Meeting Snippets (for 2008)

See also meeting snippets for 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 or 2002.

8th April

Mark J kicked off a packed agenda today with Stephen running Table Topics and asking speakers to discuss important dates. Sebastian told us of his lazy student days and watching coverage of the September 11 attacks, Chris Punt told us of an evening at home with parents and cousins to see in the new millennium (31 Dec 1999), and Sanjiv told us of the best day of his life – the birth of his child. Then Tim, Miranda and Henry gave us their prepared speeches. Tim filled us in on MP3’s, Napster and music/movie piracy, Miranda took us face-to-face (or eye- to-eye) on her recent corrective surgery, and Henry put his sales skills to the force and nicely managed a sale to a tricky customer. Today’s speaker ribbons went to Stefanie (for her excellent Introduction) and Sebastian (9/11 table topic).

1st April

April Fools Day was the theme for todays meeting. John (the chair) kicked us off by telling us about some April Fools Day hoaxes throughout the years. John kept the theme going, by giving us more brief hoax stories in between speeches and evaluations. Glen was the Table Topics Master, and set some superb topics, based on a catalogue which advertised unusual things for sale. Henry stepped up to the breach first, and told us about the cat clock he wanted to sell us. Next up was Miranda, who kept us all in suspenders, and did not reveal her item (a funky chemisette!) until right at the end. Stephen enthralled us with his description of a zebra paper towel holder, and gave us the opportunity to buy 2 for the price of 1! Karen gave her Icebreaker today, and gave us an insight into life in China, and the changes she experienced after moving to New Zealand. Sanjiv was next, giving us a demonstration of how to react to a hostile audience, after telling the public that 10 new turbines would be installed at Ohariu in the future in his advanced speech. Julie followed this with an impressive speech, whose theme I have unfortunately totally forgotten (please forive me Julie!). Stephen won the Best Table Topic speaker for today, and Stefanie won the Most Improved Speaker, for her excellent introduction of Sanjiv's advanced.

25th March

Hi all – a small, hardy bunch of us met this morning to celebrate getting through Easter. Ravi (as Chair) maneuvered us all through a strenuous session of Tabletopics focused on Leadership (many thanks to Hamish the Tabletopics Master) and then rounded us up for an Advanced speech from Mark on Selling Memories. The Best Tabletopic ribbon was awarded to Ravi today for sharing his thoughts on leadership and managers. The Most Improved ribbon was awarded to Bron today for multitasking and doing a Tabletopic and an introduction.

18th March

Awards were the theme of today’s session – and wow – there sure was a lot of talent to recognise. Glen (our Tabletopics Master) supported the theme by asking members to give a gracious speech about the gift they received from his mystery suitcase. This resulted in Hamish lavishing love on koala chocolates; Stefanie reminiscing about her Teddy Bear, John bringing light to our lives with a multipoint box, Bron cheering on her chirping bird, Tim playing with his penguin and Leanne giving a biosecurity demonstration. Then as a club, we acknowledged the achievements of Henry (who has achieved his CC-Gold award) and Glen (who received the BBC Toastmaster of the Year award). On top of that – Chris P shared his experience of having his wisdom teeth removed – a very vivid speech. Also Hayden joined our club today.

11th March

I heard that you all hosted a fabulous meeting today and really showed the other Business Breakfast clubs how to run an E2 contest. Please join me in thanking Julie (The Chair) for successfully and professionally organising this year’s contest. I know that it was a huge job. For your information: The winner of the E2 Area Evaluation contest was Denise S (Capital Breakfast). In 2nd place was Emma C (Chartered Chatterers). And 3rd place went to Sanjiv

26th February

Sebastian (the Chair) ran a fabulous Club Evaluation contest today. The contestants (Sanjiv, John and Mark) all produced a high standard of evaluation which was commented on by the judges. The winner is Sanjiv who will go on to represent Business Breakfast at the Area E2 Contest in March. John was the runner-up and will also compete at the Area contest.

19th February

We had a very enjoyable meeting today chaired by Stephen (a first time Chair). Miranda the Table-topics Mistress asked a set of questions based on Summer. John debated whether the seasons were in fact changing, Dianne shared her favourite summer pastimes and Hari briefed us on her favourite summer sports. Then we had an informative P3 called “In the moment of Crisis” by Ravi, a P6 from Chris P on Singstar (complete with props) and an entertaining speech from Hamish entitled Wedding Planning Tips.

12th February

The winner of our Club International Speech contest for 2008 is Sanjiv with his speech "Wheelies in the Rain". Sanjiv will go on to represent Business Breakfast at the Area E2 Contest in March. Please join me in congratulating Sanjiv on his achievement (this is his second year in a row winning the Club International contest). It was a hard fought battle against worthy competitors – Leanne with "Keepsakes" and Hirata with "Expect the Unexpected". A BIG THANK YOU to the Contest Chair, Glen, who ran a professional competition. Sebastian also treated us to a Table-Topics session focused on unlikely places people choose to live. Stephen espoused the virtues of living next to a nuclear power plant. Stefanie highlighted the joys of the swamp and Chris rejoiced at building his home at the top of the Matterhorn.

5th February

Hi Toasties – another great turnout for a fun-filled session chaired by Glen. John (the Table topics master) started to warm us up for Valentine ’s Day with romantic topics for Murray, Bron, Stefanie and Hamish. Then Tim shared a heartwarming tale with us about Father/Son relationships for his P3, followed by an informative speech on NZ’s fishing quotas by Mark for his P7.

29th January

What a fantastic turnout of the club today…..and what a fantastic line-up arranged by the Chair (Julie). Mark arranged six challenging sport based Table-topics, Amanda had us hanging off our seats with her P8 entitled Up, Over and Off and Stephen urged us to Take Chances with P3.

22nd January

What a great way to start off the year. A small, but select crew witnessed Henry's final project in his achievement of the Advanced Communicator Gold award. An outstanding effort. As far as we know, Henry is the first BBC club member to get the advanced Gold. That's something worth celebrating!! And by achieving this award, he'll give us the opportunity to get 10 out of 10 DCP points - and that would also be a world first - for BBC. Advice and details of a more formal ceremony will be forthcoming. The only issue with the morning's proceedings was some rather suspect scoring - Lee's team was definitely superior!!