Meeting 938 "Speechfest"

Some of our best meetings occur when difficult circumstances have to be overcome.

On the morning of our last meeting day, our president Nicole was informed that due to an unavoidable circumstance, the room where we usually meet was not available. Thanks to  Nicole and others who made numerous phone calls and sent out emails and to the Sandgate Uniting Church for allowing us to hold the meeting in their hall, the meeting went ahead and was one of our memorable evenings.

Harry was Toastmaster

President Nicole welcomed our guests Steve (who is transferring to our club) Lisa, Jean, and Ajit. Toastmaster Harry had prepared some interesting information about words and speaking.

Instead of our usual meeting format we had a speechathon, with 7 speakers who didn't appear to suffer from "Glossophobia."

Tim

 Tim was the first speaker with his second speech from the CC manual, and told us "The Story of the Rain and Sydney University" and how he caught a train and arrived 3 days later.

Darryl

Darryl presented his third speech from the manual which he titled, "What the Hell am I doing here" His main point was the importance of reading the objectives in the manuals before preparing a speech.

Amanda

Amanda's speech "Dreams and its Health Warnings" was a fascinating account of how dreams can warn of physical complaints. Amanda had prepared a power point presentation but quickly adapted with other visual props when our projector was unavailable, due to the last minute change of  venue.

Maureen

 Maureen also rose to the occasion and coped without the projector as she convinced us of the benefits of medical research in her speech, "Why Research?"

Peter dM

Peter dM entertained us with an amusing story of a driving adventure  "Oh My God, I Think I've killed a Priest!" 

Reza

Reza presented his Ice Breaker speech, "Life's Challenges." He told us about emigrating from South Africa to Australia.

Terry

Terry continued the story he had begun in his Ice Breaker at a previous meeting, and told us about some more events in his life. 

Nicole and Pam listening

The speeches were evaluated by Dave, John S, Steve, Marlene Liz, John T and Peter V.

Steve

Liz

Dave

John T

John S

Peter V

During the meeting, time keepers Jim and Nick announced that we were ahead of time, so Harry introduced a Round Robin and asked "Why did you join Toastmasters and why have you stayed? Have you achieved your goals?" This was so popular, everyone spoke longer than the usual 20 seconds which made us a bit behind time.

Timekeepers Jim and Nick

Liz's raffle was a tea infuser, jug, coffee and chocloate. It was won by John S.

Liz

Annette

General Evaluator Annette summed up the meeting with some helpful comments.

President Nicole presented the evening's awards to Steve (Best Evaluator,) Reza (Best Speech and Peronal Best,) and Harry (Best Contribution.)

Winners - Steve, Reza Harry

Next meeting is on the 10th March with the theme "Gadgets and Gizmos"