Toastmasters is NOT Nefarious!

Andrew started us right on time. We had 21 members and 2 guests, Joshua invited by Paul, and Ali invited by Bill B.

Morry lead us in the Invocation and Pledge.

Our Toastmaster Steven B introduced his team: Grammarian: Chuck, Ah Counter: Rick; Timer: Mike; Vote Counter: Joe.

Our speakers today were:

Brian giving his Icebreaker and brightening our day with his language.

Sonya giving speech number two “The State Fair of Texas – Why you need to go!” Everyone loved her imitation of Big Tex.

Barbara talked humerously about “Expecting.” (and not babies either)

Table Topics was lead by Jerry and he called on: Roger, Bill B, Tonye, and Mary but I didn’t take notes on their topics because I was listening for word usage.

Andrew lead the evaluation team consisting of: Carol, Gene, and Craig.

Mary told a joke about one boy’s experience with the story of Adam and Eve.

Awards were given: Table Topics: Roger; Evaluator: Carol; Speaker: Barbara.

Our guests gave their impressions from the meeting and we look for their return next week.

The meeting ended right on time. Well done.

It’s an Irresistable Phenomenon!

Andrew started us right on time today but there were no guests. Unbelievable!

Jerry lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Chuck was out Toastmaster and he introduced his helpers: Grammarian: Craig; Ah Counter: Pete; Timer: Joe; and Vote Counter: Sonya.

There were three speakers:

Tonye arrived just on time for his IceBreaker speech, and he invited us all to the Wedding!

Morry gave his second speech on the “Quality Assurance Conundrum: Living Long Term in a Short Term World.”

Paul told us all about our use of “The Crutch,” that funny little “ah” word and all of the others like it.

Marvin lead Table Topics with a political bent. Gene talked about casting his first vote (LBJ?), Brian talked about negative campaigns (oh, we never have those, yeah right), and Andrew told us his qualifications to be Vice President (Sounded like Sarah),

Our General Evaluator, Sheryl, introduced evaluations by Stephen J, Rick, and Barbara.

Awards were given: Table Topics: Andrew; Evaluator: Barbara; and Speaker: Paul.

Andrew showed the club the two new banner ribbons we had earned: President’s Distinguished Club and one other that I cannot remember.

Meeting ended just in time. See you next week.

No Consternation Permitted

Andrew started the meeting right on time and then led the Invocation and Pledge. Then Pete walked in. Now Pete was supoposed to do the Invocation and Pledge and Andrew was the scheduled Timer. So they traded.

Marvin was our Toastmaster and he introduced our helpers: Pete as Timer, Paul as Ah Counter, Stephen J as Vote Counter and Joe with the Word of the Day.

Our three speakers were:

Mike with a 10 minute reading of a great Oklahoma court case in “Lawyer with a Gun.”

Neal, a guest, was invited to speak in place of Carol and introduced himself and “Reverse Mortgages.”

Bill B spoke on the subject of “Focus on your Point” and gave us a homework assignment.

Craig led Table Topics with a Fall Theme. Barb talked about “Fallicerous”; Sonya dreamed of the Caribbean; Andrew talked about Football.

Carol was our General Evaluator and introduced evaluations by Jerry, Gene and Chuck.

Barb attempted to tell three jokes, but we all laughed anyway. Even Barb.

Awards were given for Table Topics: Andrew; Evaluation: Chuck; Speaker: Mike.

Meeting ended right on time with no detractors. See you next Tuesday.

Area 46 Contest Results

What a laugh! It was great fun! Even the kids liked it!

Plano Talkers was well represented with Chuck, Mary, Mike, Stephen J, Sheryl, Carlos and Brian (with family) in attendance. Participating, in addition to our speakers Mike and Stephen, were: Chuck as Sergeant at Arms, Mary as a Vote Counter, and Sheryl as a timer.

Three Tall Tales were told:

Stephen J talked about the witch’s nose hairs in the “Tale of Two Hairs”.

Irene from DFW Tech Talk told us how  “la cucaracha” and jalepinos formed the Rio Grand River.

Brian from Plano Presenters told us how the Ringling Brothers and a “Pink Ape” founded the first circus.

After a suitable break for the Judges to make their choices we moved on to the Humorous Speech Contest.

Irene taught us how important the “Learning Curve” is when learning a new language.

Mike wore his SMU shirt to tell us the story of his first wekk at college and the “Three Lessons” he learned that week.

Todd from Intelligent Speakers told a wonderful story about the cat he adopted from the Austin Humane Society.

After the speeches and after the Cheif Judge returned to the room, we heard a few announcements:

Area 46 Governor Shiryl thanked everyone for attending and reminded us that dues are due. She also mentioned that all four clubs in the Area will get credit for training four or more Officers this last training period.

Division Governor Melinda invited everyone to attend the Division Level Contest on Saturday October 25th.

District Representative Reed told us about the Fall Conference in early November and the special guest speaker we will have (watch for the flyers). He also said that the District is more than meeting its goals for new members and that the October New Membership Reward Event will be larger than originally planned (watch for details because we get to go).

Finally, the winners were announced:

Tall tales: Stephen J was the winner with Irene taking Second.

Humorous Speech: Irene was the winner with Mike taking Second.

A good time, laughter, and good food were enjoyed by all. See you in October!

And the Officers Ate Breakfast

The Plano Talkers September Officer’s Meeting was attended by Andrew, Chuck  Paul, Marvin, Roger, Craig and Stephen (order of arrival).  Special Contest Announcement later in this post.

