Meeting 1118 - "Did you hear the one about ..."

 

Unquestionable, Paul didn't miss the opportunity to tell us Dad jokes - some more appropriate than others...

Like the Facebook post promised: "Paul will surely lead us through an evening with a lot of laughter - just think tall tales times three!" Did we ever laugh so much and hard?

The meeting was called to order by Sergeant At Arms Gokul who shared with us how important optimism is in our outlook in life and how we can turn any situation into positive - just by looking at the positive side of it.

Paul opened the meeting and had the privilege to induct our two new members: Sam and Rosie. What a joy it is to be remembered of the Toastmasters promises.

Paul then handed to the Toastmaster of the evening - himself :).

He then called on Gail for program changes, followed with her toast to "all those who fail, but don't give up".

Word Master John gave us "incredible" and "incredulous".

The Round Robin was started by Christiane who made it an "unfortunately"/"fortunately" story by starting us off with: "Sandgate Toastmasters has joined other clubs camping at Wivenhoe dam for the district conference." Fortunately, our members are incredible with coming up with ideas. Tony's gesture of "coming out at both ends" will certainly stay in our memory. John was able to get all the members onto their feet and repeat far-fetched rhymes after him.

Paul then called on our interpretative readers:

• Hazel read the first chapter from "Crystal's vision"
• Christiane read the nursery story "Billy Goats Gruff"
• Marlene read a portion of "Anne of Green Gables"

All three readings were group evaluated led by Gail. Gail pointed out how members were able to develop marvelous vocal variety when they were not trying to remember the words of their speech. Jonathon was able to remind us of how stance can change tone. Tony pointed out how the five senses were stimulated with the stories.

Then it was time for Hazel to sell the best (most awe-inspiring) raffle of the year. Jonathon in his general evaluation pointed out that Hazel used "linguistic programming", especially by double closing with the help of Paul.

Hazel started off by giving us a problem we might face (not being prepared for Christmas), followed by her giving us the solution (she went shopping for us) and emphasize why it would be helpful. She also promoted more hype by giving us a bonus item ("but wait there is more") and a special offer. As the photos show, there was a constant line up for buying raffles throughout the supper break.

Gokul gave us an extraordinary timers report which also advised us that we were running early in the meeting.

In the supper break which followed, we were able to exchange skeptical facts, reflect on absurd requests and share outlandish stories. Supper was supplied by Christiane and John.

The meeting was called back to order by Gokul who started the second half with a quiz - and stunned some members.

Paul was able to remind us what "Tall Tales" are all about before giving the floor to: 

 

 

 

 

Peter with "The Ghost with no feet" - what a improbable twist at the end!

John with "Incredible Toppo" - incredulous magic tricks galore

Marlene with "Snip, snip" - the cringing of the audience should be enough insight how preposterously hilarious the speech was

Gail led another group discussion on the tall tales starting off by giving us the judging criteria on the contest rules.

It would be an absurd Toastmasters meeting without Table Topics, so Arun as Table Topics Master made sure we were given some scenarios to finish the story:

"While walking my dog one day, I noticed some movement in the bush. When I looked closely what I saw", Rosie finished with a woman weeing

"I was lonely one night, staring at the stars and suddenly one star started talking to me and said", Jonathon finished with "You are not alone"

"I was not scared of challenges in life until the day", Paul finished with personal reflection of him joining Toastmasters

"There are always two sides of a coin, I learned when", Sam finished with his encounter of a bully

 

The Table Topics were evaluated by Tony.

Jonathon was our General Evaluator who congratulated us on the fabulous vibe, the convincing Toastmaster of the evening, the credulous evaluators (praising Gail on her intuition to bring in time in the second group evaluation since she noticed that we were running behind) and the outstanding presenters in all the other segments.

 

Timer Gokul gave his final timers report, before it was time for Paul to draw the raffle (won by Gail). The Toastmaster then handed back to the President who reminded us of our upcoming Christmas Dinner on December 13 (in lieu of our normal meeting) at the Sands.

The awards of the evening went to:

Best Table Topic - Sam

Best Presentation - Marlene

Most Improved - Sam

(Tony won the Best Evaluator award in our hearts being the only evaluator of the night, i.e. we don't count group evaluators)

 

We will have our Christmas Dinner in lieu of the next meeting, then take a break over the Christmas season and return for our first meeting in 2023 on January 24.

Meeting 1117 - "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen"

Who knew that X-Rays have a wavelength ranging below 10 nanometers? Only our Toastmaster of the evening, since Christiane looked it up beforehand to tell us interesting facts about Mr Röntgen as well as X-rays and their use nowadays.

 

The meeting was called to order by Sergeant At Arms Gokul who also spoke of trusting his intuition (about Rode mics) before reading the mission statement.

