Name Change

Canberra University Toastmasters is the new face of Benjamin Toastmasters.  We meet at the University of Canberra every fortnight.  Come along and try us out!

See our Meetings information page.

Christmas meeting on Friday 18th December

This was our last meeting before Christmas holiday this year. Thanks Karina for her great idea for this special agenda about “True or Dare” and prizes for everyone, it was just fun!

The rules for “True or Dare” are “Each member nominates the next member and asks "Truth or Dare".  If the next member chooses "Truth" they have 2-3 minutes to tell a story, preferably a story from their past life.  If the next member chooses "Dare" they are asked a Table Topic question and have 1-2 minutes to speak on it.” Lili first shared experience about shopping in EPIC after given a topic of “better results without plan”. Geoff told us an interesting story about having trouble in getting sheep in truck on his father’s farm. Max gave us a short but meaningful story titled “making life simple” with an experience of reversing car. Ianon explained why she would like Christmas to be in December not in July. Peter suggested to use time to work for you by sharing his experience in managing property all over Australia. Karina told us her interesting working experience on freeway in Brisbane.

After this first run of “True or Dare”, it was so much fun that we had another run later.

Another interesting part is awards. Karina had come up with some great prizes for each member. So who wins what? Ianon gained the prizes for “Attending the most meetings” and “The most encouraging evaluations”. Geoff got “Brought the most new members” and “The most memorable Table Topic”. Peter was given “The earliest to arrive at meetings” and “The best dressed”. Max was rewarded “The most proactive”. Karina gained “The most hard working and organizer”. Lili got “the most speeches”, actually Dominic did the most speeches. But he did not show up today, Lucky Lili got this prize too. Laura and Linda did not attend the meeting neither, we decided to keep their prizes and to pass to them in the next meeting. Laura got “The most moving speech” and Linda gained “The most diligent coach”.  Congratulations everyone.

Happy Christmas! Happy New Year!

Spring is Here on Friday 11th September (meeting 1052)

This meeting was not really about Spring, but now that I have your attention I can tell you that it was a lot of fun!  We had Laura and Nicky back again and a new guest, Matt.

Karina presented her Project 5 Competent Communicator speech to ‘let your body speak’, with her speech entitled “Just Don’t Stress”.  In this speech she explained the vicious circle between solution and symptom of stress.  The documented known signs of stress we are commonly told not to have as if it is some kind of solution.  Don’t stress, just relax, don’t worry, get more sleep, keep positive!  When we know that muscle tension, worry, poor sleep and negativity are signs of stress.  She gave some background in her own battle with stage nerves and some good (and not so good) advice she has been given.  But still the question, how? How do we stop stress, now?

After that Table Topics was expertly presented by Nicky from a list of questions that Lili had written before realising that she could not attend the meeting.  Thank you Nicky and Lili – a team effort.

Linda told us that it is way more important to be loved than to love. Dom said that you must believe before you can see, not see to believe.  Laura explained that birth is worth waiting for, and that as a midwife that is what she must do a lot.  Karina told us that the difference between living and existing is that to live you must indulge your emotional state.  Peter explained that it is worse to never try than to fail, pick yourself up and brush yourself off before trying again.  Ianon was very excited about her outdoor painting classes.  Dom spoke a second time and let us in on the white lies he tells about noticing a woman’s hair or shoes.  And finally Nicky shared her experiences with audiobooks in the car, as she is usually the passenger while her partner drives.

Overall a really fun meeting.  I hope that Matt enjoyed himself and will be brave enough to participate next time.

The next meeting will be 25^th September and we can have just as much fun again.  See you there!

Meetings Roll on Despite Quiet Blog Space (meetings 1048, 1049, 1050 and 1051), Executive change, Area Director Visit and Market Day

As does happen on occasion, things have been really busy recently and I have not had time for writing blogs.  BUT in the interest of keeping you all up to date, decided to write one or two now.

One of the things that has happened at Benjamin Toastmasters is we have had a change of Executive.  My role has changed from VPPR (Public Relations) to VPE (Education and general Agenda setting).  The new VPPR has returned from maternity leave and will take over blogs now, so hopefully they will keep more up to date.

