Meeting 1011 "Anzac Day" Reverse Meeting

 What a crazy meeting it was - but such fun! The entire meeting was backwards, beginning with president Annette's closing remarks and Christiane's General Evaluation of the entire meeting.

Marlene and Leesa even wore their clothes backwards!

Marlene

Leesa

Trish was Toastmaster and because Christiane had said in her evaluation that Trish had told stories about her grandfather, Trish made frequent references to her grandfather.

Christiane

Trish

Word Master Gail informed us that the word of the day had been used over 30 times during the meeting. She couldn't reveal what the word was, but gave a not so subtle hint that it was "Valour" so it was used many time during the evening - well over 30 times.

Gail

John

General Evaluator Christiane had told us that all Listening Quiz questions had been answered correctly, so Quiz master John  ensured that with just a little bit of help, no one gave an incorrect answer.

Carmy's quote was "The future belongs to those who prepare for it today." by Malcolm X.

Carmy

Monica

Grammarian Monica commented on the word pictures used, including "snow capped mountains" and "the incessant ringing of the phone." She said that no "ums" and "ahs" had been used all evening. Surprisingly, no one, not even the queen of "ums" who shall remain nameless, uttered a single "um."

The Table Topics evaluators provided a challenge for the speakers. Annette spoke about the structure that each speaker had used. Leesa told us that Marlene had fainted when blood was mentioned and had to be revived by having water thrown on her face. This was acted out during the table topics, though luckily the water was not needed. 

Carmy's Table Topics were challenging scenarios for each participant, all with Anzac related themes. 

Some of the Table Topics participants

Speeches were evaluated before the speeches were presented, with the evaluators Paul, John, Marlene and Blake. providing challenges for the speakers. Peter "tripped" on his way to the lectern as his evaluator had mentioned and Steve walked backwards to the lectern as predicted.

Paul

Blake

In his humorous speech "Second Place" Peter told us he had never aspired to become famous.
Steve spoke about Saving the "City of Adelaide." No, not the city, it is the name of a ship.

Peter

Steve

 Eileen's Icebreaker speech was titled "I don't take Coffee, I take Tea."

Stephen's speech was a fascinating look at Personality.

Eileen

Stephen

The speakers were introduced after they had presented their speeches.

Annette gave some tips on how to manage the role of Toastmaster.

Casey presented a review on the book, "Religion for Atheists."

Annette

Casey

A soapbox segment was delivered by Paul. He spoke about the Commonwealth Games and their history and asked "However did walking become an event? "

Gail presented her word of the day. Yes, It was "Valour" and had been used many times. She also proposed a toast to "Mateship".

Carmy's raffle, which consisted of wine, chocolate, a game and colouring book was won by Eileen.  A second prize, a bottle of wine donated by Steve was won by Christiane.

Carmy

The evenings awards were won by Peter (Best Speech,) John (Best Table Topic,) Marlene and Blake (Best Evaluator- tie) and Eileen (Most Improved.)

Award winners 24th April 2018

It was good to see our guests Trevor from Clayfield Toastmasters and a first time visitor John A. 

Club Officer Elections will be held next meeting on the 8th May. Contact Steve if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for a position.

Best wishes to those attending the District Conference at Ipswich this weekend.

Meeting 1010 "Sports and Games"

 Some of our members were attending the Commonwealth Games and were absent from our last meeting. The rest of us celebrated with our own "Sports and Games" meeting night.

Toastmaster of the evening, John provided a vibrant atmosphere and kept the meeting moving.

John T

Blake proposed a tongue in cheek toast , "To cricket, cheating and getting away with it."  (Just joking, of course!)

Casey chose the word "Gold" as word of the evening.  It was used often during the evening.

Blake

Casey

Jonathon conducted a Round Robin with a sporting theme.

Jonathon

There were four prepared speeches. Gail presented her Pathways Icebreaker with her speech "Country Dances," and told about growing up in the country and going to dances with her family and friends.

Peter surprised us by stating that he loves paying taxes and told us how our taxes contribute to society.

Gail

Peter

Chris's speech "End to End" was about the decline of bowling clubs. Kirsty delivered an entertaining  impromptu speech about her hectic week which hadn't left her time to write a speech.

Chris

Kirsty

The speech evaluators were Annette, Leesa, Trish and Christiane.

Annette

Leesa

Trish

Christiane

After Blake's Timers report, we broke for supper which was provided by Jonathon.

