Welcome Back Color (It’s Spring)

Marvin opened the meeting and Barbara lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Paul was our Toastmaster and introduced his assistants: Charles as Grammarian; Stephen B as Ah Counter; Ollie as Timekeeper; and Brian as Vote Counter.

Our Speeches:

Justin gave his Icebreaker Speech (after only two weeks, good job).

Bill talked about “Spring Cleaning” more than just your house.

Carol regaled us with her adventures in India. We all love elephants, Carol.

Chuck lead the Table Topics and called on Bill S, Brent, and Roger.

Morry was our General Evaluator and he said he liked the room arranged the way it was last week. He introduced Mary, Stephen J and Joe.

Awards were given for: Table Topics: Roger; Evaluator: Stephen; and Speaker: Carol.

Marvin announced the Toastmaster and speakers for next week and announced the Area contest to be this Thursday at 6:00 pm. He also reminded the Officers of Thursday’s meeting and invited all members to join us.

The meeting ended on-time.

Tell Me Something Good!

Paul began our meeting right on time and lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Mary added some color to our meeting with pink agendas and introduced her assistants: Grammarian: Charles; Ah Counter: Barbara; Timer: Paul; and Vote Counter: Marvin.

Our speakers:

Rick showing his vocal variety with a speech with no name.

Pete showed why being early helps with the projector discussed “The Start Up.”

Roger rehearsing his contest speech “Thanks Kiiye”. Nice suit!

Bill Butcher lead Table Topics and called on Morry, Joe and John.

Stephen J was our General Evaluator and he introduced Evaluators: Brian, Steve, and Chuck.

Awards were given for: Table topics: John; Evaluator: Chuck; Speech: Roger.

Announcements: the Area Speech Contest will be March 5th.

Paul ended the meeting on-time.

Cooperation is Synergistic

Paul began the meeting right on time and asked Barbara to lead the invocation and pledge.

Stephen J was our Toastmaster and he introduced his assistants: Marvin as Grammarian; Paul as Ah Counter; Brent as Timer; and Charles as Vote Counter.

Our speakers were:

Mary who told about her fun time “Gaming in Tunica”

Brian who gave us a briefing on Agile Development Methods.

Mike who talked about “Captain Billy’s Whizbang”

Carol lead the Table Topics and called on Ollie, Jerry, Roger and Barbara.

Stephen B lead an evaluation team consisting of: Chuck, Morry, and Joshua.

Awards were given for: Table Topics: Roger; Evaluator: Chuck; and Speaker: Mary.

Justin submitted his membership application and John was a visitor.

Paul ended the meeting on-time.

Let the Contest Begin

Paul called the meeting to order and asked Joe to lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Due to the contest and the amount of speaking ahead, Paul quickly passed the meeting to the Chief Judge Marvin.

Marvin briefed the members on the aspects of judging the contest, passed out ballots, and then handed the contest over to the Contest Master Barbara.

The first contest was the table topics contest with the following question: “Who would you like to have a secret meeting with and why?”

Roger was up first and talked about a meeting with Barack Obama.

Mike  was up second and talked about (Well I wasn’t there and don’t know).

Stephen J was up last and talked about a meeting with Martin Gardner.

The votes were collected and while the vote counters and Chief Judge were out, Barbara regaled us with a joke.

On to the Speech Contest.

Mike was up first with his Speech “”, discussing the importance of critical thinking and how it is missing in today’s America.

Bill was up second with his Speech “The Best Deal I ever Made”, a speech centered on a story of a deal he walked away from, which turned out to be the best decision he could have made.

Roger was up third with his Speech “”, where he told us all of the things he had learned from his dog that he had obtained after his last child went off to college.

The votes were collected and while the vote counters and Chief Judge were out, Barbara brought up the contestants to have them tell a little bit about themselves.

Finally, the contest results were revealed.

Table Topics:

First Place: Stephen J
Second Place: Roger

International Speech Contest:

First Place: Roger
Second Place: Bill

The area contest for Area 46 will be on February 27th – Location to be announced.

Not a Tumultuous Meeting

Paul called the meeting to order with a full house, 20 members and 3 guests (Doug, Rick, and Justin). Bill S lead us in the Invocation and Pledge.

Our Toastmaster, Jerry, had a tumultuous weekend but he brought a full and complete agenda for the meeting. He introduced his helpers:  Timer: Steven B; Ah Counter: Roger; Vote Counter: Mary; and Grammarian: Paul.

Our speakers today included:

Chuck working in an Advanced Manual with “Watching the Game” and some dialog with Charles.

Brian with his #7 speech: “Just Say No to Waterfalls”

Ollie introduced his “Division Project for 2008-09″

Stephen J lead table topics and called on Charles, Joshua, and Sonya. For some reason, only one was able to stay up for a full minute.

Pete lead the evaluation team consisting of: Rick, Marvin, and Barbara.

Awards were given to: Table Topics: Sonya; Evaluator: Barbara; and Speaker: Chuck.

Joshua was our Jokemaster and we all had a good laugh.

Jerry turned control of the meeting over to Paul who reminded us about the Officer’s meeting on Thursday at a new location.

The meeting adjourned right on time.

