Bright and shiney award

There is only one word for our club – FANTASTICABULOUS (lucky there is no grammarian around!)

There is humour, great speaking, teaching, and as one of our fabulous guests said : “You have a lovely way of presenting communication.”  As always a fun-filled evening.

Evadne set us to order and effeciently opened the meeting. Then our smiling president welcomed all and set the wheels for a great evening in motion.

Tim Wagner had a theme that was definitely not soccer! It was about tourists – shame!  He kept us glad that we were locals and not gullible tourists!

After telling us that tourists thought that there were elephants roaming the streets, he proceeded to explain all the functions and structures of the evening. I am sure the guests appreciated it. And with the wet winter Cape rain hurtling down outside, we began the speeches.

ADELIN NDUWAYO did his CC1 and introduced himself with flair! His evaluator was our very own SARGE – Evadne. His title was MY HISTORY AND AMBITION. A very funny speaker who explained he was a linguist through sheer number of countries he had been in! And his ambition was to be president of Burundi. One of his great jokes was that he was looking for a J O B (which stands for Just Over Broke!)  An important message from the speech – : Take any idea and keep pressing it – and people will accept anything.  A great opening speech ADELIN.

"President" Adelin delivered his ice-breaker

Next was RICHARD PERKINS who spoke about ALL ABOUT ME in his “Ice Breaker” Evaluated by Money man Mr Strachan. Richard was introducing himself – again~!  An advanced speaker of many speeches, he is going through the beginning process to hone his skills. In his speech he talked about attendingf 13 High schools – he was well schooled! And he joined the Navy – referring to it as PUDDLES OF WATER! There was the tale of girlfriend number 1 of …. 13!? He processed milk at Clover and enjoyed the creamy fruits of sucess with milkshakes! And now he is a teacher – brave man wielding red pens!  A great speech and we learned even more about you – thank you RICHARD!

Last but not least was PULENG doing her CC3 (Getting to the point) With her title WHERE IS TECHNOLOGY GOING IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM. Her evaluator evaluator was Our President Ana.  In 1901 a man fell asleep and dreamed he was in the 21st century. He was amazed to see technology – the travel system, money – using plastic cards! Even child birth was easier – you could choose how to have the birth or the sex of the child. The only thing that had not caught up to technology was the education system. If we are to educate youngsters in the 21st century in a way they understand, we have to use the technological tools available.  Thank you Phuleng for a very thought provoking speech.

Then after some tasty snacks, the evaluators did an excellent job of giving points of encouragement and points of improvement. The level of evaluations in our club is very high – keep up the good work!

Then the turn of Craig to Turn the tables on us at Table Topics. His topic was Places.

First speaker was TOM (me) who was asked where he was born and if he would like to return there. I said that on a point of order I was born in my moms tummy and would not like to return there. Then I said I was born in JHB and was now definitely a Capetonian and proud of it!

Next was GERDA who had the choice to live anywhere – and she chose not only to be president of but also own – VENUS! Creating the rules – of love! And creating hotels and resorts. Sounds like a fun place to see!

Then ADELIN who decided he wanted to visit RUSSIA because there was great vodka, muscular women to carry your bags and … bears?  Scary!

TIM told about his worst holiday experience when he was 14 in West Africa where small bush fires lit the way on the runway and there was a very unique self-help baggage retrieval system! And then he had a banana split – literally!

EVADNE was asked she would never like to go to. OUDTSHOORN – Sun is too hot there, and nothing changes. The pictures of the place from years before are still the same!

And finally PULENG spoke about her best holiday experience – a picnic holiday – which is only 1 day in her culture – where she fed men and made faces while looking for soul mates using a borrowed car!

Finally Ana implored us all to think about serving on the committee as we have positions still unclaimed!

Congrats to the Winners

Best Speaker: Puleng!
Best Evaluator : Evadne!
Best Table Topic: Puleng!

Remember next month our next new committee will be induced … er … inducted!  Be there!

Puleng receives her well-deserved awards from Ana

Thanks to Tom Bowman for the review, and Craig Strachan for the photos.

Speeches

Fellow Toastmasters showcased their skills in their speeches

Greg Marsh‘s icebreaker was like an advanced speech.   You are a hard act to follow Greg – I still have to do mine.

