Meeting 1113 - "Springtime"

With the weather getting warmer, it was no surprise to think of all the blooming around town. Our Toastmaster Gail gave us interesting snippets of where the word "spring" originated from and what traditions have survived until today, but mostly she was reminiscent that Brisbane doesn't get the noticeable seasons that the UK or Canada get.

Nevertheless, she was leading us through a great program which she in the role as VPE (Vice President Education) had tabled.

But not let jump ahead of ourselves: Gokul opened the meeting and gave us the mission statement.

President Paul had a busy opening: welcoming returning guest Sam, handing out name badges to Arun and David as well as certificates to Gain (this is not a spelling error, I'm just reciting the certificate) and Christiane since both missed the Changeover dinner in July.

 

Then, it was Gail's turn to get us into the theme as well as give us the program changes.

Afterwards, Peter B gave a very succinct toast to "King Charles III".

 

This was followed by the Round Robin and our self-announced warm-up master "dropped in" which lead to several responses being "Turned out better than expected".

 

The two speeches of the evening were introduced:

First, Gokul gave a researched approach to why breathing is tiring in his speech titled "Exploring inner peace". It was evaluated by Jonathon.

 

 

 

Our second speaker was Arun who spoke of his journey of leadership in his speech titled "You don't belong here". It was an elective project from Level 3 from the Dynamic Leadership path. The speech was evaluated by Christiane.

 

 

Jonathon's surprise raffle included something red, with icons of the Australian history on it and the hint that it can be exchanged for something you actually really wanted. It was won by Christiane who was able to take it home in a brown paper bag.

 

 

Then it was time for a scrumptious supper provided by Trevor and Christiane. Let the photos speak for themselves... 

Christiane also gave her educational on being the Table Topics Master. Trevor was able to keep to most of the pointers she passed along.

Trevor called on:

Marlene's answer of the milk down the sink was "something you didn't tell your mother"

Jonathon learnt that a horse at night is "something that you are afraid of"

Paul convinced us that he can't "can you climb trees?"

Gokul surprised us that people are "What is sweet in your life?"

Sam's conclusion of 80 to 100 years came after contemplating all options to "How old you want to live to and why?"

Peter B reminisced about his grandmother when citing "Long live the king"

 

Timer Paul was kept busy, especially with the Table Topics timing.

The Table Topics were evaluated by Narelle and David. Very helpful advice was to start with an open posture as well as with a personal story to draw the audience in.

 

 

 

We also had a business session which was chaired by Gail. With no quorum present though, we deferred any motions to the business meeting in October.

Marlene gave us a general evaluation on a successful meeting, before Paul announced the awards for the night:

 

 

 

 

Most Improved Peter B

Best Speech Arun

Best Evaluation Jonathon

Best Table Topic Jonathon

 

 

 

 

Our next meeting will be on 11 October and will be a Contest night: Evaluation and International Speech are on the agenda.

Meeting 1112 - TT & Humorous Speech Contest

 

Contest Chair Hazel & Table Topics Contestants

TT Contest Chair

Although we didn't have the record number of last year's contestants, 6 contestants entered the Table Topic contest: Chris, Paul, Narelle, John, Christiane and Arun.

Contest Chair Hazel led us through the contest. 

How would you have answered the topic: "Which is worse: Failing or never starting?"

And the winners were:

1) Christiane

2) John

3) Arun

Table Topics Winners

Jonathon

In the second half, we had our Humorous Speech contest. It was led by Jonathon. 

John, Narelle and Christiane participated in it and ranked as follows:

1) Narelle

2) John

3) Christiane

Humorous Speech winners

Narelle presenting the raffle

Raffle prize

Before president Paul closed a successful meeting, Narelle drew the raffle. Lucky winner to enjoy everything British was in a roundabout way the birthday boy.

Thanks to the judges Anne, Di, Mark H, Mark B and Suzanne who gave up their time to judge Sandgate contests.

We also welcomed guests Jeremy, George and Sam as well as visitors (from other clubs) Jim, Dianne and Peter.

Thanks to Peter B and Arun for providing the supper.

Supper time

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.