Friends—You need them. But first you have to be a friend.

What political candidate greets his audience with “My Friends,” (perhaps more than he should)? John McCain. He knows that we can never have too many friends. But we can be parsimonious and have too few, or worse yet, none at all!

Did you know that this is National Friendship Week? In it’s honor, we extolled our friends today, because they are important in our lives. A good friend is indispensable. Friends inspire, support and encourage us—they enrich our lives. As Emerson said, "The only way to have a friend is to be one." Make yourself available for friendships...that way you’ll be there for each other in high and low times.

Program highlights
*Welcome new members Brendan McMillan and Todd Rys who joined today!

*Our word of the day: - par·si·mo·ni·ous. Frugal to the point of stinginess; sparingly.

*Don Lyman, our solo speaker, gave his second CL manual speech, Organize it, titled Everyday ethical conundrums. As an "integrity leader" for his company, InsureMe, Don spoke about the integrity poll, a key tool he uses to champion the virtue.

*Gary Fuller adeptly evaluated Don's speech with praise and helpful tips for next time.

*Eric Peterson carried out the theme with his Table Topics questions about friendship.

*Our general evaluator/toastmaster Janet sized up the meeting with her keen observations. We need to start using the ah-buzzer and give award certificates to winners. Janet gave herself and her TM crew excellent marks for a well-organized and executed meeting.

Awards--Congrats to:
Best speaker: Don Lyman
Best evaluator: Gary Fuller
Best table topics: Brendan McMillian

Roles for next week, Aug. 28, 2008 Note: next week is the officers' meeting.
Toastmaster - Mike Angel
Speaker 1- Dave Trzupek
Speaker 2 - OPEN
Evaluator 1- Don Lyman
Evaluator 2- OPEN
General Evaluator - Cary Bradley
Table Topics - Ed Johnson
Word of the day - Mike Angel
Ah counter - OPEN
Grammarian - OPEN
Timer - OPEN
Contact Toastmaster Mike Angel promptly to fill and open role.

"Life is a great chronicle of friendship. Friends create the world anew each day." Helen Keller

Have a great week, my friends. :)

Sportsmanship On and Off the Field -- Does it Still Exist?

In the spirit of the Olympics which are well underway, we discussed sports and sportsmanship in our meeting today. Good sportsmanship plays a role on and off the field, and in our Toastmasters meetings. We are all here to grow and learn and become better speakers. Sometimes we win the "best speech" award and sometimes we don't. It's important in Toastmasters and in life to win with class as well as learn to lose (and learn from the loss) with class.

We had a couple of great speeches today from Karen Lang who taught us all about being a good sport through her story about "Mrs. Low" -- the founder of the Girls Scouts of America (we are all still waiting for our cookies, Karen!). And Don Lindgren taught us about a sport, mountain climbing, in his speech, "Rising to New Heights in Boulder." Informative and great props, Don!

Thanks to our guest, Todd who visited us today. We hope you enjoyed yourself and come back and see us again -- you have to keep us updated on the Women's Volleyball!

Today's awards went to:

• Best Speech -- Don Lindgren
• Best Evaluator -- Cary Bradly
• Best Table Topics -- Don Lyman

Next Week's Meeting: Thursday, August 21st

We have most of the roles filled for next week, but there are a few remaining. Janet Reese is our Toastmaster for next week so please contact her at janetbreese@comcast.net if you can pick up an open role.

• Toastmaster -- Janet Reese
• General Evaluator -- OPEN
• Speech #1 -- Don Lyman
• Evaluator #1 -- Gary Fuller
• Speech #2 -- OPEN
• Evaluator #2 -- OPEN
• Table Topics -- Eric Peterson
• Grammarian -- OPEN
• Timer -- Karen Lang
• Ah Counter -- Don Lindgren

Looking ahead to our August 28th meeting we have two "pre-reserved" roles as follows:

• General Evaluator -- Cary Bradly
• Speech #1 -- Dave Trzupek

Thanks to everyone for another great meeting!

Eye on China

All eyes are on China with the beginning of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Beijing Olympics start at 8pm on the 8th day of the 8th month in 2008. In case you didn't get it, China has a thing for the number 8 which represents a lucky number for wealth in their culture. I hope you are able to watch the opening ceremonies on Friday, August 8, 2008.

Our Olympic Gold Medal Awards go to Mike Angell for winning the Best Speaker of the Day, Janet Reese earned Best Evaluator and Julie Williams earned best Table Topic Speaker. Congratulations to all our Olympic Gold Medal Award winners.

Please send an e-mail to Julie Williams at julie@sherpamarketing.com to volunteer for an open role for next week’s meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 14, 2008

ToastMaster – Julie Williams
Word of the Day – Janet Reese
Speaker 1 – Karen Lang – Speech #7
Speaker 2 – Don Lindgren – Speech #4
Evaluator 1 – Cary Bradley
Evaluator 2 – Eric Peterson
Table Topics - Open
General Evaluator – Open
Grammarian – Open
Timer – Open
Ah Counter – Open

Announcements: Connie Pshigoda’s daughter is getting married tomorrow, Eric Wales is off to sail Lake Powell, and we have a tentative Club Officer’s Meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 28 following the club meeting.

Keep your Eye on China by watching the Olympics and check out the special series Wild China on the Travel Channel to learn more about the people and animals from that part of the world.

Sports Broadcaster & ToastMaster

Karen Lang

Meeting Summary, July 31, 2008

Eric Peterson presided as Toastmaster with his theme “Labor Day” (we’re a little early, but thinking a month ahead). He entertained us with the history and trivia surrounding this last summer holiday.

Our guest, Jim, said he enjoyed the meeting; he even participated in table topics. We hope Jim returns and joins our club.

We welcomed back--to Toastmasters and the Shaw Group--Ed Johnson, aka., Albert Einstein, who started out as our Lt. Col. Evaluator, and was later promoted to General Evaluator.

Word of the day, by Julie Williams: parvenu - One that has recently or suddenly risen to an unaccustomed position of wealth or power and has not yet gained the prestige, dignity, or manner associated with it.

Janet Reese, our first speaker, presented a 20-minute speech from the Professional Speaker advanced manual with the objective to entertain and inform. Her topic: How to get along with mixed generations: Gen Y, Gen X, Boomer, and Traditionalist aka. Veteran. She recruited a few volunteers who added some levity to the speech by acting out their generational roles. Eric P. was a Veteran; Julie, a Boomer; Don Lindgren, a Gen Xer; and Mike Angel, a Gen Yer.

Our second speaker Mikael Roth gave his 2nd manual speech with the objective to “organize your speech.” He talked about how music plays an important role in all our lives, and especially his. The only thing missing was a solo singing performance.

Dave T. evaluated Janet’s speech and Eric W. evaluated Mikael.

Our Table Topics master Mike A. asked thought provoking (more than usual) and fun questions such as: “What do they pack styrofoam in when they ship it?,” and “If a parsley farmer gets sued, can they garnish his wages?” We asked Mike how in the heck he came up with such “heady” questions. We still don’t know.

Awards
Best Table Topics: Ed Johnson
Best Evaluator: Dave Trzupek
Best Speaker: Janet Reese

Volunteer for an open role for August 7, 2008:
TM – Cary Bradley
WOD - open
GE – Janet Reese
SP1 – Don Lindgren
SP2 – Mike Angell
EV1 – Julie Williams
EV2 – Ed Johnson
TT – Eric Wales
Gram – open
Ah – open
Timer – open
Until next week…speak well fellow toastmasters!