Instead of a regular meeting review, how about watching the meeting in action?

Last night I went along to join the Cape Communicators Toastmaster’s Club’s monthly meeting. They have a crafty tactic whereby if you are a guest and want a speaking slot, you are required to bring along an evaluator.

Tim Wagner, from Peninsula, was presenting the first of his advanced speeches and invited me along to see what the club is all about. This is a club with a bit of a difference as it’s for speakers working on one of the Toastmasters advanced programmes. Typically these speeches are longer than the average 5 – 7 minutes, and it can be difficult for busier clubs (such as Peninsula) to always accommodate the longer slots and still give all their members a chance to present regularly. Most of Cape Communicator’s members seem to belong to more than one club. They stay a member of their home club and then join Cape Communicators as well to rack up those advanced speaking credits.

The types of presentations you can see include keynotes, brainstorming sessions, after dinner talks and motivational speeches. I also found the evaluations to be more extensive than what I am used to. It’s definitely a good place to go as an observer to see some great speakers and evaluators in action.

I was asked to evaluate Craig Strachan‘s high performance leadership presentation on his goals for the district this year in his role as division governer. Craig has some pretty bullish goals in place – so watch this space.

On the one hand it was pretty daunting for me as a CC5 (this means I am half way to achieving my competent communicator status) to be evaluating THE most senior toastmaster in southern Africa, and such an advanced speaker in general. Fortunately the club was so welcoming, and the environment so relaxed, I only really thought of this later (gulp!). I hope I gave Craig some useful feedback on his superb speech and I earned a credit towards my competent leadership track (thanks Sarah Rossouw).

Tim did extremely well presenting his keynote address. The jump from 7 minutes to 20 minutes must be quite a task.

If you have just completed your CC or are interested in finding out more about the advanced course – do yourself a favour and go along to one of the Cape Communicators Toastmasters Club meetings. They meet on the third Monday of the month in Pinelands. Contact Francois Rossouw, the vice president of education (VPE) to attend as an observer or get on the programme.

PS – mention this blog post and see if you can get a free glass of wine out of Francois!

What is a Speakathon? I hear you ask. A Speakathon is a special Toastmaster’s meeting that only involves speeches and evaluations. It’s a great way for Toastmasters to get in additional speaking experience, and also credits towards their various speaking and leadership assignments. It’s also a great chance for members of different clubs in an area to get to know each other and participate in a meeting together.

The next Speakathon in Area D3 (Cape Town city area) is coming up:

Date: Tuesday, 13th October 2009
Place: Tafelberg Tavern (large hall) – you can get directions here
Time: 6 for 6.30 pm
Cost: R40 (snacks provided, cash bar available)

We will be providing the opportunity for 6 – 8 toastmasters and 6 – 8 evaluators to progress with their CC or AC programmes slots will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.

Please RSVP by 25th September to Ana Garcia with your CC or AC number and timing of your speech.

PLUS….

David Gurteen of Gurteen Knowledge will be running a Knowledge Café at the Speakathon.

David has over 30 years’ experience working in high technology industries. Today, he works as an independent knowledge management consultant, facilitator and speaker, helping people to innovate and to work more effectively together.

He is the founder of the Gurteen Knowledge Community – a global learning network of over 16,000 people in 154 countries. Community members receive his free monthly Knowledge Letter that is now in its 9th year.

David publishes the Gurteen Knowledge Website – a resource website that contains book reviews, articles, people profiles, event calendars, inspirational quotations, an integral weblog and more on subjects that include knowledge management, learning, creativity and innovation.

He is a frequent speaker and facilitator and presents on various aspects of knowledge management and social learning. He is well known for his Gurteen Knowledge Cafés that he runs regularly in London and in other cities around the world. He also facilitates Knowledge Cafés and workshops for organizations and conference organizers.

David has run run 100s of knowledge cafes over the last few years all over the world and they are really great learning and networking events.

Everyone engages with the theme of the cafe and some tremendous insightful, energetic conversations take place.  Better still the cafe process is one that you can take back with you and use in your own organizations to help create a more open, innovative culture.

Usually Peninsula Toastmaster’s Club meets on the last Thursday of the month. But because in September this falls on a public holiday (heritage day, or national braai day – whichever you prefer ) we’ve decided to push the meeting out by a week and have it on Thursday, 1 October 2009 instead.

All the other details stay the same. Kick off is 5.45 pm. R40 covers your attedence and bar snacks. A cash bar is available. All guests are welcome.

Drop me a line at pro [AT] peninsulatoastmasters.info for more information. Or add your details to the mailing list by filling out the form on the right hand side of the page.

Come join us a for a fun-filled, relaxed evening, where we learn better presentation and leadership skills in a supportive, knowledgeable environment.

