CONCORD WEST TOASTMASTERS MEETING No: 1117 – Tuesday 22nd November 2011

S@A Paul commenced on time.

Presidents Welcome – John welcomed 2 Visitors Angela and BiJu as well as Lyndal visiting again from Parramatta and Hunter’s Hill Club plus a slightly later arrival Lei Guo.

Apologies – Glen H, Brett, Peter, Katrina, Dai Fei and Bernard

Chairman First Session – Daniel

Reading of the Mission of the Club – Mark (Almost word perfect from memory again).

Word of the Day [Cogent] Sam as (Grammarian)

Introductions – Daniel’s topic was ‘How did you hear about Toastmasters?” which always proves a very helpful guide for the Executive to know how members and Visitors come to visit a Toastmasters Club in the first place.

Agenda Update – Kimberley

Leadership Manual Evaluations – Lyndel took on this task for the evening but we do need to ensure that people involved in leadership roles do bring their Manuals along please.

First Speech Session was led by Sam as Toastmaster and introduced Josh with his speech with the intriguing title of: “Don’t Empty Your Trough”. A highly informative and somewhat alarming address that delved into the physical and social dangers of recreational drug use, particularly focused on Ecstasy and the harmful affects of over stimulation of Serotonin.

Sam then introduced Meghan with her second speech entitled: “The Joys of Christmas” with which Meghan took us on a poignant journey on the joys and pitfalls of the Christmas season that was cleverly tinged with whimsy and wry wit laying perfect ground work for the audience as we enter the approaching festive season.

John Evaluated Josh’s speech pointing out some noticeable areas in improvement in Josh’s use of the speaking space as well as noting that Josh’s knowledge and research of his topic left the audience wanting an opportunity for Q&A at the end of a highly informative presentation.

Kimberley presented a highly experienced and well structured Evaluation of Meghan’s speech that was both very encouraging as well as providing some very sound tools for improvement on what was a particularly well presented second speech.

Break

Chairman Second Session  – Philip who apologized for his delayed arrival due to work commitments but grasped the mantle of the task.

Toast – Mark lead a Toast to the Leadership Team of the Club in a very warmly presented tribute to the contribution that the Executive makes in maintaining a pleasant and functional Club.

Second Speech Session was led by Daniel as Toastmaster and introduced Edmond presenting a his second speech from the Competent Communicator Manual – Organise Your Speech – with a speech entitled ‘Share Investment Tips for Everyone’. Edmond's knowledge in this area was clearly evident in a well-planned and extremely well presented foray into the complex world of share trading. Edmond clarified the various methods of investing and gave simple succinct outlines of each before wrapping up very sensibly with a Disclaimer of his personal position in relation to investment advice.

Daniel then introduced Juliet with her speech ‘J.O.K.E’ in which Juliet unpacked the very impact that how you feel can influence the nature of person you become and indeed even broader – the people you tend to associate with. Delivered with great thought and conviction Juliet’s personal style and emotional investment were clearly evident in a speech that not only delivered a message but also had us all practicing our smiles.

Edmond was Evaluated by Tanya in her first ever Evaluation role demonstrating some very capable insights into what was a somewhat technical presentation which is not always an easy task in the first place.  Juliet was very capably Evaluated by Chris who is both highly experienced and very meticulous in his observations and recommendations.

Table Topics – was presented by Kimberley who had earlier taken leave to ask us all to write down briefly an interesting fact about ourselves that no other member would be likely to know about us. Kimberley had then correlated this information and asked each Table Topic participant to come out and explain who we thought might have been the author of the particular fact, chosen at random by Kimberley, and to explain why we thought that person was the author.

This was a highly innovative and potentially complex Table Topic execution that was managed superbly by Kimberley and engendered some amazingly good (educated) guesses by some and some wild misses by others but provided an excellent platform achieving the purpose of Table Topics: getting up and thinking on your feet and constructing a mini-speech with an introduction, body and conclusion. Well done.

Umms and Ahs – Kimberley

Grammarian – Sam (with a fairly limited use of the Word of the Day. Come on folks!)

Big Ears – John; presented a couple of tough calls on the collective memory.

Timers Report – Edmond; we were running overtime tonight.

General Evaluator – Natasha: with an excellent summation of the evening.

Forward Planner – Kimberley

Guests Comments – We had comments from all 4 Visitors tonight and hope to see them back at our next meeting.

Announcements – Kimberley reminded us of the upcoming Dinner Meeting next week and stressed the need for people to commit to the Forward Planner.
Kimberley also advised that our next full meeting will be the last for the year and that we will be having some light refreshments served during an extended break.

President’s Closing Remarks – John thanked the 4 Visitors again and made brief mention of the introduction of our new portable Lectern and the need to get used to using it as was also pointed out in Natasha’s General Evaluation.

Meeting Closed – a few minutes overtime at 9:40pm.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 29th November – Dinner Meeting
Tuesday 13th December – Final Meeting for 2011
Wednesday 14th December – Area 6 Combined Christmas Party