Toastmasters 20 May meeting report back
Last week I attended my first club meeting in a while because of my travel schedule. What is really awesome to observe at CIS Toastmasters is the constant growth in new members since the website has been re-launched. There is a regular number of new people coming to meetings, joining the club because of this website. Unlike the typical Toastmasters meeting I believe the number of speakers exceeded the usual quota. And for the first time that I know of the prepared speaking session was conducted before the table topics.
One of our newest members won the prepared speaking session: Stone Chirwa. It turns out Stone is a magician by trade and performs regularly. You may contact him directly on 073 6499595 if you are in need of some solid entertainment and filled with a bag of tricks. I was the evaluator for his speech and it was beyond the usual first time speeches I’ve heard. Stone was in character for the most part. He used a brilliant piece of structure to build up tension linked to his title, My Masters Degree. Every section in his story was a new level of education from the school of the hard knocks, or the school of life. His elocution was clear, his articulation great and his pacing was incredible. He even came out from behind the podium to do a quick magic trick with some small pieces of rope. This was unexpected and bodes well for future speeches where props are required. His use of gestures was good and also his body language was for the most party in tune with the message he was trying to convey. As with most speeches in front of a new audience he made one glaring mistake: he rocked from side to side throughout his speech. This was the only sign of any nervousness in his entire delivery. And on a minor note he thanked the audience, which you will learn in Toastmasters is not necessary.
Tim Verity won the best impromptu speech. I can’t recall exactly what he talked about but I can assure it must have been both witty and poignant knowing Tim. Tim has been one of the best reasons to be part of CIS Toastmasters because he brings so much enthusiasm and humour to the club meetings. He is one of the long standing members and an invaluable resource for new members to tap into. His words of encouragement has been a great inspiration for me from the beginning.
To my great surprise I won the James Ballentine Award from my club. This is an annual award for the person who’s made a big impact on the club. Its been a complete surprise to me to see how well this website has been received since I took over the reigns late last year. According to Rob Douglas DTM, this website was runner-up to the winner to Cape Town Toastmasters. Over the last 18 months I believe I have introduced at least 6 or more people to Toastmasters. At least one of them, my friend Israel Noko, has signed-up as a member, although he has yet to make his first speech.
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