Commitment!

The meeting opened on time chaired by Kathy and an explanation of the theme “Commitment”.

Now who would guess that at a Toastmasters club you could hear about why men go bald to freshwater prawns, and how to explain what’s in your glovebox to a police officer on a dark and stormy night.

Grammarian Katina gave us the word of the day “budget” and an explanation of its history.

Table Topics Master Ron’s theme was a collection of objects from his home, and to imagine a dark and stormy night, with an item in your glovebox, together with your explanation to a police officer.

Dave had an ivory snuff box which he couldn’t explain and reckoned his teenage kids had more stuff in there.

Jacqui picked a kaleodoscope which was found in a gift shop a long time ago and everyone should try looking through it.

Katina had to explain why a fluffy toy dog was in her glovebox.

Dale had to explain what she was doing with a two way radio to test their range while they are using them on the Kapiti Miniature Railway.

Darrell tried to convince the police officer that it was not a cocktail shaker he had in his possession, but his father was actually in it – his ashes actually.

Angela gave up and admitted she had a rock to use to go get some slippers for Mother’s Day because she didn’t get any from her family.

Evaluator Albertus said he was looking for an attention-grabbing opening, a mini speech and a short and sweet closing.

Best Table Topics speaker was Angela.

Speech 1 from Darrell, introduced by Angela, called “The Bald Facts” was a persuasive speech about not judging bald men by their baldness.

Speech 2 from Jacqui, introduced by Ian, was called “Tackling HPL Projects” using presentation software. Jacqui’s presentation was colourful and innovative, with each page in the presentation flipping on screen.

Speaker 3 from Ron, introduced by Dave, titled “Freshwater Prawns” introducing the planned vision of his high performance leadership project.

General Business by Dave – Sunday lunch at Co-op early in July, and a transition committee meeting in mid June.

Visitor Dirk was asked to say why he came along to Toastmasters – he has been meaning to do this for years!

At the end, Grammarian Katina gave us a rundown on all the unusual and interesting words she had heard during the meeting, and Timekeeper Ian outlined who had breached the speech timing requirements and who had spoken within time.

Best Speaker – Jacqui
Best Introducer/Evaluator – Dave