CONCORD WEST TOASTMASTERS MEETING No: 1140 – 13th November 2012

S@A Glenn D called the meeting to order and handed the meeting over to Club President Philip for a General Welcome to a very large gathering that included Visitors; Yanti, (Glenn D’s mother), Helen, Melanie and Samuel.

Philip also announced that a member of Gourmet Toastmasters he had just won the District 70 Table Topics Competition at the recent District 70 Conference.

Philip also made mention of a special Monday night Club Executive Meeting that had been held the evening before at which some new initiatives were discussed, some of which were being implemented tonight.

Formal Apologies had been recorded from Peter, Nikita, Raghar, Heather and Amelia.

Daniel was the Chairman for the first half of the meeting.

Ua read the Mission of the Club with great thought and pace and John was invited to provide us the challenge of the Word of the Day – Assiduous!

In the interests of time Daniel asked the members provide very brief Introductions while Visitors were asked to give a brief account of what they hoped to achieve from Toastmasters.

Philip stood in as VPE to take us through some minor updates to the Agenda while Glen H took on the Leadership Manual Evaluations.

The Toastmaster for the first Speech Session was Mark, introducing 3 speakers;

Lyndal conducted an Educational on Evaluations. A very well prepared and crafted speech based on a wealth of personal experience while retaining much of the guidelines set down in the Toastmaster’s Club Series.

The second speaker was William with his Ice Breaker. William gave a sterling performance with a narrative that gave us an insight into his journey to Australia, his studies and his early career journey.

The third speaker was Glenn D with a speech entitled; “I Will Smash Them All, Whoever They Are!” in which Glenn set out a very insightful account of the life and times of the former President of Indonesia – President Suharto. Glen called on his depth of knowledge and deep personal interest in Indonesian politics to give us a very balanced account of this man of immense power and influence.

Philip provided a very encouraging and helpful Evaluation of William’s Ice Breaker providing a depth of experience necessary in giving a balanced and informative assessment of this a very important first speech.

Glenn D was Evaluated by Lyndal again calling on a wealth of experience in the role to provide points for praise, improvement and praise.

In a new initiative coming from the latest Executive Meeting John provided a General Evaluation of the first half of the meeting. This initiative will mean that more members will now get the opportunity to both be on their feet for speaking practice, but also to ease into the all important Evaluation roles. John provided a succinct overview of the meeting so far providing feedback for those roles that had as yet not been appraised.

Following a 10 minute Break S@A Glenn handed the meeting to Philip continuing as Chairman for the second half.

Neelan presented his first ever Toast recalling the impact that Michael Jackson had had on society in our lifetime, before Philip stepped into the role of Toastmaster for the Second Speech Session.

Bernard presented a speech based on Getting Comfortable with Visual Aids entitled: “The Next Big Thing” which was a visual feast as Bernard unpacked his very detailed and highly organized plans for a romantic holiday in Tasmania with his girlfriend. Using amusing collaged images of themselves enjoying the adventurous and tranquil vocational opportunities available in Tasmania Bernard had clearly put in a lot of effort and preparation in a highly entertaining presentation.

Mark then presented a speech entitled; “The Graduate” in which he unfolded a story of great drama and pathos revolving around a tragic accident that occurred on a normally tranquil Irish country lane where the story had as many twists and turns as the lanes themselves. Mark built the tension right to the end revealing a surprisingly personal involvement in the tragedy. Maybe it was Mark’s Irish lilt, but the speech was reminiscent of the excellent ghost stories that used to be featured by Irish comedian Dave Allen on his TV shows.

Bernard was Evaluated by Marlowe in her first ever Speech Evaluation with a well-structured and highly observant assessment of Bernard’s presentation that had excellent balance between praise and improvement.

Mark was Evaluated by Glen H with great care and attention leveled at a speaker of significant experience and capability.