Gail opened the meeting as Acting President and welcomed guests Helen and Linda. She also had the honour to hand out a Level 1 achievement to Peter.

Toastmaster Christiane opened the meeting with some interesting facts about Mr Röntgen before handing back to Gail for program changes (of which there was one - which speaks highly of Gail's planning skills as our Vice President of Education).

Carmy joined us via Zoom and gave us the toast which was to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. She cited some biography events of his life.

Wordmaster Hazel set us up with her favourite word "Engineer" which we learnt is a noun and a verb. (It was frequently used throughout the evening and Hazel found it too hard to announce a winner, but thanked and congratulated all for being able to embrace it into their speaking segment(s).)

Jonathon managed to have us laugh tears during the Round Robin where we shared "the silliest thing I ever did". It ranged from purple shampoo, shaving cream deo and lots of accident prone stories to blowing holes into walls with a shotgun. Chris later surmised that it showed that "we are all humans".

The prepared speeches of the evening followed:

1) Trish's speech titled "I'm Not Good Enough" (Motivational Strategies path, Level 1, project 2: Evaluation and Feedback) spoke about her doubt into her abilities and the so-called imposter syndrome. The speech was evaluated by Peter who serenaded us into the evaluation with a sing-song poem.

2) John's speech titled "Move, Groove and Improve" (Visionary Communication path, Level 3, elective project: Effective Body Language) had the audience exhausted from laughing too hard at his extensive concoction of exercises. The speech was evaluated by Marlene who recommended a punchier (pun intended) conclusion.

3) Leanne's speech titled "Stone Soup" (Presentation Mastery path, Level 3, elective project: Inspire Your Audience) directed us to think about the common good by narrating the folk story. The speech was evaluated by Jonathon who praised Leanne's ability to use a current event to bring along the audience. By using common language, followed by a story, Leanne was able to buy into something bigger and have a call to action at the end of her speech.

Marlene presented the raffle with 3 different "games" to improve our speaking abilities which gave Dan's raffle a run for his money. She was surrounded by people trying to buy raffles in the supper break.

Arun gave us the timer report for the first half in which we slightly went over program timing.

 

 

 

The scrumptious supper was  provided by Peter and Narelle. The supper break gave us time to reflect on the speeches as well as catch up on the planners and operations.

After the supper it was again a quick forth and back: Gokul called the meeting to order before handing to Toastmasters Christiane to hand straight back to Gokul who was the Table Topics Master.

Gokul called on

1) Peter - "Best engineering product" (paper & pen)

2) Trish - "If I ever win a Nobel prize" (it would be for reading and owning the most books)

3) Chris - "Did you ever have an X-Ray? If so, when?" (Once, shoulder and ankle)

4) Helen - "I am a home engineer." (yes, she can pull the strings in her house)

5) Christiane - "Are scientists or engineers moody?" (Not all, certainly not her as a biomedical engineer)

6) Arun - "Artists are ingenious engineers of my style" ("Artist can see something that normal people just can't.")

The Table Topics were evaluated by Hazel and Narelle.

We were treated to an educational on "Tall Tales" by Gail who told us why tall tales are nearly a cult following in America. It is an exaggerated story which makes the protagonist look good with super-hero abilities. You will also need to include an antagonist, a problem, climax and morale in the short story. (We will hear a few at the next meeting)

Chris gave us the general evaluation (or the evaluation in general) and caused us to laugh when he re-created the segments of the evening.

 

 

Rosie drew the raffle which went to Peter who will certainly enjoy the games.

In closing, Gail congratulated Narelle and Christiane for their participation in the Area conference before inviting us to our Christmas dinner on December 13.

She then presented the awards to

Best Speech - Leanne & John

Best Evaluation - Jonathon

Best Table Topic - Peter

Most Improved - Narelle & Peter

Our next meeting is this coming Tuesday, November 29 with the theme "Interpretive Reading & Tall Tales".

Thank you Marlene for providing the majority of the photos.

Area 8 Conference - "Teamwork is the key to success"

Ten Sandgate Toastmasters members gave up their Saturday to attend the Area 8 Conference.

The meeting was called to order by Suzanne who also read the mission statement. 

Our Area 8 Director Suresh welcomed us all warmly.

Our MC for the day was James who we had heard of before the meeting by singing.

Before the contests started, we also heard from Chris Whiting, MP about his plans for the region.

But then, we were ready to cheer on our contestants in the 4 contests.

The first contest of the day was the Humorous Speech Contest. It was hosted by Bracken Ridge Toastmasters Club, chaired by Mamta.

