$15 Gifts are Pertinent This Time of Year

Marvin presided at today’s meeting and we began right on time with 17 members and 1 guest, Bill. Craig lead us in the invocation and Pledge.

Mike was our Toastmaster and asked us all to talk about a great $15.00 gift for the office gift exchange. He introduced his assistants: Timer: Roger, Ah Counter: Ollie; Grammarian: Barb; Vote Counter: Morry.

Speeches were given by:

Stephen J started his CC book again with an Icebreaker entitled: “Nerdvana.”

Joshua gave his second CC speech entitled, ” Who Would Win.”

and Bill S practiced the speech he will give in Washington DC tomorrow with a discussion of Universal Design entitled, “Congratulations, but…”

Table Topics was lead by first-timer Brain with an opportunity to recite the first four lines of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” Chuck got the first two lines and Bill S got the second half. For Table Topics, Brian called on Pete, Marvin, Paul and Morry.

Bill B lead the evaluation team consisting of Chuck (Sonya slept in), Mary (Jerry slept in), and Gene.

Awards were given for Table Topics: Paul; Evaluation: Mary; and Best Speech: Stephen.

Marvin called for New Business and Gene introduced the idea of our club sponsoring Speech Craft. This idea was approved with no dissension.

The meeting ended on time with no detractors.

Officers call – Transfer of Duties

Our December Officer’s Meeting began on time with Andrew, Paul, Gene, Mary, Craig, Roger, Barb, Stephen J, Chuck and Roger attending. We almost needed a bigger table.

There was a discussion about the invocation at the start of our meetings and we just want to be sure to include all faiths so that everyone feels welcome.

Andrew began by introducing the theme of today’s meeting as being a “passing of the torch” for the outgoing-incoming officers. Paul will become President and Andrew becomes Immediate Past President. Mary will take over Paul’s duties as VP Membership. Gene will not be able to attend meetings regularly because he will be teaching on Tuesday mornings next semester. So he relinquished the seat as VP Publicity to Barb.

We began with Paul discussing Membership (and Mary taking copious notes). Paul will key in our newest member (Brent) to TI today. Stephen offered to help but Paul said he had the time planned. Paul reported that as all of our recent (within the last year) new members had found us on the web, we need to keep our site as up to date as possible. Paul discussed the Guest Book and said that it is useful but there needs to be more room for contact information as sometimes it is difficult to read because the space is so small. Paul suggested that we attempt to contact inactive and former members to get them started again. Barb mentioned that perhaps we should attempt to get some presence within the job seekers’ arena.

Gene talked about Chamber listings and joining with other Plano clubs to have a representative at Chamber meetings to publicize our meetings. Gene discussed the Detractor System and said that we continue to be within the limits we had selected. He showed us that our biggest repeat offender seems to be “missing speech titles on the agenda.” This may be a symptom of a lack of preparation by the speakers.

Craig asked how we all thought the web site could be better used to attract new members. Andrew asked that all new officers update the Officer Bio portion and the Member Bio portion of the site. Having our pictures and some of our own stories and progress may help others choose Plano Talkers. Of course, we are the only early morning club in Plano and that does help.

Stephen gave a Treasurer’s report and we seem to be on track with money. There was a suggestion made by Gene that we develop and approve a budget for each officer term so that we can be sure we don’t forget anything and stay on-track with money. We had a couple large expenses linked to the web site and the scheduler program this month. So our planned $40.00 gift card for the Spaghetti Warehouse Manager might make the budget a bit close until next renewal. Barb suggested that we ask the club membership to make a $1 or $2 donation each of the next two weeks to pay for the gift card. Stephen will announce this via email to all members.

Roger reported that supply levels seem to be ok and he gets lots of help in both setup and tear down each week.

Chuck talked about the Bog and there were some questions about getting pictures on the site. Chuck mentioned that we have a flickr.com site but no pictures are posted.

Mary asked about making welcoming phone calls after attending a meeting. She said that the calls she had received had been a big influence in her joining the group. She will begin these calls as soon as possible.

New Business: Gene mentioned that he has been asked by the University to be a part of a club called SIFE and help to coordinate a speech practice for the group. He mentioned Speech Craft, the Toastmasters program for students. It was decided that he would introduce this idea at the next club meeting and see if the club will sponsor the Speech Craft. Our obligations would be only time by individuals to make speeches to SIFE meetings. Usually one per week beginning in February.

The Mentor program was discussed and the VPs of Education and Membership will work together to assign mentors as soon as new members join the club. We need a mentor for Brent.

There was a discussion about scheduling a quarterly club meeting to be 15 minutes longer than usual to accommodate club business. This needs to be raised at the club level.

We almost didn’t get breakfast but squeezed it in at the last minute. The meeting ended right on time.

A Cold Start to the Christmas Season

We started December on a cold morning as Andrew called us to order right on time. We had 15 members on hand including Brent who submitted his application last week. Gene lead our Invocation and Pledge.

Roger was our Toastmaster and he introduced his assistants: Stephen J as Timer; Joe as Ah Counter; Chuck as Vote Counter; and Mike as Grammarian.

Our three speeches today were:

Morry discussing the requests he gets for help buying/building a computer with a speech entitled, “Buy a Dell.”

Mary persuading us to “Get Your Merry On,” a theme repeated in the napkins she brought for the occasion.

Pete gave us some ideas about marketing in this down economy with a speech entitled, “Marketing for Today’s Business.”

Barb lead Table Topics and called on Gene, Brent, Bill S. and Mike.

Carol lead our evaluation team which consisted of Steve B, Rick, and Andrew.

Bill S was the Jokemaster.

Awards were given to: Gene for Table Topics; Andrew for Evaluation; and Pete for Best Speaker.

Mike, acting in his capacity as Past-President, introduced the slate of officers for the January 2009 to June 2009 term. After a miscommunication by Chuck was corrected by Andrew and everyone got to practice Robert’s Rules (Thank you Gene), the slate of Officers nominated and elected are:

President: Paul

VP Education: Marvin

VP Membership: Mary

VP Publicity: Barb

Treasurer: Stephen J.

Secretary: Chuck

Sergeant-at-Arms: Roger

Also, not an elected office but worth mentioning: Webmaster: Craig

The membership elected the officers by acclimation. The first Officer Training Session is December 6th.

We also voted to allow Brent to join the club. Welcome to Plano Talkers!

Regardless of the elections, we were dismissed on-time. What an efficient meeting.

Thanksgiving – No Capitulation

Andrew called us to order right on time with 19 members and 2 guests, Brent and Scott. Pete lead us in the Invocation.

Joe was our first-time Toastmaster and he introduced his assistants: Bill S as Timer; Roger as Ah Counter; Rick as Vote Counter; and Brian as Grammarian.

Our speakers were:

Gene with a brief discussion on Robert’s Rules of Order.

Marvin elaborated on “Effective Communication is Key to Success.”

Mike talked about Bob Hope and titled his speech, “I Thank You for the Memories.”

Table Topics lead by Sonya followed the Thanksgiving Theme. Speakers included Barb, and a couple others whom I forgot to write down.

Mary lead the evaluation team which consisted of Chuck, Andrew and Paul.

Craig was the Jokemaster.

Awards were given to: Table Topics: Barb; Evaluation: Paul; and Best Speaker: Mike.

We adjurned on time; no detractors today.