Meeting 1073 - Teachers, Students and Assessments

 Another hybrid Meeting, the last for the year as the final Meeting will be held in person at the Full Moon Hotel on December 8th.

Darryl was Toastmaster and he recalled many of the antics and adventures of his school days and further learning experiences in later life.

Darryl

Liz Wo. provided the toast - "To Teachers who teach by example".

Liz Wo.

WordMaster Monica gave the Word "Fine" and asked us to try to use it with the three definitions she provided. Trish was again the master of inserting the Word in almost every sentence uttered and won hands down (or is that hands up?).

Monica

Trish

Liz We. conducted the Round Robin, in which she asked each person to recall a special (or fine) day from their school days.

Liz We.

Speech 1 was by Gokul, about being Considerate and Mindful, and evaluated by Trevor.

Gokul

Trevor

Speech 2 by Darryl "One Thing" was evaluated by Carmy.

Carmy

Speech 3 by John T. was evaluated by Chris D.

This completed John's Level 1 in the Engaging Humour Path.

John T.

Chris D.

Timer Dan provided the progress throughout the Meeting, and an added feature was the displaying of Timing Lights to the Zoom participants. Well done Dan.

Dan

The Raffle by Gail was most appropriate providing the winner Dan with Stationery, Pencil Case and chocolates.

Leesa provided a delicious supper for those present at the venue. Those at home obviously had to pour their own champagne and eat caviar during the break.

Leesa

Hazel had her first time conducting Table Topics and provided some very interesting questions.

Liz Wo. was asked about the culture at her school. Leanne had to state the purpose of student assessments. Trevor informed us about school uniforms. Dan gave a parent's perspective, Monica also spoke and Gail explained the pay structure of teachers from the past and present.

Hazel

The Table Topics were evaluated by Christiane and Marlene.

A well conducted Business Meeting was chaired by Gail.

Gail

General Evaluator Leanne gave praises for the many well done segments, and an overall view (like a report card of the Meeting). 

Leanne

Awards:

Best Speech John T., Best Evaluator Christiane, Best Table Topic Gail, Most Improved Gokul.

Well done again to the efficient team who set up the facilities for hybrid Meetings.

Meeting 1072 "Island life"

 At last! We were able to meet in person in our new venue, the Brighton Wellness Hub as well as on Zoom. We appreciate Leanne and Dan who arrive an hour early to start setting up, with others helping as they arrive.

The Brighton Wellness Hub, corner 19th Ave.

Some of our "Roomies" .....

and "Zoomies."

President Leanne welcomed our guests, Renie (online) Edward and Renee.

Leanne

Carmy conducted her role of Toastmaster online and kept the meeting running smoothly with stories from her early island life.

Carmy

Darryl presented the toast and Jakob gave us a word for the evening, "Benevolent," meaning "well meaning and kindly."

Round Robin Master Chris asked "Why did you join Toastmasters." Everyone had plenty to say and the segment ran slightly over time.

Jakob

Chris H

Chris D presented his speech  "Never Underestimate the Importance of Learning a New Skill." 

 using the feedback he had received last time.  It was evaluated by Gokul.

Chris D

Gokul

Trevor held everyone spellbound with a story about a ghost. It was evaluated by Leanne.

Trevor

Paul's speech was about a mentor who had made an impact on his life. This completed Level 2  in the "Innovative Planning" Path.  It was evaluated by Hazel. (Her first evaluation.) 

Paul

Hazel

John completed the fourth level in his "Presentation Mastery" path by talking about the blog he has created "Toppings Droppings." It was evaluated by Jonathon.

John

Jonathon

Darryl used his salesmanship skills to sell tickets in his raffle which consisted of items that might be needed on an island. It included toilet paper, insect spray, chocolate, coconut water, fruit juice, tea, jelly snakes, fruit salad & a small bottle of vodka.

The lucky winner was Chris D.

Darryl

Christiane conducted the Table Topics session, calling on Trish, Leesa, Chris, Jakob and Jonathon to speak for 2 minutes on Island themed topics.  

Christiane

They were evaluated by Dan and Liz We. 

Dan

Liz- (This photo was taken later in the evening
when she was playing with the background.)

Time keeper was Marlene.

Grammarian commented on some good use of words during the meeting.

Trish mounted her Soapbox and urged everyone to write their life stories. 

