West Herts Speakers can always rise to a challenge. There were four prepared speeches, but several key roles had to be filled “on the night”.
As a novel approach to running the meeting, Club President Corinne “enrolled” Anthony B as her “Co-Toastmaster of The Evening”, in addition to his role as “Ah-counter”. This partnership worked extremely well, with our President’s natural “exuberance” complemented by Anthony’s more relaxed but equally personable style.
Standing in as Table Topics Master, Gwendoline provided us with an excellent theme: “If stuck in a lift with a famous person, what question(s) would you ask them?” - and Gwendoline was never short of a volunteer. With the famous varying from Nelson Mandela to Mickey Mouse, it was a lively and entertaining session.
We then moved on to the prepared speeches.
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| Juliet delivers her icebreaker ... |
Juliet led off with her Ice Breaker, giving us an accomplished performance without notes. Highlights of her talk included: as a child, helping to reduce laundry costs by avoiding the use of towels and, in adult life, being unsure as to why she has three children (perhaps, simply, to have “one of each”?)
Rivka followed with a talk giving new meaning to the term “body language”. We could only watch in awe at a performance that must have consumed sufficient energy to light a good-sized town for a long weekend. With a speech entitled “Dads”, the proceedings included a demonstration of the inefficacy of head-butting a door as a means of constructive communication.
Paul G slowed the pace from molto furioso to a more sedate lento as he elaborated on the challenges faced by a “senior citizen” in the 21st century. His principal objective, that the number of people asleep at the close should not exceed that at the start, was achieved.
Finally, Caroline presented a well-researched talk about the elixir of life - water. By the skillful use of word pictures (“the searing heat from an angry sun”), combined with an authoritative and well-paced style, our attention was held from start to finish.
After the refreshment break we benefited from thorough evaluations of both the Table Topics and each of the prepared speeches. The “Ah-Counter’s” report was encouraging - with few instances being noteworthy, reflecting the high standard throughout the evening.
Laurence, as Grammarian, had given us “Gentrification” as the word of the day. Rather than highlighting improper usage, Laurence reported at some length on his positive findings, including unusual and evocative words and phrases. This demonstration of listening skills bodes well for Laurence as an Evaluator!
Madhu summed up the evening in a General Evaluation that stood out as a model of authority graced with humility.
The evening’s prizewinners were:
Table Topics - Anthony B
Prepared speeches - Paul G
Evaluation - Jenny
The next opportunity to join the West Herts Speakers in developing your speaking and leadership skills is Wednesday 11 December - usual time, usual place.
