Meeting 1146 "Eye of the Tiger"

Put on the spotlight: What we connect with "Eye of the Tiger" might be different for all of us, but Toastmaster Elizabeth chose the theme because it reminded her of having courage and grit to achieve anything if you set your mind to it.

The word "Adversity" was also brought in as reflection of the song.

Sergeant at Arms Helen called the meeting to order, welcomed our returning guests Tracey and George as well as Area Director Suzanne. She also read us the mission statement.

Gail Horne opened the meeting by reminding us of the upcoming events as well as congratulating our executive for attending the Club Officer Meeting. Having 5 executives attend, meant that we have received another point towards our Distinguished Club Program and saw us achieving six out of ten points.

Toastmaster Elizabeth started her segment with music playing - yes, "Eye of the Tiger" -  and also had some boxing moves ready for us.

Vice President of Education Liz gave us the programme changes.

Carmy had two consecutive roles: First, she toasted to "All Toastmasters over the world" because those display courage and grit. Secondly, she also gave us the word of the evening "focus" - to be used as noun or verb.

Liz gave us all a chance to aim our attention towards "focus" when she asked us to share "How determined are you?"

Peter started by sharing that he is resolutely working towards retirement.

Other members mentioned getting their life affairs in order (including super and weight loss), needing a report card to motivate them (if people tell you you can't, just do it!) and spoken in general about personal development.

You might call it stubborn or single-minded, but there was even mention of aligning grand-babies in the same way as your own babies - for a collage. (Good luck we say!)

 

 

The prepared speeches were next:

1.  Shaun's target with his speech "Feeding the Monster" (Visionary Communication, Level 1, project 3: Introduction to Vocal Variety and Body Language) was for us to consider what our hobbies and addictions might cost us. Since he brought a multitude of examples and props for those, see if you can see yourself in some of them. Arun evaluated Shaun's speech.

2. In her speech "Theresa killed the radio" (Persuasive Influence, Level 3, project 1: Understanding Conflict Resolution), Christiane concentrated to share how she is growing in personal conflict situations. It was evaluated by Helen who suggested to have a stronger call-to-action.

It was time for Liz to give us an update on the Pathways development: Toastmasters International will reduce the different paths to six (the most popular ones). Their focal point is easy access, so they are trying to make Basecamp (the website for us accessing Pathways) mobile friendly as well as possible to share straight to social media.

Watch this space: The launch is expected to be in 2024.

Since we hadn't seen enough of Liz yet, her next segment was the raffle, where she sold us on garden items and a bottle of wine to relax after the yard activities.

Timekeeper Peter kept the meeting running smoothly and reported that we were running ahead of time for the first half.

This allowed for a longer break: We were able to buy raffle tickets, sample the treats which Rosie and Christiane had provided, inquire about membership, catch up and yes, pose for the camera person.

 

The second half started off with Table Topics. Table Topic Master Narelle called on:

1. Paul with "Is the 'Eye of the Tiger' a good song to bang out in the car? Why or why not?" - It's an oldie, but a goldie and has great lyrics.
   
2. Rosie with "Have you ever injured your eye?" - Yes, if you count laser surgery.
   
3. Marlene with "What's the best eye colour?" - First was jealous of brave cousins brown eyes, then met "somebody" (special) with blue eyes; nowadays it is her cats' green eyes.
   
4. Arun with "Tigers, love them or hate them?" - LOVE, if they are in a cage or seen on a safari (i.e. he is not in danger)
   
5. Trish with "When have you been described as a 'Tiger'"? - Her husband has seen her transformation from pussy cat to tiger (but still prefers unicorns).
   
6. Tracey with "What's your favourite big cat (lions, tigers, cheetahs, pumas)?" - Tiger since she used to have a small cat with similar patterns.
   
7. Carmy with "Is overcoming adversity important?" - YES, every little step is: leaving the house, attending Toastmaster meetings regularly...
   
