BOROONDARA TOASTMASTERS CLUB

15th year Anniversary

20 June 2013

The Mission of Boroondara Toastmasters Club

To provide a mutually supporting and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop and practise communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

AGENDA

Call to order – Vincent Li Opening remarks and guests welcome - David Nolan

Agenda update; apologies – Dejanne Kadow Toastmaster – Noel Edyvane

Address by District Governor – Catherine MacGillivray Speech 1 - Jane Borden

Speech 2 - Vincent Li Speech 3 - Belinda van Schaik

Speech 4 - Justin Guy

Vote for Best speaker

Evaluation of speech 1 - Sruthi Chandrasekhar Evaluation of speech 2 - Greg Lawson

Evaluation of speech 3 - Meera Venkataraman Evaluation of speech 4 - Claire Xerri

Vote for Best Evaluator

Intermission / Supper--

Call to Order / Resume - Vincent Li

Address from MP, Federal Member for Kooyong - Josh Frydenberg

Special presentation - Humorous Speech - Rod Smith

Address from MP, State Member for Burwood -

Graham Watt

District International Speech Contest Winner - Yuri Ptschelinzew

History of Boroondara Toastmasters Club - Florence Luk

Awards Presentation - Catherine MacGillivray

Final Business, Announcements - David Nowlan

The Phoenix Club by Noel Edyvane DTM My first encounter with Boroondara Toastmasters Club or, as it was then known, Burwood Unity Toastmasters Club, was when I visited the club on my Area Governor visit. I was surprised to find that the club was meeting in a church. However, when speaking to some of the members, I learned that the club was originally founded by members of the church and so the church became a convenient meeting venue. Although the club had a reasonable level of attendance on that first visit, over the following months membership dropped considerably. A survey of past members and guests indicated that there were two main reasons why people did not want to join the club: the first reason was that Toastmasters is a secular organisation and many thought that it was sacrilegious for a secular organisation to meet in a religious building; the second reason was that the whole interior of the church was painted pink and a lot of people did not like being in a pink building. As the effective membership slid slowly to two members, a meeting was held to decide what was to be done with the club. Knowing the primary cause of membership loss, a decision was made to address those two problems directly and then assess the outcome. A number of other experienced Toastmasters were brought on to the Phoenix committee to ensure that the debilitated club could rise from the ashes. A number of alternative venues were canvassed, including the local tennis club. After much consideration, the current venue Burwood Neighbourhood House was selected. The new venue was ideal because it was a community oriented venue, it was on the tramline and the bus route, and the interior was painted green. It also had a good kitchen area where supper could easily be provided.

Once the venue had been decided upon, it was decided to change the name to reflect the geographic location and so the Burwood Unity Toastmasters Club became the Boroondara Toastmasters Club. The next issue to be addressed was that of membership. With the increasing use of technology within the community, a significant website was considered essential. Although the club had a webpage, a more significant Web presence was required. A new website was developed and that has become the primary source of new guests. On more than one occasion guests have mentioned that they had searched the Internet for Toastmasters clubs and chose to come to the Boroondara club because of its excellent website. In addition to the website facility, brochures about the club were developed and distributed at local community venues such as libraries and other community houses. Advertisements were also placed in the local newspapers and local bus stops. With the Boroondara Toastmasters Club publicity machine putting in such a great effort, the membership slowly increased to charter strength and beyond. As with all Toastmaster clubs, the membership fluctuates, but few clubs have achieved the status of having five Distinguished Toastmasters within its ranks at the same time.

Each Toastmasters club has a particular atmosphere, which is generated by the enthusiasm of its members, the expertise and empathy of its Executive and the facilities and decor of the meeting venue itself. There are a number of things that make the Boroondara Toastmasters Club special. The Burwood Neighbourhood House was originally a house, not an impersonal public building, and it has retained that homely atmosphere. The regular club meetings are noted for their strong developmental focus; the educational session is always on the agenda and covers a broad range of topics from audience-involvement to youth-leadership. The Club Executive focuses on the needs of the members and how their developmental requirements can be achieved. The Supper-master puts a lot of thought and effort into ensuring that members and guests have a substantial supper that is both varied and nourishing. Boroondara Toastmasters Club, once on the verge of extinction, has risen like a Phoenix and has become a hallmark for other clubs to follow.

