Meeting 1104 "Anzac Day"

The youngest visitor we've ever had at our meeting is Sophie, the 12 day old daughter of  proud father Josh. Josh was still able to carry out his duty as Sergeant at Arms by calling the meeting to order and treating us to a couple of his "Dad" jokes. 

Josh and Sophie

Another welcome guest was Warren, from Maryborough Toastmasters Club.

Warren

President Trish opened the meeting and handed control to Toastmaster Monica, who kept the meeting flowing with information about Anzac Day between the segments.

Shane proposed a toast to "The Anzacs - all service personnel, past and present."

Shane

In the absence of our Word Master, Hazel offered the word "Biscuit," which was appropriate for the meeting theme, because a popular icon of Anzac Day is the Anzac Biscuit .

Word of the day - "Biscuit"

Round Robin Master Marlene asked everyone for parenting tips for Josh. Some (I hope) were helpful, some amusing suggestions involved the use of biscuits.

Leanne

The Table Topics session was conducted by Leanne, who called on John, Shane, Christiane, Tony, Warren and Narelle to draw a topic from a box and speak about it.

Topics (paraphrased) included:

 "Would you rather meet your Great Great Grandparents or your Great Great Grandchildren?"

"If you could change your name, what name would you choose?"

"In which city in the world would you like to spend a weekend?"

"What is the most beautiful place you have seen?"

"If you had a million dollars to give away, which charity would you support?"

The Table Topics were evaluated by Hazel and David.

Hazel

David

With Club Officer elections coming up next meeting, an explanation of the roles of Secretary, Treasurer and Sergeant at Arms was given by Hazel, Peter and Josh. 

 Raffle Master Marlene offered the prize of Scratchit tickets. It was later won by Tony.

Marlene

Time Keeper Gail reported on the times taken for each session and announced that the meeting was running on time.

Gail

Narelle & Christiane

 Supper time (food provided by Christiane and Narelle) was an   opportunity for a cuppa and chat.

Peter

John & Arun

There were three prepared speeches during the second half of the meeting.

Arun's speech about Mentoring completed Level 2 in his Dynamic Leadership path. It was evaluated by John.

Arun

John

Christiane's amusing speech "Ring, Ring" was about telephone etiquette. It was evaluated by Narelle.

Christiane

Trish spoke from personal experience with her speech "Mind Set Lessons from an Introverted Speaker." It was evaluated by Tony.

Trish

Tony

Carmy summed up the meeting in her General Evaluation and made some helpful comments.

Carmy

The evenings awards were announced by President Trish.

Best Table Topic: Narelle

Best Evaluation: Tony

Best Speech: Trish

Most Improved: Arun

Best wishes to Tony who is competing in the Table Topics and Evaluation Contests at the District Conference in Cairns this weekend. Also to Darryl who is representing the Leading Edge Club in the International Speech Contest.

Next meeting & Club Officer Elections 10th May.

Meeting 1103 - Different Perspectives

 Another Hybrid Meeting which was opened by Josh with a joke. President Trish welcomed guest Karen, who was introduced by Christiane. 

Josh

Trish carried out the induction of David as a new Member of our Club, with Dan becoming his mentor

David

Control handed to Toastmaster Paul, giving a little background about Different Perspectives.

Paul

A Toast to "Divergent Thinking" was proposed by John T.

Wordmaster David gave the word "Empower" and promised to take note of its users as well as grammar and good word usage.

Timers were Christiane and Peter D.

Shane conducted the Round Robin very well, with both on screen and venue Members. His topic was "How would you spend your first day as Prime Minister". It provided lots of humourous answers.

Shane

Speeches:

Arun spoke from Level 2 Pathways on Effective Communication, and the Speech was evaluated by Josh.

Arun

John T. gave a speech from Level 2 Visionary Communication on the topic of "Different Perspectives on Leadership". This was evaluated by Trish.

Trish

John T.

A Show and Tell segment by Monica gave insights into General Sir John Monash, as depicted on a DVD that she had watched recently. 

Monica

The Raffle was provided by Gail which included wine glasses and a bottle of red wine. Winner was Arun.

Gail

After the break, the Business Session was chaired by Gail. Hazel joined on Zoom to participate in this part of the Meeting. 

Table Topics were on the theme and presented by Christiane. Participants were Shane, Leanne, David and Tony. Evaluators were Liz and Carmy.

Christiane

Carmy

Liz

In view of upcoming Executive elections, VPM Tony and VPPR Leanne explained the role and urged Members to take on an Executive position.

Leanne

Tony

General Evaluator Dan gave a comprehensive wrap up on the entire Meeting.

Dan

Awards:

Best Speech - John T, Best Evaluator - Trish, Best Table Topic - David, and Most Improved - Arun.

