Meeting 1192 "A Whale of a Tale"

 In honour of International Whale Day, Toastmaster Jill had chosen "A Whale of a Tale" as the theme for our meeting. It was her first time as Toastmaster but she handled it with great aplomb.

President Chris welcomed first time guest Tim and returning guest Steven.

Chris

Narelle told how she'd had problems with her computer which were fixed by an Internet Technician, then she proposed a toast to "I.T. helpers."

Word master Helen introduced the word "Yarn" which can be used to describe a long rambling tale or a type of thread used for knitting, weaving or sewing.

Helen

 Helen also introduced the Round Robin, inviting everyone to tell of a memorable photo they had taken or had appeared in.

The first prepared speech was by Eoin. It was a second presentation of his previous speech "The New Industrial Revolution" in which he incorporated the feedback from his Evaluator. It was evaluated this time by Chris.

Eoin

Chris

Maddy presented the second speech, which was the Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring project. Maddy told about the mentors she'd had at different stages in her life. Her evaluator was Narelle.

Maddy

Peter used humour in his speech to demonstrate his communicate style. It was evaluated by John.

Peter

John

The Timekeeper was Narelle.

Helen presented the raffle - a lavender scented wax fondue set. It was won by Peter. 

Helen

Supper was provided by T.J. and Chris. 

Supper time

A Table Topic session was conducted by Maddy, who called on Chris, Eoin, Mali, Jonathon, Peter, T.J. and Helen to answer questions, that resulted in some wild imaginative stories. Most of them involved whales.

Evaluators were Marlene and John.

General Evaluator was Jonathon who commented on the entire meeting and suggestions for improvement.

Jonathon

Award winners for the evening were T.J. (Most Improved,) John (Best evaluation,) Jonathon (Best Table Topic,) and Peter (Best Speech.)

Award Winners 24 Feb 26

Next meeting Tuesday 10th March.

Area Conference Saturday 14 March at North Lakes.

Semi Annuals are due by end of March.

Meeting 1191 "It's Complicated"

 " It's Complicated" was an apt theme for the meeting, as many of the key participants were unable to attend and roles needed to be adjusted.

The meeting was called to order by Christiane, filling in for Sergeant -at- Arms T.J.

Helen stood in for President Chris and welcomed first time guests Lucy and Alex, returning guests Mali and Lisa, as well as Trish, who has been away from meetings for some months.

Jonathon was Toastmaster.

Helen

Jonathon

Erin proposed a toast to "Complicated outcomes" and John presented the word "Intricate" meaning very complicated or detailed.

John

Arun

Round Robin Master Arun asked everyone to speak briefly about something they had attempted which proved to be complicated.

The first prepared speech was by Marlene (who filled in with a repeat speech she had formerly presented) titled "The Speech I Didn't Hear." and was about getting the point across with personal stories.

Marlene

       

Jill demonstrated vocal variety and body language with an amusing speech, "Buckle Up" about teaching her daughter to drive.

Erin also demonstrated vocal variety and body language in her speech "Why Cats are better than Dogs."

Trish rose to the occasion and filled another vacant speech slot with her speech "Your Hidden Story," which coincidentally reinforced the message of the first speaker's speech.

Trish 

Erin

Evaluators were Helen, Jonathon, Maddy and Marlene.

Jonathon

Maddy

Scarlett was Timekeeper. 

Scarlett Timekeeper

Jonathon

Jonathon presented the raffle -  Roses chocolates, etc. in a purple gift bag. It was won by purple loving Trish who appeared to be more excited about the purple bag than the contents.

Supper was provided by Helen - yummy cocktail sausages and cheese, crackers and savoury dip.

In the absence of a Table Topics Master, Christiane presented some fun Topics that she had on hand. 

She called on Arun, Mali, John, Narelle, Lisa and Scarlett to answer some complicated questions about fictitious creatures.

1. What would you do if you came face to face with a grevlibon?

2. Two entroloupers met in a cave on a rainy day. What happened next?

3.Do the prickles on a venwip serve any useful purpose?

4, You recently ate a frimtortle. How did you cook it and how did it make you feel?

5.Were there any creftones on Noah's ark?

6. Why are clicktciks always green?

The Table Topics were evaluated by Arun.

Arun

Christiane

Christiane presented a comprehensive evaluation of the entire meeting, with some valuable suggestions on how it could be improved.

Award winners of the evening were Jill (not in photo) and Maddy (Most Improved,) John (Best Table Topic,) and Erin (Best Speech - tie,) and Jonathon (Best Evaluation.

Award Winners 10 Feb 2026

Next meeting Tuesday 24th February.

Area Conference Saturday 14 March at North Lakes.

Semi Annuals are due by end of March.