Club Executive 2012-2013

President - David Nowlan

VP Education - Dejane Kadow

VP Membership - Justin Guy

VP Public Relations – Belinda van Schaik

Secretary - Florence Luk

Treasurer - Noel Edyvane

Sergeant-at-Arms - Vincent Li

Immediate Past President - Graham Manley

Significant Members Within Boroondara Toastmasters Club we have encountered many interesting and amazing people. Some have inspired us by what they have done, others have inspired us by showing us what we can do. Whether past or present members, they have all made memorable contributions and helped others on their Toastmasters journey: Graham Manley, DTM A consummate world-wide speaker, Graham always carries a speech in his hip pocket ready for presentation. At one club contest he had prepared a speech for the International speech contest. Unfortunately it was the night of the Humorous speech contest. Within ten minutes he had discarded his original speech and prepared a humorous speech for the contest. Graham won first place in that contest. Florence Luk, DTM A Division Governor with deep concern for the clubs within her Division. Florence has encouraged members to achieve their potential by expanding their comfort zone and embracing the challenge of different speeches, different roles and setting high-achievement goals. Noel Edyvane, DTM A former District Treasurer and current Club Treasurer, Noel has provided many educational and instructive sessions to develop the presentation skills of members. Sylvia Chuah, DTM A former Lt Governor Education and Training, Sylvia provided many evaluations for members that were supportive, clear in their message, detailed in explanation and with suggestions for improvement that were demonstrated with empathy. Justin Guy Current Webmaster of the club. Justin has demonstrated his passion for the environment by numerous speeches on water themes. Greg Lawson Greg has demonstrated that Toastmasters should always keep readily available a pen and paper upon which to record quotations and facts that could be used in another speech. Liara Covert Liara developed our first newsletter, a publication filled with humour and interesting anecdotes and stories.

David Murphy David demonstrated that with imagination and confidence, costumes can have a dramatic effect on the audience. Janet Irwin A founding member of Boroondara Toastmasters Club, Janet gave evaluations that were detailed and that were supported by clear demonstrations of how to improve the next presentation. Michael Barker A founding member of Boroondara Toastmasters Club, Michael's contribution as Joke Master set the standard for club humourists to follow.

How we evaluate a speech

Evaluation is the focal point of presentation development. Without good evaluation the speaker will find it difficult to improve their speech performance.

Speeches from the Toastmaster speech manual have an evaluation guide designed to assess the speech according to specific criteria linked to the objectives of the speech project. Contest speeches are assessed according to the criteria on the judge’s ballot sheet. Evaluations generally focus on three specific areas: structure, content and delivery.

All evaluations must carry a tone of encouragement throughout. Good evaluations include a word of honest praise and emphasize improvements that are within the speaker's grasp. All speakers attempt to reach their audiences by selecting and organizing meaningful content, and then effectively delivering that content. The evaluator's role is to help the speaker in both areas by providing constructive reviews of the overall presentation, and by citing how well the speaker attained the specific goals of the speech. And like any good speech, the evaluation's effectiveness hinges on the ability to connect with the audience (especially the speaker). This connection happens through positive messaging with a purpose.

The structure of the evaluation itself is to first praise the speaker for some good aspects of the presentation, then offer one or two points of improvement, then finish the evaluation with some praise for other aspects of the presentation. By “sandwiching” the points of improvement between areas of praise, we make the improvement points more palatable and the speaker more relaxed about the evaluation.

