Outside it was the first day of winter — but inside it was
warm at the 977th meeting of the Benjamin Toastmasters. The warmth
of course was generated by the friendly atmosphere of the group. We welcomed
Keiko who, returning to our meeting and the continent, took up the role of
Toastmaster with her normal aplomb. Thanks to Tom who took up the um-ah
counting for the meeting and Peter (L) who volunteered as timer.
Robyn
Club business was short and sweet — with Peter (H) reminding
us to bring our manuals to all meetings. Robyn was confirmed as President and
Julio as Secretary for the 2012–2013 year.
Yuyu once again chose a great topic, this time for her 7th
manual speech. She researched why boys like cars, but I think really she was trying
to understand why her 20-month old boy didn’t want any of the room full of toys
belonging to her daughter! Yuyu reported on research looking at psychological
and genetic factors that play out in the toy-choice of boys versus girls. Yuyu’s
conclusion, that genetics probably played a greater role, brought us back to
her warm and personal introduction, telling us that she will probably have to
buy that new toy box!
Jenny evaluated Yuyu’s speech, congratulating her on her balanced
use of research, her confidence and the warm smile that Yuyu uses to engage her
audience. Jenny also commended Yuyu on her ability to ‘rejig’ her speech
without losing its structure when she saw that she was out of time. Jenny’s
experience gave Yuyu, and all of us, two great pieces of advice. The first was
to make sure we speak from our diaphragm: this lowers our pitch and makes us
less likely to inadvertently alter our speaking volume. The second was to take
a stance when we deliver a speech — literally: placing our feet slightly apart
gives us a more commanding presence on stage.
Ann continued with the evaluation theme, giving us some
great evaluating advice from the latest Toastmaster
Magazine. As usual Ann ‘hammed up’ what could have been a very dry reading
of an article. Her sense of humour and dramatic skills ensured we were engaged
for the whole time. One piece of very useful advice in the article was that
evaluators should try to speak to those whom they have evaluated, afterwards, to
ask “Was the evaluation given useful for the speaker? Will the recommendations
enable the speaker to improve next time? Were the commendations unique to that
speaker?”.
‘Round’ (not so! (Ed.)) Robyn then introduced a Round Robin
as an alternative to Table Topics, following a recent suggestion from Yuyu. It
is an exercise in both careful listening and impromptu speaking. The first
speaker introduces a topic and speaks briefly on it; the next speaker is then
invited to pick up on something from the previous speaker — they could agree
with it, disagree with it, elaborate on it or take it to a new place
altogether! From our topic, introduced by Robyn (‘free public transport’), Tom
supported the notion of ‘freebies’ to take us to our famous landmarks; Dom
talked about a nominal public transport fee in Sheffield and reminded us about
the complexity of economic arguments which ignore social benefits of schemes
such as free public transport; Niki took up this point and reminded us of
political decisions deemed ‘courageous’ by those who may oppose them (think Jim
Hacker and Sir Humphrey in ‘Yes Minister’!!);
Ann introduced us to two significant men in her life and their problems with TV
volume and empty trains; Peter (L) reminded us that our beaches are one of
Australia’s landmarks and encouraged us all to look after them, and Jenny
concluded the Round Robin by reminiscing about how wonderful Sydney felt during
the Olympics with free public transport. With such a diversity of points
brought up as people thought on their feet after having to listen carefully,
the Round Robin was certainly in the spirit of Toastmasters and was enjoyed by
all.
As always, we look forward to our next meeting!Robyn
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