Meeting number 799 - Thrive

After three low attendance meetings, meeting 799 was well attended and we welcomed six guests.
It was good also to see two of our most valuable members Daniel I and Elena M in attendance.
Despite the room’s clock showing the time as ten to three, we did get the meeting to open on schedule (mental note: replace clock batteries at next meeting!!)

Program changes saw Jacquelene B assume the role of Toastmaster, no doubt because of her past record of excellence in stepping-In without prior notice. Thank you Jacquelene.

Table Topics Master Chih posed four questions based on Thrive, the theme of the night. Unfortunately, Chih asked me ‘what AFL team will thrive this year”? Not being a huge fan of AFL, this threw me somewhat, but I managed to bluster my way through and was amazed to later receive Best T.T. Speaker award. Full marks to 1st time visitor Kesharika for overcoming her nerves and participating in the T.T segment.

A major tea-break disaster was avoided by May W.   Quel horreur, it was realised that the milk supplies had run-out!!!!! Then it was found that May had saved the day by bringing a carton of milk. Give that lady a medal!!

With attendees fully refreshed after cups of tea and coffee (with milk), we launched into the Speech segment and were treated to three excellent offerings from Peter K, Daniel #2 and Wendy.
Peter spoke on the subject of over consumerism, and as we have become to expect from Peter, used props to underline his message. I was dumb enough to accept a challenge from Peter and was given four huge slabs of chocolate to consume before the meetings end.
Unfortunately, I am on a diet, plus none of it was MILK chocolate!
Daniel #2’s speech task was to ‘Persuade with Power’ and he certainly achieved that …….. you could have heard a pin drop through-out his speech and that is always a sign of an engaged audience. Daniel’s subject was about the value of reading and his excellent concluding and persuasive line was “read books and your whole life will change for the better”. Excellent stuff Daniel.
Twenty-five years of Toastmasters experience was evident from Wendy who was the Speech award winner for the night. I have to say that on any other night both Daniel’s and Peter’s speeches could well have been award winners.

Chih, Daniel#1 and yours truly were the evenings speech Evaluators and faced the difficult task of evaluating three excellent performances.  I was rapt to be awarded Best Evaluator but feel that a vote re-count would not have been inappropriate!

President Udana adroitly carried-out the triple task of Timekeeper, General Evaluator and closing the meeting.
Whilst I was happy to receive two awards (for the first time) Udana managed to deflate any boosted ego I may have had, by ensuring I got back to my seat at the end of the room, before announcing my second award. Just you wait Udana …. revenge will be mine!!!!
Footnote:
A high-light of the Business session was Wendy P’s announcement that the Youth Leadership program will commence at Point Cook Senior College on Monday 23rd April.
This of course is in addition to the Y.L. programs that Wendy, ably assisted by May W, runs at Westbourne Grammar and Seaholme Primary schools. Exposing young people to Toastmasters hugely increases their confidence and maturity levels. Well done Wendy and May.

Paul
V.P. Membership


Membership of Werribee Toastmasters is not a destination, it is a journey to be enjoyed.

20 Years of Youth Leadership at Westbourne Grammar 1998 – 2018

In 1998 Werribee Toastmasters International commenced a Youth Leadership program with Westbourne Grammar School’s Year 11 and 12 students, a program that after 20 years is still running successfully.

Wendy Powell and May Wilson, two of the original WTM team that commenced the program in 1998 are still continuing the good work.

Wendy says: “The students are always enthusiastic in preparing and presenting speeches and evaluations. Their level of Evaluation is excellent and at a standard that would stand-up well at any Toastmasters meeting.

At the last meeting of each course, students invite other teachers and parents and have never failed to impress in demonstrating their abilities.

Looking back, 20 years seems a long time, but May and I wouldn’t have missed the experience of bringing the Youth Leadership program to Westbourne Grammar’s young people”.

In addition to the above, Wendy is introducing the Youth Leadership Program to the Point Cook Senior College, with the initial TM meeting commencing 23^rd April 2018.

