May 2008 - District 73 Toastmasters

A Great Package by Murray Jorgensen DTM
It is hard to imagine what an isolated group the three
Toastmasters clubs in Perth were when I joined the
Banyandah Club in 1980. In the days before e-mail, when
fax messages were just superseding telex messages
(anyone remember them), and when interstate air travel
was quite expensive, only the Area winner of a speech
contest was ever likely to attend a District Convention in
Melbourne.
Nevertheless, things changed and, with barely half
a dozen clubs by 1987, WA Toastmasters attracted
members from all over Australia and New Zealand to
Perth for one of the last Downunder Conventions. And in 1993, the first nonmetropolitan
club in WA, Mine Host, organised what might have been one of
the most remote District Semi Annual Conventions ever, in the gold mining
city of Kalgoorlie. With only very small teams of enthusiastic volunteers, the
committees that organised these very successful conventions highlighted to
me the truth of a quotation attributed to Henry Ford – “Whether you believe
you can do a thing or not, you are right.”
My involvement with Toastmasters has continued because I noticed one
very important thing – positive thinking and inspiring ideas are nowhere as
common as they are at a Toastmasters meeting or event.
Not only do learning opportunities abound in Toastmasters, but recently I had
the fun of participating in a debate on the topic “Does Santa need an MBA”
and then the challenge of evaluating a project speech given by a Japanese
Toastmaster visiting my club.
Learning…fun…challenge… it is still a great package of opportunities with
Toastmasters.
Magic Maxims by David Reynolds DTM
Magic Maxims workshop supported by Lieutenant Governor Education
and Training Bernard Marmion and organised by Jacqui Gullick on Saturday
19 April 2008 was a spectacular success, attracting approximately 80 workshop
participants including six non-Toastmasters. The major educational
theme of the day was to improve your presentation skills with special guest
speaker Verity Robins presenting: Tap into your Passion, Know your Power and
Present with Purpose.
Other great presenters included Susan Morrison, Andrew Weatherhead,
George Randall, David Reynolds, Judy Murphy, Marlene Sinclair, Bill Farman
and again Marlene Sinclair with friends.
Jacqui is planning on conducting another Magic Maxims next year. So if you
are interested in:
• learning how to conduct successful workshops by gathering a team of
talented people around you; or
• contributing in some way as a presenter; or
• looking for a challenging role for your DTM High Performance Leadership
project –
then this is your opportunity to register your interest with Jacqui at
jjgullick@bigpond.com
n Murray Jorgensen DTM is a member of the City of Perth Club and the Curtin GSB Club.
He was Divisional Lt-Governor West 1985/86 and Division Governor Western Division 2002/03.
Verity Robins
Jacqui Gullick (L) and Marlene Sinclair
d73.toastmasters.org.au
Edition 46 • May 2008
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