David, John T., Arun, (Trish not present)

Meeting 1102 - Dreams

 For the first true hybrid Meeting this year, there were very few glitches and the on site Members were happy to meet in person once again. They were joined by 7 Members on Zoom.

Stand In Sergeant-at-Arms Liz We. opened the Meeting and handed control to President Trish. She congratulated Tony for his achievements of winning both the Evaluation and Table Topics Competition at Division Conference last weekend. Also congratulations to John T. for an his excellent speech. Trish inducted new Member Shane into Sandgate Toastmasters Club.

Tony

John

Toastmaster for the evening Gail introduced her theme of dreams with much information on the nature of dreams and their meanings.

Gail

A Toast by Peter D. was to "Dreams".

Peter

 Wordmaster Shane gave the word "Cognisant" and defined its meaning as having knowledge or awareness of something.

Shane

Carmy started the Round Robin with the sentence - I fell asleep and I had a dream - and each person then had to complete the sentence. It invoked many varied responses about our dreams.

Carmy

Speeches:

Leanne as Evaluator introduced Marlene, who was presenting her Ice Breaker in the Pathways Engaging with Humour.

Marlene

Leanne

Liz Wo. as Evaluator introduced Trish with her speech entitled "Networking Experiences" from the Level 3 Pathways on "Make Connections Through Networking".

Liz

Trish

Hazel presented a short overview of her thoughts on attending the recent Division Conference, which were all very positive. She gained so much that she has urged fellow Members to try to attend Conferences at any opportunity in the future.

Hazel

Timing for the Meeting was shared by Liz We. and Monica.

Liz We.

Monica

A "Real" Raffle was presented by Gokul, with something to help our dreams - wine and beer!

Gokul

Table Topics were by Hazel, all with a "Dream" theme, and participants were Liz Wo, Narelle, Arun, Christiane, John T. and Carmy.

Narelle

Christiane

Arun

These were evaluated by Gokul and Arun.

Two short "Job Description" segments were presented by President Trish and Education Vice President Marlene, on what to expect in that role. This is in view of the upcoming change of Executive and asking for Members to take up the challenge. Both emphasized what you will get out of it, rather than what it entails.

Tony as Grammarian highlighted the use of alliteration and great descriptive words used by participants.

General Evaluator Paul provided great feedback for the entire Meeting. He had great suggestions for improvement, especially with the hybrid logistics, and commended the technical team for their commitment and knowhow.

Paul

Awards:

Best Speech: Marlene, Best Evaluator: Leanne, Best Table Topic: John T, Most Improved: Arun.

Meeting 1101 "International Women's Day"

Whilst the first hybrid Meeting for 2022 had a few hiccups with connectivity, it was a great opportunity to sort out the issues and hopefully work out solutions. Thanks to the Team of Josh, John T, Tony, Arun, Gokul and Darryl at The Hub for your efforts.

Trish

President Trish opened the Meeting and welcomed guest David. 

Liz Wo.

Control was handed to Toastmaster Liz Wo. The Meeting was interspersed with information about the origins of International Women's Day, including the theme for 2022, the meaning of the colours purple, green and white and the role women around the world play in all aspects of society.

Josh presented the Toast to "Women's Gender Equality".

Peter B. provided the Word for the evening - Humility. 

Peter B.

Table Topics segment was conducted by Peter D. and Monica. The topics were in line with the theme, and answered by Peter B, Gail, David, Trish, Hazel and Marlene.

Monica

Peter D.

The Table Topics Evaluator was Liz We.

Liz We.

Speech 1 was introduced by Hazel. Arun's speech was from the Leadership Style project, and was titled "Effective Leadership".

Arun

Hazel

Timers Dan and Marlene provided updates on time progress throughout the Meeting.

Speech 2 by John T. was introduced by Trish. Entitled "The Gift of Life", John used the opportunity to rehearse his Contest Speech for the upcoming Moreton Division Conference on 19 March.

John T.

A Group Evaluation was held to assist John in honing the best aspects of his speech, with many useful tips being provided.

Speech 3 was by Darryl W, entitled "Up in Flames". This was introduced by Gail. This was also a rehearsal for his Contest Speech. 

Gail

Darryl

A Round Robin style Group Evaluation was conducted at its conclusion.

The Club wishes them both success at the Contest.

A General Evaluation of the Meeting was provided by Chris H, giving incite into both well done aspects and areas for improvement.

Chris H.

Awards:

Best Table Topic was awarded to Marlene, and Trish awarded Hazel the Best Evaluator award.

Marlene

All Members to can or wish to attend the next hybrid Meeting - can join us at The Hub, or if not an option, via Zoom.