So current new Executive is:

Position	Name
Club President	Geoffrey Adams, CC
Club VP Education	Karina Redpath
Club VP Membership	Ianon Yusoff, ACS, CL
Club VP PR	Lili Zhang
Club Secretary	Ianon Yusoff, ACS, CL
Club Treasurer	Dominic Dolan, CC
Club Sergeant at Arms	Peter Herbert, DTM

Just so you know what the letters after each name is, below described the Toastmasters Education program.  (See the VPE Me has taken over already!)

Some highlights from meetings of the last two months are;

Meeting 1048 on Friday 17^th July

Dominic Dolan delivered his Project 5 Speech, forcing us all to think about a complicated moral question.  Can you be considered criminally culpable if you are the small cog in the wheel of a larger criminal/unethical organisation?  He told the story of Oskar Groning who was an accountant for Auschwitz for 2 ½ years, during which he assisted in the sentencing of 3000 Jews to death.  How he was impressed by a powerful man who fixed his country and wanted to be part of his organisation. He never actively participated in the crimes but supported the Nazi organisation.  What will be saying in years to come about Border Force and the treatment of boat people?

Meeting 1049 on Friday 31^st August

I missed this meeting but I understand that there was a visit by the new Area 17 Director, Frances Carleton!

Meeting 1050 on Friday 14^th August

The meeting of Friday 14^th August was spectacular because it was the day we were introduced to new member Laura who delivered her Ice Breaker speech, “Three Words About Me”.  Laura shared herself with us in her warm and engaging style, explaining what has inspired and motivated her.  The words were “play, “ease” and “listening”.  These are things that she has consciously become to understand and use in her life.  As a student in midwifery, this seems highly suited to her.

Meeting 1051 on Friday 28^th August

Meeting 1051 was a Table Topics meeting as we had no speaking projects proposed.  Another new person, Nicky, visited the Club.  Ianon delivered Table Topics to us and we all had two topics each.

Dominic told us that the worst advice he has been given is to sit quietly and stay out of the way, and that he has been known to be persuaded into buying things by advertising.  Laura told us that as well as a midwife she is also a marine biologist, and also that her best childhood meal was her stepmum’s apple chutney chicken.  Nicky told us that the most useful invention to her was the brace that allowed her to rehabilitate her elbow from injury, and also that her best holiday accommodation was a resort in the Great Barrier Reef.  Geoff told us that, in the dentist chair, he thinks about opening his mouth wide, and that he overcomes self-consciousness at social functions by finding a drink and a person to talk to.  Karina told us the new technology item she wants the most is an iPad, and also that the chores she loathes the most is picking up toys and cleaning cloth nappies.  Peter told us the best item in a museum is early cars, and how the major decision of installing solar panels has had a major effect on his life because of the cost savings.  Lili told us that she the country she wants to visit most is her home country, China, as she keeps putting back her visit because of having a baby etc, but her father is getting old.  Finally Geoff asked Ianon a question so she didn’t miss out.  Is one’s personality born or made? She replied that personalities are some of each, but that you can see the different traits from babies and gave the example of how differently they react to swimming classes at her local pool.

Electricity and Fireworks! on Friday 3rd July (meeting 1047)

At this meeting we were treated to a speech by Toastmaster of the Year, Peter Herbert.  He spoke of his passion as a Power Systems Engineer – the history of electricity in Canberra.  His passion is a treat to the audience, although a little surprise as we did not know the topic before he started, and neither did Linda who introduced him!  Well done, Linda for thinking on your feet and for an honest and constructive evaluation at the end.  We all learn from a good evaluation of an experienced speaker.

Table Topics by Geoff were wide and varied.  Linda told us that Canberra needs more fireworks, not less (how can there be too many?).  Ianon told us what community gardens are good for and Peter told us that safety is one good reason to be late. “Better late than dead on time!”  Dom told us that Australia is not the ‘lucky country’ anymore as we have made many mistakes.

The next meeting is 17^th July, but we will NOT be holding our Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest at this meeting, but we may well set the date.  See you all there!

Table Topics on Friday 19th June (meeting 1046)

Table topics was the focus of today’s meeting. The club’s table topics speech contest is fast approaching, so this extra practice was well timed. Each of us were given two table topics run under contest conditions. The questions were pieces of wisdom that Ianon found, and were long and complex, perfect for us to use as practice for the upcoming contest. We all gained feedback on the things that we could improve on, especially thinking on our feet, one of the main objectives of table topics. I just hope the contest question is easier than these questions were!

