Hello, Welcome to Victoria Quay Toastmasters.

Heljo Cameron

My name is Heljo Cameron and I was the club president for the last financial year.

When I joined Toastmasters I thought it was only about public speaking, yet I have found that it is a lot more. For me, Toastmasters is the ultimate personal growth experience and it is a lot cheaper than the personal growth workshops which I attended in my younger days.

Without going into too much detail about the things which I have learnt or am still learning (there are so many), I have provided a list, which I hope is self-explanatory. Even so, you may wish to come along and talk me about these things:

• Overcoming fear.
• Learning to have more interesting interactions with people on a one-to-one basis.
• Expanding my mind – looking at things in new ways.
• Overcoming self-doubt.
• Being flexible and stepping in to do things spontaneously.
• Being able to be brilliant one day and less effective the next and not berating myself with self-destructive criticism.
• Increasing my self-esteem.
• Thinking more quickly.
• Being more concise.
• Overcoming the fear of winning/learning how to win.
• Overcoming the fear of losing /learning how to lose.
• Being committed on an ongoing basis, even when cold, hungry, tired or unprepared.
• Realising that it’s not all about me.
• Working in a team towards common goals, yet at times doing things for myself, such as competing against my team mates.
• Finding out that when I compete, I am really only competing against myself.
• Discovering the times that I am most creative.
• Being given a licence for experimenting with new ideas and new ways of presenting things.
• Being really listened to.
• Improving my analytical skills.
• Allowing others to support me.
• Learning how to be more supportive towards others – encouraging and motivating them to help them meet their goals.

The Victoria Quay club has always been successful and I believe that certain people who founded the club are superb role models and make the club as wonderful as it is. I am still in the process of learning to be the mentor and coach that I would like to be.

Last year shortly after I became president I was unable to speak effectively for two months as a result of an operation. Club members gave me much needed support and allowed me to carry out minor roles before I could speak properly again. I believe that the fact that I was a Toastmaster and had to re-learn to project my voice actually helped me to regain my ability to speak. I thank everyone who supported me at that time and even those who have joined since – all you have left you own particular mark on the club.

Thank you Victoria Quay for an extraordinary year!

Ibrahim Ndaou

Ibrahim joined Victoria Quay at the beginning of March this year. He found out about us from a stall at Murdoch University conducted by members of Western Founders Club. He came here early this year as an Exchange student from Michigan Tech University to do one semester at Murdoch University, studying Business Management & Psychology. His home is in Washington DC, the capital of the United States. He is returning home later this month.

He has a keen interest in working with groups of children in a training and mentoring role. That sometimes kept him from our meetings, but he nevertheless completed the first 3 speeches from the Communication and Leadership Manual in his brief time with us. “Something unexpected” was the title of his third speech delivered at our meeting on June 2nd. It certainly was something unexpected. After a brief introduction explaining his desire to take part in the Peace Corps, the group of young Americans who volunteer to serve overseas for two years, he read us the submission he has composed to go with his application. It is printed below.

Ibrahim, we wish you could stay longer with us. Your energy and off-beat humour brightened our meetings, while your enthusiastic commitment to your beliefs and ideals has been inspirational. We will miss you, but we know you have something more important to take on. Keep in touch with us, Ibrahim. Let us know what you are doing.

Application to join the Peace Corps

Up until my third year in elementary school I wasn’t sure about anything in life. I developed the characteristics of being mischievous, uncertain, and at times melancholic. At this point in my life I was confused and disheartened. All my friends had fathers who supplemented their growth whereas I only had a mother. Yes, she guided me through childhood, but at the end of the day only a man can teach a boy to become a man.

At the time, my elementary school was blessed with a government initiative to provide us students with mentors whom would cater to our needs on an individual basis. I was amongst the lucky bunch to receive a mentor. Troy, a man of mature age, full beard, wide spectacles, and a regal persona became my mentor. After only two sessions he developed a great understanding of my character. With this, he instilled something in me which even today I’m cognisant of and cherish deep in my heart. Though simple were his words, benevolent was the impact. He told me “when you shake a person’s hand you look them in the eye and give them a firm grip”. I was a timid eight year old, who at that particular moment felt as if I’d rather give up all the ice cream in the world than to take on his request. But he was a man of persistence and discipline… he made me practice.

The beginning of our weekly meetings became stare downs and hand strengthening exercises. And surely in time my confidence and dexterity grew. I no longer gazed thoughtlessly at the floor upon shaking his hand. No, I now looked him in the eye and squeezed his hand with all the strength an eight year old could conjure up. Thanks to Troy I became more confident. I treated myself with respect, spoke with assurance, kept my clothes clean, performed with excellence in class and most of all I carried myself with pride and exuberance. I owe this boost in morale and self efficacy to a man who knew so little about me yet offered me his time, effort, kindness and confidence.

Throughout my childhood I came across many figures that impacted my life. Though different in nature, whether it was as a neighbour or football coach, the common characteristic these individuals shared was the passion of helping others. During my early years in high school I too developed this passion. From peer-mediating at school to camp counselling for at-risk youth, I naturally found myself within such circumstances. My passion was sparked by those who took time out of their lives to bring joy into the lives of others.

