Spinnaker Toastmasters Club
Spinnaker Toastmasters Club
This page has News about Spinnaker Toastmasters Club and the activities of our members.
Spinnaker Toastmasters club has achieved President's Distinguished Club status for the 2009-10 year, gaining 9 out of 10 goals on the Toastmasters International Distinguished Club Program.
Immediate Past President Kath Cherrie has reported that Spinnaker achieved 4 Competent Communicator Awards, 2 Advanced Communicator and 2 Leadership awards, and 9 new members. The club also made sure that their club officer lists and dues renewals were in on time. The only goal the club missed out on was the club officer training goal.
Holly Gooch entertained the club recently with a speech from the Advanced Manual in "Storytelling". The project was titled "The Folk Tale". She wrote the story herself and it was entitled "Himmel". When Holly lowered the lights, lit the candle and put out a number of pots on the table, she had us hooked and you could have heard a pin drop in the room! Here is a photo of Holly stirring the contents of the pots!
The last meeting of the Toastmasters year on Tuesday 29 June 2010 at Spinnaker was marked with a Speechathon - an evening of non-stop speeches.
Starting off with table topics, then following up with seven speeches, Spinnaker Toastmasters talked and talked and talked! Speeches ranged from an Icebreaker, to a Touching Story, Accepting an Award, and an Impromptu Speech.
Everyone participated in the general evaluation at the end of the meeting, with comments including:
Meeting awards went to Zachariah for the Best Table Topic, and Carley for the Best Speaker of the night with her Icebreaker speech.
Above: Deanna describing how she made her cake.
Above: Close-up of Deanna's cake.
Above: Carley delivering her Icebreaker speech.
Kath Cherrie, Spinnaker's 2009-10 President, has been appointed Area E5 Governor for the 2010-11 Toastmasters year. Kath is pictured below presenting the Area Governor's home club ribbon to the club for their banner.
Kath's role is to look after the clubs in the E5 area consisting of her home club Spinnaker, plus Kapi-Mana, Porirua Central, Coastmasters and Toastmasters of Waikanae.
Kath is looking forward to her new role which takes effect from 1 July. Being an Area Governor is a District Leadership role which involves attending District Executive and Council Meetings, attending District Conventions, organising the Area Speech Contests, and assisting with organising the Division Conferences. As Area Governor, Kath is also involved in liaising with and visiting the clubs in her area, keeping them on track to achieve as many goals as possible in the Distinguished Club Programme.
Congratulations Kath! We hope you have a great year as our Area Governor.
Two Spinnaker Toastmasters members received awards at the club meeting on 23 June.
Susan Finlay (pictured left below) received her third Competent Communicator Award, and Shona Smith (right) received the Advanced Communicator-Bronze award.
In presenting the awards, President Kath Cherrie congratulated Shona and Susan, saying that their awards have helped the club achieve President's Distinguished Club status for the 2009-10 Toastmasters year.
Fiona Cashmore delivered a very tasty speech when she showed us how to make the fastest and easiest supper, when a plate of chocolate biscuits just won't do.
Fiona was well prepared with a sponge, a can of boysenberries, and whipped cream, plus a bottle of raspberry nip. After assembling the boysenberry cream slice in less than 7 minutes, she offered us all a taste. Here are some photos of Fiona's tasty treat!
At a recent Spinnaker meeting, Markham's assignment was to sell a simple product to a buyer, by persuading the buyer to identify the need and agree to make the purchase. Markham's challenge was to follow the Toastmasters manual guidelines and by the end of the speech, to have sold the item. In this photo, you can see Markham on the right, referring to his notes while his buyer, Bill, on the left, waited for the next discussion point, and the audience looked on. Bill did agree to buy the product, and Markham achieved his objectives.
Club Webmaster Dale Hartle DTM has won the ALGIM Supreme Award for the Best New Zealand Council Website for 2010.
In her daytime role as Website Manager for Porirua City Council, Dale manages the Council's external website http://www.pcc.govt.nz, intranet, and the Te Rauparaha Arena website http://www.terauparaha-arena.co.nz.
At the Association of Local Government Information Managers Web Symposium in Wellington on 4 May, Porirua City Council's website was named the Best Council Website, and received the Supreme Award. A shocked Dale was presented with the award, and was requested to give a "thank you" speech. Well, even though she is a Distinguished Toastmaster and quite used to talking, Dale was stunned into silence at the Awards Dinner because it was so unexpected. However, the Chief Executive at Porirua is absolutely delighted, and gave Dale a big kiss and a hug. Now Dale is waiting for the six-figure salary job offers to come rolling in!
In the photo above, Dale proudly displays her trophy.
Two Educational Awards were presented by the Club President at the meeting on 27 April. These Awards contribute towards the Club's Distinguished Club Programme Goals.
