Our Fortnightly Meeting

Turbine Talkers meets every second Tuesday at the St. Matthews Church in Washington Avenue, Brooklyn , from 7:30 pm. Visitors are very welcome to attend any meeting.

People arrive from about 7:15pm to chat and socialise and there is also a 15 minute coffee break during the meeting. The meetings finish at 9:30pm.

During the year one or two meetings may be held at a local restaurant, and occasionally meeting are centred around a particular theme.

Turbine Talkers Turns Ten

This year, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of our club. It’s been a highly successful ten years for us.

- We’ve achieved the highest Club award – President’s Distinguished– seven years in a row.
- One of our club members – Joy Ackrill – is a past New Zealand Governor.
- We’ve had many a contestant get through to Wellington Speech contest finals (see below for YOUR chance!).

Contact us to receive email updates for this event or check the celebration photos!

Area E2 needs a test speaker for its Evaluation Contest

Area E2 needs a test speaker for its Evaluation Contest being held on Tuesday 11 March. The meeting starts at 7am so the speaker will need to be there about 6.50-6.55 am. The meeting is held at Business Breakfast meeting room which is in the rear auditorium of the IBM building, 180-190 Willis Street, Wellington.

Parking/Security:
Please go down the lane on the left-hand side of the IBM building (the building with the columns in front) to get to the back entrance.
Please contact Diane Isherwood [External Link].

Toastmasters Youth Program

The program developed by Toastmasters International, a world-wide communication and leadership organisation was designed specifically for young people. The program offers them the opportunity to learn more effective speaking, analytical listening and critical thinking. It also provides practice in conducting a meeting properly.

Our first Toastmasters Youth Program, wonderfully run by Joanne Conchie and Carol Mitchell in 2006, was a huge success.

If you would like your teenagers to benefit from a Youth Program give us a call so that we can gauge interest in another course.

Talk to us on 972-0348 or email us.

Club Contests: 27 February 2007

Our Club’s International and Evaluation Speech Contests were held on 27 February.

International Speech Contest

The International Speech contest, as its name suggests, is the only fully international contest in which Toastmasters from all over the world may compete. The contestants must give a substantially original speech of 5-7 mins duration. It can be on any topic but generally is a combination speech which shows the full spectrum of the speaker’s talents – vocal variety, speech structure, gestures, humour, good meaty content and the all-important message.

As our Flickr account shows, our Club contests were a huge success:

• Grant Smith came prepared with a toolkit full of ideas (literally). Grant’s very clever speech likened each assignment from the Competent Communicator manual to a tool for public speaking. Each tool, Grant told us, adds to our speaking experience and ensures our success in public speaking.
• Carol Murray-Brown spoke about happiness: what it is; what it can be; what it should be. Carol shared some personal stories with us and made us think about our own experiences with happiness. The message? Happiness is for the taking.
• Joanne Conchie’s thought-provoking speech “Travelling the Path” challenged us to consider the BIG questions in life (and death). We were surprised and entertained by Joanne’s speech, which resonated long after she finished speaking.
• Paul Bruce considered the OTHER big question in life: what is up with the weather? Using his experience as a meteorologist, Paul explained why we had such a late summer this year. Paul used weather maps and statistics to explain that, essentially, we’re at the mercy of the weather!

And the winner was… Joanne Conchie… who represents us in the Area Contest.

Evaluation Contest

The Evaluation contest is run slightly differently than the others. A test speaker presents a 5-7 min speech from the Communication and Leadership manual. The contestants make notes throughout the speech and are then taken to another room to prepare their evaluation (5 mins). After this time their notes are taken away from them. One by one the contestants present their evaluation of the test speech within the time limit of 2-3 mins.

Pratibha Goyal was the brave test speaker who, instead of one evaluation, had three! Our thanks Pratibha.
The contestants were: Carol Mitchell, Shuguang Huang and Robyn Mackay.

And the winner was… Carol Mitchell… who represents us in the Area Contest.

Area Contests: 27 March 2007

Turbine Talkers Club will also be hosting the Area E7 International and Evaluation Speech Contests. Area E7 is made up of the South Wellington Clubs: Mt Victoria, Island Bay, Peninsular Presenters and Cook Strait, and Talking Union.

All of the best speakers and evaluators from those clubs will be joining us for an exiting evening. Having won their own Club Contests they will be looking to secure a place in the Wellington finals.

Make sure you’re there to see it!

Club Officer Training

Carol Murray-Brown (President), Grant Smith (VP PR), Shuguang Huang (VP Membership), and Robyn Mackay (VP Education) all represented Turbine Talkers at the last round of Club Officer Training in February of this year.

In attending training, the committee has helped achieve another goal towards the President’s Distinguished Club. We’re aiming for ten out of ten goals!

Talk to one of the above committee members or Seth Campbell (Treasurer), Joji Jacob (VP Hospitality) or Matthew Murfitt (Club Secretary) to see how YOU can help us attain our Club’s goals