Meeting 908 Contests - Eval & International

The Judges were ready.

Sharyn with Del, Jenny, Chris, Preeta, & Teena

Contest officials were briefed.

Chief Judge briefs time keepers Nicole & Liz We

The audience was ready.

Five Contestants participated in the Evaluation Contest

Jim, Annette, Peter, Trish  & Dave

Three in the International Speech Contest. 

(Trish tried to look taller than Jonathon.)

Jonathon, Trish, John S

And the winners of the Evaluation Contest were .....

Annette 1st, Trish 2nd, Dave 3rd.

Winner of the International Speech Contest was...

  John S.

Congratulations to you all!

Thanks to Chris, Del, Jenny, Teena & Preeta for helping with our contest. 

A special thanks to our test speaker Lucia who inspired us as well as providing material for our evaluators.

Sorry, I didn't get a photo of Lucia.

Goodbye Homer

We said goodbye to Robert's guide dog Homer, who is retiring. Homer will stay home with Val while the new dog, "Flame" comes to the meetings. 

   Our guests Mark and Wendy said they enjoyed the contests. and will come again. New members Pam and Gwen will be inducted next meeting.

Date Claimer

Area 8 Conference 2nd November

Hello everyone, please keep this date free to support our Sandgate contestants!

Meeting 907 "Spring"

A toast to Spring

Appropriately, it was a balmy Spring evening. Nick proposed a toast to "Spring" and John T introduced the word of the evening "Anticipate." which captured the promises of Spring. 

Sharyn took on the role of Toastmaster at short notice and kept us entertained during segments with interesting trivia and quotes about Spring.

Round Robin Master Jim asked, "What do your thoughts turn to in Spring?" Some of the answers were:

roses, hay fever, longer days, weeding, swimming, spring cleaning, magpies, and warmer weather.

The Table Topics session was conducted by Maureen. Her topics were:

"What is your favourite spring flower and why?"

"Favourite memory of a Spring scene".

"How do you cope with the change of wardrobe in Spring?" (Not exact wording.)

"What song reminds you of Spring?"

They were answered by John T, Leesa, Nick and Del. and evaluated by Dave.

John T, Leesa, Nick & Del

One of the strengths of our club is the members who are prepared to fill in  a position at the last minute. This is what happened, when both speakers cancelled at the last minute. Our two Johns - John T and John S rose to the occasion and each presented a speech they'd had on the back burner. This was taking our word "Anticipate" to a new level!

John T - The Great Reveal

John T revealed an amazing secret - what was the sticky black substance that God used when creating the world? If you weren't at the meeting, you will have to ask John.

John S - Fund Raising

John S, who had been a professional fund raiser for many years, gave us some insights into the world of Fund Raising.

The speeches were evaluated by Peter and Liz Wo.

Peter 

Liz Wo

Business Session

The Business Session was dealt with very efficiently by Annette and evaluated by John S.

Trish

With the Evaluation Contest coming up next meeting, Trish presented a timely Educational Session on "How to win an Evaluation Contest"  Some of the points she made were:

Look at the judging form - find out what the judges are looking for.

Analytical Quality - Was it clear & focussed? Identify strengths and weaknesses, Analysis.

40 points

Recommendations -  

30 points

Technique - How you present it. Sympathetic, motivational, Empathetic.

15 points      connect with the speaker. Inspire, encourage.

Summation - Summarise what you have said. Don't add new material.

15 points

Opening - What I liked. Why

Points for improvement - Why, How.

 Leesa's Spring Raffle had two prizes - two small floral arrangements from a local florist "More Than Just Flowers."   They were won by Jim and Peter.

Grammarian Del reported that there hadn't been many "Ums" and "Ahs."

 Del was also the Mystery Toastmaster as well the Cashier. She said that apart from those who greeted her when she first arrived, most members didn't actually greet her when they paid their meeting fees. They just said "Here's my money..."  Remember to greet the Cashier in future!

Sharyn in her role of  Area Governor presented our club with a Select Distinguished ribbon to place on our banner.

We are Select Distinguished!  

The General Evaluation was conducted by President Liz We and the evenings awards were presented to John T (Best Speech,) Leesa (Best Table Topic,) Sharyn (Best Contribution,) Peter (Best Evaluation,) and Nick (Personal Best.)

Next meeting on the 24th September will be the Evaluation and International Speech Contests.

Meeting 906 Contest Night - TT & Humorous

President Liz interviews contest winner Peter

Congratulations to all who took part in our contests last meeting. Peter's winning Humorous speech was brilliant. I loved the part where he waved his cane around his head & accidentally whacked the electric light overhead!

TT Contestants - Dave, Leesa, Annette & Trish

The topic for the Table Topics Contest was "I should have known." The four contestants each had a different story to tell.
Trish won first place, with Annette second.

