Gianni Versace Night

The meeting was called to order by incoming Sergeant of Arms Helen Korte who opened the meeting at 7.30pm sharp and informed us that the month of July was named after Julius Caesar who was born in July 444 B.C. 15 July was also Saint Swithins Day. Helen passed the meeting over to new President Judit Nikolic, returning from an overseas holiday in China.

Chairman Pippa Mitchell introduced us to Gianni Versace with a quote from the legendary fashion designer. ( I recall that Versace was known to present fashion shows with extravagance. When fellow designers used one supermodel, he used ten – Ed.)

Apologies were received from: Roger Mingers, Grant Hamill, Andrew Pass, Mike Diggins, John Marks, Cheryl Pivac and Andrew Reynolds.

Hospitality Officer Sarah Scott noted our lack of guests. She missed them and encouraged club members to bring guests along. Sarah recalled that she was a guest three years ago and attended a club meeting because she enjoyed public speaking. Sarah then read out the Toastmasters Mission Statement.

Officers Reports

Judit Nikolic informed members that 26 July 2008 was Club Training day at the Fickling Centre in Three Kings. Training started at 9am on the topic Mentoring. In the afternoon, there was a workshop on judging.

Acting VP Membership Alison Powell encouraged members to ask guests to fill in name, address and telephone number in the visitors' book. Former member Jim Harknett rejoined the club at the last meeting. Alison presented the Past President's badge to Cynthia Mitchell. Judit Nikolic reminded us that the next meeting was the Table Topics Contest and Joan Hook invited members to the Silver Service Black Tie Dinner meeting, the highlight of the club year.

Grammarian Helen Korte was looking for "lots of nice phrases and descriptions." She introduced the Word of the Night, "bustle", a verb transitive meaning "make a show of activity or hurry about."

The Prepared Speeches were introduced by Toastmaster Alison Powell.

First speaker was Paul Aked with his Number 8 speech from the Competent Communicator Manual entitled, "Tripping Underwater – The Underwater Light Fantastic."

Paul believed that what was under the surface was more interesting than what was above the sea. That was why Paul became a scuba diver, sometimes diving for scallops and at other times exploring a sunken ship. Adding another mix, Paul photographed what he saw. A camera came in handy and underwater, it condenses a scene. Six metres underwater, Paul noted that we cannot see red. We only see various shades of blue. (If we cannot see red, does that means we don’t lose our temper underwater? – Ed.)

Paul was also looking for something new. He found a New Zealand seaslug which was very colourful underwater. Underwater photos looked wonderful on Paul’s wall and he was satisfied how good they looked. Sensitive camera electronics do not work underwater and need to be housed in a waterproof case.

Paul called the local people on his travels, the wildlife. He concluded by hoping that our equipment never flooded.

Second Speaker was Joan Hook delivering the number 4 speech from the Advanced Storytelling Manual – A Touching Story entitled "A Circle of Life."

Joan spoke about migrating birds in Alaska, on her recent trip.

Joan described how the birds felt the cold blast of the wind who knew it was time to leave for the opposite end of the world. The main group of birds faced south and away they went. On the long flight, they rested and changed leaders.

The main group was nearing landfall and had to land soon because the egg in one of the birds was growing inside her. She found a nest and waited for her lifelong partner to arrive. She knew she should go and feed but also had to keep the egg covered. The chick hatched but she could not go away to find food for him. She gave one last desperate call. Then there he was, her partner of five years. She flew up to meet him.

Meanwhile the hungry chick tried to get food from the neighbours but was pushed away. Then the marauder came and scooped up the chick to feed her own hungry chicks.

The third speaker was our outgoing President Cynthia Mitchell delivering the third speech from the Advanced Storytelling Manual – The Moral Story, entitled, "Bearing Fruit."

Cynthia set the scene for her story. The air was hot and humid with the scent of citrus. A wretched dog was scratching its daily collection of fleas. She had been looking forward to this evening for ages.

Slowly she stretched her lightly tanned arms. The skirt cracked as she climbed into it. The hair on the back of neck stood on end. There were beads of sweat.

The street was deserted as the men had gone. A boy came along and looked at her balcony. She should have stayed at the army base, she thought. She remembered the Bren gun. Dennis had shown her how to fire it a few weeks ago. The clip was full and the gun was cold.

She dragged the Bren over to the balcony and fired. Bullets hailed down the street and the sound was deafening. The boy was lying spreadeagled on the road. It was a hot humid night.

After the refreshment break, Alison Powell introduced the speech evaluations.

Judy Gillett evaluated Paul Aked.

