Area 8 Conference - "Helping others to help yourself"

 

It was a sunny Sunday, when eight Sandgate Toastmasters joined many other Toastmasters to celebrate the club's bests to compete with each other: Christiane, Helen, Chris, Arun, Trish, Gail, John and Will.

Area 8 comprises of 6 clubs: Bracken Ridge (BR), North Lakes (NL), Peninsula (Pe), Powerlink (Po), Redcliffe (R) and Sandgate (S). There were 4 contests and 12 trophies up for grabs.

 

 

 

The registration and raffle table were manned by Peninsula Club who were kept busy until they sold out of raffle tickets VERY quickly!

Before the actual contests were underway, there were a few procedures beforehand: Sue called the meeting to order as our Sergeant At Arms, before handing to James who was our Conference MC for the first half of the day.

It was David's job as Area 8 Director to open the Conference and honour all the dignities in the room.

 

 

 

Our first contest was the Evaluation Contest, hosted by North Lakes Club, chaired by Jenny. We first heard a test speech by Abishek titled "The Hindsight Window". It was evaluated by the five contestants which were Andrew (NL), Cheyenne (R), Allan (Pe), Heidi (BR) and Christiane (S).

For the awards (with no time disqualification), Jenny announced:

1. Heidi
2. Christiane
3. Allan
   

 

 

 

 

We then had our first break: morning tea, which we took to catch up between the clubs and the news.

The International Speech Contest was hosted by Bracken Ridge and chaired by Chris P. 

Chris P called on John (S) with "Sending Out an SOS", Kris (Pe) with "Three Mindful Tricks", Monica (R) with "Childless Cat Ladies" and Maria (NL) with "2:43am".

With no time disqualification, he awarded:

1. John
2. Monica
3. Kris

 

 

Next on the agenda was our guest speaker Christine Lennon who gave as some insights of how  "Being the Best Version You Can Be" influenced her life.

It was time for our lunch break and more catching up time.

After lunch, we were welcomed by new MC David who took us through the afternoon.

 

 

 

The next contest was hosted by Redcliffe and chaired by Barbara. In the Table Topic Contest, she called on Paul, Umar (Pe), Heidi (BR), Christiane (S) and Andrew (NL) with the topic: "Just in time".

With no time disqualifications, Barbara awarded:

1. Christiane
2. Heidi
3. Andrew

 

Raffles were drawn - and it would have been a rigged raffle if Gail H wouldn't have won!

 

 

We had a short afternoon tea break before the final contest: Humorous Speech. It was hosted by Sandgate and chaired by Will. This also meant, he had to brief the contestants. The contestants' speeches were timed by Gail H and Chris. The Sergeant At Arms were Helen responsible for the stage and Trish responsible for the application of the microphone. The Ballot Counters were John and Chris.

Will called on Monica (R) with "The Next Olympic Event", Heidi (BR) with "An Olympic Life", Christiane (S) with "It's About Time", Allan (Pe) with "Whose a Clever Boy Then?" and Anoop (NL) with "The Great Halloween Lesson".

Fortunately, Will was able to announce no time disqualification before placing the winners:

1. Anoop
2. Christiane
3. Monica

 

Sandgate Toastmasters would like to congratulate the winners going on to Moreton Division Conference next year and wish them good luck in a tough competition. Keep March 16 free for attending and cheering on Heidi, John, Christiane and Anoop.

Thank you to Trish for providing most of the photos.

 

Meeting 1163 "Have Fun but Tell the Truth."

 Sometimes when there are 5 Tuesdays in a month, we have an extra meeting on the fifth Tuesday. This time, instead of our usual meeting format, VPE Christiane decided to try out a miscellany of small roles so we could decide which were most worthwhile. 

President Helen opened the meeting and welcomed our special guest Area Director David.

Helen

A.D. David

Toastmaster Trevor was kept busy introducing the many short meeting segments and had something to say about each one.

Trevor

TJ proposed a toast to "Sandgate and the beautiful weather we are having."

Word Master Gail H introduced the word "Exaggerate" meaning overstating things, heaping up, increasing in significance. John managed to use the word the most times during the evening.

Madeline presented the Round Robin (Warm Up) and asked, "Who is the most famous person you have met?" 

Gail H

Madeline

Joke Master John earned some laughs with his joke, "A frog walks into a bank...."