I want to join the Peace Corps not only to give back to the community but to build and be a part of one. Many youth today don’t have the luck or luxury I had of being inspired. Through the Peace Corps I want to continue this cycle of humanitarianism. I want to bring hope and inspiration to the lives of youth. I want to create a foundation, a community which promotes social welfare and tranquillity. Every child deserves one, for it takes a community to raise a child.

Elections for July to December 2010

We hold our elections every six months.  However it is very common for officers elected for this six month term to complete a full year.  It is common but not necessary.

The elections for this six months will be held at the meeting on June 3, 2010.  This has been advertised widely at club meetings.  There are already several nominations.  It is quite OK for a member to nominate for any position, including those with a current nomination

The Officer roles and current nominations are these

President Peter Law
Vice President Education
Vice President Membership Neville Simmons
Vice President Public Relations David Nicholas
Secretary
Treasurer Mike Maguire
Sergeant at Arms Genevieve Morrissey

You can see a summary of these roles at Club Officer Roles

Congratulations to our Outstanding and High Achieving Members

Victoria Quay has its own special way of honouring members.  Where most clubs give a single award for Toastmaster of the Year at the end of the year, we recognise many members for their achievements.

We have a set of criteria which awards points for various activities, mostly within the club, but also in the wider Toastmaster community.  Currently at May 5 we have 2 Outstanding members – Alan Smith and David Nicholas – and 4 High Achieving members – Heljo Cameron, Gail Jenkins, Peter Law and Neville Simmons.  By June 30 we expect to have  4 or 5 Outstanding Members and 4 or 5 High Achieving Members.

You can view a record of this year to date and the 4 previous years at Awards

What you need to know

The Contest Schedule

1.  Club Contests – at Victoria Quay on February 17th (Evaluation) and 24th (International)

2.  Area W21 Contests at Gateway (Fremantle Bowling Club) on Tuesday, March 16th

3.  Western Division Contests at Fremantle Bowing Club on Sunday afternoon, March 28th

4.  District 73 Contests at Creswick, Victoria from Friday May 15th-Sunday May 17th

Advice for Contestants – the Evaluation Contest

All Club Members are eligible, except those who are District Officers – David, Mark, Peter and Tony.  We will have a speaker from another club who will be evaluated by the contestants in a 3 minute evaluation.  The contest will be judged by our members who are not contestants.  There will be a workshop about judging.

The Evaluation is for 3 minutes, not 2.

Use the CRC format – Commend / Recommend / Commend.

Include a Summary at the end – a brief restatement of your key points.

Pay careful attention to your Recommendations
use a What Why How Show format
identify clearly the Recommendation ( What), state why it is important ( Why), explain how to do it (How) and demonstrate it (Show)

Advice for Contestants – the International Contest

To enter this contestants must have completed at least 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator Manual. The contest will be judged by our members who are not contestants  after a workshop about judging.

Be Inspirational International Contest speeches should have an inspirational message which is relevant and significant to the audience..

Get laughs – It’s important to start with an arresting opening and to get a laugh in the first minute or so.  It isn’t a Humorous Speech, but winners always embroider the serious message with a lot of fun.

Work on the conclusion – The speech needs a strong conclusion which includes some kind of reacapitulation summary of the main point.

If all this sounds daunting, that’s why you need to enter our club contest and start working to get to the world final.  Our member, Cliff Boer, got there.

If you would like any further help or advice ring me

David Nicholas
9457 6468

Summertime

Daylight saving changes the feeling at the start of meetings now. We don’t need lights for the whole hour and a half from 6-7.30 pm. It gives a bright start to the meeting which carried through.

Claire was Toastmaster.

Claire Lacy

Claire handled the role with great vigour. She is an expert in our standard format for introducing speakers, and at times she could have been introducing the President-Elect of the United States. But her energy was always appropriately tailored to the person and the role she was deferring to.

Glenis gave the Inspiration.

She told us about Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist who was featured in the opening to the Beijing Olympics. His parents suffered a great deal of deprivation during the Cultural Revolution in China, and they were determined to give their one child the best opportunity they could. He was given a piano for his 2nd birthday – that’s right, 2 years old – and started working with a teacher at 4. His parents drove him – you’ve been born with a great gift, but you have to work at it. And work at it he did, practising for 8 or more hours every day.

Colin Simons

Colin presented Table Topics

We are very happy to have Colin back with us. Family commitments with a daughter in Sydney have kept him away for most of this year. He told us the theme for Table Topics would be trees. He was inspired by Alan’s speech last week.

Tony’s question was What kind of a tree are you? It’s a weeping willow, with Tony, as he battles with Database Management at work.
Craig What kind of trees should we have in our gardens? Craig believes our gardens should match what we feel. So everything should fit a theme.
Glenis What advantage is there in having native trees rather than imported species? Glenis wants to preserve our native vegetation for its own sake, and particularly because they need less water and less pruning.
Frank Can we live with logging? Frank couldn’t reach a final conclusion. What we do is meet consumer demand. We want the paper, so we get rid of our native trees, and install plantations. Is that good? Probably not, but it’s what people want.
Gail How do we sustain the growth of our forests? Well, by stopping logging of course, by recycling timber instead of throwing it out, and by growing plantations.
Peta What do you think of airlines charging a voluntary fee for carbon offsets? Peta felt she didn’t know anything about this, so Mark spoke passionately – it’s just a big scam to fatten their own profits.