Table Topics was presided over by Dai Fei who presented the speakers with the challenge of being eye-witnesses to a variety of somewhat serious scenarios chosen at random by the speakers. This called on the speakers imaginations to build vivid images in the minds of the audience of what they had ‘witnessed’ as much as to respond with intuition to the scenarios they were confronted with. Most of our Visitors took part which is always very pleasing to witness.

Evaluations were undertaken by Neelan and Ua both of whom took on this rather frenetic task for the first time and carried it off admirably.

Ums and Ahs Count was recorded by Bernard.

Grammarian John picked up a couple of outings by the Word of the Day and had both questionable phrases and some articulate phrases to draw our attention to.

The Big Ears challenge was administrated by Tiffany in her first ever attempt at the role.

Fazard kept track of the Timing for the evening in what was again another first for the evening.

Paul provided a very succinct second-half General Evaluation with an expected degree of experience.

Daniel (left) receiving his somewhat belated Area 6 International Speech Trophy from Club President Philip.
Daniel’s name appears a number of times on this Area 6 perpetual Trophy along with a number of other Concord West Club members.

All Visitors provided very supportive feedback in the Guests Comments before President Philip presented his Closing Remarks and officiated over an informal albeit belated presentation to Daniel of his Area 6 International Speech Winners Trophy for 2012, a task which had fallen through the cracks earlier in the year with the premature retirement of the past Area Governor.

UPCOMING EVENTS 

Next Normal Club Meeting

Tuesday 27th November 2012

Final Club Meeting for 2012

Tuesday 11^th December 2012

CONCORD WEST TOASTMASTERS 50th ANNIVERSARY DINNER – SATURDAY 27th October 2012

Following almost 18 months of discussion and planning the day had actually arrived.

On the Friday morning 26^th October, a group of volunteers including; Marlowe, Philip, Paul, Glenn D and John along with assistance from John’s wife Keiko, gathered at the RSL Club and started setting up the room.

Tables were arranged, dressed and set under the expert supervision of Marlowe. Paul ensured the place settings were meticulously laid out and under the tuition of Keiko, Glenn and John were even able to prepare 64 Opera House inspired napkins.

Saturday afternoon Bernie and Rosemary Fisher arrived to start setting up the Sound System and Lyndal and Daniel were on deck to put the finishing touches to lights and flowers.

The RSL Club dining room in which the Club regularly meets looked an absolute treat.

Guests arrived from 7:00pm to be offered Sparkling Wine and Beer along with platters of fabulous finger food.

We were Called to Order at 7:30pm sharp and Paul Viviers officiated as Master of Ceremonies expertly assisted by Kimberley Chapman.

Paul invited long-standing member Peter Crosby to introduce the Table Trivia Quiz that was on every table and encouraged guests to have a go at a variety of general knowledge, local area and Toastmaster questions from the past 50 years.

Club President Philip Bendeich was then invited to deliver the Welcome and in doing so introduced the honoured Guests; Mr John Murphy MP Federal Member for Reid and his wife Adriane, Mayor Angelo Tsirekas, Mayor of Canada Bay, District 70 Governor Jan Vecchio and a long list of Distinguished Toastmasters and former District Governors, as well as the current Philip Division Governor Alex Thomas and his wife Elizabeth and our very own Area 6 Governor Brett Sutcliffe and his partner Kristen.

John Murphy was then invited to address the gathering and as part of an excellent impromptu speech stressed the importance and value of reading and its impact on learning, communicating and speaking in public. Along the way we learned about John’s time growing up in the country and his early passion to have become a musician before entering law and becoming a politician.

Angelo Tsirekas was then introduced to make a very special presentation to the Club on behalf of the City of Canada Bay and Club President Philip gratefully accepted a plaque commemorating the achievement of the Club’s 50 years of service to the local community. Negotiations have since been undertaken to have this plaque hung permanently on display in a learning room at the Concord Library. Angelo also paid tribute to one of the former members of Toastmasters who was with us, a former Mayor of Concord and last year’s Citizen of the Year for his tireless work with Meals on Wheels, Mr Alan Wright, who was a member of the Club in the sixties.

