By Alistair Gray
Toastmasters president Joannes Evers in full flight as he addresses their recent meeting.
It is a year of celebrations for Bribie Toastmasters as they celebrated their 700th meeting after only just having their 13th birthday in June. New club president Joannes Evers clearly likes to have fun and as he says, any excuse for wine and a nibble makes for a happy club, which it sure is. Some members of the Caboolture club recently visited the Bribie club for the occasion, including Area Director 2024/2025 Lucy Schelberg and Muriel Smith, a four times Distinguished Toastmaster. Noticeable since my last visit, was three or four new members and the club is regenerating as the new members benefit from the opportunity to improve their public speaking. Jock Elliott, 2011 World Champion of Public Speaking, ran the meeting and lightened up the occasion with heaps of stories, with smiles and laughter everywhere and a light sprinkling of knowledge pearls dropped into the conversation.
No Toastmasters meeting could be without a Table Topics session, where audience members are randomly selected and asked to speak for about 90 seconds on a topic chosen by the evening Table Topic Master Amanda Morgan. The talks were brilliant with feedback and personal evaluations provided by Caboolture Toastmaster Linda Upton. It's a great way to improve your impromptu speaking skills.
The theme for the evening was time. Unlike usual Toastmasters meetings, the founder of The Real-Time Initiative Graeme Brittenden, presented his plan to standardise time zones in Australia to no more than three across Australia with 88% of the population being in one time zone. Currently, we have five time zones across Australia during summer causing confusion, loss of productivity, and enormous costs to the economy. The initiative would effectively do away with AEDT and the need to manage time changes every six months.
In her early 90s, Muriel Smith shared the story of her 35-year Toastmasters journey. She joined Caboolture in 1986 and has been a member of 14 clubs since then. In her talk, Muriel recounted her involvement with the various clubs and her roles, including coming to Bribie in 1998, forming the Islander Club, the daytime club on the Island and Morning Stars clubs, serving as Area Governor, and acting as Chief Judge. She highlighted her achievements, including revitalising Mount Gravatt and Fraser Coast Toastmasters. Muriel made a significant impact wherever she went and emphasised the importance of friendships and how supportive Toastmasters had been throughout her life.
"Tonight, we celebrate our 700th meeting. May we continue to inspire and support one another. Here's to many more meetings filled with laughter, growth and unforgettable moments,” Rosine Evans said in proposing the toast as the meeting drew to a close.
For more information about Toastmasters, please contact Joannes Evers on 0450 473 822 or email joannesevers@gmail.com
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