Chatswood Early Risers Toastmasters

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).

Today's meeting theme was LAW AND ORDER which included a Presidential
address from Constable Cave from the Toastmasters Police Force inspecting
our meeting. Ian had previously opened the meeting with some information
about the famous TV series, "Law and Order".

The meeting theme was continued by Davida with some great
questions. The most popular Table Topic was awarded to Arthur
who responded to a question about gun control.

We had three speakers this morning. Chris spoke about international food
habits with vocal renditions of French, German, Italian and Australian business
lunches.

Jill spoke about James Herriott, British vet and author of "All Creatures
Great and Small" (adapted as a TV series).

Sydney gave an most enlightening talk about Ginseng with illustrated
charts by Sung. We all received a sample of Korean ginseng candy!

         

Click here to download:

Meeting_report_for_20th_Octobe.zip (450 KB)

Our recent meeting had the theme of Dreams. Some of our newer members
took on important meeting roles for the first time - Davida as
Chairman and Arthur as Timer.

Our word of the day was deja-vu presented by Lucy, and our three
speakers were introducted by Keiko as Toastmaster.

Sung presented his second manual speech (objective of organising a
speech) and spoke about his experiences in the Korean Army as he rose
through the ranks. His speech was both informative and very
entertaining.

Melody's speech was titled "It's OK to be vulnerable" and she shared a
story of independence, control and accepting help with the story of
changing a flat tyre after shopping.

Henry gave us some tips for being more effective and making use of our time.

The Table Topics session led by Jan was a great opportunity for speech
and drama. Jan gave participants a nursery rhyme which had to be acted
and spoken with various emotions. I'm sure all participants benefited
from the experience and the Yak Yak award went to Clare.

           

Click here to download:

Meeting_Report_for_13th_Octobe.zip (414 KB)

Reporting by Davida

Recently, Chatswood Early Risers has been buzzing with excitement at  the number of icebreakers. This is because an icebreaker is the first
speech a new member gives. In an effort to get to know them, they have  kindly agreed to share a bit about themselves with us all.

The first profile is on Sung. He is a relatively new member of the club and delivered his first speech on 22nd September.

Briefly introduce yourself. I'm a Korean student who has a dream to be a game designer.

When did you join Chatswood Early Risers? I'm not sure, but I joined sometime around mid August.

What was your catalyst for joining Toastmasters? Father

Before Toastmasters, did you have much experience in public speaking? I was a campus tour guide at my university in Korea. I introduced  several guests from outside about my school, so I had a chance to do  some public speaking then.

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 think I'm more of a planned person,  because I'm always stuck when I hear the Table Topic questions...

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? Adventurous, Bright, Careful

Congratulations on your icebreaker. What was the inspiration behind it? Since I wanted to be a game designer, I wanted to introduce myself  as a game. It would be interesting to introduce like that.

What do you hope to gain from Toastmasters? I would like to speak  fluently and confidently in front of people, so I want to practice and  learn from Toastmasters.

In the next blog article, we will hear from Darin. Until then...

It has been said that being part of a club, enriches and prolong one's life. At Chatswood Early Risers, we wholeheartedly agree with this statement judging from the number of faces that turn up bright eyed and bushy tailed to the meetings every Tuesday morning at precisely 7:15, even in the midst of winter.

This is because, not only does the club provide the perfect forum for people to practice their public speaking in; it is a place where firm friendships form and prosper. How, you may ask? From the weekly coffee sessions that follow.

Every week, after the meeting has adjourned, a group of us will proceed to Westfield for coffee and a chit chat. This week was no different, with topics which ranged from habits of teenage daughters to ideas for upcoming 21st birthday decorations.

Too good to be true? Come along and see for yourself!

     

Click here to download:

Coffee_anyone.zip (322 KB)