Meeting 938 "Speechfest"

Some of our best meetings occur when difficult circumstances have to be overcome.

On the morning of our last meeting day, our president Nicole was informed that due to an unavoidable circumstance, the room where we usually meet was not available. Thanks to  Nicole and others who made numerous phone calls and sent out emails and to the Sandgate Uniting Church for allowing us to hold the meeting in their hall, the meeting went ahead and was one of our memorable evenings.

Harry was Toastmaster

President Nicole welcomed our guests Steve (who is transferring to our club) Lisa, Jean, and Ajit. Toastmaster Harry had prepared some interesting information about words and speaking.

Instead of our usual meeting format we had a speechathon, with 7 speakers who didn't appear to suffer from "Glossophobia."

Tim

 Tim was the first speaker with his second speech from the CC manual, and told us "The Story of the Rain and Sydney University" and how he caught a train and arrived 3 days later.

Darryl

Darryl presented his third speech from the manual which he titled, "What the Hell am I doing here" His main point was the importance of reading the objectives in the manuals before preparing a speech.

Amanda

Amanda's speech "Dreams and its Health Warnings" was a fascinating account of how dreams can warn of physical complaints. Amanda had prepared a power point presentation but quickly adapted with other visual props when our projector was unavailable, due to the last minute change of  venue.

Maureen

 Maureen also rose to the occasion and coped without the projector as she convinced us of the benefits of medical research in her speech, "Why Research?"

Peter dM

Peter dM entertained us with an amusing story of a driving adventure  "Oh My God, I Think I've killed a Priest!" 

Reza

Reza presented his Ice Breaker speech, "Life's Challenges." He told us about emigrating from South Africa to Australia.

Terry

Terry continued the story he had begun in his Ice Breaker at a previous meeting, and told us about some more events in his life. 

Nicole and Pam listening

The speeches were evaluated by Dave, John S, Steve, Marlene Liz, John T and Peter V.

Steve

Liz

Dave

John T

John S

Peter V

During the meeting, time keepers Jim and Nick announced that we were ahead of time, so Harry introduced a Round Robin and asked "Why did you join Toastmasters and why have you stayed? Have you achieved your goals?" This was so popular, everyone spoke longer than the usual 20 seconds which made us a bit behind time.

Timekeepers Jim and Nick

Liz's raffle was a tea infuser, jug, coffee and chocloate. It was won by John S.

Liz

Annette

General Evaluator Annette summed up the meeting with some helpful comments.

President Nicole presented the evening's awards to Steve (Best Evaluator,) Reza (Best Speech and Peronal Best,) and Harry (Best Contribution.)

Winners - Steve, Reza Harry

Next meeting is on the 10th March with the theme "Gadgets and Gizmos"

Speech 2 - What's The Point?

Was anyone carrying a gun?
Was anyone carrying a knife?
Was anyone planning to assault Darryl?
Find out in the recording of his second speech from the competent communicator manual.

Are you coming ?

Are you coming to the Metro Division Conference? Trish will be competing in the Evaluation Contest. Come and support her.

Let Nicole know if you are coming so she can make a group booking.

Click to see larger size

Metropolitan Division Conference is being held on  Saturday 21ST March 2015 at the Geebung- Zillmere RSL Club,  323 Newman Road, Geebung. Watch our Area winners compete  for the chance to represent our Division at the  District 69 Convention in May 2015. Are you ready to change?  Do you need support? As a Toastmaster in the Metro Division you have the opportunity to gain the help needed to achieve your goals.

Registrations Open

$35 - Early Bird

$30 – Early Bird Group Bookings

$40 - After the Early Bird cut off

Early Bird registration closes on Friday 28 February 2015.

Meeting 937 "Love is in the Air"

Love was in the air at our last meeting. The word of the evening, chosen by Nick was "passionate."

Peter V was Toastmaster

Tim proposed the toast.

President Nicole welcomed our guests Peter, Steve, Lisa, Roseanne, Jean, Soheil and Saba.

Harry filled in for our Round Robin Master and asked "What was your most memorable Valentine's Day. Everyone found it easy to answer and there were some amusing stories.