Making an Impression on Friday 5th June (meeting 1045)

The word of the day was “Impression” and what an impression was made by Linda and Dominic in their two fabulous speeches in the meeting of 5^th June!  The meeting was opened with the first speaker, Linda, speaking about first impressions.  Her speech was entitled Moments of Truth and she spoke about the key ways to run a successful club in an informative and thought provoking speech.  At the end we were all encouraged to give our own input by the next meeting.

Dominic then presented his Speech 1 from Speaking to Inform.  His speech was not only very well structured and informative, but very persuasive.  It left an impression on the audience, and I, for one, am and remain completely convinced that we should have light rail in Canberra.

For Table Topics, Geoff chose a range of questions about long weekends in preparation for the Queen’s Birthday weekend coming up.  Linda seemed to be looking forward to riding her bicycle and Dominic seemed to be looking forward to watching soccer on TV.

The next meeting is 19^th June.  I will be away, but will see you at the following one on 3^rd July.

Averting Catastrophe in Jam Packed Meeting of Friday 22nd May (meeting 1044)

Apologies to all our avid readers, I have been away from Toastmasters meetings for a couple of months, so sadly, no blogs for while.

On Friday 22^nd May we had a jam packed meeting focussed on catastrophe and disaster, thanks to Peter Herbert.  Co-incidentally (or not) the word of the day was “catastrophic”, which Peter managed to use quite a lot, filling all of the roles of Tonic, Speaker and Tabletopics Master in one meeting!

And by “catastrophe”, I don’t mean the public speaking ones J, as there were none of those, but real ones.  It is always good to keep on your toes!

We were happy to welcome back Area Governor, John Burge again.  (At the meeting was also Ianon, Keiko, Geoff, Lili, Linda and Karina).

The meeting began with Peter’s speech about Preventing Catastrophic Events, which he delivered in his usual engaging style.  After Peter’s speech, John conducted the annual Club elections, in which the new set of Committee members were elected for the 2015-2016 year.  The Committee is as follows:
                President: Geoff Adams
                Vice President Education: Karina Redpath
                Vice President Membership: Ianon Yusoff
                Vice President Public Relations: Lili Zhang
                Treasurer: Dominic Dolan
                Secretary: Ianon Yusoff
                Sargent at Arms: Peter Herbert

Tabletopics followed the elections and we all had the opportunity to speak about catastrophic events, albeit in lightning speed (1 min each) because we were running out of time.  We spoke of cyclones, flooding and fires, the likelihood of these events and how to avoid the damage they cause.

Announcements included Leadership Training on 13^th June, Humorous Speech and Club Tabletopics Contests on 17^th July.  Also, I understand that Rita, who spoke in our Club one week I was away, was runner up in the District International Speech Contest! Congratulations Rita!

We have a treat in store for us at our next meeting on Friday 5^th June.  We have speeches from two of our best speakers.  I, for one, am looking forward to it!

Supportive and Mentoring Meeting Friday 27th March (meeting 1042)

The word of the day was “support” and this underpinned much of subject matter of the meeting.  The meeting was attended by Ianon, Geoff, Linda, Karina, Dominic, Lili, Kyrill and Peter.

Although Peter had just rushed in, running much of the way to the meeting, he was able to deliver a considered and eloquent speech on Mentoring as his Project 3 speech.  Peter often “supports” his speeches with the use of props, and this time he showed us medals he has achieved on his path to success in Toastmasters.  He explained that mentoring can help members achieve their goals in the Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals.  That mentors need to have rapport with and an understanding of culture of the mentees and that mentors need to be patient, persistent and listen to the mentees.  A mentor “support” can help ensure ongoing progress, at whatever pace individually desired, for members of a club.  I was very interested to learn that Peter still has a mentor of his own, even at his advanced stage of progress in Toastmasters.

Lili then delivered her Project 4 speech, “How to get Balance Between Work and Family”.  She explained that when you have children you need to use time more efficiently and accept offers of “support” from friends and family.  She shared her personal experience and gave us a few tips of time-saving measures.  Her speech was delivered confidently and warmly, and Geoff’s evaluation was full of glowing praise and commendation.  Congratulations Lili, for developing your speaking skills so rapidly at Toastmasters – a great example to us all!