Judy commended Paul for a lighthearted look at life underwater. She especially enjoyed the visual aids – the camera and the photographs. Judy's recommendation was in relation to the body language. Gestures were a little bit stiff. Judy said Paul's speech was well researched, entertaining and had met the objectives.

Judit Nikolic evaluated Joan Hook's speech.

Judit commended Joan for meeting her objectives. She liked the twist to the story with the partner's miraculous arrival. Judit's recommendation was that she would have liked to hear more about the departure scene. Judit enjoyed Joan's use of vocal variety.

Stephen Thorpe evaluated Cynthia Mitchell.

Stephen said that the speech was entertaining yet contained moral values. He said Cynthia told the story well, presenting a main character. Stephen’s recommendation to Cynthia involved the climax. She could have presented the moral lesson about what the moral was about. Stephen loved Cynthia’s storytelling technique. It was done well with suspense.

Table Topics Master Finda Hope

Robert Wong spoke about the Great Fire of London in 1666. Not being around at the time, he unsuccessfully bluffed his way through explaining that the tinder dry trees in the hot summer easily caught fire.

Pippa Mitchell spoke about the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy. Pippa said she went shopping on that sad, sad day. She had a free day when the President came and was at the shop trying on boots that wife Jackie would wear.

Stephen Thorpe spoke about the 1987 inaugural Rugby World Cup. Stephen said the event occurred such a long time ago that he wasn’t even born. The All Blacks are a good team but they haven’t got the heart.

Alison Powell spoke about the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985. Alison assured us that she was alive in 1985. However she was 12,000 miles away and heard that a boat had been blown up in Auckland Harbour. The people responsible were caught quickly as other people on their boats saw what had happened.

Helen Korte spoke about man landing on the moon on 20 July 1969. She was in high school and it was a big event. She remembered sitting in the classroom with a horrible teacher.

Judy Gillett was in the kitchen when John Lennon was assassinated on 8 December 1980. She was concentrating on the Erebus disaster when he was shot and ended up doing a lot of cooking.

Anne Malcolm felt strongly about the Wahine disaster on 10 April 1968. Anne had taught Conrad Seers, who fell overboard on the boat. The Seers came to Anne’s school and spoke about what it was like on the Wahine. It was a heartwrenching story.

Stephan Resch was just born when the twin towers were hit on 11 September 2001. He was on tower number two visiting with his parents. Suddenly a plane came closer and people didn’t know what to do. Stephan thought that they had better get down.

Paul Aked could not remember the Napier earthquake on 3 February 1931. He was born in 1957.

Judit Nikolic spoke about the Berlin Wall coming down on 12 November 1989. She was in Serbia and it was something unexpected and unreal at the time. At that time, Yugoslavia was not part of the East bloc but it was in the middle.

Table Topics evaluators Sarah Scott and Jim Harknett commended Table Topics Master Finda Hope for some very good topics. They gave good CRC in their evaluations.

Grammarian Helen Korte commended speakers for their nice word pictures. She like Paul's "underwater Fantasia" and Cynthia's "hot hands scratching fleas into the dust." The Um Boot was awarded to Cynthia Mitchell.

Timekeeper Anne Malcolm thought she would just bustle along with the timekeeper's report.

Master Evaluator Stephan Resch summed up the evening.

He commended Alison Powell for the report on the previous meeting with her trademark humour. He thought the report was a little on the light side and wanted some expansion on the evaluations.

The room was set up well. Hospitality officer Sarah Scott gave a warm welcome. Stephan recommended to Grammarian Helen Korte to have the Word of the Night posters all ready in place for turning over.

Stephan commended Toastmaster Alison Powell for giving the motives for each speech. He recommended her to give more introduction to the speakers and to check the overhead transparencies. Alison made the speakers feel at ease.

Judy Gillett's evaluation of Paul Aked went from recommendations to commendations and recommendations. Stephan was a bit confused by it all. Judit Nikolic evaluating Joan Hook, commended her for her wonderful use of language. Stephan noted that Judit's recommendation could have been a bit more concise.

Table Topics Master Finda Hope gave great topics that were easy to speak to. Table Topics evaluators Sarah Scott and Jim Harknett gave evaluations that were brief and on time. Timekeeper Anne Malcolm made sure that we were on time and delivered her report auctioneer style. Chairman Pippa Mitchell had to improvise throughout the evening but she got the meeting back on time.

Awards:

Best Table Topics: Pippa Mitchell

Best Evaluator: Stephen Thorpe

Best Toastmaster: Finda Hope

Best Speaker: Cynthia Mitchell

Best Reporter: Robert Wong