Humorous Contestants - John T, Maureen, Peter, Trish & Liz

The Humorous Speech contest provided great entertainment. Winners were Peter (1st place, Liz Wo (2nd) and Trish (3rd.)

Humorous Speech winners - Peter (1st) , Liz (2nd) & Trish (3rd)

Jenny, Liz We & Kris

We appreciate the assistance given by our friends Jenny from Healthy Chatterers Toastmasters and Kris from Peninsula Toastmasters.

It was good to welcome back our guests from last meeting, Pamela & Gwen, also a first time visitor Wendy. They all said they enjoyed the meeting and we hope to see them next meeting.

Meeting 905 "The Ekka"

Peter

It's Ekka week - that's the Brisbane Exhibition or Show,  so of course that was the theme of the meeting. Peter introduced the word "Ostentation" which also means "show or exhibition" in another sense of the word.

We were delighted to welcome five guests, Maria, Shashi, Pamela, Gwen and James.

Leesa

Round Robin Master Dave asked us " Are you going to the Ekka - if not, why not?"  Many said they were not going, because of the crowds, and spread of flu etc, but some members are going to be there, volunteering on stalls or with family.

Toastmaster Leesa (also wearing her secretary hat) kept us informed with information abut the Ekka.

Annette in Table Topics

Ian's Table Topics session brought out the creativity of Annette, Liz Wo, Peter and Jonathon. They were so entertaining, I forgot to take photos of most of them.

The topics were, (not exact words)
"What from your life would you like to be put on display 100 years time?" 

 "In the final round to select host city for the World Fair, how would you promote your city?" 

 "What is the secret plot and what do the letters EKKA stand for?" 

Sharyn

"Are you for or against exhibitionism?"

The Table Topics were evaluated by Sharyn.

Nick presented his Ice Breaker speech. He appeared quite confident as he told of the main events in his life and the difficulties he had overcome.

Marlene evaluated Nick's speech.

Ron

Our new data projector is being put to good use. Ron presented an  speech "The Rain Man of Web Sites" and told us some interesting facts about Google that we didn't know before. It was his second speech.

Jonathon presented his 8th Speech, titled "The Weird and Wonderful Evolution of Whales."  He showed us how weird and wonderful it is!  Liz Wo evaluated Ron's speech, and Trish evaluated Jonathon's speech.

Jonathon

Another interesting speaker was John  T who demonstrated his vocal variety in his speech,
"One Angry Nation - From Fair Go to Aggro."

It was evaluated by Maureen.

John T

Maureen

The Business Session , chaired by Sharyn, ran smoothly and provided some practice moving motions and amendments.

Ian's raffle with a money prize was very popular. It was won by Dave.

Dave won Ian's raffle

Time Keeper Nicole

Time Keeper Nicole announced that we were running 10 minutes overtime. (It was a very full meeting.)

In the absence of our President Liz We, Immediate Past President Annette closed the meeting and presented awards to Leesa (Best Contribution,) Nick (Personal Best,) John T (Best Speech,) Jonathon (Best Table Topic,) and Trish and Marlene. (Best Evaluation - tie.)

Award winners 13 Aug 2013

A new star is born!

Welcome to our newest potential Toastmaster, Edison, who was born on the 29th July. 

We are looking forward to meeting him soon.

Congratulations to proud parents Harry and Jennine. 

Harry & Jennine with new baby, Edison

Toastmasters at Einbunpin 2013

Trish had an encounter with the Einbunpin Bunyip at the annual Einbunpin Festival last Sunday, where Sandgate Toastmasters had an information stall. 

Trish  with Einpinpin Bunyip

 Thanks to all our members who helped - those who organised, prepared brochures, lent equipment, set up, etc.  Here are some of them. (I didn't get photos of those on the early rosters or who packed up at the end of the day)

Annette & Inge

Liz Wo, John T, Sharyn

Nicole and June

A number of people stopped at our stall and received information about our club. We hope to see some of them at our next meeting on the 13th August. I wonder if the Bunyip will turn up!

Past TM members, Kylie and Narda

It was good to meet up with some past Toastmasters at the Festival.  I was able to introduce Narda, a member from way back, to Kylie, a more recent member. Kylie was busy with a stall of her own.

Kylie loves putting all she learnt at Toastmasters into action as a health coach - including listening carefully, and explaining clearly and effectively. As a health coach, Kylie inspires busy people to regain energy, desirable weight, health and happiness. She does this by helping them make achievable changes to whichever areas of their lifestyle that are unbalanced, whether nutrition, exercise, career, relationships, creativity, finances or joy. Kylie's experience at Toastmasters as VPPR also helped her set up her blog, check it out at http://healthwellnessrevolution.com. 

