2011 Meeting Diary
Here's a diary and photos of our WOW meetings in 2011, until September:
Sunday 18 September 2011
Well it was a red letter day at today's WOW meeting. It was the 100th meeting of the club since it began and chartered in September 2003. The theme for the meeting was Wearable Art, with most club members turning up in something wearable - art wise that is!
The Grammarian Carol chose the word "inosculate" which means to join and blend. Nearly everyone managed to use the word or its derivative during the meeting.
Table Topics used the theme to allow speakers to talk about creating a hat for a fancy dress party (Carol at left below), directing a stage show and a clash of items on set, wearing something recycled, going to the WOW show, school day fancy dress shows, and favorite watercolour paintings.
The first speaker was Dale who delivered a "reverse icebreaker", as it was her final speech with the club because she is taking a break. Dale described how the club began, how she has achieved her Distinguished Toastmasters Award and the achievements of the club during her 8 years membership. She also talked about memorable meetings, memorable people and memorable places the club has met during this time.
Speaker 2 was Jennifer who talked about "Words" and how Toastmasters wouldn't exist without them. Evaluator Rita gave Jennifer some valuable tips for combatting nerves.
Speaker 3 was Val, (pictured above right), who used a display chart and a handout for her speech called "The Witchhunt", in which she explained the alphabet soup that makes up the English language. Evaluator Justin was relieved it wasn't another death by powerpoint speech.
Speech 4 by Carolyn, our Area Governor, covered the upcoming events, and her role as area governor.
In General Business, President Glynis presented Dale with a bunch of flowers, while Dale offered to present the club with a Trophy for Toastmaster of the Year, which she said she would return in December to present.
Following the meeting lunch was at the White Swan in Greytown.
August 2011, Cornucopia, Featherston
You wouldn't have thought that exactly a week earlier, we were hunkering down waiting for the worst storm in 50 years to hit. Here we were sitting outside at the Cornucopia courtyard in a warm fine Sunday morning 7 days later, enjoying an outdoor meeting.
Only three speakers for table topics today, talking about unexpected outcomes, then Caroline delivered her first practice run for her humorous speech. The audience had several excellent pieces of advice for her when she competes at Area level.
Carol talked about New Zealander of the Year for 2010 Ray Avery, outlining his fascinating life story. Following that, Justin's speech was supposed to use a powerpoint presentation, but lacking power, he continued anyway, describing how air accident investigations work. He reminded us that 90% of decisions are based on emotion, but accident enquiries must focus on the facts, and he described the process and tools used.
Glynis was our final speaker with her topic "Melt like butter", talking about New Zealand's projected obesity rates and the problems it will cause for the already overloaded health system. After describing the various types of surgery involved for super-obese people, some of us were thinking about what we'd have for lunch (or not!)
A Timekeeper's report and Grammarian's Report followed, then Rita gave her general evaluation, complimenting Marilyn on coping with a last minute venue change and late start considering it was her first time chairing a meeting.
A delicious cafe lunch followed at Cornucopia before we all headed off home.
July 2011, Cobblestones
July's meeting had a Harry Potter theme, to coincide with the recent launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter film. While everyone knew who Harry Potter was, some members were not as well-read or avid followers as others. However this did not deter Table Topics Master Anna who asked speakers to talk about various Harry Potter items: mirror, chair, table, wand, tree, window, suitcase, dinner plate, cape and dungeon. Evaluator Val said it was a fun and enjoyable session, and everyone had something to say despite the lack of knowledge in some areas.
Speech 1 by Jenny focussed on a powerful message about the use of the English language. In Speech 2 by Rita, the Professor tried to sell a unique product or service, and got right into theme, dressing as a wizard and selling a magic wand to the audience (pictured left below). Speech 3 by Maureen entertained us with recitals of lots of well-known and much-loved childhood poems, and Evaluator Sarah said she loved the modern adaptation of the Jack and Jill rhyme (pictured right below).
Grammarian Caroline reported on the use of the word "ferocious" and Timekeeper Carol reported on everyone's timings.
General Evaluator Val complimented Chairperson Glynis for keeping the meeting to time, in a relaxed and fun way, and said all the evaluators did their job well.
Following the meeting and lunch, Club Leadership Training for the Wairarapa clubs was conducted by Division Governor Sarah Bate and her team.
June 2011, REAP House, Masterton
There was a good turnout of members to the June WOW meeting at REAP House in Masterton and the word of the day "pedantic" and derivatives, was used by several people during the meeting. We welcomed outgoing area governor, Keith Morris as well as charter and past member, Joy Ackrill DTM (pictured below).
Sheila Agnew, as Table Topics master, challenged our olfactory senses with various spices and products in plastic bags, with the challenge to talk about your earliest memory of the item.
Our first speaker of the day was Carol Wald with "Home Invaders", a funny speech, using vocal variety and posing the question, "does indoor/outdoor flow also allow for outdoor/indoor flow?" and introduced us to a number of invaders, including Rodney the rat.
Second speaker was Anna Simms with "The Legacy" speaking about the legacy Nelson, her father, had left behind, including his sense of humour.
Speaker three was Val Richardson (pictured above) with some scientific material called "The Big Bang Baking Theory", where she donned a very attractive apron and demonstrated some of the chemical reactions involved in baking. Val concluded with samples of cherry and chocolate meringues, which were very well received by her audience.
Final speaker of the day was Keith Morris detailing what had been achieved by our area during the year and congratulating WOW on achieving President's Distinguished club, an amazing honour for a club that meets monthly.
Lunch was held at Master Bowl bowling rink Masterton, with a team of 4 later playing a game of 10 pin bowling.
Meeting report by Rita Stirling.