And of course Wendy and May also run the Youth Leadership program at Altona’s Seaholme Primary School.

Well done and congratulations Wendy and May on your joint, long standing and continuing effort of helping to enhance the speaking skills and self-confidence of young people in Melbourne’s West.

Wendy Powell, DTM

Daniel Iglesias, DTM & Charter Member Bruce Bedson

May Wilson, DTM

Meeting number 798 - Dreams

The meeting tonight was small and intimate which meant we could have some fun and everyone got to shine in multiple roles.
We had three great but very different speeches, learning much about our fellow Toastmasters in the process. This followed on from the revelations during the Round Robin and Table Topics which stayed focussed on the evening topic of “Dreams”.
During the Round Robin we found that some members had current unfulfilled tangible dreams like specific travel, some less tangible like enlightenment and self-development and some who are so content that they feel that they fulfilled all their dreams.
We had a speech from the child hood of a veteran member, the journey to become a member and beyond from our president and a passionate speech about working with computers from the third presenter of the night.
We had a first time guest who made a wonderful Table Topic Speech about coming to Australia, getting a great job and his dream of building a foundation for poor and disadvantaged children. What an amazing dream, may he succeed with the help of all of us!
Of course, the takeaway from any Toastmasters meeting is how far we have come and how Toastmasters has made such a difference to all who attend.
So let your inner orator out and join us at our next meeting.

Jacquelene B

Meeting number 797 - Rewards

Another smallish attendance for meeting 797, but it was wonderful to see long term member and Past-President Elena M.
We also welcomed 1st time Guests Sam and Subha and returning Guests Arun and Ardeena.

Topic for the night was ‘Rewards’

During the Business segment (capably Chaired for the 1st time by Peter K) Wendy P announced a successful meeting with Point Cook Senior College’s Bryce F. The intention is to introduce some of the College’s under-performing students to the benefits of Toastmasters. Should the programme be accepted by the College’s Board, it will earn valuable income for Werribee Toastmasters.

Peter also reminded us that the six month membership subscriptions are due.

Toastmaster for the night was President Udana who commenced the Educational segment by asking me to announce the Word Of The Day.
I feel my choice ‘Control’ failed to gain the meetings imagination, because I was the only person to include it in a presentation. But to be fair I did provide the word on very short notice.
Mental Note: Do better next time Paul!!!

Next Udana introduced Round Robin Master, Chih.
We’ve become used to Chih’s well-conceived thinking and he did not disappoint with questions related to the Rewards theme.
• He asked Peter K: Are today’s kids more spoilt than in the past?
• David Garrick was asked: Are we in an age where we over-reward ourselves?
• Guest Ardeena was asked: Do you shop just for the Reward Points, or are you loyal to companied you’ve made past purchases from?
• Arun was asked: Do you feel businesses are now-a-days less compassionate?

As Table Topics Evaluator I departed from the format of providing equal evaluation to each of the respondees, because I felt both Ardeena and Arun deserved special mention on their efforts on what is a daunting experience for Guests. I felt especially so, because both Guests acquitted themselves so well, with confident and animated deliveries.
Another Mental Note: Stick to the script, Paul.

Speaker # 1, David G spoke on short notice and delivered yet another eloquent and unscripted speech based on a Sales presentation. We all felt for David, because he was suffering from a heavy cold and was obviously quite unwell. Never-the-less he manfully soldiered-on. Well done David.

Speaker # 2 was Yours Truly. My speech was titled Professional Speaking and was my first after achieving Competent Communicator status. My speech time duration was scheduled for 15 to 20 minutes, for me a huge leap from the 5-7 minutes I’d got used to. I felt my speech was competent although I had to rely heavily on notes.
Mental Note: Don’t be scared of failing from time to time. Extending yourself leads to improvement.

