What a wonderful inspiring, entertaining and informative
meeting we had on Wednesday. It even inspired me to write this article!
Each week, we have a different theme, chosen by the
Toastmaster for the meeting.
Over the years we have had a huge variety and range of themes or topics and sometimes (but not very often,) like today, the themes repeat. What can make the theme more unique is the intro question that each member gets to answer based on the theme. I will come to that shortly.
Over the years we have had a huge variety and range of themes or topics and sometimes (but not very often,) like today, the themes repeat. What can make the theme more unique is the intro question that each member gets to answer based on the theme. I will come to that shortly.
Christine was our Toastmaster (TM) for the day. She set the
scene for today’s theme (Halloween) by placing lots of spiders and bloody severed fingers
on each table. Yuck! Various people
came along dressed in black with some orange thrown in to get in to the
‘spirit’ of the occasion.
Ian, our newest tribal elder brought along this rather
sinister looking ‘treat dispenser’ which contained jelly beans. If you tried to
take a treat, this mean witchy creatures came to life, scaring the bejebers out
of you as it talked and went to bite
your finger off!! Good one Ian. That is bound to cure any kid from coming to
your door on Halloween! (hmm… Maybe some of us could borrow it…what do you
think *Mary?)
Nick, the Sargent at arms started the meeting at 7 am sharp
with some thoughts on the theme and a couple of jokes to get us started or
warmed up. Mind you, with all those spiders, chopped off fingers and a witch
that bites your fingers off, most of us were already warmed up! BTW, Christine, is that how you got all of those
loose bloody fingers? From those that
persisted in getting a jelly bean out of Ian’s mean witchy dispenser.
Julie Anne presented the word
of the day: “Pumpkin” with her beautiful artistic touch.
She gave us an interesting and informative spiel on pumpkin
and its association with Halloween.
I always learn something new at every TM meeting and get entertained in the process. Julie Anne encouraged each of us to use the word during the meeting and she reported on the use of this word, other interesting words and grammar, plus use of filler words such as umh’s and ah’s in her grammarian report. (Presented towards the end of the meeting). Eliminating unnecessary filler words from our speech is something most of us try to achieve, but it can be a hard habit to break.
I always learn something new at every TM meeting and get entertained in the process. Julie Anne encouraged each of us to use the word during the meeting and she reported on the use of this word, other interesting words and grammar, plus use of filler words such as umh’s and ah’s in her grammarian report. (Presented towards the end of the meeting). Eliminating unnecessary filler words from our speech is something most of us try to achieve, but it can be a hard habit to break.
TM Christine chose the intro question: “What would you have
as trick or treat?” which each person (guests and members) in the audience answered.
I think everyone had a good laugh with
many of the responses. Some of the tricks were hilarious and one member, who I
shall call Mary* (not her real name) really made me laugh when she told us she
didn’t like Halloween much, and preferred to pretend she wasn’t home, leaving
the lights off to deter those pesky “trick or treaters”. I’m sure many of us could relate to that!
Next on the agenda was Ian with his ice breaker speech. A 4-6
min speech about his life. Although he is a “veteran” toastmaster, he is new to
our club, so it was good to hear his “lucky me” story. Thank's Ian, I think we
are lucky to have you in our club.
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| Which Witches hat? |
I led the Table topics or impromptu speaking section. A
little bit different this time. Each participant (Julie Anne, Nick, Paul and Nicole), got to choose
a piece of paper which contained 1 or two words relating to the theme of the
day. The participants then had to give a 1 min speech on the topic selected. Again,
the responses were interesting and entertaining. Well done guys!
Evaluations are a key factor in all Toastmasters meetings,
Paul evaluated Ian’s speech and Zach, evaluated the table topics participants.
Well done to both and Zach in particular, as I think that was your first evaluation?
Next on the agenda was a forum led by Hannah (a student nurse
and one of our youngest members). Hannah dragged her younger sister Laura out
of bed to assist as her scribe and both did a wonderful job. I love the
Castellijn sisters (there are 5 of them), as they remind me of growing up with my
own 4 sisters (plus a few brothers) back in Ireland.
The topic for the forum was: ”Increasing jobs for young people on the Gold
coast.” There was a very lively discussion with some very interesting and useful
points or suggestions raised by various members of the audience, many whom are
involved in small business and/or management. This section was both inspiring
and informative. Inspiring to see what a good job Hannah did leading this forum
with such a relevant topic. Plus, Laura did a great job as “scribe” with her
neat legible handwriting on the flip chart.
Informative with the thought provoking points raised by the audience.
It was nice to hear feedback via Hannah afterwards, that Laura
was so impressed with her first TM meeting at our club, she said “She has
to join Toastmasters.” Which she plans to do when she turns 18.
Thanks to everyone who participated in today’s meeting and
to the TM of the day and president Christine who did a great job. All in all – a wonderful, inspiring,
informative and highly entertaining meeting. A reminder to all that Helensvale
daybreak is truly a dynamic and fun way to start the day.
By Ursula Beatty ACG.
ALB ; VPPR
