Meeting 1001 Speechfest

This first Meeting of the second millennia promised a packed agenda with 6 speeches to be presented. Guests included Jane and past Member Monica, together with Area Director Irene for her official visit to our Club.

Sergeant at Arms Chris opened the Meeting at 7pm by handing control to Toastmaster Steve.  President Annette conducted the Induction for new Member Marie.

A Toast to Martin Luther, the theme of this evening's Meeting, was presented by Stephen. He provided some very enlightening facts about Martin Luther's early life and how he came to produce his 95 thesus which he nailed to a church door 500 years ago today.

Irene presented Annette with a key chain inscribed with "The Spirit of Sandgate" together with a photo compilation CD, in honour of Annette attaining 40 years in Toastmasters.
Well done Annette, our Club is richer for having such an invaluable historian, together with your speaking talent and depth of knowledge in all Toastmaster matters.

Zoe kept with the theme and her word for the night was FAITH, meaning belief. Members used this word 15 times throughout the Meeting.

Round Robin was conducted by Jonathon, who came up with a topic off the top of his head "Tell us about something that wasn't going to turn out well, but you believed it would turn out ok". Many varied and interesting tales were revealed, several concerning plane flights.

Speeches commenced with Lien who presented her Ice Breaker "Believe in Yourself". It was an amazing tale of Lien's life and her strong belief that she and her family would succeed her in Australia. Evaluator Liz provided encouragement and complimented Lien on her strong points.

Tim introduced Gail for her second speech entitled "Your Blood is Worth Bottling", a fascinating journey into the blood donation path which she urged all eligible Members to reflect upon.
Tim provided insightful feedback for Gail.

Liz, visiting from the UK presented her final speech from the High Performance Leadership Study Program entitled "Ruby Celebrations".  She gave a great outline of her preparation for Sandgate Club's 40th Anniversary dinner, which included her "Vision" to have a successful event. A group evaluation followed, led by Jim.

A raffle provided by Nick was a mystery, it being packaged in a white box. His informative and entertaining manner of selling the raffle was very clever and well received. The winner was Stephen, who relieved our curiosity by unwrapping the parcel to reveal a portable vacuum cleaner.

During supper the remains of the cake from 1000 Meeting was consumed after a cake cutting ceremony by Annette. Marlene showed that some people can have their cake and eat it too.

Speeches continued with 3 contest speeches re-presented prior to Area 8 Contest this Saturday. This was to allow fine tuning with audience evaluation to provide enhancing tips and suggestions.

Nikki was introduced by Annette, the speech for Humorous Contest, entitled "Is my Family Normal".

Kirsty introduced Christiane, with her speech for the International Contest, entitled 'Show Courage and Real Story".

Darryl was introduced by Jonathon, and his speech for International Contest was entitled "Cool Calm and Collected".

Marlene presented a brief General Evaluation owing to timing restraints. In conclusion she gave a quote from Martin Luther which provided much laughter. "But I resist the devil and often it is with a fart that I drive him away".

Annette offered good wishes to all Contestants for the Area Conference, and thanked other Members for their attendance and offers of assistance at the event.

2 Trophies were presented for Best Speech and Most Improved - and Lien was the proud recipient of both. Congratulations Lien and well done for completing your Ice Breaker.