District Governor Jan Vecchio then made another presentation to the Club on behalf of Toastmasters International and District 70 and again the Club is looking at ensuring that these plaques are displayed publicly.

Immediate Past President John Hughson was then called upon to deliver the Toast for the evening. John reflected on his personal knowledge of Ron Routley (a former Mayor of Concord before it merged to become the City of Canada Bay) the man who chartered Concord West Club in 1962, and whom the cricket oval just behind the RSL Club where we now meet is named – in a toast; “To those who went before”.

Dinner was served with a choice of either superbly cooked steak and vegetables or a huge John Dory in what every recipient said was a magical sauce. Washed down with bottles of red and white on every table.

As the tables were cleared our very own Club veteran Daniel Tucker delivered a fabulously morphed speech combining his winning entry in the Club and Area 6 International Speech Contests earlier this year with another classic topic he has presented entitled: “If it wasn’t for Toastmasters”. A truly inspirational demonstration of the essence of Toastmasters – and hugely entertaining as well.

Dessert was then served with a mouth-watering choice of Chocolate Brownie or Carrot Cake but presented in a manner worthy of Master Chef.

We then had a Special Guest presentation by Colin Emerson who had travelled from Canberra just for the occasion. Colin was an Australian Competitor in the International World Championships in the United States earlier this year and was invited by Club President Philip to present a speech at our 50^th Celebration.

Colin paid tribute to the caliber of the Club’s representatives who have spoken and presented thus far before delivering a stirring motivational speech that covered a broad range of benefits and challenges that can be met by Toastmasters. A very impassioned, and highly entertaining speech demonstrating exactly why Colin was a worthy representative in the US.

Peter Crosby was then welcomed back to the floor to put us all out of our misery with the answers to the Table Trivia Questions. Special Certificate presentations were awarded (in true Toastmaster tradition) to the First Place and Runner Up Tables. The VIPs took out First Place while the Sixties Veterans, very appropriately, took out the Runner Up position.

The evening was wrapped up with a highly emotive speech from Club President Philip paying tribute to the broader organisation as well as the Concord West Club membership and finally to the many members who had contributed to the evening’s success.

The final endorsement of what an excellent evening it had been – could be seen in how many people lingered to chat long afterwards. A memorable evening in the history of Concord West Toastmasters.

Special thanks to; John, Marlowe, Mark, Daniel, Peter, Glenn, Lyndal, Paul, Kimberley as well as Bernie and Rosemary Fisher for their planning, assistance and contribution to the success of the evening. And to the management and staff of the Concord RSL.

CONCORD WEST CLUB SCOOPS THE POOL IN 2012

L>R: Area 6 Table Topics, Area 6 International and Area 6 Humorous Competition Trophies
in the hands of Concord West Club for 2012

Concord West Toastmasters holds three of the four Area 6 First Place Trophies for the 2012 Speech Competition season.

Daniel won the Area 6 International Competition back in March this year and went on to be Runner Up (Second) at the Phillip Division Contest.

In October this year John won the Area 6 Humorous and Table Topics Contests and like Daniel went on to be the Runner Up (Second) in both Competitions at the Phillip Division Contests.

The Area 6 International Trophy carries the names of a number of Concord West Club Winners including: Daniel Tucker in 1997, 1999, 2001 and again in 2012. John Hughson in 2009 and 2011 and Adam Butler in 2010.

The Area 6 Humorous Trophy is a new replacement, but the old trophy includes past winners from Concord West: Peter Crosby, Tony Spragg and John Hughson.

The Area 6 Table Topics Trophy also carries the names of past Concord West Members including; Anna Di Donato 2003 and Diane Giblin 2007.

The Club has a very rich resource of new members who have every possibility of going on to better the Clubs chances at achieving higher goals in the near future.