Cinderella (Pam)

Table Topics Master Marlene referred to the romantic story of Cinderella and called on Cinderella, Prince Charming, and one of the Ugly Stepsisters (aka Pam, Harry and Darryl) to tell what really happened at the ball.

They were evaluated by Dave.

Prince Charming (Harry)

Ugly Stepsister (Darryl)

Jim presented his 3rd speech "The Best Idea I Ever Had."  He told a hilarious tale about his long ride on a petrol tanker.

Jim

Amanda's speech was her 7th. For her "Research your Topic" project, she used the projector to show the importance of  hand washing.

Amanda

Peter dM recounted an exciting adventure on a flooded river in Ecuador.

Peter dM

Speech evaluators were Rose, Sharyn and John T.

Sharyn

Rose

John T

John T

The Business Session was efficiently chaired for John S. The main item discussed was the changes to our Semi Annual fees, which will be raised slightly to bring it in line with the US Dollar and will also include meeting fees.

Reza's raffle was a large tin of  Lindt chocolates and a Valentine card. It was won by Marlene, who is passionate about Lindt chocolate.  Thanks Reza!

Reza

Grammarian Sharyn  commented on some good word usage and General Evaluator Jonathon gave some honorable mentions. Both gave suggestions for improvement.

Jonathon

President Nicole presented the evenings's awards to Peter V (Best Contribution,) John T (Best Evaluator,)  Amanda  (Best Speech and Personal Best) and Harry (Best Table Topic.)

Award winners 10/2/15

Next meeting on the 24th February will be a Speechfest. We are looking forward to hearing some great speeches.

Meeting 936 "Australia - True Blue"

"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!"  Pam's toast at the beginning of the meeting was to all Australians, whether they were born here, or have adopted Australia as their home.

President Nicole welcomed our guests, James, Meg, Barbara, Marco, Leanne, Rosanne and also welcomed back Pam who has been recovering from an operation and past member Harry who is going to rejoin our club.

Nicole was also Toastmaster for the evening.

Tim's word for the evening was "Fair" in the Australian sense of the word, as in "Fair Go" and "Fair Dinkum."

Round Robin Master Maureen asked "What does it mean to you to be a True Blue Aussie." Everyone took part and there were many examples, but the general consensus was that a Fair Dinkum Aussie will give everyone a fair go.

Reza was Table Topics Master and he called on  Jonathon, Annette, Sharyn and Tim to answer his topics.

Reza

"What are Australia's greatest Achievements?"

"What icon best represents Australia and why?"

"What is your ideal way of celebrating Australia Day?"

"How do you explain Australia Day to a Tourist?"

Jonathon

Annette

Sharyn

Tim

They were evaluated by Amanda and Marlene

Amanda

Marlene

Darryl presented his second speech, "What's the Point." His vocal  variety and gestures made it a powerful  message about speaking in public. "Is it fear- or ego that holds us back?"

.Darryl's speech was evaluated by Sharyn.

Darryl

Dave's speech was a fact finding report from an advanced manual.   Using the acronym WINNERS, he told us the history of the Quakers and what made them successful.

Dave

Dave's speech was evaluated by Trish, who wore blue instead of her favourite purple in honour of our theme.

Trish

Annett's raffle

Raffle Master Annette said (with tongue in cheek) that what Australian's love is "Booze and Gambling"  so she had brought a bottle of wine and Scratch-it tickets for her raffle. It was won by Pam.

Peter - timer's report

Jim conducted the Listening Quiz and proved that collecting fines can be fun.

Jim

John T

John T's joke about a man who was hit over the head by his wife  had everyone laughing. (If you want to know why she hit him, ask John)

John S

John S, in his true blue shirt managed to inject humour into his grammarian's report as he commented on "the good, the bad and the ugly."

Rose

Rose presented the General Evaluation, pointing out the good points of the meeting and what could be improved.

Pam collected votes

Pam collected the votes, and Nicole presented the evening's awards to Trish (Best Evaluator,) Tim and Jonathon (Best Table Topic tied,) Nicole (Best Contribution,) and Darryl (Best Speech and Personal Best.)

Winners 27/1/15

We sang Happy Birthday to Darryl.

Who was the cool looking guy who came with Jim?

Hey, it's Nick with a new haircut!