Meeting 1144 "Daring Greatly"

It might have been the first meeting for 2024 after six weeks with no meetings, but we came back to a challenge: Toastmaster Jonathon asked us to be "Daring Greatly" and explained on the evening that the theme was selected in honour of Brené Brown who had written the book "Daring Greatly - How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" reflecting on the famous speech by Roosevelt. Jonathon wanted us to venture out of our comfort zone in 2024 and be bold.

Narelle was our stand-in Sergeant at Arms and not only welcomed us all to the meeting and went through housekeeping, but also read us the mission statement.

President Gail H opened the meeting and was kept busy with a list of tasks: she firstly welcomed the three first-time visitors Amy, Russell and Tracey. She then passed on congratulation wishes from Area Director Suzanne that we have qualified as Distinguished Club (reaching five out of ten goals). Afterwards, she had the privilege to present Will with his badge before reminding us of the upcoming events and conferences. Before handing over, she also gave us the changes as stand-in Vice President of Education.

Jonathon braved the task of a changed program well and called on Marlene to give us the Toast. Marlene reflected on her first visit and how daunting it was, so she toasted to our courageous "First time visitors".

Word Master Narelle followed provoking us to not just use, but also show "vulnerability" since Brené Brown talks about this and shame quite frequently.

Round Robin Master Peter led us into a confronting discussion to the statement "There is nothing good about living in Brisbane during summer." He had many followers agreeing with him (escaping the heat to Dunedin, camping or Melbourne or simply the aircon in the office or car as well as reminding us of the mosquitos); yet a few disagreed and brought up arguments of chilling temperatures in Canada or still doing yard work. The topic was a hot discussion point since all three visitors felt inclined to give their opinion as well.

It was time for the (prepared) speeches:

1. Christiane presented the fifth speech of a six part series on her job experience with a certain company titled "The straw that broke the camel's back". The speech was evaluated by John.

2. Trevor's speech was an impromptu speech with Peter giving him his title literally seconds before he came up to deliver it: "What I would do if I were the prime minister of Australia". This lead to some strong statements and Trevor's mission in life to wake the world up ever since the flu vaccinations. Peter evaluated the speech appraisingly, however, marveled on the word pictures which Trevor drew.

As the Raffle Master, Marlene enticed us with the opening line of "something that you've never seen before." And she was right as we admired a moving safari book. She also included a public speaking book as well as chocolate in the raffle.

Gail W undertook the task of being our time keeper and squared off the changed program by keeping us running smoothly.

In the supper break, we not only bought raffle tickets, but also sampled the goodies provided by Gail H and Narelle. It was also the time to find out more about our visitors as well as catch up on 6 weeks of news.

The second half saw Will as Table Topic Master inviting eight speakers to speak off the cuff.

1. Christiane with "What is a daring decision you've made in your life, and how did it shape your character?" spoke about her move to Australia from Germany.

2. Peter with "Imagine you are facing a fear that holds you back. How would daring greatly in that situation impact your personal growth?" disclosed details about his tandem parachute experience.

3. Marlene with "Share a story of someone you admire who exemplifies the concept of daring greatly. What qualities make them inspiring?" told us about her mother's courage to stand in front of Charlie, the bull to save young Marlene and her relatives.

4. Narelle with "In the spirit of daring greatly, describe a time when you took a calculated risk that led to unexpected positive outcomes." revealed firstly her move to the western suburbs of Sydney (from the country), then her move to the UK for work.

5. Paul H with "How can embracing vulnerability contribute to the success of a daring endeavor, and have you experienced this in your own life?" confronted our excuse of possible failing with the argument that in the long-term we have a learning experience when trying something new.

6. Trevor with "Discuss a situation where daring greatly meant challenging societal norms. What can we learn from such instances?" continued his speech, calling himself a conspiratorial theorist.

7. John with "Share a personal experience of overcoming self-doubt to achieve something you initially thought was beyond your capabilities." displayed susceptibility by explaining about his balance difficulties and how Flinders Peak was a scramble encounter for him.

8. Visitor Amy mustered enough courage to answer "If you could encourage others to embrace daring greatly, what advice or insights would you offer to inspire them?". She summarised her mini-speech by a quote she lives by "You can't expect different outcomes if you always do the same."

The Table Topics were evaluated by Rosie and Carmy.

While Narelle collected the votes, Jonathon was able to share more about his own knowledge of comfort zone and self-growth.

Word Master Narelle reported on the usage of "vulneraibility" and congratulated all to have used the word often, however it was called a tie between Jonathon (having a slight advantage being Toastmaster) and combined efforts of our visitors Amy and Russell.

Paul H conducted the general evaluation and congratulated John for using an attention-grabbing introduction to Christiane's speech. He reminded all evaluators to only repeat speech segments if they demonstrated a point you made beforehand.

 

Raffle Master Marlene asked visitor Tracey to drew the winning ticket - and a very happy Rosie was able to take the safari book and the other treats home.

In closing, Gail H asked our visitors for feedback and then presented awards to:

• Best Evaluator - Rosie

• Most Improved - Will 

• Best Table Topic - John

• Best Speech - Christiane

With January having five weeks, please be reminded, that our next meeting is on February 13.

(P.S.: The photographer apologises that 6 weeks off were long enough to forget to take acceptable photos and will endeavour to improve in the next meeting.)

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.