Lowdown – 18th of June 2008 meeting
Tonight’s meeting was an exciting one! We had visitors from Rivonia Toastmasters (more on that later), two ACB speeches, handshake demonstrations and an educational.
Tiaan Otto delivered the toast of the night. Tiaan started of unintelligibly, advanced to pure silliness and ended up with a solemn toast to: Words. Tiaan brought it to our attention that at some stage thousands of years ago, there were no words. Tiaan then told us about new words that are created every day. We were in stitches with phrases like “the pen is mightier than the sword and a lot shorter” and “the tongue is the mightiest of them all, and a lot wetter”. Tiaan then made the toast to Words, which allow us all to communicate.
David Hardingham was our toastmaster for the night. The theme was “The Handshake”. David informed us about the different handshakes used in cultures all over the world. It included a demonstration of the “gangsta handshake”. The gangsta handshake ends in a body slam of sorts. David unwisely asked Richard Riche to help him demonstrate the gangsta handshake. We all heard crunching noises when Richard’s shoulder connected with David’s!
The first speech of the evening was a CC7 speech by our incoming president, Andrew Timberlake. The speech was evaluated by Danie Roux. Andrew’s speech was very relevant to all of us today. Andrew’s topic was “Hacking your sleep”. Andrew researched optimal sleep and told us all how to “hack our sleep” to be better rested. According to Andrew’s research, we should have a regular time for waking up, take naps that are 30 to 45 minutes long and get up when our alarm goes off. Andrew also told us about a weird alternative to the normal sleeping pattern, called polyphasic sleep.
The next speaker for the evening was Richard Riche. Richard’s speech was evaluated by Roy Kfir, who was a guest from Morningside Toastmasters. Richard did the 3rd assignment from the ACB Storytelling manual. The topic of Richard’s speech was “Slow Poison”. Richard told us the story about Li-Li and her insufferable mother-and-law. We were all convinced that Li-Li would manage to kill her mother-in-law as she sets out to do. In a surprising twist Li-Li learns to love her mother-in-law through her efforts to kill her. Richard then left us with this life lesson: The slow poison is within us, not in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Our final speech for the evening was delivered by our incoming Vice-President of Education, Kirsten Long. This speech was Kirsten’s final speech in the ACB Storytelling manual.
Congratulations to our newest ACB!
Kirsten’s speech was entitled “The Ugly Hand of Nature”. The speech was evaluated by Keryn House who was visiting from Rivonia Toastmasters. Kirsten had us all move our chairs and huddle around her as she told us the story. Some members even sat on the ground, reminiscent of story time at the crèche.
Kirsten started by painting an idyllic picture of a guy called Luke on a picturesque holiday. We were all swept up by the visual pictures of Luke lazing on the beach. From that high, Kirsten then crashed all our happy thoughts with a 10m wave of destruction. For the rest of the speech we felt the pain of the Tsunami victims and we got a glimpse of how difficult the 36 hours after the wave were. Kirsten ended with this thought: The Tsunami left a scab in Luke’s heart, but with the connections he made that day, hope and love lived on in his heart forever.
Erich Viedge then led an educational session on the different roles that are present in a Toastmaster club. We identified roles that we ought to have and some roles that we could consider. Erich was as always very entertaining and we learnt a lot from this session.
The Table Topics were run by Christa Roux. Christa gave each speaker a song title from the 80′s. This led to some entertaining and creative speeches. David Black had everyone convinced that Sting got his name from wearing a yellow and black striped shirt on the music video of “don’t stand so close to me”!
A big thank you to everyone else involved in the meeting. David Black our sergeant, Tayengwa Masawi our grammarian for the evening and Karen Geyser our timekeeper.
Finally, George has been raided from our club! “George the travelling Gavel” was nabbed by Kathy Kay, Steve Stevenson, Trina McKinley and Keryn House from Rivonia Toastmasters. We did not give them a free raid. We asked Trina to do a quick general evaluation and Keryn was asked to lead the evaluation session and evaluate Kirsten’s speech. However, George sensed that something was going to happen and is currently AWOL. We are confident that he will soon be in the hands of Rivonia Toastmasters, so that we can bring him “home” again!
