Area 8 Conference - "Helping others to help yourself"

 

It was a sunny Sunday, when eight Sandgate Toastmasters joined many other Toastmasters to celebrate the club's bests to compete with each other: Christiane, Helen, Chris, Arun, Trish, Gail, John and Will.

Area 8 comprises of 6 clubs: Bracken Ridge (BR), North Lakes (NL), Peninsula (Pe), Powerlink (Po), Redcliffe (R) and Sandgate (S). There were 4 contests and 12 trophies up for grabs.

 

 

 

The registration and raffle table were manned by Peninsula Club who were kept busy until they sold out of raffle tickets VERY quickly!

Before the actual contests were underway, there were a few procedures beforehand: Sue called the meeting to order as our Sergeant At Arms, before handing to James who was our Conference MC for the first half of the day.

It was David's job as Area 8 Director to open the Conference and honour all the dignities in the room.

 

 

 

Our first contest was the Evaluation Contest, hosted by North Lakes Club, chaired by Jenny. We first heard a test speech by Abishek titled "The Hindsight Window". It was evaluated by the five contestants which were Andrew (NL), Cheyenne (R), Allan (Pe), Heidi (BR) and Christiane (S).

For the awards (with no time disqualification), Jenny announced:

1. Heidi
2. Christiane
3. Allan
   

 

 

 

 

We then had our first break: morning tea, which we took to catch up between the clubs and the news.

The International Speech Contest was hosted by Bracken Ridge and chaired by Chris P. 

Chris P called on John (S) with "Sending Out an SOS", Kris (Pe) with "Three Mindful Tricks", Monica (R) with "Childless Cat Ladies" and Maria (NL) with "2:43am".

With no time disqualification, he awarded:

1. John
2. Monica
3. Kris

 

 

Next on the agenda was our guest speaker Christine Lennon who gave as some insights of how  "Being the Best Version You Can Be" influenced her life.

It was time for our lunch break and more catching up time.

After lunch, we were welcomed by new MC David who took us through the afternoon.

 

 

 

The next contest was hosted by Redcliffe and chaired by Barbara. In the Table Topic Contest, she called on Paul, Umar (Pe), Heidi (BR), Christiane (S) and Andrew (NL) with the topic: "Just in time".

With no time disqualifications, Barbara awarded:

1. Christiane
2. Heidi
3. Andrew

 

Raffles were drawn - and it would have been a rigged raffle if Gail H wouldn't have won!

 

 

We had a short afternoon tea break before the final contest: Humorous Speech. It was hosted by Sandgate and chaired by Will. This also meant, he had to brief the contestants. The contestants' speeches were timed by Gail H and Chris. The Sergeant At Arms were Helen responsible for the stage and Trish responsible for the application of the microphone. The Ballot Counters were John and Chris.

Will called on Monica (R) with "The Next Olympic Event", Heidi (BR) with "An Olympic Life", Christiane (S) with "It's About Time", Allan (Pe) with "Whose a Clever Boy Then?" and Anoop (NL) with "The Great Halloween Lesson".

Fortunately, Will was able to announce no time disqualification before placing the winners:

1. Anoop
2. Christiane
3. Monica

 

Sandgate Toastmasters would like to congratulate the winners going on to Moreton Division Conference next year and wish them good luck in a tough competition. Keep March 16 free for attending and cheering on Heidi, John, Christiane and Anoop.

Thank you to Trish for providing most of the photos.