Certificate Presentations

The current Speechcraft course ended last night, on October 29, 2009

3 successful participants received their Certificates.

Colin		Kylie		Paul

Peter was unable to complete the course because of illness, but will be working to finish it at Victoria Quay in the next month or so.

Although numbers for this course were small, the enthusiasm and progress made by everybody was very high.

Colin is already a member of Victoria Quay. We look forward to Kylie and Paul joining the club if they wish to during November.

Lots of helpers from Victoria Quay

We had wonderful support from across our membership. Thank you to

• Mark Williamson
• Heljo Cameron
• Gail Jenkins
• Neville Simmons
• Glenis Nicholas
• Diarmuid Neville
• Lee Syminton
• Mark Hamilton
• Peter Law
• Alan Smith

The helpers were helped too

It’s often the case that trainers receive a great deal of benefit on a personal level from helping others to learn. This was certainly true in our course. All our workers showed increasing skill as the course progressed.

David Nicholas DTM
Course Coordinator

Funny business

The stories were meant to be funny – and they were.

Lee Syminton was Toastmaster.

Peter Law

Peter Law warmed up the audience before the contestants came on stage. He was out to “Beat the Chicken” on the City to Surf run. Peter found that he might have been a powerful distance runner in the past, but the present was a different matter.

The Humorous Contest

Gail Jenkins was the Contest Chair.

The Judges

Chief Judge David Nicholas again presented a Judging Workshop. Again we had an expert panel, this time of 10 judges.

The Contestants

We had five excellent contestants who all delivered polished speeches and all were funny.

Neville Simmons, Heljo Cameron, Richard Strickland, Mark Hamilton and Diarmuid Neville.

Peter, Neville, Heljo, Richard, Mark, Diarmuid & Gail

The Results

Diarmuid & David

Chief Judge David announced the results.

Third place getter was Mark Hamilton.

Second was Neville Simmons.

The winner was Diarmuid Neville.

Diarmuid and Neville will represent us at the Area Final, with Mark as an emergency reserve.

Tony Obrzut presented the Highlights.

Karyn Patterson presented the Timing Report.

Mark Richards evaluated the Meeting.

President Heljo Cameron closed the meeting. She welcomed our visitor, Colin, who expressed his intention to join. Diarmuid’s sister Julia was a second visitor.

What a hoot!

The meeting was one of our best ever – but then again, most meetings are.

Mark Richards was Toastmaster with his usual flair and energy.

Mark Lennon gave the Inspiration.  He started with the 16 year old girl planning to be the youngest person sailing around the world single handed.  Then he revealed his ambition to take part in an extraordinary race around the world in a maxi yacht.  When he has the time and the money!

David Nicholas

David Nicholas spoke from  the Advanced Interpretive Reading Manual – Interpreting Poetry.  His title was “Sonnets”.  He gave some brief information about this most rigidly controlled form of poetry and then read 3 sonnets he particularly likes – Shakespeares’s “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”, MacLeish’s “The end of the world”, and Shelley’s “Ozymandias”.  Then for good measure he read the Macleish and Shelley again, and came in 4 seconds over the 8 minute time slot.  You can view the text of the poems at three sonnets. Colin Hughes evaluated David’s speech.

Lee Syminton

Lee Syminton presented Speech 8 from the Competent Communicator Manual – Get comfortable with visual aids.  She gave helpful advice and stern warnings about “Fashion Trends 2009-2010″.  Neville Simmons assisted her with an absolute no-no for this year – wearing a denim top.   The audience was in stitches in the whole speech and particularly when she cut holes in the top of her black stockings – absolutely required – a woman should always have her scissors handy before she goes out in public this year.  Heljo Cameron evaluated Lee’s speech.

Amanda Siebert evaluated the evaluators.

The Table Topics Contest

Peter Law was the Contest Chair.  Peter is our W21 Area Governor and he is getting familiar with the contest scene in preparation for organising the Area final in October.  Peter’s Table Topic for all 6 contestants was “Computers are a wonderful invention.”

The Judges

David Nicholas presented a Judging Workshop.  It’s our practice to do the judging in house.  That worked out very well, with an expert panel of 12 judges.

The Contestants

It was a big field, with a late entry from Ty Bridon.  He joined tonight and just made it into the contest.  In speaking order they were

Richard Strickland, Neville Simmons, Mark Hamilton, Linda Dose, Diarumuid Neville and Ty Bridon.

Mark Hamilton

Mark Hamilton took first place.  Diarmuid Neville was second and Neville Simmons was third.  Mark and Diarmuid will represent us at the Area Final, with Neville as an emergency reserve.

Mark Williamson presented the Highlights.  There were lots of highlights for Mark, but the Table Topics Contest was his top choice.

Tony Obrzut presented the Timing Report.

Alan Smith evaluated the Meeting.

President Heljo Cameron closed the meeting.  She welcomed our visitor, Peter, who told us he was rather overwhelmed by the high standard of speaking, but hoped to join.  She drew attention to the Speechcraft course beginning on September 24th, and asked those able to help to speak to David.

