There was a good turn-out at the 976th Benjamin Toastmasters meeting held on the 18th of May 2012 (also the 33rd meeting at the University of Canberra) - with 11 members and guests attending (Peter I, Peter H, Ianon, Carmen, Dat, Julio, Dominic, Tom, guests Iain and Jim and visitor Geoff), and apologies from Ann, Keiko, Robyn, Ele, Bernice, Yuyu and Claudia.

The meeting got underway with a speech by guest Iain titled "A Toastmaster is born". Iain gave an interesting view of how, when employed as a political candidate and attending a rural show to spread the word of the party, he was asked (or, more to the point, told by local organisers) to give a short speech on the party’s policies, etc. Iain described how with only a short time to prepare he had to organise and then deliver a speech to a large audience. Being placed in this situation, Iain sought a forum to help develop his public speaking skills, and hence a new Toastmasters member was ‘born’. I think everyone can attest to a time when we have been required to deliver a speech at short notice in front of an audience. Having an organisation like Toastmasters affords us the opportunity to build confidence and speaking skills.

Next up was Ianon. Ianon gave a very useful speech on "How to use your Competent Leadership manual", thus meeting one of her own required leadership-manual tasks. For me, as a new member myself - and I'm sure others are in the same boat - gaining a better understanding of how to use the manual and progress through its tasks and projects was of great help. For a new member, browsing through their manual without thoroughly reading the requirements, it could seem a daunting task to get all the required roles completed for each project. Ianon helped clear up some misconceptions about the requirements of the manual, for new and old members alike.

Moving on from the speeches, the next item was Table Topics. Dat was Table Topic Master for the day and had obviously planned ahead with his theme "What it means to be an Australian". Being a club which has people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds, there was a range of responses to Dat's questions. In all, four people had the opportunity to give their impromptu responses in regard to what it meant to be Australian.

Evaluations followed. Peter H evaluated the first speech of the day by Iain. Peter highlighted the strengths in Iain's well thought-out and delivered speech, and provided some useful feedback in relation to body language which I'm sure was useful to all of us. Julio then provided a good appraisal of Ianon's speech, similarly highlighting the strengths, while also providing useful tips for using props in a speech.

Carmen gave a good review of Table Topics questions and speeches, usefully summarising the topics and the speakers' individual strengths and weaknesses for future reference. It was then over to our experienced guest Jim to provide a general evaluation of the meeting. Jim highlighted some take-away points for future and gave a good assessment of the overall meeting. Dominic then gave a breakdown of the timings for all components and speeches throughout the meeting. Tom provided the "Um"-"Ah" count and in doing so gave himself a few extras for good measure, but as Peter H later said to us all, it’s better not to pressure yourself if you make a mistake, but instead use it as a tool to make yourself a better speaker in the future.

Finally the meeting was wrapped up on time (not a bad effort considering we were a little late in starting).

The next meeting will be held on the 1st of June

Until next time!

Peter I
(SAA elect)

A happy club is a strong club (and vice versa)

On Friday 4 May, we welcomed two invited guests and four visitors - Niki, Nicky, Amber and Dom!

One invited guest was Mike Phoenix, from Woden Lunchtime club. (Mike is actually standing for election as Governor of the Toastmasters Monaro Division for 2012-13, though he didn't mention that at the meeting.) Mike's speech was called 'It's not rocket science', and it was on the theme that a happy club is a strong club or vice versa.

Mike is a very advanced Toastmaster, and he demonstrated good technique, involving us all in his speech by asking our expectations of happiness in a club. We agreed that we feel happy because we are able to give prepared and impromptu speeches often, in Benjamin Club.

Continuing, Mike gave alarming, though anonymous and, I hope, fictional, examples of clubs where members are restricted from giving speeches, and can take 6 - 10 years to work through the Competent Communicator manual! In some clubs, he told us, the members do not listen to the evaluations of their speeches, and don't show noticeable improvement in their presentation technique. Happily he was able to contrast those examples by mentioning a Toastmaster he knows of who has completed the 10 manual speeches in 6 months, demonstrating improvement all the way because he listened carefully to his evaluations and applied the points for improvement. So, clearly, fast progress is achievable if a person is keen. Phew!

Peter Herbert (currently our club President) was the other main speaker for the meeting. This time he took us into the world of industry and particularly electricity, and the dangers of not keeping up with modern safety rules but instead thinking to oneself, "But we've always done it this way". Death or injury lie on that path, we were told. Peter's point was that for best practice (in anything) you need to use the right tool for the job (e.g. the correct size spanner, not multigrips) and with the right method.

