Is the North Shore Toastmasters Club “Staying on Top”? You tell
us
Staying on Top was the theme chosen by the Chairman and
Toastmaster for the evening, Gerhard Rentsch. Although as club
President, Gerhard may have initially had the club itself in
mind when he thought of this theme, his introductions and the
table topic speeches reflected many other focuses for this as
well. His introduction to the theme itself led us down various
paths, from being on top in our “golden years”, to quoting
Michelle Kwan’s advice that to stay on top in competition it is
important to keep sharp and not get rusty. Gerhard led us
smoothly through the evening, bridging speakers with thought and
humour.
Neville Cohen wore two complementary hats tonight. As “Wizard of
Ahs” his ear caught quite a few of us ‘napping’ at the lectern;
later having to pay a penance. As Wordsmith, he gave us a
familiar ‘but under-used’ Word for the week – “Achieve /
Achievement”. It certainly fell right in with the theme. We had
the pleasure of inducting a new member this meeting, and even
she was quick to use his Word in her Table Topic! We think that
Neville’s greatest delight in this role is repeating all the
‘word pictures’ and the particularly interesting wording that
caught his ear. He was happy - this meeting was quite rich with
them!
Welcome back to Don Ekroth, whose Costa Rican adventures were
eagerly followed by many of us throughout the month of November.
As Inspirator Don had advice for ‘those of us lost souls still
struggling to get to the top’. Advice he assures will not only
get us there but will help us stay there, too:
1. Once you have set your goals … Write Them Down. There is
something magical and mysterious about the act of physically
writing.
2. You have to do whatever it takes to see it through. Wishing /
hoping / praying doesn’t work.
Inspirational words, proven by many to be true.
Our new guest very much appreciated Li Ying Kao’s explanation of
how we are timed. Li Ying’s familiarity with the role of Timer
helped her to expertly pace this meeting to a smooth end.
Past District Governor, Anne Kramer, was also a guest this
evening – a guest who in true Toastmaster style was eager to
jump in and tickle us with an impromptu “open mike” joke! Thank
you, Anne. She also joined in the Table Topics session and tied
for the Best Table Topic Ribbon.
Table Topics Master, Stuart Manning, thoughtfully:
- Helped our newest Toastmaster achieve success as a Table Topic
Speaker in his session.
- Gave an excellent explanation about Table Topics to our new
guest.
He also had put in a lot of thought about his bridging, which
effectively hinged each speaker in sequence.
Dave Stewart won the Best Evaluator Ribbon for his opinions on
the Table Topics Speakers’ performances. Without question Dave
is very good at pinpointing our best speaking qualities, and at
making simple, practical suggestions to help us. His sense of
humour is always welcome, especially in evaluations. Stuart’s
topics had intrigued Dave. He felt they were so open-ended that
it might be difficult for the speakers ‘to find an angle’ on
which they could focus. This, then, was what he was going to
particularly watch for. We surprised him because most of us had
absolutely no difficulty with this at all!
You should have heard Veronica Marshall roar! as she used a
range of vocal variety to remind us about Joy and George
Adamson’s experiences with Elsa the lion in “Born Free”. ‘But no
… this speech was actually not about Elsa, but Ugas’, who she
described as ‘a gregarious lion’. What a picture that conjures
up in our minds! We didn’t have to imagine the picture of Ugas
‘padding along behind an unsuspecting George’ because her
imitation was so very effective.
Her Speech Evaluator, Jill McCormick began by reminding us just
how far Veronica has come in her speaking abilities since she
began. She was as taken with Veronica’s story as the rest of us.
She first focused on the speech elements that Veronica had asked
her to watch for, followed by some astute, helpful observations.
“But what I really want to tell you about are the things I liked
the best!” What a way to finish. (Did you notice the well
planned sandwich?)
Pam Elliott felt you could say that her description of Don
Ekroth’s Induction summed up the evening very well: It had just
the right amount of decorum with a touch of humour to help put
the newest member (and everyone present) at ease.
Yes, we were comfortable enough to bring out the best in each of
us. Are we Staying on Top? What do you think? We would be very
interested to hear. All comments and suggestions most welcome.
December 12th we will be meeting in our club room once again and
everyone is welcome to come check us out.
Remember that the meeting on December 19th will be our Christmas
Dinner Meeting held at Cheers Restaurant on 2nd off Lonsdale in
N. Vancouver. Guests, members, and guests of members are all
welcome to come.
Please contact Pam Elliott if you wish to be with us on the
19th:
kpelliott@shaw.ca 604-986-1025.
Club 1085
