Meeting Notes - Seminyak Toastmasters, a New Beginning

First I’d like to introduce myself as the new VPE. I will be replacing Theodoreo Niekras who will be returning to the states (temporarily) for professional reasons. Theo has added great value to the club with his presence and enthusiasm, and will be missed. I know I speak for everyone when I wish Theo a bon voyage (traveling via a transpacific sailing adventure from Japan to Dutch Harbor, Alaska) and that he return to us quickly here in Bali.

For a recap of last night’s meeting, the event was fun as always and brought a lot of laughs. We had three and a half guests, one of which being Angie who has decided to join the club (yeah!) Welcome Angie. The finale of tango lessons was not the least bit unappreciated. I only wish I could have stayed around till the end.

Our TOM for the evening was Sri, who ran a warm gathering with a lot of energy. She is improving consistently and will certainly become a very proficient speaker as she continues down the TM path.

Theo presented a thought provoking table topics, asking profound questions about happiness. What is happiness? Can happiness be measured? And when was the happiest moment of our lives? Doris, one of our guests, braved a go at a question. This is always inspiring, as the point of table topics is to be able to learn to think on our feet and handle situations which are unrehearsed … an important skill for any speaker. We hope you are soon a member Doris.

The three speeches of the evening were given by Budi, Theo and Richard (speaking for myself in third person, lol). Budi delivered speech number three, Get To The Point, recounting an embarrassing gastro-intestinal moment that happened to a ‘friend’. Theo dazzled us with his theatrical skills and pyromaniac past with speech number four. Finally Richard introduced himself in his ice breaker while taking a subtle, yet ever deserving jab at ex American president George W. Bush.

The evaluations were handled with class and encouragement. As always, the meal was excellent and the meeting finished on time.

A couple of points discussed were the option to serve the meal after the meeting. Eating first tends to rush the affair lessening the pleasure of the feast. Point taken. However waiting till the end posses a problem for our members living in Ubud and Sanur who still have the long road in front of them. Discussion to be continued.

A small clicker device was suggested to call attention to the speaker when Ahs, Ums and filler words are used. The advantage being that we are reminded in the moment when it is most relevant, not at the end of all the speeches when we our out of context and changing the habit is less effective than when it is happening. Also the role of the ah counter will be easier.

Finally, the suggestion of turning the red light off at the end of the final allotted time will provide an additional signal. This will tell the speaker if they have in fact gone over time, or are still within the allowed limit.

As this is a new club, and membership is of utmost importance. I would like to encourage everyone to invite at least one friend to each meeting. Toastmasters is a marvelous tool, and all of us know colleagues, friends or family members who could benefit. If everyone invites someone, the meeting instantly doubles in size.

Lastly, because we don’t ask additional financial contributions like the other clubs, beyond the normal membership fees, we need to think of ways to raise a small treasury. The club has expenses, such as marketing and promotional, training and tools, and sending members to competitions and other regional events as some examples. A standing account will help things run more smoothly. We should think of ways to raise money for the club. I suggest a raffle. We can sell tickets to win prizes. It is fun and easy, and a great way to promote the club. Please give it some thought, and we can discuss it as a group in the next meeting on June 10th.

Ok, I’ll wrap this up with a link for a nice synopsis from Toastmasters.org, 10 Tips For Public Speaking http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp

Thursday, 12th May.

Returning to our accustomed venue, after last week’s cosy foray to the foyer, Bali Toast Masters held their “Super Humorous” themed meeting and embarked upon a slightly new but very enjoyable approach during the Table Topics round:

Impromptu speeches based on a randomly chosen object or prop. The suggestion of Vaughn, this concept was based on the famous comedy show “Whose line is it, anyway?” and it proved to be challenging, amusing and very entertaining for both speakers and audience as you shall discover.

Once underway, the meeting quickly moved on to the Table Topics stage and even more quickly moved into the surreal with Vaughn leading the Table Topics while sporting a pith helmet and a slightly comical yet predominately disturbing mask.

Whether or not it was actually an improvement was insinuated but not decided.

Amongst the highlights were: Tjie Strong, who seamlessly linked his object, a squeaky, orange, plastic hedgehog, to the irony of death. Olga’s object, a monkey statue, produced an anecdote of the time her father mistook her for a chimpanzee.

Firman had a rather erotic stylized sculpture and, slightly at a loss, engaged the audience for physical participation. Our guest, David, nearly removed his clothes… but ironically failed to place his underpants on the outside of his trousers when he came to speak with a Superman toy as his object for discussion.

Novi took us all on an intergalactic imaginary journey with only a wooden hula hoop as her prop. All in all, a very imaginative, entertaining and comical Table Top session.
Vo-ghan won the craziest (or funniest) person award - the one-of-a-kind T-shirt.

Deborah delivered her 2nd speech from the basic manual yet clearly has skills and abilities expected at the advanced levels.

The jokes did not stop, however, with the topic looking at he history of humour, Deborah informed and charmed us all with the origins of jokes; ancient Sumerian records of farting wife

jokes and citing relics of gags and witticisms from the annals of history that we all still find familiarly amusing to this day.

Her visual depiction of Cro-Magnon man’s fart jokes around the campfire was hilarious. A really excellent speech. Well done, Deborah!

Stepping in at the last minute, Michelle gave a very engaging portrait of her entanglements with religious taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur. From the spiritually free to the dogmatic and opinionated drivers,

Michelle took us with her on her precarious balancing act; falling foul of foot-in-mouth disease and having to extricate herself from the judgment of others. Evidently a strong Toast Master, Michelle’s speech was delivered masterfully, despite having such a short time to prepare.