The visitors gave us some very positive feedback about how to run our meetings and gave us some tips on to to become an even better club. Andrew took back the reigns of the meeting and concluded with ‘On a Point. Our next meeting will be on the 7 July and we look forward to seeing everyone there!
If you do not understand anything about this whole George business, go read up on it at the District 74 website.
Maxicon 2008
Maxicon is held every year around June. This year was no exception except it was held in Port Elizabeth famed for being the “Friendly City”.
PE is definitely friendly but it is also a tad on the windy side. Nonetheless with a jacket in hand the 4th Dimensioners trawled through PE with ease.
The one great thing about going to a conference faraway is that we get to spend more time getting to know our fellow toastmasters. Kirsten Long, Graham Nicholls, Matt Hindley, Richard Riche and myself were holding the 4th Dimension flag high. Well we would have held it high except I had forgotten to bring it along!
Anyway back to the conference! The conference was well run and the food was very good. We had Matt Hindley representing us in the International Speaking Contest but unfortunately Coralie Rutherford, our Impromptu guru was unable to attend. Matt was a first timer at a Toastmasters conference and what a way to get into it when you are one of the contestants!
We also had Graham Nicholls our IPP voted as the “Area Governor of the year” for H4 and we roared with pride. Well Richard did cat calls but the rest of us roared… We are also very proud that the new Division C Governor – Erich Viedge and Division H Governor – Graham Nicholls are both members from 4th Dimension!
The Keynote Speakers at the conference were Dorian Haarhoff who showed us the power of stories. By using a story we give the audience the ability to take what the need from each story instead of forcing a message through. Robert Brooks took us on a journey through pictures. Most of them were from PE but also showed just want a beautiful country we have.
There were 3 workshops run where we had to pick one. Kirsten and I decided that being a bit over 21 that we should look into my retirement so went to Paul Leonards talk “Investing your treasure wisely”. It was so powerful that I bought the CD. Kirsten didn’t need to as she won the competition the lucky thing! Basically he showed ways to decrease your debt and how to invest your money in such a way that you get greater returns. Unfortunately this means that shoe shopping is out of the question…
I was informed by fellow toastmaster Matt Hindley, that Alan Glovers “A True Champion” was inspiring and showed techniques on how to achieve what you want.
Unfortunately I cannot comment on Mike Webb “Seeking your treasure” but based on the calibre of speakers, I am sure that he wowed the audience as the other two did.
The outcomes from Treasurecon are listed below:
Hall of Fame Awards
Toastmaster of the Year – Adrian Spruyt
Division Governor of the Year - Ruth Goodbrand, Division H
Area Governor of the Year – Graham Nicholls – H4
ICSA Administrators Award – Carol-Ann Louw
Golden Goose Award – Kwazulu Natal Youth Leadership Team
Public Relations Event of the Year – Bankon 2007 Conference Team
Public Relations Quality Award – Division D – Toastmasters Day
Club VP PRO of the Year – Jacques de Villiers
Club Bulletin of the Year – The Tattler – Standard Bank Operations Club (Editor: Phindiwe Ngele)
Club Website of the Year – Ernst & Young Cape Town www.toastmasters.co.za (Lloyd Dicks)
Triple Crown Award (three or more communication or leadership goals)
Vic Brits, President Club
Lois Strachan, Cape Town Club
Elaine Swanepoel – Umhlanga Club
Linda Tucker Winelands Club
Martin van Zyl – Pretoria East Club
International Speaking Contest
Will Bowker – Division A
Iann Bratt – Division B
Roberta Donovan – Division C (2nd)
Christof Appel – Division D (1st)
Nicholas Mitchell – Division E
Elaine Swanepoel – Division F (3rd)
Matt Hindley – Division H
Impromptu Competition (Word = Back)
Will Bowker – Division A (3rd)
Ian Bratt – Division B
Roberta Donovan – Division C (2nd)
Andrew Freeborn – Division D(1st)
Nicholas Mitchell – E
Graham de Kock – Division F
Beverley Kluckow – Division H
Evaluation Competition
Evaluation Speaker Antoinette Baatjes – Can You Appreciate Real Art?
