11 members and three guests were brought in to line by Sergeant At Arms, Bridget who stated the meeting at 7pm prompt. Bridget handed over to the Toastmaster for the day Steve.

Steve went through the history of Toastmasters from the first meeting in 1905 to the present day (https://www.toastmasters.org/about/history if you want to find out for your self) and then introduced the 3 guests, Liz, Lynn and Val who then gave a quick intro to the group of who they were and why they had come to the meeting. Liz being the Divisional Director so we were all on best behaviour!

Liz took the role of time keeper explaining what she was looking for and the prompts she would use to let people know if they were in time or not.

Val was next up as Grammarian who was look to highlight good and bad use of language and the word of the day which was Transform.

Maria explained the Ah Counter roles, looking for when people go erm instead of saying something or pausing whilst they think (watch TV or radio and see how often it happens!)

Then it was the prepared speeches.

First up was Stephanie with a talk entitled “The End Of The World is Nigh”, a look at literature and films on the topic of the end of the world and why people are so facinated about it.

The second speaker was guest Lynn. Lynn was a member at a neghbouring club but wanted to try speaking to a new audiance. She was doing her Level 5 Pathway (https://www.toastmasters.org/pathways-overview with a speech entitled “It Ain’t Necessarily So” at look at her life and how she had overcome various problems.

The second half brought the evaluations with Andrew evaluating Stephanie’s speech and Jean evaluating Lynn. Both giving good examples of what the speakers did well and what could be improved.

Arthur was Table Topics Master where people are given a question and have to talk instantly about it for 1 to 2 minutes. Topics included failure or trying?, Can you be perfect? Luck or hard work? and what things do you want to do in the future.

Lianna had 6 minutes to evaluate the 9 speakers and did it well with a commend and recommend for each person.

Bal then wrapped up the evening with the General Evaluators report. Evaluating all the evaluators and the Toastmaster & Time keeper.

A vote was held for best speakers, best evaluator and best table topics and the winners were:-

The next meeting of Doncaster Speakers is on Monday 8th Feb 2021, email doncasterspeakers@gmail.com to book a place at our meeting