February 21, 2013 International Speech and Table Topics Contest

OPS Toastmasters Club - First Contest of the Year

Our first contest of the year was held at El Tapatio, the meeting was called to order order by SAA Phillip Sweat.

OPS President and Contest Master -Janet Krenn warmly welcomed guests and members giving a brief explanation of the evenings agenda and introduced the Chief Judge for the evening Naomi Lewis.

Official Timer: Teddy Clancy
Ballot Counter: Rick Boyer
Jugdes: Phillip Sweat, Frank Gillerlan, Barbara Basabilbaso

Our meeting quickly got under way starting with the Table Topics speeches.

Table Topics Contestants: Magda Brugos and Zach Fauver  

Table Topics Subject: If you opened a fortune cookie that read: “You probably won’t live long enough to complete them all” how would you find the silver lining in this otherwise seemingly dark cloud of a fortune?
The votes were cast, ballots quickly tabulated and our second portion of the meeting International Speech began.

International Speech Contestants: Sumit Aurora and Jean Smith

Sumit Aurora speech title: The happy realization through a tough route. 
Jean Smith speech title: Just do it, aspiring to your dreams.

Contest Winners:

Table Topics: Zach Fauver

International Speech: Sumit Aurora

 

 

Announcements:

After a quick show of hands it was voted that our new venue for OPS meetings beginning March 2013 will be El Tapatio.

 

The winners of this club contest will be competing in the Area 43 Contest to be held March 14th 2013 @ 6:45 pm - Yorktown Library, 8500 George Washington Memorial Hwy. Come out and encourage our contestant winners to another victory!!!

 

Our fist trial meeting at El Tapatio, Mexican Restaurant

Oyster Point Speaker’s Club Minutes
Thursday, February 7, 2013


Phillip Sweat, Sergeant at Arms, called the meeting to order at 6:48pm.
Tim Tonkovic was our Toastmaster of the Evening and he welcomed the group to El Tapatio—a new potential venue for our meetings. The room was festive and our spirits were high as we began another successful Toastmaster’s meeting. Regina Gilliam, General Evaluator, introduced her team and they explained their roles which serve the purpose of putting structure around the meeting.

Tonight’s speeches were about life experiences.
Sumit Arora gave his 5th Competent Communicator speech about his brief experience as a tarot card reader which began in the Winter of 2005 when he received a set of tarot cards from a friend. While he was learning the art of tarot card reading, Sumit was challenged to look at life more closely for the “little things” that people aren’t often aware of.

Daniel Dillon, one of our newest members, gave his Icebreaker speech about the life journey that lead him to Newport News where he works in children’s ministry at Bethel Baptist Church. Daniel is on the road to becoming a confident leader and he’s excited that Toastmaster’s will play a role in his development. We look forward to supporting him!

An entertaining round of Table Topics was then lead by Tim Tonkovic with the help of his trusty Table Topics App.

Ribbon Winners
Best Table Topics Speaker: Rick Boyer
Best Evaluator: Christy Gardener
Best Speaker: Daniel Dillon (pictured)

Guests: Kylee and Sameer
Return visitors: Marilyn and Donna

Concluding Announcements
Acting President Christy Gardner
• Leadership Training is this Saturday the 9th from 8:30am-12:30pm at the ODU Workforce Development Center
• Our Area Contest will be at Angelo’s Steak and Pancake House at 6:45pm on March 14th
VP Public Relations Zach Fauver
• “Talk Up Toastmaster’s” Membership Drive is kicking off this month
o Spread the word to your family, friends, co-workers, and church members
o There are two exciting prizes available for those who engage their Facebook network in this Membership Drive

5th Thursday Special Event: Networking Workshop

Last night, Toastmaster Lauren White led us in a fantastic special event: a networking workshop!

The workshop featured presentations on constructing elevator pitches (Sumit Aurora), building your network (Rick Boyer), and tips for how your everyday Facebook activity can be used to create your personal brand (Zach Fauver).

By the end of the meeting, guests and members had a toolkit of ideas as well as a first draft of their own personal elevator pitch they can use when introducing themselves to new contacts.

Unlike our regular meetings, 5th Thursday Special Events are meant to provide additional professional development opportunities to members, and yesterday's event did not disappoint!

