We had a fabulous turn-out for this week’s meeting. There were several returning guests and three new visitors: Leona, Tracy and Margaret. Tracy has since become a member, which ticks the final box for the club to receive a Distinguished Club award – woohoo!

Our Area Governor Jenny did a stupendous job of Toastmaster. She started with Tom who introduced the word of the day “family”. I relayed one of his anecdotes about his grandmother to my family yesterday – very funny indeed – she sounds like a great woman!

Yuyu gave us a wonderful speech for Project 8 “Using Visual Aids”. Her speech was entitled ‘Sleep’ and showcased her fabulous research skills. A slide that we all found very interesting was entitled “Time to Sleep: A Chinese Way to Stay Healthy — human organs have their own time to rest, refresh and replenish”. She kindly forwarded it to the blog and it is included here ...*

Peter Ibbott (‘Peter the 2nd’) gave an Icebreaker speech that has set the bar very high for the remainder of his speeches! It was a very interesting talk revolving around his working life in health and the Defence Force. Although war may be good for “absolutely nothin’”, as Peter reminded us of the 1970s song, his talk detailed all of the health innovations which have come about because of war that are now part of our everyday lives. Well done Peter.

Dominic took us on another Round Robin version of Table Topics, starting us off by questioning whether our ancestors were better at energy conservation than we are today, and recalling his grandmother’s use of old tins to boil eggs. The family theme continued with Robyn recalling how the only gas heater in her childhood house was never turned on until tea time; Peter ‘the 3rd’ talked about how hard it would be to give up the love of his and his daughters’ lives — the shower — despite his efforts in other areas of his life to conserve resources; Tracy also contributed with a very confident talk recalling how the heating in her childhood home was put to good use reheating other things such as the water for bathing etc.

Evaluations of Yuyu’s speech (by Robyn), Peter’s speech (by Ianon) and the Round Robin speakers (by Leona) reminded all of us of the basics of good speaking — use of the lectern (put it where you need it); remember that visual aids are only aids to your speech rather than a reflection of the content, and that eye contact is vital! These helpful recommendations were among multiple commendations for all of Friday’s speakers — good speech structure; inclusiveness; warmth; clear voice control; and others.

Niki did a great um/ah count despite saying that she was too interested in the speeches! Julio as Timer kept us all on the straight and narrow, and Tom managed to win the ‘word of the day’ count (what a surprise!). Peter H (‘the 1st’) not only performed the general evaluation, he also gave out the new “Club Leadership Handbooks” to the 2012–2013 executive, showing everyone how the role of each job is carefully spelt out in the handbook. Our meeting was brought to a close on time by Dominic who was the day’s sergeant at arms.

We hope to see our guests and all members at our next meeting — the last for the current exec!

Robyn

*adapted from Internet. Possible origin: Qing Zhong Wu 2006, Human Body Usage Handbook, Hua Cheng Press, Guang Zhou, China.

Warm as Toast... (ooh!)

Outside it was the first day of winter — but inside it was warm at the 977^th meeting of the Benjamin Toastmasters. The warmth of course was generated by the friendly atmosphere of the group. We welcomed Keiko who, returning to our meeting and the continent, took up the role of Toastmaster with her normal aplomb. Thanks to Tom who took up the um-ah counting for the meeting and Peter (L) who volunteered as timer.

Club business was short and sweet — with Peter (H) reminding us to bring our manuals to all meetings. Robyn was confirmed as President and Julio as Secretary for the 2012–2013 year.

Yuyu once again chose a great topic, this time for her 7^th manual speech. She researched why boys like cars, but I think really she was trying to understand why her 20-month old boy didn’t want any of the room full of toys belonging to her daughter! Yuyu reported on research looking at psychological and genetic factors that play out in the toy-choice of boys versus girls. Yuyu’s conclusion, that genetics probably played a greater role, brought us back to her warm and personal introduction, telling us that she will probably have to buy that new toy box!

Jenny evaluated Yuyu’s speech, congratulating her on her balanced use of research, her confidence and the warm smile that Yuyu uses to engage her audience. Jenny also commended Yuyu on her ability to ‘rejig’ her speech without losing its structure when she saw that she was out of time. Jenny’s experience gave Yuyu, and all of us, two great pieces of advice. The first was to make sure we speak from our diaphragm: this lowers our pitch and makes us less likely to inadvertently alter our speaking volume. The second was to take a stance when we deliver a speech — literally: placing our feet slightly apart gives us a more commanding presence on stage.

Ann continued with the evaluation theme, giving us some great evaluating advice from the latest Toastmaster Magazine. As usual Ann ‘hammed up’ what could have been a very dry reading of an article. Her sense of humour and dramatic skills ensured we were engaged for the whole time. One piece of very useful advice in the article was that evaluators should try to speak to those whom they have evaluated, afterwards, to ask “Was the evaluation given useful for the speaker? Will the recommendations enable the speaker to improve next time? Were the commendations unique to that speaker?”.

‘Round’ (not so! (Ed.)) Robyn then introduced a Round Robin as an alternative to Table Topics, following a recent suggestion from Yuyu. It is an exercise in both careful listening and impromptu speaking. The first speaker introduces a topic and speaks briefly on it; the next speaker is then invited to pick up on something from the previous speaker — they could agree with it, disagree with it, elaborate on it or take it to a new place altogether! From our topic, introduced by Robyn (‘free public transport’), Tom supported the notion of ‘freebies’ to take us to our famous landmarks; Dom talked about a nominal public transport fee in Sheffield and reminded us about the complexity of economic arguments which ignore social benefits of schemes such as free public transport; Niki took up this point and reminded us of political decisions deemed ‘courageous’ by those who may oppose them (think Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey in ‘Yes Minister’!!); Ann introduced us to two significant men in her life and their problems with TV volume and empty trains; Peter (L) reminded us that our beaches are one of Australia’s landmarks and encouraged us all to look after them, and Jenny concluded the Round Robin by reminiscing about how wonderful Sydney felt during the Olympics with free public transport. With such a diversity of points brought up as people thought on their feet after having to listen carefully, the Round Robin was certainly in the spirit of Toastmasters and was enjoyed by all. 

As always, we look forward to our next meeting!

Robyn

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)