North Shore Toastmasters
Club Meeting
February 28th, 2005
The Beatles’ song “I get by
with a little help from my friends” could very easily have been
the theme of this week’s meeting, for it was much more
successful and made infinitely easier with a lot of help from
two members of SpeakerHub Toastmasters Club. Brian vandegriende
ably volunteered as our Wizard of Ahs while Carl Sheck took over
for an ailing Pam Elliott as Tabletopics Master. Both did
exemplary jobs at their designated tasks.
Thanks to Wilma Atchison’s initiative, those new table cloths
really do add a little panache to the meetings The evening
started off well. Yvonne Simpson’s introduction of the Chair was
very warm, personable and on time. Our Chairman, Li-Ying Kao
managed to nicely steer our course through a very interesting
and novel evening weaving the theme (Achievement) into all her
introductions. With the last minute changes in the agenda this
was not always an easy task, but handled dependably and
decisively by our very capable master of ceremonies.
Marlene Finlayson, in her first role as a new member of our club
brought the word Aspire into her role as Wordsmith. That it was
used a good number of times during the evening is testament to
the care with which the word was chosen and the appeal that
Marlene made in introducing it. Ruth Sol dug into her pocket and
came up with an impromptu joke which set the tone for the
evening, proving once again what a wonderful gift it is to be
able to take on the challenge of stepping in at the last moment.
Our piggy bank was noticeably heavier when Brian vandegriende
volunteered to be our Wizard tonight. We all need a reminder
when we use those unnecessary filler words and Brian did a
yeoman’s job at listening for them. Ookpig is much happier with
the added girth. Jim Sinclair, as Inspirator, chose as his
greatest achiever, Tommy Douglas. There is no doubt Douglas, who
was voted the Greatest Canadian would have been honoured. Wilma
Atchison, as Timer, kept the program on time in spite of the
novel twists in the second half of the meeting. Tabletopics was
light and pleasurable thanks to Carl Scheck’s creativity and fun
approach to his role. There was time for 8 tabletopics speakers,
giving Ruth Sol, the evaluator a considerable challenge to
assess them all. She rose to the task amiably and produced
reasoned as well as balanced appraisals.
The Break was a great opportunity to talk to our two guests.
Earlier, Stuart Manning was in great form introducing them to
us: Dawne Goch was back for her second look at our club and was
even brave enough to volunteer for Tabletopics. Moira Boyd also
appeared to enjoy her first visit with us. The break was
extended for about 10 minutes as Dave Stewart played back the
Tabletopics session on his new projector (with Powerpoint
capability). Dave has kindly offered to let members use it for
future presentations. It is great to have this equipment
available to our club and we thank Dave for his generosity. With
all the equipment Dave packs to and fro, accompanied by a
multitude of cords and connections, someone suggested he would
be more than qualified to enter the IKEA Assembly Contest at the
House and Garden Show!
With last minute ‘bugs’ decimating some of our club numbers,
there was only one speaker left standing. Jill McCormick very
aptly introduced Don’s speech “A King’s Ransom”. It was the
Bringing History to Life project from the ATM Storytelling
manual. The audience was held spellbound as Don chronicled the
story of how John Harrison’s marine clocks revolutionized
maritime navigation. He related how Harrison’s chronometers
paved the way not only for safer exploration of the world’s
oceans, but how they directly led to the rapid and exponential
growth of the British Empire.
The evening was ably recounted and evaluated by our General
Evaluator, Neville Cohen, who had positive comments for all as
well as constructive suggestions for many to take home and
digest.
Winner of the Tabletopics session was Marlene Finlayson, whose
fun, enthusiasm, and earnestness obviously impressed the
audience. Best evaluator ribbon went to Dave Stewart for his
creative evaluation of Don’s speech. The awards capped off a
pretty good night at North Shore Toastmasters.
Club 1085
