Meeting Ode 04-24-08

April o' April

April o' April
your end does draw nigh
Springtime is here
with relief we do sigh

April showers thou didst
pour forth to renew
the spring flowers that fled
from cold storms that we knew

Today our first speaker
and only one, its true
Was the Deron White
with historical views

Samson, yes Samson
strong man of yore
through Deron's spun tale
did live yet once more

Evaluation
done by yours truly
t'was simple fare, really
t'was only my duty

Table Topics were lead
by Mrs. Connie Pshigoda
eloquent speeches, Earth Day
and our friendly "green" quotas

April o' April
We will miss you so
with your gentle spring days
and cool breezes that blow

MPA
04-24-08

---

Leadership

Leadership
What's in it for me
~By: Mike Angell

---

Fellow Toastmasters:

What is leadership?  Leadership is setting the course.  Leadership is putting others ahead of yourself.  Leaders do not come to be served, but to serve. 

Let he who would be the greatest among you serve the rest.

Leadership is not easy.  It requires time.  It requires talent.  It requires your brain.  Most of all it requires love.  You have to love the work.  You have to love what you do.  You have to care about the people that you are doing it for.

Empowerment?  Strategy?  Proactive?  All those things are tertiary.  They flow as a natural consequence of strong leadership. 

Do you have what it takes?  Are you interested in being a leader?  Invariably the question arises - "What's in it for me?"

1.  Personal development - You joined Toastmasters, at least in part, to develop your own speaking skills.  Consider weightlifting.  Do you get strong lifting itty, bitty weights, or do you get strong lifting heavy weights?  Is there pain?  You betcha.  In the end, you will find that you have grown and exceeded your own expectations.

2.  Friendships - Few things in life bring people together more than struggling for a common goal.  Think on your own life.  Are your closest friends born when things were good and comfortable for you?  Or was that friendship born in adversity? 

3.  Career Developement - Yes, that's right folks, at the end of the day each and every last one of us is in business for ourselves.  Some of us are entrepreneurs.  Some of us are wage earners.  Some of us are managers.  Regardless, everyone brings home a paycheck for their families.  Do you know what separates you from the field?  Do you know what makes the difference in an interview?  in the eyes of a potential employer?  a potential customer or client - COMMUNICATION SKILLS!!!!

Fellow Toastmasters I tell you in all sincerity empires have arisen and fallen based on their leaders communication skills.  No one here is trying to found an empire (except maybe John, just kidding)    None the less, you WILL notice a difference in your career.

Do you want to be a leader?  Do you have what it takes?  I encourage you to ask not only "What's in it for me?" but rather to ask "What's in it for the people near and dear to you?"

What's in it for them? The answer, fellow Toastmasters is......
 
A BETTER YOU!

See me if you're ready to step up.  Elections are in June.

Peace
~Mike

April 17, 2008 meeting notes

Our first-time off-site meeting location at EMC2, Dave Trzupek's office, was successful. Don L. gave his ice breaker so aptly for a TM newbie, and Dave T. represented his company's product--online storage services--with a persuasive speech that won us over.

Table topics evolved around change, the operative word today. "Docile" was the WOD and used by everyone. Best speaker went to Dave T., best evaluator, Deron, and TT, Janet.

Roles for next week, April 24,2008:
TM: Don Lymon
Speaker #1: Eric Wales (ice breaker)
Speaker #2: Deron White
Evaluator #1: Nathan will evaluate Eric W's speech
Evaluator #2: Open
Table topics: Open
General Evaluator: Open
Ah counter, grammarian, timer--all open

See you next week!

Ahs, Ums, hems and haws

Here's a couple of stories on on "ahs and ums."


First the scientific...

&
An Appreciation

Speaker Exchange...

Nick Samoylov is managing this page for the D26 website.

I am curious what club members think about the idea of inviting a speaker from this list on a periodic basis. 

I think it could be a good learning experience for us to hear a few people who speak at other clubs.

Send me your thoughts.

D.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Meeting Ode

April Showers

April Showers
Our theme today
Hearts of joy
though skies of gray

We had a guest
Lyman by name
and to elation
a member became

Nathan spoke
of childhood tales
of boyish antics
and guards on his trail

Eric was
a CEO
for Rogaine no less
T'was quite a show!

Table Topics
By Dan gov'nator
Of springtime muses
both now and later

Evaluations
by Janet and Aaron
constructive critique
and laughter were sharin'

Roles for next week
Yes, they are set.
That's all for now
I gotta jet.

:)

MPA
4-3-08

Roles 4-10-08
Toastmaster Eric
Speech 1 Nick
Speech 2 Don Lymman - Icebreaker!  New Member!
General Evaluatot - Janet
Evaluator 1 - Dan
Evaluator 2 - Deron
Table Topics - Aaron
Wizard of Ahs - Nate
Timer - Open
Grammarian - Open