Jaco Strydom demystified the intricate world of high finance.  I now understand more about share indices.

Andries Viljoen figuratively cut up a cow and showed us pictures of the cooked beef.   The excellent visual aids accurately supported the content.

And Tim Wagner’s advanced assignment of “The End” was a speech of many, many diverse skills.   I loved the brevity of his personal eulogy and the motivational component running throughout.   It remains a wow for me.

Learning slot

Craig Strachan eloquently explained the purpose of the Education Slot at our meetings. It is a learning workshop enabling new members to understand & learn how a Toastmasters meeting is run & to provide a “going back to basics” for old members.

The topic for this meeting was Meeting Roles, which covered all the roles, requirements and skills of each role. The roles are summarized here.    More info is found in the Communication manual.

The Toastmaster is the MC for the meeting who needs to apply the essential, critical skills of how to run a meeting.

The Sergeant at Arms performs logistical and administrative functions, ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly.

The various Speakers cover topics to illustrate the required skills for their respective levels.

The Evaluators provides constructive feedback based on the demonstrated skills.

The Table Topics Master evaluates the skills of thinking on one’s feet, being creative, entertaining and talking within an allotted time. The purpose of table topics is to get people up on their feet & talking.

The General Evaluator gives feedback on how we are doing

The Timekeeper controls the time allocated for speakers by pressing the coloured lights indicating the time left to speak.

The Grammarian evaluates if the desired message was clearly understood by the audience, paying careful attention to use of word choice, metaphors, grammar and intonation.

My personal impressions

Learning the roles & rules gives one the opportunity to enjoy all the speakers, their own presentation styles and wide skills base.

I was initially distracted by the procedures especially at the October 2009 meeting where all the processes happened in reverse!   Thomas Bowman even wore his jacket back to front!   But after this education slot my fog index is much lower as a new member.

Education slots should occur more frequently.   These are the valuable building blocks to effective & competent communication & leadership.

Fellow Toastmasters please continue to share of yourselves in the very human manner in which you are doing.

Thank you to Sandra Arendse for this meeting review. Looking forward to your Ice breaker!

Thanks to Gerda van der Merwe for this visual meeting review!

And if the number of guests who joined up there and then are anything to go by, it looks like Peninsula members will be sticking to their New Year’s resolutions – well the ones to do with improving their presentation and leadership skills in any case.

It was also great to hear three Ice breakers on the evening – I look forward to many more presentations from these speakers.

Remember though, it’s never to late to make a resolution In fact, today is as good a day as any, so why not join us at our next meeting, on Thursday 22 February.

To get you in the mood, here are some pics taken at the January meeting.

Solveig delivers her inspiring Icebreaker speech

Tim delivers yet another excellent evaluation

Ana pays attention

Time keeper Hans also pays attention

Meeting review: Vanessa Clark

Photos: Craig Strachan

Peninsula Toastmasters, Meeting review  - 26 November:  It’s a lovely Thursday evening.  I am attending the meeting as a panelist on Ana Garcia’s assignment.  The meeting can be described as intimate, yet productive.  I think I count around ten people in the room, which bodes well for the recess as there would be food for more than that and I am starving!

The barman recognises my silhouette as I walk in through the bar.  He reaches for a tall beer glass and three Cokes, bypassing the ice bucket.  In a blur of hands as I walk by him R30 is exhanged for this heavenly mother’s milk (at least my Coke habit isn’t likely to kill me anytime soon…).  I am set for the loyal toast.

I shouldn’t be too surprised to be greeted by a blue-eyed, blonde lady speaking German to me as I sit down.  This is the German club, after all…  But no, this is none other than Jazzmin Hecht from Germany, visiting South Africa for a few months for the n-th time.  I think she must be psychic; how can she know I speak German?  Simple, really.  I am still wearing my Lufthansa ID tag. German club, German airline.  Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, must be a duck…

Evadne comes running around the table to give me her usual warm welcome, and I go down on one knee so that I can hug her properly.  Such a friendly and happy club, this…

Donna Maclagan and her Triple Crown Award

As I’m chatting to Jazzmin I spot my vic… I mean, evaluee, Donna Mclagan walking in.  What is it that people find so intimidating about having their assignments evaluated by the Division Governor?  If you prick me, do I not bleed?  Donna is doing her “Accepting an Award” speech from the Special Occassions Speeches manual.  She has her Triple Crown Award which she will be accepting, but no one to present it!  Never fear, the Division Governor is near!  After a quick huddle with Evadne, doubling up the Sergeant at Arms role  with that of Toastmaster Of The Evening, I organise a slot to present Donna with her Triple Crown Award.  Nothing like throwing a bit of realism into the mix.

