Thursday, December 17, 2009

Hello Toastmasters Family,

The last club meeting for 2009.  A good time was had by all!  We started early to accommodate a holiday party after the official meeting.

Our friend Dave Pollard took a few minutes to address the club as this was his last opportunity to attend an OPS Club meeting.  Dave's job is transferring him to Georgia.  He hopes to find a Toastmasters club as vibrant as ours.  What a nice complement to our club!

Four speakers.  Joanne Fletcher as Speaker #1 informed and entertained while discussing 'what you wear determines attitude and how people treat you'.  Stacey Wallace talked about useful guidelines to stick to the upcoming new year's resolutions.  Stay committed, set achievable goals, and visualize your end result.  Speaker #3, Juan Martinez Alvez, discussed things he does to have fun and learn while doing.  Even with a Masters Degree, learning for him is to see other aspects of life.  Stan Dalziel gave his speech #10 the final speech to complete the Competent Communicator Manual.  Speech #10 is the inspirational one.  Stan certainly inspired everyone to continue with Toastmasters.  Toastmasters provides variety.  It helps change up routine.  Stan says "enjoy the life you have" and "it is all about the choices you make".  Congratulations, Stan, on finishing the CC Manual.  Additionally, Stan inspired most of us to vote for him to receive Best Speaker ribbon.

Rick Boyer provided holiday themed subjects as the Table Topics Master.  Sandy Peterson talked about her favorite Christmas Carol.  Jessica Ledbetter gave her favorite Christmas memory.  Mike Yaskowski shared his favorite winter activity.  Dave Pollard shared his best Christmas gift.  Adam Queen talked about the best gift he has given.  Tim Williams told us if he could spend Christmas anywhere in the world it would be skiing in Switzerland.  Jessica received the ribbon for Best Table Topics.

John Harman served as General Evaluator.  Evaluators were Nancy Hogg (speaker #1), Scarlett Minto (speaker #2), Frank Connelly (speaker #3) and Lois Boyle (speaker #4).  Frank Connelly received the ribbon for Best Evaluator.

There were 28 in total attendance.  The two guests were Sumit Arora and Shane Peng.

Our holiday 'Chinese Gift Exchange' was a ton of fun!!  Alcohol seems to be a popular choice to keep you in the exchange fun.  Lots of laughter and general good cheer kept the party going.   There was a very nice "treats" table as well.

Next meeting:  Thursday January 7, 2010.  (Can you believe it ???  2010 ??)
January 16, 2010  Winter Leadership Training - Richmond, 9 am.  www.district66.org

Sign up for future club roles:
http://ops.freetoasthost.info/members/roster.cgi

Happy Holidays!
Happy New Year!

Nancy Hogg
Club Secretary
Oyster Point Speakers

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Hello Toastmasters Family,

'We are Family' was the guiding theme for the night.  Our toastmasters club does provide an inclusive, friendly atmosphere much like an ideal family.

Adam Queen filled the role of Toastmaster of the Evening and General Evaluator.  Double duty!

Three speakers presented their projects in the prepared speech portion of the meeting.  Wade Miner's speech was from an advanced manual.  His topic: "The Comfort Zone".  Wade discussed why 'that zone' is so comfortable and keeps us stuck where we are.  We need to use the power of our thoughts and shape our self image to get beyond the comfort zone.  Maritsa Alger gave her 'Icebreaker' speech.  Maritsa credits her parents for her success.  Even though their options had been limited, they pushed education as the way to a better life.  As a school principal, she shares her experiences to inspire her students to see beyond the valley of current circumstances.  Stan Dalziel distributed M&M's to all as a prop to his speech #9 - Persuade with Power.  The snake oil salesmen are still out there and the placebo effect is as powerful as ever.  If you think it is going to be bad; it will.  If you think it will be good; it will.  What you think determines the outcome.  Focus on positive thought!  Maritsa received the Best Speech ribbon for the evening.

Danita Fox was the Table Topics Master.  Holiday and family provided the topics.  Nancy Hogg, Lois Boyle and Tim Tonkovic were the speakers.  Lois Boyle received the Best Table Topics ribbon.

Evaluators for the manual speeches included guest Rob Jones, Area 6 Governor.  Rob evaluated speaker #1. Nancy Hogg was evaluator for speaker #2.  Rick Boyer was evaluator for speaker #3.  Rick Boyer took home the Best Evaluator ribbon.