Important Announcements

• LOCATION CHANGE - Next week (February 7) we'll be meeting at El Tapatio (615 Thimble Shoals Blvd, Newport News, VA 23606). As always, we'll be starting our meeting at 6:45p.m. 
• ADVANCED TRAINING - Officers' Training will be on February 9 (Saturday) at the ODU Peninsula Workforce Development Center. Training covers important leadership skills, such as delegation and organization, and is open to any Toastmasters Member. You can find directions to the Workforce Development Center here:http://www.napmseva.org/directions_odu_hampton.htm
• CLUB CONTESTS - On February 21, our 3rd Thursday meeting, we'll be having our club speech and table topics contests. Guests are welcome, and location is TBD.
• NEW MEMBER FEE STARTS IN APRIL - Oyster Point Speakers voted to start including a one-time new member fee to cover the costs of giving all new members official name badges. We won't start collecting this $8 fee until April. So if you or your friend was thinking about joining Oyster Point Speakers, join between February and March to avoid this fee.

January 20, 2013

The January 17th meeting was called to order by SAA Phillip Sweat.

Toastmaster of the Day; Lauren White shared with guests the "mission" of Toastmasters and introduced Wade Minor DTM, General Evaluator of the meeting.

Wade introduced his evaluation team and they explained their roles for the meeting and Wade then returned control of the meeting back to Lauren White.

The evenings speeches were very educational, enlightening and inspiring! 
 
The Speakers for the evening: Rick Boyer - "Salary Negotiations", Arnelia Hancock - "Confronting Adversity", Danita Fox -  "Event Management" and Sumit Arora  -  "However fast you drive you still have to stop at the red light".
 
Ribbon Winners
Best Speaker: Sumit Arora
Best Evaluator: Janet Krenn
Table Topics: Barbara Basabilbaso
 
After the ribbons were handed out Lauren invited guests to introduce themselves and share what prompted them to visit Oyster Point Toastmasters, then turned the floor over to the Oyster Point club President; Janet Krenn.
 
Janet shared announcements and made closing comments.

Important Announcements

• Oyster Point Speakers is moving! Club members will be voting on which of two locations we will move to beginning in February. Stay tuned for more information.
• Possible dues increase for new members! Club members will also be voting on instituting a one-time new member fee to cover the costs of new members for the club. If approved, this will not take place until March. If you've been thinking of joining Oyster Point Speakers or you have a friend who's talked about it before, new members that join in February will not be subject to this one-time fee.

• Networking Workshop January 31st. Join us for our next 5th Thursday special event, a networking workshop. We'll be writing and practicing elevator pitches, learning to organize our network, and getting tips for using Facebook for networking success. The event is free to members, guests, visitors, and everyone in between. Meet at Angelo's at 6:45p.

 

• Advanced Training for Members on February 9th. If you missed January's Winter Leadership Institute, consider attending the second (and final) installment on Saturday February 9 at the ODU Peninsula Workforce Development Center on 600 Butler Farm Road in Hampton.

New Year, new goals and the steps to Stay on Track!

Oyster Point Toastmasters January 3, 2013

We had a full house to include several guests, if you missed the meeting, we certainly missed you. You missed out on some great speeches!

Toast Master of the Day: Phillip Sweat

General Evaluator: Lauren White
Speech Evaluators: Charlene Gilbert Salter, Christy Gardner, Zach Fauver, Rick Boyer

Timer and Photographer: Janet Krenn

Ah Counter/Word Master & Ballot Counter: Arnelia Hancock

Grammarian Listen up Master: Wade Minor

Table Topics Master: Naomi Lewis

 

Speakers:

Barbara Basabilbaso - 3rd Speech, Competent Communicator "Get to the Point" 

Regina Gilliam - 3rd Speech, Competent Communicator "Get to the Point"  

Curtis Lassiter - 3rd Speech,  Storytelling

Sumit Arora - 2nd Speech, Competent Communicator "Organize your Speech"

There was a common theme from two speeches this evening. First was Barbara, acknowledging setbacks when working towards a goal. Taking it across the finish line was Regina with the steps necessary to follow through and use them to stay on track and maintain that ON list!