During her opening, Ana says she is looking for a volunteer to do the meeting review.  In a flash of I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I’m-getting-myself-into-but-it-sounds-like-it-could-be-cool my seemingly springloaded sucker-hand shoots up.  I start taking some notes so that I can remember all of this for later.

Craig gives us the word of the day – Thanks, in the spirit of Thanksgiving (why do we care about American holidays when we have enough of our own…?).  He makes a valid point, that we don’t say thanks often enough.

Lois starts the C&L proceedings with a CC7 presentation called Awakened With a Kiss.  It’s about the story of the story of sleeping beauty (no typo!).  She also tells us the original version of the story.  “The prince went into the castle, found Sleeping Beauty, fell in love, and …”  HE DID WHAT?!?  I don’t shock easily, but Lois sure manages it.  I now know where Tarantino gets it from.

Funny guy Thomas Bowman

Thomas Bowman is up next.  He’s speaking from the Humorously Speaking manual.  He’s a good lad, is Thomas.  His mother told him not to jump out of an aeroplane in New Zealand.  She never said anything about throwing himself off a bridge with a rubber band attached to his ankles.  He listens to her.  Afterwards he phones her to tell her all about it.  What a guy!  He says he’s not funny.  I beg to differ.

La Presidenta Ana Garcia (who is getting married as I type this! You read it here first…) brings out the big guns to be her panelists for her panel discussion assignment from the Facilitating Discussion manual.  Lois Strachan, Immediate Past District Governor, Distinguished Toastmaster, soon to be Distinguished Toastmaster Times Two.  Craig Strachan, District Governor, Distinguished Toastmaster, hot on his wife’s heels.  And me, Division Governor and a mere Advanced Communicator Silver.  I am successful because  I surround myself with successful people, I remind myself.  The topic is starting multiple new clubs in Area D3.  The outcome:  There’s a lot of potential for new Clubs in the City Bowl area, which will fit in with the District’s goal of growth, but let’s not just start clubs for the sake of starting clubs.  Quality, rather than quantity.

The panelists: Lois Strachan, Craig Strachan and the author, Francois Rossouw

The snack break ensues, and there is a marked inprovement in the offering from the month before.  Again, I thank the gods for a small meeting.  More for me.  I give a good account of myself.

Table Topics is presented by Frau Hecht, nothing like jumping in there with both feet, Jazz!  Tonight’s is interesting.  Everybody writes down one of their secrets with their name on the top.  Jazzmin randomly picks speakers and tells him or her that, for example, someone in the audience wants to be a rock star.  The speaker has to tell us who and why.  No one gets the person right.  Everyone’s secrets remain safe.  PS, I’m the one who wants to be the aerobatics pilot!  Gut gemacht, Jazzmin!

Jazzmin Hecht puts Mapaseka Vryman through her impromptu speaking paces

The evaluations are of a good quality, as much as the speeches were of a high standard.  As the Division Governor this pleases me.  People are meeting their goals and Peninsula signs up another member.  They have a conversion rate that is right up there.

How do they do it?

Champagne appears as if by magic, and we drink a toast to Ana Garcia who is getting married on Sunday, 29 November. Felicitaciones por el gran día, Ana. Que todos tus días juntos se llena de alegría, felicidad y amor! Para siempre!

Chalk up another successful meeting.  Thanks, Peninsula ROCKS!

Thanks to Francois Rossouw for this review.

For a change, Ana and I decided to do a photo review of the evening. Enjoy!

Pre-meeting pow-wow. Mike is scratching his head already!

Sergeant-at-Arms, Kirsten Pearson, makes sure we all know where the bar is at the Tafelberg Tavern.

Toastmaster of the evening, Vanessa Clark, gets to grips with the podium.