Before the speeches, Peter Ibbott had given us a Word of the Day. His word was 'incongruous', and it turned out to be a great choice, with many of us managing to include that word or its opposite when we had a chance to speak. Peter had clearly read the CL manual and not only knew what was expected but did everything, filling nearly the allotted 2 minutes. Well done!

Friday's meeting was unusual because we needed to hold the elections of club officers for 2012-13 in the middle of it. These elections happen only once a year, fortunately, because they (probably always) take longer than you hope. Not all the nominees accepted nomination on Friday, and as a result two positions remain unfilled for now.

Newly elected for 2012-13 were: Ianon as the Vice President (VP) Education; Robyn as the VP Public Relations; Peter Herbert as VP Membership; and Peter Ibbott as the Sergeant at Arms. Yuyu will continue as Treasurer. President and Secretary are yet to be decided. The new officers take on these roles on 1 July.

We squeezed in a short Table Topics segment, with Yuyu giving interesting questions to our newest members Dat and Peter Ibbott, and three of our visitors. Yuyu used two general themes: what is good about the club and where could there be improvements?; and is it 'better' to choose a job with high pay (including fly in fly out conditions) or one with a stable home life and/or interesting subject matter? We are so pleased when visitors and new members are willing to stand up and speak on these and other impromptu topics. Impromptu speaking for 1-2 minutes is not easy, and they all managed well.

Evaluations followed. Area Governor Jenny, our other invited guest, evaluated Peter's speech, comprehensively showing us his strengths, and including some points for improvement. Claudia similarly found plenty to commend in Mike's speech, and something to recommend. Both those men are Distinguished Toastmasters, and it is good for the rest of us to see that even after years of experience a speaker can be offered points to focus on for an even better speech next time.

Mike then evaluated the Table Topics questions and speeches, giving helpful summaries to all the speakers in that segment.

Finally, new member Julio did a good job as he earnestly tackled the evaluation of the whole meeting; that is, all the parts that had not yet been evaluated. Again, this is not easy. Then he called on Dat to report on the times taken by each person for each contribution, and Ann to report the counts of everyone's use of "Um" and "Ah" - which showed that while newer speakers used those words relatively often, the experienced speakers used them not at all!

All in all, another happy, if long, meeting. We look forward to the next one on 18 May.

Ann
(VPE 2011-12)

A very interesting and varied hour

Members were nearly out-numbered by guests last week — what a wonderful position to be in!

All guests took part in Table Topics, tackling the tricky questions thrown at us by Ann. For instance, Robyn tried to get her head around unconditional love, Ianon had to think about suicidal flute players, Peter L (Peter the Third) talked of urban infill (and he cut back to single numbers in the Um-Ah count — woohoo!). Yuyu and Nicky talked of supermarkets and choice, Niki (Niki the First) talked of public transport, Tom spoke about speed limits and finally Claudia grappled with the necessity of Sudokos.

Our newest guests showed great spirit in getting up and giving Table Topics a go, and they did brilliantly. I want to specially mention Niki the First who, having been at a couple of previous meetings, now has much more confidence. We got to hear her deep voice, see her (surely) award-winning smile, and listen to a well-crafted impromptu speech lasting 1.32 minutes. I think she must have been secretly planning this during those weeks where she said she wasn’t quite ready to have a go. A great start!

Julio gave an incredibly confident Ice-breaker speech (the first in the Toastmaster’s manual) taking us from his hometown in Chile, through failed health and psychological exams (hard to believe given how fit and smart he seems to be!), all the way to taking up his doctoral studies in Canberra.
Ianon evaluated Julio’s speech and said what we all had felt — Julio is a confident and highly competent public speaker already!

Peter the First (Peter H) gave us the ‘Project 10’ speech from the manual, the fifth time he has done this project, titled 'Hobbies'. Despite Peter’s admission that he was a private man but as deep as the deep blue sea, we heard that Peter is an avid cyclist, having done very very well in his earlier years. He suggested he is a bit more conservative these days with his bike choice and terrain. This Distinguished Toastmaster entertained us and reminded us of the value of a hobby — for our bodies, our souls and our overall health. Yuyu later gave a warm and thoughtful evaluation of Peter’s speech.

Claudia played the Toastmaster role with her usual style and aplomb. One of our newest guests took up the Um-Ah counting role with good grace, and it was just as well given the appalling job done by someone (who I wonder?) last week. Counts of Ums and Ahs are very valuable to speakers.

All in all, a great meeting and we hope to see all our guests back next time.

Welcome too, to our newest member Dat, who though unable to be at Friday’s meeting arrived later and joined the club.

Robyn

22 April 2012

Small can be great!

Our fortnightly meetings at UC were out of kilter because of the previous Good Friday, so we were a small but talkative group last Friday, 13 April.

