As is often the case, we had an over 80% attendance of
members at our meeting, plus a very welcome visitor. We were all treated to two
excellent speeches and a very fun Table Topics.
First, our new Sergeant at Arms, Nicole opened the meeting.
Then Ianon (our new VPE) pointed out that the latest Toastmaster Magazine had
useful articles on Table Topics. She went further to give some advice on giving
Table Topics speeches including 1) go
with your gut! 2) pay attention to the question, and 3) if you can’t speak on
the topic given, associate! Change topics.
With the annual contests in Table Topics and Humorous speeches just
weeks away, this advice has very good timing!
The first outstanding speech came from Karina (our new
VPPR), who was tackling project 2 in the Competent Communicator manual (a
project about speech structure). Karina gave us three reasons why dance is an
excellent activity which builds confidence, organisational and leadership
skills, and (less surprisingly) physical fitness. Karina does Morris dancing as
a hobby, we heard, and she has learnt confidence from dancing in front of
audiences, and leadership from organising and managing dance events and
displays. There was a bit of psychology in the speech too, when Karina outlined
the left-brain/right-brain benefits. In her evaluation of the speech, Linda
commended the good organisation and structure of the speech, and its intriguing
insight into an activity few of us have taken on. Linda admitted she had never
heard of this form of dance before, leading to the recommendation not to assume
your audience’s knowledge.
Then we were treated to a narrative when Dominic (our new
President) gave his first speech on the Advanced Communicator Bronze track.
Dominic completed his CC in April, and is now working on the Speaking to Inform
(advanced) manual.
Dominic took us all, metaphorically, up Mt Ainslie at 5:30
am on a foggy frosty Canberra morning without a torch, to illustrate the
opportunities, challenges and pitfalls of having a Strategic Plan when you are
running a business. We learnt how the goals of the plan guide your first steps,
and how you can go far astray and fall if you lose sight of that plan and its goals
in the fog. It’s lonely at 5:30 am on Mt Ainslie (a large well treed and
shrubbed nature reserve reaching 840 m or so in altitude). It’s lonely
also in your new business and you need to have that plan to hold on to and keep
you on track. Then, once you have achieved the peak for the first time, you
think it’s going to be easy, but that frosty track, though now a bit clearer in
the dawn, is full of pitfalls if you don’t keep that plan as your guide. In
evaluating this speech, Peter had only commendations – the first time in 4.5
years of hearing him evaluating speeches that I have not heard him have
anything to recommend.
Baran, our newest member, then took us back to films we
might or might not have seen, and giving examples from Back to the Future, Star
wars, and others posed us problems to answer in Table Topics. This was such
fun, I am surprised we still managed to complete the meeting in about 1 hour.
Nicole gave a brief general evaluation before closing the meeting.
The next gathering, on 24 July, will be a different style.
It will be practice in Table Topics, which Ann calls a Table Topics Tornado.
Everyone gets a topic, and there are two rounds, with a brief verbal evaluation
and two written evaluations for each speaker.
Then on 8 August we have our club contest in Table Topics and Humorous Speech, to find our representative for the Area contest coming up very soon afterwards.
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