Speaker # 3 was Jacqueline B who expounded on the ‘Me Too’ social phenomenon with a speech titled “Jumping on the Bandwagon”
Jacqueline transfixed her audience with a powerful and convincing argument which questioned if men are now becoming the disadvantaged sex, and if sometimes unprovable allegations can in fact set-back the female fight for equality.
A brave and challenging speech from Jaqueline. Well done.

Jaqueline and I were jointly awarded Best Speaker, although I thought David’s sufferings made the competition less than equal, (hope Jaqueline agrees!!).
For myself, I felt that Jacqueline’s effort trumped mine on the night and was amongst the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing at Toastmasters.

Speech Evaluators Chih, Elena and Wendy, all gave excellent observations and advice.

Elena delivered a concise (and precise) Timekeepers Report.

Toastmaster Udana closed the meeting a little over the target of 9.30pm, but I don’t think anyone minded the over-run because it was such a good meeting.
Time flies when you are having fun!!       Well, done everyone

Paul
V.P. Membership
Rewards

Membership of Werribee Toastmasters is not a destination, it is a journey to be enjoyed.

Meeting number 795 - Adventures

The meeting started on time as usual and despite the few apoligises we received, we had a good amount of members step up and volunteer for roles. In addition, we had four guests for the evening; Hassan, Laith, Aluel and Arun.

The Meeting Toastmaster for the evening was Peter, who also gave us the round robin which started us off with many adventures and experiences shared. The most humorous one goes to the adventure experienced by Hassan, when he was out one night, driving in the car with no petrol station in sight, and then the low petrol light suddenly sparked on in his car. One hell of an adventure that most can relate to at least once in their lifetime.

A special mention goes out to Jacquelene, who volunteered for Thought of the day and the table topics even though she was already performing a speech. The average toastmasters would of felt overwhealmed, but not Jacquelene. She delivered very well thought out questions even though it was prepared with very short notice and involved  all the guests so that they were able to participate in the improptu table topic's segement. Well done Jacquelene.

We had 2 speeches for the night delivered by David and Jacquelene. David gave us a abstract speech on a great book that he read about the characteristics of the politicians in the past and Jacquelene delivered a speech about how we need to pay more attention to our real life friends as opposed to our social media network. Both entertaining speeches, which were complemented with valuable evaluations from both our Daniels (Daniel I and Daniel B).

The Harkmaster report did wake everyone up, as I made sure that the questions were asked before the victim was chosen to answer the question. All in all, it did prove that everyone was awake and alert as all questions were answered. I also delivered the report for which recorded Greg repeating the word of the day (Experience) the most times in the night, a total of 6 times. The Ah counter report was provided by Heman, followed by the Timekeeper report by Greg.

Udana, the club president, gave us his general evaluation on the night as a whole, and listed some very easy to follow points of improvement. Our club President also presented the best evaluator of the night" Daniel B, and best Table Topics of the night: Laith. Good work to both of you and those who participated in those segments and provided the competition that made the voting decision so much more harder!

Looking forward to another eventful meeting in Meeting number 796. See you all then.

Cheers,

Chih

Meeting No.792 'Tasks'

Our 1 st meeting of the 2018 Calendar year was a fun and fast-moving affair and with a very
pleasing seven Guests in attendance.

David G was our Toastmaster and coordinated the evening with his usual aplomb and good
humour ………. a prime example of Toastmastership, well done David
In May’s absence, Daniel I provided the Thought of the Day, as follows: “Books are the bees
that take one intelligence to another”, sorry I did not record who the original creator of that
gem of wisdom was.

Carol M gave us a real pearl as the Word of the Day = Novaturient. My Word app struggles
with this word, in fact it does not recognise it, but the structure of the word indicates ‘of the
new’ an excellent WOTD to start the New Year. Carol’s challenge was well taken-up by
everyone but the person using it the most was Daniel I.