Committee Meeting

After supper the Committee met to discuss Club business.

Our Victoria Quay Speechcraft Course

We are running a 6 week course on Thursday evenings from 7-9pm, starting on Thursday, September 24^th. David Nicholas is the Coordinator. You can view a page about it at Current Course

Speechcraft is a series of public speaking classes designed to develop public speaking ability and so much more. Speechcrafters gain confidence in all aspects of communication, including written and impromptu speeches, body language, active listening and critical evaluation.

The Speechcraft program exposes each participant to a wide range of communication and learning experiences. Each participant receives a professionally published Toastmaster International Speechcrafter Manual plus a range of learning materials. Participants prepare and present speeches in a relaxed atmosphere.

We need helpers

We gradually train the Speechcrafters to take on meeting roles apart from answering Table Topics and giving speeches.  In the early stages we need about 6 members each meeting to fill roles like Toastmaster, Table Topics Master, evaluator and timer. It doesn’t have to be for every session.

The trainers learn too!

Yes, it is usually the teacher or the trainer who learns the most from a session.  So, if you are new to the club, you are eligible to help us, and you will benefit greatly from it.

Let David know you want to help, and which evenings you will be available.

Email me, or phone on 9457 6468, or speak to me at the club meeting.

David Nicholas

New Member

Richard Strickland joined the Club. Richard attended the Speechcraft Course we ran in February/March this year. Since then he has been very busy in his work, but now has the time to take part. Of course he had a Table Topic from Neepa and was challenged – who is the happiest person you know? It was a challenge, but he survived it.

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Club Success Plan

President Heljo presented a Workshop about our plan to meet the 10 Goals in the Distinguished Club Plan. She took the names of members who are aiming at speaking and leadership awards during the year. We already have one Competent Communicator Award lodged by Amanda Siebert. There will be many more coming.

David gave a Tonic about our performance in the DCP (Distinguished Club Plan). He has recently viewed a web page report from Toastmasters Region 5. It showed that in District 73 we are the only club to have always been Presidents Distinguished Club with all 10 goals in every year.

Notices

This is a copy of the Notices from p.2 of the Agenda.

Double DTM

Our 4 Double DTMs

Distinguished Toastmaster – DTM – is the highest award in Toastmasters. It requires a lot of work in both the club and in administrative work in the broader Toastmaster community. Some members, having completed their first DTM, go on to do another one, or even more than that. In the 165 clubs in District 73 – that’s Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia – there are 6 members who have done this. 4 of them – that’s right, 4 of the 6 – are members in our Club.

Last night we honoured Mark Richards DTM who has just achieved his second award.

Mark Williamson was Toastmaster.

Mark Williamson

Mark applied himself with great energy in his first try at this demanding role. The meeting ran smoothly with no hitches. Early on he had a few stumbles with introducing speakers smoothly and convincingly, but when that was overcome it was plain sailing.

Lee gave the Inspiration.

She told us about Susan Boyle, the 47 year old single Irish woman, who starred in a singing talent show and has become enormously popular through postings on UTube. Susan sang I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables, inspiring Lee.
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Tony Obrzut

Tony presented Table Topics

He took us through scenarios based on encounters with aliens.

Alan’s question was Are there aliens among us? Yes there are – the strange people who belong to Toastmaster Clubs, working on public speaking skills.
Visitor John What would he say to the first alien he met? John had plenty to say – he would discuss suitable dress codes, how to communicate by email and other important matters to humans.
Visitor Michelle Who is to blame for the Global Financial Crisis? Michelle doubted that aliens would be very interested in financial crises, but if they were, she would like their advice on what to do about it.
Colin Simon What is the solution to the world food crisis? Colin felt sure aliens would suggest we adopt scientific production methods using Genetically Modified food crops.
Lee How would she explain to aliens that Startrek is actually just a movie, and not reality? Well, she would try hard, but actually she is not convinced it isn’t reality.
Mark Hamilton Is human cloning the way of the future? The aliens definitely think so, and so does Mark. He felt that if our meeting group could be cloned then the world’s problems would be sorted out.

Alan presented the Tonic. He has been reading some crazy ads collected in the New Scientist magazine.

Mark Richards presented the Table Topics Evaluation.

The prepared speeches

Gail Jenkins

Gail believes It’s Time to Talk About Alcohol. She gave her proposal – that each person present should become an agent for change in the community’s attitude to and use/misuse of alcohol, by taking action in our sphere of influence. She outlined the worsening situation with younger groups becoming addicted to alcohol. She dealt with the. problems resulting from this. Gail ended with a stirring call to action. Personal freedom is a great thing, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the rest of the community.

Colin Hughes evaluated Gail.

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Peta Anderson

Peta’s’s CC6 – Vocal Variety – speech was titled Gold Star.
Peta read to us a powerful poem by Australian poet Bruce Simpson. She chose to sit on a chair and read from there. The story was about a dramatic event on a droving trip. A fearful storm broke over the herd during the night. Gold Star was the 12 year old mare ridden by Dave. As the riders tried to head the herd off from running over a steep bank into the river, Dave came off, but Gold Star knew the procedure and did the job herself, but at the cost of her own life.

