Getting Together Combined Toastmasters Meeting.
Our last meeting on Feb21 was a buzz! Three clubs came together for a joint meeting which had been advertised in the Advocate and on local radio. Let the numbers speak!
- 19 members of Toastmasters (Coffs Harbour 13; Bellingen 4; Nambucca Valley 2).
- 19 guests (8 of them were totally new to Toastmasters).
- Total audience 38
I found the 3 main speeches spellbinding. Speech 1, by Kyle Maloney of Coffs Harbour, was a series of yarns from his experience of dealing with medical emergencies. Speech 2, by James Dyson of Nambucca Valley, with the help of a Power Point slideshow transported us to medieval Byzantium and the building of the Hagia Sophia cathedral. Speech 3 was especially thoughtful and thought provoking. Phil Wilson of Bellingen spoke about Toastmaster speeches themselves, which, he said, by their very nature spring from honesty and so are an antidote to dishonesties in the world (Think ‘alternative truths’!).
In the Warm Up everyone got to their feet and spoke for 15 seconds on their ‘vision’ (the word for the night) for the year to come. Table Topics (or spontaneous mini-speeches) got 7 speakers on their feet. The voted winner was Jean Ryan, a guest, who gave an entertaining mini-speech about a mysterious contraption which was put into her hands.
Overall the program was a close to normal Coffs Harbour club program. We did make sure, however, that we explained the rationale of items for the benefit of guests unfamiliar with the format.