The first award was to Lesley Wilson for completing her first Competent Leader Award.
The second award was to Dale Hartle DTM, for completing her tenth Competent Communicator Award.
Caption: Left: Lesley Wilson. Right: Dale Hartle.
Above from left: Andrew, Julia, Anne, Deanna, Rachel
Five Spinnaker Speechcrafters graduated from their course on Tuesday 13 April to a packed room, giving the final speech with the theme Working with Words. In their speeches, Andrew talked about his DIY experiences, while Anne talked about her journey through speechcraft, saying she had entered the public speaking phobia zone. Deana talked about eating Super Foods for good health, and had us all wanting to rush out and buy blueberries and walnuts. Julia explained the lessons she had learnt in her public speaking encounters as a child, then as a speechcrafter, and finally Rachel talked about the power of words and the impact of them on your listeners. Absent was Gray who was away on business. He will deliver his final speech at the next club meeting.
Following the speeches, Club President and Course Coordinator Kath Cherrie presented the Speechcrafters with their graduation certificates, and the Toastmasters who had assisted with their Appreciation Certificates. Kath said in her comments that she had thoroughly enjoyed running the course, and listening to the entertaining and informative speeches delivered by the Speechcrafters.
Above: Speechcraft Coordinator and Club President Kath Cherrie with the Speechcrafters.
Kath also earned credit for her Advanced Leader Silver Award as Course Coordinator by running a Toastmasters Success/Communication programme.
Above: General Evaluator Shona Smith discusses her impressions of the meeting.
Spinnaker Toastmaster Shona Smith representing Area E5 competed in the Division (Wellington) International Speech Contest on Saturday 10 April. Shona's speech was about how to identify talent in your children, nuture it, and help and watch it grow to enable them to achieve their goals. Unfortunately Shona was unplaced. The winner was Lynne Bushell from WOW Toastmasters Club representing Area E8.
Well done Shona on competing in your first Division Speech Contest, which was attended by over 100 Toastmasters from all over the Wellington region. Speech contests certainly take a Toastmaster out of their comfort zone, and into a new dimension of public speaking. It takes courage and practice to develop speaking skills at this level, and while Shona found it a nerve-wracking experience, she says she learnt a lot about herself and how speech contests work.
Four members of Spinnaker Toastmasters club visited the Turbine Talkers Toastmasters Club in Brooklyn, Wellington, on Tuesday 30 March.
Dale Hartle presented a speech entitled "Hurry up and wait", taking the timeline approach to presenting the unfolding events in the emergency operations centre at Porirua City Council on the night of the Chile earthquake and subsequent tsunami alert for New Zealand.
Kath Cherrie presented a speech entitled "Step to the Right", describing the story of a person in a book she had recently read, and how she had used some of the techniques in her own life.
Evaluators Pauline Burgwin and Malcolm North gave Turbine Toastmasters feedback on their speeches which was well received.
Dale was awarded the Speaker of the Night and Pauline the Evaluator of the Night.
Spinnaker Toastmaster Shona Smith won the Area E5 International Speech Contest on Saturday 27 March with her speech "Mountain climbing - an analogy". Second was Sylvia Nicholson of the Kapi-Mana club.
Above: International Speech Contest winner Shona Smith receiving her trophy from Steve Bullock.
Neil MacInness from Toastmasters of Waikanae won the Area E5 Evaluation Contest, with David Knight from Coastmasters second, and Fiona Cashmore, Spinnaker, third. This was Fiona's first time in a contest, so well done Fiona.
Above: Evaluation Speech Contest winner
Above: International speech contestants. From left: Graham Kaywood, Mel Schmidt, Shona Smith, Sylvia Nicholson.
Above: Evaluation Speech Contestants. David Knight, Tony Cross, Neil MacInnes, Mel Schmidt, Fiona Cashmore
Area Governor Pauline Carr handed out chocolate Easter Eggs at the end of the meeting and wished everyone a Happy Easter.
Six Speechcrafters have begun their six week Introduction to Public Speaking course and are off to a great start. They are learning how to deliver a 2 minute impromptu speech, and being evaluated on their performance. Experienced Toastmasters deliver educationals on various aspects of public speaking, including how to organise a speech, and how to evaluate another speaker. The Speechcrafters each have to deliver five short speeches during the course on a variety of themes, from introducing themselves in an Icebreaker, to using Vocal Variety and Visual Aids.
The photo below shows Club President and Speechcraft Coordinator Kath Cherrie explaining how to organise a speech, taking ideas from the audience about how a speech should be structured.