Our illustrious VP Education Chih, took-on the role of Table Topics Master and provide 5
challenging questions around the nights theme of Tasks. Table Topics is a segment which
helps us ‘think on our feet’ and we had some excellent responses to Chih’s posers. I often
question whether Guests should be asked Table Topics questions on the ground that even
experienced Members find Table Topics daunting at times. However, Chih dispelled my
reservations by inviting one of our Guests, Zalak, to speak on the subject of Procrastination.
I think it fair to say that Zalak astounded all of us by standing-up in front of 20 or so people
and giving a poised, confident and well-structured speech …….. many of the more
experienced Members would have been proud to match Zalak’s performance. Well done
Zalak, I hope we see more of you, in anticipation of what you can demonstrate with more
experience!!!

We had five speeches scheduled, but four apologies. Fortunately, Venky S had a speech
prepared and was able to step forward to save the day.
Wendy P presented a speech entitles “It’s Only A Box” a delightful and absorbing speech
about an old box (which turned-out to be a gentleman’s writing cabinet). As a person who
appreciates the high quality of antique workmanship, I recognised the beautiful
craftsmanship of this box and have to say it’s quality surpasses anything that is made in this
day and age and is a fine example of British wood working skill. Yes, it’s only a box Wendy,
but a family heirloom beyond price.

Venki gave us an animated speech in the humorous vein on the subject of how to respond
to a spouses loaded question. The question he addressed was ‘Darling do you think this
dress makes me look fat?’ Venky accurately detailed how this question is answered was
probably the 1st step in the break-up of many marriages.

I was allotted the easiest task of the night in evaluating Venky’s speech. Simple, how can
you critique excellence!!! Still I did my best and was thrilled to be awarded Evaluator of the
night. As they say in England, that was ‘money for old rope’. LOL

Daniel #2 was our Harkmaster (the section that probes whether we have been listening).
Daniel posed some well-directed questions and it was interesting to note that all were
answered correctly. Not only a good-looking audience but one that listens also!!

Carol was Grammarian and WOTD Master. She found our grammar practically faultless and
as mentioned previously awarded Daniel I, as the person using Novaturient the most.
Greg H officiated as Ah Counter and I have to say how happy I was when Greg said he was
surprised that I uttered Ah or Err seven times during the night …………. a big improvement on
my early days average of around FORTY such faux pas. Yaaay!!!

Timekeeper for the night was Peter K, who started off being a little apprehensive because it
was his first time in the role. Peter produced one of the best Timekeeper’s reports, very
detailed and concise. Maybe that was a first for you Peter, but I’m sure your performance
has earnt you many repeat performances. Well done Peter.

President Udana concluded the meeting and closed it only slightly past the 9.30pm target.


Afterthoughts:

Please note in your dairies and/or forward programmes, that we have a Bunnings
fund raising Sausage Sizzle booked for Saturday 23 rd June. This is a golden
opportunity for the Club to more than meet rising costs without having to raise
membership fees. I will issue a manning roster closer to the date.

Only two Guest’s Welcome Folders were available on the night, so I’ll will send info
PDFs by email to: Willi R, Kaushal B, Mujtaba S and Fawzana T.

President Udana mentioned that the time is coming for members to step-up and
think about nominating for Management Committee roles for the 2018 -2019 year.

We are approaching Werribee Toastmasters milestone 800th meeting.
Can I suggest that we all have a think about how we celebrate this special event?
Please sent thoughts and ideas to President Udana

Membership of Werribee Toastmasters is not a destination, it is a journey to be enjoyed.

Paul von Harder
VP Membership

Meeting No.791 'Miracles'