The speeches were followed by Table Topics delivered by Karina, in which other speakers get an opportunity to speak.  Kyrill spoke about exercise – is it good for you, if so, how much?  Geoff spoke about the potential safety of the new range of fuel efficient Qantas aircraft in light of recent Germanwings A320 crash.  Ianon gave us advice on how to get patience and told a road rage story as an example.  Peter told us to accept age, but keep focussed and healthy to defer some of its effects.

In special announcements, Kyrill was welcomed into the club by Dominic, the club president.  Welcome also from all of us!

Our next meeting will be on Friday 10^th April.  Please sign up for roles now!  The online agenda setting worked very well last meeting, so let’s keep up the good work.

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/benjamintoastmastersatuc?pnref=lhc

I will be uploading photos (with member’s permission) soon.

See you at the next meeting.

Short and Fiery meeting on Friday 13th March (meeting 1041)

With only one speaker plus Table Topics, this meeting was shorter than usual.  The meeting was attended by Geoff, Lili, Dominic, Karina, Nicole, Kyrill and Nathan.

Geoff was Toastmaster for the meeting and quickly filled unfilled roles and started the meeting on time.

Karina delivered her Project 4 speech which was “Delhi is on Fire” in which she described her experiences during a short visit to Delhi recently.  Project 4  is “How to Say It” which focusses on describing things well, creating clear images with words and use of language tools.  The meeting attendees went on a little trip to Delhi with Karina, imagining the overpowering smell of fire from air pollution, the crazy chaotic traffic and the colourful joyous celebration.

Nicole then presented a very interesting Table Topics segment, making it easy for participants to think of something to say for each topic.  One of our recent new members, Kyrill, was first to speak explaining why crying is a sign of strength not weakness.  Dominic then told us of his best experience of the last year, his trip to Fi-Ji which also happened to be the first time in 21 years he and his wife had been on holiday without the kids.  Then, when presented with the very interesting question of, what piece of advice would you give to your unborn child if you could, Lili explained to us why she would not give any advice, but let her child find her own way.  Karina said that the one question she always asked herself was “Where am I going to find the time?”.  Finally, Geoff told us the reason he comes to work each day is, not only the huge backlog of work to do, but also some time away from the kids and also to pay for his luxury lifestyle of bikes, CD’s and old cars.

Congratulations were given to Dominic for representing our club again at the International Speech Contest.

Our next meeting will be on Friday 27^th March.  See you there!

Members, please sign up for roles early!!  This system will not work if people don’t fill the roles before the meeting!  The website is http://benjamintoastmastersorg.toastmastersclubs.org/.  Login as a Member first and then choose Meeting Agendas in the Members Only section.

New Guests Attend Spooky Meeting on Friday 13th February (meeting 1039)

What a big week it has been for the club. On Wednesday (11/2) we had a stall at the University’s market day where we promoted our club to the broader university community. We talked to lots of interested people about what Toastmasters is, and what it can do for them. Thanks to Karina for organising the day, and to all of the members who helped out in the lead up to the day, and on the day itself.

At the meeting on Friday Lili presented her third CC speech titled ‘Where life is easier’, comparing living in China to living in Australia. It was a very informative and entertaining speech. Ianon gave us the word of the day, conscience, after the commonly misused words article in the January edition of the Toastmasters magazine compared conscience with conscious. We had a Friday the 13th themed table topics session led by Linda, where our six guests had a go at answering questions on hosting a Friday 13th party and movie night, and other dates considered spooky, including Tuesday the 13th, and Friday the 17th.

Our next meeting will be on Friday 27^th February. We hope to see you there!

How to Survive a New Year (meeting 1038)

Welcome to a New Year! Our first meeting of the year was held on 30th January.  This was a meeting in which Peter spoke of comfort and Dominic spoke of disaster.  A meeting in which we all had the opportunity to speak in an extended Table Topics.  We welcomed the new VPPE, Peter Herbert and tried out our new web based agenda sign-up system (http://benjamintoastmastersorg.toastmastersclubs.org/agenda.html) for members.

The Word of the Day was “comfortable” and how Dominic managed to use that word in his key speech entitled “How to Survive a Disaster”, I’ll never know.  Dominic presented yet another smooth and stylish speech so that we could all know what to do to survive a disaster.  He structured the speech very well giving a background, a specific example and some very sound advice.  Prepare!

