On September 3, the Florida Club Toastmasters held their 1 102nd meeting under the theme ’embracing change – a season of renewal’.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the club, making it one of the oldest Toastmasters clubs in South Africa.
If you were wondering what Toastmasters is about, it is a group of people who meet online or in person for educational talks that are aimed at building confidence and teaching public speaking and debate skills.
The meeting started with Doreen Mayne introducing members and guests in attendance, and club president Charl Overmeyer welcomed everyone and introduced the word of the day: Idiosyncrasy (a mode of behaviour).
The team then discussed their club business, which includes apologies, briefings on previous meetings, budget approvals, websites, outside assessments and membership growth.
They also had an opportunity to welcome their newest member, Abnavien King, who delivered her first icebreaker speech titled Catch Flights, Not Feelings, which not only gave insight on the type of person she is but also inspired the whole team to embrace the different flights of life while not allowing any feelings to hold them back.
Lesedi Queen Masina also took centre stage with her speech titled Why can’t we all just get along? highlighting the importance of conflict resolution skills.
While Charl Overmeyer delivered a humorous speech entitled Pasta – La Dolce Vita, which explored the different pastas in the world, and Dick Hallet gave a speech titled Gungun, The Matriarch.
Club vice president for public relations Jean-Pierre Le Fleur, says one of the highlights of the evening is Tim Knights, who is the club’s immediate past president of the club, who recently received a prestigious award at the Toastmasters International Convention in Anaheim in the USA.
Tim was awarded the highly esteemed Presidential Citation Award for his years of dedication and hard work in the club. The next meeting will be held on September 17 at 85 Louis Botha Drive, Florida Hills.
