Mavis Cryer deputised for President Niki Boersma and chaired the latest meeting of Wetherby Speakers Club. The first speech, by Chris Clissitt, was entitled “Forward, Back and Roundabout” which proved to be a highly entertaining commentary on various events which occurred in Chris’ life during the last week. The purpose of the speech was to allow Chris to practise speech construction, which is one of the 10 skills of Public Speaking covered by the Club’s Speakers Guide.
Jan Millar then experimented by repeating word for word a speech entitled “The Survival of the Fittest” given by another speaker 20 years ago, to test out whether or not it is still relevant today (which it is). Peter Wilson and Terry Ryan offered constructive advice to the speakers on how to improve their performance.
Howard Herbert then chaired a topics session where members were required to speak for three minutes without preparation on a variety of one word topics. Although this sounds like a difficult challenge all the members responded brilliantly, included visitor Tom Howley who performed to a high level of skill. Jeff Denton evaluated the topics session. Scott Stephenson then completed an enjoyable evening by giving a General Evaluation, summing up the meeting as a whole.