This was our last meeting for 2017 and our first meeting with Pathways being operational (for less than 24 hours).
Sgt-at-Arms, David G. started the meeting spot on at 7:30 pm. Twelve members were present and a guest, Mark Xu, who has been in Australia only for a few months and who was member at a club in China.
Business Session was conducted with Chih D. in the chair, and matters at hand were moved expeditiously.
After a raft of program changes, Udana A. took control of the Educational Segment as Meeting Toastmaster.
Thought of the Day was presented by Daniel I. Word of the Day presented by Wendy P. was “snafu”, originally a military acronym for “situation normal, all fouled up”. The Word of the Day for this meeting was a real hit, as it was used profusely throughout the meeting.
The Round Robin, ably coordinated by Meeting TM, Udana A., was held around the meeting theme (miracles), and the question was “Do you believe in miracles?’
Peter K. followed with four fabulous Table Topics, also around the theme of “miracles”. Wendy P., DTM, evaluated the four respondents, praised them for their existing skills, and gave a common suggestion: when answering Table Topics the lectern is not needed, get rid of it, place at the back; this will allow you to do “full body” non-verbal communication with your audience.
After the tea break we resumed the meeting with a bang. Four speakers, including two icebreakers, a second and a seven speech!
Speaker #1 was Jinal M., and her icebreaker speech entitled “The Great Fight”. Jinal told us of her life in India, how being the eldest allowed her to “boss around” her sisters, and of her struggles to be able to go to a good secondary school, how to go to tertiary education, and how to win her parents to consent to her marriage to her chosen partner and not go into an arranged marriage.
Speeker #2 was Tayla H., with her icebreaker speech “My journey to Toastmasters”. Tayla told us of her love for her grandparents, of her puppy dog and pet chickens, but also how envy and greed hit her extended family. How all this affected her personal life and her health, and how now at age 22 and in her last year as a law student she has come to Toastmasters not just to develop her personal skills, but as a cathartic experience to make new friends and become a balanced person.
Speaker #3, doing only his second speech, was Greg Hynds. The title of his speech was “Jurisdiction over Terrorists”. Greg told us of the terrorist attack in a café in CBD Sydney in 2014 with two deaths and several injured. Some people, after the incident, wanted the military to become involved in dealing with terrorists. The rest of Greg’s powerful speech was about why this is not a good idea, and how the police are best suited to the task.
Speaker #4, doing speech 7, was Daniel B. and his speech title “Problems”. Daniel B. is a NLP practitioner and he used his knowledge to show us how some people know they have a “problem” and know what to do to overcome it, but don’t as they are afraid of losing their identity and the “secondary benefits” the get. He had a breakfast stool as visual aid. To the top of the class for innovation, as in my 20 plus years in Toastmasters this is the first time I have seen this.
Patty K was harkmaster, and she made it clear that no one should answer her questions but the persons nominated by her. Which is fair enough as we want all members to keep paying attention.
Wendy P, gave the report on WOD, and remarked how well the members had taken up “snafu”.
Stephen M. gave the Timer’s report, and following him David G. gave us his General Evaluation. David has been a member for several years now, and his experience can e seen by the quality of his reports.
The members present voted for Meeting 791 as Best Table Topic, Tayla H. (for the third meeting in a row!!); Best Evaluator, Stephen M. (for Tayla H’s icebreaker); and Best Speaker, Greg H. Congratulations Tayla, Stephen, and Greg!
We’ll now have out Festive Season recess and our next meeting will be on 17 January, the theme will be “tasks”.
Pathways is now operational for our club, and all members are reminded to go to www.toastmasters.org, log in and go to Pathways to select your path and start your journey on this wonderful path.
See you all in January and may you all have a great festive season, surrounded by your families, friends, and people who appreciate and like you.

Daniel I.

Meeting No.790 'Enemies'

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

The theme of the meeting was “Enemies”, so the phrase above was presented as “Thought of the Day”. For those who wonder this phrase has been attributed to Chinese military genius, Sun Tzu (of The Art of War fame), and sometimes to Niccolo Machiavelli or Petrarch. However, according to my friend Wikiquote, there are no published sources yet found which predate its use by Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974): "My father taught me many things here. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer."

With such a theme, we managed to have a serious and fun meeting.

It all started at 7:31 when acting Sgt-at-Arms, Chih opened the meeting and promptly handed the reins to Business Session Chair, Udana. In addition to handle the administrative aspects of the life of the club, the Business Session is the segment where members can learn how to chair a meeting, how to submit motions, etc. All members will get a chance at having a go at this activity.

