Meeting 1194 "Easter"

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:

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
4. 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:

1. "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.
2. "You've won a competition to design Cadburys newest Easter egg. Tell us about it." - Lisa would include gooey mango (and other treats).
3. "What was your favourite childhood holiday?" - Erin would like to revisit her aunty's magical place.
4. "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.
5. "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.
6. "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. 

  

Moreton Division Conference

9 members of club attended the Moreton Division Conference held in The Corso Main Hall at North Lakes.

We are so proud of our members Helen, Christiane and John who competed in the contests. Making it to the Division level of contests is quite an achievement!

Chris, Trevor Paul (at back)
Mali Trish Helen Marlene Christiane John

Congratulations to Helen and Christiane who each brought home a Third-Place trophy.

Table Topics Contest

The Table Topic was "Open Your Mind."

 Table Topics Place getters
Helen came third

Humorous Speech place getters
Christiane came Third

It was good to catch up with old and new friends from other clubs. We learned from watching and listening to the competitors in each club - and particularly from the guest speaker, the current District 69 International Speech Champion, Graham Cairns, who had some helpful tips on competing in contests.

Meeting 1193 "Celebrate Your Uniqueness"

We were delighted to see Trevor from Thailand, Will who hasn't attended for a while due to work commitments, Carmy who has had health problems and returning guest Steven.

President Chris inducted our newest members, Lisa and Mali.

 New members Lisa & Mali

Owen and Arun were presented with a ribbon for completing Level 1 in their Pathways projects.

Eoin and Arun

Christiane received a badge for 10 years membership.

10-year badge for Christiane

Toastmaster Marlene introduced the theme she had chosen for the meeting. "Celebrate Your Uniqueness."

 John proposed a toast to "Our Uniqueness."

Marlene

John

Mali presented the word of the evening - "Individuality"

Mali

Round Robin Master Chris asked, what do you do that makes you a unique individual? This caused some hilarity, especially when a large cockroach suddenly joined the meeting, resulting in a loud shriek from Trish. It was ushered out by John, whose unique talent is dealing with cockroaches.

There were three prepared speeches. 

Peter demonstrated his vocal variety and body language in his speech "Our Deepest Fear."

It was evaluated by Christiane.

Peter

Christiane

Erin told how writing a song had set her on her career path. Her speech was evaluated by Eoin.

Erin

Eoin

Carmy evaluated Jill's speech, titled "The Daily News."

Carmy

John presented the speech that he will perform at the Division Conference on Saturday. He received some helpful tips from Paul.      

John

Paul

Jill provided a raffle consisting of a special Easter jigsaw puzzle and other goodies. It was won by Trish.

Timer Chris reported that the meeting was running behind time, so the supper break was cut to 10 minutes - just long enough to grab a cuppa and enjoy the delicious food supplied by Mali and Lisa.

Supper time

Sergeant at Arms T.J called the meeting back to order and Narelle conducted a Business Session. Some of the items discussed were the proposed realigning of our Moreton Division, the Moreton Division Conference, and increase in the new member fees to align with Toastmaster International fees. (New members who sign up before 1st April will be charged the present lower fee.)

New member Lisa conducted a Table Topics session - her first role in our club. She had some challenging topics for Will, Trevor, Mali and Trish.

 Lisa and Trish

Trevor

Will

Mali

They were evaluated by Eoin and Jonathon.

Jonathon

T.J. conducted a "Who Am I?" session. Members were quick to guess the mystery person - Olivia Newton John. (I think.)

The meeting was running overtime, but Trish managed to give some good commendations and recommendations in her concise General Evaluation of the meeting.

Trish

The award winners of the evening were Jill (Most Improved,) Erin and Peter (Tie-Best Speech,) Trish (Best Table Topic,) Jonathon - not in photo (Best Evaluation,)

Award winners 10 March 2026

Next meeting Tuesday 24th March.

Moreton Division Conference Saturday 14th March. 

Semi Annual fees are due this month. Please deposit the amount into our bank account and let Will know that you have paid.

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.