It's 29 July today in Canberra, and we have just had our third Benjamin Toastmasters club meeting for this month. The next meeting is in 2 weeks time, on 12 August, 12.30 to 1.30 as usual.
Today's meeting was rewarding, happy, interesting and amusing, as is often the case.
Rewards came first in the shape of Claudia who was, for her first time, being the 'toastmaster' for the meeting. The toastmaster introduces everyone and thanks them after their turn, and keeps the whole meeting running to time. In other types of gathering, that role might be called the session chair or convenor.
Timeliness is particularly important for a 1 hour meeting at lunchtime. However, it's also important that everyone who wants to join in can do so and 'have a go', and Claudia managed those requirements admirably.
Happiness was brought by our several welcome visitors today. Irina, a published author, is already a Toastmaster in Weston Creek club. Jenny is a Toastmaster in several Canberra clubs, and she is also our Area Governor for Area 17 (Belconnen) for 2011-12. Our three other visitors today - Tim, Tracy and Emmaline - were paying their first visit to a Toastmasters club, and we hope they will attend again and perhaps join.
It was also rewarding that Tim and Emmaline accepted roles in the meeting: that of Listener, and Um-Ah counter. Both came out to the front when their turn came to report, and acquitted themselves well. It turned out that few ums and ahs had been used today during the parts of the meeting, and that was an improvement.
Ele gave us 'facilitate' as the Word of the Day. It was used 5 times during today's proceedings, as she later reported. The challenge with 'word of the day' is for everyone to use it, correctly, during their speaking at the meeting - clearly not a goal that many of us achieved, given 10 different people having roles!
Interesting is really too mild a word to use for the two speeches. First Yuyu spoke for 6-7 minutes on 'Parenting methods', beginning and ending with Tiger Mum and exploring the benefits or otherwise of laid-back parenting versus pushy parenting. It seems our destinies depend less on how we were brought up and more on our genes. A fascinating talk, very clearly and logically structured, with illustrations innovatively displayed. As Peter said in his evaluation (feedback) of the speech, 'Great work!'.
Then, Ianon told us about her research project into communication about diabetes. She had randomly chosen and interviewed people from five different groups, especially from other countries, and her findings - that 50% of people in these groups did not know the risk factors and symptoms of Type II diabetes - was illuminating. Ianon's speech was from one of the Advanced Communicator manuals, and it specified a question & answer session to follow the speech. Those few (2-3) minutes showed that actually very few of today's club participants knew much about diabetes either! Luckily, Ianon expertly filled in our knowledge gaps, as Lee acknowledged in her evaluation of Ianon's presentation! Thanks Ianon.
Next Lee, as Table Topics master, offered us a 'Dear Marge' session, and her challenges - how not to own a dog; how to afford a holiday with no money; how to go about speed-dating - were amusingly and joyfully met, impromptu, by Ele, Irina and Ann. What a pity the program didn't allow for a few more of those topics today.
In club business, we welcomed our new members: Claudia and Ele. In total the club now has 14 members.
And the club as a whole was not unhappy - at least no-one said they were! - that the membership dues have been reduced, from now until March next year at least.
Renewals (every 6 months: March, September) are now $40 (full rate), $37.50 (if you already belong to a TM club), $35 if you are a fulltime student, or a retiree. New members pay those rates adjusted pro-rata for the number of months left before renewal date, and new members also pay $30 (full rate) or $20 (concession) as a joining fee to cover the cost of training manuals. Membership is not only to our club but also to Toastmasters International as a whole, based in USA.
For more detail on our club, please email benjamin-toastmasters@hotmail.com, or ann.milligan@gmail.com.
You're welcome to attend a meeting: 12 August, 26 August, 9 September, 23 September, 12.30 - 1.30, University of Canberra Building 20 Room A2.
Website: http://benjamin.freetoasthost.ws
Today's meeting was rewarding, happy, interesting and amusing, as is often the case.
Rewards came first in the shape of Claudia who was, for her first time, being the 'toastmaster' for the meeting. The toastmaster introduces everyone and thanks them after their turn, and keeps the whole meeting running to time. In other types of gathering, that role might be called the session chair or convenor.
Timeliness is particularly important for a 1 hour meeting at lunchtime. However, it's also important that everyone who wants to join in can do so and 'have a go', and Claudia managed those requirements admirably.
Happiness was brought by our several welcome visitors today. Irina, a published author, is already a Toastmaster in Weston Creek club. Jenny is a Toastmaster in several Canberra clubs, and she is also our Area Governor for Area 17 (Belconnen) for 2011-12. Our three other visitors today - Tim, Tracy and Emmaline - were paying their first visit to a Toastmasters club, and we hope they will attend again and perhaps join.
It was also rewarding that Tim and Emmaline accepted roles in the meeting: that of Listener, and Um-Ah counter. Both came out to the front when their turn came to report, and acquitted themselves well. It turned out that few ums and ahs had been used today during the parts of the meeting, and that was an improvement.
Ele gave us 'facilitate' as the Word of the Day. It was used 5 times during today's proceedings, as she later reported. The challenge with 'word of the day' is for everyone to use it, correctly, during their speaking at the meeting - clearly not a goal that many of us achieved, given 10 different people having roles!
Interesting is really too mild a word to use for the two speeches. First Yuyu spoke for 6-7 minutes on 'Parenting methods', beginning and ending with Tiger Mum and exploring the benefits or otherwise of laid-back parenting versus pushy parenting. It seems our destinies depend less on how we were brought up and more on our genes. A fascinating talk, very clearly and logically structured, with illustrations innovatively displayed. As Peter said in his evaluation (feedback) of the speech, 'Great work!'.
Then, Ianon told us about her research project into communication about diabetes. She had randomly chosen and interviewed people from five different groups, especially from other countries, and her findings - that 50% of people in these groups did not know the risk factors and symptoms of Type II diabetes - was illuminating. Ianon's speech was from one of the Advanced Communicator manuals, and it specified a question & answer session to follow the speech. Those few (2-3) minutes showed that actually very few of today's club participants knew much about diabetes either! Luckily, Ianon expertly filled in our knowledge gaps, as Lee acknowledged in her evaluation of Ianon's presentation! Thanks Ianon.
Next Lee, as Table Topics master, offered us a 'Dear Marge' session, and her challenges - how not to own a dog; how to afford a holiday with no money; how to go about speed-dating - were amusingly and joyfully met, impromptu, by Ele, Irina and Ann. What a pity the program didn't allow for a few more of those topics today.
In club business, we welcomed our new members: Claudia and Ele. In total the club now has 14 members.
And the club as a whole was not unhappy - at least no-one said they were! - that the membership dues have been reduced, from now until March next year at least.
Renewals (every 6 months: March, September) are now $40 (full rate), $37.50 (if you already belong to a TM club), $35 if you are a fulltime student, or a retiree. New members pay those rates adjusted pro-rata for the number of months left before renewal date, and new members also pay $30 (full rate) or $20 (concession) as a joining fee to cover the cost of training manuals. Membership is not only to our club but also to Toastmasters International as a whole, based in USA.
For more detail on our club, please email benjamin-toastmasters@hotmail.com, or ann.milligan@gmail.com.
You're welcome to attend a meeting: 12 August, 26 August, 9 September, 23 September, 12.30 - 1.30, University of Canberra Building 20 Room A2.
Website: http://benjamin.freetoasthost.ws