Christiane gave a book review on "Who Moved my Cheese?" about accepting change.

"Two Truths and a Lie" was conducted by Chris. All his statements were about cars, with the first one being a lie. He didn't buy a Landau.

TJ made a convincing News Commentator as she announced the visit to Australia by skaters Torville and Dean.

Helen reviewed the Movie "The Martian."

Chris

Helen

A Biography on Edward Bulwer Lytton was presented by Marlene.  She explained that the phrase "It was a Dark and Stormy Night" used by cartoon character Snoopy is actually a plagiarism of the opening line in a book by Edward Bulwer Lytton.

Aarun conducted a "Who Am I?" segment, giving facts until someone guessed that it was the Russian boxer, Koysta Tsyzu.

Arun

Gail H chose a Strauss Waltz "The Blue Danube," for her music review. She played some of it on her mobile phone and told us some amusing stories about dances she had attended in her youth.

Narelle presented a poem by Robert Frost "Nothing but Gold Can Stay."

Some Australiana information was presented by Liz, mentioning some of our famous athletes.

This was followed by a Quote from Helen. (Sorry, I forgot to write it down.)

Arun presented a quiz about the items already presented and Trevor conducted a Round Robin evaluation of the presentations.

Narelle offered a Raffle prize of assorted drinks - wine, fruit juice, tea, coffee etc. It was won by Trevor.

Timekeeper Gail reported that the meeting was running behind time, so the Supper Break was reduced to 10 minutes.

Timekeeper Gail with Chris

Supper was provided by Madeline and Liz.

John enjoying supper.

On her Soapbox, Narelle complained about people who don't merge properly in traffic.

In his Did You Know? segment, Arun told us (among other things) that there are more stars in the galaxy than there are grains of sand on the earth.

Marlene presented a review of the book "The Poisonwood Bible."

John presented a Biography of Ralph Chestnut Smedley, the founder of Toastmasters.

Christiane kept us guessing with her "I've Got a Secret" finally revealing that she is to be test speaker for a conference in a different Area.

Madeline played Chopin's Nocturne No 9 in E flat on her phone while she told what she loves about the music.

Chris, acting as a News Commentator presented a clever satire. (I might remember later what it was!) 😀

TJ reviewed an article from the Toastmasters Magazine "Must You Tell a Story?"

Because we were running late, Marlene shortened her Australiana presentation of the story behind the song "Waltzing Matilda."

Area Director David reminded us of the Area 8 Conference to be held next Sunday 3rd November and the Hall of Fame.

A brief discussion was led by Christiane on what had worked well and what could be improved. The general consensus was, it was a fun meeting but would have been better with the small roles for only half the meeting and to include Table Topics.

The meeting surprisingly ended right on time. 

Next meeting Tuesday 12th November will be a Backwards meeting.

Meeting 1162 "Sports"

President Helen opened the meeting and welcomed our guest, Robert.

Helen

 Toastmaster Paul had chosen "Sports" as the theme of the meeting. 

Trish proposed a toast to "The sportsmanship of Toastmasters and 100 years of Toastmasters." (The very first official Toastmasters club was formed on the 22nd October 1924.)

Paul

Trish

Maddy's word for the evening was "Precocious" meaning "unusually advanced or mature in development, especially mental development" or "flowering, fruiting, or ripening early, as plants or fruit."  

Round Robin Master Narelle invited us to share "What is your favourite sport and were you precocious in it?" The responses were varied and Trish managed to use the word "precocious" 30 times, with Helen coming close behind.

Maddy

George kept everyone enthralled with his amusing speech "The Perils of Art Union Draws." and was evaluated by Trevor.

George

Trevor

A business session was held with Gail W acting as Chairman for the first time. An unexpected business item (the purchase of a cupboard for equipment - would it fit?) involved much discussion. 

Timekeeper Chris reported that the meeting was running well overtime.

Gail W

Chris

Arun presented the raffle - 3 bottles of wine. It was won by Helen.

Arun

 Supper was provided by Chris.

Supper Time

Table Topic Master Liz had topics for Trevor, Arun, Gail H and Helen.

The topics were:

 1. "If you were an Olympian, what sport would you be in?

2. "What does the term "Good Sport" mean to you?

3. "What was your favourite sport at school?"

4. " Are you an armchair or active sports person?"