Angela Rothbert of Table Bay Toastmasters completes her CC10 - an inspirational message to the residents of Mitchell's Plain. Congratulations!

Peninsula Toastmaster Abdul Kamaldien demonstrates his cold calling skills with guest Helene Booysen for his AC3.

Lindsay Meiheizen, from Pinelands Toastmasters, speaks off the cuff about the Sunshine House for his AC24.

Good Hope Toastmaster, Mike Fawcett had the audience gasping (with laughter and horror) during the next in his series of Upham tales, "Small boys can't fly" for his CC4.

Mavis Fawcett, timekeeper extraordinaire, tests out Peninsula Toastmasters new set of lights.

Peninsula Toastmasters' President and Area Governor, Ana Garcia, evaluates Angela's CC10.

Evadne Kortje, from Peninsula Toastmasters, capably does a double evaluation after Ana Garcia and Richard Perkins's TV interview entitled "Youth leadership in Southern Africa".

Our visitor from Phoenix, Arizona, Elaine confidently steps up to the challenge of a Table Topic slot, and explains just how she ended up waking up on Paarl Rock (in Richard's fictitious scenario.)

Evadne looking quite happy at Richard Perkins, from Grove Toastmasters, choice of Table Topics.

All still paying attention after dinner! Here are Kirsten, Jazzmin (our visitor from Germany), Elaine and Abdul.

Ah - Richard delivering his Ah report.

What a team. From left to right: Richard Perkins, Evadne Kortje, Helene, Lindsay Meiheizen, Mavis Fawcett, Angela Rothbart, Ana Garcia, Jazzmin Hecht, Vanessa Clark, Abdul Kamaldien, Kirsten Pearson, Mike Fawcett, Elaine.

Thanks for making the meeting such a fun and successful one. Between speaking and leadership credits achieved for the various clubs, as well as meeting Toastmasters from other clubs, and countries (!), this event was a huge success.

Meeting review by Ana Garcia and Vanessa Clark.

The details of the next one are:

Date: Tuesday 17 November 2009

Time: 18.00 – 20.45

Place: Tafelberg Tavern (directions)

Cost: R50 for snacks (yes the price has gone up, but it’s worth it) + cash bar

RSVP to Ana Garcia. There are still slots available so please volunteer – remember those CL credits!

Bon appetite!

Yes, it is as insane as it sounds!

I should have run home when I was asked to stand up to open the meeting by saying: “I hope that you have enjoyed this meeting …” or was it the look on the faces of our brand new guests which was making me think “how on earth are we going to put this right!?”. But the human mind is an incredible tool: very soon into the madness, we all knew what to expect, what to say…and the fun really started! (Don’t take my word for it; you have to experience it yourself!).

But stay with me…

It all started with Gerda van der Merwe’s (club’s VPE) magnificent idea of doing a “Lucky Draw” for those individuals whose names were mentioned and had their CL books with them. Craig Strachan was the winner (for the second time running!?… this smells fishy…) and then Gerda went on to challenge all the club members to bring their manuals to all meetings. Way to go!

Then Evadne Kortje created a “Talk Backwards” Table Topics theme; we only had time for two speakers, and Craig Strachan and Francois Rossouw were them. According to Francois, he “was going to miss a party because he was going to develop a headache after eating cheese and other snacks” and Craig confused us all by “ordering diet water because he was dirty, and double whisky because he was thirsty”. Yes, I know it was a Backwards meeting but surely, Craig, a little help here!?

Lois Strachan, Toastmaster of the Evening, masterfully confused the pants out of all of us by just about the middle of the meeting. She clearly knew what she was saying and how she was saying it! But I did point out to Craig that if she could keep that cross-wired train of thought so impeccably (un)clear during the whole duration of the meeting, I felt sorry for him whenever he needed to get into a discussion or debate with her, which I am sure it must happen on a regular basis!

But it was only when I lifted my head, turned round (I was busy writing evaluations and this review, among other things) and saw Thomas Bowman wearing his jacket backwards when I realized that there was no escape. We had done it. The mad-house was in full bloom… and it was nothing to do with a Full Moon!

