So it’s “Goodbye from him” and “Hello from me”
On Friday 26 November at the Dais Reps meeting, Chris Stone stepped down as President, no doubt with some relief, and I was elected as President for 2011, with both anticipation and trepidation.
Chris stepped into the breach in 2009, when the then Vice President, Freeman Alan Ham, was unable to take up the Presidency due to ill health. Over Chris’s time as President we’ve seen Rostrum WA grow in numbers, with one new club opened (Lavan Legal Club 5) and a provisional club formed at the Department of Sport and Recreation in Leederville. Rostrum WA is now the strongest zone in Australia. Thanks for all your efforts Chris and we look forward to seeing you around Rostrum for many years to come.
Now I (we) have to start thinking about 2011 and the future. I have some idea about what I want to achieve but this has to be tempered by practicality. We are a volunteer organisation and, as has been said before, we do have lives outside of Rostrum – not that our partners would always agree with that!
I am very pleased with the makeup of the new Executive team, which combines both experience and freshness. Most of the existing Executive continues, and I’m delighted to welcome three newer members:
Speaker Marianne McAdam (Club 19),Speaker Jason Lim(Club 17/19),Speaker Paul Turbett (Club 2230); and three experienced members: Freeman Mavis Carruthers (Club 11), Freeman Terry O’Meara(Club 15), andFreeman Sue Hart(Club 2230).
Looking ahead, 2011 is going to be exciting. Convention returns to the autumn time slot (Saturday 21 May) andSpeaker of the Year to a dinner format at the end of the year (Saturday 12 November).
Freeman David Price is organising Convention, which will be the one-day format we had in 2009, and he has a great program already in place. Freeman Sue Hart has been looking at venues for the Speaker of the Year final, so we can look forward to another great event at the end of the year. Details for both will be available soon.
TheSidney Wicks National Speaking Competition will be held at the Rostrum National Convention in Adelaide on the weekend of 7-9 October. Freeman Terry O’Meara, winner of Speaker of the Decade last year, will represent WA at this prestigious event.
My aims over the next year, and hopefully longer, are to keep WA as the premium zone in Australia by growing membership and revitalising our programs – the two are inexorably linked. Having worked as critic/tutor with Club 5, we have to ensure that ‘what we do’ and ‘how we do it’ meet the needs of the current and upcoming generations. To this end we will be revising and improving the website and also moving into the newer communication media – Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc. This will be a challenge but adopting new ideas is what keeps us fresh and relevant both personally and as an organisation.
Finally, I wish all of you, your families and friends all the best for 2011 and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the next 12 months.
Freeman Tony Lightman, President, Rostrum WA
DAIS BOARD 2011
- President Freeman Tony Lightman (34)
- Vice PresidentSp. Marianne McAdam (19)
- SecretarySp. Rick Staker (11)
- TreasurerSp. Jason Lim (17/19)
- Director, Club DevelopmentFreeman Terry O’Meara (15)
- Director, CommunicationsSp. Marianne McAdam (19)
- Director, TrainingFmn Mavis Carruthers (11)
- Chairman, Freemen’s Council Freeman David Price (11/34)
- Coordinator, AGSOYFreeman Sue Hart (2230)
- Coordinator, RVOY Speaker. Juliet Park (34)
- Editor the Informer Speaker. Rose Fogliani(44)
- Membership Officer Speaker. Karen Reid(34)
- Web Coordinator Speaker. Paul Turbett (2230)
Membership – ‘Find Five’
At the end of December we had 310 members, but we lost 47 through resignations after that – not unusual at year’s end. In redemption we added 35 new members early in the year, giving us 298 members at the end of January.
As part of the Dais Board’s planning day in January, we set ourselves (that’s all of us) a membership target of 400 members by the end of 2011. To achieve that we’ve initiated the ‘Find Five’ campaign as a spearhead.
This can apply at both club and member level, and doesn’t need to stop at five! We will keep a running tally of new members by club and show the leaders monthly and cumulatively in the Informer and on the website.
Club 1/2 are already setting the pace, with four new members added in January. The challenge is on!
Club News
There have been a few changes to clubs this year. Club 15 has a new venue, due to a change of ownership at the Metro Inn. They are now meeting at the Eastman Lounge, Perth Hockey Stadium, Hayman Road, Bentley. This is on the Curtin University campus, so make sure you phone the club for venue and parking directions.
As a result of reduced membership, Clubs 4 and 8 are holding joint meetings this semester. These will be at Club 4’s existing venue – the WA Health Department Lecture Theatre, 189 Royal Street, East Perth. Again, call the club/s for directions.
Finally, on sad note, Clubs 44 and 61 have had to cease operating but we look forward to seeing their members at other clubs.
The Informer
This issue will be the last ‘electronic-only’ Informer. For the rest of the year it will be printed and a number of copies sent to the clubs for distribution to members.
It will be produced bi-monthly and sent out to clubs in the first week of the publication month (see box at right). The deadline for copy will be the 15th of previous month.
If you have interesting news about your club, particularly new members or future events of interest to other clubs, please send the details to the Editor.
Website
Our new web organiser, Paul Turbett (Club 2230), is an IT professional who will review and revitalise Rostrum WA’s presence on the web.
The first stage will be developing a new website, which we expect to be up and running in about 2-3 months. Later stages will expand the website’s functions and usefulness.
Quarterly Dais Meetings
Welcome to 2011 and a new format for Dais meetings
We’ve changed the format of the Dais meetings to make them livelier and more relevant.
Here’s how it will work –
- A shorter and more focused formal meeting, addressing key issues and making decisions – the real purpose of Dais. Issues can be raised by Clubs or the Dais Board.
- No verbal Club or Board reports. Reports will be delivered beforehand, preferably electronically, and copies will be included with the minutes. Key items may be raised in the meeting.
- New interactive workshops open to all Club Office Bearers and Critics. The focus is to provide new ideas to help revitalise Club meetings and make them relevant to current, new and prospective members’ needs.
Speak Up, Speak Out–SUSO
Rostrum Training 2011 is off to a great start with four attendees at our February SUSO Short Course: one visitor and three current members. The focus of the SUSO Short Course is on effective communication.
First we establish everyone’s ‘Why’ – why they are at this course and what they want to achieve. Then we then tailor the evening around that.
The first part of the evening covers content and structure of a presentation. We use Fmn David Price’s‘10 Steps to Prepare & Deliver a Powerful Presentation’as a guide. This includes how to make notes used in five of those steps. We then have a little fun with mind mapping an everyday experience, to show them how to develop ideas around a single topic.
The middle of the evening focuses on body language – what works and what doesn’t work when communicating. We include audiences from one-on-one to a large conference; from sitting at a desk to standing on stage.
The final section consists of each person developing a three minute presentation about themselves, i.e. ‘About Me’, using the note taking system. Presentation feedback is always positive and gives the participant an opportunity to say how they felt about their performance.
Past attendees have reported many benefits:
More confidence
Helpful for work meetings
Have more fun with presenting, and
Increased awareness of how to be effective.
SUSO is now at a new venue, the Tom Dadour Centre in Subiaco, providing a very relaxing environment. The course is free to members and $60 to non members but this includes a $50 credit against membership voucher.
SUSO runs on the second Tuesday of every month from 6.30-9.30 pm. Register with Katy at the Information Centre.
Freeman Mavis Carruthers, Director of Training
