Raconteurs: Toastmasters Club

At our recent meeting on 14/05/2026, chaired by Darrell Klar, we held our annual club officer elections. Congratulations to our incoming 2026–2027 executive team:
👤President: Brooke Dilmetz
👤Immediate Past President: Darrell Klar
👤VP Education: Lorraine Walker
👤VP Membership: Maryanne Katsidis
👤VP Public Relations: Julian Zheng.
👤Treasurer: John Walker
👤Secretary: Marc Ocampo Ramos
👤Sergeant at Arms: Johnny Rizk

We were also delighted to induct two new members, Amy Graham and Mel Riviere. Welcome to the club! 🎉

Awards of the Night:
🏅Best Speaker: Brooke Dilmetz
🏅Best Table Topics: John Walker
🏅Best Evaluation: Johnny Rizk
🏅Outstanding Performance: John Gillespie

Next Meeting Details:
📍 The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shore
🗓 Thursday, 28/05 at 6:45 PM

Whether you’re looking to build confidence, enhance your communication skills, or connect with a supportive community, we’d love to see you at our next session!

On Thursday evening, our club came together along with former members Deborah and Jo to farewell and celebrate one of our most respected Toastmasters, Kerry Pienaar.

Kerry has been award-winning Toastmaster, and many of us have benefited from her insightful, high-quality speech evaluations over the years. Since beginning her Toastmasters journey several years ago, she has consistently excelled, earning speech contests at club, area, and district levels.

On the night, Kerry delivered a heartfelt farewell speech, reflecting on her journey, the friendships she has built, and the personal growth she has experienced. She concluded with the moving song You Raised Me Up by Josh Groban, leaving the room inspired and earning a standing ovation.

As Kerry now focuses more on her work in executive coaching and professional speaking, we wish her every success in this exciting next chapter. She leaves a lasting legacy within Raconteurs, and we look forward to welcoming her back again in the future.

Thank you, Kerry. You will be greatly missed.

Our recent meeting (09/04/2026) chaired by Lorraine Walker was filled with powerful stories, heartfelt moments, and plenty of inspiration.
🎤 Warm-up Session: Led by Guil Zanella, members shared travel experiences inspired by the last word spoken by the previous speaker — a creative and engaging way to kick off the evening!

🎙️ Prepared Speeches: Johnny Rizk and Marc Ramos delivered compelling speeches. Marc’s deeply emotional delivery truly resonated with the audience, earning him a well-deserved standing ovation.

Awards of the Night:
🏅 Best Speaker: Marc Ocampo Ramos
🏅 Best Table Topics: Amanueal Mamo
🏅 Best Evaluation: Maryanne Katsidis

Congratulations to all participants for making the night so memorable!
📍 The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shore
🗓 Next Meeting: Thursday, 23/04 at 6:45 PM

If you're looking to build confidence, improve communication, and connect with a supportive community, we’d love to see you at our next session!

Kerry Pienaar Darrell Klar Julian Z. Johnny Rizk Melisa Gocaj Behzad Pourdarab Alejandra Rodriguez Marin Javier Franco Brooke Dilmetz Su Park Marc Ocampo Ramos CEng, FIChemE, FSEng, RPEQ, CMEngNZ Maryanne Katsidis Jarrod Schutt Jennifer Lim Amy Graham

An invitation to members, families and friends; the Quiz Night fundraising event is on this Saturday evening - 18 April.
Pizza is provided and we have a liquor license. Put 'Raconteurs' as your booking reference.
Please get your tickets now!
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1559818

🌟 Raconteurs Toastmasters meeting on 26/03/2026 was full of energy and fresh formats:
🎤 Warm-up: Led by Jarrod Schutt, members justified whether the Easter Bunny can or can’t make the chocolates this year—using only “fortunately” or “unfortunately.” A fun and creative start to the night!
🎙️ Panel Discussion: “Unseen Perspectives: What Can We Learn?” Moderated by Darrell Klar, panelists shared personal stories and their views on what’s important to them, entirely unrehearsed. Thank you to all our brave panelists for their insight.

Awards of the Night:
🏅 Best Speaker: John Walker
🏅 Best Table Topics: Mylène Rivière & Johnny Rizk
🏅 Best Evaluation: Maryanne Katsidis & Brooke Dilmetz
🏅 Outstanding Performance: Darrell Klar & the Panelists (Maryanne Katsidis, Brooke Dilmetz, Jarrod Schutt, John Walker)

Whether you’re traveling for a vacation or enjoying a staycation this Easter, we wish you a safe and happy holiday! 🐰🍫We can’t wait to see everyone at our next meeting:

📍The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Tce West Lakes Shore
🗓 Thursday 09/04 at 6:45 PM

🎉 Congratulations to our Raconteurs champions! 🎉
Last weekend, our members showcased incredible public speaking skill at the Division (state level) speech contests.

🏆 Darrell Klar: 1st place in the Humorous Speech Contest.
🏆 Darrell Klar: 2nd place in the Evaluation Speech Contest.
🏆 John Walker: 3rd place in the International Speech Contest.

As the winner of the Humorous Speech Contest, Darrell will proudly represent South Australia at the national-level contest in Melbourne in May.