Jan Hendrik Grobbelar – Division A
Ian Bratt – Division B
Kathy Angus – Division C (2nd)
Hugh Solomon – Division D
Nicholas Mitchell – E (1st)
Graham de Kock – Division F (3rd)
Keith Bowen – Division H
Election of District Officers 2008/09
District Governor Elect – Lois Strachan
Lt. Governor Education & Training – Craig Strachan
Lit. Governor Marketing – Rob Douglas
District Public Relations Officer – Ruth Goodbrand
District Treasurer – Keith Bowen
District Secretary – Marie Ribeiro
Division A Governor – Vic Brits
Division B Governor – To be appointed
Division C Governor – Erich Viedge
Division D Governor – Jurgen Pieterse
Division E Governor – Michael Warren
Division F Governor – Craig Perry
Division H Governor – Graham Nicholls
Well done to Division E for hosting Maxicon from the 15th – 17th May 2008. We enjoyed it thoroughly and Division C have a hard act to follow!
Kind regards,
Carla
4th Dimension President
Lowdown – 2nd of June 2008 meeting
This evening’s meeting was a rather special one as it was the last meeting Carla Sargo was attending in our club as our President. As some of you might know, Carla is moving to the UK to explore different career opportunities. So I would like you all to join me in wishing her well on her journey of discovery.
The theme for the evening was ‘First Things First’. In keeping with the theme, we kicked the meeting off with the usual introductions and we shared what is the first thing that we enjoyed in 2008. It seems most people had wonderful memories, ranging from being awake and sober at midnight to enjoying some great champagne! Without any further delays, Carla handed over to Agnes Lutukai, our toastmaster for the evening. Agnes is a seasoned toastmaster and always ensures that the meeting is run professionally without forgetting the element of fun.
Our role players are to be commended for making sure everything was in order. Tayengwa was our Timekeeper, Coralie our Table topics master and Christa our grammarian. Our word of the day was ‘disseminate’ and its use was disseminated throughout the meeting (Christa, I’m making up for not using it on Monday). Andrew delivered an inspirational toast on ‘putting first things first’!
Our prepared speeches were of a high standard ranging from CC1 to ACB9. The first one was delivered by Colleen Luck evaluated by Tiaan Otto. Coleen finally took the great plunge and delivered her CC1. Her speech title was ‘About me’. Danie Roux delivered a hilarious CC8 entitled ‘Making mistakes’. His speech was evaluated by Andrew Timberlake. Danie left us with the following words to ponder, ‘if someone tells you that you have made a mistake, ignore them and make money from your mistake’.
Matt Hindley delivered a fascinating CC9 with his speech entitled “Picture Perfect”. The evaluator for this speech was Zibu Mntambo. Matt gave us some insight on how pictures can define so explicitly what is going on in the world at any given time. Our final speech was delivered by Carla. It was an ACB9 entitled “Welcome to bunnywood” . Her speech gave a fantastic overview of the rise and fall of the Playboy Empire as well as a new strategy to re-launch the brand. This speech was evaluated by Sue Munro.
Sue did a really great job of running the evaluation session while Coralie kept the toastmasters and guests entertained with a new and exciting way of running the table topics session.
Finally, Agnes handed over the ranks back to Carla to conclude the meeting. Please do not forget to vote for the individual awards to be handed out at our Induction dinner. If you want any further details, please contact Carla. If you have not already RSVP’ed for the Induction Dinner, please do so by the end of today.
That’s all from me. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and see you at the Induction dinner.