Contestants were from the following clubs:

Bracken Ridge (Heidi) with "A Hair Raising Experience"

Peninsula (Madonna) with "Breakfast was Public Speaking"

Sandgate (Narelle) with "BBF"

Healthy Chatterer (Peter) with "What a Blast"

North Lakes (Kris) with "Let It Go"

 

The judges awards went to:

1) Kris

2) Heidi

3) Madonna

The Table Topics Contest was next. It was hosted by Healthy Chatterers Toastmasters Club, chaired by Di.

The topic of "My concern for the future is" was answered by Barbara, Ben, Christiane, Heidi and Ian.

The trophies went to:

1) Barbara

2) Heidi

3) Ian

 

 

The Evaluation Speech Contest followed. It was hosted by Sandgate Toastmasters Club and chaired by Liz We. The timers were Gail and Hazel, Sergeant at Arms Chris and Paul and Ballot Counter Arun.

We first heard a speech from Brendan titled "Stick And Stones".

It was evaluated by Barbara, Ben, Christiane, Heidi and Nick.

The winners were:

1) Heidi

2) Nick

3) Barbara

 

 

 

Last, but not least, the International Speech Contest was chaired by Mark, since it was hosted by North Lakes Toastmasters Club.

The contestants were

Kris with "Disturb the Sounds of Silence"

Heidi with "The Story Within"

Christiane with "Not Fair"

Madonna with "Not Quite So Normal"

The winners were:

1) Madonna

2) Christiane

3) Heidi

 

 

 

Afterwards, Suresh thanked the judges (you might spot Trish and Tony among them).

In closing, the 13 raffle prizes were drawn. The Raffle selling (and registration at the start of the day) was organised by Peninsula Toastmasters Club. 

Sandgate Toastmasters members did win several prizes.

 

Sandgate Toastmasters would like to congratulate all winners and wish them all the best for the Moreton Division Conference on March 19, 2023.

Thank you to Kris & Hazel who provided most of the photos.

Meeting 1116 - "Storytelling"

Once upon a time, Sandgate Toastmasters had another meeting filled with stories, laughter and fun while learning to improve our presentation and leadership skills.

Throughout the evening, Marlene reminded us about childhood stories and how her mother read to her. She even demonstrated her "big wolf" voice.

Dan as the acting Sergeant at Arms called the meeting to order and read the mission statement. Paul opened the meeting and welcomed especially our guests Belinda and Rosie as well as our newest member Sam.

He then awarded Chris with a ribbon for completing Level 2 in Innovative Planning.

Gail gave us the program changes (and was ready to change also the order of the programme due to members being held back by a traffic accident).

Chris toasted to "Happily ever after", before Gail introduced the word of the evening: Character. She also gave us several meanings and examples how to use it. Since Marlene was Toastmaster, she used it most. John came in as second place, followed by Trish.

The Round Robin segment was led by John who asked us "What should your life story include if you wrote it yourself?" (i.e. how would you like to be remembered)

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, just look how much entertainment each answer produced. 

 

The speeches followed:

Firstly, Arun presented his speech titled "Second Chance" which was a Level 4 project from the Dynamic Leadership path. The project was "Manage Change" and his conclusion reminded us to "not take anything for granted". It was evaluated by Narelle who commended Arun on how he created and build the story inside the overall speech.

Our second speaker was Trish with her Ice Breaker speech (project 1, Level 1) in the Motivational Strategies. It was titled "Sharing An Introvert Story". The speech was evaluated by Hazel.

The third speech of the evening was presented by Christiane titled "Life isn't supposed to be fair" (project: Connecting with Storytelling, Level 3 in the Engaging Humor path). It was group evaluated led by Leanne.

Peter was our timer for the evening who kept us to time and always gave a succinct timers report when called upon.

The raffle of the evening (debatable to be shared or kept for yourself) was presented by David.

Our supper break followed. Supper was provided by Chris and Tony. Going with the theme, it even included Fairy bread :) which was very appreciated by the attendees.

 

 

 

After supper, Tony led the Table Topics segment. He brought along a 3-part story book and called on the following members with the topic being

Jonathon - During the hottest summer on record,| the oldest man in the world | kills a stranger in an armed struggle

Narelle - After a monthlong fast,| a 15-year old girl | uncovers a hidden family secret

Leanne - Suddenly able to hear others thoughts,| a fallen angel | develops the ability to fly

Christiane - "Give me two days" (preparing Christiane for the Area 8 conference on Saturday)

The Table Topics were evaluated by Paul and Jonathon who reminded us that the more we are familiar with the answer structures of Table Topics, the better we can make the conclusion. He also commended to start the Table Topics answer with a question since the pause buys us time to think of the possible answer structure.

Marlene gave us some pointers about the upcoming Interpretative Reading session (November 29), so we can all go home and comb our books for the most suitable chapter. Each presentation is to be between 3 to 5 minutes.