CONCORD WEST TOASTMASTERS MEETING No: 1139 – 23rd October 2012

S@A Glenn D called the meeting to order and handed the meeting over to Club President Philip for a General Welcome to a very large gathering that included Visitors; Matt, Amelia and Susan. And made special mention that this was the first meeting of our newly married couple Lyndal and Daniel before passing the meeting to John as the Chairman for the first half of the meeting.

Formal Apologies had been received from Fazard, Tiffany, Glen H, Kimberley and Bernard.

John invited Peter to read the Mission of the Club before asking Marlowe to provide us the challenge of the Word of the Day – Rapacious!

John provided the topic of ‘Anniversaries’ as the theme of the brief Introductions.

VPE Meghan took us through some minor updates to the Agenda while Glenn D took on the challenge of Leadership Manual Evaluations for the first time.

The Toastmaster for the first Speech Session was Lyndal who as always tackled the role with great poise and precision, introducing 2 speakers.

Neelan delivered his Ice Breaker entitled; ‘My Journey’ which proved to be an exceptionally well prepared and structured incite in Neelan’s private and business life and revealed a great deal of what motivates him in his journey. An exceptionally polished Ice Breaker.

The second speaker was Club president Philip with a rehearsal for a speech he will deliver next Saturday at the 50^th Anniversary Dinner evening as the President’s Address. Philip combined, history, commitment and a principle of putting pack into the Club as much as you get out of it in a stirring motivational address delivered with confidence and authority.

Neelan was Evaluated by Peter who provided some excellent advice and substantial praise for what was an exemplary Ice Breaker speech.

Philip was Evaluated by Daniel T as well as inviting any other comment and feedback in preparation for the upcoming 50^th Anniversary celebrations.

Following a 10 minute Break S@A Glenn handed the meeting to President Philip as Chairman for the second half.

Ua presented a very timely Toast to ‘Team Spirit’ before Philip called on Meghan to conduct the Second Speech Session as Toastmaster.

Paul delivered a speech entitled “Six and Out” in which he provided an insight into the rapidly expanding third generation of his family in a warm and charming tale that provided an amusing incite into his growing clan.

Nikita presented her first Ice Breaker speech entitled; “A Dream that Tells a Tale”, which provided an excellent insight into her story so far. An exceptionally well written, rehearsed and delivered speech which had a generous supply of humour, wit and solid story telling, addressing all the objectives of an Ice Breaker.

VPM Mark then followed with an audio visual presentation from the Advanced Club Series “Finding New Members” reinforcing not only the benefits of membership growth but illuminating the importance of both encouraging and supporting new membership and how it is the role of every member to contribute.

Paul was Evaluated by Daniel T, Nikita by John demonstrating their experience and providing great encouragement balanced with points for improvement.

Mark”s Educational required no Evaluation.

Table Topics was presided over by Philip and while sensitive to the diminishing time encouraged a couple of the newer members and the evening’s Visitors to tackle the challenge of speaking to some normally well know colloquial sayings.

The biggest surprises came from a Visitor Matt and very new member William as they got up and had a go.

Evaluations were undertaken by Brett and the Editor unfortunately didn’t note the second Evaluator who had stood in at the last minute..

Ums and Ahs Count was recorded by Raghav in his first undertaking in that role.

Grammarian Marlowe picked up a couple of outings by the Word of the Day and had both questionable phrases and some articulate phrases to draw our attention to.

The Big Ears challenge was administrated by Brett.

Paul had kept track of the Timing for the evening and reminded us of the importance of keeping to schedule.

Peter provided a very succinct General Evaluation of the evening in order to keep us to a respectable time limit.

Both Visitors provided very supportive feedback in the Guests Comments before President Philip presented his Closing Remarks including a reminder regarding Saturday night’s upcoming 50^th Anniversary and congratulated John on coming second in both the Humorous Speech and Table Topics competitions at the  Phillip Division contest last weekend at Campbelltown.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday 27th October – 50^th Anniversary Dinner
Concord RSL Club

Next Meeting

Tuesday 13^th November
(That’s 3 weeks time).

