An “invigorating” meeting

Jinny chaired our 15 September 2026 meeting with the theme “How do you take your coffee?” Jinny peppered the meeting with interesting facts about the coffee culture in Wellington which had us all intrigued. It was a warm friendly meeting with 16 present including a guest, plus one online.

Sonya as grammarian chose “Invigorating” as her word of the day. She reported on those who had used the word, and many tried to get it in several times to score more points.

Speech 1 by Roman, evaluated by Rach, was a Level 1 Pathways Vocal Variety and Body Language speech entitled “The Foibles of family”. In this speech Roman related the story of attending his grandmother’s funeral and compared himself to his “Hurricane Lisa” aunt who could be heard before she could be seen. Evaluator Rach said it was invigorating, as he started with a question about family foibles, and ended by answering it himself. She thought it was very humorous and he had met the brief for the project.

Speech 2 by Greg was his icebreaker called “A bit about me”. Greg told us how he had grown up in Pukerua Bay and now lives in Plimmerton. He is the youngest of the family and admitted he got away with a lot more than his older brothers did. He has a rescue dog called Cody who is both loyal and goofy. His hobbies include travelling, tending his house plants, and board games. Greg is an IT project coordinator and has realised he needs to improve his public speaking skills, that’s why he has joined Spinnaker, and he is very keen to learn. Evaluator Dirk said he found out so much about Greg and he was very relatable, and wants to hear more about him in the future. Congratulations Greg on completing your first Toastmasters speech.

Speech 3 by Kamila, evaluated by Katina was called “Ten million is the new 1 million”. Kamila admitted she thought up this topic on the spot as she had been discussing Lotto with her workmates. She admitted she had not won anything, but was thinking what it would be like to win a million, or even ten million dollars. Evaluator Katina thought everyone really linked into the topic, and that Kamila should keep her impromptu speaking skills going, she just needed to work on the body of her speech to pad out with a few more details.

After supper, Rory, our table topics master, expertly outlined what table topics was all about and even gave us some useful tips for our speeches. It was an “either/or” scenario for each speaker, and evaluator Ron gave each speaker some personal feedback. He also encouraged speakers to go the full distance with their time and finish with a strong conclusion.

Grammarian Sonya reported back on our ah’s and um’s and use of word of the day and two phrases really impressed her: “swept into the hurricane of Aunt Lisa”, and “this room is built for learning not perfection”.

Timekeeper Sandie said everyone had been on track with their timing and she only got to ring the bell once.

General Evaluator Angela praised Jinny’s “chairpersoning” and loved the coffee facts. Rory did an excellent job at table topics, and Ron had given great feedback.

If you are interested in learning more about how Spinnaker Toastmasters works and the Pathways Learning Experience, then contact us on spinnaker@toastmasters.org.nz and we’ll invite you to our next meeting. It could be a life-changing move for you!