Running the show was Dan the Man, our Toastmaster for the morning,
who decided we’d lean right intoa classic Kiwi theme — Kiwi Slang. And mate, he absolutely nailed it. Ian backed it up with the word of the day… Hard out!

Throughout the meeting Dan was handing out nicknames like lollies at a school fair. If you had a role, chances are you got the “Kiwi-fied” treatment.
A few standouts from the morning included Thorney, Naza, Royza, Louza, H-Mac, Deano, Dicko, Luco and Jezza.
By the end of the meeting it sounded less like a Toastmasters club and more like the roll call for a social touch rugby team.

Speeches, choice as!

We had a couple of speakers who revisited earlier speeches to sharpen things up based on previous feedback. Always good to see people getting stuck in and levelling up.

One speech, “Training the Lens – Lessons in Learned Optimism,” by: Lucie
Took us on a life journey. It reflected on those moments in life that feel like a right pain in the backside, but later turn out to be little breadcrumbs leading you somewhere better. A great reminder that sometimes the rough patches are just setting you up for the next chapter.

Then we had “Steering Changes,” by: Louise
Which was a top reminder to slow down and actually listen to the stories of strangers. Turns out if you give people a chance to share their yarns, they can surprise you with some pretty fascinating stuff.

A Cracker Icebreaker

One of our newest members stepped up for their Icebreaker speech, and mate — it was a ripper.

With a slick bit of PowerPoint wizardry, we were taken through how high-level sport opened doors all over the world and here at home. Proper inspiring stuff, and we’re all looking forward to hearing more speeches down the track.

Smoko Done Right

And of course, no decent morning meeting is complete without smoko.

During the break we tucked into some top-notch hot cross buns, baked by one of our members. Safe to say they didn’t last long — they were an absolute treat. Thanks Jessica!

All in all, it was another sensational morning full of laughs, learning, and good yarns with the Boaters crew.

Until next week!

Blog By: Rich

The theme was “Together,” and while our Toastmaster Roydon cleverly wove together quotes and practical information about Boaters, most speeches and interventions invited us to reflect on community and what it truly means to be part of one.

As Table Topics Master, Dan brought plenty of humour and creativity. Some responses compared Toastmasters to the Bridgerton TV series, while others highlighted similarities with a reality TV show about a group stranded on an island. We also had a guest who jumped in and delivered an awesome Table Topics speech, great to see!

Erika shared heartfelt lessons on how to “find your people away from home,” transforming adversity into an opportunity for connection, building community one cookie at a time during Christmas 2020.

Louise in her speech ” Be a good sport, sport” reminded us that the reason many of us work on our communication skills is deeply personal, perhaps we have a message we feel called to share, or someone we genuinely want to connect with in a more authentic way.

Tsarina introduced us to the concept of “joy per dollar,” and made us reflect on those moments when money really can contribute to happiness (and when it might not). Turns out, it is not so much the question of what you spend it on but how it makes you feel when you do that really matters.

The feeling of togetherness was strong throughout the meeting, with great mix-and-mingle during the break, generous applause for speakers, and lots of questions that helped involve the audience.

It was also great to see members taking on new roles: Lucie as Evaluator of the Day, Kent as Timekeeper and myself, Jessica, as an Evaluator.

Being part of Boaters means being part of a team. Toastmasters International thrives on engaged, active members stepping into roles, both on stage and behind the scenes. So if you’re feeling inspired to pitch in, we’re currently looking for a Treasurer and a VP of Education.

And to keep that team energy going, don’t forget The Long Run next Friday; a fun way to honour those “move more” New Year’s resolutions and enjoy some fresh air together

As Erika said: “Community isn’t something you find; it’s something you build.”

So let’s keep building it, together.

Member blog: Jessica Charles

Dan Vann as Grammarian had chosen the word “Dynamic”.

Shaun Jacob introduced our first speaker, Rachel McConnachie with her Persuasive Influence speech on understanding her leadership style – “Leading From Reflections”. Rachel used an analogy of Ancient Pacific Wavefinders using the stars, sun, moon and waves to move through stillness to clarity. She recounted how a declined proposal had forced her to reflect so that she could gain agency over what to do next. Rachel encouraged us to learn to lead from stillness and challenged us to include reflection in our Leadership Toolkit.

Richard Smart introduced Louise Landess, “the Toastmasters Legend, for her 6^th Icebreaker Speech”, titled “AI, AI, Oh. Louise wove a speech about the ethics of Artificial Intelligence with her childhood experience with Morse Code and Shorthand and her computer coding knowledge. Her use of two cans liked with string was an interesting example of early communication.

