Chadstone Oaks Toastmasters

Wow! Look at the great achievement of our magnanimous club.

Last Week, we have celebrated 42nd birthday of our club. Coincidentally it was our 900th meeting as well. Our President Mr. Beng Tan cut the cake. Members, visitors and guest speaker have joined the celebrations and grace the occasions.

Thanks Folks, your presents made it sensational.

Contest Results 2016

Tremendous effort from Chadstone Oaks team on 2016 Toastmasters contest. Excellent engagement and support from neighborhood clubs. Special Thanks to all those who helped us throughout this process.

The exciting results are available below and please scroll down to see our Participants and Winners.

Participants 2016 – Table Topics Contest

Winners 2016 – Table Topics Contest

First Place– Beng Tan, Second Place- Maria Rivera & Third Place– Venka Jayarangan

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Winners 2016 – Humorous Contest

First Place– Beng Tan, Second Place- Maria Rivera

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Participants 2016 – International Speech Contest

Winners 2016 – International Speech Contest

First Place– Helen Bolger Harris, Second Place- Wasu Sooksomsod

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Participants 2016 – Evaluation Contest

Winners 2016 – Evaluation Contest

First Place– Helen Bolger Harris, Second Place- Maria Rivera & Third Place– Eunice Shao

The most awaited and an exciting contests are here now. Please note down these dates and plan to be in to win it.

Contest schedules:

Table Topics and Humorous contests

Date: 03-Aug-2016, Time: 7.30PM.

Venue: Chadstone Oaks Toastmasters club, Malvern East.

Evaluation and International speech contests

Date: 07-Sep-2016, Time: 7.30PM.

Venue: Chadstone Oaks Toastmasters club, Malvern East.

To participate please contact:

President: Beng Tan, email:b_c_tan@yahoo.com

VP-Education: Ansuman Roy, email:ansumanspeaks@gmail.com

Entry: Free, please come with your friends.

Speech Contest

Save the dates: September 2 and September 19 2015

Why do we have competitions?

Every year, Toastmasters International (TMI) advises clubs to have competitions at the Club Level, Area Level, Division Level, District Level and International Level. This gives the speakers a chance to showcase their talents and an opportunity to win and move ahead and represent the club, area, division or district at a broader level.

At our club, contests are held generally in the month of August/September. Unlike club speeches, the most fun part is you are not evaluated during those speeches. Some contestants find it a good way to push through their CC manual speech projects, and later get the evaluation after the contests.

What are they?

International

International Contest is an inspirational speech of 5-7 mins. The speech should be something inspirational/motivational. Contestants are judged on the criteria defined in the contest rule book. This contest is the only contest that prescribes the contestant to have 6 projects completed from the Competent Communicator Manual.

Table Topics

This is our Impromptu Speech Contest. However, unlike club’s Table Topics, here contestants are given one question and they have to give a 2-3 speech on that topic. There is no prior eligibility to this contest.

Typically Contestants are guided to a secluded room away from the contest area and called one-by-one and asked to give a speech.

Humorous

Humorous Speech Contest is the most fun part of the contest. Here the contestants main aim is to add humour to their speeches. This is a 5-7 min speech and there is no prior eligibility.

Evaluation

In the Evaluation Contest, we have a guest speaker who speaks for 5-7 minutes and all the contestants then provide evaluation to the guest speaker. Like the Table Topics, the contestants are guided away into a room after the guest speaker finishes her speech and then given a 2-3 minutes to write their evaluation points.

They then provide evaluation to the guest speaker. The best evaluator is chosen by the judges based on the criteria as mentioned in the Contest Rulebook.

Why do I participate?

To learn

Contests are a tremendous opportunity to learn. You can also learn by being the audience, however, the participation in itself and the preparation would make you a different person. You learn so much about making a speech and just by observing the speeches of the other contestants, you get to take away so many key points.

To overcome fear

You might have joined Toastmasters to overcome the fear of Public Speaking, or be confident. In my view, fear can be removed only by desensitising. Contests provide you the ideal opportunity to remove the fear by giving the speeches and getting more stage time. Ultimately I promise you would be a different individual.

To win

Well, if you don’t participate how are you going to win. By participating in competitions, this is the logical way of winning. If not this time, but this experience gives you valuable life lessons you take it up for next time. But ultimately its a “win-win” situation if you participate.

