There were a fair few firsts happening at Boaters Toastmasters on Friday 13th. We had an Icebreaker speech, a first time Introducer, a first time General Evaluator, a first time cycling Blogger, and a first time AV/Tech. We also had two Level 2 speeches, plus a meeting of two halves. But more of that part after the break. This is about first things first.

But before I get into the ACTUAL first things, one of the questions I hear most often when people are asking me about going to a morning Toastmasters club at this time of year… “Why on earth would you get out of bed early on a June morning when it’s pitch black and freezing to head to a 7am meeting?” It’s an easy one to answer, because my take is that once you’re there and the meeting’s underway, within minutes you’ll be glad you did;  here’s always something new to be learnt, some laughs to be had and some different perspectives to be heard.

Back to first things first

But I digress, so back to first things first. With a few members missing in midwinter action, Ian played Sgt at Arms as well as Toastmaster, getting proceedings underway bang on 7 o’clock, seamlessly merging both roles, inviting Alana Bogart to the stage to present her chosen Word of the Day… Kerfuffle.

Bringing her ever upbeat energy to the stage, Alana had us smiling within moments as she walked us through the drama she encounters every time she fights with her purple puffer jacket with its double-zip action. Her animated delivery, humour and her “I look forward to seeing someone else use it” challenge got us paying attention, laughing, and ready for Saxon to introduce the first speaker of the day..

This was Saxon’s first time in the Introducer role, but you’d never guess as he gave Hayley a comprehensive intro and warm welcome to the stage to deliver her first prepared speech, “Growing up in My Family”.

Hayley’s a comms professional and it shows. A reasonably recent of the Boaters’ whānau, she’s already proven her word craft, taking out the Mighty Quill Award (for best blog of 2024-2025), and the glimpse she gave us of her home life, her family, her partner and her dogs was as entertaining as I’d hoped. But as engaging as Hayley’s tales were, the key message she left me with is that while she might be quiet (self-professed), she’s a fierce competitor and a salty loser (also self-professed). My take is that with contest season on the horizon, we’d better look out Boaters’ crew… we might just have a new serious contender!

A bit of a leadership vibe

Speaking of serious contenders, our next two speeches both touched on leadership, in similar but different ways. Laura Cornell presented the first of the two, which, with a very literal title gave us a little clue as to what we were going to hear. And given Laura was an already experienced, confident presenter when she joined Boaters, I was keen to hear what that reason was! Turns out that she was inspired to improve her public speaking while watching one of her managers in action. This particular manager addressed people in an encouraging, inclusive way and Laura aspires to develop this same leadership style herself. With this in mind she sees Toastmasters as a training ground, a place where she can practice leading with empathy and encouragement; having watched her receive the 2024 -2025 “Always brings the vibe” award.

Our next speaker, Shaun Jacob tackled a Level 2 project from Dynamic Leadership that actually tasked him with looking at leadership styles. As a seasoned Toastmaster Shaun chose to immerse himself in the research aspect of the project, and rather than talking about the styles he personally related to, he instead ran us through the characteristics of five leadership styles (affiliative, altruistic, coaching, pace-setting and hierarchical), as they might relate to Jesus, or rather, whether Jesus would have related to them. I found it to be a really interesting take. While Shaun’s primary focus was on his message, his delivery was well polished and strong as his message, and you could tell that he’d left the audience with something to think about.

More first things

It was also a blogging first for me as a 9am Digital Storytelling workshop across town meant I had to make it a meeting of two halves and hightail across town during the break. BUT being committed to the blogging cause, down to present the Toastie Award for the week, and curious to experience what it’s like joining a hybrid meeting these days (it’s been a white), I threw my phone in the basket, my headphones on, and Zoomed on in as I pedalled through Hagley Park and over to UC.

Luckily even though it was teeming with rain I had a decent tail wind, it was a zippy ride and quite the experience. I’m guessing it probably was for Dean too, who was running the Imagitech tech desk for the first time, which includes the role of Zoom Master! While we’ve yet to debrief about it, I’ve gotta say he did a terrific job staying focused on the chat channel. No idea what he could see as I treddlied along, but I had a neat view of the river and ponds in the rain. It was a nice ride. Plus, while I pedaled I was entertained by some terrific Table Topics and some useful evaluations including Felipe’s first time providing a General Evaluation. Felipe Ribas gets involved with everything, quietly, but enthusiastically.

Generous with ideas, insights, tips and inspiration, while I only got the audio version (had to watch where I was going… Health & Safety!!!!), it was no surprise that he took what could safely be called the ultra-marathon evaluation role (or decathlon of evaluation roles), in his stride. It’s a role that requires you to actively listen for the ENTIRE meeting and then provide feedback and tips to a load of people. This is a challenging enough role to tackle when English is your first language, so hat’s off to Felipe for knocking it out of the park on his first attempt. I’ll bet he slept well on Friday night. That’s A LOT of concentration!

First time on the Chat channel

Just like I was by the time I arrived at UC, I’m running out of puff, so I’ll wrap the rest up quickly.

Another first today was happening over on the tech desk where Dean McLeod was driving the AV and Zoom components of the meeting for the first time. Given I was pedalling hard into a westerly as I biked across Hagley Park in the rain, I really appreciated his diligence and attention to the Zoom chat and was stoked that he caught my prompt in time to pass on the message to please award the Toastie to Helen McLeod (no relation as far as I know!) . Mission accomplished.

I suggest that if you want to know what other types of tales you’ll hear, skills you’ll develop or laughs you’ll have, come for a visit. I’m pretty sure you’ll leave feeling more alive and ready for the rest of Friday than when you walked in, and be glad you did! Go one… take that first step!

Member blog, Louise Landess