David evaluated Peta.

Peter Law

Peter’s Icebreaker speech was titled Forks in the road.
Peter gave us a series of snapshots of crucial times in his life when he had to decide what to do, and the result was important. The first was at 17 when, encouraged by his father, he went into the Army. The next was in the Army when he switched to the SAS. Then he married, and had 3 days for his honeymoon. Then a very important event – he was severely injured on a training drill. But he recovered and went into Admin, to work behind a desk. Fatherhood had a big impact on his life. He left the Army for a while. Now he is back in a way as a public servant, serving the Army. The last fork – joining Toastmasters. Where will that lead?
Neville evaluated Peter.

Glenis Nicholas

Glenis’s CC9 speech was titled Why?.
Why have David, Alan and Glenis remained in Victoria Quay for the past 14 years since it first met on Victoria Quay wharf in April 1995? Glenis outlined the benefits of being a long term member. She gave her own experience as a shy child who only spoke when spoken to, as a teacher – who are notoriously poor at public speaking, as a Lecturer who was subject, not audience, oriented, and as a Clinical Psychologist in private practice. It was Toastmasters which transformed her ability to handle public speaking opportunities. And it was through Toastmasters that she got training, practice and experience in leadership. She issued an invitation and a challenge – to stay on, to become a long term member with all the personal benefits that will accrue, and to pass on the skills to the members who will join the club down the years.

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Frank evaluated Glenis.

Diarmuid presented the Highlights.

Heljo Cameron

Heljo evaluated the evaluators.

She evaluated each of the evaluators in detail and gave each a one word summary analysis
Mark was Efficient
Colin was Analytical
David was Natural
Neville was Structured
Frank was Thorough

Ayden Durrance

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Mark Hamilton gave his first Timing Report.

Ayden evaluated the meeting.

President Gail closed the meeting.

Gail honoured Mark Richards for achieving his second Distinguished Toastmaster Award – the DTM. She pointed out that among the 165 clubs in our District 73, there are only 6 members who have achieved more than one DTM. And four of them were from Victoria Quay and present this night.

She presented David with a copy certificate for the presentation of Life Membership in the club, awarded the previous meeting.

She got feedback from our 3 visitors, Michelle, John and Jenny. She closed the meeting with the usual request for members to replace chairs and table in their standard positions, before sharing in the supper.

Gail prepared the supper.

Thank you, Victoria Quay.

Last Wednesday, April 22, 2009 a wonderful honour was paid me.  Yes, I was made a life member of the Club I founded with Lesley Amm back in 1995.

It was our 14th Anniversary celebration.
Our first meeting was held on the wharf at Victoria Quay in April, 1995. We have met continuously since then, every Wednesday night, except for a few week off over the Christmast/New Year break. The 14th Anniversary meeting was Meeting 682. What a wonderful record.

Four of us are still in the club

Glenis Nicholas and Alan Smith have maintained continuous membership since that first meeting. Judith Ingle had a break of a few years, but she has been back with us for quite a while now.

I have enjoyed my 14 years membership very much. The Toastmaster International database shows that in that time Victoria Quay has been the outstanding club in Australia. Through our consistent early Presidents Distinguished Club status with all 10 goals we must be near or at the top of the world rankings as well. It is an honour to be one of the leaders in such a wonderful club.

Thank you to President Gail, the Officers and all the members of Club 5769, Victoria Quay Toastmasters.

David Nicholas DTM

Heljo Cameron won our February International Contest

We had three excellent contestants – Heljo Cameron, Claire Lacy and Lee Syminton – for our International Contest on Feb 11, 2009.

Chief Judge Glenis congratulates Heljo

Gail Jenkins was Contest Chair, David Nicholas delivered the Judging Workshop and Glenis Nicholas was Chief Judge. Victoria Quay member, Pascale Amberville Colby, is our W21 Area Governor.

The next round

The W21 Area Contest will be hosted by Gateway on Tuesday evening, February 24, 2009. There were be two representatives from each of 3 Clubs – Victoria Quay, Gateway and Southsiders. This means that we will represented by Heljo and Claire in the International, and Shaun and Heljo in the Evaluation.

A bumper meeting

We have had a powerful start to 2009. There were 28 people at the meeting with 7 visitors, several of whom are likely to join. Already this year we have 5 new members – Gary (rejoining), Janice, Ayden, Neville & Siobahn.

Shaun Dore won our February Evaluation Contest

We had three excellent contestants – Gail Jenkins, Shaun Dore and Heljo Cameron – for our Evaluation Contest on Feb 4, 2009.

Michael Geisler from Canning Vale Toastmasters was the Test Speaker. Alan Smith was Contest Chair and David Nicholas was Chief Judge. Victoria Quay member, Pascale Amberville Colby, is our W21 Area Governor, so he presented Shaun with his winner’s certificate.

W21 Area Governor Pascale congratulates Shaun

Next Wednesday, February 11, we will be holding our International Speech Contest.