West Rand Toastmasters cover respect and perseverance in their latest virtual meeting

The West Rand Toastmasters held their latest online meeting on Thursday, 16 July, and were overjoyed with the turnout. The 13 guests, members, and visiting Toastmasters made the virtual meeting with the theme Respect a huge success.

The Word of the Day was ‘Persevere’, which the members aimed to use in their prepared and unprepared speeches. Unfortunately, two of the speakers couldn’t deliver their speeches due to load-shedding, but the group didn’t let it dampen their spirits.

The West Rand Toastmasters president, Thato Majela, called the meeting to order before handing over to Lynette Harris, who took on the role of Toastmaster of the Evening.

The two prepared speeches were very informative. Elaine O’Gorman used her speech entitled Talk To Me to explain five different types of conversations: aggressive, passive-aggressive, submissive, manipulative, and assertive.

Elaine’s speech was followed by Lesogo Nhlapo presenting the Area Director Address. She covered her journey so far and complimented the group of Toastmasters on their achievements.

Next, Elaine was on the frontline again, taking on the role of Table Topics Chair for the most entertaining part of the evening. The Table Topics, or unprepared speeches, comprised speakers giving definitions for lesser-used words in the English dictionary. The unique way of approaching the unprepared speeches made for a very humorous evening, with most of the definitions being incorrect but hilariously explained.

Tiffany Lee, the Vice President of Education for the club read out the times of each speech before Lynette closed off the meeting in the place of Thato, who had left the meeting early because of load-shedding.

With over 20 years of experience under their belts, the West Rand Toastmasters have a mission of providing a supportive and positive learning experience where members can develop communication and leadership skills through public speaking.

For more information about the West Rand Toastmasters Club, contact Glen Campbell on 073 538 9560 or glencampbell@telkomsa.net.