Meeting 1129 "The Joy of Youth"

 Sometimes when there are five Tuesdays in a month, we have an extra meeting on the fifth week.

As well as being an extra meeting, our last meeting was a "Lucky Dip" meeting. Apart from the prepared speeches - no one knew beforehand what meeting role they would be performing. VPE Gail had prepared slips with the roles printed on them and members drew one each from a container.

Liz was obviously well prepared for any role and had no trouble acting as Toastmaster for the evening. 

Gail also rose to the occasion as Word Master with the word "Nostalgia."

Liz

Gail

Chris conducted the Round Robin Warm Up session by asking "What is your earliest memory?"

Chris

Chris was also one of the prepared speakers. His speech was a beautifully expressed eulogy titled "Ode to Joy."

Other speakers were Gokul and John. Gokul's speech "The Big Day" was an account of his wedding day in India and an engrossing explanation of how a Tamil wedding is celebrated.

John completed Level 5 in the Dynamic Leadership Path with his speech "Leading a Teaching Life." This was one of many paths that John has completed. A true Dynamic Leader!

Gokul

John

Evaluators were Paul, Peter and Arun. 

Paul

Peter

Arun

The raffle (a drinks flask, kneeling pad and book) presented by Helen was very popular and was won by Dan.

Helen

Timer Narelle reported that we were running ahead of time, so we had an extra five minutes to chat during the supper, which was provided by Narelle and Arun.

Supper Time

Table Topics Master John called on Helen, Peter, Gail, Paul, Liz and Marlene to answer his questions.

1. "What is the best thing about being young?" Helen

2. "Is it harder to be a youth  today than in your time as one?" Peter.

3. "What is the best age of life and why?" Gail.

4. "Who was someone who impressed you when you were young?" Paul.

5. "What message would you give to your younger self?" Liz.

6. "What do you understand by the expression 'young at heart' ?" Marlene

They were evaluated by Dan.

Dan

A General Evaluation of the meeting was conducted by Marlene.

Votes for the evening's winners were tallied with the result that the three prepared speakers had the same number of votes and tied for the "Best Speech" award.

Gokul, Chris and John

Other place getters were Dan (Best Evaluation,) Liz (Best Table Topic) and Helen who tied with Gokul. (Most Improved.)

Award winners 30th May 2023

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 13th June.

Meeting 1128 "The King's Coronation"

Congratulations to Arun on completing Level 5 (The highest level) in his "Dynamic Leadership" path with his inspiring speech, "Challenge your Limit." 

Arun

Other speakers were Helen, who earned her standing ovation with her Icebreaker speech "The Way Forward" and Trevor with his speech "Are You Cut Out to be an Entrepreneur?" 

Helen

Trevor

Evaluators were Gokul, Trish and Paul.

Gokul

Trish

Paul

Q. "Who is strong enough to move the King's castle?" A. "A chess player."

Q. "When is a King like a piece of wood?" A. "When he's a ruler."

Toastmaster Narelle kept the jokes coming during the meeting, providing plenty of laughs.

She also conducted the Round Robin, asking "Where were you when King Charles was crowned?

Although most of had watched at least some of the ceremony, Trish was the only one who had watched all of it. Trish also managed to use John's word of the evening "Majesty" or "Majestic" more times than anyone else.

Paul conducted the raffle with the prize of a bottle of special Bundaberg Rum. (Supplied by Dan.)

Supper time was an opportunity to catch up  with one another. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of the lovely spread provided by Gail and Helen. It was good to see Tom back for a second visit.

Liz and Trish at supper time

The Table Topics prepared by Paul, had a royal theme. 

"Is all the pomp and pageantry necessary?" answered by Marlene.

"All those jewels - can they be real?" Trevor.

"What kind of a king do you think Charles will be?" Narelle.

"Would you have liked to grow up as a prince or princess?" Arun.

"If you could be any royal, who would it be?" Trish.

"What food would you choose for the coronation?" Helen

"What do think Princess Di would have thought of the coronation?" Liz.

"Was the coronation worth the millions spent on it?" Gokul.

Evaluators were Gail and John.

Gail

John

For Show and Tell, Marlene showed a miniature teapot commemorating the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary.

Grammarian Trish commented on the words during the meeting and Liz gave a General evaluation of the entire meeting.

Trish

Liz

The evenings awards went to Helen (Best Speech) Liz and Trish -  tie (Best Table Topic)

Trish (Best Evaluation) and Arun (Most Improved.) 

As there is a fifth Tuesday this month, we will have an extra meeting next Tuesday 30th May with the theme "The Joy of Youth." It will be a Lucky Dip meeting - roles (other than the speeches) will be drawn on the night. Don't miss it!

Meeting 1127 "Friendship"

"Friendship" was an appropriate theme for a Toastmasters meeting, because Toastmasters is a great place to find friends. 

Gail, as stand-in president, welcomed our guests, Area Director Suresh and first time visitors Fiona, Catherine and Tom.

Gail

Arun

Toastmaster of the day Arun, explained the benefits of clapping and was rewarded with an enthusiastic applause. Arun also shared some wonderful quotes about friendship throughout the meeting.

Marlene proposed a toast to "Friends."

Gokul presented the word of the evening "Amity" which means friendship - usually between nations.

Suresh conducted the Round Robin Warm Up asking "Who is your best friend and why?"

Gokul

Suresh

There were three prepared speeches, all from advanced speakers.  Liz's speech "Do you know Me?" was from the "Know you Communication Style project"

John speech was "Lessons learned through Toastmasters", and was from the "Leading in your Volunteer Organisation" project.

Tony's presented a speech from the Effective communication path. "Contestant Junkie."

Liz

John

Tony

These three are all advanced, confident speakers.

New members and visitors need to remember that most of us are not like that when we first join Toastmasters!

Evaluators were Jonathon, Hazel and Helen.

Jonathon

Hazel

Helen

Trevor provided the popular raffle prize which was won by lucky Arun. (I really wanted those pigs!)

Trevor

Supper was provided by Gokul and Marlene. 

Trevor conducted the Table Topics Session, calling on Gokul "Something you didn't tell your mother", Gail "Something you were recently afraid of", Trish "Can you climb trees?" Suresh "What is sweet in your life?" Marlene "How long do you want to live?" and Jonathon "Long Live the King."

Evaluators were Chris and Helen.

Dan was Time Keeper.

Dan

Chris

Trish

Trish chaired a business session and Election of Club Officers which resulted in the following positions to take effect from the 1st July.

President: Gail H

Vice President Education: Liz We

Vice President Membership: Arun T

Treasurer: Peter D

Secretary: Chris H

Sergeant at Arms: Helen P.

Grammarian Gail commented on the use of words during the evening and Narelle gave a General Evaluation of the entire meeting.

Gail presented John with a certificate from Toastmasters International for completing Level 5 in the Presentation Mastery path.

John and Gail - Level 5 Certificate.

The evenings Awards went to Tony (Best Speech) Marlene (Best Table Topic) Helen (Most Improved) and Jonathon (Best Evaluation.)

Award winners 9th May 2023

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 23rd May. There will also be an extra meeting on the 30th May - a Lucky Dip meeting.