Who would have thought that the theme would take us back to childhood and grammar lessons (or the lack thereof)? Toastmaster Christiane explained that she selected the topic because commas are used differently in different languages and with English not being her mother tongue, it can be difficult to punctuate correctly.
Narelle was our stand-in Sergeant at Arms. However, she took us through the safety announcements like a pro, before reading us the mission statement.
President Gail H opened the meeting and gave us the update of the countdown to the anniversary dinner as well as the District Conference.
Toastmaster Christiane introduced the theme with some pondering questions.
Vice President of Education Liz gave us the program changes.
Russell stepped to the lectern to deliver his first toast. He took us through his journey how he came to Toastmasters, then took us back to his school days. We toasted to "Commas and Toastmasters". (General Evaluator Liz applauded Russell to bring back the toast to Toastmasters since this was our common ground for attending).
Word Master Gail gave us a challenging word "punctuation". She explained that it could be used for the 14 different punctuation marks or to interrupt at intervals and she would allow the noun as well as the verb to be used towards our score.
Jonathon led the Round Robin segment by sharing his school experiences with naughty kids and homework excuse(s). He asked us to share about "our most inspirational teacher".
Answers varied from sharing about an inspirational employer, Lord of the Rings, school being viewed as the necessary evil to have little lunch and big lunch, language teachers in South Africa, Mr Pi (yes, he was a math teacher), a show-off teacher in an MG to excuses for not practicing your instrument. Fascinating was that two stories involved rulers (as in the wooden ones) - both in negative connotations: Mr Wood would use his ruler to wake up the class and a ruler was used to let your students sit up straight.
Our prepared speeches were balancing each other:
Trish delivered a 26 minutes inspirational keynote speech titled "Lessons From An Introvert Speaker" (Visionary Communication path, Level 5, project 10: Prepare to Speak Professionally) and reflected on her journey through many different job choices to 2006 opening her own business. Her intimidated evaluator Narelle reflected on her slides, how she went from "Fear" to "60 seconds of insane courage" and other improvement lessons.
Gail H presented her Icebreaker to start her new path Leadership Development (Level 1, project 1). The speech titled "Under The Corkwood Tree" brought some childhood memories to light or as evaluator Paul summarised "an entertaining story how Gail illegally funded her dresses" since words like Kingaroy Mafia were used.
Shaun was our Raffle Master and had us pondering on all the temptations we might have had (to cheat and bribe evaluators or judges). He called us "guilty cheats who had to redeem themselves through buying raffle tickets" for Monopoly - Cheaters Edition, a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses.
We finished the first half by timer Amy telling us how well we went although the timing lights had run out of battery. (Not to fear, Toastmasters are adaptable - however we learnt that the Toastmaster should have announced the change).
In the supper break, it was time to buy those raffle tickets to clean our conscience, catch up about the happenings of the last two weeks (as well as holiday plans of members) and enjoy the food provided by John and Liz. Jonathon also found the time, a screwdriver and batteries to have the timer lights working again.
We started the second half with Table Topic Master John who called on to give impromptu speeches about:
Amy - How do you hope your speaking skills will improve by being in Toastmasters? They are already since she reflected on her introvert fear when discussions were scheduled at uni.
- Jonathon - Grammar ain't as important as it used to be? Since in 13 years of school, he never received grammar lessons, he done alright on the way.
- Russell - If you could speak another language, what would it be and why? Chinese since he loved when he visited China.
- Liz - Is it more important to speak less or say what you think? First of all, put your brain on before speaking and listening is the key to all conversations.
- Christiane - What was a situation in your life that made you pause and reflect? Being "put straight" about presents by hubby and the returned engagement ring.
- Gail H - What is the most important lesson in life? It's not about being nice to all people, rather sometimes tell the hurtful truth if it means you stay true to yourself.
- Narelle - If your life could be described in a sentence, what would it say and why? I had a very privileged life being able to grow up in the Australian country and travel throughout Europe for years.
- Paul - If you had to describe yourself using adjectives (describing words) what would they be? Can you think of three? After the audience made him aware that "Dull White Man" only contained two adjectives, he extended to "Dull White Dependable Man". (Great audience interaction!)
The Table Topics were evaluated by Shaun who didn't have time to pause. He still found a point of improvement for all eight speakers as well as several commendations. One nugget of recommendation was to pretend to make eye contact at the back of the room between two people (it looks like you have eye contact, but you don't get distracted in sorting your thoughts)
While Narelle collected votes, we got some grammar lessons from Toastmaster Christiane to help us all to be more precise with those punctuation marks.
We then heard from Word Master Gail how often members used "punctuation". Russell got third place (3 times), Liz in second with 5 times and Trish won with punctuating her sentences 13 times.
Liz in her general evaluation commended us on our "small in number, big in enthusiasm" meeting.
Timer Amy in her final timing report made us aware that we were slightly running behind.
Shaun asked Trish to draw the raffle prize winner which wasn't an easy task since there were no purple cups. She drew Paul.
President Gail H thanked all the members before awarding:
Most Improved - Russell
Best Evaluation - Shaun
Best Speech - Trish
Best Table Topic - Christiane
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday April 23.
Narelle would like to thank those members who have again brought along raffle prizes for the 50th anniversary dinner. For those who still have non-perishable items to donate, you will have a last chance on April 23.