Gerda delivers her winning speech

Toastmasters welcomed guests, potential members. I say potential for you could smell their interest in the reason for visiting the club.

Solveig McCormick shared how chose the Peninsula club specifically because of the good reputation it has. At the end of the evening, asking for her review she said “…From the second I walked into the room…I have not been received as warmly as tonight for so long it moved me very deeply…”.

To Karen du Preez it seemed, it sounded like wonderful memories of high school toastmasters gave her a calling to rekindle the interest, as well as to support a member participating in one of the great events of the year…the humour competition.

No I’m not done, we had a few guests, Hans Pleysier heard about the club this morning and was so impressed he spontaneously decided to check out the club tonight …I’d love to hear what he thought about it, guess we’ll see if he returns.

Humour Contest 2009

There were competitors.

1. Kirsten
2. Tim
3. Vanessa
4. Gerda
5. Tom

Kirsten had an inspiring presentation on tips on how to discover and let out the Speakerman inside of every man. Very useful, practical hilarious tips on how to set Speakerman into action.

Tim, such a wonderful start …”The highest reason for most divorces….is marriage…”. A sweet humour, affectionate stories on marriage and his wife.

Vanessa, I wonder if it was intentional or whether I’m thinking too much on the theme of the presentation, I found it raised questions on challenging stereotypical minds on the new Mzansi, classifications of people into boxes filled with presumptions, how silly and ridiculous these assumptions can be.

Gerda with, a modern version of little red riding hood. I cannot even begin to paint the picture of the story and the events. Just some of the highlights “Red rode her Vuka scooter…surviving the mean Scorpion Choppy traffic officer in his blue uniform…vomit in the tumbledryer…to the woodchopper who whipped out his AK47. The most fragmented fairytale ever that flowed better than the alphabet.

It was interesting how humour was presented in such diverse styles; light hearted, sweet, hilarious, wit, thought-provoking, silly, and mostly filled with the kind of entertainment that leaves the smile on your face throughout.

The Club is growing with with new fresh blood; Ana inducted five new members

1. Vanessa Clark
2. Mapaseka Vryman
3. Kirsten Pearson
4. Puleng Molahlehi
5. Thomas Bowman

Ana (far left) with the new Peninsula Club members: Tom, Kirsten, Mapaseka, Puleng and Vanessa

The newlings pledged their commitment to participate and engage in the activities of the club and the current member welcomed and promised to continue their dedication as well as provide support to the freshers and each other.

Vision for the Year

Ana encouraged the members to view the participation in the club as more than just protocol and structure, to study and learn to enter a process of healing and transformation. To learn and understand how one’s energy affects others, ultimately to find one’s voice in others.  To become a beacon of light.

Table topics

Thomas shared a story on not giving up. No matter what, just don’t stop. Including when you are on your ski lessons and you realize you missed the instructions on how to slow down and stop because you were busy eyeing a beautiful lady across a distance. Once you have slid down the slope…

‘Products that are what they are not’

Kirsten Pearson, improvised on the Aerosol: it smells like whatever you want it to smell like

Trevor Poyo, nachos for a special price.

Craig Strachan, the peppermint anti-terrorist device will save you from a hijack.

Tim as Fines Master had nil fault to pick on, instead he thanked Gerda van der Merwe for her excellent organizing and coordination skills demonstrated on the evening.

Well done to

Gerda  for winning the Humour contest,

Thomas for attaining second place,

Tim for third place.

Craig for the animated imagination on the table-topics.

- For more photos of the event, visit our Facebook page here.
- Thanks to Mapaseka Vryman for the meeting review.

Apparently some of the members of Peninsula Toastmasters do. Our next meeting, on Thursday 27 August 2009, at 5.45 pm, will be the annual club-level humour contest.

To get you in the mood: check out Craig Strachan’s award-winning presentation from last year’s humour hopabout here. (This is a slightly different contest, but you get the idea!)

For our speakers, here are some top tips from the master himself.

Our contestants are:

Kirsten Pearson, Gerda van der Merwe, Thomas Bowman, Tim Wagner and Vanessa Clark (gulp! that’s me!). Good luck!

If you would like to join the meeting as a guest, please email pro@peninsulatoastmasters.info.

Thursday, 30 July 2009 saw Ana Garcia, the newly inducted President for the Peninsula Club, setting the tone for the evening by addressing the club on creativity.

Ana spoke about Peninsula Club as a home for Toastmaster Adventurers.  She talked about how applying creativity to the club would make it a thriving club and about the legacy that Toastmasters can leave.

As Toastmaster of the Evening, Ana warmly welcomed the new guests in attendance to the meeting.  She noted that this was an evening of beginnings and endings, with a CC1 and CC10 on the same evening.