During the break, Trevor (a visitor from Clayfield Toastmasters) took a photo of of everyone.

Carmy conducted the business session. She was well prepared for her first time in that role.

Carmy

The main items for discussion were subsidies for members attending the District Conference,

Our Changeover Dinner on the 26th June, and our information stall at the Einbunpin Festival in July.

Table Topics were presented by Marlene, who called on Annette, Casey, Leesa and Carmy.

Annette
Lessons learned from sport.

Casey
Greyhound racing is cruel.

Leesa
Would rather play board games

Carmy
Parents too involved in children's sport

The Table Topics were evaluated by Steve.

Steve

Grammarian Jonathon commented on word usage, and filler words. He said the most unusual string of words during the evening was Peter's statement "I love paying tax." He also commended a phrase that Chris had used, "Fuddy duddy volvo drivers."

General Evaluator Monica pointed out the high points of the evening and what could be improved.

Jonathon

Monica

Kirsty's raffle, a bag of  goodies including a jigsaw puzzle, colouring book and wine was won by Peter.

President Annette closed the meeting and presented the evening's awards.

Gail (Best Speaker,) Carmy (Most Improved,) Annette (Best Table Topic,) and Steve (Best Evaluation.)

Award Winners 10 April 2018

Our next meeting on the 24th April will be a backwards meeting, beginning with the General Evaluation and working backward to the opening of the meeting. We are expecting it to be a challenging but fun night.

Meeting 1009 Quirky Country Music Song Day

There is one way to get everyone's attention - with a theme containing the word "Quirky" our inner quirks could be let loose.
An added quirk was that many roles for the evening were selected upon arrival by drawing your assignment from a cup.

Annette

Welcome back to our President Annette, who then welcomed guests Kevin and Trevor. Badges were then presented to new Members Casey, Eileen and Lee-Anne.

Jonathon

The Toastmasters role was drawn by Jonathon, who called on Christiane to "fill in the gaps" on the program with the names of Members. A Toast was presented by Steve, to "Johnny Cash".

Lee-Anne was Wordmaster and gave "Genius" and it's definition. Throughout the night each Member who stood in front of the lectern was labelled "Genius". The word was used often.

Two Ice Breakers by Casey and Steve were evaluated by Liz and Monica.

Casey and Steve 

Evaluators Liz and Nikki 

Third Speech was by Paul and evaluated by Monica.

Monica and Paul

The Raffle presented by Leesa was not non-alcoholic (after Leesa read the label) but a delightful mixer drink.

Leesa

 Stephen drew the Table Topics assignment and provided Country Music related topics to 9 lucky Toastmasters.

Stephen

Paul explained "Ring of Fire", Trevor described how "he became a genius", John relived his brush with fame and Troy Cassar-Daley, Liz described her win of a Line Dancing contest, Nikki got the wrong party theme (Country, not Zombie), Steve told us of his music lessons in Tamworth, Christaine confessed her failed song writing attempts, Leesa tried to impersonate Chad Morgan but was lost for words (and voice), and Peter gave a Vote of Thanks for the Gympie Muster.
Well done all.

Evaluators Carmy, Annette and Kirsty provided good points for all Table Topics Speakers.

Carmy, Annette and Kirsty

 In Kirsty's book review she explained how she was enjoying reading one of her text books as it was not the usual stuffy read but quite quirky.

Leesa gave some helpful tips.

Leesa

Show and Tell was an interesting segment by Peter. He brought along a motor made by his neighbor out of bits and pieces. After lighting a candle, the apparatus came to life. Note to Peter: candles can make metal HOT!

Peter

John was on his Soap Box about the ethics and cheating of the Australian Cricket Team.

John

 Joke presenter was visiting Toastmaster Trevor. Marlene corrected and congratulated us on grammar usage, followed by Peter with a quote. Peter was also the lucky raffle winner.

Trevor, Marlene and Peter

Eileen conducted the Listening Quiz with confidence.
       

Eileen

Keeping time throughout the night was Sharyn with Lights, Bells but no Whistles.

Sharyn

 General Evaluator by Christiane provided helpful suggestions for improvement and comments to assist at future meetings.

Christiane

Awards:   Best Speech - a tie by Casey and Paul
                 Best Evaluator - Annette
                 Best Table Topic - John
                 Most Improved - a tie by Casey and Eileen

Award winners
John, Paul, Casey, Eileen, Annette