Yolande was our TM and Moe, Carol, Roger and Stephen J were her assistants.  The theme was holiday foods.

Mike A spoke about a technique for planning a speech called mind mapping.  It is similar to brainstorming where you write down all ideas that pop in your brain about the subject at hand.

Gwen discussed using permanent cash value life insurance as one of the primary techniques to minimize the taxes you pay to the federal government.  If you invest $1800 per month at the age of 40 you will retire with $3.5 Million at the age of 67.

Jerry S gave a speech about his LASIK surgery that he had last week.  He discussed the decision process and used a little suspense by wearing very dark glasses throughout his speech until he took them off giving us the outcome.  Thankfully it was successful (the surgery, and the speech).

Sanjay led table topics with creative subjects for Rey (school childhood), Chuck (President of the US) and David (stranded in the desert).

Craig, Bill, and Andrew all did great jobs evaluating the speakers under Charles General Evaluator leadership.

Myron gave us a joke to end the hour.  Mike A was the best speaker, David was the best TT, and Bill was the best evaluator.

Elections were held and Chuck will be our new President.  Yolande will be our new V.P. of Public Relations.  Congratulations to our new officers.

Stephen J, Bill S, Chuck, Charles, Morry and David were in attendance.  The club agreed a few months ago that once a year we could afford to pay for breakfast for the club officers.  December was that month.  You will be happy to know the officers appeared to be full.

Officer elections will be held on Dec 8th.  Chuck will be running for President.  Public relations is open.  David agreed to inquire about a few people we think would be interested.

Bill S found some very nice TM mugs that we can purchase for special occasions like guest speakers for area contests, etc.

Bill stated that 34 members have renewed.  John Ulrich rejoined us Tuesday, and he expects to make 35.  Chuck will update our PlanoTalkers website by purging those who have not renewed.  Our cash balance was $914 before the breakfast and before ordering the mugs.

David needs to submit the Officer’s List to TM International after the elections.

PlanoTalkers will have the 25th Anniversary party during our regular Tuesday meeting on January 26th.  We will have breakfast at our meeting. Bill S will bring the food and Stephen J will bring the beverages.

We have evaluated the other side of the restaurant and found it not to be friendly to our needs.  We will remain in our current room.

We will mention the leadership manual before the next meeting to remind people to have their manuals filled out when they have a role.

Marvin lead today’s meeting.  Bill B, Craig, Rey and Stephen J were his assistants.

Roger began the speeches with a topic of multi-tasking.  He described how we are much more efficient at work if we focus on one task in lieu of doing many things at once.

Morry completed his 10th speech.  Congratulations Morry; what a great accomplishment.  Morry discussed each of his speeches and what he learned from them.  He received a standing ovation.

Jeff discussed finding your passion in your career.  He gave examples of magazines and books that could help us find our passion.  If we do what we love we will love what we do.

Philip asked the table topic questions for the day, but in my haste to complete my evaluation, I missed this portion of the meeting.  Forgive me Philip and TT victims.

Alexis, Brian, and David evaluated the speakers, and Carol evaluated the meeting.  Comments were kept to a minimum as time was a little long.

Jeff won best speaker and Alexis won best evaluator.  Also, Shane visited PlanoTalkers after moving here from Utah.  We hope to see him next week again.  Officers Meeting is Thursday of this week at Corner Bakery at 7:00 am.

Brian led our meeting today with a theme of Tinseltown.  Our participants, Gene, barbara, Jerry and Moe each talked about their favorite holiday.  Thanksgiving won that round of questions.

David discussed the structural portions of a courthouse in Waxahachie.  Yolande discussed her love of soccer and a recent collegiate game that made the headlines.  Phillip taught us to what steps to take now (while we are still employed) to help us find that next job.

Andrew, Carol, Rey and Bill were called upon by Alexis to answer Table Topics.