Leesa

Trish

General Evaluator Gail had some commendations and recommendations. Gail also provided the delicious supper.

Gail

Leanne took a vote on whether to have our usual Secret Santa Swap at our Break Up this year or to try something new. Secret Santa won.

Award winners for the evening were Best Speech : Trevor, Best Evaluator: Jonathon, Best Table Topic : Trish and  Most Improved: Hazel.

Hazel and Trish
(The others were online.)

Next meeting on the 24th November will be the final regular meeting before our Break Up Dinner on the 8th December.

Area 8 Conference 2020

 2020 has been a year of change and learning new skills. This year our Area 8 Conference was held completely online, with Humorous and International Speech contestants from all the clubs in our Area - Pines, Peninsula, Sandgate, Healthy Chatterers, North Lakes and Bracken Ridge Toastmasters.

Congratulations to all place getters, especially our own contestants John, who won first place in the Humorous Speech contest and Leanne who was second in the International Speech Contest.

John - 1st in Humorous Speech Contest

Leanne - 2nd in International Speech Contest

Kirsty - Area Director

Darryl - Contest Chairman

Jonathon - Zoom set up

The official results were: (surnames deleted)

 HUMOROUS contest

1st John Sandgate

2nd place Kris Peninsula

3rd place Philip North Lakes

INTERNATIONAL contest

1st place Maria Bracken Ridge

2nd place Leanne Sandgate

3rd place Allan Peninsula

Meeting 1071 - Near Misses

 Excellent organisation and management skills were demonstrated by President Leanne when threatening thunderstorms curtailed the scheduled "in person" Meeting and a total Zoom Meeting was arranged. Leanne also has organised the "on line" event for the Area Conference on 7th November. All Members will be able to watch the Contests live on line on that day. Details to follow.

Vice President Gail provided the updated roles for Members, and control was handed to Toastmaster Jonathon. He reminded us that in October 1962 the Cuban Missile Crises was indeed a Near Miss, probably for World peace.

Jonathon

A Toast to "Taking Advantage of Opportunities" was presented by Gail.

Gail

Wordmaster Leanne provided "Stupendous", meaning amazingly large or good, and Trish used it at every opportunity, followed closely by Jonathon, plus many Toastmasters throughout the evening.

Leanne

The Round Robin segment was presented by Monica and Toastmasters were asked to relate their near miss tales. It was very interesting to hear the varied responses - some tall tales and true, some totally fiction.

Monica

Speeches:

Evaluator Leesa introduced Dan's Speech "The Healing Power of Sport".

Leesa

Dan

Evaluator Darryl introduced Hazel's Speech "The Manipulative Tactics of Some Real Estate Agents" which was a follow on from the original speech, taking on board feedback.

Hazel

Darryl

Third Speech was by Jakob "Solving the Right Problem" and was evaluated by Trish.

Jakob

Trish

Gokul did an excellent job with the timing effects and provided concise reports on all segments.

Gokul

The "Virtual Raffle" provided by Monica was not surprisingly won by Monica, as no tickets were sold!

Table Topics presented by Chris D provided further opportunities to expand on the theme.

Chris D.

Liz Wo. spoke about a near miss she can never forget.

Liz Wo.

Marlene

Darryl's topic was "Saved by the Bell".

Jonathon spoke about a near miss that could have ended in embarrassment.

Gail gave her thoughts on "A Second Chance".

Marlene was asked "What usually goes through your mind after a near miss?".

Monica's topic was about any near misses that could have cost her or her family dearly.

Evaluators for Table Topics were Trevor and Christiane.

Christiane

Trevor

The Business Session was chaired by Liz Wo. and dealt with a motion for subsidising the cost of the Christmas Meeting meal. The motion was carried.

Grammarian Marlene provided excellent feedback, including the clever use of Triads by 3 of the speakers. Triads are a set of 3 words or phrases, or 3 questions, or 3 sequences. 

General Evaluator Liz We. (weirdly appearing out of the window of the local Church like some haunted house) provided good suggestions for improvement as well as the areas which worked well for the on line Meeting.

Liz We.

Awards:

Best Speech - Hazel. Best Evaluator - Trish. Best Table Topic - Gail and Marlene tied for this honour. Most Improved - Hazel.

Next Meeting (weather permitting) will be held at The Wellness Hub in person and on-line via Zoom.