8. Suzanne with "Is overcoming adversity in reality TV shows too commercialised?" - YES, only other real people in your life help you overcome adversity. Her 5-year-old granddaughter is an inspiring example to her.
   

The Table Topics were evaluated by Gail W and Gail H - it was going to happen that both Gails got subsequent and similar tasks. We just had to focus, focus, focus...

While Helen collected the votes, Toastmaster Elizabeth called for jokes. Both George and Shaun rose to the occasion.

Even though it had been a while that Sandgate Toastmasters had a business meeting, Paul chaired the business meeting expertly through four motions.

Carmy congratulated all attendants of concentrating through the evening to use "focus" at least once. Helen became runner-up to Trish's 22 times.

It was on Trish to give us the general evaluation, in which she gave us excellent feedback: 

• Helen's calling to attention and her use of a strong voice has everybody paying attention

• For evaluations:

• Don't take pens to the lectern

• Don't introduce new points in the conclusion

• When trying to be persuasive, be really careful of the words used ("I suppose" supposingly doesn't cut it)

• Trish explained the significance of the gavel in the business meeting: it shows who is in control of the meeting

Liz asked guest George to draw the raffle and Helen could take the gardening items home.

Peter's final timers report showed we were running overtime, so Gail's closing was short and sweet. She asked our guests for feedback and both decided to join us as members.

The awards went to:

• Most Improved - Carmy

• Best Table Topic - Trish

• Best Speech - Shaun

• Best Evaluation - Helen

After the meeting was finished, hard work was made light by many hands: Sandgate Toastmasters and (last time) guests were bringing the RSL Club back to order.

Our next meeting is on March 12.

Meeting 1145 "Expectations"

"The secret to happiness is having low expectations." (Warren Buffett) was the first quote our Toastmaster gave us.

We knew we could anticipate for a great meeting since we had a great bunch of members lined up.

Before the official start of the meeting, photographer Bruce had been efficiently organised by John to take an amazeballs group photo for the Sandgate Guide.

Stunning Sergeant at Arms Helen called the meeting to order and read us the mission statement.

Phenomenal President Gail H opened the meeting and welcomed our returning guests Amy, Russell, Tracey and George.

Gail H presented Elizabeth with her membership badge. She also shared some news events including:

• Our Vice President Education was returning from England and will be present at our next meeting
• Club Officer Training this coming Saturday February 17
• Moreton District Conference on March 10 (Suzanne was looking for grid volunteers as well as garden raffle prizes - John offered his unbelievable weeds)
• 50th anniversary dinner invitation for April 30
• District Conference on the first weekend in May

Gail H then announced a few program changes.

Tremendous Toastmaster Gail W gave us three examples of expectations: party, last ever date and "Wait till your father gets home". (notice her expression!)

She called on prodigious Peter to give us the toast for the evening which went to "Realistic Expectations" after he spoke about some personal experiences.

With Shaun as the wonderful Word Master, we could envisage a challenging word, but wouldn't have dreamed about "amazeballs". Such a positive word encouraged us all to make the meeting tots amazeballs.

Members and guests had the perfect opportunity during Round Robin to use the word of the evening when Round Robin Master Chris asked us to share "our amazeballs expectations for 2024". 

As timer, he was in a great position to keep this segment flowing fabulously.

Answers ranged from 

• Jonathon sharing about his understandable happiness of his daughter changing TAFE course
• travelling more (including Japan and South America trip)
• seeing family more
• four people mentioning seeing their fascinating house reno (and a shed fits in there too) finally coming to its finish
• finishing university thesis
• less doctor appointments
• birthday parties
• running experience
• awesome Valentines Day tomorrow
• changes (?) in politics
• Shaun finishing the round with his startling plan to going back to uni (and resigning from his job for some time off).