Ianon introduced a wide range of Table Topics including New Year’s resolutions, plans for the future, reflection on the past and preparing for and surviving disasters.  Table Topics speakers were Lili, Karina, Nick, Dom, Linda, Peter and Geoff.  It was very enjoyable listening to Nick quickly developing speaking style and particularly enjoyable hearing Lili’s good news.

Our next meeting is on Friday the 13^th.  Maybe some spooky theme may pop up, who knows.  Members, don’t forget to sign up on the Agenda page at the website – link above.

This Wednesday we will also be at the O’Week Market Day, so if you are not already a member and want to have a go, please come and talk to us.

Contests, Contests, Contests, Christmas! (meetings 1036 and 1037)

On Friday 28^th November, we had the first of two consecutive contests being held at the Benjamin Club at UC.  It was the Speech Evaluation Contest.  This involved a test speaker, in this case Toastmaster of the Year, Peter, speaking for 5 to 7 minutes and the three contestants evaluating the speech.  Contestants were Lili, Nicole and Karina.

Peter commenced his speech after bringing in and arranging boxes full of props at the front of the room.  The topic was Health and Safety.  Peter clearly had, not only great experience in speaking, but also great experience in his topic.  His speech was informative, yet entertaining at the same time.

Meanwhile, the contestants being newer speakers, considered carefully how to evaluate such a good speaker.  The aim of evaluation is to provide constructive feedback while maintaining an encouraging and inspiring balance.  This is an all important aspect of Toastmasters’ supportive environment and a skill definitely worth developing.

The next meeting on 12^th December will be our International Speech Contest at club level.  The “International” aspect of the contest is that the winners at national level compete internationally.  However, the standard of speakers in this contest, even at Area level, is very high.  I can’t imagine how good the international speakers are!

So if you have been considering checking out Toastmasters, our next meeting is a great introduction.   It’s a great chance to see what it’s all about without committing to participation.  And it’s pure entertainment!

After that we break for Christmas and New Year until the 30^th January 2015.  So if we don’t see you at the next meeting (although we hope we do!), have a happy silly season and we’ll see you in the New Year!

Special 90th Anniversary Meeting on 31 October (meeting 1034)

This meeting was a reflective one where we heard from some of our more experienced members and talked about how we got here and where we are going in Toastmasters.

The first speaker was Ianon, who told us about her role as VPE (Vice President Education).  The role is essential in the running of the fortnightly meetings.  Hopefully when we have agenda setting via the website running smoothly, her role will be much easier.  Ianon concluded by encouraging members to be involved in a leadership role and progress on their leadership programs.  As well as the benefits to individual members, many hands make light work and each role will be more manageable.

The second speaker was Peter who told us about Safe Driving, starting with outlining his vast experience as a driver.  He emphasised keeping both vehicle and driver well maintained and treating driving as a risk management job.

Ever hardworking Ianon was not only First Speaker, but Table Topics Master at this meeting.  She chose a number of table topics from the Toastmasters website.

• What would you say to Toastmasters Founder, Ralph Smedley?  – Linda said why weren’t women included from the start?  It seems hard to believe looking back that women were ever excluded – good question Linda!
• What will our Club be doing in 10 years?  Nick, who hasn't been around for all of the last 10 weeks, let alone years, gave the best answer he could.  Hopefully we will still be learning and winning competitions.
• Keiko talked of her own history with Toastmasters.  It’s hard to believe she started out as a poor speaker, but easy to see how she became addicted to a program that works so well for her.
• Which Club would you visit? John said he would like to visit Brazil, as Toastmasters has not really taken off there, and share the benefits of experience and give them some support.

The following week we had a Committee Meeting.  One point from the meeting I would like to share is that the Mentoring Program is really getting started.  You can make as much or as little of the program as you like, but I can see a lot of potential in it.  Let’s get into it and really make it work for us!

The next meeting is on Friday the 14^th of November.  Unfortunately coinciding with the Staff Services Fair where we will have a stall, so a couple of us will be there.

Coming up we will have the Evaluation Contest at the meeting of 28^th November and the Club Speech Contest  on 12^th December.  Then we will have a break and reconvene on 30^th January.

Have a great meeting and I’ll see you at the contests.

Icebreaking and Parenting on 17 October (meeting 1033)

At this meeting we heard speeches about how events of your childhood can shape who you are, and how parenting philosophies can applied across the board and help shape children and adults alike.

