Even with no chocolate eggs ("Have you seen the price for them lately?"), the meeting themed "Easter" was packed with laughter, inventive and heartfelt stories as well as uplifting evaluations.
The meeting was called to order by our Sergeant At Arms TJ. She also provided the mission statement to remind us all why we meet.
President Chris opened the meeting with a long list of announcements, acknowledgements and privileges:
- Congratulating Helen & Christiane for taking out 4 placings at the Moreton Division Conference
- Handing out name tags to Lisa, Mali and Erin
- Speaking about the exciting meeting regarding the realignment he endured
- Welcoming returning guest Tim
Toastmaster of the evening John took to the lectern to welcome us warmly and remind us that Easter is just around the corner. He reminded some long-term members of the "Trial of the Easter bunny" meeting they had 11 years ago. During the evening, he told us of the many Easter traditions and word origins, some quirkier than others.
First, he called on Vice President of Education Peter to give us the program changes - those were given swiftly and professionally.
The Toast followed, presented by TJ with calling on "Positivity and looking forward".
Lisa presented the word of the evening - "Recycle, Recyclable, Recycler" - complete with definition and example sentences. (Hold your breath of who took home the honour of using the word most)
It was time for all of us to speak during the Round Robin which was started off with Mali giving us a very creativity-inducing topic: "If you would have free fuel during the entire Easter long weekend, what would you do?" Some members driving EVERYWHERE, some just filling up and staying put, others filling their plane, helicopter and yacht while the free fuel is on.
The next segment were the four prepared speeches:
- Helen spoke about her recent experience as evaluator contestant at the Moreton Division Conference with "Evaluate to Motivate" (Presentation Mastery path, Level 3 - Motivate Others) and gave us practical tips on our next evaluation.
It was evaluated by Trevor. - Christiane's project from the Engaging Humour path, Level 4 - The Power of Humor in an Impromptu Speech - 1 was a bit different since her evaluator Erin and John as Toastmaster gave her a scenario each to speak about for 2-3 minutes. It was Erin's first evaluation.
- Paul gave a powerful emotional speech titled "When Confidence Isn't Enough" (Presentation Mastery path, Level 1 - Icebreaker) reviewing his time in Toastmasters and how he grown comfortable thus not grown as a speaker in the last little while (He is going to challenge himself to change this). Jonathon had the privilege to evaluate his speech.
- Arun's speech "My Best Lessons" (Strategic Relationships, Level 2 - Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring) was a reflection of his growth due to the encouragement of a mentor at work as well as the many mentors at Toastmasters. Peter evaluated the speech.
It was time for the raffle! Lisa enticed us to convert some cash into tickets to win Macadamia nuts, honey and wine.
During the supper break we had time to catch up on all the news and sample some goodies provided by Lisa and Mali.
The second half of our meeting brought us out of our comfort zone with answering Table Topics provided by Chris:
- "Eggersdorf - you've decided to pack up your entire life and move to this town. Tell us why." - TJ is moving because of the walking tracks.
- "You've won a competition to design Cadburys newest Easter egg. Tell us about it." - Lisa would include gooey mango (and other treats).
- "What was your favourite childhood holiday?" - Erin would like to revisit her aunty's magical place.
- "You've spared no expense and had a beautiful outfit made out of recycled material. Tell us about it." - Jonathon combined all the previous answers plus the Round Robin topic to give us an interesting journey to Easter egg wrapping jumper.
- "Is 4 days long enough for a holiday?" - Mali would take the free fuelled up plane to visit Samoa and her mother in that time.
- "If you could recycle one experience in your life, what would it be?" - Christiane spoke of her grandma's stolen necklace.
Those speeches were evaluated by Peter and Trish, encouraging us to use more storytelling to keep the answers interesting as well as give us the impression of confidence since it will flow into our answer to the topic.
Maddy was double-trouble by keeping us on a short leash (getting out of her comfort zone and ringing the bell when members spoke too long) as well as getting onto her soap box to complain about the flow-on effects of higher fuel prices.
In absence of Lisa, Christiane announced that Trish reclaimed her championship of Word Master during her Table Topic evaluation; with Helen being the champion until then.
Marlene reminded us that we need to "UP THE VOLUME!" because of the outside noise before giving us a summary of the meeting.
In absence of Lisa, Chris had guest Tim draw the winning ticket and Paul was able to take home the recycled bag with the goodies.
Chris presented the awards to:
- Best Evaluator: Jonathon
- Best Table Topic: Mali & Jonathon
- Best Speech: Paul
- Most Improved: Erin, TJ & Lisa
Thank you to Marlene for providing lots of photos to include.
Please note: Since there is another Tuesday in March, it will be a three-week break until our next exciting meeting - exciting it will be since it is a Draw meeting with the theme "Versatility" - it will be needed since members need to be prepared and adapt quickly to fulfill any role they draw out of the hat on the evening.
