Awkward or Delicate?

Tonight’s meeting was chaired by Darrell with the theme “awkward“. Darrell explained how his theme came about from an event last Saturday and other awkward moments in his life.

Albertus as Memory Master and Grammarian gave us the word of the day as “delicate“.

Table Topics run by Jacqui was along the theme of Matariki where speakers had to choose a topic from a star on the banner.

Angela’s topic was about speaking a foreign language and chose Spanish because it would take her to many places in the world. But she really wants to learn the language of teenagers!

Darrell’s next random act of kindness was to buy his wife a very special birthday gift.

Katina’s topic was to explain the best piece of advice she has ever been given. Katina doesn’t want any advice because she received too much when she was younger, but gave her children plenty of advice as well even though they might not have followed it.

Dale’s topic was adventurous activity would you most like to try. She said she would like to try snorkelling on a reef or wreck.

Our guest Dirk picked the topic of reliving a moment in his life, which was a time back in Scotland at a proper English Christmas.

Kathy had to talk about the nicest thing anyone has ever done to you, which was when she was ill a few years ago that her friends were praying for her recovery.

Speech 1 by Ron introduced by Dale on Effective Gestures in which he explained how to perform effective gestures and avoid awkward movements that don’t add to the message. Dale thought that Ron did well to demonstrate the gestures he was talking about, saying that gestures should support the message, and the difference between formal and casual. Learning to read your audience and reacting to your message was crucial.

Speech 2 by Dave introduced by Katina was about Dave’s experiences about being a protege titled “Your Coach is not your Mentor”. A coach is like a manager who gives you tasks, whereas a mentor encourages and guides you. Dave talked about having an assigned mentor in a workplace which didn’t go so well for him. He also talked about a time when he was a mentor for another Toastmaster which he enjoyed immensely. Katina thought Dave did an excellent job outlining situations with coaches and mentors, and his experiences.

Speech 3 by Paul introduced by Kathy who’s goal was to engage the audience, use effective vocal variety and good use of pace. My Nightmare! In this speech Paul related the early morning issues with his son waking up. Evaluator Kathy thought Paul’s speech was entertaining with an attention-grabbing opening and then told a scary but humorous story. Kathy would liked to have seen a bit more drama, adding more vocal variety when describing the loudness of the noise.

Table Topics was evaluated by Jacqui who thought her topics were not easy, requiring deep thought processes. She thought the speakers needed to move around the speaking area more to enhance their body language.

In general business, Dave talked about the forthcoming Expo and the planning going on behind the scenes for this.

Grammarian and Memory Master Albertus named those who had used the word of the day, and then covered off the unusual words and phrases he had heard. He then rattled off the questions to test the audience’s memory.

General Evaluator Angela reported that she thought the Table Topics Mistress put a lot of effort into her topics with the Matariki theme. She also encouraged evaluators to present some meaningful recommendations for the speakers who put a lot of time into preparation of their speeches, and are looking for advice and guidance for their next speech.