Meeting 1084 "Laughter is the Best Medicine"

It was laughs all the way last meeting. Sergeant-at-Arms Dan opened the meeting with a funny joke, which set the mood for a meeting full of fun and laughter.  Dan was also Toastmaster of the evening and kept everyone laughing.

Dan

President Leanne inducted our newest members, Arun, Ted and Narelle (who wasn't present last meeting). Leanne also presented membership badges to Dana, Narelle, JP and Josh. 

Dana, Narelle, JP, and Josh

Narelle told a funny story about her young son, and proposed a toast "To people who make us laugh."

Narelle

Word Master John gave us the word "amuse" with its forms "amusing" and "amusement" to use during the meeting. As usual, Trish outstripped everyone with her use of the word.

John

JP

JP presented the Round Robin, inviting us to tell what movie star we would like to see brought back from the dead. There were many amusing responses - even Lassie (the dog) was mentioned.

There were four entertaining speeches. John demonstrated his speaking skills by speaking impromptu on two topics that were chosen by Gail, who evaluated his speech.

John

Gail

Dana presented her first (Icebreaker) speech with great humour, and explained why people sometimes think she is a "Rude Bitch." It was evaluated by Leanne.

Dana

Leanne

Hazel explained the difference between various leadership styles in her speech entitled "To Lead and How to Lead, that is the Question."  It was evaluated by Gokul.

Hazel

Gokul

 The fourth speaker was Darryl with his funny speech "Bamboozled by Algebra." It was evaluated by Trish.

Darryl

Trish

 Time Keeper Josh reported that we were 5 minutes behind, so our supper break was shortened to 10 minutes. This still allowed us to enjoy the delicious food provided by Gokul and to buy tickets in Peter's raffle which consisted of a book, chocolates and wine.

Josh and Gokul

Ted, Christiane and Peter

Gokul and Dan

Table Topics Master Peter called on Ted, Leanne, Arun, John, Narelle and Darryl to speak impromptu on the topics he had chosen, and there were some very funny responses.

Peter

Ted - Favourite TV comedy

Leanne - "Funny if not serious"

Arun - "What makes you laugh"

John - "Sing, tell joke or recite."

Narelle - "Laugh or Cry"

Darryl - "The jokes on me"

The Table Topics were evaluated by Christiane and Hazel.

Christiane

Hazel

Grammarian Monica displayed her listening skills by commenting on many colourful expressions used during the meeting.

Marlene delivered a general evaluation of the meeting.

Monica

Our guest Kylie was asked to draw the raffle and was astonished when she drew out her own number.

Dana and Kylie

The evening awards went to Darryl (Best Speech,) John and Darryl (Tie - Best Table Topic,) Trish (Best Evaluation,) and Narelle (Most Improved.) Note the new trophies!

Award winners 26 May 2021

The meeting finished right on time, thanks to the management of our VPE, Toastmaster, Timekeeper and everyone who kept to their allotted time on the programme.

Next meeting 8th June will be the final one before our Change Over Dinner which will be held on the 22nd June at The Belvedere Hotel, Woody Point.  You will need to register if you are coming.

Meeting 1083 "Mothers Day"

 We delighted to welcome back previous guests Ted and Arun and to be informed that they are both joining our club.

 President Leanne welcomed all to the meeting and passed control to Toastmaster of the evening, John.

Leanne

John

John gave us some information on the origin of Mother's Day.

JP proposed a toast to "All mums." 

JP

 

Hazel's Round Robin created some laughter as we were asked to speak about "The worst Mothers Day gift."

There were three prepared speeches. Josh presented his Icebreaker speech titled "I Quit, I'm out of Here!" He used a map as a visual aid to show where he and his wife had gone when they quit their jobs and travelled around Australia.

Josh

His speech was evaluated by Dan.

Dan

The second speaker Tony told how his job as an "asbestos hunter" took him deep inside the Reserve Bank and he became "Nearly a Billionaire." 

His speech was evaluated by Peter.

Tony

Peter

Marlene completed Level 2 of her Presentation Mastery path with her speech, "Some Things My Mother Taught Me."

It was evaluated by Hazel.

Hazel

Dan who had been on called on to provide a raffle at short notice, produced a bag of goodies, including a bottle of gin and a scented candle called "Sitting on the Couch doing Nothing." It proved to be a very popular raffle and was won by Gail.

Timer keeper Leanne  announce that the meeting was running slightly behind time so the supper break was shortened, but still allowed us time to enjoy the delicious food that Trish had provided.

Gail was Table Topics Master and called on Josh, Peter, Tony, Dan, Marlene and Trish to deliver an impromptu  2 minute speech.

Gail

The topics were (paraphrased) 

1. How do you know your mother loves you?

2.What was your mothers favourite music?

3.What is one thing you could do to make your mother smile?

4. If your mother was a cartoon character who would she be?

5. What was the hardest thing you had to do as a mother? 

6. What do you do to thank your Mum for being your Mum?

The Table Topics were evaluated by Darryl and Carmy.

Darryl

Carmy

The Business Session followed chaired by Gail which included the Election of the new Club Officers for the coming Toastmasters year, (1st July 2021 - 30th June 2022.)

The elected officers are

President - John

Vice President Education - Marlene

Vice President Membership - Tony

Vice President Public Relations - Leanne

Secretary - Trish

Treasurer - Peter

Sergeant-at-Arms - Josh

Parliamentarian - Trish

Immediate Past President - Leanne

Grammarian Trish said there had been some filler words such as "Um" during the meeting and commended some of the members for their descriptive words and phrases.

Monica presented a General Evaluation of the entire meeting.

Trish

Monica

The evenings Awards went to Trish (Best Table Topic,)  Dan (Best Evaluation,) Marlene (Best Speech,) and Josh (Most Improved.) 

Award winners 11 May 2021

Next meeting Tuesday, 25th May.

Meeting 1082 "Boxing"

Two more new members! Our President Leanne inducted Dana and JP into our club. 

Leanne inducted JP and Dana

We were honoured to have a visit from our Area Director Kirsty, and Mark, who will be Area Director in the coming Toastmaster year (July 2021 - June 2022.) Another very welcome guest was Arun, a first time visitor and we were delighted to see Carmy back at our meeting.

Christiane

Toastmaster of the evening Christiane had chosen Boxing as a theme, in honour of her grandfather who is a keen boxing enthusiast. 

Gail spoke about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo and proposed a toast to " Australian Athletes."  

Word Master Josh chose the phrase "Weigh in" as the word for the evening. 

Gail

Josh

Ed introduced the Round Robin and asked everyone to tell of their greatest challenge.

The main event was the prepared speeches. The first speaker was  Peter who used a clever cartoon to introduce his speech "In Praise of Experts."   It was evaluated by Marlene.

Peter

The second speaker Leanne spoke about "My Three Groups of Mentors" which were her parents, teachers and friends. This completed Level 2 in Leanne's chosen path, "Effective Coaching."  It was evaluated by Tony. 

Leanne

Tony

John was the third speaker. He presented a very animated "Untold Story of Captain Cook's voyage to Australia in 7 Minutes Flat." He performed all the roles of the characters in his story. It was evaluated by Trish.

The Untold Story

 

Trish

John

Leanne's raffle was in keeping with the theme - boxes! They contained mugs, warm socks, Mocha, Marshmallows, chocolates and scratch-its tickets. The lucky winner was Marlene. JP won a smaller second prize box.

Raffle prize

Time Keeper Hazel informed us that the meeting was slightly behind time and it was time to break for supper, which was provided by Marlene.

Time Keeper Hazel

Table Topic Topic Master Darryl didn't pull any punches with his theme related topics. Kirsty, Hazel, Narelle, Dana, Josh, JP and Ed rose to the occasion and presented creative mini-speeches.

Ed

Kirsty

Dana

JP

Josh

The Table Topics were evaluated by Chris and Peter.

John presented an Educational session "A Guide to Giving a Toast."

Chris explained what is involved in the position of Club Treasurer.

John

Chris

Grammarian Carmy commented on evocative word and phrases that had been used during the meeting, including "rolling with the punches", "keyboard warriors", "ready to rumble", budgie smugglers" and "buzzle".

This was followed by an encouraging address from our Area Director Kirsty.

Carmy

Kirsty

Gokul delivered a comprehensive General Evaluation of the entire meeting.

Gokul

Champions of the evening were Leanne (Best Speech), Ed (Most Improved), Tony (Best Evaluation), and Dana (Best Table Topic).

Awards 27th April

Next meeting 11th May will have a Mother's Day theme.  Club Officer Elections will also be held.