Four club members achieve Competent Communicator awards - March 2017 - Report by Ursula Beatty

Congratulations to four of our members, who recently received their Competent Communicator (CC) awards from Toastmasters International,  after completing their first 10 speech projects from the CC manual. A wonderful achievement indeed, especially as many of these members have very busy schedules with young families, full time work and or study commitments.

Competent communicator (CC) awarded to:  L to R -

Nick O'Donnell,  Paul Kirkland, Nicole Kelly &  Hannah Castelijn

"Toastmasters was recommended to me by a hiring manager after a failed attempt to gain a Team Leader position. Strong leadership and communication skills, coupled with technical knowledge, are a pre-requisite in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry that I work in because there are many challenges to supplying our customers and consumers the high quality and safe products they expect.

The most valued quality I have gained out of attending regular meetings at Helensvale Daybreak Toastmasters club is confidence. Not just in the confidence to speak in front of an audience but also the confidence to coach and lead others to be the best that they can be.

Completing my Competent Communicator, showed the hiring manager that I took on board his recommendation. One day, I hope that this will lead to the Team Leader role I seek, when the next opportunity presents itself." Nick O'Donnell, Club Sergeant at Arms.

“I joined Toastmasters to improve my public speaking skills but gained so much more. Whilst it’s true my fellow Toastmasters provided a safe and interactive platform for me to develop my public speaking ability, I really feel my in-depth learning has come from enhanced listening skills, and the confidence to proactively critique others. I was allocated a fabulous mentor who has not only guided me throughout my Toastmaster journey, but also instilled a level of understanding far beyond the curriculum (which I will forever be grateful for).

Toastmaster’s offers value through its participants and the Helensvale Club is an exceptional demonstration of this characteristic, through its diverse member age, expertise, culture and public speaking ability. No matter your rational for joining the club you can rest assured that the benefits will far exceed your expectations if you are prepared to go the extra mile!”

Nicole Kelly, Club Secretary , busy mother of 2 small children and director of her own business.

"I joined Toast Masters to overcome a fear I had of public speaking.


Since taking on this challenge and achieving my Competent Communicator badge I have gained a greater confidence in public speaking, due to the projects I completed. Learning how to structure, present yourself and make an impact with a speech is second to none at TM's.


It takes a little time and commitment to complete each speech, but it is all worth it in the end.

My fellow members have become good friends and its always a pleasure to see them at each meeting. This new skill has opened many doors for me, in my role as a Business Development Manager." Paul Kirkland.

Do you want to leave a comment on this post or leave a message for any of our CC achievers?Click on the comments button below.

"Be the best that you can be": Southern Division Conference & speech contests 2017 - Report by Ursula Beatty VPPR

"Be the best that you can be" was the theme for this years Southern Division conference. What a great theme!  chosen by Teresa Blake the current Southern Division director.

In conjunction with the conference, The third round of the annual speech contests took place at the Bicentennial community centre, Nerang, QLD. on Sat March 18th, 2017

With over 100 in attendance, it was a great success and for our club member Julie Anne Cantwell, it was also a personal success as she brought home the 1st prize trophy for the Humorous contest. Congratulations and very well  done Julie Anne!

Julie Anne, the  mother of two daughters and  a practicing Naturopath and massage therapist on the Gold Coast,  has only been in our  club for 1 year, so it is a great credit to her. Julie Anne is not shy however, when it comes to performing, as she also sings and plays the guitar in a group called 'The String beans'.

Julie Anne  will now go on to represent the southern division at the 4th round of the contests at the District 69 conference  in Chinchilla. (28th Apr - 1st May) Chinchilla is in Western QLD.

To cheer on  Julie Anne at the conference, fellow club members Sarafina Zubovic - VP Education; Christine Lennon - President; Ursula Beatty - VP Public relations.

What exactly is the TM Southern Division and how many divisions are there in district 69?
I'm so glad you asked: 
  
Area 24 contains 5 clubs including Helensvale daybreak TM club.  

Southern Division contains 5 Areas including Area 24.  

District 69 contains 7 divisions, including  Southern Division.  

District 69 covers all of Queensland, the Northern Territory, PNG and Northern NSW.

What does this mean for the winners of Southern Division? They will be competing against 6  other competitors at  the District 69 conference - round 4 of the speech contests.

As well as the four speech contests, we were treated to an Educational session on the Pathways program by Mark Snow; a key note address by Toastmasters International president Mike Storkey, plus morning tea and lunch.


Some of the attendees at the Conference.

Pathways Program:
Educational speaker Mark Snow DTM, Metro Division Director and Chief Pathways Ambassador gave a very informative and interesting presentation on the new TMI Pathways educational programs which will be rolled out in D69 later this year. I will include a separate blog post on  this program in the coming months. It is certainly new and exciting and promises to bring Toastmasters International communication and leadership programs well and truly into the age of technology while continuing to focus on the traditional forms of communication.


The speech contests: 1. Evaluation 2. Humorous 3. Table Topics and 4. International

 Evaluation Contest
Test speaker: Chad Harding (pictured on right) from Metro Division gave a 7 min speech on 'The information age - are we more connected or disconnected?',  which was later evaluated in a 2-3 min presentation by the 5 contestants (pictured below).

Evaluation contest participants: John Fowler (Area 24), Alison Cleaver, Chris Roberts, Phoebe Dray and Lucie Sramkova.

 Evaluation Contest TM, Ursula Beatty, interviews contestant Alison Cleaver.

Evaluation contest TM, Ursula Beatty congratulates evaluation contest winners:  Phoebe Dray - 2nd; Alison Cleaver - 1st  and John Fowler 3rd.

Humorous contest participants: Adrian Sim, Julie Anne Cantwell, Aidan Raimondo, Penny Brady and Linda Stevens.

Julie Anne Cantwell during the post humorous contest interviews with Humorous contest TM, Linda Morris (missing from photo)

Table Topics contest participants: Ian Cook, Alison Cleaver, Melisssa Fernandez, John Fowler (Area 24), Jeff Thomas and Contest TM Courtney Organ.

Table Topics contest winners: John Fowler 2nd, Alison Cleaver 1st and Melissa Fernandez 3rd.

International contest participants: Nathan Clark, Novie Jay Onor, Billy Jaz, Hazel Tree and Robert Carnes.

International Contest TM, Jan Vecchio and TMI International president, Mike Storkey congratulate winners of the International contest: Robert Carnes 2nd, Billy Jaz 1st and Nathan Clark 3rd.

Mike Storkey DTM, 2016-2017 Toastmasters International president,  presents the keynote speech (left) and below with his wife, Leslie Storkey DTM.
Lesley was also one of the judges.

I certainly enjoyed the conference and wish all of the winners from Southern Division ,  especially Julie Anne Cantwell, all the best at the District 69 Conference, for the 4th round of the speech contests.

Can Toastmasters conferences help you to Be the best you can be''? If you would like to comment on this article or  would like to congratulate Julie Anne or one of the other participants? Feel free to click on the comments button to leave your comments below.