Peter H brought his speech skills to the fore with a combined President’s report/ impromptu speech/ Project 7 speech about Toastmasters, concluding that “If we get out of Toastmasters what he has got out of Toastmasters, we will never get out of Toastmasters”… It took the rest of us a minute to get it, but we were with him – great sentiment Peter!

Yuyu gave her Speech (Manual Project 6 – Vocal Variety) about Migrants, which Robyn evaluated. Yuyu has a wonderfully relaxed presentation stance – her body is relaxed as are her hands when she speaks. Her vocal variety was excellent – with wonderful imagery, a wide vocabulary range and changes in her style of speech – from formal to conversational. Her speech had a theme of ‘bravery’ running through it and, as always, Yuyu brought together not only a range of sources that she researched for her speech but we got to know her personal take on the issues she raised. Yuyu’s progress in her speeches is a model to which the rest of the Benjamin Toastmasters should aspire.

Peter H also spoke about the change in the executive which is coming up in May – all roles are up for grabs – so make sure you put your nominations in (even for yourself).
The positions are:
President
Vice President – Membership
Vice President – Education
Vice President – Public Relations
Treasurer
Secretary
Sergeant at Arms
and … surely there room also for a Social Organiser!

One of our newer members, Peter I, conducted a high class Table Topics session, with speakers  champing at the bit to have a go at his topics. Ann had her topic served on a platter – droughts and flooding rains – her knowledge in this area was on display for all to enjoy; Yuyu enlightened us on why her nose would never make her rich; Robyn tried to convince us that, until education privileges all groups and classes, perhaps Universities should lower their entrance scores; and Peter H told us his thoughts on whether Anzac Day is the real Australia day. Peter I, as TT master, was not allowed any leeway in having to give an impromptu speech. He was asked by Ann to give a candidate’s speech for an executive position! He chose Sergeant at Arms, and his speech was short but to the point. I have a feeling the job has his name written all over it!

Despite the ums and ahs not being counted (who was in charge of that I wonder?!) the meeting went without a hitch and was a special one because of the intimacy afforded by such a small group.

That said, we look forward to a full complement next week as we get back onto our normal fortnightly schedule.

Robyn, 14 April 2012

Unruly? Certainly not!

A group that should be measured by its quality, rather than its quantity, met on Friday March 23 for the club's 29th meeting at UC. We were not an unruly lot - despite the number of times we heard the word mentioned during the meeting. That was thanks to our Grammarian Claudia. As always, Claudia wrapped 'us in her arms', as Keiko described it, with her calm, measured and highly personable style. Claudia also stepped in and did a fine job of timing.

Keiko managed to be all things to all toastmasters, because several people could not make it to the meeting - and of course all things were done with great style. Her evaluation of the Table Topic speakers was not to be missed, with all of us laughing at her ability to deliver critique and praise with the very same words! With Keiko as Toastmaster we all had confidence all things would be accomplished by all people on time.

Our Area Governor Jenny Power gave us some fabulous tips on how NOT to use the lectern when we speak - both practical and humorous, Jenny's advice was well received. Jenny also, um, gave the, er, y'know, counting for all of our ums and ahs.

Robyn delivered a speech about the delights of family history in disguise as a speech from the Manual (Project 2). Everyone at the meeting evaluated the speech, offering fine recommendations to improve Robyn's next attempt.

Then Yuyu delivered an extraordinary range of things to talk about throughout 'Table Topics'. The questions she posed wove local news with problems of parenthood and decisions about careers. Yuyu's topics are always well thought through, and delivered with a winning smile, that makes it difficult not to get up and talk. Yuyu also smiled her way through reminding us about payment of our fees in club business!

Of most interest to those who were at the meeting was the willingness of two new guests to take part in Table Topics. Did I say 'new'? - they both seemed like old hands. Dat argued that it was very sensible to allow students to live on a boat at the local Lake so that they could concentrate on their studies and ensure that they could make more money in the future. Speaking with insight and confidence, Dat had us all convinced. Peter (yes another one!) also spoke with confidence and constructed a speech whose length put the rest of us to shame. I hope Dat will join our Club and we also hope that we will see 'Peter the third' at future meetings.

No one could have said that our meeting was 'unruly' - it was lots of fun as always.

Written by Robyn.

We practise evaluating each other's speeches

On Friday 9^th March Benjamin Toastmasters had its Evaluation Contest.

There were two contestants, both quite new members, so congratulations to them for entering. The quickest way to develop in Toastmasters is to enter into anything you can and do as many roles as you can fit in. Yuyu and Robyn are both active members and it shows. They are improving all the time.