Chariman Udana welcomed members, and guests Tania and Ali, and also former member and friend Arun R to the meeting, and expeditiously moved through the agenda, and then gave control to Meeting Toastmaster, Patti K.

Patti, with her usual affability, quickly brought us to the Round Robin, the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the club and quickly reveal something about ourselves.

Thought of the day, shown at the heading, was delivered by Greg H. Next, Daniel I presented the Word of the Day, which happened to be dictionary.com Word of the Yeara 2017: complicit.

Peter K had his chance to present Table Topics for the first time. He had five questions around the meeting’s theme, all well researched, and even quoting the Bible.

Arun R evaluated the Table Topics, and every speaker was not only built up but also received helpful hints on how to take it up another notch.

After the tea/coffe break break, club president Udana A inducted into the club new members Tayla Harrison and Jinal Makawana. I always get a great deal of pleasure in welcoming new members, and, as a father of two daughters, even more so when they are young and female. Welcome Tayla and Jinal. You have come at our club at a very exciting time, when we’re just about to embark in Pathways, the new and vastly improved educational system. May you get every thing you need from Toastmasters.

There were only two speakers for the night, and one was impromptu.

One of the many reasons why I am a Toastmasters addict is because I keep being surprised by people. I’ve met Wendy P, DTM, around 1994 at a Toastmaster convention. I joined Werribee in February 2013 and since then I had numerous occasions to see Wendy in action. We all know she’s a gold-class evaluator. But I never suspected she was what we in Australia call a “petrol head” (i.e., a lover of automobiles and car racing). Her speech was about being the proud owner of an Alfa Romeo car, and how being member of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club gave her opportunity to go around many racing circuits, including Philip Island, Sundown, and others, with Winton being her favourite. Congratulations Wendy for living your life to the full, and for sharing those precious moments with us all.

Second speaker was yours truly. This was an impromptu speech due to the cancellation of other speakers. Unfortunately I could not make it fit into a manual speech, as I didn’t even had manuals with me. (It’s important to always speak from a manual and advance towards your goals.) I tried to make it a bit of an educational speech, and I spoke about some tips for powerful evaluations. I would have liked to prepare better, but noticing how some members were taking notes, I think it was well received.

Tayla H (harkmaster), Daniel I (word of the day), Jinal (Ah-counter) and Ramya/Arun (timekeepers) were in charge of the minor reports.

Patti K has recently joined our club, after a long membership in Bribie Island Club in Distirct 69. Every club has its own personality and traditions, which are neither better or worse, but simply

different. In this case, Patti, in her role as Meeting Toastmaster, asked the timekeeper to inform the meeting of the times taken after the table topics, after the speeches, and after the evaluation. Then at the end of the meeting the timekeeper can report in other aspects such as starting the meeting on time, etc.

By asking for the times of the different kind of speakers to be given at the end of the segment, the evaluators can use this information if needed, and the members can use it to decide our votes on Best Table Topic, Best Evaluator, and Best Speaker. When it is your turn to be Meeting Toastmaster, you may like to do this as well.

The meeting closed at 9:32 pm. As this meeting was on the fifth Wednesday of the month, our next meeting is only a few days away, on 7 December. Hope to see all the seats taken for our last meeting of 2017.

Some news that came at hand after the meeting. Bunnings have cancelled our Sausage Sizzle date and given it to another organisation. Reasons are not clear to me at this stage, but its important that members know they will now not be needed to staff the stand on Sunday 10 December.

Looking forward to seeing you all next Wednesday.