This was another HUGE meeting.  We had 12 attendees again.  Welcome to Amelia who attended as a guest.  Regular guests and members John Burge, Lili, Jacky, Nicole, Esther, Peter, Nick, Karina, Linda, Geoff and Nicolette also attended.

We learned a bit more about our new member Esther as she spoke about how events of her childhood shaped who she is today for her Project 1 Icebreaker.  Growing up in a rapidly changing China she shared everything with her family and later she shared with 7 girls in modest quarters.  Though these experiences she learned to share and have sisterhood spirit and not material possessions.  She also learned to be passionate about food and other resources.  We were all impressed that Esther presented her Icebreaker without notes!

Karina then followed with her Project 3 speech, Why Parenting Does Not Stop With Children.  She introduced her own version of triple P parenting – Positivity, Proactiveness and Parameters.  She explained how we need to look after one another and look out for each other.  Also that we get out of people what we put in, including ourselves.

Table Topics was again entertaining.  Nicole gave us an interesting range of topics to speak on.  We heard about social networking, money vs emotion, planes and pollution and a futuristic house design.   John and Geoff demonstrated the structure and confidence of speaking experience and Nick and Nicolette entertained us.  We even had a chance to hear our guest Amelia speak.

Finally, John Burge (Area 17 governor) gave us some direction and advice on the future of our club.  We are aiming to increase the membership of our club and his advice was that we should aim for 20 to 25 members (that’s about double!) and have weekly meetings.  Hopefully by then we will be able to locate a bigger meeting room that is as nice as the one we already have.

The fun all starts again at the next meeting on Friday 31^st October.  This will be the special 90th Anniversary Meeting (and also Halloween).  Don’t miss out!

A Huge Meeting on 3 October (meeting 1032)

I have been away for a few weeks, and wow, what a difference!  The meeting on 22 August was very quiet, and this one was nearly a full house!!  We had special guests John Burge (area 17 governor) and Dee, as well as members and regular guests Ann, Keiko, Karina, Dominic, Esther, Peter, Lili, Ianon, Jacky and Nicolette.

The meeting started with Jacky presenting word of the day, which was “Kangaroo”, a word which was to be used as often as possible in the following speeches.  After explaining the regular meaning of the word, he explained the original aboriginal meaning was “I don’t understand you”, which neatly illustrated that white Australians also faced a language barrier long ago.

The first speaker of the meeting was Ann, who presented her Project 3 – getting to the point, with a speech called "Everyone can be an Ecologist".  She explained that being an Ecologist meant being observant of the environment around you and how we can all do it in our everyday lives.  We can notice patterns, interrelationships and sequences, occasionally getting those “ah-ha moments”.  Doing this would improve our observational skills and free and open our minds.

The second speaker was Dominic, who was presenting his Speaking to Inform project from the Advanced Communication Manual.  His speech was a collection of reflective epiphanies inspired by “Top Five Regrets of the Dying” by palliative care nurse, Bronnie Ware.  These were:-

      1.      I wish I had lived true to myself – not given up on my dreams without good reason.

      2.   I wish I hadn't worked too much – missed kids growing up and developing relationship with partner.

      3.      Being true to feelings – being nice to others

      4.       Staying in touch with friends – you don’t remember things, you remember people

      5.       Happiness is a choice

Finally we had Table Topics where Peter described his first car which was a Ford V8, Nicolette told us she doesn't garden and prefers a natural setting, Linda expressed there are times for both quiet and crowded, noisy occasions in her life and Jacky explained the secret to the work/life balance was to work efficiently and then forget work outside work hours.  Also Ianon told us the greatest global challenge of our times is war and that when we are at war everything else cannot be managed, and John gave us a very dramatic explanation of why lowering speed limits does decrease fatalities.

The meeting ended with a formal presentation to Peter Herbert of his Toastmaster of the Year award. Congratulations Peter!!

A great time had by all.  The next meeting will be Friday 17^th October.  See you all there!

Leadership and Debate (meeting 1029)

A busy time of year for many, we were low on numbers but still managed to have a lot of fun.  Keiko dreamt up an inspiring agenda for this meeting.  We had Keiko, Peter, Karina, Lili and Nicole and welcomed back Jacky.  Also we welcomed new speaker, Nick.