To have fun

Contests are absolutely fun. You would be roaring with laughter just not at the humorous contests, but every other contest. This is really fun.

How do I prepare?

International

I won’t take much time. Look at project 9 and Project 10 of your CC manual. Build your speech loosely on those objectives of inspiration and persuasion. Add a bit of humour and practice each speech 3 times, refining your speech each time. Practice in front of an audience not the mirror. At the club we would be running Speechathons (8 speech meetings, No Table Topics) to help the contestants practice.

Table Topics

Read the daily newspapers, magazines. Read anything and everything. I read readers digest and that provides me a plethora of information. Look at simple quick win formulas to think quickly. Try the past-present-future formula, the then-now-then formula, the he-she-they formula for the Table Topics preparation. I generally try answering my 6 year old’s questions promptly. Its all about spontaneity.

Humorous

This is a toughie. I would suggest use personal stories and incidents where you have met with unexpected results which are humours. Look around there is a lot of information in your life which we foresee. Now try to exaggerate, add colour, add smell, add “Gross yucky things” and you have a story. If no idea, watch Sienfield, Jim Carey and ask yourself, why did I just laugh. Just remember not to use any inappropriate words like most standup comedians do.

Evaluation

Get to other clubs. participate in their meetings and evaluate. Look into our website, I had put a brilliant article on Effective Evaluations. Read about it and do more of evaluation.

Where from here?

Finally, I urge you to sign in for contests. Don’t worry if you fail, because failure is just the stepping stone to success. As Darren Lacroix said in his international speech “Ouch” , “lets fail forward”. Contact me at vpeducation@chadstoneoaks.org.au. We the committee are all here to help and answer your questions.

Darren Lacroix’s Speech Video on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUDCzbmLV-0

Links:

2015 Contest Rule Book :

https://www.toastmasters.org/~/media/3117F77BBF4D430B8A403ECECDD5F99F.ashx

TMI Contest Resources:

https://www.toastmasters.org/Leadership-Central/Speech-Contests

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that many of our members were not even born when I became a member of Toastmasters! So why did I join and why have I stayed for so long? Many of my reasons were covered comprehensively by Mike O’Keefe in the last edition of the newsletter. However I can add some more.

We all like to seek out and socialize with like-minded people. Those who join Toastmasters are invariably enthusiastic, goal-oriented, thoughtful, intelligent people. We are in many ways so similar and yet so different. In recent years we have become more multicultural reflecting changes in the makeup of the Australian population. Most of our members now come from different countries and different cultures, enriching us with new ideas and attitudes.

Many of my best friends either are or have been members. Toastmasters is a great social activity. As one of our past members, Mary Macdermid, said (in those days we paid by the meeting): “Where else can you have a night out like this for $3. No-one expects you to bring a partner or questions why you are there. You just come along and enjoy yourself.”

And our brains need exercise just as our bodies do. Delivering speeches, evaluating, replying to impromptu topics, chairing meeting are all great ways to stimulate the “gray matter”.

We are now a more “conventional” club, more closely following the format set down by the parent organization. Meeting were once more raucous. It was a lot of fun but confusing and daunting for new attendees. We always had a business session with frivolous motions such as: “That we sing ‘God Save the Queen’ at the beginning of each meeting” with speakers for and against, procedural motions, amendments, points of order etc. Even the educational session could be fun. A founding member, Bill Curtis, once delivered a serious and stern lecture admonishing us for not applauding with enough enthusiasm. He pointed out that people often delivered wonderful speeches to be greeted at the end with half-hearted clapping. Whilst Bill was speaking, a message circulated around the room saying “give him a standing ovation”. Bill returned to his seat to thunderous applause, his face glowing crimson with embarrassment.

We have become so accustomed to modern technology that we often do not appreciate how much it has changed our lives. One president did not even have a telephone, committee members having to rely on him to contact them from a phone box. Minutes and programs were typed or hand-written and distributed well in advance or “snail-mailed”. International monetary transactions were by mail order, posted to America.

I have seen many changes over the years but it is always interesting and every meeting is different. And more details about our new members to follow J

— By Ron Walker

Dear Toasties and Guests,

Please note that from the 1st April 2015, we are changing our club timings to 7:30pm. So our session would be held from 7:30pm – 9:30pm, every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month.