Daniel I.
Werribee Toastmasters VPPR

Meeting No.789 'Truth'

As is often the case in meetings towards the end of the year, there were many apologies. And as usual, we still had an educational, entertaining and fun meeting, under the theme “Truth”. With such a powerful theme, all members and guests present committed to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” (unless, of course, it gets on the way of a good yarn!)
Meeting 789 was called to order at 7:30 pm sharp by Sgt at Arms. On the Chair was Daniel I. Some important items were presented to the meeting for the attention of the members.
Guests at the meeting were Tayla and Shridhar.
Club Treasurer, Peter K. presented his report, including Profit and Loss Statement from 1 July to 11 November. Cash at the bank is currently $2539.10.
Cub VPE, Chih D. informed the meeting that club President Udana A. had sent a letter to Victoria University Chancellor regarding our hire of University room for club meetings. In this letter we presented three proposals to VUT to get rooms for free and some quid pro quo from the club. VUT has acknowledged receipt of the letter and will get back to us.
Sgt at Arms, David G. informed the meeting that VUT had answered our separate inquiry about the cost of rooms for 2018, and hiring for a financial year instead of the calendar year. VUT responded that hire to end of June 2018 would be $1200, and another $1300 for the second part of the year.
Vice President Public Relations, Daniel I. informed the club that all District and Club officials had received an email form TMI Headquarters confirming that we’ll be online with Pathways in December, although no exact date was mentioned.
At the end of the Business Session control was handed over to Meeting Toastmaster Jacqueline B., who had previously accepted to step into the role after the scheduled Meeting Toastmaster presented her apology. Thank you, Jacqueline, for stepping in, and for your warmth doing the task.
Heman A. was Table Topics Master and all his questions were around the meeting’s theme — Truth. The topics were interesting and allowed the respondents display their knowledge and opinions.
The topics were evaluated by Wendy P., DTM who added something of value to each respondent, and a general message: when answering a Table Topic, get rid of the lectern as you don’t need it to hold notes; this will remove a barrier between you and the audience.
After the tea break, we were treated to three interesting and well delivered speeches.
First, Chih D. spoke on “Crypto currency”, the new and mysterious (for us codgers) digital assets. He explained their genesis, how they can be used, what is a “digital wallet” and several other interesting facts.
Second, Peter K. presented his 8th speech, “It’s ok to be posh” about the importance and relevance of having good manners in life.
Third and the last speaker was David G, who spoke from one of the advanced manuals. The title of his speech was “It will be all right” and it dealt with the scaremongering perpetrated on the public by the media, presenting and showing us all the negative things happening in the world. David contention is that despite all the negativity of the media, we are all right.
Our guest Tayla accepted to fill the role of Harkmaster, the checker of how well we pay attention during the meeting. She had 6 questions and caught some of us unawares, all of them delivered with a wide smile.
The Harkmaster was Patty K. She briefly and efficiently notified us of all those “noises” which do not add any meaning. She noted that some of us have a decided preference for “ums” while others have it for “ehrs”.
Greg H. was in charge of the timekeeping, a job he did with military precision.
As we had so many apologies, we could not have a General Evaluator, so we did instead a “round robin general evaluation”. It turned out to be “good different”, to paraphrase the Aldi commercial.
Daniel I.
Werribee Toastmasters VPPR

Meeting No.788 'Friendship'