Prepared speeches for the night included:

• Kirsten Pearson introduced herself to the club, doing her CC1 icebreaker,  A pot of gold.  Evaluated by Gerda van der Merwe.
• Andries Viljoen presented a poetically rendered, Facing the Giant.  Evaluated by Abdul Kamaldien.
• Congratulations to Maya Naumann, on achieving her Competent Communicator status, presenting her CC10, The Fountain of Youth.  Evaluated by Evadne Kortje, who commended Maya for inspiring us to make peace with the aging process.
• Tom Bowman elicited belly laughs from the audience, delivering his AC1, Do you smell the Smoke? District Governor for Southern Africa, Craig Strachan evaluated his speech, calling his humour Monty Pythonesque.
• Evadne Kortje entertained us with a Folk tale, The Hen and the Hawk’s Lost relationship, her AC24. Lois Strachan evaluated her speech, remarking on the magic, intrigue and imagination, which Evadne had evoked for us.

Cornel Dannhauser delivered the Timekeeper’s report.  He also amused us with his extended efficiency, when he timed Andries Viljoen’s explanation of the Table Topics.   Andries provided a challenge to those who presented Table Topics, asking them to raise the bar when proposing a toast and provided them with some interesting scenarios to toast.

Table topics:

• Alan proposed a very sincere toast to his son, ‘Peter’, to wish him well as he embarked on his university degree.
• Gerda van der Merwe wished her daughter, ‘Denise’ a happy 21^st Birthday in what also transpired to be a dramatic send off for ‘Denise’ into her Pop career.
• Craig Strachan then toasted his old buddy, Richard, on the birth of his twins. Craig’s novel approach was styled as a beer-to-beer man talk.

All in all it was a very creative evening, with humour, stories and inspiration making repeat appearances during the course of the meeting.

Congratulations to:

-       Maya Naumann on achieving Competent Communicator status.

-       Tom Bowman for delivering the best prepared speech of the evening.

-       Craig Strachan on being the Evaluator of the evening.

-       Our guest, Alan, on delivering the best Table Topic of the evening. Well done!

Thanks to Kirsten Pearson for the report on the July 2009 meeting.

Thursday, 25 June 2009 saw the Peninsula Club celebrate its 30th birthday with a slightly different agenda for the evening. Instead of the usual post meeting snacks we were treated to a delicious sit down meal and an after dinner guest speaker, at the usual venue of Tafelberg Tavern.

Newer members (myself included) got a taste of some of the formalities such as an Invocation and pre-dinner Toast, that we don’t always experience.

Prepared speeches for the night included:

• Gerda van der Merwe doing her CC3, Get to the point, and evaluated by Jason Sandler (a visitor from Chuckle and Chat in Somerset West).
• Vanessa Clark presented her CC4, How to say it, and was evaluated by Paul Jensen (visiting from Taverners). You can read her speech "We’ve come a long way" here.
• Tim Wagner presented his CC9, Persuade with power, and was evaluated by Lois Strachan. Tim went on to complete his competent communicator the following week at Tableview – CONGRATULATIONS!
• Congratulations also to Nic van Schalkwyk achieved his competent communicator presenting his CC10, Inspire your audience, evaluated by Ana Garcia.

After timekeeper for the evening, Tim Wagner, delivered his report, Deirdre Pluke presented the Invocation on the subject of being grateful. Toastmaster Craig Strachan had warned us that it is customary to hold your applause after the Invocation, in order to contemplate the message delivered. Difficult not to applaud though after Deirdre’s well-delivered, thought-provoking Invocation.

Jason Sandler then entertained us with the story of how Peninsula Club was formed 30 years ago. It was appropriate that he shared this story with us, as his father was instrumental in setting the club up.

The after dinner guest speaker, Graham Williams, is the author of the book The halo and the noose, and shared with us a fascinating presentation on the power of story telling and story listening in business life.

Finally the new club officers were inducted. The Peninsula Club’s committee for 2009 – 2010 is as follows:

President – Ana Garcia
Vice-president Education (VPE) – Gerde van der Merwe
Vice-president Membership (VPM) – Tim Wagner
Vice-president Public relations (VPPR) – Vanessa Clark
Secretary – Lois Stachan
Sergeant-at-arms – Evadne Kortje
Immediate past president (IMM) – Craig Strachan

In closing, here is a link to Ana Garcia’s acceptance speech – have a read to find out what exciting things are upcoming for Peninsula Club.

PS – We wish Craig Strachan, immediate past president of Peninsula Club, all the very best for his tenure as District Governor for Toastmasters district 74 (Southern Africa). Read about what Craig has to say about the honour here. I am sure Lois will have a few tips for you from her experiences as last year’s District Governor.

PPS – A huge thank you to Evadne Kortje (incoming Sergeant-at-arms and outgoing Area Governer) for arranging such a fantastic feast. The chicken pie lived up to all expectations

Thanks to Vanessa Clark for the report on the June 2009 meeting.