Introduction
Johannesburg Toastmasters Meeting started at 7pm Wednesday, 15 February 2023. This was the first meeting to be conducted in a hybrid format, via Zoom and in person at the Johannian Club.
Start of the meeting
The meeting began with the welcoming of our guests for the evening. Each guest gave a short introduction of themselves where the club got to know each guest a little better.
The word of the evening is intended to expand the vocabulary of the members. The word of the evening, presented by Odette Livshitz , was gratitude: Readiness to show appreciation and kindness.
The toast of the day was presented by Di Sharp and was dedicated to the Johannesburg Toastmasters as the club celebrated stepping into its first hybrid meeting where members joined via Zoom and, for the first time since the pandemic , at the Johannian Club.
Following this, the toastmaster of the evening, Duren Reddy, guided us through a wonderful and inclusive evening.
Prepared Speeches
Things got interesting when the audience was treated to various speeches, each with a unique message, from the speakers as highlighted below. Each speech was delivered successfully and met the requirements of the speaker’s respective project. Relevant feedback was given to the speakers from the evaluators to assist the speakers in taking the wonderfully-said speeches to the next level.
- L1P1 Jude ‘Ice Breaker’ evaluated by Zaina
- L1P4S1 Ntsako ‘4 Stages of Habit Formation’ evaluated by Di
- L1P3 Godswill ‘5 Days in Limpopo’ evaluated by Des
- L3P3 Christoff ‘My Wedding Speech’ evaluated by Duren
Table topics/Educational
One of the long-standing traditions of toastmasters is table topics which intend to help members to develop their ability to quickly organize their thoughts and respond to an impromptu question or topic for two minutes. Guests and members were challenged to engage their minds as the table topics master, Lindiwe, gave out topics. Well done to Lindiwe on presenting her first set Table Topics.
Grizzly Bear Award
The Grizzly Bear Award, the grizzly bear being the mascot for the Johannesburg Toastmasters Club(aka the oldest toastmasters club in the southern hemisphere), is awarded to a member who spoke well or contributed significantly to the outcome of the meeting. The Grizzly Bear Award was awarded to Christoff Krige for delivering an excellent Wedding speech. Well done! We wish him all the best!
General Evaluations
The guests of the evening kindly shared their views of the club meeting and expressed how much they enjoyed it and also shared their appreciation for the structure of the meeting, the speeches, and table topics.
Highlights for the next meeting
We have a few members and guests presenting their speeches which we look forward to. The next meeting will be held on the 1st of March 2023 at 19:00pm, via Zoom or at the Johannian Club.