Meeting 1125 - "Greece"

You don't have to be picky when  touring six weeks through Greece, since you will find the best lamb dishes everywhere.

Trish gave us many more interesting facts about Greece (even composed in a one-page summary) and encouraged us all to take the long flight to visit.

The meeting was called to order by our Sergeant At Arms Gokul (with no Dad joke) before Paul opened the meeting and welcomed Area Director Suresh as visitor.

Trish explained why she selected Greece at the theme (and was dressed appropriately: Greek purple T-shirt) when she recalled the six weeks adventure with her high school friend and partners 40 years after graduation.

Gail H gave us the program changes not requiring painstaking care as there was only had 1 slight change.

Afterwards, Trish called on Gail W to give us the toast. Gail W used very vivid word pictures to describe Greece with calling the toast to "Contributions from Greece".

Unfussy Chris presented the word of the evening (prepared by Rosie): persnickety. It allowed us to use it in our Round Robin and Table Topics which brought on lots of laughter.

The Round Robin was presented by Helen who allowed us one week of travelling through Greece with her as the finicky tour guide and recounting our many highlights. There were some choosy travellers complaining about the stairs, a few pleasant personification of Greek philosophers and gods as well as celebrating Greek traditions like plate throwing and lamb grazing.

We then moved into the prepared speeches:

1. Peter took us on a journey with "The 330 bus" (Innovative Planning path, Level 2, project 2: Connect with Your Audience) where he educated us about the many benefits of bus travel. It was evaluated by laid-back Christiane.
2. Marlene spoke about her encounters with April Fools Day in her speech titled "A Timely Warning" (Engaging Humour path, Level 1, project 2a: Evaluation and Feedback). Tony was her cultivated evaluator.
3. John brought along a prop in his speech "My Communication Onion" (Visionary Communication path, Level 3, "Develop a communication plan project") when he peeled away the layers explaining the various interactions with people in his life. It was knowingly evaluated by Gokul.

Thereupon, Gokul was called back to the lectern enticing us to buy raffle tickets giving us the chance to find a flavour as diversified as people on the planet.

It was Gail H's turn to give us the timings of the first half before we went into our supper break.

 

During supper we not only were able to buy raffles from Gokul and devour quiche and sweets provided by Hazel and Leanne, but it was a time to catch up on the news.

The second half of the meeting started with Table Topics. Narelle as Table Topic Master gave topics to:

1. Hazel - What would be the best way to travel to/from and around Greece? After considering scooters, she decided to walk everywhere.
   
2. Helen - Greeks are known for smashing plates, have you ever had a time when you wanted to smash plates. Yes!! Everytime hubby and her visit Bunnings as well as sometimes in her interaction with her kids.
   
3. Suresh - Goddess Athena is a patron of Greece, who is your goddess? Lakshmi (giving money) celebrated during Diwali.
   
4. Christiane - Would you rather go to a Greek or Italian restaurant? Greek!! You can't top lamb with tzatziki sauce.
   
5. Chris - Greece grows one third of the world's olives. Do you like olives? As a fastidious eater, he does now with green olives stuffed with feta being his favourite.
   
6. Gail W - What is you favourite Greek monument, person or place? Blue seaside as well as columns.
   

Those impromptu mini speeches were evaluated by Paul and Leanne.

After Gokul collected the final votes (with Trish expanding on the facts about Greece), Suresh addressed our club and congratulated us to a strong membership and having achieved distinguished club level, but most of all called on us how we can give back to Toastmasters.

Three reviews of the executive roles followed:

1. Christiane - Vice President Public Relations ("Postings on Facebook allow you to be organised and creative.")
   
2. Peter - Treasurer ("Don't use the wrong credit card")
   
3. Gokul - Sergeant At Arms ("If you want to speak at every meeting, this is your role")

Chris's feedback on using "persnickety" called on Trish as the winner (16 times). If we wanted to be picky and divide this number by her overall speaking time, we need to congratulate Helen for using it three times. 

Arun gave us the general evaluation prior to Gokul asking Suresh to pick the winner. The raffle went to Arun.

In closing, Paul awarded the trophies to:

Best Speech - Peter

Best Evaluation - Leanne

Best Table Topic - Christiane

Most Improved - Gail W

Our next meeting is on 11 April.

Moreton Division Conference - "Dreams & Ambitions"

Four Sandgate Toastmasters members gave up their Sunday (sleep in) to attend and help out at the Moreton Division Conference on 19 March.

After a succinct council meeting, we were able to move into the four contests with briefings preceding. Trish as Assistant Chief Judge kept everybody aware what was expected during the various briefings. 

It was also possible to watch the contests via Zoom which some members took the opportunity to follow along.

First, Di chaired the International Speech contest in which we heard from

• Steve - "My Suit of Armor"
• David - "Just do it"
• Kate - "Broken to Brilliant"
• Madonna - "Not So Normal"

Gail was one of the timers. 

