Chatswood Early Risers Toastmasters

      On the second day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

       On the third day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

      On the fourth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

       On the fifth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three competent communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

       On the sixth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three competent communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

      On the seventh day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
           Seven guests visiting,
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five  - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

      On the eighth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
           Eight timers a-timing
           Seven guests visiting,
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

       On the ninth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
            Nine jokers joking.
           Eight timers a-timing,
           Seven guests visiting,
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

       On the tenth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
          Ten chairmen a-chairing,
            Nine jokers joking.
           Eight timers a-timing,
           Seven guests visiting,
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three competent communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

     On the eleventh day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
       Eleven evaluators evaluating,
          Ten chairmen a-chairing
            Nine jokers joking.
           Eight timers a-timing
           Seven guests visiting,
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests,
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting.

      On the twelfth day of Christmas,
          my true love sent to me
         Twelve speakers speaking,
       Eleven evaluators evaluating,
          Ten chairmen a-chairing
            Nine jokers joking,
           Eight timers a-timing,
           Seven guests visiting,
         Six Laughmasters laughing,
           Five - new - members.
         Four Listener Grammarians,
       Three Competent Communicators,
            Two speech contests.
      And a Toastmaster in a meeting!

         Merry Christmas
                from
        Chatswood Early Risers
         Area 34, District 70
        www.earlyrisers.org.au
               2009

At the last meeting, Ian presented the number two speech "Organise
Your Speech" from the Competent Communicator manual. The objective of
this speech is to select an appropriate outline which allows listeners
to easily follow and understand your speech. Another objective is to
make your message with supporting material which contributes to your
message.

Ian's speech was titled Home Renovation for Pleasure which may have
you intrigued! Ian took us on a journey from selecting a property
suitable for improvement through choosing an architect and builder as
well as the perilous journey of dealing with local government. Ian
supported his speech with architectural drawings, building contract
and a handbook for owner builders.

A most interesting and educational speech. Well done, Ian!

Table Topics is an  opportunity for you to "think on your feet" -
responding to a question with a structured response. Last week's
meeting theme was Summer but one of the questions was about the
Emission Trading Scheme. The lucky (???) recipient of this question
was Davida who won the Yak Yak award for best Table Topic.

A good strategy for answering a tricky question is to do what
politicians do, and that is to answer a different question. When you
speak confidently no matter what the question, your audience will be
impressed!

The success of any Toastmasters club relies on growth. People join
Toastmasters with specific goals to achieve and usually these goals
are achieved. Some members stay for years, and some for not so long.

Each year, Toastmasters International offers an incentive to encourage
clubs to build their membership. The Ralph Smedley award (named after
the founder of Toastmasters) is awarded to clubs who add five new,
dual or reinstated members between August 1 and September 20. The
award is in the form of a ribbon to attach to the club banner, and a
10% discount on our next order of Toastmasters supplies.

Shown in the photo, is Lucy, our VP Membership, proudly displaying the award.

At the meeting today, Sung delivered his fourth manual speech. Those
of you who have had the pleasure of hearing Sung speak, will know his
quest of becoming a game designer.

Sung's speeches have followed his quest around the world and this
morning we were entertained with a multi-media event with Sung's
animations, photos and entertaining story about his recent trip to
Uluru (Ayer's Rock) in the Northern Territory. We learnt about a
Japanese movie "Crying Out Love, In The Center Of The World" which
made Uluru popular with Japanese and Korean tourists.

Here are some photos from Sung's presentation.

             

Click here to download:

Sung_Quest_IV_-_Australia.zip (624 KB)

Today's meeting was extra special. We started at 7.00 with a Melbourne Cup breakfast of fruit salad, croissants, pastries, coffee and juice.  As part of the Chatswood Early Risers tradition we wore hats and  dressed for the occasion. Ian and Jan organised a sweepstake and the  winners will be announced in a later email.

There were three speeches this morning. Juma told us about Clouds and  introduced us to the Cloud Appreciation Society in the UK. Victor  spoke about his hobby of growing roses in his garden, and Sung  continued the story of his personal computer game - "Sung Quest 3".

I learnt a new word today - FASCINATOR -  a delicate, slightly-to-very frivolous head decoration worn almost exclusively by women. There were two fascinators worn today - see if you can find then in the photos!

       

Click here to download:

Melbourne_Cup_Meeting_-_3rd_No.zip (249 KB)

Briefly introduce yourself. Melanie is an IT Consultant who arrived in Sydney in February 2009. She has been married for 6 years and is the eldest of 4 children from a South African Chinese family. She is passionate about learning, challenges and helping others. She enjoys music, reading, socialising with friends and family, travel and challenging puzzles.