There were nineteen in attendance including seven guests.  The guests were: Robert (Rob) Jones, Area 6 Governor; Phil Pedersen, Matt Phillips, Tim and Tim Alger (Maritsa's husband and son), Magda Brugos and Javier Gonzales.

Remember! December 17th meeting will start at 6:15!  Holiday hours!

For upcoming meetings:
 sign up:  http://ops.freetoasthost.info/members/roster.cgi

Happy holidays!
Nancy Hogg
Club Secretary

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Hello Toastmasters Family,

Theme for the evening: Thanksgiving.  This topic goes

along with the season and showed up in various speeches.

There were 23 in attendance with 5 guests:  (l to r)  Michael Brugos, Phil Pedersen, James Tatum, Randy Gibbs, and Matt Phillips.  Lamar Thomas was a second time visitor.

Toastmasters clubs provide a friendly atmosphere in which to learn the intricacies of public speaking.

John Harman was Toastmaster for the Evening.  Five Speakers.  Danita Fox gave a speech from the Advanced Manual.  The chosen topic was 'Thankfulness.'  Joanne Fletcher gave her 5th speech.  Middle age fun vs. middle age crisis.  Live your life and enjoy it; limitations are self imposed.  Tom Delbridge talked about the Chesapeake Bay for his 7th speech.  The Chesapeake Bay is part of our lives.  The Bay is in trouble and needs our help.  There are clean up projects and other volunteer opportunities to make a difference.  Sandy Peterson continued the environmental theme with her 2nd speech.  Everyone has an environmental impact.  Only 20% of solid waste in the USA is recycled.  570 disposable diapers a minute are discarded, YUCK!!!  The US is running out of landfill sites.  Be sure to use the correct recycle bins (wrong bins = trash).  Everyone needs to do better!!  Zach Miller's speech entitled "Turn Signals" was his 3rd speech.  People need to be aware of the small but simple things that can affect someone else.  There was a tie for Best Speech between Danita Fox and Sandy Peterson.

Christy Gardner was Table Topics Master.  Thanksgiving was the topic in various forms.  Jessica Ledbetter, Lavorise Love, Wade Miner, and Zach Miller participated in the speeches.  Lavorise went home with the Best Table Topics ribbon.

Lois Boyle filled the General Evaluator position.  Adam Queen, Stan Dalziel, Nancy Hogg, Christy Gardner, and Scarlett Minto were the evaluators.  Adam Queen received the Best Evaluator ribbon.

Heads up!!  The December 17 meeting may start at 6:00 or 6:15.  We are discussing moving up the start time as it is our holiday meeting.  This issue will certainly be resolved by the December 3rd meeting.

Danita Fox placed 2nd in the District 66 Evaluation Contest, November 20th. in Richmond.  Congratulations Danita!!

Nancy Hogg
Club Secretary

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hello Toastmasters Family,
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This newsletter starts a new home for the Oyster Point Speakers Club Newsletter.  We may have a few wrinkles to iron out, so bare with us.  We have two meetings' notes to compose/publish and we will then be back on track.
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Having just come off an election Tuesday (Nov. 3rd), the theme for the evening was 'Elections.'

Nancy Hogg was Toastmaster.  There were five speakers.

Scarlett Minto gave her 'Icebreaker" speech - title: "Show and Tell".  Among other things, she collects cat whiskers.  Additionally, Scarlett won the Best Speech ribbon for this meeting!

Adam Queen gave his 6th speech, 'Ten Minutes with a Stranger.'  Live life to the fullest, but not recklessly.

Christy Gardner's experience with Halloween as a child and as a mother formed the premise of her 4th speech.  It was also Christy's 34th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Christy!

Because it is not funded properly, Tom Delbridge compared the social security program to a ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff for his 6th speech.

Rick Boyer gave an Advanced Manual speech - Speaking to Inform, project #3, the demonstration talk.  Rick is definitely "Detective Gadget".  Rick demonstrated many of his electronics, old and replacement/new.  Gadgets have gotten smaller and smaller, yet take larger and larger amounts of our time. Yes, they do!

Table Topics Master was Tim Tonkovic.  John Harman, Zach Miller and Wade Miner participated with the speeches.  Wade went home with the Best Table Topics ribbon.

Lavorise Love was the General Evaluator.  Stan Dalziel, Jessica Ledbetter, Lois Boyle, John Harman, and Wade Miner were the evaluators for the evening.  Jessica Ledbetter garnered the Best Evaluator ribbon.

There were 19 in attendance with two as guests.  Lamar Thomas and Danny Miller (Zach's dad) were the guests.

Nancy Hogg
Club Secretary