PHILIP DIVISION HUMOROUS AND TABLE TOPICS COMPETITION 2012

Phillip Division Humorous Speech Winners 2012
L>R: Winner; Karyn Charlton, Runner-Up; John Hughson, Third Place; Julie Tran

The Philip Division Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest was held on Sunday 21st October 2012 at the Campbelltown Catholic Club. Concord West Club and Area 6 were represented in both contests by Immediate Past President John Hughson.
Six Toastmaster Areas were represented from throughout the greater south-western region of Sydney and drew an audience of around 150 plus.
John drew the second speaking position for the Humorous Speech and final position in the Table Topics.
Presenting his speech entitled “So You Don’t Believe in Aliens” and then addressing a Table Topic of: “What is next on your Bucket List?” John managed Second place (Runner Up) in both Competitions.
Asked later John said; “The competition this year was of a very high standard and I was extremely surprised to get a placing in the Humorous. But as last speaker in the Table Topics, it meant I had absolutely no idea of the standard of those who were before me, as of course I am locked up in a room well away, so I cannot get a hint of the Topic”.
“The very worthy winner of the Humorous Speech presented one of the truly funny, clever and well crafted humorous speeches I have witnessed.” John said.
Concord West Club supporters included the newly married Mr & Mrs Daniel and Lyndal Tucker as well as President Philip Bendeich and Area 6 Governor Brett Sutcliffe who also officiated over the Toast for the afternoon’s proceedings.

Phillip Division Table Topics Winners 2012
L>R: Winner; Oksana Valentine, Runner-Up; John Hughson, Third Place; Michelle Jackson

CONCORD WEST TOASTMASTERS MEETING No: 1138 – 9th October 2012

Area 6 Humorous and Table Topics Contest

This years Area 6 Humorous and Table Topics Contest was held at the Burwood RSL Club and hosted by the Smooth Speech Club.

Concord West Club’s Brett did an exceptional job, officiated as Area Governor
for the 2012 Area 6 Humorous and Table Topics Contest

Along with the Host Club representatives from Burwood Club, Burwood Telecom, our own Concord West Club, RailCorp Burwood and Yaralla Club participated.

The evening was presided over by our own Area Governor Brett and included special guests Division Governor Alex and a number of other Area Governors and Distinguished Toastmasters who fulfilled the role of Judges.

Following the Contestants Briefing we got down to business. Our own Club representative, John drew last position in the Humorous Speech section and first position in the Table Topics.

The Table Topic was “Does Education end when you finish school?’

During the break light refreshments were served and following the Interviews conducted by members of Smooth Speech who fulfilled the 2 Toastmaster roles we had a Raffle Draw where a number of our Club Members were successful.

Then the winners were announced and Concord West’s entrant in both competitions was victorious in both competitions.

L>R: Area Governor Brett, Fumbling Winner John (receiving the Table Topics First Place Trophy) and Division Governor Alex.

That now means that Concord West Club currently holds 3 of the 4 Area Trophies in this one year, with Daniel victorious in the International Speech contest earlier this year.

A major coup for our Club.

L>R: Area Governor Brett, Winner John (receiving the Humorous Speech First Place Trophy) and Division Governor Alex.

John now represents Area 6 at the Phillip Division Contest in just over one week.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sunday 21st October – Phillip Division Humorous and Table Topics Competition
Campelltown Catholic Club – 2pm

Tuesday 23rd October – Normal Meeting

Saturday 27th October – 50^th Anniversary Dinner
Concord RSL Club

CONCORD WEST TOASTMASTERS MEETING No: 1137 – Tuesday 25th September 2012

S@A Glenn called the meeting to order introducing President Philip, who after welcoming a Visitor, Annie advised the meeting of the passing of a District Toastmaster Tony Zammit and provided some background into Tony’s passing as well as his role in District 70. Phiip then requested a one minutes’ silence in memory of Tony.

