Plano Talkers started their Tuesday A.M. meeting with a call to order by our Presiding Officer, Barbara Petsel, ACB. Barb welcomed our guests, followed by our invocation and pledge led by Jeff Butcher. Toastmaster Bill Slease was welcomed to the lectern where the theme of the meeting: “My Best Gift” was introduced. Assistants were called upon to share with the group their duties: David Williams (Grammarian) with the word “Bestowed”, Tina Drucker (Ah Counter), Charles Johnson (Timekeeper role “bestowed” upon him by Stephen James) and Daniel O’Donovan as our Vote Counter. With an audience of 23 our speakers had a lively audience to present to. Jerry Bessette presented a speech “Sheila Went To The Sea” this was Jerry’s 4th speech from the Competent Communicator manual, Patricia Brown presented, “Why Are You So Sad?” which was her 7th speech from the Competent Communicator manual, our third speaker was Stephen James with “Untitled” speech #1 from an advanced communication manual entitled, ‘Speak Off The Cuff.’ Toastmaster called for timekeeper’s report and called for all votes on the three speakers to be submitted to the vote counter. Toastmaster turned control of the meeting to our Table Topics Master, Margaret Johnson. The lucky contestants called upon for Table Topics were Chad Allison, Robert Peck, and Marta Soncodi (good job everyone!). Table Topics Master called for Timer’s Report and for the Word of the Day report from our grammarian. A call for votes on our table topics contestants were called for. The meeting was returned to the Toastmaster who introduced Jerry Aris as our General Evaluator. Evaluating Jerry Bessette, was Steve Burgess, evaluating Patricia Brown was Kendall Helfenbein, and Susan Ho evaluated our third speaker Stephen James. All of our evaluators shared their thoughts on the speeches and gave valuable feedback. Jerry Aris shared his insight on the overall effectiveness of the meeting and thanked the club for their participation. The meeting was returned to the Toastmaster who called for the Grammarian and Ah Counters reports. A call for awards commenced: and the vote for best speaker went to : Jerry Bessette, best evaluator: Kendall Helfenbein, and best Table Topics speaker: Chad Allison. The Toastmaster turned control of the meeting over to the Presiding Officer who called for guest comments and for announcements from the club. Toastmaster and Speakers were confirmed for the following week. Reminder that Toastmasters Leadership Institute will start soon for all newly elected officers. Have a great Tuesday!
Charles Johnson, CC CL
