A tempestuous day

It sure was dark and stormy in Wellington in the days leading up to our Tuesday 21 April meeting, with a state of emergency being declared for the region until Tuesday afternoon. Five members opted to go online rather than travel, so it was a mixed attendance.

Jacqui chaired the meeting and thanks to Ash the venue was warm and toasty. After dealing with all the changes, Jacqui’s theme was being prepared for an emergency.

The first role was by Rachael with her timekeeper’s introduction and testing the lights. Her report was that everyone managed to stay in time except Dale!

Sandie was Grammarian for the first time, and she chose the word of the day “tempestuous” meaning strong and turbulent emotions or story, perfectly reflecting Wellington’s often chaotic weather over the last few days.

Our guest Owen was first up and had to recommend where a visitor to Wellington should stay, and though he is relatively new to Wellington he made a couple of recommendations.

Our next guest Roman had to recommend nightly entertainment for a visitor. However he admitted that he doesn’t know too many venues in Wellington but maybe the Backbencher near Parliament, or a nightclub in Courtenay Place.

Nu, our Area Director, was asked to recommend other places in New Zealand that a visitor might go. Nu recommended Taupo or Auckland, especially Taupo for a more cultural experience.

Dieter (online) was asked which is the best month to visit Wellington and why. Dieter said you don’t want to come to Wellington on the one blue sky and no wind, but anytime from now until winter because you could say you were here on a dark and stormy night which would create plenty of stories.

Ash was asked how he was going to get to and from work when the buses and trains are cancelled. He recommend a ride share scheme by bike.

Sandie was asked what she would do with a free week’s parking voucher at Wellington airport. She thought she could auction it online, give it away, or maybe offer it to somebody online who really needed it.

Jinny as table topics evaluator recommended speakers move the lectern aside when they are speaking to give more space to move around. She gave each speaker a commendation and recommendation to help improve their future table topics speaking.

Speech 1 by Katina was introduced by Jinny about Mentoring. Katina outlined the mentoring programme, how it works and what learning takes place between the mentor and mentee. She gave us 3 examples of recent mentoring: as Area Director, as a Club Coach, and how to develop a support structure for a Division. That meant mentoring a group of Area Directors and supporting the clubs – basically crowd mentoring. Jinny evaluated Katina and said that her speech clearly met the objectives. She enjoyed Katina’s three examples, and said that even though she was online, it didn’t limit her speaking delivery.

Speech 2, an icebreaker, by Megan was introduced by Ron who explained what an icebreaker speech is all about. Megan’s title was “Since I started…” 12 years 2 months and 4 days ago I gave my first icebreaker speech. When I started little did I know what was in store for me at Toastmasters. She outlined all her Toastmasters achievements over the years. She outlined all her career achievements over the years. She outlined her family activities and journeys over the years. She outlined her health challenges over the years. Evaluator Ron said that Megan produced a number of visual aids to assist her points which attracted the audience’s interest.

Speech 3 by Dale entitled “Was Thomas Healy a criminal?” was a whodunnit story which asked the audience to decide guilty or Not Guilty. Dale told a story of a Thomas Healy and the case of sheep stealing in Central Otago in 1891. Evaluator Ash said Dale built her case like a seasoned lawyer, vividly describing the evidence and engaging the audience by posing questions and inviting judgement. The audience had to decide – guilty or not guilty. But like the real case, it was a hung jury!

In the General Evaluation by Dale commented that the meeting started on time, ably chaired by Jacqui, jumping from physical to online and managing both exceptionally well. It was fun and friendly.

Dale reminded everyone to always be prepared to go online so make sure you keep Zoom up to date on your home device and stay alert on WhatsApp if there is a storm or other disaster looming or in play.

She said it was great to see our guests involved in table topics and wonderful topics by Ron and insightful evaluations by Jinny.

She also reminded everyone to not forget to sign off your speeches and meeting roles in Pathways to gain credit for your achievements.

If you want to be involved in a Spinnaker Toastmasters meeting, then contact us on spinnaker@toastmasters.org.nz and we’ll get back to you with an invite to our next meeting. Even though it might be dark and stormy outside, it will be warm and friendly, fast and furious inside.