The Evaluations were not any better: Richard Perkins talked a fuzzy, fizzy, watered message within a lot of gibberish… with a great imagination. Ana Garcia spoke a crazy, crossed-wired evaluation where she got to the conclusion that since Vanessa was a CC07 and almost an advanced speaker, surely her speech was going to be very good, and in the end all that mattered was to get her CC and half point for the club, and we were all looking forward very much to getting totally lost by the end of her speech.

We both won Best Evaluator for the evening. I am glad to see that people have a sense of humor in our club!

Gerda van der Merwe could have fooled us as her evaluation made perfect sense (or was my mind gone by then and I couldn’t tell the difference?). Kirsten Pearson started with a clever “In conclusion” statement and Craig Strachan spoke totally backwards, just in the spirit of the evening.

Sergeant at Arms, Evadne Kortje, asked us all not to return to the meeting, or was it to switch our cell phones off in the middle of the meeting? I don’t know any more; my brain was on overload by then!

Then into the Speeches: Vanessa Clark’s CC07 “The Seventh Mass Media” was very interesting. Hard to believe that in 7 billion in the planet, there are 4 billion mobile phone users… some of whom sleep with their precious gadgets! (Not me… yet!). Well done on winning Best Prepared Speech of the evening! (Or was it the least insane one?)

Thomas Bowman gave us in his AC01 the 2nd chapter of his previous (and very funny) “The Reluctant Chef” true story: To debone a chicken. I thought he was actually telling us an epic story, he was so immersed in it all!

Andries Viljoen did his CC06 with “Brave Enough to Start” and he showed a great leap in confidence and an array of speaking skills in his conversational, story-telling tale. But next time he stands up to speak I will hide under the table, just in case he decides to ask me more questions I can hardly think the answer for! And by the way, someone get those door hinges oiled! Well done Andries for ignoring the creaking noises… twice! during your speech.

Puleng Molahlehi spoke to us about “Journey with Inspiration” by the end of which we were totally sold on the idea. “We are thirsty for inspiration, but we don’t really know how much we are until we drink of it”. She insists that inspiration is something you work on and she gave us several tips, among which were keeping a journal and listening to inspiring music and words. She maintains that “being a living dead is cheap as you save in funeral costs” but that living with inspiration creates opportunities and opens up your life. It’s worth the try, don’t you think?

Hans Pleysier did his Icebreaker. Born and raised in Belgium, he came to Cape Town in 1997 and fell in love with it. He extended his holidays of 2 weeks up to 6 months until Home Affairs had to kick him off the country… only joking! He decided to come back and stay. He set up a restaurant in Kloof street (and sold it a couple of years ago – shame, I was going to pop in for a free coffee!) but then he sold the restaurant and went to Business School in Los Angeles. However, his aching heart brought him back here after only 5 months and he is currently busy setting up an import-export business. He quoted Forrest Gump – I am not sure if it is because life is always unexpected or because he likes chocolate! If you want to keep updated of Hans’ new ventures, visit www.2xist.co.za

Thank you and well done to our new member and Timekeeper for the evening, Jaco Strydom. Not easy to give a timing on a 7 to 5 minute speech, is it?

By now I had the headache of the century and as President of the club, had to close the meeting. “Have we all gone mad?” I asked “No, this meeting is not going to be the result of insanity, but an exercise on cross-wired thinking. And it comes to show how much cac (lots of laughs here…) one must come up with when one has to address an audience and is challenged to make some sense; or worse, still, not make sense at all! Really, I don’t drink alcohol, but I think I should have one tonight!”

Thanks to Peninsula’s President, Ana Garcia, for this review.

District 74 – Division D – Area D3

Editor’s note: this article is a lot longer than our usual reviews, but I would recommend you read it if you want a great synopsis of a successful evening, to get a good idea of what a Toastmasters meeting is all about and an excellent example of a general evaluation.

Speakathon

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Tafelberg Gardens Tavern

By Alma Nel

‘As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish. ‘
- Demosthenes

Introduction

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of my meeting evaluation, I have to say that for me, and I believe for the other participants and guests, the meeting was a success and lived up to its expectations by giving Toastmasters, also from other clubs, the opportunity they needed to get one step closer to completing their particular manual. The clubs that arrange evenings like this are building towards the advancement of the Toastmasters in their division and district, and deserve all the praise they can get for their contribution, so well done Peninsula on a successful evening!