Lili started us off on Table Topics.  She asked Nicole what she would like to be if she were an object, and Nicole’s answer was a white board because of all of the information and knowledge shared on them.  Lili asked Peter what he thought of the budget, to which he provided a very diplomatic answer without strongly aligning to one opinion or another, a speech enviable of some of the cleverer politicians.  She asked Nick what past challenge has made him stronger, to which he related a very personal story.  It was great to start to get to know him so soon, even before the Ice Breaker speech!  Jacky shared how much he liked Canberra even though he has only been here 3 months and finally, Karina told of how she would tell her 10-year-old self to be confident of her abilities and know she was in charge of her future and not a victim of her circumstances.

Karina then shared some of her learnings and thoughts arising from recent Leadership training, a session that was intended to be interactive but time did not allow this.  She reminded people of what a good thing we have in Toastmasters, which is essentially a very effective low budget professional development course, and how to keep our Club successful we need to ensure our leadership strategies not only draw in new members but keep the experienced ones.  She summarised the 10 goals of the Distinguished Club Program and suggested we establish a mentoring program, introduce some tangible rewards and explain our program more clearly to new members.  Finally she encouraged more people to attend Leadership Training in the future as it is a very valuable course.  Feedback would be welcomed in coming weeks, and we may set aside some time to discuss some of the ideas raised.

For the final part of the meeting, Keiko demonstrated how much fun tangible rewards are, when she lead a debate session.  Sets of two speakers at a time were called forward and given a topic for debate and then randomly selected to support either positive or negative.  We heard why money gives you happiness with Nicole on the positive and Peter on the negative.  We heard why TV is a bad influence with Nick on the positive and Karina on the negative.  And why it is good if you don’t have to eat food with Jacky on the positive and Lili on the negative.  The winners could choose from a range of treats with labels most of us couldn’t read. J

A challenging session for those of us who had to argue a position we didn’t believe, and an excellent exercise in quick thinking, speech structure and conviction of delivery.

The next meeting is on Friday 5^th September and the room will continue to be Building 9 Room C18 until further notice.

Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests on 8 August (meeting 1028)

This was a meeting with a difference. All current members had the opportunity to speak in a competitive environment (friendly of course) in front of judges from other clubs. The judges were Nicola, Jim and John Burge (Area 17 Governor). We also welcomed a guest, Jacky and new member, Esther.

Before and after the contests, Keiko, in her usual inspirational manner, encouraged participation by our guest and new member who were not in the contests. We were able to get to know a little more about the new people by asking them questions of our choosing.

The contests began with our single entrant to the Humorous Speech competition, Dominic, who told us why marriage and communication was not so much a laugh but a scream! He told us why men are like horses and women are like snakes, and why when the children grow up we are left without much to say to each other. He left us with the lasting words of advice “say nothing and keep saying it!”

Next we had the Table Topics contest in which Peter asked us to speak on “common sense is the basis of true happiness”. This proved to be a challenging topic for many of us, and being involved in the contest, I did not hear many of the contestants speak. However I did have the pleasure to hear Geoff speak. He was well spoken and relaxed, his speech had a clear structure and a couple of examples. By the end we were convinced of the truth of this statement, and he went on to win the contest.

The next meeting is on Friday 22nd and we are back to our usual format (agenda will be out soon). Following our promotional UC market day stall this week, we hope to see a few new faces. :-)

Table Topics Tornado on 25 July (meeting 1027)

With some excellent advice from Ianon on Table Topics last meeting, and the Table Topics Contest on this week, it was the perfect time to have a Table Topics Tornado!  Everyone gets not one, but two opportunities to participate, and there were visible improvements between the first and second rounds.

Table Topics Tornado is a game where each person gets chosen at random to speak for approximately two minutes on the topics of the Table Topics Master’s choosing.  Then each person gets to evaluate the person who speaks after them, so it is not only a great opportunity to practice speaking, but a great opportunity to practice evaluation.  In the second round, a second Table Topics Master choses speakers in a different random order, and then the speakers evaluate the same person they evaluated in round one.

Peter was Table Topics Master in the first round, with a range of interesting questions including “Is something funny a way of being serious?”, “Do things go wrong at the last moment?”, “Is a cough something you cannot help, or something other people do to torment you?”, “What is the language of friendship?” and “Does money talk and is the secret to hold it long enough to hear what it is saying?”.