The trophies went to:

1. Steve
2. Kate
3. Madonna

 

 

 

 

The Humorous Speech contest was next, chaired by Tony. He gave us some Dad jokes one-liners to loosen up our laugh muscles.

We then heard from:

• Joel - "Running on Empty"
• Kris - "Just Let it Go"
• Beck - "Three Little Words"
• David - "Kamikaze Wind"
  

Gail and Christiane were timers.

The placegetters were:

1. Beck
2. Kris
3. David

 

The third contest was the Table Topics Speech contest which was chaired by Lorraine. 

The topic "I saw it with my own eyes" was answered by Ray, Lucy, Bruce and Barbara.

The trophies went to: 

1. Barbara
2. Lucy
3. Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our last contest (Evaluation Speech), we first heard from Lisa with her speech titled "My Swamp Donkey".

It was evaluated by Toto, Heidi, Jason and Steve.

The judges voted for:

1. Steve
2. Jason
3. Heidi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, the raffle draw was awarded.

Sandgate Toastmasters would like to thank the members for attending and helping in the various roles. 

They also would like to congratulate all winners and wish them all the best at the District 69 conference on 28-30 April.

Meeting 1124 - "New Caledonia"

It might be a triviality, but don't expect great coffee in New Caledonia. 

Hazel shared many more facts and history tit-bits about the country she recently visited. Those attended are considering those lithium shares from there.

Our stand-in Sergeant At Arms Chris read the mission statement and then amused us by giving us "French" jokes.

Stand-in President Gail H opened the meeting and welcomed guest Hayley. She also had the pleasure to hand a new name badge to Rosie.

Hazel gave us the reasons of selecting New Caledonia and told us also about the convicts' history.

Gail H firstly gave us the program changes, then presented the toast to "People of New Caledonia and the Pacific Islands".

Trish presented the word of the evening as being "Cliché". She told us that the word has French origins and its meaning plus encouraged us to avoid clichés during the evening. In the following, all clichés will be in italic if they couldn't be avoided.

The Round Robin led by Rosie gave us ample opportunity to incorporate platitudes (both in word as well as making them) and the fortunately/ unfortunately story went from kite surfing over packing your travel bags to planes going down. There was lots of laughter as we discovered who not to go on journeys with.

Afterwards, we moved into the prepared speeches:

1. Narelle revisited her imposter syndrome and shared with us how short- and long-term goals help to overcome it in her speech titled "Success inventory" (Presentation Mastery path, Level 2, project 1: Understanding your communication style). The speech was evaluated by Christiane.
2. Arun's project (Dynamic Leadership path, Level 4, elective project: Managing a disruptive audience) was not so much about the speech as to demonstrate how to keep your audience engaged and deal with distractions (phones, comment interjections as well as gossiping). Arun managed well to encourage us to "Be a lifelong learner to stay relevant" in spite of many hard stares and call outs. Trish congratulated Arun for dealing with the rowdy members (which themselves felt out of place since Toastmasters meetings are a place of listening and respecting the speaker).

Paul made connections in his raffle to New Caledonia in that it was French and his items had some loose relation. He sold us.

Chris gave us a succinct timers report (and kept us on our toes during the whole meeting).

We used the supper break to buy raffles, consume the cake and dips provided by Trish and Arun, respectively, as well as catch up what has happened in the last fortnight.

The Table Topics were given by John. He called on:

1. Helen - Did you know that I once ... lived overseas, went to school to Malaysia and endured the smell of a durian

2. Paul - If I gave you $1000 and told you that you had to spend it today, what would you buy? Piece of jewellery (for his wife) and a nice dinner for both of them

3. Rosie - If you could be a famous person who would you be and why? Legal secretary Donna (from a show) because she is so confident

4. Gail W - If there was a biopic about your life, would it be a comedy, drama, action or romance and what actor would play you? Action movie since it would play how she became a ballet teacher; Gail W would play herself

5. Peter - If you knew that you could not fail, what would you want to do? Become the prime minister to stamp out tax avoidance

6. Tony - If you were a piece of paper, how would you like to be used before you are being disposed? Canvas for a talented(!) painter

The impromptu speeches were evaluated by Tony and Marlene.

While our Sergeant at Arms collected our votes (for the awards at the end of the night), Hazel gave us nine facts we should be aware of before visiting New Caledonia.

Paul presented on his executive role as President and told us of his leadership responsibilities. He also conveyed the many rewarding privileges the role gives him which he promptly demonstrated: He inducted our two new members into the club and had Helen and Gail W repeat after him their obligations. Mentors for the new members are John and Christiane, respectively. Welcome Helen & Gail W - we hope you will embrace the Toastmasters culture and enrich our meetings (see above, they both did already)

Gail H also presented on her executive role: Vice President Education. She listed the many benefits of her role and reported what she has learnt over the year. (It is the third time she is carrying out this role).

Christiane presented a new segment: Two truths, one lie. She recounted three short adventure stories, but was busted by many members.

