Meeting 1143 "Happy Holidays"

Oh what fun is to come together for a meal with fellow Toastmasters and their partners. Paul H had kindly organised the venue and invitation.

Chris was Toastmaster of the evening and kept us entertained with his wife's purchase, showing us the alternative, but most of all leading us confidently with a voice as big as the sea through the program.

After Gail H, Chris and his wife Carlene decorated the table and the side tables for the Secret Santa and the hampers had filled quickly, our Christmas meeting with the theme "Happy Holidays" could begin.

Sergeant At Arms Helen called the meeting to order and took great care to explain the proceedings to our three guests (Colin - Helen's husband, Carlene - Chris' wife, Peter S - Trish's husband). She then read the mission statement.

It was Gail H's turn as President to open the meeting and introduce Chris as Toastmaster. He called on Jonathon to give us the toast.

Jonathon spoke about the different tag line when he first joined Toastmasters and why it attracted him. He toasted to "Embracing growth and Toastmasters".

The Round Robin was led by Arun who gave us a hard task deciding to share the most memorable or exciting Christmas experience (Oh what to choose). It was a revelation to see where Toastmasters had spent their Christmases before (India, Japan, Latvia, UK, Austria, Germany, on a cruise to New Zealand) and why music, snow prints for the kids, a tornado, knee stuck in a chair, grandma playing Santa, receiving the wrong present from Santa, choir practising at an old church, extremely hot Christmases and a 9 month pregnancy at the hot Christmas made lifelong impressions.

Afterwards we were served a very yummy dinner of ham, turkey, veggies and roasted potatoes - you just need to believe us that it was yummy and very well presented because it smelled so delicious that we all just dug in (without a single of our photographers taking a photo).

To digest the dinner better, Christmas Trivia Quiz Master Trish got us to our feet and deciding head or tail. She was quite disappointed with our lack of knowledge because she only got half down the first page, but had three pages prepared, before John was declared winner with Jonathon a close runner-up.

 

Since we were made aware that no photo of our dinner existed, many of us took photos of the dessert: alternate drops of steamed pudding with cream or pavlova.

 

 

 

Marlene and Rosie had prepared and distributed the cards which gave us the order for the Secret Santa. Rosie reminded us of the rules before Arun with number one could start us off by unwrapping a present.

And so it continued both day and night (ok, not that long, just 18 presents to unwrap). The following participants were able to choose not to unbox but steal an already revealed present and as such you might see the "unlucky" person unpack yet another present.

Arun unwrapped a set of mugs. 

Carmy unpacked Lindt chocolates and coffee.

Jonathon got a bottle of Merlot and a joke book for the dunny.

Rosie unboxed a glass candle holder and a Christmas pudding.

Chris took out a cup with a Santa koala, different teas and coffee assortments.

Carlene got a set of Naughty/ Nice glasses.

Colin revealed a stack of T2 tea.

Ben received a serving platter - making it clear he had already several.

Daniel unwrapped a set of mugs.

Since Christiane fancied the chocolate/coffee duo, Carmy unwrapped a cocktail fish bowl.

Marlene liked the chocolate/coffee duo as well, so Christiane was able to steal the cocktail fish bowl, so Carmy was yet again called to the front and unwrapped a big box of chocolates and Lebkuchen.

Somebody (Trish?) stole Ben's platter, so he was able to unpack another present: he got three games challenging his humming and pronunciation.

Somebody (Peter D?) stole Chris' bag of goodies, so he unboxed what he first thought was a kettle set. We clarified that it was a creamer/sugar assortment.

John got a star platter.

Even though Trish tried to convince her husband to steal the creamer/saucer combo, Peter S went straight to the front and took the wine bottle gift bag - no time wasted opening it.

Hazel untied a wind chime in the form of a lady beetle.

Gail H unboxed four margarita glasses.

Helen had a hard time deciding to steal either the margarita glasses or the creamer and sugar container combo - in the end, she decided for the former (hence, you see Gail H twice in a row.) 

Gail H unwrapped a set of Christmas lights.

We ended up with presents for everybody of comfort and joy.

You might ask what the gladsome tidings be: The next segment was a visit by The Amazing Toppo.

Not only were Jonathon, Christiane and Carlene in tears of laugther (at least they were captured on camera), but even The Sands staff came over to look which card trick John was performing. (At the start he didn't want to look at the card, so he went behind the curtain - we thought first it was a vanishing act).

Before the card trick, The Amazing Toppo was able to tell us which number Carmy selected and then was able to repeat the sounding joy with Arun.

The next performance was an addition which brought even more laughter. His last quick act was an in your head calculating game.

It was a hard segment to follow on from, but Marlene's Christmas Memories also brought laughter when she recited her kids setting the song sheet on fire, expertly deploying a balloon to land in the music teacher's cleavage and lastly the story of her son's bike falling apart, so walking to the shopping centre and the bike lock ending up on the roof.

