Club Meeting No. 152, Wednesday 16th May 2012
"The last time my thoughts hindered me taking action was when…" was the quote each of the 15 members and guests were asked to complete last night in a 30 second on the spot introduction on a theme. Each response rendered an image of the past and highlighted a sticking moment where confusion or indecision paralysed action. Some were humorous, others a more serious reflection, but all helped relax the mood and ease the meeting to get underway. The joke was delivered by Melissa, who told a very funny story of a blonde and a brunette purchasing a bull. The prepared speeches were delivered by 3 speakers. The first speech highlighted the need for us to make the most of our time by illustrating how much of our lives we spend stuck in traffic, in the bathroom or slaving with work. The second speech showcased a wonderous South American venture and contrasted the differences in culture and poverty to Australia. The third speech was all about persuading and concentrated on how we, as speakers, should learn to tell a story in order to delivery a more heart felt speech. Following on from the speeches was a 15 minute Entertainer section which got everybody to pick out an object in the room and then describe how they would create a dish (entree/main/dessert) using inspiration from their object. Table Topics, as it does best, challenged the audience with particularly hard questions and demanded answers on the spot within 30 seconds. This drew a range of very funny responses. After verbal reports on Umms, grammar and timing, the meeting was wrapped up with a general evaluation and closed slightly overtime at 8:35pm. A great night for all!
Club Meeting No. 151, Wednesday 2nd May 2012
Wednesday's meeting turned out to be a more intimate one with a turnout of just 9 members. Starting promptly at 6:45pm, members were asked to reveal the pessimist, optimist and realist in them. The joke was delivered by the Chair and was a very funny story about a monk trying to locate the source of a very annoying sound. The prepared speeches section saw two members deliver on topics such as globalisation and NLP. It was refreshing to hear evaluations given by members that have not evaluated before and collectively their analysis highlighted some very helpful points. The Entertainer re-energized the room with a round-robbin story game which included one important rules; no dreams! Table Topics once again challenged the room with questions such as, "With the spare change remaining in your wallet, what are you planning to spend it on?", to "Describe a time when you have left a part of you behind.", and also to getting members to move to different seats and tell whether their perspectives have changed. The meeting finished off with a general evaluation and closed early at 8:10pm.
Club Meeting No. 150, Wednesday 18th April 2012
Another challenging night of Sydney rain did not hold back 13 eager members from turning up for another night of Toastmasters. Kicking off at 6:45pm, each member was asked to stand up and complete the phrase, "The last time I overcame my objections and JUST DID IT was when I…". Following the introductions was a very humorous joke from Natalie involving a man trapped in a refrigerator. After warming up, the meeting progressed to the prepared speeches section which saw 3 speeches delivered; 2 being Ice Breaker speeches and the third being the final speech no. 10 from the CC manual. All speeches were well prepared and well received. Table Topics once again pulled out the challenging life questions with a couple of members being caught stumped on a response. Questions ranged from, "How do you know when you've grown up?, What future event would you like to see?, to "What would your first words be when you see your house on fire?". Following on from Table Topics was the verbal reports on how many 'Ummmms' and 'Aghhhs' each member slipped and the Listener Grammarian who tested the members on the content on the meeting. Concluding with a general evaluation of all non-speech roles, the meeting closed at 8:25pm.
Club Meeting No. 149, Wednesday 4th April 2012
With a turnout of 11 members, Wednesday's meeting proved to be very educational for all. Kicking off the night were the 30 second introductions on the theme, "The bad thing that became the best thing for me was when…". Listening to the responses revealed that for some the very reason for choosing Toastmasters was in fact due to the experience of giving bad presentations in the past. Those same members now appear more confident and enthusiastic about standing up and talking on a variety of topics. The night's joke section saw two members; one presenting a pet peeve about the over use of cliches, while the joke centered around a mushroom being kicked out of a bar despite insisting he was a fun guy (fungi). There were two prepared speeches; one on the bad techniques of Powerpoint, while the other was from Raj who re-delivered his contest winning speech on "What Really Matters". The key learning experience was with this speech whereby each member was asked to concentrate on one particular aspect of the delivery, such as body gestures, vocal variety, etc, and then present their evaluation. The result was that the collective evaluation from the group was more in-depth and comprehensive and provided Raj with much needed analysis for competing in the District-level contest. Table Topics was run with the aid of fortune cookies and encouraged members to read aloud their fortune and explain what it meant to them. Another enjoyable evening with the meeting closing around 8:30pm.
Area 47 International Speech & Evaluation Contest, Thursday 29th Mar 2012
CONGRATULATIONS Raj!!! who was the winner of the International Speech Contest held at Chatswood RSL. Raj's speech on "What Really Matters" was delivered with confidence and conviction. Most notable were his use of appropriate hand gestures, vocal variety and speech organization. The Area 47 contest was held from 7pm until 10pm and was hosted by Chinglish Bilingual Toastmasters Club. All contestants performed strongly and with a high degree of professionalism. Raj now heads off to the Hawkesbury Division Level Contest on the 22nd April to compete against contestants from 38 other clubs. All in all a great night for Lane Cove Toastmasters!
Club International Speech & Evaluation Contest, Wednesday 21st Mar 2012
Wednesday's meeting saw Lane Cove Toastmasters host its International Speech & Evaulation club contest. With a total of 19 members and guests, the meeting was conducted under contest rules adhering to strict protocols and timing. The first part, the International Speech Contest, saw two speakers perform with stunning grace and confidence. The first speech, titled "What Really Matters", was a captivating discovery of how wealth need not be measured by material possessions but rather by "people, people, people." The second speech, titled "Freedom", described the treacherous journey of growing up through a politically repressive Iranian regime. Both speeches were very well received, however as the rules of any contest dictate, there can be only one winner. First place was awarded to Raj who was speaker number one. After a brief round robin story game, which produced some hilarious twists and turns, the Evaluation contest got underway. Competing for first place were 6 members, many of them first time evaluators willing to try their skills and have fun along the way. The target speaker was a member of Chandos Challengers Toastmasters, situated in St. Leonards, and gave a great speech on meeting and conquering challenges. First place was awarded to Nick followed by runner up Paul. All contestants did an outstanding job and helped in making the evening a successful event. The contest ran about 20 minutes overtime.