One of Texas’ Best Assets

Paul called the meeting to order right on time and asked Chuck to lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Our very able Toastmaster, Mike, introduced his helpers: Timer: Sonya; Ah Counter Paul; Grammarian Brent; and Vote Counter Bill S.

Prepared speeches were given by:

Charles gave his Ice Breaker entitled: “Buicks and Railroad tracks.

Joe talked about “Egress.:

Joshua talked about “Misery.”

Bill B ran the Table Topics and included Carol, Chuck, Brian and Sonya.

Marvin was the General Evaluator and introduced Mary, Roger and Barbara.

Awards today to: Table Topics: Chuck; Evaluator: Barbara; Speaker: Joshua.

Reminder of the International Speech Contest and Table Topics Context on Feb 10th. For an icy day, we had a good turnout (17).

Enthusiasm was Omnipresent

Even though the importance of our meeting was overshadowed by the events of Inauguration Day, Paul called the meeting to order right on time. Morry lead the invocation and pledge. Out Toastmaster today is Bill.

Bill’s helpers today are: Timer: Mary; Ah Counter: Rick; Vote Counter: Jerry; Grammarian; Joe.

Our formal speeches today are:

Brent’s Ice Breaker: Just Enough to be Dangerous”

Barbara told us about “Holding Hands and Singing Kum-ba-ya.”

Stephen B. was “In Search of..”

Table Topics was lead by Chuck and included Stephen J, Marvin, and Mike.

Our General Evaluator was Marvin and he introduced Ollie, Pete and Paul.

Awards today for: Table Topics: Stephen J, Evaluator: Ollie, and Speaker: Barbara.

Control of the meeting was returned to our President and he called on our VP Education for next week’s Toastmaster and speakers. The meeting ajourned on time so we could get to work and watch the Inauguration.

One Week until the Big Change

With the inauguration of our next President of the United States one week away, our club meet to talk about Change. Marvin began the meeting on time and asked Roger to lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Our Toastmaster for the day, Stephen B, introduced his assistants: Grammarian: Roger; Ah Counter: Mike; Timer: Barb; and Vote Counter: Brent.

Our speakers were:

Sonya talking about how important it is to “Celebrate You.”

Rick showed us his iPhone and described it as the “Best $200.00 I Ever Spent.”

Morry used body language to describe the “On-Demand Revolution.”

Table Topics were lead by Bill Butcher and he called on Ollie, Chuck, and Brian.

Mary was our General Evaluator and the assigned evaluators were Jerry, Joe and Stephen J.

Awards were given for: Table Topics: Chuck; Evaluator: Stephen J: and Speaker: Sonya.

Control of the meeting was returned to Marvin. He announced the Toastmaster and Speakers for next week and passed around copies of the duty roster for dates through February 3rd. He then announced that the Club-Level International Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest will be held on February 10th. To speak in the International Speech Contest requires that 6 CC manual speeches be given. The only qualification for the Table Topics Contest is that you must be a member in good standing of a club in good standing, so all are encouraged to try out.

The meeting was ajourned on-time, no detractors.

The Future is Now

Our new President, Paul, called the meeting to order right on time and introduced our guest: Rick. Joe lead the Invocation and Prayer.

Stephen J was our Toastmaster and he introduced his assistants: Grammarian: Joshua; Ah Counter: Carol who used a new, friendlier, noise maker; Timer: Carol; and Vote Counter: Morry.

Speakers included:

Mary using a handout with blanks to fill-in, talking about the process of going from “Will Not to Still Am”

Mike discussing “Real Change” and not the kind in your pocket.

Marvin doing one of the TM-Prepared speeches (with a typo on the slides) concerning “Preparation and Practice”

Paul lead Table Topics and called on Gene, Joe and Stephen J.

Chuck was our General Evaluator and evaluations were given by Brian (his first) and Bill B. I’ m still not sure why Marvin didn’t have an evaluator.

Awards were given to: Table Topics: Gene; Evaluator: Bill; and Speaker: Mary.

Paul reminded everyone that the Officer’s Meeting will be this Thursday at the usual place. Paul ended his first meeting right on time.

All Things Christmas

Sonya was our Toastmasrter and choose this theme because we met on Christmas Eve minus one.

Gene called the meeting to order right on time and asked Mike to lead the Invocation and Pledge.

Sonya introduced her assistants: Grammarian: Rick; Ah Counter: Brent; Timekeeper: Chuck; and Vote Counter: Joe.

Our speakers were:

Brain discussing Christmas

Ollie talking about “$73 Per Hour, Really?”

Roger with his “SMARTER ” Goals

Table Topics were lead by Gene and included: Morry, Rick, and Brent talking about Christmas past.

Our Chief Evaluator was Mike who introduced evaluations by Mary, Stephen J, and Morry.

Chuck told a story about how they were “Looking for me!”

Awards were given to Table Topics: Brent; Evaluation: Stephen; and Speaker: Roger.

Roger, our Sergeant-at-Arms, asked the restaurant manager to join us for a couple minutes. The club presented him with a pre-paid Gift Card and thanked him for allowing us to use the room.

Meeting adjourned on time, one distractor “Missing Speech Title on the Agenda.”