A last but not least mention: Happy 21st birthday to Ibu Cok. What a delicious choclate and cream cake -- most definitely enjoyed by all.

A thoroughly enjoyable Toast Masters and, of course, more to come later this month and every month!

By: Johnathan Wilkinson

A Panorama Of Variety...

Saturday, 7 May 2011:

As happens twice a year in the countries which move the time forward in the summer to save energy, someone inevitably forgets and arrives EARLY or LATE for some appointment, church or meeting.

(That's why it's always Midnight of Saturday night/Sunday morning when the change goes into effect.)

And, as we too changed our starting time on Saturday from 2pm to 3pm, Yep, you guessed it. Two members showed up early. One was an hour and a half early!

But as the meeting got under way, there was a lively buzz as last minute roles were confirmed and Chisato was suddenly asked to be Table Topic Master.

Appropriate, if you really think about it. After all, isn't Table Topics about thinking on our feet?

And that's exactly what Chisato did as she rose to the challenge, beautifully giving us four thought-provoking questions that led to a very lively session.

It literally had everybody answering the question in their head as they listened.

First up was Anita, a guest and Toastmaster to be, speaking about how living and working Ubud makes her happy.

Next was Erika. Her excitement and enthusiasm were contagious. Infectious even, as she told of being selected the number one Beatles fan in the world.

Ndari revealed her love for books and her twin brothers, when asked about what would make her happy.

But the one that really caught us all --- and eventually landed her the top honors as Best Table Topic Speaker--- was Siska as she talked about her values as to what she considers as the most important element of happiness.

Without missing a beat, we moved on to the Prepared Speeches session. TOM Miranda introduced each one in turn, helping us better appreciate the project each was attempting.

Tim persuaded us eloquently on the importance of copy writing, inviting us to have a look at his blog for tips on how to create copy that 'sells'. Appearing, natural and relaxed, Tim sprinkled his speech with personal anecdotes and frustration that the audience could easily relate to.

Then Ms Luh came on, and with quiet, organised passion stole the show (and later took top honors in this category) as she talked of the alarming increase in HIV infection in Bali. She speaks about serious issues, but with such passion and sincerity -- we cannot help but hang on her every word.

Some even commented that it seemed much more like a later project - the speech to inspire.

Next was Lina giving her Ice Breaker speech with an amusing tale on her experience having and taking care of a dog for the first time. Lina spoke fluently without using her note, and did not show any nervousness. The audience gave Lina a standing ovation for having broken the ice.

And last, Sri got up to introduce us to a place that we must see, feel, taste and experience in all its richness, variety and wonder. She ended by challenging us ---brilliantly--- that until we know UBUD, we don't really know Bali.

The meeting ended with evaluations and people volunteering for various roles at the next meeting.

See you there!"

Tim Arwine

Wondrous Laughters - BTC Meeting April 28, 2011

Dear Fellow Toastmasters,

The 'official' last meeting precis...

A charming misunderstanding quickly morphed into a wondrous night at BTM last night. Being locked out of our normal room only led us to be more resourceful, holding the event in the more intimate surroundings of the foyer, sitting on comfy couches and surrounding by pot plants of all descriptions, featuring Verga’s punker wheatgrass display.

The great thing was that with the smaller space, and the subsequent enthusiastic applauses, 11 actually made a wonderful crowd (the enthusiastic clapping, conducted by Miranda, adding to the fanfare and human spirit).

An agenda packed with speakers of a variety of levels meant that we made the rare exception of not having table topics. Being a fan of this session, I was pleasantly surprised that the night flew by without me noticing it. This was simply because the variety and content of the speeches were right on the button.

I commend the brave and admirable Icebreakers (look mom, no notes!) from Jonathan and Firman – you’d think they’ve been doing this for years: keep coming back for more guys!

Adi, as usual, probed us with philosophical quandaries that even Jenny couldn’t answer, all backed up with beautiful blue brain diagrams.

You couldn’t deny that Verga’s wondrous wheatgrass was not only well-researched and applicable to anyone who cares a toot about their health: instant weight-loss and a kilo of veges in a glass of healthy juice – I think you can understand why his flyers were ripped out of his hand at the end of his speech.

Strong then embarked on his speech marathon of 20 minutes, accepting the challenge of the full time allowance that was offered to him, to discuss new strategies for attracting potential Toastmasters members. It was role playing time and this was where the real fun started…
There were interrupters, chatterers, talkers, arguers and those with internal personality conflicts. Everyone rose to the role, keeping Strong on his feet at every moment possible. He handled the situation calmly and efficiently, often with a wry smile, especially when the class clown, Vaug-han, brought up the suggestion of ordering pie susu for snacks at break time! I think that we even came up with some serious suggestions in the end - let's look forward to welcoming more members...:)

Evaluations, on the whole, were apt, encouraging, constructive and within the time limit, except for Vaug-han who by this stage was finding it hard to shake off the ‘talker’ role from Strong’s speech…

Best Speaker went to the ever-modest Jonathan and Best Evaluator was Adi.

Next meeting promises to be even funnier, and I suggest checking out ‘Whose line is it anyway?’ on YouTube for a bit of inspiration:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFQyJySGJ4

Wondrous moments at a wondrous meeting – toast!
Vaughan 'Kiwi' Hatch