We couldn’t be prouder of Darrell and John for their dedication and outstanding representation of our club and Area C10. Let’s all wish them continued success as they continue their Toastmasters journey.

Thank you to those who came and supported our contestants on the day: Maryanne Katsidis, Brooke Dilmetz, Lorraine Walker, Johnny Rizk, John Geillespie

Highlights from the Raconteurs Toastmasters meeting on 12 March 2026, chaired by Johnny Rizk:

🎉 We welcomed our new member, Jennifer Lim
🗣️ Prepared Speech by Maryanne Katsidis on “The Day I Stopped Carrying the Room”, sharing valuable insights on leadership and personal growth.
💬 Table Topics: Chaired by Su Park, exploring thought-provoking life topics.
👋 Welcome Back: Our guest Amy Graham joined us again, great to see you!

2 of our members reached their development milestones:
🏆Johnny Rizk achieved Level 2 of Presentation Mastery
🏆Marc Ocampo Ramos CEng, FIChemE, FSEng, RPEQ, CMEngNZ achieved Level 2 of Persuasive Influence

New Role Alert: From the next meeting, we’re introducing the “Hot Seat” where members will step into any vacant role on the night, keeping things exciting.

📅 Next Meeting: Thursday, 26 March 2026
📍 Location: The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shores
🕡 Time: 6:45 PM

Join us at Raconteurs Toastmasters where growth, connection, and speaking skills come together!

The meeting at Raconteurs Toastmasters on Thursday night had 2 special components:
🗣 The Houston Debate facilitated by Lorraine. The room was split into teams to argue for/against the ideal of an 8-day week with 5 weekdays and a 3-day weekend.
🎓 Educational workshop delivered by public speaking expert Kerry Pienaar on body language. Through the interactive activities, we began to understand how much information facial expressions, eye contact, and hand movements can communicate without saying a single word.

We had 2 prepared speeches on the night:
🎤 John Gillespie delivered a well-researched speech titled "Safety", highlighting the importance of understanding and adhering to safety recommendations on household aerosol cans.
🎤 Johnny Rizk , an experienced Toastmaster, delivered an interactive and well-prepared speech on the importance of preparation and coaching as part of leadership. He demonstrated the significance by letting the audience catch a tennis ball with/without preparation.

🎉 Congratulations to our award winners of the night:
🏆 Best Performance: Kerry Pienaar
🏆 Best Speech: John Gillespie
🏆 Best Evaluation: Julian Z.
🏆 Best Table Topics: Jarrod Schutt
We also had the pleasure of welcoming guest Nerissa Lakhan.

We’re excited to invite you to our next meeting:
📍 Location: The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shores
🕡 Time: 6:45 PM, Thursday, 12 March

The first meeting of February at Raconteurs Toastmasters was filled with inspiring speeches, valuable learning, and wonderful camaraderie! A few highlights from the night:

🎤Maryanne Katsidis, our newly inducted member, delivered a captivating Ice-Breaker speech titled "The Moment I Stopped Performing."
🎤Julian Z. , an experienced Toastmaster, delivered an insightful workshop on Presentation Mastery, as part of his Demystifying Public Speaking series, covering 5 key aspects of impactful speech delivery.

Congratulations to our award winners of the night:
🏆 Best Performance: Maryanne Katsidis
🏆 Best Evaluation: Kerry Pienaar
🏆 Best Table Topics: Our guest, Mel

We’re excited to invite you to our next meeting:
📍 Location: The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shores
🕡 Time: 6:45 PM, Thursday, 26 February
🎓 Workshop: An interactive session led by our award-winning speaker and public speaking coach Kerry Pienaar, focusing on advancing your public speaking skills.

Raconteurs Toastmasters returned in 2026 with a bang on Thursday night! Congratulations to our award recipients:
🏆 Best Speech: Brooke Dilmetz for her thought-provoking speech, “Redefining the PhD”
🏆 Best Table Topics: Jennifer Lim, Casey W., and Amy Graham
🏆 Best Performance: Johnny Rizk
🏆 Best Evaluation: John Walker

A special highlight of the evening was seeing every guest step up and participate in the Table Topics session for the first time. Even more impressive, three guests took home club awards.

We also proudly held the Induction Ceremony for our newest member, Maryanne Katsidis, welcomed with a standing ovation. Welcome to the club, Maryanne!

We look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting:
📍 The Bartley Hotel, Bartley Terrace, West Lakes Shores
🕡 6:45pm on Thursday, 12 February
🎓 Educational Workshop: The meeting will consist of opportunities to practise public speaking skills and a workshop "Demystifying Public Speaking – Part A"

Looking forward to another year of growth, courage, and great communication at Raconteurs Toastmasters Club.

It's a New Year with new beginnings! Raconteurs Toastmasters are beginning the new year with our first meeting next Thursday - 22nd January. 🥳
We meet in the Function Room of the Bartley Hotel in Bartley Tce, West Lakes Shores at 6.45 pm for a 7pm start. If you have promised yourself that this year would be the year for self-development and confident communication skills, then Toastmasters is what you are looking for.
Be our guest next Thursday and you will be taking your first step to the new YOU! 🏆

Send a message to learn more