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.