Lowdown – 6 October 2008
Theme: Nursery Rhymes
NB – This Low Down is condensed because we want all of you to really, really experience first hand the camaraderie of our meetings and the amazing quality and creativity of our speeches. Hoping to see you this coming Wednesday 22 October.
Call to Order by Kirsten Long at 18.20.
Welcome by the president, Andrew Timberlake who welcomed everyone, especially our guests and asked everyone to introduce themselves by quoting and then explaining their favourite nursery rhyme.
The Toast – To Nursery Rhymes
Graham explained the history behind a number of the better known nursery rhymes before proposing a toast to nursery rhymes.
Induction
Danie in an exciting new assignment inducted our newest member, Monica, and requested that she make certain promises, e.g. to attend meetings, prepare for them, actively participate in and constructively evaluate at meetings. In return members were asked to pledge their support to Monica.
Toastmaster
It was lovely to have Agnes Lutukai back participating in a meeting as our highly effective Toastmaster. She requested participants, Clinton, the timekeeper, Richard the evaluation chair, Sue the grammarian and Danie the Hark Master to explain their roles.
Speeches
Monica Ooosthuizen having just been inducted took the bull by the horns and under the title of “Me, Myself and I” creatively, in her CC1, introduced all of us to her, a fascinating person.
Jaco Strydom, in his dynamic CC3 speech entitled Inclusion, Integration and Acceptance brought a lump in the throat to many members as he described the brave successful journey of one mentally and physically challenged boy, backed by his father, to achieve those three words that were the title of Jaco’s speech.
Once again Christa Roux exposed us to her creative sense of humour in a speech entitled “A consumer’s view” in which she challenged the influence advertising and branding has on all our lives and how marriage can challenge a person’s comfort zone by forcing them to change brands!
Danie Roux, at the second, vastly improved, presentation of his speech “Virtues of a knowledge economy worker”, creatively compared and outlined the skills required by people working in the 21st century knowledge economy, which were certainly not the skills eschewed by our grandparents!
Coralie Rutherford presented a business briefing aimed at potential healthcare representatives. She explained how the training course on which they wished to enroll would help them find employment in the challenging healthcare market.
Table Topics
Kirsten Long stimulated our creativity by requesting everyone speak on a specific nursery rhyme, although the writer believes most of these were songs, fairy stories or poems and not actual nursery rhymes, but they did generate fascinating speeches under the following titles:
Sue Munro – the House that Jack Built
Zibu – What are little boys made of
Guy – Grand dads old Jalopie
Lindor – Pop goes the weasel
Agnes – Oh dear what can the matter be
Clinton – If you’re happy and you know it
Danie – Over the hills and far away
Jaco – Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Evaluation
Richard chaired a rewarding and constructive evaluation session where:
Tiaan evaluated Monica’s speech
Andrew evaluated Jaco and Christa’s speeches
Richard evaluated Danie’s speech
Graham evaluated Coralie’s speech
Grammarian
Sue commended the meeting on the paucity of “Ums” and “Ahs” and Christa’s alliteration. She suggested Jaco work on his “T’s” and Danie on his rolling “R’s”.
Hark Master
Either everyone listened too well or Kirsten’s questions were too easy because sadly minimal cash was generated from this session for the club coffers!
On A Point
Mini-Con 34 / 25 October in KZN
West Rand – Reigning Brains 29 October
Lindor thanked everyone for the opportunity to attend the meeting
Graham asked members to think of creative ways to retain our members
Andrew asked guests for their feedback on the meeting, being tactful this feedback was very positive!
Andrew closed the meeting and wished everyone a safe trip home. He looked forward to seeing them at the next meeting
CORALIE
Lowdown – 17th September 2008
Call to order
Dave Black called the meeting to order at 18.20.
Kirsten Long, our Vice President Education really showed members what Toastmasters Training helps us achieve. She took charge of the meeting: Not only did she compile the programme, she was the Chairman, in the absence of our President, Andrew Timberlake, and The Toastmaster, but also an evaluator!
Kirsten, in her role as Chairman, welcomed everyone and set the scene for the evening, which was based around limericks (poems of just 5 lines), by reading a Limerick, written by Flicka. She then asked everyone to introduce themselves, by where possible, reading the limerick they had written.