John Donne’s 1624 poem reminded us all that “no man is an island”, and we are all part of life. And life happens and we often have to change our plans. For the club this means we often cannot assist to meetings and we give our apologies. When apologies are on the last day, this means we cannot find replacement for speaking roles. As a result, speaking opportunities go begging and we all miss out. Individual members miss on an opportunity to advance on their goals, the club misses opportunities of learning by not being able to listen to the speakers.
Please look at the forward program and see what roles you have been scheduled for in the upcoming three meetings. If for any reason you find you cannot fulfil a role, please give the VPE the most notice you find so he can find a replacement easily and without fuss.
Meeting 678 started at 7:34 pm. Daniel I. stepped in as Chair, and went through the agenda quickly.
There were a few apologies, as usual, and our industrious VPE, Chih D., handled the program changes without fuss and efficiently. Chih cover the role of Table Topics Master, Venky covered the Table Topics Evaluation, and Greg H. became Harkmaster.
Three guests were present at the meeting, Taylor, Ash, and Jinal.
The meeting was informed that on Saturday 28 October the Area Contests were held at Geelong. Our club was well represented with contestants, officials, and supporters. We are happy to inform that Werribee Toastmasters representatives won three of the four contests on the day. Our congratulations to Venky S. for winning the Humorous and International Contests, and Greg H. for winning the Table Topics Contest. The evaluation contest was won by Vince C. of Aerospeakers Toastmasters. They will all compete now on Northern Division contest next February in Bendigo. If they win in Bendigo, they will go to the District Finals at convention in May 2018
Toastmaster for the meeting was Carol M., the theme of the meeting was friendship, and word of the day was concord.
This was her first time as Meeting Toastmaster, but Carol took to it like a fish takes to water. With her friendly smile and demeanour she moved us through the segments with ease and warmth.
Table Topics was conducted by Chih, and all questions were around the meeting’s theme — friendship. The topics were challenging, but not too hard, allowing a wide range of opinions and experiences to be expressed.
Venky S. gave his evaluation of the five topics, and gave plenty of praise but also demonstrated how the speakers could do better.
After the coffee break, the first speaker was Patty K. Patty is our newest member but she is also very experienced, having just transferred her membership from District 69 in Queensland. She is doing the CC manual again and gave speech 4 from the said manual. This was a very emotional speech, not just for Patty but also for us the audience. Patty spoke about her first face to face conversation with her birth mother at a hospital bed in Geelong. You could hear a pin drop.
Second and last speaker was Peter K. with his 6th speech from the CC Manual. Peter is qucikly advancing through his speeches and his improvement is noticeable every time. Peter quoted a series of well-known phrase and saying and told us how we can make use of this wisdom to improve our lives.
Patty and Peter’s speeches were evaluated by Udana A. and Shridhar P. Both of them built up the speakers and offered and demonstrated suggestions of things they may do in the future.
I call the “watchdogs” to those minor (in time) but crucial roles in each meeting. The Harkmaster, checker of how well we pay attention; the Ah-counter (aka “gruntmaster”, counter of all ungrammatical sounds; the grammarian who presents word of the day report and checks for poor and also colourful use of the language; and the timekeeper, who checks we use the time wisely and appropriately.
Greg H. was the Harkmaster; Ah-counter, Bruce B.; Grammarian, David G.; Timekeeper Heman A. They all presented their reports in a friendly and efficient manner.
There was no award for the best speaker as there were only two. Best Table Topic went to Greg H. (he just kept on from winning the Area Contest!). Best Evaluator went to Shridhar P.
Before closing the meeting, club President Udana A. briefly reminded us how fortunate is our club of counting among its members a Charter Member. Charter Member is one who was a member at the time the club was Chartered, i.e., officially recognised as a Club by TMI. And the member who was there that day over 30 years ago when our club was welcomed to the fold of Toastmasters is none other than Bruce Bedson.
Before the meeting closed, our guests Jinal and Ash expressed their intention of joining the club. Jinal, Ash, we’ll be thrilled to count you on our ranks.
And also there was a reminder of not one but two “Sausage Sizzles”.
The first “Sausage Sizzle” is an end of year social gathering for all members plus one, on Saturday 9 December, at Daniel I’s place, 26 Tandarra Drive, Hoppers Crossing. The host will provide sausages, bread, soft drinks and some salads. Guests are to bring a plate of food to share plus any other drink they wish to imbibe. RSVP to the host by the meeting on Wednesday 6 December.
The second “Sausage Sizzle” is a club fundraiser and it will be held at Bunnings Warehouse, Werribee, on Sunday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. All members are encouraged to give a hand for a couple of hours on the day. Coordinator for this event is Paul von H.
Toastmasters International’s new educational program, Pathways, is being implemented in our District as of December. All members are encouraged to take advantage of this interlude to become familiar with Pathways and getting ready.
I must confess, I am too excited and cannot wait to get my hands on the new material and get started.

Daniel I.
Werribee Toastmasters VPPR