There was a chatter and a buzz in the room from the very beginning and which lasted throughout the evening. As well as the usual programme, there were two competition (practice) speeches: a fabulous demonstration to members and guests alike of just how to raise presentations to the next level.
Calum Arthur visited from Heart of England Club in Solihull, to practice his competition speech and gain valuable constructive feedback. The moral of his speech; ‘Magic Numbers’ was that those ‘magic’ numbers are not printed on that lottery ticket but are in your ‘phone book, not in stocks and shares but in social connections and that in the pursuit of financial wealth, we may be overlooking the more important social wealth. Good luck in the contest Calum and do visit again!
Club member Karen Lowen then gave her speech in preparation for the next level contest. With the intriguing title ‘Get Teed Off’, it charted her journey into a new business in the face of a sceptical peer, who told her ‘you can’t do that’, which hit a nerve in Karen and made her all the more determined to succeed, which she did and more. Thus, what her disparaging peer called a hobby and then a sideline, rapidly, with hard work, can-do attitude and buckets of self belief, became a fully-fledged international business. By taking the t from can’t Karen noted that the result was can…and she did! Hence she challenged her audience to ‘get teed off’ and change can’t to CAN! Good luck at the next level Karen, we are proud of you.
Club President Roger Granville gave an informative educational byte on requesting a speech within the club via the EasySpeak tool which was useful to both seasoned and new members.
The impromptu session led by Caroline Bellhouse involved speakers choosing an (actual) object and telling a story about it; the results were filled with imagination, humour, gestures and word pictures aplenty. Speakers included visitor Stuart Pool (who used a bottle brush to scrub the patio!) and a past president Jackie Baker describing a kitchen disco inspired by a mini disco ball. Simon Blundell embarked on flights of fancy on his mini magic carpet and Tim Morris was disappointed in the plain, ugly, wooden duck’s head that he landed. The winner of the ribbon was Joan Edwards speaking about her miniature Bagpuss toy.
Jen Cashmore ran the proceedings smoothly, ably assisted by meeting monitors - timekeeper Andrei Rezmerita, grammarian Dave Evans, vote counter Tim Morris and all the evaluators. Joan Edwards presented her first um counter report with aplomb and the memorable phrase that ‘Tim saved Dave’s bacon by winning the um pig’ … come along to a meeting to find out more!
Visiting Area Director John Christie gave a report and ex member Isaac Baker gave a thorough and astute General Evaluation of the whole evening.
Awards on the evening were: Best Speaker – Karen Lowen, Best Evaluator – Geoff Richardson and Best Table Topic went to Joan Edwards.
Cakes, drinks and chat in the break were enjoyed by all – why not join us at the next meeting 7.15pm on Tuesday 16th April at the Great Malvern Hotel. All welcome.