The Toast – Water or Wine
Sue Munro proposed a Toast to critical thinking, and encouraged us all to question and think critically, not just accept all we hear on the media. She also noted, interestingly that the toast should only be drunk with one of the two “W”s “Water or Wine”
Toastmaster
Then Kirsten, The Chairman, handed over to Kirsten the Toastmaster! It was a great pity Flicka was absent in body, but with us in spirit because she had given Kirsten a wonderful selection of limericks which facilitated Kirsten’s role as Toastmaster and co-ordinated the whole evening.
Clinton a guest, after a briefing from Zibu, was an efficient Timekeeper.
Sue Anne was our grammarian and Um counter, Coralie headed up evaluation and David Black was the Hark Master.
The Speakers
Paul Smith, the first speaker for the evening used personal examples to give us valuable insight into how not to set up our own businesses in a speech entitled The 3 F’s. He highlighted the 3 requirements for setting up a successful business: Knowledge of the market, ensuring the market is big enough to support your venture and passion for the venture.
Danie Roux, in his very humorous speech entitled “The Virtues of a Knowledge Economy Worker”, highlighted the difference between workers in the industrial age, where patience, hard work and a humble attitude were the requirements. These are totally different to the requirements in our information age economy. Danie maintained that the essential needs here are laziness, impatience and hubris. Laziness and impatience ensure the worker looks at a better, simpler way to undertake his work.
Graham Nicholls gained the admiration of the audience when he opened his speech entitled “Marriage and Age”, by telling us that he had been married for 36 years – to the same woman!
He outlined key factors, e.g. willingness to sort out problems by understanding the other person and having compassion, which would help reduce the South African divorce rate.
He also humorously described the changes to their live’s that the audience could expect as they approached Graham’s current age and even beyond that.
Table Topics
After recess Paul Smith ran a fun topic session based on bumper stickers asking the speakers to explain where, why and from whom they bought the bumper sticker, which was the title of their speech.
The speakers and their bumper stickers were:
Monica - Some village in Texas is missing an idiot.
Anilin – Honk if you love peace and quiet.
David Black – Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them.
Graham – I ‘m speeding because I need to Pee.
Richard – Rehab is for quitters.
Evaluation
Coralie chaired the evaluation and evaluated Paul’s speech.
Zibu evaluated Danie’s speech, Erich Richard’s speech and Kirsten Graham’s speech.
Sue-Anne the grammarian counted 23 “ums” and “ahs” and noted that no one had used the word of the day!
David Black as Hark Master battled to extract fines from an audience who had listened well!
Sue Munro presented and elicited discussion on the proposed budget.
Lowdown – 23rd of July 2008 meeting
Howzit Toastmasters!
Theme
Wednesday night’s meeting was truly “lekker” with its own special South African flavour. We opened the evening with the sharing of our favourite colloquialisms and some of the Toastmasters really had us giggling with their descriptions of our amusing local lingo. Some of which included the term “clutchplate” which is apparently the name given to some of the residents who live on the other side of the “boerewors curtain”. Another one we all are using quite frequently these days is the word “eish” in order to express our displeasure at the rising fuel prices and interest rates. There are those of us who have had the experience of baffling an Englishman over the use of our phrase “see you just now” which is understood by us as “see you soon” but on closer inspection really sounds more like “see you this instant”. What a strange bunch we are!
At the start of the meeting
Richard Riche, our toastmaster for the evening, provided us with some of his favourite uniquely South African additions to the English language. The words “bra” or “bru” refer to a male friend. If someone is behaving unfashionably we may refer to that person as a “chop”. Take care not to confuse the locals if you are overseas by referring to your swimming attire as your “cosy”, and if these locals tell you an interesting story, you may get a confused look if you respond with the words, “Is it?”
It was great to have our president, Andrew Timberlake, back with us after a month long sojourn in London with his family. Nice to have you back, Andrew!
Flicka Steenberg, our grammarian for the evening, provided us with an exceptionally interesting word which I doubt many of us had ever heard before. The word is “Coprophile” which means fossilized dinosaur excrement. Other variations of this word are “Coprophilial” and “Coprophiliac”.