After once before having participated in a Speakathon, I have to say that this was different in only one way…the guest speaker, David Gurteen, delivering a very interesting Knowledge Café – Workshop.

The inclusion of a guest speaker, who basically fulfilled an education slot, was a very nice addition to the evening program. His exercise allowed us to break the ice and it gave the speakers time to warm up their vocal chords.

I hope that more clubs will make it a point to include Speakathons in their year roster and I hope that more members will be able to attend these to support their club in achieving their goals.

Venue

Tafelberg Gardens Tavern has become home to many a Toastmaster club. It has a superb location for those of us who work in the city, with ample parking, large rooms to accommodate from the smallest to the larger club events, catering with light snacks or meals, and a cash bar.

The instructions to the venue are straight forward and even though many of us opt not to drive in the wrong direction of what appears to be a one-way street leading to the venue…secretly that short drive pleases the rebel inside you and you take the plunge to bend a rule.

However, upon entering the venue, there was a small A4 direction to the hall placed in the entranceway white board. This, in my opinion, may have been a little too small. I applaud you for actually having a direction indicator up, but would suggest you try to enlarge it to fit on an A3 or even better an A4. Perhaps the club could invest in having a color poster printed which would indicate which club is hosting that evening and to welcome you as you put your foot in the door. Adding an adjustable direction arrow to this will mean that the club can re-use the poster for all their events.

Because a big attendance was expected, the large stage hall was booked…which in itself had some pros and cons. It could clearly accommodate a large group of persons, only problem was that a large group did not pitch. It was unfortunate as the large hall would have been great had everyone attended. The acoustics were not great, especially since the hall was virtually empty. Having used the Tavern previously for such large groups, I am aware that one of the other dining areas would have been suited for the event, and would still have been perfect if the entire group did not attend. It would have made for a more intimate experience and greater ease of conversation between attendees during the breaks.

The good part of this hall was that it is away from most noise which is normally experienced when using the other rooms in the Tavern. This allowed for an uninterrupted evening where the speakers did not have to fight to be heard over the rhythms of samba music from the next door dance class.

I am all for dimmed lighting…in a romantic setting. But for an evening of speech delivery, where you have evaluators that need to make notes and read objectives out before the speakers deliver their masterpieces, or even for those speakers who have to do interpretive reading, the dimmed lighting was not a good idea. Nor so was the highly powerful main stage light which was on as it was too bright for the audience to properly see the speakers, and if the speaker was standing by the lectern to deliver the speech, he or she would be shadowing the light and their notes would befall into darkness.

Lighting at the Tavern is a major issue in all of its rooms and this will have to be addressed with the management. The other larger dining room would however have provided sufficient light and room for the event, even if it may have been too noisy.

Hooray for Toastmaster Time

I have a pet peeve…I believe that my time is as important as anyone else’s time, and if you are late to a meeting with me, you are disrespecting me and saying that you are more important than I am…at that point I simply get up and walk out.

Following my reasoning, without a doubt, I know that Toastmasters respect me!

I am proud to say that most Toastmaster meetings I have attended always, always started on time. This meeting was a wonderful example of everyone at their posts, and on time. Thank you for that.

S@A (Sergeant-at-arms)

Without an enforcer, we would have chatted up a storm and no speeches would have been done.

Kirsten, although soft spoken, did a wonderful job.

The room was set up and arranged on time. The club banner was prominently displayed in front of the lectern. At my eye level I could however not see what ribbons the club has accumulated, and I suggest that the banner rather be placed at a higher and more prominent place for the next meeting.

Agendas were distributed and waiting for us on the tables. All the guests were warmly welcomed and signed the guest book or forms that were circulated. As the S@A is normally the first club official at the meetings, I would suggest that this officer take it upon him- or herself to not only great the attendees, but also ensure that the guests and new members are introduced to other officials as they arrive.

Although the S@A did not distribute the guest kits, they were distributed to the guests at the end of the evening.

The S@A further ensured that all the speakers’ needs were catered for and that the food was ready on time.

El Presidente

We think they can do everything…and that is because they actually DO everything. President, Vice President Education (VPE) and Toastmaster of the Evening… Yes, Ana was every woman!!!

