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!