05/16/2016 About Last Night..........

Hello Fellow Toastmasters, 

Our Nature themed meeting last night hosted a large and lively crowd. We also had a number of guests who joined us and commented that they truly enjoyed learning from the members.

The night started off with Lucille as our Invocation. She shared with us a beautiful poem from the book “Chicken Soup for the Soul” that she received from a fellow member. Migo, our Joke Master, soon followed and had us laughing with his witty joke about kids’ names. Here comes ‘Brick!’ Daniela was the Toastmaster for the evening and ensured the meeting moved along smoothly.

Margaret was our Table Topic Master and did a great job with her well planned questions about Nature, and it was her first time! Speakers were provided with varying questions that were quite thought-provoking and truly challenged us to think on our feet. It is important to remember that if we get ‘stumped,’ it is okay to take a moment, gather your thoughts, and continue. Daniela followed up with the Table Topic Evaluations and provided succinct feedback to all speakers.

Refreshments last night were provided by Martin. Thank you for the wonderful treats!

For our long speech portion of the meeting we had three speakers. George was our first speaker and presented his 9^th project titled “Tragedy in Nevada.” He detailed the happenings of the recent democratic convention, explaining the importance of voting, and persuaded the audience to vote in favor of Bernie Sanders. The second speaker was Garvin who gave us an impromptu speech titled “How I found myself.” He shared with us his journey as he explored his Thai roots and American upbringing, trying to bridge the two cultures. Our final speaker was Daniel, who gave us is his 8^th speech titled “Little white lie about yellow teeth.” Daniel also attempted to persuade the audience… to go to the dentist! He started off with a story about how he was ‘forced’ to make a dental appointment and ultimately realized that even though most of us hate, we need to make our yearly visits.

Following the speeches were the evaluations. Byron evaluated George and right away pointed out that George is a talented speaker. He advised George to focus on persuasion and try to reach the audience by appealing to the emotions. Aaron evaluated Garvin’s speech and mentioned he appreciated his energy and sharing his personal story. He also advised him to be mindful of his story-telling details so as to not be too harsh. The last evaluator was Migo who provided great feedback for Daniel’s persuasive speech. He commended Daniel for his organization and also advised him to provide more detail about the things that can happen if you don’t visit the dentist, to make the speech more powerful.

Joan stepped in as the General Evaluator for the night and gave a great summary of the meeting. She also provided additional feedback to the speakers and evaluators.

The night ended just a few minutes after nine, and it seemed all in attendance left with plenty of enthusiasm. We hope to see many of you again next Monday!   

05/09/2016 About Last Night: Small but mighty (group)...

Good morning fellow Toastmasters,

Our 05/09 Mother's day meeting had us reminiscing and recollecting memories about our mothers.

Our meeting started with a great invocation message given by George who reminded us to enjoy life because we never know when it might change completely.

Angelica did a great job running a smooth meeting for all those in attendance.

Garvin filled in admirably as our Table Topic master last night, asking speakers questions about their mothers & mothers day. Thank you for filling in Garvin!

Daniel, back from vacation offered feedback to each Table Topic speaker which we could all put to use.

Refreshments were provided by Joan. Truly one of the best cake's I've had in a long time, thank you so much for a very tasty snack.

The second half the meeting saw Sean (The Gambler), Alex (Everything Happens for a reason), & Aaron (3 pieces of life advice & long road trips) all give very differing but interesting speeches. Thank you all for sharing.

They were evaluated by Joan, George, and Lucille. Each evaluator provided poignant to their assigned speaker.

Margaret did a great job recapping the meeting as our General Evaluator last night.

Although there was not our usual number of members in attendance at last night's meeting. It was a meeting where many fellow Toastmasters filled in roles and got familiar with different aspects of what takes place at our club. 

I really hope to see everyone next Monday to celebrate our weekly gathering which we call Toastmasters.

I wish everyone a great and productive week!

05/02/2016 About last night.......

Hello Fellow Toastmasters,

Last night’s meeting was another energetic and quite humorous meeting, with a number of our members stepping in to fill in roles.

Daniela started the meeting off with Invocation, sharing a story about her mother, followed by our Joke Master George who had us soon laughing. George also stepped in as our Toastmaster for the night and ensured that all roles were explained and that the meeting stayed on track.

Our Table Topic portion of the meeting was soon underway, and Byron took the stage as our Table Topic Master and asked varying questions and invoking speakers to provide feedback on that particular topic. The questions ranged from travel, to politics, to cuisine. Our Table Topic Evaluator followed up with evaluations for our speakers. She commended the speakers on their strengths, and also provided suggestions to improve their speeches, which included voice projection and using more body language.

Refreshments last night were provided by Aaron. They were delicious snacks, thank you very much!

The second half of the meeting was underway with three speakers. Our first speaker was Alex, giving us his 9^th manual speech. He started off with a powerful punch and a serious of questions, then produced a visual aid that delivered his message: a mirror. In essence, we have the power to change ourselves for the better. Our second speaker was Lucille, our seasoned story-teller, who shared with us an article from a health magazine regarding healthy living. She explained that living a healthier, more stress-free life involves one very important thing: getting more sleep. She informed that this is especially important in growing children. Last but certainly not least, Al volunteered to give us his Icebreaker speech, and wowed the audience with his powerful voice. He shared with us an experience as a young man with his father, and the important message he learned about keeping your word. After winning a tough baseball match, his father kept his word and bought him the car he had asked for and proudly earned.

The speech evaluators soon took the stage to provide feedback for the speakers. Sean evaluated Alex and praised him for this confidence on stage, well-thought speech, and use of visual aids. He recommended Alex use more pauses in his speeches to make them more effective. Migo was the second evaluator and commended Lucille for her impromptu speech about health and how well she summarized this topic that is relatable to everyone. He suggested Lucille project her voice a bit more to make it easier to listen to her wonderful stories. Margaret evaluated Al on his first speech and right away congratulated him for his great story and stage presence. She commented that his speech was truly engaging and full of descriptive words that captivated the audience. She suggested that Al use a larger timeline to tell his story so that we may get to know him a little bit better.

Our General Evaluator Lucille culminated the meeting with a quick recap of the meeting and inspired the members to encourage our fellow Toastmasters who have been away for some time, to rejoin us.

Overall, it was another successful meeting. Looking forward to the next one, and hope to see many of you there!