Keiko was the second Table Topics Master who put each of the speakers in a situation they needed to describe a reaction to.  These included “When you opened the door, what happened?”, “Mirror, mirror on the wall…”, “Mum, Mum!” (tug on the leg), “Money. You open your wallet and you have a lot”, you receive an award for “Best Australian”, “You have an invitation to meet Tony Abbott at Parliament House” and “Here is your new bike!”.

It was a pleasure to hear the more experienced members speaking – Ann with her grand gestures, Peter with his captivating tone and pace variation, Dominic with his insightful observations and detail and Keiko with her passion.  But, best of all was seeing the newer speakers performing so well.  Lili spoke confidently on both of her topics, but Nicole wins most improved showing us a glimpse of her future as a highly engaging speaker.  Also, guest (and soon to be member), Esther amazed us all with her natural speaking talent.  I (Karina)  had a great opportunity to speak about my children – twice!

Thank you to Ann for organising the Table Topics Tornado and Peter and Keiko for making it so fun.  Also thank you to Nicole our new Sargent at Arms and Dominic, our new President.

Our next gathering is this Friday 8^th August and it will be our Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests.  Almost everyone in the club are contestants, so we would welcome any audience who would like to come and see what it’s all about.

Fascinating Talks at 10 July Meeting

As is often the case, we had an over 80% attendance of members at our meeting, plus a very welcome visitor. We were all treated to two excellent speeches and a very fun Table Topics. 

First, our new Sergeant at Arms, Nicole opened the meeting. Then Ianon (our new VPE) pointed out that the latest Toastmaster Magazine had useful articles on Table Topics. She went further to give some advice on giving Table Topics speeches including  1) go with your gut! 2) pay attention to the question, and 3) if you can’t speak on the topic given, associate! Change topics.  With the annual contests in Table Topics and Humorous speeches just weeks away, this advice has very good timing!

The first outstanding speech came from Karina (our new VPPR), who was tackling project 2 in the Competent Communicator manual (a project about speech structure). Karina gave us three reasons why dance is an excellent activity which builds confidence, organisational and leadership skills, and (less surprisingly) physical fitness. Karina does Morris dancing as a hobby, we heard, and she has learnt confidence from dancing in front of audiences, and leadership from organising and managing dance events and displays. There was a bit of psychology in the speech too, when Karina outlined the left-brain/right-brain benefits. In her evaluation of the speech, Linda commended the good organisation and structure of the speech, and its intriguing insight into an activity few of us have taken on. Linda admitted she had never heard of this form of dance before, leading to the recommendation not to assume your audience’s knowledge.

Then we were treated to a narrative when Dominic (our new President) gave his first speech on the Advanced Communicator Bronze track. Dominic completed his CC in April, and is now working on the Speaking to Inform (advanced) manual.

Dominic took us all, metaphorically, up Mt Ainslie at 5:30 am on a foggy frosty Canberra morning without a torch, to illustrate the opportunities, challenges and pitfalls of having a Strategic Plan when you are running a business. We learnt how the goals of the plan guide your first steps, and how you can go far astray and fall if you lose sight of that plan and its goals in the fog. It’s lonely at 5:30 am on Mt Ainslie (a large well treed and shrubbed nature reserve reaching 840 m or so in altitude). It’s lonely also in your new business and you need to have that plan to hold on to and keep you on track. Then, once you have achieved the peak for the first time, you think it’s going to be easy, but that frosty track, though now a bit clearer in the dawn, is full of pitfalls if you don’t keep that plan as your guide. In evaluating this speech, Peter had only commendations – the first time in 4.5 years of hearing him evaluating speeches that I have not heard him have anything to recommend. 

Baran, our newest member, then took us back to films we might or might not have seen, and giving examples from Back to the Future, Star wars, and others posed us problems to answer in Table Topics. This was such fun, I am surprised we still managed to complete the meeting in about 1 hour. Nicole gave a brief general evaluation before closing the meeting.

The next gathering, on 24 July, will be a different style. It will be practice in Table Topics, which Ann calls a Table Topics Tornado. Everyone gets a topic, and there are two rounds, with a brief verbal evaluation and two written evaluations for each speaker.

Then on 8 August we have our club contest in Table Topics and Humorous Speech, to find our representative for the Area contest coming up very soon afterwards.