May 2011
Unfortunately your roving reporter was unable to make it to the May meeting, so there is no report this month.
Sunday 17th April at REAP, Masterton
Rita, the Toastmaster of the meeting greeted the smaller than usual number of attendees dressed all in brown, impersonating a chocolate for the day, as chocolate was the theme of the meeting. She challenged members to decide if she was soft and gooey, fruity and nutty, hard and crunchy or tough and chewy.
First speaker of the day was Jenny, doing a longer than usual presentation from the Professional Speaker advanced maual - "The DOPE test". Using a number of interactive techniques as well as role plays, Jenny lead us to consider if we were Doves, Owls, Peacocks or Eagles in our approach to life and situations. Identifying particular characteristics of each of these birds could also help us in dealing with others and we were challenged at the end of this brief seminar to go online and take the test for ourselves.
Second speaker was Marilyn with "Rhinos - Will They Survive?" and an impassioned speech about the various endangered animals from her birthplace, South Africa where she had seen them firsthand in various game parks. The biggest problem for rhinos are the poachers looking to sell horns into the traditional Chinese medicinal market. Marilyn gave clear examples of how we can help stop this illegal trade by not buying any souvenirs made from animals or from timbers that have been felled, destroying habitat.
Our third speaker was Val with "The Mysteries of Easter". Val gave a very educational presentation on the background of Easter in the northern hemisphere and how Christians had coat-tailed onto pagan festivals and how she found it strange to be in the southern hemisphere celebrating a Spring/Easter festival in autumn. The Kiwis amongst us felt it was all quite normal and had never considered this point of view before.
With a few minutes to spare at the end of the programme, we were treated to Lynn Bushell's division winning speech "Oh Yeah?", before she goes on to represent Division E at the District contest in May.
Afterwards, a very tasty lunch was enjoyed by all at the Aberdeen Steakhouse in Masterton.
Sunday 20 March 2011, at Cobblestones
March's WOW meeting was attended by 14 people, including two visitors and two Speechcrafters. The theme was "Harvest" and Glynis produced a basket of harvested veges from her garden to decorate the table. Anna was Chairperson and she ran a very enjoyable meeting full of speeches.
Caroline ran a very enjoyable Table Topics using the "harvest" theme. This was followed by the first speech by Maureen, who described the reasons why she had received Masterton District Council's Civic Award for community services. She explained how she was a Girl Guides leader, a hockey coach, a Cub leader, involved with gym at the YMCA and in years past, a train driver!
Justin's speech entitled "My buddy Bomboy" told the story of the bumble bee and how they pollinate our crops, the reason for the decline in numbers and what we can do to help. Justin used a powerpoint slide show to show us graphs and pictures, and this speech completed his Advanced Toastmaster - Silver Award.
The third speech was by our Area Governor Keith Morris, who was conducting his half yearly club visit. Keith told us about his journey and activities as an Area Governor, from visiting clubs to attending District Conventions.
The final speech by Glynis was in storytelling mode, with the audience seated in a semi-circle. "The harvest of a life time" was a moving story about her friend John, and how he had lost the fight for life. You could have heard a pin drop, so dramatic and heartfelt was this story.
Dale was Grammarian, and her word of the day "primrose path" was used by most speakers, either during table topics, in their speech, during linking comments, and even in general business.
Following the meeting, we enjoyed an outdoor lunch at Turkey Red.
Sunday 20 February 2011, Gladstone
WOW's February meeting was held at the Gladstone Sports Complex, way out the back of Masterton, next to the Gladstone pub. A long way to go but worth every kilometre. There were four guests, three of whom were Speechcrafters, so it was nice to see some new faces.
Grammarian Glynis came up with the word "principle" for the meeting, and everyone tried to use it at least once.
Justin's speech was a roast and a presentation of a certificate to Rita. She had earned the Advanced Communicator Silver and Justin was delighted to present the award. During his speech we learnt a little more about Rita, such as when she flew a plane through a rainbow! Not something you would do every day!
Jenny officially presenting Rita with her AC-S Award.
Jenny's speech was a practice run for the international speech contest, and it was about the results of a lifelong survey of Gen-y children. Evaluator Glynis asked the audience for help and some excellent tips were provided for Jenny.
Table Topics run by Maureen was about life skills, and as always Maureen picked some wonderful topics to test our speakers. Anna was awarded the Table Topics Speaker of the Day.
Anna receiving her Table Topics Speaker award.
Dale used the meeting as an opportunity to practice her Mother of the Groom speech for her son's upcoming wedding. Not very often at Toastmasters you get to practise a toast, so it was a welcome change. Evaluator Justin loved the intro and linkage to horoscopes and home projects.
Glynis was the final speaker and she talked about Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's infamous Prime Minister. Evaluator Jenny said she was impressed with the details Glynis had dug up on the man.
General Evaluator Anna said she enjoyed the meeting and gave each evaluator a few pointers.
Following the meeting, we had a delicious hot lunch at the Gladstone Pub, always a busy and popular place.
Sunday 16 January 2011, Cobblestones
The first WOW meeting of the year was held at Cobblestones on the 16th of January. The theme for the meeting was "Picnic". While there were a few members still away on holiday the meeting went well. There were 2 speeches due to the smaller numbers. Marilyn provided a wonderful plea for people to use their indicators after a recent bad experience. Justin presented a educational speech on the importance of creating a good introduction and some useful do's and don'ts. General Business took a bit longer than normal due to planning for the upcoming speechcraft course, and Area Club Officer training. Luckily the weather held off until after the meeting so we could enjoy a picnic meal in the lovely grounds at Cobblestones. (Meeting report by Justin Vincent, as your regular reporter had an accident en route to the meeting and had to return home.)