Before handing the meeting to the Chairman for the session – Paul, Philip asked us all to recite the Mission of the Club together.

Apologies: No formal apologies had been received.

Introductions –To accompany our Introductions Paul charged us with a brief account of out Post Grand final Week which produced some very surprising and richly diverse interpretations of the ‘Grand Final’ weekend.

The Agenda Update was very extensive but was handled with aplomb by VPE Meghan.

Leadership Manual Evaluation - Peter.

The first prepared speech session was led by Toastmaster Glen H and started off with an Educational from Peter – Beginning a Speech – in which Peter took us very methodically through some excellent guidelines and meaty examples accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation was also accompanied by some very useful handout notes.

The second Prepared Speech was delivered by Kimberley entitled: “Travel Wisdom (Part 2)” in which Kimberley drew on incidents from a very recent overseas trip unraveling pearls of wisdom that included hiring a Pick Up Truck, a not-so-luxurious launch commute and some very keen advice regarding choosing your airline carefully.

The third Prepared Speech was presented by Tiffany entitled: “The Principle Benefits of Community Development”, in which Tiffany demonstrated great passion and knowledge of a somewhat complex subject that is obviously close to her heart and area of expertise. It was a highly informative and well structured speech delivered with genuine intent.

Peter was Evaluated by Paul, Kimberley by Meghan and Tiffany by Philip, all of whom demonstrated exemplary adjudication and listening skills with a faithful adherence to the Evaluation principles of Praise, Improvement, Praise.

Going to the Break a fair way overtime S@A Glenn D called us back to order and handed the meeting to Philip as Chairman for the second half of the evening.

Paul delivered the Toast for the evening before Glenn D assumed the mantle of Toastmaster for the second session introducing Sanga with his Ice Breaker Speech entitled “Lucky Enough”. Sanga gave an excellent account of himself as he unpacked the successes that he can identify in his life thus far and in so doing gave us an excellent account of his background story in him first ever speech to the Club.

Glenn D then introduced Ua with his third speech entitled; “Do you shop on Price or Service”, revealing a very thoughtful and well planned analysis of buying habits and attitudes and challenging us to more specifically think through our motivations when purchasing anything in today’s marketplace.

Sanga was Evaluated by Kimberley having a very busy night, while Glen H gave some great encouragement and direction to Ua in an analysis of his excellent speech.

The meeting was then handed over to John as Table Topics Master for the evening. John sort to extract the creative juices from the assembled group by asking each presenter to give an account of what and how they would tackle a variety of creative expressions like writing a novel, painting a picture, writing a letter to the Editor etc. This provoked a variety of responses from the humorous to the thoughtful and most places in between.

With time running out Mark and new member Nakita did an excellent overview of the respective odd and even numbered presenters.

Brief Reports were delivered for the following items:

Ums and Ahs were captured by Faz.

Grammarian was conducted by Mark.

Timer’s Report was recorded by Bernard.

Big Ears were rewarded by Kimberley.

And a brief General Evaluation was expediently covered by John.

Meghan took the meeting through the Forward Planner.

It was acknowledged that both Willian and Neelan have joined the Club and will be more formally welcomed at a future meeting.

Visitor Annie paid tribute to the general friendliness of the assembled group.

President Philip presenting the Tony Spragg Trophy for Humorous Speech to the 2012 Winner John

 President Philip made a presentation to the newest Club Humorous Contest Winner John of the Tony Spragg Trophy for Humorous Speeches before providing some closing remarks and encouraged the Club Members to attend the Area 6 Humorous Speech and Table Topics Competition in place of our normal meeting in a fortnight’s time, before declaring the meeting closed.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 9^th October – Area 6 Humorous and Table Topics Competition

Burwood RSL Club – 7pm

Tuesday 23rd October – Normal Meeting

Saturday 27th October – 50^th Anniversary Dinner
Concord RSL Club