Apart from a few glitches due to the change in program and absence of the VPE, the evening was very well chaired by Madam El Presidente.

Ana did the Welcome and Loyal Toast flawlessly. Although she did not have knowledge of all the agenda changes, she did ensure that those changes did not impact the evening adversely.

The tiny gavel was passed correctly throughout the evening to ensure that the air of formality was not lost in the more modern Toastmaster evenings held in Cape Town…because you know Capetonians are just more chilled out.

The theme of the evening, being a Speakathon, was well prepared and the short discussion on what we could expect was done within the time allotted.

Ana kept the meeting flowing smoothly and did her best to keep all items within the allotted time. All the speakers, including the guest speaker and evaluators were given a short and appropriate introduction.

Guest Speaker

We might just have converted him into becoming a Toastmaster. David Gurteen presented a shortened version of his Knowledge Café – workshops. His presentation was very well prepared, and even adaptable to the now much smaller than anticipated group of attendees. The content was personalized and was relevant to the audience. Even though the discussion went over the allocated time, we hardly noticed.

‘For all our knowledge, we have no idea what we are talking about.’ My memory of the speaker’s actually phrasing may be wrong…but wasn’t that the point? During our daily passage through time, we participate in many different conversations. For each of these, we hold our own memory or interpretation of those conversations, whether this is correct or not.

David explained the process he uses during his cafés as consisting out of various smaller conversations. Groups of around 20 to 30 people normally attend, with 4 to 5 per table. Each group is given the topic for discussion, and given 10 to 15 minutes to have a discussion or conversation about the topic. Some of them rotate to other groups between 3 to 4 times. They then return to their original groups and then the entire group has a feedback session as part of a whole group discussion. There are no leaders in the groups. The report back is not single person specific and no summaries are made at the end. This process enables each person’s view and interpretation of the topic to come to the fore, without installing the perception of a leader’s view on the group’s discussion. This ensures further that the outcome from the workshop is what each individual takes home from the experience.

These workshops have 2 goals, to foster better understanding of the topic and a better understanding of the perspectives in the room.

The topic up for discussion for our session was ‘The importance of conversation in the business environment’. The entire group eagerly participated in the discussions. It almost turned into a featherweight fight between the Digital Natives and the Fuddy-Duddies. It was a pleasant learning experience and this is also why the time allocated was not stuck to, and also why we did not really mind.

The venue used for the Speakathon was not ideally suited to David’s workshop style, however the event was none the less successful.

Food, glorious food

The snacks were on time, more than enough due to the over booking and were very good.

The only glitch in this section was the late collection of the snack contribution by the Treasurer. Perhaps it is because the club has a policy I’m not aware of…like if you don’t like the snacks you don’t pay for them? Perhaps all clubs should introduce this.

The reason for our gathering

Speakathons are wonderful opportunities for speakers to get that bit closer to reaching their targets for the year. It is a wonderful addition to the otherwise normal Toastmaster program and should in my opinion be used more often.

Ana gave an effective introduction for each speaker and also explained the purpose and importance of prepared speeches for the benefit of the guests. For each of the speakers she called on the evaluator to explain the objectives of the speech project, to explain the timing procedure, gave an appropriate introduction that is speaker specific, and invited the audience to welcome the speaker. The evaluators proceeded to fulfill these functions with precision.

What I particularly enjoyed was the fact that Ana repeated the speech titles twice before inviting the speakers to the lectern. She was also considerate enough to remind the evaluators of possible aspects of the project they forgot to mention.

The main event! The speakers were exceptional and entertaining.

Lois, always inspirational in her repeating of projects, showed us superb storytelling in the form of a CC4, in her speech titled “Too High A Price”, the story of Daedalus and Icarus vividly came to life in all our minds. Meticulous as always, Lois remained on time and finished on 6 minutes 40 seconds out of the 7 minutes allowed.

Craig, although there was slight confusion as to the level of CC he was going to do (a CC8 I think), taught me something through his speech…how to effectively manage my present total of 1208 messages in my in box. In his speech titled ‘GTD’ (getting things done), he gave us tips and further research resources to enable us to effectively manage our offices for maximum efficiency. Craig did however go way over his allotted time of 7 minutes, all the way into 8 minutes and 49 seconds.

