Click this image to visit the Business Talk Toastmasters website

Club High Achievers

George O'Keeffe (DTM - Distinguish Toastmaster)
One of the club's original founders in 1995, George is the 2009 winner of District 73's International speech contest and was placed 3rd in the semifinals at the Toastmasters International world championships in the USA. A veteran contestant at District level in both the International Speech Contest and the District Evaluation Contest!

Andrew Monaghan (ATMB - Advanced Toastmaster Bronze)
A ten year plus member who won the District Evaluation Contest in 2005. Andrew was club President the year Business Talk Toastmasters received its first Select Distinguished Club award and Governor Southern Division in 2007, responsible for all clubs from South Melboune to Gippsland.

Lionel Nicholas (ATMB - Advanced Toastmaster Bronze)
A passionate ten year plus club member who continues to share his skills with club members. Lionel mentored new clubs in the Department of Human Services with both Andrew Monaghan and Robin Owen.

John Dalton
One of the club's original founding members in 1995, John continues to support the club and promote the development that Toastmasters offers. John is a 2 time member of winning debating teams in 2000 & 2001.

Shanta Hallock (ACS -Advanced Communicator Silver and ALB -Advanced Leader Bronze)
Immediate Past President (2009-10)and now Area Governorof the newly constituted M 24.

Verena Engbarth ( ACB Advanced Communicator Bronze, ALB -Advanced Leader Bronze)
Past President2007-2008 and Area Governor M23. Verena has been a club coach.

Thursday 22 March 2007

Scott becomes Competent Leader

Since becoming a member of the Business Talk Toasty club in 2004, Scott has shown a lot of enthausiasm about Toastmasters and decided early to take up the leadership stream within the Toastmasters recognition system.

Since then, Scott
* has served as Vice President education in 2006
* currently holds the club President role
* completed his first 10 speeches in 2006

and has now given 2 educationals from the Successful Club Series. These were:

1. 2007-03-23 - Evaluate to Motivate
2. 2006-10-12 - Keeping the Commitment

Well done Scott, now making you a Competent Leader and helping the club earn one more point towards the Distunguished Club program.

Club Meeting #252 - 22nd March 2007


Well done Claudia on your successful toastmastering of our 252nd club meeting. Everything flowed smoothly throughout the meeting and was a credit to all of your preparation before hand.


We had 11 visitors for the meeting, with a number of people coming back for a second look. This is great to see and encourage you all to follow the steps of Sam and Ankur who are becoming members of our club.


Verena displayed her passion for Toastmasters giving the Table Topics section where we promote impromptu speaking. Each of the participants performed very well under a little pressure, all of which being visitors on the day. Well done guys for giving it a go!


Ashok and Enri each gave a manual speech, whilst Scott gave an Educational on Evaluations to complete his Competent Leader (CL) program.


In all, a great meeting and a good time was had by all. A special mention also goes out to Wendy who gave the best and most humorous Grunt Masters report we have ever had, thanks again Wendy.

Thursday 8 March 2007

Club Meeting #251 - 8th March 2007


Another block buster meeting following on from our 250th meeting. Everyone arrived early and were able to chit chat with each other before kicking the meeting off.

Rosetta was at the helm, being Madam Toastmaster, who kept the meeting smoothly and on time. Not an easy task with a full agenda. The meeting was enriched by the 8 visitors who joined us. It was a full house!!

Next Andrew Fenlon conducted the Table Topics where we promote impromptu speaking and see how we respond under a little pressure. All of the participants gave a great display of impromptu speaking and was very entertaining.

The manual speeches of 5 -7 minutes each then followed. The speakers were Manel, Enri and Jim delivering their speeches with a passion.

The meeting was lively and everyone had something to take away from what they learnt.

To finish the meeting off, a special announcement was made to award George a donation from the club for the expenses in Fremantle where he competes in the District Championship in May.

Who Are We

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Business Talk Toastmasters is a local chapter of Toastmasters International. The club has been helping people develop their presentation and leadership skills for over 10 years. The club has about 30 members made up of men and women from government departments and business enterprises. Business Talk Toastmasters achieved President's Distinguished Club status in 2008 & 2009 and has a record of awards in Toastmasters competitions.

Newsletter Subscriptions

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner