Meeting 1111 "Olivia Newton John"

Olivia

The world lost a beautiful soul last month - Olivia-John, singer, actress and activist passed away on the 8th August. To celebrate Olivia's life, our Toastmasters of the day chose "Olivia Newton-John" as the theme for our meeting this week. 

It turned out to be a meeting full of fun and laughter. Olivia would have enjoyed it!

Sergeant at Arms Gokul opened the meeting with a demonstration on how to "Get Physical."

Gokul

President Paul welcomed everyone, including our guests  Area Director Suresh, Peter S (Trish's husband) and first time visitor Sam.

Paul

Suresh

 Narelle was Toastmaster of the evening for the first time. She kept the evening light hearted with some funny jokes and information about Olivia Newton-John.

David proposed a Toast to Olivia Newton-John. 

In the absence of our Word Master, Narelle suggested the word "spandex" which is a flexible fabric used in sportswear. The word was imaginatively used throughout the evening.

Peter B presented the Round Robin. He asked everyone to tell briefly what kind of a day they'd had. This gave us all an insight into the daily lives of our members.

Peter B

 

The first prepared speech was an inspiring one from Hazel, titled "The Key to Confidence." It was valuated by Tony.

Hazel

Tony

John delivered an eulogy, which was not quite what we expected. It was to his friend "Lorrie Keet" who was "a bit of a galah" sometimes. A shoebox served as Lorrie's coffin.

Jonathon evaluated John's speech.

John

Jonathon

Another inspiring speaker was Arun with his speech, "Few words I could not speak." He told how his confidence had grown since the occasion when he found it difficult to  "Say a few words."

It was evaluated by Trish.

Arun

Trish

The raffle was conducted by Gokul. All the items were pink in memory of Olivia. A bag of pink sweets, a pot of pink roses, and a bottle of something pink, which we had to win to find out what it was. I didn't win, so don't know what it was, but I'm guessing something alcoholic. 

Gokul

Marlene and Hazel were Time Keepers.

Supper time was an opportunity to catch up over a cuppa. Gokul and Trish provided the eats.

Gokul & Christiane

Suresh & Arun

Following a brief address by Area Director Suresh, Paul chaired a business session. The main item discussed was our upcoming contests.

Paul

A lively Table Topics session followed. Jonathon had topics for Gokul, Christiane, Tony, Peter B , & Trish. Most of them were derived from Olivia Newton-John's songs and resulted in some very funny impromptu speeches. 

The Table Topics were evaluated by David (on zoom) and John.

David

John

Trevor  gave a general evaluation of the entire evening.

Trevor

The evening's awards went to Tony (Best Table Topic), Hazel (Best Speech and Most Improved) and Jonathon (Best Evaluation).

Award winners 23 Sept 2022

As there are 5 Tuesdays in August, it will be three weeks until our next meeting on the 13th September, when we will hold our Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests. 

Meeting 1110 - I Have a Dream

 After a few technical issues were sorted, the Meeting commenced with words of wisdom from Sargent-at-Arms Gokul. His good advice on a life lesson was to SMILE.

Gokul

President Paul welcomed Guest Derrick, who was introduced by Narelle.

Arun took charge as Toastmaster and explained the reason for the theme. He quoted excerpts from the famous "I Have A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr from 28th August 1963.

Arun

A Toast was presented by Liz Wo. - "Dream Big, Start Small, but most of all, Start".

Liz

Hazel

Hazel introduced the Word - Reverie, meaning dreaming or meditation. Several Members were able to weave this word into their presentations.

Round Robin was also conducted by Hazel, who posed the question - What have you achieved through Reverie. That certainly provided some interesting responses.

Carmy and Peter D. presented Table Topics, all of which had a dream/reverie style theme. Participants were Trevor, Hazel, Liz, Gokul, Narelle and Marlene.

Carmy

Peter D.

Timers Leanne and Trevor gave updates as we moved between being ahead of time and a bit behind at various sections of the evening.

Evaluators of Table Topics were Paul and Jonathon. They both showed great observation of participants and comments on opportunities to improve were helpful.

Paul

Jonathon

An Educational Session by Tony was on the topic of Evaluation Contests including handouts. This will prove most informative for the upcoming Contests as well as helpful tips for use during Club Meetings for all Evaluators.

Tony

Speeches:

Narelle presented a speech from Presentation Mastery - Lessons Learned. Her topic was "Imposter Syndrome" and was evaluated by Leanne.

Leanne

Marlene gave a Tall Tales segment entitled "The Singing Cow" - yes, it was very humorous. This was evaluated by Dan.

Marlene

Dan

Show and Tell by Gokul showed his inventiveness with an impromptu speech about his 4WD adventure.

The Raffle was a highlight, provided by Trevor, and the lucky winner was Gokul.

Trevor

David as General Evaluator, gave encouraging feedback and also areas to improve, all presented with humour and positivity.

David

Awards:

Best Speech: Marlene, Best Evaluator: Leanne, Best Table Topic - a tie with Trevor and Gokul; Most Improved: Narelle.

Narelle, Leanne, Trevor, Marlene and Gokul

Reminder: Table Topics and Humorous Speech contests to be held on Tuesday 13th September.

Meeting 1109 - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

With such an interesting theme, this meeting was filled with rock star facts and lots of humour.

President Paul opened the Meeting and welcomed guest George, who was introduced by Arun.

Paul

Toastmaster Chris H. took control and regaled the audience with the history of David Bowie and his alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

Chris H.

The Toast was presented by Tony - to "Trying New Things".

Tony

This was followed by the Word for the evening which was Eponym which was by Marlene. This proved to be a challenge for most, even with the adjectives eponymous and eponymic.

Round Robin by Gail provided an interesting topic of "What is the best live performance you have seen".

Gail

Speeches:

Arun was introduced by Evaluator John T. The speech title was "Height of Innocence" and was part of the Storytelling level of Pathways.

Arun

John

Evaluator Peter D. introduced Trevor, with a speech entitled "There's a Westerner in the Village".

Trevor

Peter D.

Trish presented a speech from Level 3 - "They Will Come". This was evaluated by Jonathon via Zoom.

Trish

Jonathon

Timing was shared by Hazel and Dan, and they both did an excellent job of keeping the Meeting on track.

Dan and Hazel

The raffle by Marlene was a raffle for our times - Covid preparedness that - with a good supply of items in short supply at the moment. Toilet rolls, tissues, masks and hand sanitizer. The winner was Arun.

Gokul presented an update on the requirements for the stall at Einbunpin Festival for next Sunday.

Gokul

Table Topics by both Paul and Peter B. was another lively session - a great selection of topics for Hazel, Gail, Peter D and Peter B.

Who is your alter ego?

If you had a chance to be a Rock Star, would you take it?

If you could be a movie star, who would you be and why?

Why choose the art of public speaking?

Peter B.

The evaluations of Table Topics by Tony and Gokul gave good suggestions with an entertaining insight into methods of presentation.

Liz Wo. provided the General Evaluation covering the entire Meeting.

Awards:

Best Speech: Arun, Best Evaluator: Jonathon, Best Table Topic: Gail, and Most Improved: Arun.

Arun and Gail

Change-Over Dinner - "New Beginnings"

 

A warm welcome by Out Going President Trish began the evening at Sandgate Social venue.

Trish outlined the achievements of the past year and congratulated all Members for a great effort despite the many challenges and changes.

Trish

Toastmaster Tony took control to introduce each part of the evening.

Tony

John T. conducted the Round Robin by asking "What has been a major change in your life".

The Invocation by Narelle heralded the commencement of dinner.

Liz Wo. proposed the Toast to Toastmasters International.

Liz Wo.

During dinner, a fun quiz was provided by Trish, with multi choice answers.

Table Topics were presented by Jonathon and Dan, and participants were Peter D, Suresh, Gokul, David, Marlene and Hazel.

Jonathon

Dan

Peter D.

Gokul

David

Marlene

Hazel

As Out Going Area Director, Mark dismissed and thanked the 2021/2022 Executive Officers.

Mark

This was followed by the induction of the 2022/2023 Officers by Incoming Area Director Suresh.

President: Paul, VPE: Gail, VPM: Dan, VPPR: Christiane, Secretary: Chris H, Treasurer: Peter D., Sergeant-at-Arms: Gokul, Immediate Past President: Trish.

Suresh

Trish then presented Trophies: Most Improved, Arun, President's Trophy - to Tony for support throughout the past year, and Toastmaster of the Year - John T.

Arun

Tony

John

Paul, as Incoming President, gave his vision for the year ahead for the Club.

Paul

A fun Raffle Draw and Book Swap were assisted by Peter D, Hazel, Arun and Ted.

Incoming Executive Team (minus Gail and Christiane)