Thursday - February 28th - Meeting Notes & things to come

"Well, here's another nice mess you've got me into!"

• Nathan Wilkes commanded the meeting. Leading us onward with an Oscar's theme. In honor of the oscars, extra points were given for the use of movie quotes.
• Dan Pratt gave his second speech from the CC manual. It was very interesting, introducing us to the disign work that Dan does. The material was techinical, but delivered with Dan's excellent humor, and a visit from the Governator.
• Deron told a touching story, that contained no movie quotes.
• Eric Wales, took on the roll of Table Topics Master, doing an excellent job giving questions that gave the participants plenty of material to speak on.

The next two week we are having a contests. Members interested in the speech contest should start working on their speeches now. You have two weeks. Next week will be the Table Topics Contest.

We have room for one speech, and rumor has it Karen Lang had expressed an interest.

I invite would-be contestants to submit their names by Monday.

I'll be the Toastmaster for the meeting.

We shall also need an evaluator, a general evaluator, and several people to act as judges.

Good luck

Meeting Notes - February 21st.

Nathan Wilkes, jumped out of a plane.  He did so on purpose.  He landed safely, which I am sure, was a great relief to him, and it made for a great speech.

 

We like dedication in Toastmasters.  The clubs purpose is to help improve communication and leadership skills.  We do this through the practice of setting goals, acting upon those goals, working hard to write, prepare, and deliver speeches, and helping each other by providing feedback.   Sometimes it is difficult to think of something to write.  I discourage others from performing dangerous acts in order to obtain material.  Jumping out of planes is taking the dedication too far.  It did make for an excellent speech, though.

 

Mike Angel followed Nate's jumping story with a humorous missive on the true value of money.  Mike's speech was from the "Humorously Speaking" manual, and his goal was to open the speech with a humorous story, and end the speech with a humorous story, both stories were to support a theme.  His stories did, and a good laugh was had at the expense of Lucky Jack his protagonist.

 

Eric Peterson challenged us all with Table Topics that were very entertaining.  Nick, it turns out, is, or was, every bit the dare devil as Nate is. 

 

Next week...

 

Toastmaster: Nathan Wilkes

General Evaluator: Eric Peterson

 

Speakers:

Deron White

Dan Pratt

Evaluators:

John Wierzba

We need a second evaluator.

Table Topics: Eric Wales

 

We also need:

Timer, Ah-Counter, Grammarian, and a Word du Jour.

 

E-mail myself, and Nate with changes, conflicts, worries, funny stories, and roles you would like to fill.

Happy Valentine's Day Meeting

Have you ever wanted to create your own Valentine's Day card? We had the chance today. Table Topics master Connie Pshigoda asked us to create a message inspired by eclectic objects in her grab bag. We gave Hallmark card company some stiff competition. Our poet literaute Mike Angel won for his impromptou poem inspired by a hammer. Yes, that's the tool used to pound nails!

We welcomed guests Brendon McMillian and Don Lindgren. Our red-sweater clad Toastmaster Dave T. tempted and inspired us with Valentine's chocolate kisses and trivia. Speaker Karen Lang challenged us to consider why we attend Toastmasters using the "Emergenetics" model while Mike Angel told us the legend of the infamous scout aviator Red Baron. Mike won best speaker.

Evaluators John Wierzba and Gary Fuller offered constructive tips to our speakers and also pointed out their strengths. Gary won best evaluator.

General evaluator Janet Reese connoted (the word of the day) a few suggestions for next time--fill all the roles in advance and save interpersonal discussions for post meeting. Speaking of next time, consider an open job below or prepare for the one you have.

Lineup for Feb. 21:
Toastmaster: Nick S.
Speakers: Nathan Wilkes and Mike Angel
Evaluators: Dave T. and Deron White.
Table Topics: Eric Peterson
General Evaluator: John W.
Grammarian/ah-counter: Connie P.
Timer: you?
Word of the day: you?

See you next week!

General Evaluators Notes from February 7, 2008

Winter Wonders

It's a little known fact that birds flying low is a harbinger of a storm, and that a breast bone from a goose may indicate what kind of winter we're in for.  Don't believe me?   You should ask Connie Pshigoda.  Connie our Cordon Bleu source of plains wisdom lead the Triskelion Club's meeting today.  She kept us on task and moving through the meeting, while filling the spaces with information from the theme she chose for today, Winter Weather Oddities and Other Folklore.

 

Speeches

 

We listened to speeches by Dave Trupek and Mike Angel. 

 

Dave spoke on Stagflation "lite" using a chart Dave demonstrated that while the economy is experiencing mild inflation, and a slow down, it hasn't quite hit stagflation.  Certainly, not the stagflation the US experienced during the 70's.  Nick noted, and this is a lesson to other Toastmasters, that Dave dressed the part of a professional.  Appearance is not an item we often criticize, but it can't be ignored how effective dressing the part can be when delivering a speech.

 

Mike Angel shared the story of his incarceration with us.  A blue streak of a tale that began with the purchase of a puppy, followed by losing the puppy, to finding the puppy at the shelter, to discovering an unpaid fine, to visiting the Grey Bar Hotel, and back home to his puppy.  What wouldn't you do for "Man's Best Friend."

 

Definitions

 

Gary Fuller treated us to a different sort of Table Topics today.  We played a game.  We had to give a definition for suderific, or psuedorific, or sudorific, or sederific; we didn't know which, but we had to give a definition in any case.  Then we were to guess who gave the proper definition.  Dave Trzupek was the man on the inside, providing the proper definition for sudorific, which sounded implausible at the time. 

 

Guests

 

We were pleased to be joined by Mr. Steve Gollob.  Steve bravely joined in with the Table Topics.  We look forward to seeing Steve again.

 

Next Week - Roles and Needs:

• Dave Truzpek may be Toastmaster, if anyone would be so kind as to understudy for him it would be appreciated.
• Nick will be the General Evaluator
• Karen Lang is scheduled to speak.
• Nathan Wilkes will be giving his 4th speech
• John Wierzba will evaluate
• Gary Fuller will as well.
• Connie Pshigoda will provide the table topics
• Dan Pratt will utilize his engineers training to provide timing accurate to within .000001 second.
• The Grammarian Role is available
• As is Ah Counter
• As is Word of the Day

D.