Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Triskelion Toastmasters 11-20-2008

The Word of the day was appreciativeness

Toastmaster Eric lead the way today. Speaker one was the Notorious Dan Pratt who shared with us holiday laughs and witty thanksgiving puns. Thanks a Lot, Dan.

Speaker two was new member Jim Stephens. Jim regaled with Thanksgiving stories of Food, Family and Football. After emphasizing the true meaning of the holiday, including historical and spiritual perspectives, Jim left us with a call to action - watch football!

Evaluators were Linda, Connie and Mike respectively. Gary tackled table topics with his Thackerayan enthusiasm.

Reminder: No meeting next week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday!

Roles for December 4th are as follows:

Toastmaster: Deron
WOD: open
Speaker 1: Mike
Speaker 2: Brendan
GE: Connie
Eval 1: Julie
Eval 2: Gary
Table Topics: Carolyn
Ah Counter/Grammarian Eric
timer: open

Please sign up for a role. If you signed up for a role and I missed it, please let me know.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Triskelion Toastmasters 11-13-2008

Triskelion Toastmasters
Meeting Summary
11-13-08


Today's meeting was lead by yours truly. Our word of the day was Imperativeness, a noun that means urgently demanding attention.

We were blessed with two ice breakers today.

First, new member Carolyn told us about her life and times as a corporate attorney. She has also spent a great deal of time managing non-profits and fundraising. In response to her glowing speech, out next meeting is scheduled to be a black tie event at Del Frisco's. Bring your spouses. Silent auction to follow table topics. Just kidding.

Second, new member Jim Stephens told about his life beginning in Alabama. Jim is a journeyman that worked with NASA. He personally had a hand in putting the Saturn C5 rocket into orbit. Rumor has it Jim has political ambitions. Perhaps he and Nate can compare notes. Jim won best speaker.

Speeches were evaluated by Brendan and Ed respectively. Brendan won best evaluator. Ed countered with a win as Best Table Topic speaker. Table Topics were lead by the illustrious (notorious?) Dan Pratt.

Our guest today was Eric's cubicle neighbor, Suzanne.

Roles for next week:

Toastmaster: Eric
Speech 1 - Julie
Speech 2 - Dan
General Eval - Linda
Eval 1 - Mike
Eval 2 - Open
Table Topics - Cindy
Timer - Open
Ah Counter - Open
Grammarian - Open
Word of the Day - Connie

Good meeting everyone.

Reminder: No meeting Thanksgiving day. Although you are free to dazzle your family with a speech before carving the turkey.

~Mike

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Toastmasters 11-06-2008

Meeting Notes from November 6, 2008
Meeting Theme: Post Election Blues (or Reds)
Word of the Day: Resolution
Toastmaster was David Trzupek and he opened with his thoughts about the election by borrowing lyrics from J Giels Band “I’ve had the blues, the reds and the pinks and as a Republican, this past election stinks!”

Dave did congratulate Barack Obama but he still wonders why if a black man from Chicago can become President of the US then why can’t the Chicago Cubs get into the World Series?

Our first speaker for the meeting were Jason Carty who gave his ice-breaker by starting out with the bold statement of “I have failed” which was not quite like Martin Luther King Jr “I have a dream” but got our attention.

Our second speaker was our club President, Mike Angell. Who inspired us all to volunteer to speak and be active in TM. He used colorful sports analogies and makes me want to run out and give a bunch of speeches.

Karen Lang and John Wierzba provided insightful, helpful and sound evaluations.

Table Topics were provided by Linda Holm and she did a great job of getting us to provide our off the cuff responses to her questions to describe the meaning of common metaphors and phrases.

Our best speaker was Mike Angell, our best evaluator was Karen Lang and our table topics best was Eric Peterson.

Thanks for a great meeting!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Toastmasters 10-30-2008

Change: It’s A Constant

Toastmaster Connie Pshigoda opened today’s meeting with nine members and two guests. The theme for the day was Change. It’s all around us but often we fail to acknowledge or appreciate it.

Gary Fuller stepped up as Speaker informing us of the traits of a Spokesperson. He opened by asking his audience to recall a memorable spokesperson. His speech project came from the Advanced Speaker Manual on Leadership.

Eric Peterson effectively evaluated Gary’s speech.

Linda Holm opened the way for all kinds of crazy Table Topic tales from our Halloween memories. Don Lyman took the award for the best tale of his 15 minutes of fame as a “rock-star-turned-clown.”

Todd Rys challenged us with the Word of the Day: Perfunctory.

Welcome visitors, Robert and Jason! Please visit us again.

Next week’s roles:

GE-Eric Peterson

Speaker #1 – Mike Angel

Evaluator #1 – Karen Lang

The meeting closed with encouraging lyrics from Jimmy Buffett’s song: Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude: Keep laughing! Keep changing!