On the third session, the evaluators recommended that speech openings have something short and attention grabbing - perhaps using the "Did you know?" idea. They also suggested something short for a conclusion, a take away line to help the audience remember your speech. A call to action will help to motivate your listeners to do something as a result of your speech. What they do will depend on the nature of your speech - it maybe that they read a book or a website; it maybe that try for a kiss from their teenage son; or it may be something more life changing such as cutting up their credit card! (Photo below shows Gray giving his speech.)
In his educational "Taking the Terror Out of Speaking", Malcolm suggested:
Shona provided some ideas for evaluations: Listen - Look - Learn, and to use the Toastmasters formula for evaluations: Commend - Recommend - Commend.
Photos above show Shona explaining how to give an educational (left) and Fiona evaluating Table Topics (right).
The Speechcraft Course is a Toastmasters Week activity, and the participants graduate after Easter.
Spinnaker Toastmaster Edward Griffiths received his Advanced Communicator-Bronze Award at the club meeting on Tuesday 9 March 2010.
Edward has completed the Competent Communicator Award, and to receive the Bronze Award, has completed a further ten speeches from the Advanced Manuals.
Club President Kath Cherrie presented Edward with his award at the club meeting on Tuesday 9 March 2010 (photo below).
Congratulations Edward!
Spinnaker Toastmasters Club held its annual prizegiving at the final meeting of the year on Tuesday 8 December 2009.
Table Topics consisted of a Secret Santa format, where speakers had to choose a mystery gift and then talk about it. Following this, there were two formal speeches by Susan on the Ideal Xmas Gift, and Dale on Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Prizegiving was attended by recent past members David and Velma Knight, who came specially from the Kapiti Coast for the evening, to present their inaugural trophy, the Knight Award for Motivation.
The following photos show the recipients of the major awards.
Evaluation Trophy: Velma Knight
Humorous Trophy: Shona Smith
Table Topics Trophy: Velma Knight
International Speech Trophy: Dale Hartle
Most Improved Speaker Award: Hilda Broadhurst
Knight Award for Motivation: Fiona Cashmore
Toastmaster of the Year: Shona Smith
George Nicholson Trophy: Raychel Comerford (absent)
Congratulations to all the recipients.
Three Spinnaker Toastmasters judged the Parumoana Schools Speech Contest on Friday 20 November 2009 held at Aotea College.
The contestants were in two groups from years 5-6 and years 7-8. They spoke about a wide range of topics, from smoking, to smacking, tennis and chocolate. Several speeches were about animal rights, cruelty and abuse.
Chief Judge Dale Hartle DTM acknowledged all the participants for the huge amount of work they had put into their speeches, saying they were well structured, with strong openings and some had very humorous endings.
The photo above shows the winners with Rotary President, Rotary member and organiser David Knight, and the judges Dale Hartle (left), Velma Knight (centre) and Susan Finlay (right).
Shivash Mishra of Adventure School was the winner of the Parumoana Speech Competition year 7-8 division. This is a competition open to the schools of northern Porirua. His speech titled "My Culture" was a wonderful insight into his, Hindi, culture. It was also a sobering reflection on how we can put less than flattering labels on people who are different from us. He ended his speech with a request that: "We treat others how we ourselves would want to be treated". Shivash delivered the speech with poise and plenty of humour. He thoroughly deserved his win.
Shivash was assisted in his success by the training given to the year seven and eight students at Adventure school. Two Toastmasters from Spinnaker club, Peter Drew and Pauline Burgwin, undertook four training sessions with students on preparing and presenting a speech. These sessions covered writing a structured speech; using your voice; using your body; and using visual aids in a speech. Spinnaker will be running a similar course for adults beginning in February next year.
The students all enjoyed the practical nature of the training where Peter or Pauline presented information about an aspect of prepared speaking and then the students had a practical exercise to demonstrate the training. The sessions lead into the school speech competition of which Shivash was the winner; Kimberley Jong was 2nd with a passionate speech about human cruelty to animals which was supported by hard hitting visual aids; and Sam Lyth 3rd with a touchingly humorous speech about his guinea pig.
Kath Cherrie completed her first Advanced Manual assignment at Spinnaker Toastmasters by demonstrating how to make and serve "Nana's Pastry" - all in the seven minutes allotted to the speech.
Kath showed us how to prepare the ingredients, roll out the pastry, and prepare it for the oven. At the end, Kath surprised us by uncovering a plate of ready to eat pastry bites she had prepared in advance, and invited us to enjoy them for supper!
Everyone loved them, and we took home Kath's recipe to try it out for ourselves.
Here's Kath demonstrating how to make the pastry.
And here is the recipe for you to enjoy:
Ingredients: 1 cup flour, 250 grams butter, 1 teaspoon vinegar, quarter teaspoon salt, milk to mix
Method: Put flower and salt into a bowl or food processor, cut butter into this. Add vinegar and enough milk to bind together. Roll out 3 times and fold into 3 in each direction in between rolling. Bake in hot oven.