Meeting 1001 Speechfest

This first Meeting of the second millennia promised a packed agenda with 6 speeches to be presented. Guests included Jane and past Member Monica, together with Area Director Irene for her official visit to our Club.

Sergeant at Arms Chris opened the Meeting at 7pm by handing control to Toastmaster Steve.  President Annette conducted the Induction for new Member Marie.

A Toast to Martin Luther, the theme of this evening's Meeting, was presented by Stephen. He provided some very enlightening facts about Martin Luther's early life and how he came to produce his 95 thesus which he nailed to a church door 500 years ago today.

Irene presented Annette with a key chain inscribed with "The Spirit of Sandgate" together with a photo compilation CD, in honour of Annette attaining 40 years in Toastmasters.
Well done Annette, our Club is richer for having such an invaluable historian, together with your speaking talent and depth of knowledge in all Toastmaster matters.

Zoe kept with the theme and her word for the night was FAITH, meaning belief. Members used this word 15 times throughout the Meeting.

Round Robin was conducted by Jonathon, who came up with a topic off the top of his head "Tell us about something that wasn't going to turn out well, but you believed it would turn out ok". Many varied and interesting tales were revealed, several concerning plane flights.

Speeches commenced with Lien who presented her Ice Breaker "Believe in Yourself". It was an amazing tale of Lien's life and her strong belief that she and her family would succeed her in Australia. Evaluator Liz provided encouragement and complimented Lien on her strong points.

Tim introduced Gail for her second speech entitled "Your Blood is Worth Bottling", a fascinating journey into the blood donation path which she urged all eligible Members to reflect upon.
Tim provided insightful feedback for Gail.

Liz, visiting from the UK presented her final speech from the High Performance Leadership Study Program entitled "Ruby Celebrations".  She gave a great outline of her preparation for Sandgate Club's 40th Anniversary dinner, which included her "Vision" to have a successful event. A group evaluation followed, led by Jim.

A raffle provided by Nick was a mystery, it being packaged in a white box. His informative and entertaining manner of selling the raffle was very clever and well received. The winner was Stephen, who relieved our curiosity by unwrapping the parcel to reveal a portable vacuum cleaner.

During supper the remains of the cake from 1000 Meeting was consumed after a cake cutting ceremony by Annette. Marlene showed that some people can have their cake and eat it too.

Speeches continued with 3 contest speeches re-presented prior to Area 8 Contest this Saturday. This was to allow fine tuning with audience evaluation to provide enhancing tips and suggestions.

Nikki was introduced by Annette, the speech for Humorous Contest, entitled "Is my Family Normal".

Kirsty introduced Christiane, with her speech for the International Contest, entitled 'Show Courage and Real Story".

Darryl was introduced by Jonathon, and his speech for International Contest was entitled "Cool Calm and Collected".

Marlene presented a brief General Evaluation owing to timing restraints. In conclusion she gave a quote from Martin Luther which provided much laughter. "But I resist the devil and often it is with a fart that I drive him away".

Annette offered good wishes to all Contestants for the Area Conference, and thanked other Members for their attendance and offers of assistance at the event.

2 Trophies were presented for Best Speech and Most Improved - and Lien was the proud recipient of both. Congratulations Lien and well done for completing your Ice Breaker.

More photos of our 1000th meeting

Sharyn took these photos.

Annette & John S (Charter member)

Annette & District Director

Jim

Liz We, Marlene, Liz Wo

Marilyn (keynote speaker) & Penne (Past member)

Table Decoration

Celebrating 1000 Meetings

Night of a Thousand Stars was the theme, and whilst maybe not 1000, there were 53 former and current Members and guests present to enjoy a fun night of memories. A party buzz was in evidence the moment you stepped into the room, with old acquaintances and friends catching up amongst much laughter.

Jonathon

Toastmaster Jonathon warmly welcomed all visitors and guests. A visual presentation then allowed a window into the past 999 Meetings with scenes of Award Winners and much merriment with themed events captured on film. Surprisingly none of us have aged over the years!


Marlene read the Toastmasters Invocation, followed by a Toast to Toastmasters International and founder Ralph Smedley proposed by Moreton Division Director Annette M.

Marlene

Annette M

Steve

An interesting segment led by Steve was about "being a Sandgate Toastmaster". He drew on current Members to express their views on - Themed Meetings, Table Topics, Memorable raffles, Executive roles and presenting the Ice Breaker speech. Responses by Paul, Zoe, Kirsty, Jim and Lien were both entertaining and insightful.

Paul and Zoe

Kirsty                                 Jim                                            Lein

A splendid meal was produced by the Full Moon Hotel and silence reigned briefly during dinner.

Guest Speaker Marilyn F, recently returned from Toastmasters International Conference in Vancouver, Canada, enlightened the audience by relating things she learnt on her journey to reach the Semi-Finals for International Speech Contest this year. She took audience participation to a new level when we were all instructed on how to warm up our voices by humming until our lips tingled, and neigh like a horse.

Marilyn                                                            Irene

A Toast to Sandgate Toastmasters was proposed by Area 8 Director Irene, who also related kind words about her visit to our friendly Club.

Charter Member John responded to the Toast by congratulating the Club on its depth of knowledge with many long term members Annette, Liz, Marlene and Trish. Their combined membership length is over 100 years.

John

As with all important and significant events, a cake cutting ceremony was conducted by John and President Annette.

You can never escape Table Topics and Liz and Trish called on past Members to relate their most memorable Speech or Table Topic. Penne, Lenore, Dave, Kylie, Liz We and Edith all highlighted the vast wealth of training that Toastmasters had provided and enriched their lives.

Penne                               Kylie                                                           Liz

Dave

Edith

Final Address was by District 69 Director Ben, who gave an inspiration speech encouraging all to challenge ourselves. Ben then presented a Certificate for achieving 1000 Meetings to President Annette. Sandgate Club also achieved Select Distinguished for the past year and a ribbon was presented.




3 Raffle prizes courtesy of Rhonda from HelloWorld Sandgate were drawn and lucky winners Trish, Trevor and Marie went home a little richer.

This memorable Meeting was closed by President Annette, reminding all Members of the extra Meeting next Tuesday night. It certainly was a Night of 1000 stars.