Natalie Perzylo introduced the third speaker Tsarina Dellow with her speech titled “Sir Mason Durie”. In her introduction, Natalie explained the origin of the words Tsar and Tsarina which linked to the Latin word Caesar. We were extremely fortunate to have Tsarina present her speech in Te Reo Maori with subtitles for the Presentation Mastery Pathway – Writing a speech with a purpose. We are grateful that Lovey Ratima-Rapson had agreed to evaluate the speech. I was interested to hear that Lovey recommended the use of “Ta” rather than “Sir” when naming Ta Mason Durie.

Boaters Bulletin and notices included:

• Boaters International Speech Contest on 28^th November
• The Area Contest on 29^th November
• The need for us to hold a Speechcraft Course – otherwise “we will be meeting in the park”
• Sabine will be organising a social session on the 18 November.
• There is no meeting next week because it is a public holiday
• Use the official forms for evaluations. These can be downloaded from Easyspeak, or the speaker should provide a copy.

Table Topics from Tom Palmer included:

• Name one fictional character that you would like to bring back to life. (Tsarina)
• If you could change a rule in a Boardgame, what would it be? (Helen)
• What 2 Boardgames would you like to combine into one? (Sabine)
• What is your favourite Board Game (Tim, a guest)
• Name one Board character you would like to bring to life (Lovey)

Evaluators included Hayley Ching E1, Aaron Webb E2, Lovey Ratima-Rapson E3, Ian Thornton TTE, Dean McLeod GE. Erika Andrews kept us to time and Dan Vann kept the technology working as Zoom Master. Aaron Webb presented the Toastee Award to Natalie Perzylo for her excellent introduction.

The Dragon Team were undisputed winners for the most correct answers in the Articulate Game.

Member Blog by Helen McLeod

Our Toastmaster for the meeting, Helen, chose a theme that had everyone chuckling and cringing: “Food Failures – Misadventures in Food Preparation.” It set the perfect tone for a warm, humorous morning filled with shared stories and a few culinary disasters.

One such tale came from our Sergeant at Arms, Haley, who confessed to a memorable (and fiery) mishap – overcooking 2-minute noodles by 20 minutes after a night out. The result? A charred saucepan and a smoky lesson in late-night cooking!

Richard, our Grammarian for the meeting, added a poetic touch by opening with two haiku – one of his own creation and one courtesy of ChatGPT. After a quick vote, the group agreed that Richard’s poetic flair outshone the AI – human creativity wins again! He also introduced the Word of the Day: “sizzling”, which perfectly summed up the session.

We had two inspiring prepared speeches. Hannah delivered Part Two of her Evaluation and Feedback project, officially ticking off Level 1 of the Presentation Mastery Pathway – go Hannah!

Following her, Felipe returned with Part Two of his How to Train for a Marathon speech. This time, it was personal – he’d actually completed the marathon! His focus on vocal variety and body language really brought his journey to life.

Our Table Topics session was longer than usual, thanks to Louise, who tackled the Active Listening project from the Motivational Strategies path. In this session, the Table Topics Master not only prompts spontaneous speeches but also evaluates each speaker on the spot – an impressive feat Louise handled with skill and style. It’s no surprise she took home the Toastie Award, both for her Table Topics session and her ongoing contribution to the club.

And finally, a huge congratulations and thank you to Lucie Harrison and Dean McLeod, who were officially voted in as our incoming Club President and Sergeant at Arms for the 2025–2026 Toastmasters year. We’re thrilled to have such enthusiastic and capable leaders stepping into these roles.

Member blog by Laura Cornall.

Our Sergeant at Arms, Shaun, did a fabulous job of starting perfectly on time and opening the floor for our toastmaster, and shining star, Louise.

Grammarian Hannah set the standard with the word of the day being ‘Resurgence’ and entertained us with anecdotes of Clarkson’s farm.

A colourful shirt arrived along with Ian to introduce Jacqui’s speech on brands. The purpose of Jacqui’s speech was ‘Managing a difficult audience’, and she certainly did that well with some rude and disruptive audience members! It was very interesting to see how a few planted bad listeners changed the whole vibe of the room and made it more difficult for others to focus on the speaker.

After that, Rachel encouraged us to reset the room and did a lovely introduction of Natalie with some personal anecdotes. Natalie was very entertaining in her speech on music vs dogs and kept us laughing all the way through. Despite her very convincing argument for music dogs are the clear winner for me.