Sharad’s first speech!
Our first brave prepared speaker for the evening was Sharad Mistry who shared his life story with us in his CC1 titled “How Times Have Changed”. Sharad grew up in the small town of Lenasia in Johannesburg South. He told us what it was like to live in a house with six other family members and only one bathroom! The challenges of high school, the joy of arcade games and the rat race of the IT industry have all played a significant part in his journey. He reminds us to slow down and live for today. This was an excellent CC1 indeed.
Isobel on Weddings and Funerals
Isobel Joubert presented a meaningful CC3 entitled “Weddings and Funerals” about the importance of making time for our extended families in our busy lifestyles. She gave us a thorough game plan of exactly how to go about creating a memorable occasion that enables all family members to feel part of the day. She reminds us that we really shouldn’t wait until a wedding or a funeral in order to reconnect with our families!
Kendal Hunt on the Law of Attraction
Kendal Hunt certainly got our attention with her CC5 entitled “The Law of Attraction”. An ancient “Secret” is revealed to a disappointed housewife and as a result her life is changed dramatically. She discovers that her thoughts actually create her reality and by a change of mindset she can attract good things to herself. When asking the universe for
her desires and believing that she has already received them, a powerful frequency is emitted and her desires are manifested.
Danie Roux on Self-Deception
Danie Roux presented a serious CC8 and had us all captivated. His speech entitled “Self Deception” taught us an important lesson in honoring oneself as well as others in order to build stronger relationships. We should help others freely and willingly instead of sitting back and believing that it is our right to receive, which only results in creating a “box” of self deception.
Graham Nicholls on Audacity
Our final prepared speaker for the evening, Graham Nicholls, provided us with some very practical and useful information in his ACS7 titled “Toastmasters and a Little Technology”. Graham demonstrates how we can use a simple digital recorder in order to rehearse our speeches and to record our speech ideas while we are driving. Alternatively, download the free software “Audacity” from the net to enable you to record and edit your next speech. What a great idea!
Table Topics
Richard Riche involved us all in the formation of some very creative Table Topics:
Graham Nicholls – Reik Neethling in an abattoir who clicks his pen a lot
Danie Roux – A proctologist in a cemetery who refuses to ask for directions
Karen Geyser – Nelson Mandela in Alaska who snores
Christa Roux – A toilet cleaner in Jacob Zuma’s office with a negative attitude
Courtnall Machanick – A professional bokdrol spitter at a buffet eating with mouth open
Kendal Hunt – An accountant in a bar who keeps touching the pc screen
Flicka Steenberg – An animal artificial inseminator in Jacob Zuma’s office
Our very thorough evaluators provided the speakers with valuable feedback:
Evaluation Session
Kirsten Long evaluated Sharad Mistry’s speech
Andrew Timberlake evaluated Isobel Joubert’s and Kendal Hunt’s speech
Kirsten Long evaluated Danie Roux’s speech
Sue Munro evaluated Graham Nicholls speech
Christa Roux kept track of the time taken by the prepared and impromptu speakers as well as the evaluators.
General Tips
Sue Munro gave us some useful general tips to remember for our next speech:
If you are speaking use and own your space and stand back so you can easily see everyone in the room. Also, dress one up from the audience in order to acquire authority and gain credibility.
Hark Master
Christa Roux, our Hark Master, caught some of us out with her questions:
What was Richard’s South Africanism?
How does one stay “out of the box”, according to Danie?
What did Ronda call the “Law of Attraction”, in Kendal’s speech?
Message from the District Governor
Graham Nicholls, our District Governor, had a message for us:
We are a “President’s Distinguished Club” (second year in a row), which puts us in the top band of clubs in the world! The use of our CL manual is crucial to obtaining this status again. We are awesome!
On a Point
Kendall Hunt made a special point of acknowledging the committee members for their fantastic effort in keeping our club running as smoothly as it does!
Wishing you all a weekend of braaivleis and beer to the tunes of Kurt Darren! See you all at the Humorous Contest on the 4th August!
Karen Geyser
4th Dimension Toastmasters
Public Relations Committee Member