SA Rostrum · Metro Evening Rostrum Club 18

The 2026 program

Something worth
hearing, twice a month.

Prepared speeches, theme nights and the odd balloon debate. Speech topics are listed here; who's giving them stays a pleasant surprise for the night.

Coming up

October to December

October

MEETING 1,300 Wed 21 October, 6:00pm Metropolitan Hotel, Grote Street Venue can move to the Prince Albert Hotel when the Metropolitan has a show on.

A Night of Milestones★ Our 1,300th meeting

Chaired by Lachlan Dorrian

  • A Good Sheep Ruined
  • What an anthropologist actually does
  • Thirteen hundred meetings: what keeps a club alive

Club 18's 1,300th meeting, with milestone speeches. Come and celebrate with us.

November

MEETING 1,301 Wed 4 November

Debate Night

Chaired by Sivan Iswaran

  • The motion: That life was better before smartphones

A full debate night: three speakers a side, five minutes each, and the audience picks the winner.

MEETING 1,302 Wed 18 November

Standard meeting

Chaired by Maria Cristina Enjuto Crespo

  • Beyond the Horizon
  • Over the Moon
  • I take as little as possible

December

MEETING 1,303 Wed 2 December

Christmas Meeting★ Last night of 2026

Chaired by Sivan Iswaran

  • The gift nobody could buy
  • My first year at Rostrum
  • Looking back on 2026

Our Christmas meeting and last gathering of 2026, a relaxed night to celebrate the year.

The heritage Federal Hall frontage of the Adelaide Central Market on Grote Street
The Central Market on Grote Street, the same street we meet on. Photo: Yu Chu Chin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recently at Club 18

The season so far

MEETING 1,299 Wed 7 October

Guess Night

Chaired by Lewis He

  • Who am I?
  • Where am I?
  • What am I?

Each speaker drops clues about a mystery person, object or place, and the audience plays detective.

Agenda (PDF)

MEETING 1,298 Wed 16 September

Coaching & Impromptu Night

Chaired by Deirdre Norman

A coaching night: club coach Michael Lutt on how to prepare for a big speech and handle a three-minute short-notice talk, followed by members putting it into practice. A good one to sit in on, and visitors are welcome to simply watch.

Agenda (PDF)

MEETING 1,297 Wed 2 September

Standard meeting

Chaired by Lily Li

  • A Speaker of the Year practice speech
  • It used to bug me, but since the GPS as we now know it
  • SOY: Dare to Be Different
  • Stroke awareness campaign

Agenda (PDF)

MEETING 1,296 Wed 19 August

On This Day

Chaired by Maureen Bourke

  • Sputnik 5
  • Frank Wisner
  • National Aviation Day
  • World Photography Day

Every speech linked to something that happened on a 19th of August, a busier date than you'd expect.

Agenda (PDF)

MEETING 1,295 Wed 5 August

Christmas in Winter

Chaired by Damien Lynch

  • My favourite holiday
  • My most memorable Christmas
  • Christmas, seen from China

Festive speeches in the middle of an Adelaide winter.

Agenda (PDF)

Every agenda from earlier meetings ↓

From the archive

Past agendas

The agenda for each meeting, as members received it: who chaired, the running order and the speech topics.

2026

2025

Fancy one of these topics yourself?

Come along to a meeting first. There's no obligation to speak, and plenty of chairs.

Plan a visit →