Thursday, February 3, 2011

         Hello Toastmasters and Guests!

         It was great to see everyone. We had a great turnout, fantastic guests and great speeches! Magda Brugos was Toastmaster of the Evening. Sandy Peterson was Table Topics Master. Adam Gold was General Evaluator. 4 guests and 17 members were present. Our guests were Sami Ki, Lauren White, Charles McLead, and Joel Reid. Thank you for visiting our club! We hope you had a great experience.

          Tim Tonkovic presented the Professional Tip of the Day. Tim gave us some advice on what  information not to include in a resume and what not to say during a job interview. One of the tips was to always use a spell check so that spelling mistakes such as  "seeking a party-time position" are caught in time. Tim's segment was not only informational, but also very funny.

          We listened to 4 prepared speeches. Curtis Lassiter presented his first speech, the Icebreaker. Curtis was evaluated by Nancy Hogg. We learnt about his background and his reasons for being in Toastmasters. Curtis has an impressive athletic background - his track team once represented the USA in Chile.

          John Harman was evaluated by Danita Fox. John spoke about his adventures of looking for new employment. He decided to actively pursue it as opposed to just staying home and filling applications online. John attended numerous networking events, joined professional groups and read books on how to improve resume-writing skills. This strategy worked great for John as he is now successfully employed.

          Juan Martinez was evaluated by Victor Lopez. Juan spoke about how to prepare for an emergency such as a hurricane. Remember to have water, batteries, battery-operated radio, candles, nonperishable food. In Juan's experience, best quality time he ever spent with his family was during hurricanes. He also once learnt how to play the guitar during a hurricane.

          Christy Gardner was evaluated by Bonnie Parker. Christy's topic was "Conversing with Ease". Christy gave a great speech on how to improve one's conversation skills. She spoke about 4 progressive levels of conversation: small talk, fact disclosure, personal opinion, personal feelings. She gave us some conversation advice: stay abreast of current affairs, ask open-ended question, always ask the other person about themselves and listen attentively.
         Table Topics participants included Charles McLead, Michael Brugos, Stan Dalziel, Curtis Lassiter, and Wade Miner. John Harman gave a rundown of upcoming contests and contest rules. The meeting was wrapped by with a few words from Area Governor, Danita Fox, about officer training.

Ribbon Winners: 

Best Evaluator: Victor Lopez

Best Table Topics: CharlesMcLead, Guest

Best Speaker: Christy Gardner

Congratulations!

Next meeting: Table Topics and International Speech contests

P.S. Word of the day was "Eclat" (noun): brilliance of success, reputation; showy or elaborate display; acclaim. E.g. "I am hoping for an eclat from every one of our speakers tonight."

Thank you,
Magda Brugos
OPS Club Secretary