What is special about Boroondara Toastmasters Club? A Toastmasters club is not a static entity like a garden post; it is a living, evolving entity, changing as its members change and develop new skills and expertise and put these attributes into practice within the club environment. The level of support and encouragement we give to our members determines how fast they acquire these attributes and develop the confidence necessary for their use. When guests attend their first Toastmasters meeting, they often marvel at the highly professional presentations that fill the agenda. This can be a daunting encounter as they wonder if they could ever achieve that same status. It is the friendliness of our members and their relevant anecdotes that remind all of us how we started on our Toastmasters road and how long it took to build the skills we have now. Mentoring is an important aspect of the Toastmasters experience that is beneficial to not only the person being mentored, but is beneficial also to the person providing the mentoring. It is through this process that we re-encounter the problems that once caused each of us so much anguish and, by helping members through that stage, we can alleviate much of the anguish and potential disappointment that may otherwise occur. Each of the manual speeches has different objectives, designed to expose members to different situations, different experiences and different skills. Knowing that there is an experienced Toastmaster available to call upon when the uphill road gets a bit rocky can be a comforting experience. We may have started our Toastmasters journey alone, but we are not alone for long. As we progress through life there is the tendency to compartmentalise different aspects of our life. Into little boxes we put our daily work, our family, our Toastmasters involvement and our numerous other activities - all neatly packaged and filed for when time and scheduling permits. We need to remember that there is a synergistic effect in integrating many things together. The skills we learn in Toastmasters make us ideal communicators within the work environment. Our daily work activities can give us ideas and content for our next speech. The expertise we learn within family negotiations is a useful skill that can be used at work and in administrative roles. We may think that a Toastmaster is just a skilled communicator in a club environment but the skills we learn are multi-faceted and are applicable in a wide range of environments. That is the reason why there are so many Advanced Toastmaster manuals. Toastmasters is a world-wide organisation and the skills we learn in toastmasters have global applicability. So after you have achieved your CC (Competent Communicator), your ATM (Advanced Toastmaster) and your DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster), it is time to strive towards your next step and become a GT (Global Toastmaster).

Member Development

Boroondara Toastmasters Club develops its members by following the Toastmasters International educational program. This covers two streams: the communication stream and the leadership stream. There are awards given to members once they have achieved certain criteria which are:

Competent Communicator

10 speeches

Advanced Communicator Bronze

20 speeches

Advanced Communicator Silver

30 speeches

2 workshops

Advanced Communicator Gold

40 speeches

3 workshops

Competent Leader

A series of leadership roles outlined in the

Competent Leader manual

Advanced Leader Bronze

Serve as a Club officer

Attend Club Officer training

Conduct 2 workshops

Advanced Leader Silver

Serve as a District officer

Complete a delegatory project

Mentor, coach or sponsor a Club

Distinguished Toastmaster

Complete the Advanced Communicator Gold

Complete the Advanced Leader Silver

Boroondara Toastmasters Club, originally called the Burwood Unity Toastmasters Club, initially held its meeting in a church in Renown Street, Burwood.

The interior of the Renown Street church was painted pink and this was not the favourite colour for a lot of people

Boroondara Toastmasters Club moved from the Renown Street Church to its current venue at 1 Church St, Burwood

Members enjoy the modern facilities within the Burwood Neighbourhood House

Our current President, David Nowlan is shown here preparing to give out awards to members

Members use the Word of the Day - in this case "monumental" - to enliven the Round Robin and Table Topics sessions, as shown here by Belinda Van Schaik

Members and visiting Toastmasters use a range of presentation styles in support of the message encompassed in their speeches.

On festive occasions members of Boroondara Toastmasters Club get into the spirit of the occasion.

Awards, certificates and badges are given to members when they achieve certain milestones in their Toastmasters journey

The original Club banner was a colourful gold. When Toastmasters International re-branded the logo, a new Club banner was obtained

When Toastmasters International re-branded the logo, a new Club banner was obtained

When the Club reaches certain goals it is awarded a celebratory ribbon.

Some of the members of Boroondara Toastmasters Club

Note Photos on Boroondara Toastmasters Club 15th Year Anniversary can be found on BTMC History – Part 2.doc