Meeting 1131 "Music"

 "Groovy" was the word chosen by our Wordmaster Helen, and it proved to be a groovy meeting. Club President Paul welcomed everyone, including our new member Michael and guest Will.

Control was then handed to Gokul as Toastmaster of the evening, who used a burst of bright music to introduce the theme he had chosen - "Music."  John proposed a toast "To Music."

    Gokul

John

Helen explained that she loved the songs from "The Sound of Music," and had everyone singing "Do Re Me."

Helen

Round Robin Master Marlene invited everyone to tell what their favourite music was. The responses were varied - including Classical, Rock & Roll, Country & Western, Blue Grass, Bollywood and others.

Gail W presented her Icebreaker speech, "Seen and Heard." She told of some past experiences and the reason she had decided to join Toastmasters.

Paul's amusing speech  "Confessions of a Lapsed Toastmaster " was about his procrastination in preparing a speech.

Gail W

Paul

Narelle's speech about body language had everyone in fits of laughter.

Narelle's audience

The speech evaluators were Tony, Dan and Jonathon. 

Tony

Dan

Jonathon

 

The raffle, supplied by Narelle was a box crammed with goodies and was very popular. It was won by Gokul.

Narelle's Raffle 

Supper, provided by Peter and Gail W was a good time to catch up.

Supper Time

Catching up

Trish conducted the Table Topics session, with topics for Liz, Michael, Tony, Gail H, Helen, Peter and Rosie. She finally revealed that she had chosen the topics with the help of Chat GPT.

Trish

The topics were:

1. What type of music don't you like and why?

2. If you could learn to play a musical instrument, which one would you choose and why?

3.Who is your favourite singer or band?

4. How does music influence your mood and energise or relax you?

5. Do you have a particular song that has sentimental value?

6. What was a memorable concert that you have attended?

7. What is your all time favourite song and why?

Liz

Rosie

 

The Table Topics were evaluated by Peter and Arun.

Peter

Arun

Timekeeper Rosie announced that the meeting was running right on time.

Michael Dan & Rosie

Hazel gave a comprehensive General Evaluation of the entire meeting.

Hazel

The evening's awards were presented to Tony - Best Table Topic, Tony and Jonathan (Tie) - Best Evaluation, Narelle and Gail W (tie) - Best Speech and Gail W - Most Improved.

Award Winners 27 June

There will no meeting on the 11th July as we will be attending our Changeover Dinner. 

Next Regular Meeting will be on the 25th July.

Meeting 1130 "Endurance"

 Toastmasters always manage to rise to the occasion. Although winter ills and work commitments had resulted in a lower attendance, the programme was easily filled with many members taking on extra roles.

Dan took on the role of Sergeant at Arms in Gokul's absence. He opened the meeting and handed control to President Paul.

Dan

Paul

Paul welcomed first time visitor Michael and introduced the word for the evening, "Persevere."

John presented the toast to "The development of mental endurance."

Gail W

Gail W presented the "Round Robin" warm up by asking "What is the most recent thing that you endured and what have you learned about yourself from it?" 

This provoked some interesting stories. Some were amusing. Some could possibly be developed into a full length speech in the future.

The prepared speeches were delivered by three of our most advanced speakers, John, Liz and Trish.

John

Liz

Trish

John's speech "Shopping Strife with My Wife" had everyone laughing.

Liz's inspiring speech about her journey in Toastmasters was a "Serving as a Leader in a Volunteer Organisation" project.

Trish inspired us with her speech "Say No to Imposter Syndrome."

They were evaluated by Jonathon, Gail and Peter.

Jonathon

Gail

Peter

Dan

Dan offered an non-alcoholic as well as an alcoholic choice in his raffle which resulted in a brisk trade for tickets. It was won by Trish.

Dan's Raffle

Supper was provided by Leanne and John. Even though Leanne was unable to attend the meeting, she had made a quiche and delivered it before the meeting, which was greatly appreciated and disappeared fast! I almost didn't get a photo!

Leanne's quiche

Supper time

Marlene conducted the Table Topics session, inviting participants to draw a word from a bag and to speak about it. All the words were related to endurance.

Participants were Hazel, with the word "climb." Paul - "illness," Peter - "long wait," Gail - "toothache," Chris - "hard work". And our guest Michael who agreed to take part, spoke on the word "hunger." (He later told us that Trish's speech had inspired him to give it a go!)

The topics were evaluated by Hazel and Dan. Hazel was also timekeeper.

Hazel

Dan

Grammarian Jonathon mentioned some of the alliterations during the speeches and gave some hints on avoiding filler words.

Paul, in spite of having to perform multiple meeting roles managed to give a comprehensive and helpful general evaluation of the entire meeting.

Award winners of the evening were Peter (Most Improved,) Michael (Best Table Topic,) Trish (Best Speech,) and Jonathon (Best Evaluation.)

