Now the club has finished all contests for the year and found our champions to represent us at area level at the end of the month, We went back to “normal” on meeting 786 to our full on educational program.
Although we had a few apologies, other members readily stepped up to cover for the roles left vacant by the absentees.
Our heartfelt thanks go to these members for taking up a role at a moment’s notice: Chih D., Meeting Toastmaster; Carol M., Sargent-at-arms, Word of the Day/Grammarian y Ah-counter (and this on top of her scheduled role as Table Topics Master!); Udana A., speaker; Patti K., timer and speech evaluator, Daniel I., evaluator.
Peter K. chaired the Business Session. Although it was his first time, he carried out the job with aplomb and efficiency. He gave a warm welcome to our guests for the evening, Afrasa and Ash.
The theme of the meeting was Books, and the quote of the week in the program was by Frank Zappa: “So many books, so little time.” I’m sure that Frank made this statement thinking of me!
With this theme, our affable Topic Master, Carol M. had all questions on books. Respondents were Stuart C., Heman A, and guests Afrasa and Ash. Best Table Topic for the night went to our guest Ash, who out-staged all other contestants with his description of the joy he feels when going to the library.
The Topics were ably evaluated by Julie W., who not only praised the respondents for their efforts and their good qualities but also managed to give them good feedback on how to go even better.
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| President inducting new members |
After the tea break, the meeting resumed, and the first item was the induction of three new members: Stuart C., Heman A, and Patti K. Patti is an advanced toastmaster — ACB, ALB — who transferred her membership from District 69. Welcome to Werribee Toastmasters Stuart C., Heman A, and Patti K. We wish you lots of improvement and we look forward to your contributions to our club.
After the inductions, we had two powerful speeches.
Greg H., with humour and panache, gave his Icebreaker about his life in the Army, his role as a civilian contractor and why his mates knew him as Red.
Udana A., now approaching his CC accomplishment, gave a powerful speech on why all members should “subscribe” to the club’s website in order to receive news and other important relevant information.
Because we had only two speakers, no vote was taken on Best Speaker for the night.
The speeches were evaluated respectively by Daniel I. and Patti K. Both acknowledged the strong points present in the speakers’ present ability and also offered them information on how to advance another notch.
We did have a vote for the best evaluator, as we had three. This evening the best evaluator was Patti K. Congratulations Patti!
Daniel I., harkmaster; Carol M., grammarian, word of the day, and ah-counter; and Patti K., timer presented their reports efficiently and ably.
Finally, Immediate Past-President Elena M. presented the General Evaluation. Thank you, Elena, for reminding me I need to smile more. The highlight of Elena’s general evaluation was her comparing the lectern to the Olympic Torch. The Olympic Torch must be attended at all times. When the Torch-bearer relays the torch to another member, he or she is handing all the symbolic power of the Torch to the next person. And so is with the lectern. The lectern is the symbol of who is in charge of the meeting. And when a speaker needs to leave the speaking area, they need to hand control to the next person. The best way to do this is with a powerful handshake.
Thank you, Elena, for reminding us of this important aspect of the meeting, and your wonderful analogy with the Olympic Torch.
Before breaking up, we were reminded that we have a one-hour training session about the new Pathways program scheduled for next meeting on 18 October. Unfortunately, District has not been able to confirm the date yet. So, all members need to be prepared for a different meeting, with over half of it spent on training for Pathways.
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| Five Presidents, Udana 2017; Wendy 2000, 2011, 2012; Elena 2016; May 1996, 2005, 2006; Daniel 2014 |
