Violence and Drugs at Toastmasters – 9/11/2015

While it’s certainly a bonus to be concise in public speaking, this headline might carry it a bit too far. Before you start wondering whether U-CAN-SPEAK has become another ENSOC, here’s the less shortened version:

Farzin delivered a speech on the psychological effects of excessive violence in movies, and argued that the level of violence in movies appears to be increasing while the youth ratings don’t reflect this trend.

Lisa promoted carrots instead of pills, based on the shocking statistics that hundreds of thousands of Americans end up in A&E every year because of an overdose with nutritional supplements!

An educational on easy-Speak from “Mr President” Jon, diverse impromptu speeches themed around children & family, and constructive feedback rounded the meeting off. See you again at our next meeting!

Becoming Familiar with Easy Speak

A small, but enthusiatic audience took part in another entertaining meeting this Thursday. Jono stepped up to the role of Toastmaster, his warm and cheerful style kept the audience focused throughout the meeting. One of our newest members, Michael did a marvellous job as the Grammarian, identifying language features used in the prepared speeches. He introduced the word of the day: Procedure. Bradley kept track of the time as the meeting proceeded.

Daniel gave an interactive presentation on how to use Easy-speak, the clubs meeting generator. For those wanting to know more, click here.

Jeremy delivered his Ice-Breaker, where he outlined his research interests and the upcoming conference that motivated him to join the club. A highlight of Jeremy’s speech was when he had a life-changing experience during a school trip that made him realise the value of education.

Our second speaker, Joanna completed an advanced project from the Technical Presentations manual. Her presentation focused on the teacher inquiry process, which she made clear with visual aids and some entertaining analogies. Tonight’s evaluators, Sarah and Manu provided encouragement and great feedback!

Ross stepped up to become the Tabletopics master for the meeting, with oceans being the theme. This topic illustrated passionate responses from all of the speakers, with Windyty being used to illustrate the dangers of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and the issue of waste and pollution accumulating within the ocean. Other speakers proposed dubious approaches to cooking seafood and looking for missing seafarers.

All in all, another great meeting. Roll on next Mondays meeting!

An Outstanding Winter Open Night

A great open night, a big thank you to Akshay for organizing clubs day and our venue for the night.

Our Toastmaster for the evening, Graeme had three speakers giving prepared speeches. First was Cherry who is our newest member and gave her Ice Breaker speech. She talked about growing up and venturing beyond her comfort zone.

The second speaker was Rory. He was at the other end of the spectrum, in so far that he gave his tenth and final speech from the competent communicator manual, the initial manual at toastmasters. He talked about overcoming ones fears, and the help and determination required to succeed in doing just that.

The third and final formal speaker and special guest, the Assistant District Governor of Education and Training, spoke about the levels or barriers we need to overcome in our lives. These barriers are our own perception of where we are relative to others. In other words, we perceive that we do not measure up to others, where in reality we are all equal, the inequality is in our own minds.

Timm introduced the evenings Table Topics. Timm involved 5 of the evenings guests, Matt, Kamoe, Bruce, Paul and Amir.

In addition to the guests who spoke, we were also joined by Richard, Colette, Celeste and Tom. A big thank to those Toastmasters who invited guests along, and those who helped answer their questions.

We all look forward to seeing everyone for the next meeting, Monday 29th July. Remember we are back at KE4 in Kirkwood Village next week, and to check easy-Speak for an updated agenda! A copy of the highlights will be on our Facebook Page (U-CAN-SPEAKToastmasters) and Blog on Easy Speak.