Club Meeting No. 147, Wednesday 7th Mar 2012
Meeting no. 147 was attended by 14 members who braved the relentless Sydney rain for another night of fun, education and laughter. In preparation for our club contest to be held next meeting, a small 15 minute workshop on how to evaluate speakers was run by Melody (VPE). This workshop brought to light some valuable tips in evaluation preparation and structure which are sure to serve contestants well in 2 weeks time. The prepared speeches part of the night saw the delivery of one speech centering around Australia and soccer. Unlike other speeches in previous meetings, members were asked to judge the evaluator on a contest scorecard. This helped develop an awareness about club contest rules and what judges look for in determining a winner. Table Topics was run with a series of challenging questions which in turn prompted hilarious answers. The meeting concluded with a general evaluation and closed on time.
Club Meeting No. 146, Wednesday 29th Feb 2012
Our first 5th Wednesday "social meeting" for 2012 was held with a relatively small group of 10 members. With a more flexible agenda, members were treated to drinks and nibbles as they participated in the night's activities. First off the agenda were 30 second introductions on describing your "childlike strength" which saw each member respond with unique and insightful answers. A small workshop demonstration on NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) was run by Melody, the VP Education, with a view to highlight how certain facial gestures can be interpreted by others. The meeting then moved into prepared speeches with Sjirk giving a very informative speech on how plastic packaging is damaging the environment and what councils and individuals can do to minimise its impact. Special note must be given to the extraordinary costume Sjirk wore which contained all sorts of plastic containers creatively woven together to form a cape and crown. Following the speech, members were then asked to stand out the front and tell the audience a small tale; either true or false. In response the audience were asked to vote on whether they felt the speaker was truthful or telling a lie based on their facial features; bringing together some of the NLP workshop earlier. Finally, before the meeting closed, members were all given an unusual word from the dictionary and were asked to determine its true meaning. Although there were some close guesses, most of us were way off. A great night, great food and wine, and great fun. Meeting closed at 8:30pm.
Club Meeting No. 145, Wednesday 15th Feb 2012
Wednesday’s meeting saw another great turnout with 20 members braving a night of Toastmasters’ challenges. The night’s 30 second introduction on a theme was all about “saying no” and members were challenged to use the word “eschew” in their delivery. The night’s joke was a hilarious tale about a comparison between a business man and his wife, despite it somewhat bordering on the club’s “clean joke” policy. After the members were warmed up, the night shifted into the prepared speeches section with two speeches; one on a cute pet dog named Indy and the other questioning the merits of Occupational Health and Safety laws. Following the speeches came a 15 minute Entertainment section which demanded members to read aloud a paragraph from a famous speech and test whether the audience could guess the author. Table Topics once again managed to draw out creative minds with 30 second responses to challenging questions. The night concluded with verbal reports from first time Um Counters, Listerner Grammarians, and Timers and of course the much appreciated General Evaluation by the Vice President of Education. Meeting closed at 8:30pm.
Club Meeting No. 144, Wednesday 1st Feb 2012
Commencing right on 6:45pm, Lane Cove Toastmasters meeting no. 144 was attended by 19 members and guests who were immediately asked to stand up and complete within 45 seconds the sentence, “The seed that I plant tomorrow will…”. The joke for the night was delivered via a very funny story of a fisherman catching a platypus by mistake and having to front a court to explain why he should not be fined for eating an endangered species. The meeting then transitioned into the prepared speeches section with two members braving the audience; one speech being on the inequalities of gender in the workforce while the other a personal reflection of life from child to adulthood and the lessons learned in between. Our ten minute Entertainment section was comprised of a hilarious game of part charades, part “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and managed to get the audience to act out some very amusing behaviours. Following the formal speech evaluations came Table Topics which once again put everyone on the spot for 45 seconds to respond to a somewhat random, and in some cases, somewhat awkward question. The night closed with a General evaluation from the club Vice President of Education and two member stories on how Toastmasters has helped them recently. Another fantastic meeting which closed around 8:30pm.
First Meeting of 2012
Lane Cove Toastmasters kicked off 2012 on Wednesday 18th January with a turnout of around 15 eager members and guests. The 30 second introductions on the theme of "What I found impossible before was…" highlighted some hilarious insights into peoples' behaviours. From navigating through an Xbox game, visiting a naturist beach to training a barking dog to be quiet; all members and guests managed to muster up the courage and overcome their nerves to share a little more about themselves. The night's Pet Peeve centered around the Australian Open tennis with particular aim at the over-commentary given by Jim Courier and how he may benefit the game with a little less of his over-analysis of each point. The prepared speech section of the meeting comprised three speakers on topics as diverse as "Summer Lovin…Where are all the flies?", to "How Social Media Can Work for You", to the unimaginable hardship of growing up in a politically unstable Iran. All three speeches were very well received and ran for the most part on time. Immediately following was a ten minute workshop on mind mapping and how it can be used as a powerful tool in generating structure for speeches. Table Topics, the impromptu and often nerve-wracking part of the night, posed individual questions to each member or guest and asked for their response in a 45 second time frame. The responses generated a lot of laughter and helped to ease up peoples' nerves. The meeting closed slightly overtime, but all in all it was a wonderful start to 2012!