Next it was story time! The very entertaining and personal story of "The day his head, his ego and his blessings all exploded", when Curtis met his wife.

Sumit Arora graciously shared and educated us with "Out of the box solutions for successful job procurement" right timing achieves the right results!

 

All of our speakers did a great job this evening, it amazes me how much can be learned from each speaker, but more importantly watching them grow in their journey to become better speakers!

 

Ribbon Winners:

 

Best Table Topics: Crystal (Curtis Lassiters sister and guest)

Best Evaluator: Christy Gardner

Best Speaker: Regina Gilliam

 

Important Announcements:

Everyone Invited to Advanced Training

To be a President's Distinguished Club, we need two more members to attend advanced training this winter. Join us on Saturday, January 12 in Virginia Beach between 8:30a to 12p. It's free! Contact our club President for more information:

president-2220@toastmastersclubs.org

Next meeting January 17th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

 

                

 

                 

Table Topics with a Holiday Twist

December 20, 2012.

We had a phenomenal turn out for our last meeting of 2012. Sumit Arora served as both the Toastmaster of the Evening and Table Topics Master, thank you Sumit you did a great job!

Folks...the gloves came off as the "gift exchange" White Elephant (or more appropriately named Dirty Santa) was kicked off.

Each member picked a number from a box (determined by the number of members attending) Christy Gardner started the ball rolling by choosing the first gift and telling a tall tale about the gift she had just chosen..who would have suspected Christy's cat was a Starbucks coffee fan?

Tale after tale followed each gift opened and each tale was taller than the next. One gift after another became fair game for the next member to "steel"...and steel they did. From the gourmet chocolate and Starbucks gift cards to the giant can of Virginia peanuts to a harmonica. It was a sight to behold and an evening full of fun and laughter!

As all good things must come to end, so did our last meeting of the year.We are looking forward to a fantastic 2013 for Oyster Point Toastmasters!

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday and Best Wishes for a safe and prosperous New Year!

Warmest Regards!
Barbara Basabilbaso

Put on your own shoes!

Phillip Sweat SAA called our December 6, 2012 meeting to order. After the pledge, Charlene Salter Gilbert the Toastmaster of the evening welcomed members and guests. Charlene touched on December 6th being Saint Nicholas’s Day and the significance of this date. We learned from Charlene that December 6th was also considered “Put on your own shoes day” which Charlene introduced as the theme of the evening, since we all have to be in and stand in our shoes when speaking to a room full of people, Charlene felt it was a great theme for this meeting, great idea Charlene!

 

Afterwards, the floor was turned over to Christy Gardner, VP of Education and General Evaluator for the evening. Christy introduced the evaluation team and had each member fulfilling that role explain what he or she will be doing during the meeting. Upon completion of the role explanations, Christy then introduced the speakers for the evening.

Zach Fauver was the first speaker, presenting his 4th project from the Competent Communicators manual “How to Say it”. Following Zach was Arnelia Hancock and Stephen Franco both presenting their 1st project from the Competent Communicator manual the always exciting “Ice Breaker” speech.

Pulling triple duty as the Table Topics Master, General Evaluator and Ballot counter for the evening (great job Christy) Christy introduced the Table Topic of the evening, Holiday theme and started it off with the 'Elf on the Shelf" question.

General Evaluator Christy Gardner led the evaluation team to give speech evaluations and reports. The meeting was brought to a close after brief announcements and ribbon awards.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topics: Barbara Basabilbaso

Best Evaluator:Its a tie...Phillip Sweat and Rick Boyer

Best Speaker: Stephen Franco

Important Announcements: 
• Gift for Jade: If anyone still wants to contribute to the gift for Jade, please let Janet know by next week. She'll be purchasing the gift card on Monday Dec. 18.
• Holiday party: Remember to bring your $10 white elephant present, wrapped and ready to exchange on December 20.
• Early next year, we'll be hosting our club level International Speech and Table Topics Competitions. Start preparing early! See Christy for more details.
• If you'd like to present at the 2013 International Conference next summer, you have to apply on the Toastmasters website by January 14. The website to apply is www.toastmasters.org/CallForPresenters

 

Next scheduled meeting; December 20, 2012.