For the contest we invite a target speaker for the contestants to evaluate, and this was Ken. He gave an amazing Icebreaker (his first speech with Toastmasters) about growing up, breaking free from his parents, and getting his first job. You would never know it was his first speech because he looked confident, had great eye contact, had amazing vocal variety, and engaged the audience for the whole 4-6 minutes. Well done Ken!

The first entrant in the contest to evaluate Ken was Yuyu who acknowledged some of Ken’s good points, made a recommendation, and summed up with more good points. I think she is a confident speaker and her evaluation showed that she listened closely to Ken’s speech and is gearing up to improve her skills across the board. Yuyu isn’t frightened to try things and she engages with the audience, which makes her a pleasure to listen to.

Robyn was the second and final contestant. Robyn amazed me with the structure of her evaluation. Like Yuyu she made commendations, a recommendation, and some more commendations. Her recommendation was about Ken’s pacing - that the effect of this is that it can tire the audience because of the amount of information they are taking in. Slowing the pace would help. Robyn did a fantastic job of bringing this to Ken’s attention in a positive way, which is what evaluating is all about. I think it was the structure and detail of Robyn’s evaluation that made her the winner of this contest. So congratulations to Robyn, who, to her surprise, will be representing Benjamin Toastmasters on Saturday 31 March in the Area 17 contest!

Well done Yuyu and Robyn, both entering their first Toastmaster contest.

Ianon was toastmaster on the day and she organised the whole meeting. Thanks Ianon. It was a tough role and she did a successful job making sure all tasks were filled by improvising on the spot - which is a Toastmaster thing: jump in and help out whenever necessary.

Claudia jumped in and took on the role of Table topics master at the last minute and selected some of us to do an impromptu speech for 1-2 minutes. It is entertaining and a challenge. I talked about ‘Cats or dogs: which is best?’, and I decided cats AND dogs are equal as I’m an animal lover but then summarised that I am a dog person after all.

We had two brand new guests, Dat and Neil, who seemed to enjoy the meeting, and our Area 17 Governor Jenny was also there. She told us she is almost a Distinguished Toastmaster - a wonderful achievement. Well done Jenny!

Thanks to the judges on the day (their identities are a secret!).

Good luck Robyn - I think you will find entering the Area 17 contest a wonderful experience.

(Thanks to Lee Dean for writing this post.)

Your body - a not-so-silent partner in public speaking

'Your body speaks' is the title of the fifth project in the Toastmasters Competent Communicator manual. At the club meeting, on 24 February, Yuyu gave her speech to complete this fifth project, and in doing so she gave the project title a whole new meaning - at least for me.
 
The instructions for Project 5 tell you how to use body movement to reinforce your message when speaking in public. I thought the title of the project referred to letting your body move, to help the speech along.
 
As you’ve probably noticed yourself as a member of an audience, a talk is often much more gripping if the speaker moves around while speaking. I don’t mean when the speaker just makes repetitive hand movements (though that is better than nothing). I mean that when a speaker lets his or her body illustrate his or her talk, the result is a much more confident – and usually more interesting and involving - ‘performance’.
 
On 24 February, Yuyu showed that the title could have more meaning than I had been reading into it.

Yuyu explained to us that soon after she had just given her very first speech at Toastmasters, she had to give a presentation at a workshop for her discipline at university.
She had been extremely nervous and had stood motionless behind the lectern during her workshop presentation. Afterwards, noone in her audience had asked her any questions in question time. (Questions put to an academic after a presentation in a workshop are like a stamp of approval – you want to have some!) It was as if her presentation hadn’t been heard.
 
Since then, Yuyu has given a number of talks at Toastmasters and gained considerably more confidence in speaking.
 
She told us that she had just recently given another presentation at a workshop or conference for her discipline. This time, Yuyu said, with her Toastmasters experience ‘under her belt’ she had moved around during her presentation, reinforcing her points with her body language and making direct eye contact with interested members of the audience as she spoke. Her body demonstrated that she was now a confident speaker.
 
And – hey presto! – this time the senior professors present used the question time after her presentation to raise some interesting points for discussion and sought further information from her – a stamp of approval indeed!
 
I suddenly saw, as Yuyu meant us to, that in this case Yuyu’s body had indeed 'spoken' for her in her two workshop presentations. When she was very nervous, her body had told her audience that fact – and they had respected that situation and not challenged her with questions. Now, several months later, they had seen from her body language that she has confidence. Her audience could now feel free to respond to Yuyu’s professional presentation at the workshop. They knew subconsciously that they could raise points for discussion and ask for more information, and she would not be terrified when they did.
 
What a testimony to the value of taking regular opportunities, such as at club meetings, to come out to the front and speak to the group!
Practice makes perfect, and evidently – in Toastmasters at least – practice builds confidence, and your body will tell everyone so!