The One with lots of Laughing

North Herts Speakers 15/09/2021

Meet the members

The meeting was compact and bijou, as it has been for a few weeks, and we look forward to welcoming back all those who have been busy over the summer.  Compact or not, those who attended the meeting on the 15th Sept certainly knew how to enjoy themselves!

The theme of the meeting was ‘Laughter is the Best Medicine’ and we started as we meant to go on, as members of the group discovered filters for the first time on their Zoom screens and became pirates and unicorns! It set the tone for an exciting and entertaining evening.

We had a new member to welcome, Ulynda, who blew us away with her skill in her Ice Breaker speech. It was her first meeting too! A courageous start to what I’m sure will be a rewarding experience with the group.

Our wonderful Grammarian, Chris, she gave us a challenge, and rather than a word of the day, we were challenged to use collective nouns and we could make them up, and we did!

Deborah stepped into the breech and was our Timer as well as an Evaluator and will be the Toastmaster of the evening at the next meeting.  Deborah is speeding along in her confidence and speaking skills and the club is really benefitting.

It was a welcome return for Mike who has had a busy summer. He came straight back in as an Evaluator and showed he hadn’t forgotten anything!

We were fortunate to have three speeches for the evening and Bev showed that she had really listened to the feedback from her last speech as she did a wonderful job.  Though we had heard the speech before she brought us in a second time, no problem.

John gave us a speech about travelling and how we managed to navigate car journeys before the advent of the sat nav. He reminded us of those historic arguments that could ensue when the navigator or driver are going rogue and doing their own thing!!!! Much laughter with some not so happy memories.

Table Topics or a ‘challenge’ of Table Topics if you are giving it the collective noun; was presided over by Mike, who asked some great questions which elicited some very funny answers. From farting and blaming the dog, to hiding behind bushes dressed as a blueberry, I cannot divulge the context as what happens at North Herts Speakers, stays at North Herts Speakers!

Our awards for the evening went to Ulynda for Best Speech, Maria for Table Topics and Venice for an awesome evaluation of Johns speech. Until next time!!!!


The One Where we were Kicked out of the Zoom Room

The One Where We Were Kicked out of the Zoom Room.

Our meeting on the 1st September started much like any other, a little earlier perhaps as the committee had got together to discuss the up coming competition and the fee proposal.

As all the lovely members joined we were just in the process of being corralled and made to behave by our wonderful Sergeant at Arms, Enroy, when everyone disappeared and we were kicked out of the meeting!!! The Cheek!!!!!!

Lots of scrabbling (technical term) around and we were all back in our original room after spending 15 mins floating around in cyber space!

Our meeting was in the safe and supremely capable hands of John, and the Grammarian role was the equally capable hands of Judith, whose advocacy for the use of beautiful language never ceases to inspire.

Helen introduced Enroy’s speech for us and he proceeded to tell us all about his plans for rejuvenating the school newspaper, at a school, where he works as a teacher.  I’m sure his methodical and logical approach will be appreciated by those with the responsibility for the newspaper.  His speech gave us all confidence that it with Enroy in charge, anything is possible.

Bev’s speech was introduced by Deborah and Bev certainly gave us much to consider when she told us about the career path that had brought her to her current place.

Bev’s speech was moving and inspiring, and I personally, can’t wait for Bev to reveal more of herself and her journey, through her speeches.

Venice was introduced by Enrico, this was still an early speech in Venice’s speaking journey with NH Speakers, though this wasn’t apparent.  Another inspiring speech where Venice had the audience watching and listening with rapt attention.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to welcome a guest to this meeting, and this was Andy, the husband of Sally (already a member).  Andy won Table Topics on his first try with a story about rebellious socks.

The Table Topics were led by the always funny, Christine, who evoked memories across the group with questions about our school days, from the impact of a new pencil case to favourite crazes, this Table Topic got all our brain cells working and our humorous stories flowing.

The general evaluation was done by the wonderful Ollie, and he was both insightful and concise, and this was reflected in his award for Best Evaluator at the end of the evening.

Our other winner was Bev, as Best Speaker, but I can tell you it was really close in all the categories as everyone did a great job this evening.

Until next time ……………….