“We’re all here to practise and to learn” announced Toastmaster Tim as he welcomed what was a massive gathering of members and guests. Launching right into it this evening was Sergie, with a reading from “Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard”. Beginning with a rich background to the book, Sergie then proceeded to build this reading to a monumental level with a female character in the passage attacking a boy in a maniacal way! A great reading.
The first of our prepared speeches was from our favourite Frenchman, Ben. “The rising power in Central Asia” was Ben’s third project from the Competent Communicator manual and a speech packed with information about the recent rise of Kazakhstan. Ben painted a picture of growth, wealth and opportunity associated with this country, which has consistently grown 10% each year since the year 2000. “You are going to hear more and more about this country” concluded Ben, in this great informative speech.
Jennifer’s penultimate Competent Communicator speech tonight was brilliant, with clever use of rhetorical devices, word emphasis and humour, Jennifer took her audience on a journey for the whole 7 minutes. “Words with impact” was a speech project based on the skill of persuasive speaking, this time Jennifer was challenging her audience on their choice of words. Beginning with our organisation’s name, and then a myriad of examples of other ways we unconsciously build gender into our language, Jennifer was very successful in persuading the audience to consider new ways to communicate in gender-neutral language. Awesome.
Jan’s Table topics was a great challenge and truly entertaining this evening, with participants tasked with carrying a celebrity’s persona for three minutes in a this-is-your-life special! We had Lorde (Matt), Elton John (Jane), Prince William (David K) and even the Queen herself (Kathy). Congratulations to our guests David Sam & Vida for getting up and introducing themselves.