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Blog  (Riccarton Toastmasters) 
Meeting 11th September 2014

 

Even though some of our leading lights were absent for this meeting nevertheless, although we missed them, we managed to do ourselves proud.

Sgt@Arms Graeme opened the meeting alittle late, but in his usual good-humoured way, assured the audience that he had special permission from the Toastmaster to go over time, and he would make it up later on.

Toastmaster Graeme, referred to his earlier role that night as Sgt@Arms and confirmed that he would he would make up time. Graeme gave us the Theme of the Day – The Importance of Holidays – by reminding us how it was in NZ 40 years ago when life was at a slower pace and now we need some time off and then to get our mojo back.

Day in History Nic gave us some really interestinginformation about September 11 – most importantly the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York; English explorer Henry Hudson who set out to discover the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic over the Arctic circle to the Pacific and China; and others. First-rate research Nic.

1st Speaker Shailesh with “The Importance of Doing One thing at a Time” claimed that we all feel the need to multi-task because we are afraid of losing our jobs. He feels, however, that we should be concentrating on one task at a time instead of dividing our minds into several different parts, and perhaps not doing the best job on every concurrent task.

Shailesh had several suggestion, inter alia: 1) try to keep meetings under an hour or staff will lose interest 2) demanding multi-tasking from your staff won’t necessarily get the job done 3) take holidays and leave your tech stuff at home- no cellphones no laptops.

Shailesh’s thinking and recommendations regarding work practices made a lot of sense. Excellent work Shailesh.

2nd Speaker Owen with “Mind Mapping” opened us all up to using this graphical technique for visualizing connections between several ideas or pieces of information.

Mind mapping, used in note taking, brainstorming, problem solving, and project planning, is a simple technique for drawing information in diagrams, instead of writing it in sentences. The diagrams always take the same basic format of a tree, with a single starting point in the middle that branches out, and divides again and again. The tree is made up of words or short sentences connected by lines.

Owen says using mind maps is a better way to accumulate inter-related information. Owen’s speech was received so well that several next speakers immediately began using mind-mapping methods to make notes. Terrific speech, Owen, giving us all a new skill to use.

3rd Speaker Will with “Controlling your Fear” gave an Educational, noting that the first time he was asked to make a speech at work – he FAINTED! What a way to wriggle out of speech-making Will. Fear of the unknown leads to anxiety said Will, who went on to say that your audience always want you to succeed when you give a speech, even if your greatest fear is to “seem foolish” or “boring”.

“How you manage butterflies in your stomach” – the physiological ‘flutters’ caused by a reduction of blood flow to the organ, is TO PRACTICE. The more speeches you give the easier it gets. “Harness your fears and use them to advance your speech,” said Will. Great advice and a superb educational Will, thank you.  

Table Topics were a lot of fun and everybody spoke to “Holiday food, what it is, what it tastes like, how to prepare it?” 

  • Mark E – Xmas dinner in winter
  • Saurabh – Korean Thanksgiving Day
  • Nicola – Xmas dinner at her house
  • Charlotte– Vegetarian nachos camping food
  • Nic – Frozen yoghurt in California
  • Graeme -  (Also known as My Kitchen Rules Wilson) Paella for Kiwis.

Timer Charlotte – gave really accurate timings for all speakers and ‘christened’ Harry Hippo by using it once to draw attention to a speaker going over time. Well done Charlotte.

Special Matter Julie reported on her visit to Woolston Toastmasters this week. Their numbers are so low they will be forced to close down if active membership doesn’t pick up. Woolston said they would be delighted if any Riccarton Club members came along to give prepared speeches and /or participate in Table Topics. She asked for anyone interested in giving more speeches to contact her so their name can be passed on to Woolston who meet every 2nd Tuesday (next 23rd Sept) at the Woolston Workingmen’s Club 1st Floor Boardroom at 7.30pm. Get hold of Julie at juspoppy@hotmail.com

Julie prepared this blog

LABELS:  MIND-MAPPING; FEAR; STOMACH BUTTERFLIES; MULTI-TASKING,&sid=da5eae11b7d658540aa2f7e4e2d1c4d9
Posted: Riccarton Toastmasters, 22 Nov 14, 05:12 by Forgotten User    Comments:


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