How might you use what you are learning at Toastmasters?

Judge & Contest Training

Take advantage of this timely training before the coming speech contest season.

Metro Division Judges Training

Banyo Library Sunday 11 August 8.30 – 2.40

Training Includes:

• what makes a good judge;
• the judging criteria;
• special requirements for Table Topics, Evaluation Contests, Humorous speeches and International Contests;
• ending with some judging practice.
  And it’s FREE 
  (other than $2 for morning tea and a plate of food to share for lunch)

Please register by emailing tlim@toastmastersd69.orgwith your name, contact details and club name before 8 August 2013.

Programme for Judges Training

(click to enlarge)

Club Officer Training 2013

A vital ingredient of a successful Toastmasters Club is an Executive Team that knows how to perform their duties. Toastmasters conducts training sessions twice a year which club officers are encouraged to attend. Some of our club officers attended the night time sessions during the week. I went with Leesa, Sharyn, Trish, Nicole and Annette to the Training Day at St Joseph's College last Saturday.

Leesa, Sharyn, Trish, Nicole, Annette,

Trish was the presenter of the sessions, Risk Management,  Distinguished Club Programme, and High Performance Leadership.

Presenter Trish

Sharyn presented the session on being Club President. Another member of our club, John S presented a session on the History of Toastmasters.

We all learnt something that will be of benefit to our club.

Meeting 904 "Technology"

Liz We

 Liz We wore two hats last meeting, when in her role as president she opened the meeting, welcomed our guests Lynne and Tekura, then she took on the role of Toastmaster for the evening. The theme was "Technology" and Liz had plenty of interesting facts and information up her sleeve.

Word Master Inge introduced the word "Precept," meaning an instruction, a command or a mandate.

Ernie read the mission statement and Robert proposed the toast.

In keeping with the theme, Ron presented a quote from Karl Marx, "The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people."

Del

Our Round Robin Master was not present but Del quickly came up with a topic, "What technological item do you use and what item confuses you."  There were some interesting answers.

We had two Table Topic Masters, Leesa and Jim. It was Jim's first time as Table Topics Master.

 Leesas topics were, "What technological item could you never do without?"
"Was there ever any technological item you could not get to work?"
"Have we gone too far with technology?"
"What is the best technological device you have bought?"

The Topics were answered by Robert, June, Bev, and Ron.

 Jim's topics were also related to our theme, "Do school children rely too much on technology?"
"Has medical technology made a difference to your life?"
" 'The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people'. - Do you agree and why?"
" Automatic tellers, etc - what are the consequences to society?"  (This is not the exact wording.)

Jim's topics were answered by Annette, John S, Dave and Inge.

Table Topic Evaluators John S and Del had some encouraging comments and good advice, on using gestures, making eye contact with one person, then moving on to another rather than scanning the room, slowing the speaking rate etc.

There were two speeches. The first was by Annette, speaking from the advanced manual, "Special Occasion Speeches." She presented a toast to someone who was retiring from a business.

It was evaluated by Dave.

The second speech was Ian's Ice Breaker speech. He held us spellbound with his imagery and vocabulary as he spoke about living and working in Siberia where the temperature drops to 40 degrees C below zero and freezes the moisture in your eyeball! 

Ian's speech was evaluated by Liz Wo.

Ian

In the absence of our scheduled educational presenter, Marlene presented an educational session on how to find ideas for a Humorous Speech, reminding everyone that our Humorous Speech Contest is the meeting after next.

Some of the tips were:  Think of  incidents that were painful, scary or embarrassing at the time, but are funny in restropect.  

Make fun of yourself, rather than others. Exaggerate your failings and fears

Think of conflicts - eg. dealing with teenagers. toddlers, in-laws, the opposite sex.

Embarrassing Moments. Misunderstandings. 

Observations - describe a crazy world from a straight perspective or vice versa.

Raffle Master June opened her segment with a riddle. "Why did the cat order a computer?" "Because he had heard that a mouse came with it."  The raffle prize was a cordless mouse. It was won by John T.

John T wins raffle

Grammarian John T commented on the use of a pause when speaking and said we could emulate experienced Toastmasters John S, Annette and Liz We. There hadn't been too many fillers such as "Um," "Ah" or "Okay."

General Evaluator Sharyn  gave some encouraging advice. 

Our guests Lynne and Tekura said they had enjoyed the meeting and would be back.

Time Keeper Nicole reported that our meeting was running 2 minutes ahead of time. (Sorry, I can never get a photo of the Time Keeper from where I sit.)

Liz We put her president's hat back on and closed the meeting. 

The evenings awards went to Liz We (Best Contribution,) John S (Best Table Topic,) Ian (Best Speech AND Personal Best,) Liz Wo (Best Evaluation.)

Award winners 24 July 13