We actually had an agenda and Andrew sent it out before the meeting. Great idea.

Andrew, our President, opened the meeting with an invocation.

First order of business was counting the new members for this half: Morry, Joe, Sonya, Michelle, Tonye and Brian. Because we have 5 or more between July 1st and September 30th, we are invited to the District 50 BBQ in October at White Rock Lake. Details forthcoming. This also gives us 1 and 1/2 points toward the 9 we need to make President’ Distinguished Club for the year. There is a page on this Blog that shows our current status. Special Thanks to Paul our VP of Membership and to all who have updated their information on the website. (New members, we need your pictures on-line soon).

Craig has volunteered to take over the Web Master role as David is not able to continue. Craig was an Officer, in several roles, and former Web Master (before FreeToastHost) for Plano Talkers. Craig wants to use a blue background for pictures and asks that you send them to him directly (webmaster@planotalkers.org) so he can size them and post them. He also plans to bring a camera so we can get pictures of our members. We talked about having a meeting/speech concerning member use of the web site. Look for that soon.

Paul, VP of Membership, lead a further discussion of other ways to get members. These included personal invitations to people you know and/or work with,  and using the Toastmaster Magazine as a recruiting aid at nail salons, beauty shops and barber shops. While the web site seems to attract many visitors, we need to ensure that we try other avenues as well so as to maintain a healthy club membership level.

Marvin, VP of Education, lead a discussion of our progress toward President’s Distinguished Club. It appears that we will meet the membership and new member requirements. Our concern is that we need 4 people to complete the CC Manual (first TM manual) and 2 people to complete the CL (first Leadership Manual). We anticipate that Chuck will get his CC but it isn’t clear who else might complete by the end of June 2009. We also decided to help people meet their CL manual requirements by keeping them at the meeting (on the Visitor sign-in table) so they are available every week. Marvin encourged everyone to update their personal TM goals on the website so we can help everyone meet them through scheduling.

There was a discussion about the number of speeches that are made in the club that are not manual speeches. Marvin mentioned that if a speech doesn’t meet a requirement in the manual you are currently working on, it is acceptable to redo manuals already completed or work in additional manuals that match your individual needs. In fact, we can get credit for CC manual completions from anyone, no matter their current TM education level and they count for Presiden’t Distingusihed Club. The officers decided to encourage all members to only do manual speeches.

Andrew lead a discussion about PR since Gene our VP of PR was absent. Gene is preparing an article about his TM Statistical Analysis Project and how we are seeing good results in both recruiting and retention. he will be examining the corelation betwenn the two. He wants to publish the article in the TM Magazine.

Stephen, our Treasurer, gave us a financial report. We seem to be in good shape especially considering that dues are due and should be collected from all members by September 23rd. Please be sure to get your check for $42.00 to Stephen at the next meeting.

There was discussion about members who join in the last month of the half (March and September). It was decided that the club policy will be to collect 7 months (the month of joining and the next six months) from those people to avoid collecting one month when they join and immediately asking for the next six month’s dues.

Roger, our Sergeant at Arms, reported that despite his crazy work schedule and because of help from Marvin and Bill B, the club meeting room is always set up on time for meetings. Thanks for the help from all members.

Marvin asked for volunteers to Mentor the new members and will be asking again at the next meeting.

A good breakfats was enjoyed by all and YOU can wln a breakfast at the next fficer’s Meeting by answering this question:

What did our President, Andrew (not George W), have for breakfast?

First correct comment to this Blog Post gets to join us for breakfast next month and doesn’t have to volunteer to do anything!!! Better hurry. If you don’t respond, you may be volunteered for something. (just kidding)

Ignite Your Speaking

Andrew called the meeting to order right on time and then lead us in the Invocation and Pledge.

Our guests Brian and Tonye submitted applications at the end of the meeting and a former Toastmaster Neal was also a Guest.

Helpers today included: Chuck with the stop watch, Bill B with the Word of the Day (Ignite), Craig counting Ahs, and Carol counting the votes.

Today’s Speakers:

Stephen rehearsing his Tall Tale for Friday’s Contest (Spring Creek BBQ at 75 and Belt Line at 7:00 pm). Everyone was invited to stop by after the meeting and give Stephen any pointers they think will help in the contest.

Mike did a speech form the Advanced Technical Presentation manual entitled, “Simple, but not Easy, 3 Little Rules.”

Marvin did an interpretive reading of JFK’s Inaugural Address entitled, “Ask Not.”

Paul lead a Table Topics on the big news event of last weekend, Hurricane Gustav. Pete talked about why he stayed behind. Morry told Pete how to survive with only $50.00 (Looting was the answer. Was that based on the World of Warcraft?). Roger’s talk inspired me to write down the keyword “You” so I would remember what his talk was about, but I can’t remember. Write me a comment if you remember.

Roger lead the evaluation team that included Barbara, Andrew, and Gene. (Is Gene the designated Evaluator? He seems to do this all the time.)

Awards were presented to Roger for Table Topics, Andrew for Evaluation, and Stephen as Best Speaker.

Morry was the Jokemaster and chose to recite a poem.

Andrew closed the meeting after Stephen reminded everyone that Dues of $42.00 are due and Chuck reviewed the details of the Contest for Friday. Officer’s meeting this Thuirsday at 7:00 (dispite Andrew’s attempts to change it to 7:30).

See you Friday evening.