Spinnaker Toastmasters Club hosted the Area J1 Table Topics Contest on Tuesday 2 December, followed by a mini reverse meeting featuring table topics.

In the Area J1 Table Topics Contest, the results were:

1st – Jacqui Blackwell
2nd – Kerry Saywell

They will now go on to compete in the Division J Table Topics Contest to be held in March 2026. Congratulations!

The mini reverse meeting featured table topics. Dale chaired the meeting where she opened the meeting with a closing, then invited President Dieter to present general business and his table topics evaluation. Dieter and Jacqui as Table Topics Mistress had collaborated brilliantly to devise their session with Christmas or holiday themed questions.

As Table Topics Evaluator Dieter presented his evaluation of each speaker before they spoke, outlining what they did well and what they need to improve. Speakers needed to remember what Dieter had said they did, because they were expected to act out his comments in their speeches. For example, Jocelyn had to do 15 ah’s or um’s, Rachael had to use colourful language and repeat “you know” many times, another speaker had to make lots of unusual noises, and one had to pace up and down.

Table Topics Mistress Jacqui then invited each speaker up to do their thing, and most of them managed to incorporate the evaluator’s comments at some point in their speech.

It was a very humorous and enjoyable table topics session and a great way to end the 2025 Toastmasters year.

Finally, Dale opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. She invited two guests Namal and Renee to tell us what had brought them to the meeting and what they hoped to gain if they joined Toastmasters.

And that’s a wrap for 2025.

We open our 2026 Toastmasters year on Tuesday 3 February at 7.30 pm. If you are interested in finding out how Toastmasters work and what you can get out of it, then contact us on spinnaker@toastmasters.org.nz and we’ll be in touch with more information.