The national lockdown has been a tough time for many, as we have had to adapt to new ways of working and managing the disruptions to our daily routine.
But, this has not been the case for the West Rand Toastmasters, as they held their second successful meeting on 16 April, which was attended by nine members.
The Club President, Lynette Harris called the meeting to order, and before the minutes of the previous meeting was read, she also chose the theme for the evening, which was Mini Meeting.
The tone was set when Glen Campbell, Vice President: Public Relations, broke the ice with a joke. She explained that the online meetings were difficult as they take away the personal contact between attendees, which forms a huge part of effective communication.
Before the three prepared speeches were delivered, Jeffrey Nkhwazi, the Club’s Sergeant at Arms was appointed a the timekeeper.
The first speech, Introvert leader, was delivered by Stephanie Watkins, who explained that after joining Toastmasters she discovered that she was an introvert leader, like Bill Gates. She concluded to thank the members for their loyalty, which helped to teach her how to greet and interact with people.
Glen Campbell was up next, and kept everyone on the edge of their seats with her speech, What I do. She explained to everyone what she did for a living. She also explained the difference between marketing and advertising.
Lýnette’s speech, Online meetings, touched on the various platforms that can be used for online meetings, and the progression from Skype to Zoom, GoToMeeting and also WhatsApp meetings.
The usual break between the prepared speeches and impromtu speaking was foregone, and the Table Topics master, Malcolm Harris asked members to share their experiences during lockdown, and what skills they had acquired during this period.
Max Kaan spoke about playing his piano, which had not been used for years, and brought back many memories. He also started playing his drums again. Michael Glencross, who is retired, said he kept to his daily routine, which is playing his trumpet, bass guitar and keyboard, much to the consternation of his neighbours who are now at home. He added that he made friends with one of his neighbours who is also musically inclined. Tiffany Lee said the lockdown had not affected her negatively as she works online, and has acquired more students for her online coaching.
Finally, the evaluations were done by the Evaluation Chairperson, Thato Majela, who is the Club’s Vice President: Membership, but no winners were selected as voting could not be done online.
The Club’s next meeting is on Thursday, 23 April and hopefully, this will be the last online meeting.
For more information about West Rand Toastmasters Club, contact Glen on 073 538 9560 or at glencampbell@telkomsa.net.