The comprehensive general evaluation was given by Dan who thanked Gokul for his commitment to set-up, before going through the segments which hadn't been evaluated beforehand.

The raffle was drawn by our guest Belinda and the prize went to Jonathon (and wasn't shared).

Before handing out the awards, Paul asked our guests for feedback - which involved very entertaining responses. 

 

The awards for the evening went to

Best Speech - Trish

Best Evaluation - Jonathon

Best Table Topic - Christiane

Most Improved - Arun

 

The next meeting will be on 22 November.

The Area 8 conference is on 12 November - we wish our contestants Narelle & Christiane all the best.

Meeting 1115 - "Summer Holidays"

What can be expected when a Toastmasters evening meeting is themed around "Summer Holidays"? 

Well, certainly unexpected was that Dan, our Toastmaster for the evening, introduced this theme while showing us his "winning" lottery ticket he brought along. He then followed by giving us ridiculously priced holiday ideas where one could spend their summer vacation. Luckily for Dan, he doesn't need to choose because of his "winning" ticket, i.e. a trip to America with the whole family as well as the long yearned fishing boat.

Our meeting was again opened by the Sergeant of Arms, Gokul, who concisely described to us the layout of our meeting venue as well as eloquently reciting the mission statement.

Gokul handed the gavel to president Paul who then reminded us of the upcoming Area Conference on November 12 in North Lakes (to support our contestants Narelle & Christiane).

It was then time for Dan to lead us through the evening program. After giving us the unrealistic holiday options (mentioned earlier), Dan also had some budget friendly ideas for Queensland vacations to take.

Gail gave her program changes efficiently. 

Paul followed with the captivating toast to "Summer Holidays". It almost felt that we were on holidays with him.

 

Word master was Peter B who gave us the exciting word of the evening which was "entertainment" (variants were accepted as well). Spoiler alert: Trish was able to say this word in nearly every sentence.

The Round Robin was led by Marlene with the encouragement of going home and writing a speech about the three sentences we would share. There will be many captivating stories in the following weeks because we were asked to share a highlight or incident on one of our holidays. Stories ranged from highlights about surfing, whale watching and beaches to incidents involving sunburn, chairlifts and inhospitable accommodations.

 

 

 

Afterwards it was time for the prepared speeches:

1) Arun introduced and evaluated Peter D's speech titled "Hot Air Ballooning - Is It Worth The Cost?” (Innovative Planning path; Level 1, project 3: Research and Presenting)

2) Paul introduced and evaluated Chris' speech titled "My Mentors Three" (Innovative Planning path; Level 2, project 3: Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring)

3) Christiane introduced and led the group evaluation of Narelle's speech.

From those evaluations, we learned that the personal account has an impact and can give you the connection with the audience. Using humour, wealth of knowledge and/or extensive research adds to an impressive speech.

Before the supper break, Chris enticed us to buy raffles for the chance to win 25 Slurpies as well as Jonathon keeping us all on time (or letting us know that we were running late since you don't give a Toastmaster the information that they are running ahead of schedule - we know how to fill this spare time with more stimulating speech feedback).

 

The supper break allowed us to not only buy raffle tickets, but also to enjoy the goodies provided by Paul and Gail, mingle with each other, find out about the truth in the speeches and be cheerful together.

 

 

 

Gokul called us back for the second half in which we started with a proficient, yet enchanting business meeting chaired by Gail. We passed 4 motions satisfactorily.

 

Then we came to the thrilling part of the evening: The Table Topics segment led by Trish challenging us to improve our impromptu speaking skills.

Trish had prepared charming topics and called on

1) Marlene - What was the worst summer holiday you have had? (fainting experience)

2) Peter B - What do you enjoy the most about summers? (getting cool)

3) Gail - What tastes do you associate with summer? (soft drink)

4) Jonathon - Give us a good case why daylight saving should be introduced into Queensland. (cricket training can be extended by 1 hour)

5) Paul - Pick 3 words to describe what summer means to you. (heat, cricket, solar panels for air conditioning)

6) Arun - What is your favourite summer clothing? (shorts and T-shirts)

The Table Topics were convivially evaluated by Hazel and Christiane.

Gokul gave us a compelling general evaluation with two priceless recommendations: don't bring a pen to the lectern and group evaluations will need 10 minutes on the program (and responses need to be strictly enforced).

Dan was able to draw the raffle and Gokul can enjoy those refreshing Slurpies.

 

In closing, Paul reminded us all of the Area Conference on November 12 before awarding the following:

Best Speech: Peter D

Best Evaluation: Christiane

Best Table Topic: Jonathon

Most Improved: Arun/ Peter D

Our next meeting is on 8 November.