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.

Meeting 1070 - Table Topics and International Speech Contests

 This Meeting was conducted once again via Zoom and in person, which enables all Members to be part of the event.

President Leanne opened the Meeting and welcomed first time guests Anna, Cassandra and Sonya. She also welcomed the guest judges (on line) - Jenny, Denise, Jim, Debbie, David, Mark, Darren and Kimberley.

Gokul's Toast was to the "Contestants".

Gokul

The Table Topics Contest was chaired by Jonathon. He gave the Table Topic "The Day I Met My Hero".

Jonathon

Contestants were Paul, John T, Darryl, Christiane, Leanne and Dan.

Paul

Dan

Place Getters: First Christiane, Second Leanne and Third, Darryl.

Darryl, Christiane and Leanne

After a short supper break, the International Speech Contest began. Contest Toastmaster was Peter, who did an excellent job as his first time in the role.

Contestants were Christiane, John T, Leanne and Darryl.

Place Getters: First Leanne, Second Christiane and Third Darryl.

Christiane, John T, Leanne, Darryl and Peter

Congratulations to all participants. The Winners will take part in the Area Contest on 7th November.

A big thank you for the Judges and the great job they did. Also the Members who took on roles of Tally Counters, Timers and Sergeant at Arms.

Hazel and Chris D.

A reminder that the next Meeting on 27 October will be held at the Brighton Wellness Hub. It will also be available via Zoom.

Meeting 1069 - Holiday Feelz

 The holiday mood was obvious with reduced numbers present, but whilst small in number it was a dynamic Meeting. It started with Dan telling of his favourite holiday activities and reading the Mission Statement.

President Leanne congratulated Chris H for completing Level 1 of his Pathways Innovative Planning Project. This makes 4 Members who have achieved this milestone. Members were informed that Gail is not well and a card wishing her well was distributed to those present to sign.

Chris H.

Peter

Chris H as Toastmaster set the scene by wearing an Hawaiian shirt, and offered snippets of holiday activities that everyone could enjoy. He welcomed return Guest Peter.

Program changes were extensive but efficiently adjusted, which showed obvious previous consultation and willingness of Members to step in. Well done all.

Round Robin was conducted by Gokul, with the theme "When someone says Holiday, what is the first thing that comes to mind". Everyone had happy memories to contribute.

Gokul

Timer for the first half of the Meeting was Dan, (taking the holiday theme too far by looking so relaxed) and during the second part Timer was Darryl.

Dan

All transitions between the "virtual" and "real" went very smoothly, a credit to the technical people who seem to have this pattern sorted well.

Speech 1 by Peter, entitled "Getting Things Done" was evaluated by Marlene.

Peter

Marlene

Speech 2 by Liz We, about Project Management, was evaluated by Paul.

Li We.

Paul

Speech 3 by Darryl "You Decide" was evaluated by Christiane.

Darryl

Christiane

Raffle Master and well travelled Christiane provided a "mystery" prize which consisted of items from 3 different countries, and the only hint was that they could be used in the kitchen and dining room. The winner was Peter and he revealed the Cook Book from Germany, Sheep salt and pepper shakers from New Zealand, and Coasters from Switzerland. 

Following a delicious supper provided by Leanne, the Speech Fest continued.

Speech 4 - Leanne presented her speech "Missing Out" which was evaluated by Annette.

Leanne

Annette

Speech 5 - Trish spoke on "Purposeful Body Language" and gave excellent examples. It was evaluated by Darryl.

Trish

The General Evaluation was presented by Liz Wo.

Liz W.

Awards: 

Best Speech, Leanne, Best Evaluation, Paul, and Most Improved, Peter.

Peter and Leanne