Dan brought some very challenging table topics, where Thomas absolutely excelled describing his life as a tree, his excellent use of tone and body language earned him the Toastie Award for the day.

Member blog, by Tsarina Dellow

We have a member speaking at a conference in Australia; they were looking for feedback to improve their presentation. The audience gained insights from this speech on Social Haptic Communication, which uses technology, devices (e.g., vibration from a smartphone), and braille to use Haptic signals to help a blind person communicate. We felt proud to have such a specialised person in our Club.

There was another speech from a new member about their New Year’s Resolution to become more sustainable and the steps they were taking in their life with keep cups, cloth nappies and no more McDonalds due to the single-use packaging. This got us all thinking, and we were encouraged by the speaker to do more.

It was awesome to have three visitors in the room to watch and learn AND get enthusiastic about joining our Boaters Club. Then, it was time for evaluations with reminders to HOLD the stage, then meet and greet centre stage. Hands off hips watch that hand clasp and hands out of pockets! Challenges were set to talk without notes and be mindful of your habits. Are you a swayer or a wedding ring fiddler? Then there was a ‘Congratulations!’ for the excellent control shown during a mind blank. By 8.30 am, the meeting was deemed ‘AMAZING’ and filled with triumphs and firsts.

What a great way to start a Friday.

Member blog, by Jacqui Anderson

Serving as Grammarian, Thomas Bernard recited a heartfelt poem intended to inspire the attendees. Laura Cornell [who had been lined up for Grammarian but was unfortunately unable to make it] also shared a Word of the Day, “Hope” which was later presented by Jacqui Anderson.

Ian Thornton introduced the first speaker, Tom Palmer, whose speech, “Being an Accountant Is Not Always Dull,” humorously recounted his work experiences in London.

Erika Andrews led the Table Topic session that stretched the imagination of participants with questions like “Would you time travel to the past or the future?” and “What would you tell the 2004 version of yourself?”

Towards the end, Kori Jones provided his detailed observations as the General Evaluator, offering valuable suggestions for improvement.

The meeting ended with an optimistic note as it motivated attendees to envision a future with hope and humility. Special thanks to all the role players for making the meeting a success.

Member blog by Shaun Jacob

We received some education about the weather along with the pro and cons of swimming in the Lyttleton Harbour. Our two introducers Stephen McConnachie and David Clarkson were both on form with animated and comprehensive introductions.

Dee took the opportunity to continue her preparation for the up-coming international speech competition. Some engaging stories about stories, along with the question, can you change your story?

Sabine led an interactive session on the topic of evaluations, drawing on the combined experience of the Boaters team. A recording was made, so if you weren’t there you should have a chance to tap into the ideas also.

Our three evaluators, Max, David Cooper and Louise all did an awesome job. All with the pressure of everyone having just had a tutorial on evaluations.

Commendations to all those who were onboard and making it another successful Friday morning at Boaters.

Member blog by Roydon Gibbs

You just never know what topics and conversations will be covered off at Boaters on a Friday morning but it is always worth jumping online (or going to a live meeting) to get your fill of new conversations.

This week we began with Helen reading a poem by Winston Churchill who was talking about whiskey from polar opposite angles. It is a highly rich and descriptive piece on the good and bad side of whiskey, as only a politician could!

Winston Churchill on Whiskey

We had our Toastmaster Henry, who was full of interesting facts having his first time in the role. He slotted in a new segment called ‘Toastmaster’s Real Life’ and dished out topics for members to speak to – My Dream Home, a presentation speech and an explanation to a traffic officer for speeding were all in the mix.

Lots of table topics giving many the opportunity to speak to such topics as charities, sustainability, your best sunrise and life hacks. The most quirky was Cam talking about his favourite restaurant called AFG – Afghan Restaurant. He reeled in our interest, it sounded fun, crazy and unpredictable… perhaps it’s our venue for our next get-together?  It got us tapping on our keyboards to find out more, and that is where you discover there is a group called ‘Is AFG Open?’ with 4 700 members. It even has a flowchart to explain opening hours. There are “Is AFG Open?” t-shirts as well. There’s a good chance we will be trotting off to try it out after Cam’s rave review.

Our speech recommendations this week came from Roydon, who suggested we watch the ‘umms’ and ‘arghs’, don’t forget to look at the camera, get your camera angle right, repeat the topic, use description and enthusiasm to make an impact!

But the TOP recommendation this week could well be AFG – Afghan Restaurant. Who knew?!?