No Toastmasters meeting is complete without Table Topics, so Chris asked Helen what she found to be the hardest part to buy a Secret Santa present. Her answer was that the 10 dollar amount doesn't buy a nice present anymore, so she was glad to see that she wasn't the only one that disregarded the amount and just bought something nice.

It was Helen's turn to ask Daniel (who deferred to Hazel) what he/she tried, but would never do again. Hazel was so conditioned by Helen's present of margarita glasses that she recalled a night overseas where she drunk too many of those.

Hazel queried Peter D to tell us which three foods he would be happy with for the rest of his life. He recalled his standard lunch of toast and Portuguese sardines and then weighed up which fruit to choose: I let you judge how lasagne fits in.

Peter D requested Gail H to tell us where in the world she would like to celebrate Christmas. Somewhere cold was the quick answer, but she did confess that Ireland didn't work some years ago and Canada is still to be tried.

Gail H challenged Jonathon to report on his worst Christmas. He recalled a not completely cooked through chicken which was a present that kept giving well past Boxing Day (unlike Jonathon splattering on this occasion, please notice Rosie in the photo spluttering with laughter).

Jonathon wanted to know the pros and cons of New Years resolutions from Trish. Only on cruises is she for New Years resolutions (what happens on the cruise, stays on the cruise), but otherwise, she rather people attend her planning goals for 2024 event on January 6.

Christiane and Hazel were responsible for a fair raffle draw, so Hazel asked Colin to draw the first raffle: Hazel won. Subsequent winners were Helen and John.

After a group photo, President Gail H closed the 2023 meetings.

Sandgate Toastmasters would like to thank its members and blog readers for the support in 2023. The next meeting is on January 23, 2024. Until then we wish you  a Merry Christmas, a strong start into 2024 and some relaxation in-between.

Thank you to Marlene and Ben for providing photos for the blog.

Meeting 1142 "Honouring Our Veterans"

 The RSL hall was a fitting place for our meeting with the theme "Honouring Our Veterans." The theme was chosen by Helen, who kept the evening running smoothly. 

Helen

Gail presented some new members JP, Shaun and Paul with their membership badges and welcomed our guests Ben, who is joining our club (Yippee!) and George.  It was good to see Chris back and recovering from his accident.

A badge for Paul (and Shaun & J.P.)

Carmy

Arun

Carmy told us about her father's and grandfather's participation in the Armed Forces and proposed a
toast to our veterans.  She also gave us the word for the evening, "Respect."

The Round Robin warm up session was conducted by Arun  who asked  us what attribute we live by.

Some of the answers were "Integrity," "Honesty," "Others first" etc. (Toastmasters are nice people!)

Some Round Robin Participants

Round Robin

The first prepared speech was new member J.P.'s Icebreaker.  He gave us an interesting insight into what his job entails. His evaluator Trish commented on the outstanding structure of his speech.

J.P.

Trish

John's speech was also an Icebreaker - but not his first one! John is an accomplished speaker beginning a new path in the Pathways programme that we use. His entertaining speech "You're Only Young Twice" was evaluated by Gokul who had some helpful comments.

John

Gokul

Raffle Master Gail had brought some useful items from the "Be Uplifted" charity which she supports, as well as a box of Variety chocolates.   It was won by Marlene. (Yay!)

Time Keeper Paul informed us that we were running slightly ahead of time which allowed us to take a slightly longer supper break. Food was provided by Paul and Gokul.

Gail

Paul B (and Ben)

Gail selling raffle tickets

Supper provided by Paul and Gokul

Arun with Shaun , J.P. & George in background.

Gokul & Ben

Marlene had some challenging Table Topics for Carmy, Gail, Chris, Trish, Gokul, Ben, J.P., Shaun, who all managed to deliver an impromptu 1-2 minute speech.

Carmy

Chris

Gail

Ben

Shaun

J.P.

Gokul

    

Trish

The topics were wartime song titles:

1.Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye
2.Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major
3. Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag
4. The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
5. Ma, I Miss your Apple Pie
6. Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning
7. It’s a Long Way to Tipperary
8. It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow

Evaluator Arun gave some tips on answering Table Topics and Shaun had some commendations and points for improvement.

Arun

Shaun

Carmy reported that Trish had skilfully used the word "Respect" 31 times during the meeting. (But she didn't get Helen's joke about the soldier who wasn't seen at camouflage training!)

General Evaluator Paul H summed up the meeting with a detailed report and some suggestions.

Paul H

The evenings awards went to Carmy (Best Table Topic,) Trish (Best Evaluation) and J.P. (Best Speech and Most Improved.

Award winners 28 Nov 2023

This was the last meeting before our Break Up Dinner at a different venue. Please contact us if you want details of the Break Up. Replies and Payment for the dinner need to be received by the 4th December. And don't forget to bring a Secret Santa gift and an item for our Christmas hamper raffle.