Award winners 13 June 2023

Next meeting Tuesday 27th June. 

The following meeting on the 11th July will be our Change Over Dinner at "The Sands Social" to mark the beginning of a new Toastmasters year, which always starts in July.

Meeting 1129 "The Joy of Youth"

 Sometimes when there are five Tuesdays in a month, we have an extra meeting on the fifth week.

As well as being an extra meeting, our last meeting was a "Lucky Dip" meeting. Apart from the prepared speeches - no one knew beforehand what meeting role they would be performing. VPE Gail had prepared slips with the roles printed on them and members drew one each from a container.

Liz was obviously well prepared for any role and had no trouble acting as Toastmaster for the evening. 

Gail also rose to the occasion as Word Master with the word "Nostalgia."

Liz

Gail

Chris conducted the Round Robin Warm Up session by asking "What is your earliest memory?"

Chris

Chris was also one of the prepared speakers. His speech was a beautifully expressed eulogy titled "Ode to Joy."

Other speakers were Gokul and John. Gokul's speech "The Big Day" was an account of his wedding day in India and an engrossing explanation of how a Tamil wedding is celebrated.

John completed Level 5 in the Dynamic Leadership Path with his speech "Leading a Teaching Life." This was one of many paths that John has completed. A true Dynamic Leader!

Gokul

John

Evaluators were Paul, Peter and Arun. 

Paul

Peter

Arun

The raffle (a drinks flask, kneeling pad and book) presented by Helen was very popular and was won by Dan.

Helen

Timer Narelle reported that we were running ahead of time, so we had an extra five minutes to chat during the supper, which was provided by Narelle and Arun.

Supper Time

Table Topics Master John called on Helen, Peter, Gail, Paul, Liz and Marlene to answer his questions.

1. "What is the best thing about being young?" Helen

2. "Is it harder to be a youth  today than in your time as one?" Peter.

3. "What is the best age of life and why?" Gail.

4. "Who was someone who impressed you when you were young?" Paul.

5. "What message would you give to your younger self?" Liz.

6. "What do you understand by the expression 'young at heart' ?" Marlene

They were evaluated by Dan.

Dan

A General Evaluation of the meeting was conducted by Marlene.

Votes for the evening's winners were tallied with the result that the three prepared speakers had the same number of votes and tied for the "Best Speech" award.

Gokul, Chris and John

Other place getters were Dan (Best Evaluation,) Liz (Best Table Topic) and Helen who tied with Gokul. (Most Improved.)

Award winners 30th May 2023

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 13th June.

Meeting 1128 "The King's Coronation"

Congratulations to Arun on completing Level 5 (The highest level) in his "Dynamic Leadership" path with his inspiring speech, "Challenge your Limit." 

Arun

Other speakers were Helen, who earned her standing ovation with her Icebreaker speech "The Way Forward" and Trevor with his speech "Are You Cut Out to be an Entrepreneur?" 

Helen

Trevor

Evaluators were Gokul, Trish and Paul.

Gokul

Trish

Paul

Q. "Who is strong enough to move the King's castle?" A. "A chess player."

Q. "When is a King like a piece of wood?" A. "When he's a ruler."

Toastmaster Narelle kept the jokes coming during the meeting, providing plenty of laughs.

She also conducted the Round Robin, asking "Where were you when King Charles was crowned?

Although most of had watched at least some of the ceremony, Trish was the only one who had watched all of it. Trish also managed to use John's word of the evening "Majesty" or "Majestic" more times than anyone else.

Paul conducted the raffle with the prize of a bottle of special Bundaberg Rum. (Supplied by Dan.)

Supper time was an opportunity to catch up  with one another. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of the lovely spread provided by Gail and Helen. It was good to see Tom back for a second visit.

Liz and Trish at supper time

The Table Topics prepared by Paul, had a royal theme. 

"Is all the pomp and pageantry necessary?" answered by Marlene.

"All those jewels - can they be real?" Trevor.

"What kind of a king do you think Charles will be?" Narelle.

"Would you have liked to grow up as a prince or princess?" Arun.

"If you could be any royal, who would it be?" Trish.

"What food would you choose for the coronation?" Helen

"What do think Princess Di would have thought of the coronation?" Liz.

"Was the coronation worth the millions spent on it?" Gokul.

Evaluators were Gail and John.

Gail

John

For Show and Tell, Marlene showed a miniature teapot commemorating the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary.

Grammarian Trish commented on the words during the meeting and Liz gave a General evaluation of the entire meeting.

Trish

Liz

The evenings awards went to Helen (Best Speech) Liz and Trish -  tie (Best Table Topic)

Trish (Best Evaluation) and Arun (Most Improved.) 

As there is a fifth Tuesday this month, we will have an extra meeting next Tuesday 30th May with the theme "The Joy of Youth." It will be a Lucky Dip meeting - roles (other than the speeches) will be drawn on the night. Don't miss it!