Justin, Marvin, and Bill helped the speakers to improve by evaluating their speeches.  Morry let us know that next week we may try the other side of the restaurant since we are packed in tight in the back room.

Yolande was best speaker, Marvin was best evaluator.  I can’t remember who was the best TT, they must have all been good.

Chuck found out that there is a two month grace period before removing previous members from the website so we’ll wait till next month to purge our website.

Morry reminded us that the District Conference is coming up.  Morry and Paul signed proxy form for contest so that Marvin and Barb will go in their places.

Marvin mentioned that the upcoming club contest should be held on Feb 2nd.  The area contest will be on Feb 19th.  Marvin will run this contest.

Paul discussed upcoming officer election first Tuesday in December.

Bill will order CC/CL badges all at once for a quarter (of the year) in lieu of one at a time to save shipping costs.  He will also order new CC manuals.

Charles discussed the option of moving to the opposite side of the restaraunt.  He said we’d try it on November 17th.

Paul mentioned that the 25th anniversary of the Plano Talkers is in January.  Stephen’s name was mentioned as a potential leader for that event.

October 1^st Officers Meeting – Paul, Bill, Chuck, Morry, Stephen, Charles, and David

Bill reported that we had 48 current members, but estimated we’d have over 40 since some won’t renew.  Chuck stated that he would remove members from the website that didn’t renew.  We discussed what options we have if our club grows to 60 people.  One suggestion was to move to the other side of the restaurant.

Morry discussed the need to fill the VP Membership role left by the absence of Scott Kain.  Chuck, temporarily filing Scotts role, created new folders for visitors, and he mentioned that Alexis volunteered to fill the position permanently.  We agreed she would do a fine job in that position.

David mentioned that he had not blogged our meeting minutes from the last few meetings.  I agreed that should be done regularly.

Stephen reported that everyone who wants a mentor now had one.

Bill will look into pen for guest speakers (twice a year for contests).

There was a discussion about the need to update the projector screen.  No action has been agreed to concerning this item.

Breakfast Time for the Officers. Paul, Mary, Chuck, Marvin, Barbara, Stephen and Roger attended.

Chuck reported that we now have a picture on our Flickr site (link is on the Blog, upper right corner).

Mary reports that Charles and Justin have Joined, David (visitor on Tuesday) wants an application and we have to check on John’s Transfer into the club.

Marvin reviewed the roster trying to determine who will renew and who won’t. Looking at President’s Distinguished Club competition, when Mary completes her CC in April we will have 9 points. There was a discussion about whether or not to push to get the tenth point (two more CCs) and we decided to let them happen or not as the speakers complete the manual. Marvin told us about the next election (May 2009) of Officers and we decided that it is time to begin getting the word out to the club that we are looking for volunteers for offices. In general, one year is the longest anyone should hold the same office without a break.

Barbara talked about her recruiting efforts and Chuck asked if we could target more women as we seem to have only men as visitors. There was a discussion about how to do this. Barbara will work on it.

Stephen reported that there were no expenses or income for February and that Dues are Due. In fact, he has about half of the club dues already collected.

Roger reports that the club cabinet locks at the meeting site were broken by the restaurant. He will attempt to fix it this week. There followed a discussion of how the room should be set up and an arrangement was agreed upon. We will all work to set this up and see how it works.

Craig was unable to join us to report o the web site, although it seems to be working well as that is where all of our new members find us.

There was a discussion of the wearing of name tags. All of the Officers will wear theirs next week and we’ll see how it goes.

There was a discussion of how we can get special recognition for Gene and his Speech Craft at UT-D. Marvin will work with the District Officers to see what can be done.

Continued discussion about the next round of Officer Elections. Since Andrew hasn’t been able to attend lately, we nominated Mike to be the point of contact for members to discuss becoming officers.

The meeting ended right on time. This seems to be a good place to meet (not withstanding that two officers forgot that we had moved the meeting).

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.

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.

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.