’s. It proved to be both a fascinating and highly amusing insight into the machinations of government and related authorities dealing with a confusion of identity.
Glenn D (no, that’s enough….) was very capably Evaluated by Gary (with one y) who clearly had both very much enjoyed the speech and observed and listened carefully.
We went to Break a few minutes ahead of time.
The Chairperson for the second half of the meeting was Gary who handed over to Brett for the Toast. Brett delivered a procedurally flawless Toast to our Past President Paul outlining the achievements of the Club under Paul’s recent stewardship.
Toastmaster for the second Speech Session was Dai Fei who once again provided very good explanatory coverage and introductions to the Speakers and Evaluators.
First Speaker was Sam delivering his first speech from the Advanced Communicators Manual – The Entertaining Speaker. Sam’s speech entitled – The Art of the Put Down – was a veritable banquet of great (mainly) political putdowns delivered by some of the great exponents of the ‘Put Down’ over the past 100 years. A riveting and highly contagious presentation, which saw Sam deal admirably with his need to engage the audience while referring to accurate quotation notes.
Sam was evaluated by Paul who is known to be a keen observer of the ‘quotable quote’ and delivered an exemplary Evaluation.
Daniel was a last minute replacement for Table Topics Master and as to be expected delivered the segment with meticulous protocol.
Daniel challenged us with the need to speak about a variety of charitable causes in response to our (imaginary) Employers favoured cause. This provoked some fascinating responses and really fulfilled the core purpose of impromptu speaking. We were also delighted that a number of Visitors took up the challenge. Well done.
The Evaluators were Natasha and Sam who met the complex task of evaluating a diversity of speakers and topic treatments with great finesse.
The evenings final Evaluations were undertaken by Glenn D as Umms & Ahs Counter, Brett as Grammarian, Glen H as Big Ears and Bishnu recorded the evening’s Timer’s Report. John H rounded of the evening with a comprehensive General Evaluation before the Guests were invited to pass comment on the evening.
We are encouraged that they all expressed an interest in returning for another visit and warmly invite them to do so.
Brett closed the meeting by paying tribute (in his absence) to Peter’s success at the recent Area 6 Humorous Speech Competition and to Natasha for her sterling representation of Concord West Club in the Area 6 Table Topics Competition.
Next Meeting –
Bring a Friend Night – Tuesday 28th September 2010
Date for Diary –
Phillip Division Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest Saturday 9th October at Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club where Peter will be representing Area 6 and Concord West Club.
