Happy New Year and welcome back! Katina chaired the first meeting of the year, and guests – Fenli from Porirua Club and Roger, our Area Director.

Katina’s theme for the meeting was “A good laugh is sunshine in the house”.

Grammarian Dale’s word of the day was “sunshine”. She told us what the word meant, ancient Greek and Roman use, quotes about sunshine, and songs with sunshine in the title. In her report Dale loved Roger’s use of Te Reo, Angela – packaged food everywhere, scientists squirelling away in their labs, sludge with poison on top,
loved Ian’s speech title – 10 words – loved the slides too, and Darrell for his triad – unfishable unswimmable unvisitable.

Ian was presented with the Most Improved Speaker Award for 2022. Congratulations Ian!

Table Topics by Megan was all about something that put a smile on your face this summer. Dave said that for him it was all about getting jobs finished and then relaxing. Fenli had a family trip to south island enjoying the natural scenery and stunning landscape.

Kathy enjoyed the fact that she didn’t travel this time, did a zoom family christmas, and cooked just for herself.

Roger spent 4 weeks in Kerikeri exploring the area in remote Northland.

Jacqui was just too busy working, organising her 40th wedding anniversary with overseas family staying, but then her husband got covid and that slowed her down a bit for a while!

Gary as evaluator complimented each speaker and made some useful tips for improvement. Best table topic speaker Roger.

Ron introduced Speaker 1 Angela who was doing Persuasive Speaking level 3, about a lifelong resolution of healthy eating. She recommended the book “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss – how the food giants hooked us into buying their products, more market share, no love, all about profits, so avoid the bad foods. Ron thought Angela excelled at scaring her audience but in a good way, forcing us to think about what food choices we make.

Kathy introduced Speaker 2 Ian with a Persuasive Speaking speech entitled “Early contractor involvement – a bridge between design and construction” – this was a practice speech to be given to graduates in his company shortly, and using powerpoint, he explained how to use lateral thinking to design and build civil engineering challenges. Evaluator Kathy said that Ian should just slow down a little bit when speaking and maybe to focus more deeply on one specific project.

Dirk introduced Speaker 3 Darrell who was working on the Know your Sense of Humour Level 2 Pathway, with “How I stopped Dad from blowing onshore”. He described how he and his siblings disposed of his Dad’s ashes at sea from an unfishable unswimmable unvisitable spot on shore. Dirk said that Darrell was really on form and he enjoyed how the speech was constructed with nice use of props with the paper bag to imitate the ashes.

Area Director Roger introduced himself and explained his role in supporting the clubs to achieve their goals. He is motivated by the Toastmasters International core values of Integrity, Respect, Service and Excellence.

General Evaluator Jacqui said Darrell’s speech was exactly on time, so gets the speaker of the night award, and that his speech also aligned with the meeting theme. She thought the introductions could have been delivered better with more enthusiasm, and some needed a conclusion. She finished by saying she had enjoyed the first meeting of 2023.

If you would like to join us for our next meeting on Tuesday 21 February at 7.30 pm then contact us to let us know. You’re most welcome to come along and see what the Toastmasters Experience is all about!