Meeting 648 August 6, 2008
Badges for new members
Treasurer Alan maintains the register of new member badges. He had 5 for President Gail to present, but 2 people had sent their apologies. So Gail presented their badges to
Margaret, John and Suvidh.
Shaun was a visitor
Shaun already belongs to another Toastmaster Club which meets fortnightly, but he has to travel quite a lot forcing him to miss some meetings. He is looking for a weekly club so that the gaps between meetings he can attend are not as large. And he lives in Fremantle. We pressed him into service straight away, with a Table Topics response and as a speech evaluator.
Margaret was Toastmaster.
This was her first time in this important role. She had prepared carefully and it showed in the competent way she ran the meeting. There were a few glitches with speakers’ names, but she showed increasing confidence as the meeting proceeded. The Toastmaster role is excellent training not just for running meetings, but for a range of public speaking skills.
David inspired us with reflections on the human capacity to enjoy our experience of natural events. He described an early evening walk around the banks of the Canning River, watching the sunset glow across the water through the tree trunks on the edge. How many pelicans have you seen enjoying the sunset glow he asked.
Amanda and Table Topics! Amanda challenged speakers to reveal something of their character and personality through particular facets – food for Craig, gardens for Claire, art for Glenis, music for Hermine, books for Shaun, and transport for Tony.
David presented Table Topics Evaluation. He gave a universal commendation to all the speakers for the basic skills they displayed in their answers, and then gave detailed suggestions for improvement to each, along with a final commendation for specific elements in their presentations.
Another 3 excellent Project Speeches
Michael delivered his third speech – Melville Gardens – the units where he and Carla have moved to in the past week. The audience were often in stiches as he sketched their experiences with some of the colourful characters already resident there. Shaun evaluated Michael.
Gail’s Dying Wish was a reading from a story about a suicide organisation, as amateur detective Vincent was interviewed by the steely Toby. It didn’t end well for Vincent. Alan evaluated Gail.
John’s second speech was titled Gogo. He sketched a history of GoGo cattle station near Fitzroy Crossing where he is currently working. It’s big – a million acres. That’s where the extraordinary fossilised GoGo fish was discovered and brought scientists from all around the world to this remote location. All these leases expire in 2015. What will happen to GoGo? Glenis evaluated John.
The final section
Craig’s Highlights surveyed the meeting with a series of probing questions on who said what or who did that.
Hermine evaluated the evaluators.
Suvidh gave the Timing Report and he handled this tricky task very well, despite it being his first effort.
Tony evaluated the meeting. Being Tony it was a combination of quirky hilarity and pertinent feedback.
President Gail closed the meeting.
Gail prepared the supper.