A happy theme

Megan chaired our 5 April meeting with the theme: Jokes

We were joined online by Michelle.

Grammarians Tikila and Gary gave us the word of the day “happy”. Gary reported back that we were not “very happy” but some speakers did use the word occasionally.

Table Topics Master Ian had one speaker telling the story and one person doing the actions. First up was Darrell and Dave with some karate moves. Jacqui and Megan with Dancing of the Ages. Katina and Ron with Curling is a Serious Sport. Evaluator Gary said he had never seen this style before and thought it was fascinating to see some amazing gestures.

Speaker 1 was Dale introduced by Darrell. Dale told the story of two notable shipwrecks on Farewell Spit – the Queen Bee in 1877 and the Port Kembla in 1917. Evaluator Darrell said Dale used the online screen cleverly, with two interesting stories.

Speech 2 from Jacqui was introduced by Megan “Discovering my Leadership Style”. According to Toastmasters, Jacqui has a democratic leadership style. She then went on to explain how she arrived at this conclusion and gave us some examples. Evaluator Megan thought Jacqui did an amazing job but challenged her on her beginning to grab the audience’s attention from the outset.

Speech 3 by Dave was introduced by Ian entitled “Whenua”. In this speech Dave outlined the history of Maori land ownership and how it has changed hands from Maori to Pakeha over the last 180 years through a series of maps. Evaluator Ian said Dave’s content was interesting and a tad uncomfortable, but respectful.

Speech 4 by Katina, an educational on Pathways, introduced by Kathy. What Pathways is all about, and how Pathways is structured. Katina described the legacy programme, and the new Pathways system with its amazing titles and challenges. Evaluator Kathy said that personally she felt much more knowledgeable about Pathways. Kathy said she liked how Katina hugged the old manuals when describing how much-loved they were.

Timekeepers Ron and Tikila said they were pretty happy with the timings and thought everyone came in on or under time.

Gary then announced he was leaving Spinnaker Toastmasters after 37 years, and moving on to greener pastures.

President Dave reminded everyone that 3 May is our annual business meeting, and a new committee is elected, along with the President’s report and Treasurer’s report.

Memory Master Kathy asked a number of questions testing our memories on events in the meeting.

General Evaluator Katina had the final word commenting on the theme of having jokes pepper the meeting, and there was lots of laughter during the evening.