Gail presented the Tonic about monster fish in the Swan. The sceptics among us were silenced when she presented a newspaper cutting of a sturgeon caught in the Swan and released again. It was 11 foot long and had a 6 foot girth. It was a big fish!

Alan presented the Table Topics Evaluation.

Heljo Cameron

Heljo is back from her world trip, and resuming her quest for her Advanced Communicator Award. She was selling a product with the title Successful Accessories. It was a bag, a Peruvian product with amazing qualities. It can be used for shopping. It’s ideal for personal defence in dangerous situations. It’s an ideal umbrella. And to top it all, it’s an upmarket fashion statement. At less than $40, full price, it’s a bargain, but she offered it, this night only, for $20.

Peta evaluated Heljo.

Colin Hughes

Colin’s Humorously Speaking 3 speech was titled Rocking City Blues.
Colin narrated his experiences in Phoenix with his friend, Manfred. There was a lot of waiting around, and many disappointments. But the plane left on time!

Craig evaluated Colin.

David Nicholas

David’s CC 6 speech was titled Where do you come from?.
David began by clarifying what the question wasn’t about. It wasn’t a young child asking a parent about the facts of life. It couldn’t be answered with a run down of places you have lived in and come from. It asks about your personality. What kind of a person are you? and how did you get to be like that? From the many traits of personality he chose 3. Are we optimists or pessimists? Are we spenders or savers? And how do we handle anger from a close friend or associate? We were asked to look deep into ourselves. What are we like? How did we get to be like that?

Gail evaluated David.

Frank’s Highlights tested our listening skills. He dealt with sturgeons, Lang Lang, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, scepticism about carbon offsets, and the colour of the bargain bag. Alas! there more highlights than time to detail them.
Mark evaluated the evaluators.

Tony, the depressed weeping willow, gave the Timing Report.

Alan Smith

Alan evaluated the meeting.

President Gail closed the meeting. She welcomed Marina back and looked forward to her resuming membership.

She drew attention to the forward Agendas on the back page, and noted that David and Mark would be attending the District 73 Council Meeting in Melbourne this weekend.

Gail prepared the supper.

Another big meeting

Here are some highlights

22 people attended, again including Mark’s two sons, Tyler and Callan. As well, Jeremy, a Toastmaster from a few years ago, attended with his workmate, Setare.

Jeremy gave us the Inspiration.

Margaret gave her first speech to the Club – the Tonic.

Mark delivered a Workshop on Vocal Variety. It was mostly for our Speechcrafters, but it was a benefit to everybody.

Ben’s Table Topics picked up the style from Judith’s version of a fortnight before and took us on a challenging date with David’s imaginary niece Nicole.

Tammy deliver her Speechcraft Icebreaker speech on her road to “Motherhood”.

Cathy gave her 4th Speechcraft speech on “The ugly parent syndrome”.

Glenis gave an inspirational CC Speech 10 – “Know your own country” and completed the requirements for our Club’s Outstanding Member award. You can see the complete report for all our members on our Club Awards page

We had another spectacular supper.
It must be the Speechcraft Course which is the underlying cause for Alan’s wonderful choice of food.

Gail was Toastmaster, efficiently unobtrusive in the role, a model for all of us. Gail resumes as Vice President Education from next week, following the time she spent dealing with her mother’s death in Queensland.

Elections
We will be holding our elections for the July to December term on June 11. All members are eligible to stand for the 7 Officer roles. You can see a web page on toastmasterswa.net which explains the importance of our officers generally and details the responsibilities for each role. Go to Club Officers.

It was a big meeting

Here are some highlights

23 people attended, including Mark’s two sons, Tyler and Callan

John joined and gave the Tonic

Ben gave a passionate Inspiration about a horrible sight on the way to the meeting and how it is inspiring him with his medical studies

Sharmila and Cathy gave their Speechcraft Icebreaker speeches

Craig gave us his CC Speech 4 – the secrets of success, including the big one, underpinning them all

Judith told us a touching story about her friend Michael

Tony threatened us with singing if we didn’t answer his Highlight questions correctly. When we answered them all correctly he started to sing Starry starry night anyway

Congratulations to Pascale
Pascale was there to receive congratulations for being the only WA representative to be placed in the District 73 contests held in Lilydale, Victoria on the weekend of May 16-18.

The supper was spectacular.
Alan bought it and served it up. There was a great variety and plenty of each but there were only a few little bits left at the end.

Elections
We will be holding our elections for the July to December term on June 11. All members are eligible to stand for the 7 Officer roles. You can see a web page on toastmasterswa.net which explains the importance of our officers generally and details the responsibilities for each role. Go to Club Officers.