"TEACHERS! OH THE PLACES YOU GO TO!"

Hello everyone!  Pania Toastmasters welcomes you.  What a great meeting we had today.  Very good speeches.  Thoughtful evaluations.  Wonderful atmosphere.  Come along to our Thursday meetings.   Read more:

"OFF FIRST TIMERS & OLD HANDS!"

Of first timers and old hands

Another excellent Pania Toastmasters meeting. A mix of transformation, entertainment and education.

We were 11 members and 1 guest and Graeme was our toastmaster, a role he may have done more than 50 times. And he showed how to do it – professional and succinct, he explained meeting process to our guest and allowed the meeting to flow. It was about creating a successful meeting.

'A RUDE WOMAN ON A WELLINGTON WINTER'S DAY!"

Today’s Toastmasters meeting of Pania Toastmaster’s was warm , convivial and certainly no reflection of the gloomy winters day outside .

Carol had produced a programme that would warm anyone up !

After the usual housekeeping , we were treated to Tamara’s speech , a beautifully  crafted speech about a Wellington Winter’s Day and how that day changed her life .

Graeme was her evaluator . His evaluation was tidy , succinct and kind .He used the CRC (Commend-Recommend-Commend) method of evaluation and was able to offer some recommendations to Tamara that she may use if she gives that speech again.

Lou was next up, her speech was from the same pathway as Tamara’s, but a different story about a Rude Woman who impacted her life .

Lou gave a personal speech about something that happened to her long ago and whilst it  upset her at the time she turned it around to be a positive in her life .

Laurel was Lou’s evaluator , the evaluation was smooth , and in depth , Laurel was able to reference her evaluation back to the objectives required in the speech . It was a very helpful evaluation for us all, because Laurel is always able to get a few little pointers in from which we can all learn .

Table Topics from Anna were a real treat , Anna had some items in a bag , she blindfolded each speaker then asked them to describe the item , it was funny , clever and as there were no guests we could have a lot of fun with it .

Sandy was our table  topics evaluator , a real toughie today Sandy, but well managed , Carol was awarded the table topic of the day , well-earned  Carol, job was a good one !

Her compatriots Patrick and Tamara also did well and entertained us .

After the meeting a member for whom hearing is an issue , confided  that the seating arrangement adopted for last week and today , made it very difficult for people with a hearing loss to hear , because the distance is far greater and people with a hearing loss miss out on the pre meeting banter because it has to be sent so far across the room .

Another member said she had not enjoyed the arrangement because it is less personal .

Today the best speaker was Tamara and the best evaluator was Laurel .

But everyone did a great job , thank you madam Toastmaster .

"MENTORING with VEHICLES AND POTATOES!"

It was a bitterly cold day when a good number of Pania Toastmasters gathered for our meeting on Thursday 2nd July, the first for the new Toastmaster's year! Due to the weather the original Toastmaster , Laurel, was unable to make the trip from Waipawa so Patrick took over and did a great job. The theme of the meeting was to be "New Beginnings" and that was carried through to the Table Topics session. It was great to have a couple of guests including Trevor, back for his third visit

The first speaker was Peter, introduced by Craig. Peter has been a Toastmaster for over 40 years and rather than tackling a Manual assignment he went back to a number of years ago when we used to have an Impromptu Speech Contest, although his was a little different. It was arranged that the audience would all put a one word topic on each side of a slip of paper and the Evaluator would select two of the slips of paper to give Peter his Topic just before he commenced his speech of 5 minutes. The two words chosen were 'vehicle' and 'potatoes' and Peter gave an excellent story utilising these two topics with excellent gestures, humour, eye contact and an interesting and engaging story. Well done Peter on a tricky assignment well handled.
With a 2 minute question time to follow to let other members see how to approach this type of assignment, I believe it was a worthwhile change to our regular program. The important point about impromptu speaking is really to work out your opening and closure and fill in the body as you go!

Our next speaker was Sandy and she managed a Pathways assignment extremely well in talking about Mentoring. Sandy approached this speech without notes and spoke of her own personal experiences with Mentors and how they have assisted her through her Toastmaster's experience. Patrick evaluated Sandy's presentation and gave her worthwhile feedback including many commendations, which were well deserved.

Table Topics were presented by Hannah, who utilised the meeting theme with some interesting and challenging subjects answered by our guest Trevor,Lou and Pedro.

We did not have a General Evaluator this time but Benita and her son handled the Timekeeping and we finished a minute or two early to once again brave the 'artic' conditions outside.

An excellent meeting full of interest and educational as well, congratulations to Patrick for his full involvement as an Evaluator and the Toastmaster. They say a "Toastmaster Wears Many Hats" and today they were right!!

Best Speaker; Sandy
Best Evaluator; Craig
Best Table Topic ;Trevor

"CHANGE IN TIME OF COVID!"

Pedro organised a great agenda which was emailed out to us on Tuesday. I really liked getting the agenda early and being able to study it before the meeting. Pedro got caught up on the day and Carol who was in the Hot Seat stepped in with great Carol style. 

'STICK TO YOUR HOLIDAYS-with or without kids!!'

Pania Meeting Report for 18^th June 2020

We’re back! This was our first meeting back together in our meeting room, and the moment I entered I felt the warm buzzing atmosphere from seeing each other face to face again after the lockdown period. Graeme opened the meeting cordially, read the mission statement and introduced Jen as our Toastmaster of the day. Jen warmly welcomed all Toastmasters and our guest Kevin, and expressed how grateful we can be to be together again.

"ZOOMING BACK TO REALITY!"

Today, Thursday 11th June, Pania Toastmasters held what we hope will be their last Zoom meeting. It was an excellent meeting well run by the Toastmaster of the day Marc