Liz

Trish and Chris each conducted a special group evaluation session for Christiane and John who will be competing in the speech contests at the Area 8 Conference.

The session was conducted as a Round Robin, with each member offering suggestions and recommendations.

Trish

Chris

Gail H presented an evaluation of the entire meeting.

Gail H

Award winners were Helen (Best Table Topic) and Trevor, Trish and Liz (Triple tie - Best Evaluation.)

Award Winners 22nd Oct 24

Coming Events: 

Tuesday 29th October, Extra meeting (because it's the 5th Tues in the month.) 

Sunday 3rd November, Area 8 Conference, North Lakes Community Centre, North Lakes

Tuesday 12th November, Backwards Meeting.

Tuesday 26th November, Regular meeting.

Tuesday, 10th December, Christmas Break Up Dinner at The Sands Social.

A Toast to 100 Years: Celebrating Toastmasters' Centennial Journey

Meeting 1161 International Speech and Evaluation Contests

It was a dark and stormy night...

In spite of the bad weather, nearly everyone managed to attend the meeting. Special thanks to our friends from other Toastmasters clubs, Chris, Mark, Suresh, Sue, and Jenny who came to judge the contests, and to David who was Test Speaker for the Evaluation Contest.

David J, Sue, Suresh, David B

Mark

Jenny - Chief Judge

Sorry, didn't get a photo of Chris.

Helen was Contest Toastmaster for the Evaluation Contest, and Gail W was Contest Toastmaster for the International Speech Contest. It was the first time for both of them.

Helen

Gail W

Liz proposed a toast to "Our Contestants - all the best!"

Liz

Test speaker David presented a speech to be evaluated by the participants in the Evaluation Contest.

David

The place getters in the Evaluation Contest were Christiane - First Place, John -Second, and Helen - Third.

Helen, Christiane and John

Participants in the International Speech Contest were Narelle, Christiane, John and Arun.

Speech Contest Participants

Place getters were John- First Place, Christiane - Second, and Narelle- Third.

Christiane, John and Narelle

Contest winners will compete with other Toastmasters clubs at the Area 8 Conference on the 3rd November.

Gail offered a raffle prize of a voucher for The Sands Social Restuarant. She was kept busy selling raffle tickets. The lucky winner was Liz.

Gail selling tickets in raffle

Supper was supplied by John and George.

Chris and John

Gail and Jenny

It was good to have Liz back from England and Trevor from Thailand. And a first-time visitor, Brett.

Congratulations to Jonathon on 15 years membership in our club. 

Next meeting 22nd October.

Meeting 1160 "The Eagles"

 It was another great meeting. We had 5 guests, Peter, Robert, Madonna, Claire, Ray. And a new member! Maddy has joined our club.

President Helen inducted new member Maddy and presented John with a ribbon award for completing level 2 of the Motivational Strategies Path.

Helen inducted Maddy

John recieved ribbon

Toastmaster of the evening Narelle explained that she had chosen "The Eagles" as the meeting theme because she loves the group's music.

Maddy's first role was to propose a toast. She proposed it to "Those who step outside of their comfort zone."

Maddy

George

George chose the word "laughter" as the word of the evening. Although it wasn't used a lot, there was plenty of laughter during the evening.

Round Robin Master Trish invited us to tell what music reminded us of a special event in our lives.

There were 4 prepared speeches by Arun, Helen, Paul and Trish.

Arun

Helen

Paul

Trish

Speech Evaluators were Gail W, Marlene, Christiane and John.

Gail W

Marlene

Christiane

John

Timekeeper Gail reported on the timing of the speeches and evaluations.

Gail W

Tracey

Tracey had brought a raffle, consisting of a mug, coffee, tea, biscuits, cheese, and other snacks. It was won by Marlene.

Supper was provided by Russell and Marlene.

Supper

Supper Break

Russell had prepared some theme related Table Topics for his "victims" who were evaluated by Arun and Paul.

   

Russell

Helen 

Helen had everyone guessing with her "Who am I?" segment.

Marlene delivered an evaluation of the entire meeting.

The evening's awards went to Tracey (Most Improved,) Helen (Best Speech,) and John (Best Table Topic and Best Evaluation.)

Award Winners 24 Sept 2024

There is still time to enter the International Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest to be held at our next meeting on the 8th October.