When did you join Chatswood Early Risers? June 2009

What was your catalyst for joining Toastmasters? I was interested after visiting a work colleague and friend (Shaun Goodbrand)'s club. I came across Toastmasters again whilst looking at professional society (ACS) events and decided to join because I finally have time to prepare and give speeches!

Before Toastmasters, did you have much experience in public speaking? My forte is educational presentations (with Powerpoint). I have made work (process/systems training, project proposals, project/management status reports) and conference presentations (academic, technical/specialist) and run meetings but avoid speeches where possible (or prepare/organise thoughts prior to speaking up). I have attended several presentation courses, and read many presentation books, including one which talked about 'Steak, Sizzle and Style'.

At Toastmasters, there are two speech segments, the prepared speeches and table topics; would you say you are more a spontaneous person or one who plans everything out? Plans everything

Every speech should aim to include a triad of ideas, be it impromptu or prepared. If you had three words to describe yourself, what would they be? Resourceful, disciplined, tenacious.

Congratulations on your icebreaker. What was the inspiration behind it? I like photos and thought this might help me organise my many ideas about myself better. I'm also used to having a PC around when I present.

What do you hope to gain from Toastmasters? Improve my voice and speech quality - to become more engaging and entertaining/humorous. Practice some presentation techniques prior to using them. Improve thinking on my feet, listening and grammar.

Mel, after learning so much about you from your first speech, we cannot wait for your next one.

This morning's meeting went well despite lower attendance than usual.

Today's theme was Money and Ian opened the meeting with the tale of a  man who on first impressions looked like a hobo, but was worth
millions of dollars. The moral: Don't judge a person by appearances!

Darin was unable to attend due to illness but thoughtfully provided  the word of the day by email (and a text message!) which Stephanie  printed and presented to the club. The word was squander.

We had two speakers today. Julie delivered a speech from the  Entertaining Speaker manual and entertained us with stories of some of  her mentors in the field of property investing and renovating.  I am still chuckling at the thought of a lady hammering a nail  using a can of spray paint and the colourful consequences.

Pauline gave her Research Your Topic speech from the Competent  Communicator manual and spoke about the Dawn Chorus of birds in England. Where are the birds nowadays? Pauline's speech was accompanied by birdsong emanating from her laptop computer.

As this was the last remaining speech in the manual for Pauline, she has now reached COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR and was presented with a Toastmasters cap. Congratulations Pauline!

Table Topics was something different. Everyone present (except  speakers and evaluators) took turns speaking on the topic of Money for
thirty seconds. When the buzzer sounded, the next person spoke but  used the last word of the previous speaker.

Next week's meeting theme is Melbourne cup. We will have a breakfast available from 7.00am and you should wear a hat to get into the mood for horse racing. There will be sweepstakes so bring your money and  place your bets.

In this week's new member profile, we meet Darin who delivered his icebreaker speech on the 29th September.  Read more to learn about Darin, our expat extraordinaire and polyglot.

Briefly introduce yourself. My name is Darin, I'm 35, and am currently a Telecom Network Engineer in the City. Whilst originally from Sydney in recent years I had the good fortune to live overseas in Barcelona, Nice and London and travel a lot in between. This experience changed my perspective on life in so many ways and is certainly a big part of who I am today.

When did you join Chatswood Early Risers? September 2009.

What was your catalyst for joining Toastmasters? The need for a new challenge since returning to Australia.

Before Toastmasters, did you have much experience in public speaking? I have been a member of Toastmasters for short periods previously both in Sydney and London. Apart from this I haven't had much experience at all at public speaking.

At Toastmasters, there are two speech segments, the prepared speeches and table topics; would you say you are more a spontaneous person or one who plans everything out? I would say that I am a combination of both. That is to say I do plan things to provide the foundation to be spontaneous!

Every speech should aim to include a triad of ideas, be it impromptu or prepared. If you had three words to describe yourself, what would they be? Kind, Determined, Honest.

Congratulations on your icebreaker. What was the inspiration behind it? The inspiration was my experiences overseas during the past ten years and the challenges that you face as you discover new avenues and aspects of life that you had never previously considered.

[Darin's speech was about his life journey inspired by Paulo Coelho's allegorical story, The Alchemist]

What do you hope to gain from Toastmasters? First and foremost I want to rediscover the confidence to once again feel comfortable public speaking. With this I then hope to chase further challenges just as I did whilst overseas.

After two successive profiles on men, it would only be fair to hear the female perspective. In next week's profile we will meet Melanie.

Yak Yak is the cute, singing mascot awarded each week to the best
table topic at the weekly meeting of our Toastmasters Club. Here he
sings and raps Walk this Way (Aerosmith and Run DMC).