Trish reported on the word usage and encouraged us again to think about the buzzwords we use without even realising.

Peter gave us a concise general evaluation since we were running overtime.

After Chris' final timers report, Paul asked Hayley to draw the raffle. The prize went to Helen.

In closing, Paul reminded us of the upcoming Division Conference on Sunday.

He presented awards to:

Best Speech - Narelle

Best Evaluation - Trish

Best Table Topic - Tony

Most Improved - Helen

Meeting 1123 - "Travel"

A mouse which travels, a bear which startles and a cockroach which scares were all part of the wandering coddiwomple.

Our Toastmaster of the evening John led us through the program with many sayings, anecdotes and statistics about travelling. He also explained the difference of being a tourist and being a traveller.

Our stand-in Sergeant At Arms Chris read the mission statement and followed in the footsteps by giving us a joke in a riddle: What is grey, has 4 legs and a trunk? (Answer see above)

President Paul opened the meeting and welcomed our returning guests Helen and Gail. He then handed control to Toastmaster John.

John firstly listed the benefits of travel (of which there are many), then called on Gail for the program changes. Gail handled the changes sailing smoothly.

(In the following, you don't see double - or triple) Marlene was called for the toast and she proposed it to a "Safe Journey". She then went on as our Word Master and presented us with Coddiwomple which is the purposeful travel towards a vague destination.

Marlene was then able to encourage us using the word of the evening in the Round Robin she led which Peter D had passed on to her. We shared experiences of recent travels which involved a lot of coddiwompling around. This roaming around involved a description being startled by a bear and caught with your pants down.

It was time for the prepared speeches of the evening:

1. Chris developed a strong connection with the audience by giving helpful tips how to sleep smarter in his speech titled "The Magic of 8" (Innovative Planning path, Level 3, project 1: Present a proposal). The speech was evaluated by Narelle.
2. Hazel's speech titled "Fear, Phobias, Consequences" (Innovative Planning path, Level 2, project 2: Connect with your audience) had the audience squirm in their seat while they thought about how they deal with fear. We learnt that Hazel's irrational fear leads her to wishful thinking of all cockroaches being terminated. Paul evaluated Hazel's speech.

 

Afterwards, Christiane presented the raffle which was filled with items to help us on travelling: being identified by being Australian, learning to eat with chopsticks as well as being kept occupied by playing Sudoku.

 

 

In Paul's timers report we learnt that we were running a few minutes ahead and therefore could have a longer supper break to enjoy the snacks provided by Christiane, exchange more news and buy raffles.

The second half of the meeting started with Table Topics presented by Carmy. She called on:

1. Marlene - You have won a 7 day All Expenses Paid Trip Around The World. Who would you take and why? Also where will you go? After some debating with herself, she would take her daughter-in-law (to England).
2. Paul - When you travel for work or pleasure, what mode of transport do you like to use? If it is for pleasure a plane to somewhere overseas, so his SIM card doesn't work.
   
3. Helen - What city or country do you want to travel to and why? Since there are too many on her list to explore new cultures, she will be just happy with anywhere where the pin drops. As long as she is touring, she is happy...
4. John - Describe a holiday from hell that you have been on. Although there were challenges with globetrotting with his backpack in his youth, he recently enjoyed a river cruise in Europe.
   
5. Gail - If you had unlimited funds who would you take on holidays? Gail was certain that trips would involve Canada (to see her granddaughter) and she would take her son and family to Canada as well as bring her daughter and family from Canada out to Australia.
6. Christiane - Tell us about an interesting holiday you have taken with your husband, using 3 modes of transport. All members knew where this one was going: Plane to Germany, train to visit family and get to the Netherlands, riding a push bike through the Netherlands. As an extra (for those planning inter-generational holidays), she mentioned her boat tour through the Netherlands with her grandfather (89) and niece (8).
   

The Table Topics were expertly evaluated by Jonathon and Hazel who looked at the various structures used by the participants and analysed why the structure of comparing, redefining or "flagpoling" the answer worked.

Gail followed with an update on the Distinguished Club Program which is a way of Toastmasters to track how successful the clubs are. There are 10 goals each year (July - June) and we currently sit on 6 - making us "Distinguished".

Marlene's report on "Coddiwomple" was very encouraging: Nearly all members and both guests had utilised the touring word. To noone's surprise, Trish was named the winner.

Trish was called up to give us the evaluation of the whole meeting. She started by calling our President and Vice President of Education forward to present them with the "President Distinguished" (reaching 9 out of 10 goals, see above).

Trish congratulated us on a really organised meeting with really great segments and learning opportunities.

Paul followed with the final timer's report before John was asked to draw the winning raffle (the raffle went to Carmy) and President Paul was closing the meeting. He was elated to learn that both our guests had decided to join.

Paul then presented the awards to:

Best Speech - Hazel

Best Evaluation - Jonathon

Best Table Topic - Christiane

Most Improved - Hazel