Ginette McDonald
Ginette is an excellent Master of Ceremonies, Speaker, Entertainer and Debater.
Ginette started her career with her infamous Lyn of Tawa, went on to be a successful actress and television producer and is now a great commentator on life in NZ.
Ginette’s career has spanned over 35 years. She devised the Kiwi comedy icon Lyn of Tawa in the early 70’s,followed by a five year acting stint in the UK. As an actress, she has done an enormous amount of theatre,television and radio in New Zealand,England and Scotland. For many years she worked for TVNZ as a drama producer/director. She has written articles,opinion columns,reviews,after dinner speeches and debates. She has been a regular on TV1’s Good Morning as a social commentator and agony aunt.
Ginette was the narrator in the 2011 WOW Kiwi icons section and has also toured with the Dunedin and Christchurch symphony orchestras narrating The Proms, The Firebird and Badjelly.She is kept busy as a warm and humorous after dinner speaker and conference MC and has won numerous awards for acting, producing and public speaking. Her conference work has taken her to Singapore,Australia ,Fiji and all over New Zealand.
Ginette recently appeared at Fortune Theatre Dunedin in the award winning American play Love Loss and what I Wore and began 2014 in a return season at Circa Theatre of the 2013 sellout Dave Armstrong Kiwi comedy Kings of the Gym. She was a first time candidate in the recent Wellington City Council elections .Despite a very small campaign budget , Ginette is proud that she was defeated by merely 100 votes in a competitive ward with only two elected councillors.
In 2007 she was awarded the ONZM for services to Entertainment. She is the proud mother of actress Kate McGill.
Presentations:
- After Dinner Speaker
- Master of Ceremonies
- Debater
Testimonials:
‘Of all the speakers Ginette contacted us for info and incorporated this. The delegate’s feedback has been very good’ Registered Master Builders
‘Our delegates warmed to Ginette immediately and she had them laughing and relaxed’ Pet Industry Association
‘Ginette was right ‘on cue’. An entertaining and captivating speech with just the right mix of satire and humour’. OnCall Conference Management.
‘Ginette was extremely entertaining. She had a sufficient knowledge of medical science to appeal to our audience. NZ Institute of Medical Laboratory Science.
‘We had a lot of fun. I would like to thank Ginette very much for providing such an entertaining breakfast address and giving us lots of laughs. Feedback from the managers and secretaries who attended the event has been great’ Auckland City, Traffic & Roading Services.
‘Very funny. Included us in her story’ Ingenium
“Ginette was great. She had gone out of her way to have relevant stories and jokes to tell. Ginette was very easy-going and accommodating. We were thrilled with the job she did” Matamata Country Music Club
“She was a very professional speaker who had the audience in fits of laughter. The tone of the performance was just right for the audience”. Featherston Volunteer Fire Brigade
“We found Ginette fantastic!! Everyone loved her and she fitted our audience perfectly. People came up to me on day 2 of the conference after the dinner and raved about her. She was the highlights of our event! She had doen research into our industry and made her comedy act relevant to our audience. I would love to have Ginette at an event again. She was easy to work with, prompt and efficient. She was fantastic!!” Radio Frequency Users Association of NZ
“Thank you so much for everything you did at the RFUANZ Gala Dinner. You were fantastic and everyone spoke so highly of you! You really were the highlight of the event! Thank you so much for all the preparation you did and the effort you went to, to make your comedy act relevant to our audience. It was such a great idea to have you at the event. I am sure next year we will have multiple companies wanting to sponsor the Gala dinner! Once again thank you – you were fantastic and we would definitely have you again without a doubt!” Candice van Dyk, Logic Energy
"Ginette had researched all the companies involved in presentations to give great introductions to each speaker. The only hitch we had was that as a company we were short-staffed leading up to the event and travel suppliers are notoriously slow in coming through with information - so we go down to the wire in terms of information and changes to our Saturday Awards evening. The glitch was totally my fault - as Ginette's notes were not updated correctly - we placed too much importance on the visual PowerPoint and had that 100% correct - so in the end - it all came off okay. And our people loved Ginette's sense of humour and I think the fact that the majority are women - they enjoyed having a woman at the helm for conference this year" Travel Managers Group