Meeting 1111 "Olivia Newton John"

Olivia

The world lost a beautiful soul last month - Olivia-John, singer, actress and activist passed away on the 8th August. To celebrate Olivia's life, our Toastmasters of the day chose "Olivia Newton-John" as the theme for our meeting this week. 

It turned out to be a meeting full of fun and laughter. Olivia would have enjoyed it!

Sergeant at Arms Gokul opened the meeting with a demonstration on how to "Get Physical."

Gokul

President Paul welcomed everyone, including our guests  Area Director Suresh, Peter S (Trish's husband) and first time visitor Sam.

Paul

Suresh

 Narelle was Toastmaster of the evening for the first time. She kept the evening light hearted with some funny jokes and information about Olivia Newton-John.

David proposed a Toast to Olivia Newton-John. 

In the absence of our Word Master, Narelle suggested the word "spandex" which is a flexible fabric used in sportswear. The word was imaginatively used throughout the evening.

Peter B presented the Round Robin. He asked everyone to tell briefly what kind of a day they'd had. This gave us all an insight into the daily lives of our members.

Peter B

 

The first prepared speech was an inspiring one from Hazel, titled "The Key to Confidence." It was valuated by Tony.

Hazel

Tony

John delivered an eulogy, which was not quite what we expected. It was to his friend "Lorrie Keet" who was "a bit of a galah" sometimes. A shoebox served as Lorrie's coffin.

Jonathon evaluated John's speech.

John

Jonathon

Another inspiring speaker was Arun with his speech, "Few words I could not speak." He told how his confidence had grown since the occasion when he found it difficult to  "Say a few words."

It was evaluated by Trish.

Arun

Trish

The raffle was conducted by Gokul. All the items were pink in memory of Olivia. A bag of pink sweets, a pot of pink roses, and a bottle of something pink, which we had to win to find out what it was. I didn't win, so don't know what it was, but I'm guessing something alcoholic. 

Gokul

Marlene and Hazel were Time Keepers.

Supper time was an opportunity to catch up over a cuppa. Gokul and Trish provided the eats.

Gokul & Christiane

Suresh & Arun

Following a brief address by Area Director Suresh, Paul chaired a business session. The main item discussed was our upcoming contests.

Paul

A lively Table Topics session followed. Jonathon had topics for Gokul, Christiane, Tony, Peter B , & Trish. Most of them were derived from Olivia Newton-John's songs and resulted in some very funny impromptu speeches. 

The Table Topics were evaluated by David (on zoom) and John.

David

John

Trevor  gave a general evaluation of the entire evening.

Trevor

The evening's awards went to Tony (Best Table Topic), Hazel (Best Speech and Most Improved) and Jonathon (Best Evaluation).

Award winners 23 Sept 2022

As there are 5 Tuesdays in August, it will be three weeks until our next meeting on the 13th September, when we will hold our Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests. 

Meeting 1110 - I Have a Dream

 After a few technical issues were sorted, the Meeting commenced with words of wisdom from Sargent-at-Arms Gokul. His good advice on a life lesson was to SMILE.

Gokul

President Paul welcomed Guest Derrick, who was introduced by Narelle.

Arun took charge as Toastmaster and explained the reason for the theme. He quoted excerpts from the famous "I Have A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr from 28th August 1963.

Arun

A Toast was presented by Liz Wo. - "Dream Big, Start Small, but most of all, Start".

Liz

Hazel

Hazel introduced the Word - Reverie, meaning dreaming or meditation. Several Members were able to weave this word into their presentations.

Round Robin was also conducted by Hazel, who posed the question - What have you achieved through Reverie. That certainly provided some interesting responses.

Carmy and Peter D. presented Table Topics, all of which had a dream/reverie style theme. Participants were Trevor, Hazel, Liz, Gokul, Narelle and Marlene.

Carmy

Peter D.

Timers Leanne and Trevor gave updates as we moved between being ahead of time and a bit behind at various sections of the evening.

Evaluators of Table Topics were Paul and Jonathon. They both showed great observation of participants and comments on opportunities to improve were helpful.

Paul

Jonathon

An Educational Session by Tony was on the topic of Evaluation Contests including handouts. This will prove most informative for the upcoming Contests as well as helpful tips for use during Club Meetings for all Evaluators.

Tony

Speeches:

Narelle presented a speech from Presentation Mastery - Lessons Learned. Her topic was "Imposter Syndrome" and was evaluated by Leanne.

Leanne

Marlene gave a Tall Tales segment entitled "The Singing Cow" - yes, it was very humorous. This was evaluated by Dan.

Marlene

Dan

Show and Tell by Gokul showed his inventiveness with an impromptu speech about his 4WD adventure.

The Raffle was a highlight, provided by Trevor, and the lucky winner was Gokul.

Trevor

David as General Evaluator, gave encouraging feedback and also areas to improve, all presented with humour and positivity.

David

Awards:

Best Speech: Marlene, Best Evaluator: Leanne, Best Table Topic - a tie with Trevor and Gokul; Most Improved: Narelle.

Narelle, Leanne, Trevor, Marlene and Gokul

Reminder: Table Topics and Humorous Speech contests to be held on Tuesday 13th September.