What a meeting, today we had an exciting island escape themed meeting with colourful leis and funky sunnies to help us to get into a great mood for the day. Our toastmaster Jacqui Anderson led us in a colourful, exciting, and extremely entertaining morning meeting featuring two amazing speakers, Louise Landess, and Ian Thornton.
Our first speaker of the morning was Louise Landess, who shared her speech entitled “A fag, a drag and a good ol’ hoedown” this title left some of us skeptical for her speech, however she shared with us some stories of 3 people she has known in her life. The first-person Keith, who always smelt like a fag earning this title in her speech, he always had a story to tell but he was scared to truly be himself. Next was Mark who we learnt was capable of presenting some extremely funny but also some serious speeches, with her telling us about one speech he did starting off in a woollen suit and resulting in him being in a full outfit of his wives clothes, Mark had taught her to get involved and too not just sit back. Finally, she told us about Lark, she is all party at the front and business at the back, Lark taught Louise a lot about leadership, and how to respect protocol while also having a good time.
Our next speaker Ian Thornton stuck to the theme of island getaways with the title “It’s Hot in Here” telling us a few little stories from one of his trips to Rarotonga in the past. One story being about how he and his wife really enjoyed this waterfront restaurant so returned a second night later in their trip but could only get drinks due to it being busy. They were served by a bartender who used the instructions and unsuspectingly poured the drinks a little heavy handed resulting in a very drunk wife. Another story he told us was about his experience going to the church and being introduced to a lot of people including a lady who invited him for lunch, only to find her living room was a shrine to her dead husband. He shared some very funny stories keeping us all well entertained.
We then had a break, starting back up into some interesting table topics lead by Malvin. Firstly, he called up Rachael, who was asked where her ideal island getaway would be, she decided she isn’t an island person and would prefer to go to Australia which is technically an island because she enjoys shopping on holiday (don’t we all). Next Hannah was called up and asked what 3 items she would bring to a stranded island with the response of a fishing rod, a pocketknife and a tent, after debating the possibility of bringing her phone. We then had Shaun who was asked to describe his ideal island getaway who mentioned enjoying some seafood. Finally, we had Roydon who briefly told us about a holiday he enjoyed sober but unwell, and another where he wasn’t so sober.
We then had our evaluators section where all the speakers of the day got some great feedback including asking yourself, why is this valuable to the listeners?, summarising your speech at the end can make a big difference, to try use the word of the day, and to use appropriate body language when able to; which I think is valuable feedback for everyone to take onboard.
Finally, we finished the meeting with a special award for the day of best dressed which was awarded to Lynn and the Toastie award awarded to Filipe.
Toastmasters meeting 1193, 02/08/2024 – By Hannah Drury
