Pak in the News Nov 2008

Nov. 2008 Edition By Edwin Zwanenburg

Inside this Months Issue:


Greetings & Welcome

The year is truly flying by.. November is already on the calendar and Christmas is drawing near. This is the last newsletter before the summer holiday break and there's heaps of news & events coming up.....

The new executive team is in full swing and has already held a couple of meetings to set out the course to reach the club goals for this Toastmasters year.

To the New members that have joined us since September:

A very warm welcome to the club.. Good luck with achieving your personal goals and becoming a better speaker & leader! Please don't hesitate to contact anyone in the club to help you.. We're all here with the same objectives in mind after all..

There's some exciting events upcoming too...the end-of-year meeting with Secret Santa & the club awards ceremony, the Christmas function, the National Convention and much, much more in the new year.

Have a good time reading!
The Editor.


Lets Talk Business


The Semi annual fees have (mostly) been paid and our Treasurer David Parker can report that our club is in a healthy state. Hopefully the NZ$ will pick up again a bit otherwise we may have to look at putting the fees up slightly to be able to pay our club fees to the HQ in the USA. Otherwise we'll start loosing money on the exchange rate..

The meeting that was held on the Wednesday after Labour Day wasn't overly busy. Please be aware that in general if a meeting falls on a public holiday Monday, it's moved to the Wednesday after...bound to happen again sometime next year again...

The last meeting of the year 2008 is on Monday 8 December.
The first meeting of the year 2009 is on Monday 19 January

Events, Past & Upcoming


The Area 5 Humorous & Table Topics Contest was held on Saturday 20th September at Elim Christian Centre in Howick. Our representatives Caroline Luey and Ray Mason did an excellent job in defending our honour...

Area Competition Report

Ray Mason was finished 1st in the preliminary round!!

The question for his Table Topic was about if Fonterra should take responsibility for the situation in China with regards to the melamine in the milk. In the next round Ray wasn't placed however, so that's where it ended for him.
Caroline was placed 3rd in the Humorous Competition with her speech "More than a Holiday”. In her category 1st place went to Janette in Orakei with a speech on the different ways people greet each other and 2nd place went to a member from the Howick Club. His speech was on cricket and how they didn't have enough players...

Quite a successful effort by the Pakuranga contestants, too bad it didn't' take our Ray & Caroline further but a useful experience!


CHRISTMAS FUNTION


With the festive season coming round rapidly we want to invite all members + partners to our yearly Christmas Function.
This year to be held on: 23/11/2008, 4pm onwards At: Patti's place, 21 Galloway Crescent, Pakuranga

It's a Pot-Luck & BYO dinner so bring some nice food & drinks to share. You are also allowed to bring you better half ;-)
We're a multicultural club so we hope that this ends up being an interesting tasting experience!!

More info via Warren Fraser to follow.

Toastmasters Convention Dunedin 14-16 Nov. 2008


See on the website for info: www.toastmasters.org.nz/index.cfm/Events...

Alun is sure to go and we encourage everybody to go along with him as it is a valuable experience!

Where: Otago University Dunedin

High points : NZ finals for the Humorous and Table Topics Contests, Exciting educationals, The District Council Meeting (good cure for Insomnia), seeing Alun wearing a suit, Haggis, Staying up late, Talking toastmasters for 2 days.

Low points : The District Council Meeting (good cure for Insomnia), Haggis, Getting up early for briefings, after staying up late


SOCIAL FUNTION (UPCOMING EVENT)


Caroline is working on a workshop regarding the use of your voice. Did you know that properly inhaling and exhaling your breath is half the work in speaking loud & clear to an audience???
Watch this space for more info on this really cool workshop! More info from Caroline Luey to follow shortly.


SECRET SANTA
Our last meeting of the year (08/12) will be a "Secret Santa"...
Please bring a little present (Max. $3) to the meeting so we have a little fun with this!!!..
Thanks...


Handy Links


Pakuranga Toastmasters Website: (www.pakuranga.toastmasters.gen.nz)

Strategies to Succeed in Public Speaking: (http://www.school-for-champions.com/speaking.htm#Success)

Speech Topic Ideas and Examples: (http://toastmasterssf.googlepages.com/3000speaches)


An Exciting New Adventure


Like I did in the last newsletter I asked one of a new club member what his/her motivation was to join Toastmasters... here is what I received back from Jovita Carvalho:

Hello Edwin ,
I joined the ANZ ,National bank Toastmasters club about one year ago . The club meet every other Tuesday for an hour . Since I work in the south , driving to the city & parking use to take at least 3-4 hrs of my work time . I moved to Pakuranga Toastmasters club about 4 months ago . I am very pleased with the toast members. I have gained a lot of confidence since moving to this club . The members are very friendly & supportive . I really look forward to the meetings . I have completed my 5th speech & hope to do the 6th one before the christmas break .
Cheers
Jovita Carvalho

Thanks for that Jovita... good luck with your next speech(es).. We will all be looking forward to hear more from you!!


Recognition Corner


Simon Morley - COMPLETED 10 SPEECHES FROM CC MANUAL!!

Jovita Carvalho "Spirit of Success" Award

Well Done For Your Efforts & Achievements......A Step Closer to achieving our Annual Club Goals!!


Speechcraft 2009—Appeal for HELP!!!


The Speechcraft Course 2009 at Selwyn College is (hopefully) kicking of again from mid February to mid April 2009. Every Tuesday from 7.00pm to 9.00pm, for 8 weeks, members of the public can come along and will be taught from the TM-manual.

Toastmasters Pakuranga has been running the Speechcraft Course in conjunction with Orakei Toastmasters Club and it's is a way of raising funds for both Pakuranga and Orakei Toastmasters. At the end of the course we deduct the expenses and the two Toastmasters Clubs share in the proceeds...

Proceeds that potentially can go to things like a projector or a camera.. Tools that will help ourselves, club members become better speakers!!...

And it also helps to sustain our club: many Toastmasters have joined a club after having done a Speechcraft Course. It gives them a good insight into what Toastmasters is all about and the benefits it provides.

Manissha & Caroline hope to get YOU.. Yes.. YOU.. The reader of this article.. To help them out. Please see them at the regular meetings and sign yourself up. It doesn't have to be for the full 8 weeks!!! You can help once.... A couple of times... every fortnight.. Or be on the 'emergency backup list'..

Speechcraft is a fantastic initiative..
Please help Manissha & Caroline out by volunteering !!

..Last but not least...


Don't forget: We have a Suggestion Box in the meeting room... if you have any bright ideas please forward them
to the Executive Committee Members via this box.

At the moment our club has 35 members with some leaving or taking a time-out for all sorts of reasons. On the up side.. Other new members that have joined our club recently are:

Owen Dalton, Mesha Matta and Michael Wallace
Welcome aboard and we will be seeing your Ice Breaker & follow up speeches shortly!!