Thursday, June 28, 2007

New Officer Induction, June 28, 2007

Today's meeting covered a vast territory from new officer induction to a speech on "where speaker Mike Angel is from" to table topics on passionate pursuits.

Past officers--thank you for your leadership in making 2006-07 a stellar, Distinguished (and beyond) Club year! Past officers: President Gary Fuller, Membership VP Connie Pshigoda, Treasurer Mike Angel, Public Relations VP Deron White, and Education VP Mike Biggs.

Wecome and congratulations, new 2007-08 Triskelion Toastmasters club officers!

President - Eric Peterson
VP-Education - Deron White
Secretary/Treasurer - Mike Angel
VP-Membership - Nick Samoylov
VP-Public Relations - Dave Trzupek
Sergeant at Arms - Mike Stablein

Also, a warm welcome to our newest members Karen Lang and Tracy Goodman.

Toastmaster Eric Peterson commenced the meeting with today's word of the day, "commence" (to initiate, start), which most participants managed to use.

In his entertaining speech, Mike Angel told us "Where he's from" starting in 50 BC to present day, all in 8 minutes! His two-year-long search for his family tree culminated in his speech.

John Wierzba evaluated Mike's speech, drawing on what Mike learned from giving his first 10 speeches. Mike scored an "A".

Karen Lang presented table topics, prompting us to talk about our passions. From the Denver Broncos to Nascar, to horseback riding, synchronized swimming and singing, our members are interesting people doing interesting things. Nathan Wilkes's sky diving drama won best table topics award.

General evaluator Nick Samoylov reviewed the meeting and made suggestions for next time. Tip: Before you leave the lecturn, shake hands with the presiding toastmaster, table topics master or general evaluator. This will ensure there's always someone at the lecturn.

As always, our meeting was filled with a lot of variety and laughs while we applied our public speaking skills.

Next week, July 5, there will be no meeting due to the July 4 holiday. Our next meeting will be July 12, 11:35 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

July 12 meeting roles:

TM: Deron White
Speakers: Dave T., Mike S.
Evaluators: Gary Fuller, Eric Peterson
Table Topics: Nick S.
General Evaluator: Mike A.
Word of the day: Tracy G.
Timer: open
Grammarian, ah-counter: open

See you July 12!

Friday, June 15, 2007

Meeting Notes - June 14, 2007

My most favored speech from the CC manual is the Icebreaker speech. It’s always a joy to learn about our new members. The first speech is often a portent of things to come. Everyone has some natural positives in their speaking style. Our speakers of June 14th were not an exception to this rule.

The first speech was by Cindy Castelow, and the second by Nathan Wilkes. Cindy displayed a natural gift for descriptive language and a nice sense of humor. Nathan demonstrated strength in speech construction, and very good composure behind the lectern. We look forward to many more speeches from Cindy and Nathan.

Father’s day was the theme for the Table Topics. Janet Reese plied us with her Table Topics questions about fathers, fathering, parents, and father’s day. The responses weren’t zany, but tended towards well-articulated personal stories about our fathers and ourselves.

Next Week...

We are currently in need of: a general evaluator, an evaluator, an “ah” counter, and a timer.

Next weeks meeting will be lead by Karen Lang with speeches by Nick Samoylov and Deron White. Eric Peterson will evaluate Nick.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

June 7 Meeting Minutes


June 7th Meeting Minutes

Lead by: Eric Peterson, President Elect
Speakers: Deron White and Nick Samoylov
Evalutors: Janet Reese and Dave Trzupek

Fellow Toastmasters:

Today Nick wowed us with a death defying tale of mountain climbing. Every experienced climber has to start somewhere. Nick recounted his first climbing trip. He and two other rather inexperienced climbers took an "easy route" to the summit. "Experience" is often the best teacher and the three soon learned that "easy" was a matter of interpretation. In a climactic moment the three were stranded! They hung, suspended on a cliff face in the dark! As night fell and cold set in the three wondered if they would survive. They were, momentarily, trapped as the lead climber's strength began to fail him.

The third climber, Nina, took the initiative and climbed to safety. Unbeknowst to her other climbers, she had unhooked her safety belt in a selfless act. She did not want to take the other two climbers down with her if she fell. Fortunately for Nick and his companion, Nina soon found her way to safety on a geological shelf. She guided her companions down and the rest, as they say, is history.

Deron gave us a taste of Scotch - poetry that is! In an interpretive poem, Deron read the work of Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns is the well known author of "Auld Lang Syne" and many other favorites. Nothing like a dash of literature and culture to spice up a speech.

Coming next week - Two ice breakers by Cindy and Nate!

In other club news, we're looking to fill our VP of PR slot. Interested parties should contact Eric.

Good speaking!

Mike
Secretary
Treasurer

Friday, June 1, 2007

Meeting Notes - May 31st

Eric Peterson stepped up to fill in as Toastmaster and brought order to the melee that began our meeting. The meeting was an unusual one as we took some time to elect new officers. Prepared speeches still took their place at the core of the meeting, and we were treated to two speeches.

Mike Angell gave his final speech from the Competent Toastmaster's Manual, and has achieved the designation of CTM. We congratulate Mike on his achievement. The awarding of each new CTM reminds me that it takes a good deal of dedication to achieve this goal. Mike's speech was on words that a fathers should pass on to their sons, or elders to kin if taken broadly, that might make for a less foolish world.


Dave Trzupek took first prize for his second speech from the the CTM manual. The speech focused on organization. Dave spoke on the topic of being positive, and the benefits that accrue to the positive person.

An election replaced table topics for the meeting. Speeches were given. A ballot was formed and the following officers elected:
  • Eric Peterson - President
  • Deron White - VP of Education
  • Nick Samoylov - VP of Membership
  • Still open - VP of Public Relations
  • Secretary & Treasurer - Mike Angell
  • Sergeant at Arms - Mike Stablein