It was time for the remarkable speeches to be presented:

1. Elizabeth gave her Icebreaker speech "Great Expectations" (Persuasive Influence path, Level 1, project 1) in which she encouraged all of us to celebrate micro achievements every day and being grateful. Evaluator Paul had forecasted a marvelous speech and wasn't disappointed. He reminded us though to get straight into our speech without preamble.
2. Trish' speech titled "Are you wandering into the wilderness?" was of educational nature encouraging us to always have a call to action regardless if our speech is to inspire, inform or instruct. It was evaluated briefly by Jonathon during the general evaluation at the end of the meeting.
3. Narelle defined mentor and mentee as well as how a Toastmaster mentor is appointed in her speech aptly titled "Mentors" (Presentation Mastery path, Level 2, project 3). The speech was evaluated by Trevor who was dumb-founded on Narelle's improvement in presenting starting off with questions to get the audience engagement from the start, but also with such a clear structured speech.
4. Christiane finished her series of her job experience with "The Countdown" reliving the last 17 hours in the office. Her compelling evaluator Gail gave a word of caution not to overdo the humour/ voices in a more serious speech, but provided a long list of strong points.
   

Stunning Timer Chris was able to give a proficient timers report when he was called on to give the various timings and his bell during the Round Robin kept this segment running up a deposit in the minute bank.

Spellbinding Raffle Master Narelle sold us all on the idea to provide for our significant other at the upcoming Valentine's Day by supplying a full package: red rose, corny mug, dinner setting (including toothpicks), a packet of more Roses (chocolate) and a variety of alcohol to cover all our likings. She was kept busy in the subsequent supper break selling raffle tickets.

 

The anticipated scrumptious supper was provided by Carmy and Peter and allowed us to sample goodies, bites of conversations and advice.

The second half started with contemplating Table topics presented by ravishing John. He called the following members to speak of the cuff:

1. Carmy with "What are your expectations for 2024 and beyond?" animatedly discussed her survival swimming classes.

2. Shaun with "Valentine's Day: an important occasion for romance or a commercial rip-off?" strongly favoured the rip-off since he is dreading the day, even though he doesn't spent $50 (or more) on presents.
   

3. Trevor with "Is there such a thing as love at first sight?" explained why it could work; however his feelings were never returned.
   

4. Helen with "Has your life turned out the way you expected?" reflected that she hadn't expected it this way, but made it the way it is now for good reasons.
   

5. Jonathon with "What is the most romantic thing you have ever done or experienced?" dived into his kindergarten memories to recount picking a bouquet for his love of his life aka 5-year-old Fiona. Although the flowers were not appreciated, he has since received many romantic moments with his wife.
   

6. Peter with "When didn't the reality match the expectations?" spoke about his trip to an animal shelter in Fiji and how his volunteering involved walking the dogs, but also long hours of standing around.
   

The Table topics were brilliantly evaluated by Marlene and Paul, pointing out that making the audience laugh is the best plan to answer a Table Topic as well as to give lots of examples.

While Sergeant at Arms Helen selected the votes, Gail W gave us some dad jokes as well as some more quotes about expectations.

Word Master Shaun held our attention by revealing that the second place was a very close spot (with Narelle using amazeballs once more than Helen), however it was forecasted that Trish would win hands down (doubling second place).

Jonathon pointed out three highlights to take away: how to frame a successful raffle with a theme, how to pop an evaluation by pointing out the (achieved) purpose of a speech and how brilliantly the little snippets of introductions of the next speaker was delivered by our Toastmaster Gail W.

As speech evaluator, he commended Trish for selecting such a fitting title since it engages with the content from the get-go.

Chris' final dazzling timers report revealed that we were running behind from the Table Topic segment (after all the topics were too good and had members speaking at length).

Enticing Narelle had our guest Tracey pick the winner of the raffle. Trevor can celebrate Valentine's Day in style - although it might be hard with his wife in Thailand.

Delightful President Gail H presented the awards to:

Best Evaluation - Paul

Best Speech - Narelle

Most Improved - Elizabeth

Best Table Topic - Jonathon

In closing, we received very positive feedback since three guests intend to join our club.

It was a great finish to a tots amazeballs meeting.

We are looking forward to more laughter, learning and life lessons on February 27.

Thank you to Marlene and George for helping me with the photos.