October 6, 2011

Attendance (members): President Christy Gardner, Rick Boyer, Stan Dalziel, Allen Foretich, Danita Fox, John Harman, Nancy Hogg, Sabrina Joy-Hogg, Lanette Kelly, Janet Krenn, Nita Langford, Naomi Lewis, Victor Lopez, Robyn Roberts, Jean Smith, Lauren White, June Montgomery, Brett McGee.

Guests: Lester Yearwood, Phillip Sweat

Meeting was called to order by SAA John Harman, after President Christy Gardner welcome members and guests, she introduced Toastmaster of the Evening, Rick Boyer.
As Emcee of the night, Rick's main role was to introduce speakers and keep the flow of the meeting constant and on target.
The meeting was lively with three speakers and six table topics participants.  Speaker one was Allen Foretich delivering his second speech of ten as he shared one of his passions, "law".  Following Allen was veteran member John Harman, who is working on another Competent Communicator level and he spoke about "transitions".  Completing the planned speeches for the night, Lauren White challenged us to enjoy the mundane as she delivered her third speech towards the required ten for Competent Communicator.
Once planned speeches were delivered then club Vice President of Education Nancy Hogg challenged six participants to "speak of the cuff" with Table Topics. Janet Krenn had to share about which habit she'd liked to break; Robyn Roberts-what her dream job would be; Naomi Lewis-what instrument she would like to learn; Jean Smith-where she would travel if she were a time traveler; Sabrina Joy-Hogg-what she would do if she didn't have to deal with fear; and last Brett McGee shared who his hero is and why.
All great topics to think about, but quite a challenge to speak about without prior planning.  All six participants did a fabulous job sharing their thoughts about their respective topics.
Club Treasurer Stan Dalziel was the General Evaluator for the meeting and he and his team (timer, speech evaluator, ah counter, grammarian) gave constructive feedback to help with improvement and growth.  Through constructive feedback and pointed evaluations, speakers, as well as all present, learn the value of "stately pauses", eye contact, body gestures, and appropriate use of grammar to communicate more effectively. 

President Christy Gardner closed the meeting by presenting ribbons to peer voted

Best Table Topics Speaker: Namoi Lewis

Best Evaluator:  Dr. June Montgomery

Best Speaker:  Allen Foretich

Next meeting Thursday Oct. 20, 2011.  Hope to see you all there, respectively submitted, club secretary,
Danita Fox

Special Meeting, 5th Thursday

Attendees: Christy Gardner, Nancy Hogg, Victor Lopez, Nita Langford, Diane Norbutus, Lauren White, June Montgomery, Curtis Lassiter, Magda Brugos, Wade Minor, Allen Foretich, Rick Boyer, Lois Boyle.  
Guest(s): Zach, guest of Lauren White.



The meeting and small group exercise went very well. Area Governor Diane Norbutus who was with us also participated in the small group exercises.
Dr. June Montgomery presented a speech that offered 10 tips for giving Fair and Effective Evaluations. She gave a mini grammar lesson about some common mistakes people make (using prepositions at the end of sentences and using verb tenses incorrectly).
After June's speech, participants divided into groups to practice what they learned through use of Table Topics and Evaluations. Below are the ribbon winners from each group.

Winners:
Best Table Topics Speakers:
Team 1: Lois Boyle;
Team 2: guest, Zach
Team 3: Nancy Hogg

Best Evaluators:
Team 1: Rick Boyer
Team 2: Diane Norbutus
Team 3: Christy Gardner

Submitted by,
Danita Fox, club secretary