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