Last nights Transformers meeting brought together a wealth of presentation skills as 3 speakers, Simon, Keith and Ruth dimmed the lights and powered on their laptops for three enlightening and powerful presentations.

Simon was first up with his CC3, and there was little show of nerves as he powered us through a presentation on retirement..

Procrastination, Myopia and Inertia topped the list of reasons why South Africans may not be investing as much as they should. He will be giving the full presentation later in the week, and it will no doubt be just as powerful.

Our guest speaker Paul Smith then took to the stage with his CC6, showing excellent vocal variety skills with a speech entitled McClelland's need to achieve. It was another high powered speech that kept the audience enthralled, all the way from Malaysia, to Japan, and back down to South Africa.

Keith used the projector to good effect as he took us through the ancient wars waged between the Romans and the Carthegians. He also produced one of the standout lines of the evening in describing Carthage's second place - "Sometimes second place, means total annihilation!"

After recess Ruth handled the Educational session with aplomb, giving valuable evaluation tips to all. Every slide provided vital information, leaving everyone with something to ponder for future speeches and evaluations.

There was ample challenge provided in the Impromptu session and whilst everyone managed to find something good to say about the place they were from (which included such exotic locations as Mt Kilimanjaro and the Marianas Trench) it was Keith who took the prize. His story on being a "flowering resident" of the Kirstenbosch gardens quite simply hit the mark!

Ruth took home the prize for best contribution for her educational session, Mary the best evaluator award, and Simon the most improved speaker.

Join us on the 22nd of September for our next meeting.

Guests and visitors welcome!

An amalgamation of minds took place at the Wendywood sports club last night when Transformers teamed up with Golden Gavel Advanced Toastmasters Club! The occasion was each club's humorous speaking contest, and the combination worked wonders with both speakers and guests being treated to an evening of fun, laughter and good food.
Greg Callaway chaired the contest and did a fantastic job of keeping the audience engaged and everyone on their toes.

Golden Gavel then took to the stage with Jacques de Villiers providing humorous insights from his family's past, and Barbara Poultney providing humorous insights into the games she used to play. Mary headed up the Transformers team by enlightening us with the mishaps and strange goings on behind the scenes at the Beijing Olympics, whilst Ryan discussed the intricacies of avoiding a biodegradable relationship. Glenice's marketing skills came to the fore as she explained how business marketing strategies could be used in building relationships, whilst Jerry let his hair down, amongst other things, to keep the audience gasping and in stitches. His take on the plight of illegal immigrants was a twist that kept everyone engaged!

Jacques and Ryan now progress to the Area H2 contest, to be held on the 29th of September at the Wendywood Sports Club.

Many thanks must go to the Golden Gavel team for putting on a fantastic evening - no effort was spared in ensuring that all went according to plan. This included the organising of judges and timekeepers, the venue, the food and the raffle. A special thanks also to Sandton Toastmasters for joining and assisting us.

Join us for our next meeting on the 8th of September.

As always, guests & visitors are welcome!

If you think we're being greedy with our headlines...you're right.
Clarence has made a decided break in the race for the "Word of the Year", with "Avaricious" being last nights word of the evening. It means to be greedy, and could be used in such contexts as: "Our politicians had an avaricious appetite in the arms deal"...

As for Mojitos, well, Simon enlightened us with this gem during his entertaining CC2 speech. It's an alcoholic beverage and once again some excellent story telling abilities came to the fore. Such was the enthusiasm from the audience that we may need to add it to our drinks list at the next meeting..
Ruth took us down memory lane with her rendition of Princess Di's "Response to Landmines" speech from 1997. There is clearly no end to the love and respect the world has for this icon.

Keith then took charge of the Table Topics session, and provided ample challenge to those taking part. Clearly the Masters of Toastmasters Rod, Mary and Jerry were not going to be outdone, with Mary eventually taking the title.

Mary also took home the best contribution, Simon the most improved speaker and Keith the best evaluator award.

For those with an avaricious appetite for humour, our humorous speech contest takes place on the 25th of August..
It will be held in conjunction with Golden Gavel Advanced Toastmasters at the Wendywood Club.

So bring your friends, bring your family, you may even bring your boss - just make sure he's had a few Mojitos, beforehand.