Meeting 1113 - "Springtime"

With the weather getting warmer, it was no surprise to think of all the blooming around town. Our Toastmaster Gail gave us interesting snippets of where the word "spring" originated from and what traditions have survived until today, but mostly she was reminiscent that Brisbane doesn't get the noticeable seasons that the UK or Canada get.

Nevertheless, she was leading us through a great program which she in the role as VPE (Vice President Education) had tabled.

But not let jump ahead of ourselves: Gokul opened the meeting and gave us the mission statement.

President Paul had a busy opening: welcoming returning guest Sam, handing out name badges to Arun and David as well as certificates to Gain (this is not a spelling error, I'm just reciting the certificate) and Christiane since both missed the Changeover dinner in July.

 

Then, it was Gail's turn to get us into the theme as well as give us the program changes.

Afterwards, Peter B gave a very succinct toast to "King Charles III".

 

This was followed by the Round Robin and our self-announced warm-up master "dropped in" which lead to several responses being "Turned out better than expected".

 

The two speeches of the evening were introduced:

First, Gokul gave a researched approach to why breathing is tiring in his speech titled "Exploring inner peace". It was evaluated by Jonathon.

 

 

 

Our second speaker was Arun who spoke of his journey of leadership in his speech titled "You don't belong here". It was an elective project from Level 3 from the Dynamic Leadership path. The speech was evaluated by Christiane.

 

 

Jonathon's surprise raffle included something red, with icons of the Australian history on it and the hint that it can be exchanged for something you actually really wanted. It was won by Christiane who was able to take it home in a brown paper bag.

 

 

Then it was time for a scrumptious supper provided by Trevor and Christiane. Let the photos speak for themselves... 

Christiane also gave her educational on being the Table Topics Master. Trevor was able to keep to most of the pointers she passed along.

Trevor called on:

Marlene's answer of the milk down the sink was "something you didn't tell your mother"

Jonathon learnt that a horse at night is "something that you are afraid of"

Paul convinced us that he can't "can you climb trees?"

Gokul surprised us that people are "What is sweet in your life?"

Sam's conclusion of 80 to 100 years came after contemplating all options to "How old you want to live to and why?"

Peter B reminisced about his grandmother when citing "Long live the king"

 

Timer Paul was kept busy, especially with the Table Topics timing.

The Table Topics were evaluated by Narelle and David. Very helpful advice was to start with an open posture as well as with a personal story to draw the audience in.

 

 

 

We also had a business session which was chaired by Gail. With no quorum present though, we deferred any motions to the business meeting in October.

Marlene gave us a general evaluation on a successful meeting, before Paul announced the awards for the night:

 

 

 

 

Most Improved Peter B

Best Speech Arun

Best Evaluation Jonathon

Best Table Topic Jonathon

 

 

 

 

Our next meeting will be on 11 October and will be a Contest night: Evaluation and International Speech are on the agenda.

Meeting 1112 - TT & Humorous Speech Contest

 

Contest Chair Hazel & Table Topics Contestants

TT Contest Chair

Although we didn't have the record number of last year's contestants, 6 contestants entered the Table Topic contest: Chris, Paul, Narelle, John, Christiane and Arun.

Contest Chair Hazel led us through the contest. 

How would you have answered the topic: "Which is worse: Failing or never starting?"

And the winners were:

1) Christiane

2) John

3) Arun

Table Topics Winners

Jonathon

In the second half, we had our Humorous Speech contest. It was led by Jonathon. 

John, Narelle and Christiane participated in it and ranked as follows:

1) Narelle

2) John

3) Christiane

Humorous Speech winners

Narelle presenting the raffle

Raffle prize

Before president Paul closed a successful meeting, Narelle drew the raffle. Lucky winner to enjoy everything British was in a roundabout way the birthday boy.

Thanks to the judges Anne, Di, Mark H, Mark B and Suzanne who gave up their time to judge Sandgate contests.

We also welcomed guests Jeremy, George and Sam as well as visitors (from other clubs) Jim, Dianne and Peter.

Thanks to Peter B and Arun for providing the supper.

Supper time