Rookie Night often takes place close to Christmas, the end of
the first term. It gives the newer members an opportunity to all
be in the same boat simultaneously, as they practice the more
major roles which they haven’t yet had the confidence to
attempt. It never comes as a surprise to the ‘Old Timers’ that
the Rookies most often surprise themselves, occasionally
faltering, but always ending triumphantly
“Rookie Night was a ton of fun!”
“All participated well, and a good attendance.”
“The whole evening was great. Everyone fully participated in
their roles.”
“The absolute Highlight for me was the enthusiasm and
willingness of all of our Rookies.”
“Special kudos to Karen, who (in my mind) was ‘Rookie of the
Evening’ “.
“Highlight Karen as Chairman – Excellent, well done.”
“Highlight Karen’s very competent role as Chair.”
“Karen, a rookie, did a great job of Chairing.”
“Karen apologized for using notes, yet was clearly well
organized because of them.”
Congratulations to Karen for her first, and successful attempt
to perform this difficult, challenging role! She was
self-assured, organized, well-prepared. She’s vibrant and
enthusiastic in her presentations!”
“Kate’s preamble to Table Topics was superb – every detail was
nicely explained.”
“”I really enjoyed Kate’s imaginative, innovative and intriguing
Table Topics. People clearly had a lot of fun with them and gave
intelligent, at times hilarious and often entertaining responses
to the topics – which, while broad in scope, were pointed in the
questions posed. I especially liked the questions to do with
childhood ambitions. They made us think!”
“Two of the Table Topic speeches particularly caught my
attention:
Stuart’s Table Topic about the marvels of electricity and modern
plumbing, and Jim’s winning Table Topic about his fearless son.”
“I really appreciated Wendy’s concise, precise, observant and
well-sandwiched Table Topics evaluations.”
“Elena should be congratulated for her poise in her role as
Toastmaster, and her excellent introductions.”
“Well done, Elena, our Rookie Toastmaster!”
“Both of the speeches this evening were extremely well presented
and highly entertaining.”
“A key Highlight in the speeches was the use of words.
Extraordinary.”
“Both Louise and Don’s speeches were exceptional.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the speeches this evening. Louise took us
on a wonderful journey across 3 continents, and Don’s speech was
hilarious!”
Louise said of her speech, “The Highlight of the evening for me
was being able to confront my demons by giving my Ice Breaker,
and then receiving a wonderful evaluation.”
“Highlight Louise’s fascinating Ice Breaker (“Unexpected
Adventures: A Journey from South Wales to Vancouver”), in which
she describes, among many other things, becoming a midwife in
South Africa and delivering as many as 11 babies in one
shift(!!); screening people for malaria in the jungles of
Surinam, where barbecued giant rat and boiled monkey somewhat
disturbed her vegetarian sensibilities; attending nursing school
in London, during which time she had her first child.”
“Don had us nonstop laughing.”
“I liked Don’s really funny speech!”
“I really liked the speeches, especially Don’s humorous
presentation that had an excellent opening. We were kept in
suspense for the first little while, and then came the punch
line. What a surprise! Good sound effects and well-timed funny
bits that elicited laughter effectively.”
“I loved Don’s hysterically funny and descriptive speech about
his wife’s snoring (“Living on the Edge of Mt. St. Helen’s”)”
full of metaphors, similes and drastic solutions!”
And then came their Speech Evaluators:
“Dave F. did a very good job of Speech Evaluator, and used
humour in his evaluation of Don’s humorous speech, a tough job,
as the speech was so well-delivered + obviously polished.”
“Dave F.’s use of humour is a Highlight – it comes naturally,
yet he doesn’t act like it’s funny. He did a good evaluation.”
Elma won the Best Evaluator ribbon “for her accurate,
thoughtful, and observant comments in her evaluation of Louise’s
Ice Breaker.”
The reports at the end of the meeting were revealing, for
instance:
“Stuart’s unerring calculations of the new record of “ah”s (24)
set by a horrified and humbled Kate!”
“As usual, Dave S. is a master evaluator: advice is pointed and
useful, buffered by lots of encouragement and compassion!”
“Evaluation: Dave S. at his Finest!”
“Dave’s General Evaluation was comprehensive, and his
light-hearted but sincere and incisive comments and feedback
were helpful and instructive.”
“Dave’s evaluation was perfect for the meeting (kind,
thoughtful, ancdotey).”
Our guest, Julie, was a lovely surprise for our newest member,
Louise. In this small world, it turns out they are both Welsh
and grew up not far from each other!
Everyone is most welcome to come to our Christmas Dinner Meeting
at Cheers on Monday December 18th and feel free to bring a
friend. Please phone Jim 987-2603 or Don 990-5150 for more
information
Our first meeting in the 2007 New Year will be on Monday January
8th in our regular meeting room.
Club 1085