Mike, an exceptional story teller, had almost everyone drying a tear with his CC6 titled ‘Our precious life’. A story of young adventurous boys tempting the fates with their free spirits…almost ending in great misfortune. With tearful jubilation Mike completed his speech in 7 minutes 5 seconds, out of the 7 minutes allocated.

Vanessa, the young entrepreneur, had us guessing with her speech/sales pitch. Her CC6 titled ‘Tag and release’ contained a slightly strange yet very effective correlation between great white sharks and children, and the fact that as species they should both be monitored but also allowed freedom to explore and grow. Actually it made me suspicious and I started to wonder if that bump on my arm was in fact a childhood injury or whether my mother is still, at this very moment, monitoring my every move…hey, maybe that is why we always think they have eyes everywhere. Vanessa completed her speech in 6 minutes 39 seconds, out of the 7 minutes allocated.

Richard, in delivering a reading of a particularly interesting story in his AC23, reminded us of what men would do for money…and what women would do to men. In his speech titled ‘Dip in the pool’, he really made his characters come to life. Richard completed his speech in 8 minutes 24 seconds, out of the 10 minutes allocated.

Lindsay, in delivering his AC23 by doing a speech made famous by an icon in his own words and emotions, was the epitome of bravery and guts being played out through a powerful delivery of a truly memorable speech. In the delivery of his speech, titled ‘I have a dream’, he had all of us on the edge of our seats, listening intently, even if we have read or heard the same speech so many times before. Lindsay delivered his speech in 13minutes 20 seconds, out of the 15 minutes allocated.

Did I pass?

The evaluators did a very good job in ensuring the speakers stay motivated and still delivered constructive criticism to help them improve even more. Even those evaluators who evaluated speakers doing speeches on higher levels than the evaluator him/herself was did very well.

I have to single out the evaluations done by Francois, as I thought these were done exceptionally well, and if he would be so kind, I would like him to do one of my future evaluations.

Evaluators are given between 2 and 3 minutes to deliver their feedback. Most of the evaluators went a bit over time in giving their feedback.

In giving their feedback the evaluators must:

• Organize their evaluation with a clear opening, body and conclusion
• Focus on the specific project objectives
• Personalize their language
• Provide an evaluation appropriate to the experience level of the speaker
• Appear sincere, positive, motivating, enthusiastic and build self-esteem
• Provide specific examples of what the speaker did well
• Show the speaker how to improve

Richard took 3 minutes 7 seconds, and delivered a wonderful evaluation. Tim took 3 minutes 6 seconds, and delivered an evaluation in which I would have liked the objectives of the speech and how the speaker either met them or not to be highlighted more. Vanessa took 2 minutes 2 seconds, and delivered an evaluation in which I would have liked more personalization rather than using ‘we felt’. Francois took 3 minutes 40 seconds for his first evaluation, and 3 minutes 41 seconds for his second, although both were considerably over time, as I stated above he delivered exceptional evaluations. Lois took 4 minutes 40 seconds, although considerably over time it was worth it for another exceptional evaluation of a speech that was in itself very well delivered.

Time is money

The time keepers stuck to only timing the speakers and the evaluators. In a standard meeting the time keeper has a much larger job, and need to time everything from the Meeting start time, Toastmaster theme or word of the day, Education presentation, Table topics, Speech evaluations, reports, and the overall meeting.

The time keepers did however do an exceptional job in recording that which was expected of them for this evening.

On the point of time, many factors played a part in the fact that the meeting went 20 minutes over time. But with a bit of practice and extra time provision in the agenda, that ought to be sorted out for future meetings.

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and this evening was no exception to that rule

Fin

‘Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger.’

- Franklin P. Jones

Overall the evening was a success, and that is what really matters. I cannot stress it more that I believe more of these evenings must be introduced into the Toastmaster calendar year. Gradually start by introducing one in your club, and then expand these so that it becomes another mingling experience for more clubs to get together and achieve those personal and club goals.

The speakathon is also a nice break from the usual meeting agenda with all its formalities and talk of business. Rather than talking of business, it gives members a chance to just talk.

My nit-picking of what happened and what didn’t should not discourage anyone from attending future meetings or speakathons, but should serve as constructive criticism to improve on future events such as this.

Onwards and upwards Toastmasters!