Spinnaker Toastmasters leapt into action and organised an online meeting within an hour after the Prime Minister announced at 6.15 pm that New Zealand was entering a Covid alert level 4 lockdown from midnight tonight.

Despite the long run of no Covid in the community for some time, there was still a sense of deja vu! We all seemed to remember the drill though, and had a fruitful (no pun intended regarding tonight’s timing lights – see below!), although somewhat shortened, online meeting.

Due to a lack of timing lights, timers Zelda and Christo thought outside the square (another skill that Toastmasters acquire!) and demonstrated tonight’s timing cues – an avocado, an orange and a jar of tomato sauce!

Word of the day from Kathy was “stymied” which Kathy had used in a work setting at a previous job. Her colleagues had been impressed as they felt the word was a bit flash! It means that you’re blocked or hindered in what you are trying to do or where you are wanting to go. A perfect word for the situation the whole of New Zealand finds itself in tonight!

Johanna introduced Albertus who had to run a 25-minute webinar for his next project and she wondered how he had managed to organise this with such perfect timing. During his talk he was to interact with us online, being aware of feedback and audience participation.

Albertus’ presentation was “Why Archery is good for kids!” Albertus said that archery teaches kids to focus, have discipline, get fit and learn how to follow rules. As he talked about the various advantages of archery, he asked members how they believed focus, discipline, etc. could help in their daily life.

Everyone felt that taking up archery would in no way stymie their lifestyle but rather, might enhance it! Albertus is looking forward to having some of us join his club in the near future!

Evaluator Johanna commended Albertus for the way he garnered participant interaction. She felt that then combining participants’ ideas in his transitional comments would have further enhanced the presentation.

After some quick administrative announcements from President Dave, the meeting concluded.

Hopefully we’ll be back in person at our next meeting on 7 September.