Our meetings will resume on Tuesday, 23rd January 2024.

Meeting 1141 "The meeting with no Theme!"

There always needs to be a first and this time we had two: it was the first time that Will was Toastmaster of the evening as well as our meeting having no theme - which did not stop us of having fun! Will did an amazing job of keeping us on track with the next segments as well as summarising the previous segment, you would have never known he was only assigned the role on the day.

Sergeant at Arms Helen called the meeting to order, repeated the safety instructions to the two returning guests George and Daniel and read us the mission statement.

President Gail H had two pleasurable duties after she opened the meeting:

1. She congratulated John, Christiane and Gail W for representing Sandgate Toastmasters at the Area 8 conference. She was also very proud that Sandgate had brought along its banner (as the only club) as well as that our timing lights were used to help the contestants.

2. Gail H had the honour to induct our new members: Paul B and Jean-Paul. Their mentors are Jonathon and Paul H, respectively.

Toastmaster Will welcome us all with a brief history how he became our Toastmaster for the evening (Vice President of Education Liz had a tough job with last minute apologies). He then introduced Will for the toast - himself - which brought more laughter to the meeting.

Will toasted to "the individual Toastmasters", i.e. the members of Sandgate Toastmasters.

Word Master Jean-Paul gave us the word of the evening: Coriaceous, meaning of or like leather. Tough word (see what I did there).

Round Robin Master Paul B introduced the segment with "Remember, remember, the 5th of November" - Guy Fawkes Day. He then asked the members to share an annual celebration we enjoy the most and why. The responses went from Christmas, birthday (even of family members), Diwali, Easter, peak storm season, Chinese New Year back to Guy Fawkes Day (and childhood memories of fireworks).

We had four prepared speeches on the night:

1. Helen put the thinking cap on our head with "Using Critical Thinking in the Workplace" (Presentation Mastery path, Level 2, project 2: Understanding Your Communication Style) with an acronym of RISK as well as new terminology of chunking up/ chunking down. (She announced it was going to be a series of speeches - more to come and learn from.) The speech was evaluated by Gail H.

2. Gokul's speech "My Recent Adventure" (Engaging Humour path, Level 2, project 2: Connect With Your Audience) shared his not so great, good and amazing aspects of his 100 km Cooloola Great Walk. It was evaluated by Jonathon.

3. Arun challenged us in his speech "Why Would I listen to You?" (Strategic Relationships path, Level 1, project 2: Writing a Speech with Purpose) to think about exercising power or authority as well as our active listening skills. John had the delightful task to evaluate the speech.

4. Christiane gave her first speech in her High Performance Leadership project (Persuasive Influence path, Level 5, project 1) which was her vision of the 50 years since chartering Sandgate Toastmasters celebration and how we would "Celebrate in style". As evaluator Gail H rightly picked up, it was a call to action for all members to get involved in the planning of this event.

Raffle Master Helen had a treat for us (in absence of member Dan) and brought us not one, but two alcoholic packages (ice bucket with prosecco and two bottles of wine).

Timer Michael reported that we were running slightly behind for our first half of the meeting.

 

In the supper break, we were able to purchase tickets for the two raffle prizes, sample the big spread of goodies provided by Shaun and Michael and catch up on the news of apologised members as well as find out more information of the speeches.

The second half started with two quick jokes by Sergeant at Arms Helen after she called the meeting back to order.

Table Topic Master Shaun gave us a nice introduction why Table Topics are important and how we could answer them, before he called on:

1. Michael with "If only I knew" that the night in Santorini would lead me to become a father.
2. Jean-Paul with "I want to" present to an audience (and get a better response than my talk to prisoners).
3. Daniel with "The perfect day looks like": getting lots of things done, mum not being angry as well as having a smooth public transport journey.
4. Paul B with "I remember when" I saw the advertisement for coming to Australia and that's why I ended up here.
5. Jonathon with "The world is better off since" I was able to have work, rest and play today.

The topics were evaluated by Paul H.

While Helen collected our votes, Will was able to recite

In his second report as Word Master, Jean-Paul congratulated us of using the word nine times during the evening with Helen and Jonathon tying for first place.

Marlene presented the general evaluation and reminded us all that we should never leave the lectern unattended.

In his final timing report, Michael humorously blamed himself for running slightly behind.

Raffle Master Helen asked guest Daniel to pick the two winners: Gail H and Will were able to take a package home each.

In closing, Gail reminded us of the District Conference on 3-5 May 2024 and early bird registration being open as well as the date for the Division Conference being 10 March 2024.

She then presented awards to:

• Best Speech - Arun

• Best Evaluation - Jonathon

• Best Table Topic - Jonathon

• Most Improved - Will

Come and join us for our next meeting on November 28 with the theme "Honouring our Veterans".