The Three R's of Delegation: Realism, Responsibility, Results

We had as many guests as Toastmasters at our 5th Thursday special event: The Three R's of Delegation: Realism, Responsibility, Results.

Toastmaster Janet Krenn led the workshop, aimed to help everyone improve their delegation skills and team success. We learned about the importance of communication and letting go in delegation.

Here are some of the key take aways from last night:

• To delegate effectively, you need to transfer (1) a clearly explained task, (2) the responsibility for the task, and (3) the authority to use resources available and make decisions necessary to complete it.

• Don't just delegate any task. Be thoughtful about whether something is worth delegating. If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, a task may be ripe for delegation:
• Will the task help develop skills or utilize strengths in a team member?
• Does another team member have the time to complete this task?
• Is getting a result more important to me than having the process done my way?
• Is this task on-going and routine so that I'll only have to explain the task once, but then I could rely on that team member to handle it every time?

• Asking team members, "Do you understand?" isn't enough to ensure they really do understand the task they've been assigned. Instead, try to ask questions that require more than a yes/no answer to get your team member to demonstrate to you that they really do understand the task.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to help make this 5th Thursday special event a success!

Speeches Only

Four members took us up on the All Speeches Day at our last Oyster Point Speakers meeting.

Christy Gardener acted as Toastmaster and gave the first speech of the evening, practicing a presentation she's planning to give at work about a new process for requesting and receiving funds.

Regina Gilliam completed her 4th speech with Oyster Point Speakers, and shared advice for how to take care of yourself when you're a care-giver for someone else.

Sumit Arora checked off speech number 9 last night--one more to go until he completes his Competent Communicator!!

Janet Krenn closed the meeting leading a discussion on how our club might do a better job of reaching out to the twenty-something crowd.

And the meeting would not have been so well managed, had it not been for Naomi Lewis who was our fantastic timer.

Thanks to everyone that made it out!

Announcement

• May 30 is a 5th Thursday Special Event, and we're having a Delegation Skills Workshop "The Three 'Rs' of Delegation: Responsibility, Realism, Results." The workshop is free and open to all. Bring a guest, and meet us at El Tapatio in Newport News at 6:45pm.

A Great Evening to be an Oyster Point Speaker!

We have so many great meetings at Oyster Point Speakers, and this one was no exception! From speeches that educated and entertained to Table Topics that had people in the audience whispering "Wow! That was good!", on Thursday April 18, Oyster Point Speakers brought their A-game to a fantastic meeting.

Philip Sweat was our Toastmaster of the Evening.

Christy Gardener presented on the "Toastmasters Promise," completing her last project to obtain Advanced Leadership Bronze and get our club one goal closer to be a President's Distinguished Club in 2013.

Daniel Dillon gave his second speech in the Competent Communicator Manual, and told us about how to post smart to protect our online reputation.

Lily Carson, new member,  gave her Ice Breaker entitled, "Where Are You From?," a fabulously told collection of stories about her life and background that had the audience smiling and laughing throughout.

Arnelia Hancock got us a little nostalgic with her Table Topics, where we pulled different toys out of a bag and told the audience why the object makes us happy.

Regina Gilliam critiqued our meeting as the General Evaluator, reminding us all to keep working on finalizing our agendas before the meetings so we can start on time and help our meeting leaders better manage the meetings.

Ribbon Winners

• BEST TABLE TOPICS - Naomi Lewis
• BEST EVALUATOR - Janet Krenn
• BEST SPEAKER - Lily Carson

Announcements

• We're looking for new club officers for the 2013-2014 term beginning in July. Email president-2220@toastmastersclubs.org if interested.
• Spring Conference is only three weeks away on May 10 in Virginia Beach. Check out the District Website for more information: http://distrcit66.org

Lily Carson receives the Best Speaker Ribbon from Toastmaster of the Evening Phillip Sweat.

Oyster Point Speakers Club # 2220 - Meeting was called to order by SAA Phillip Sweat. 

Toast Master of the Evening: Wade Miner
General Evaluator: Magda Brugos
Table Topics Master: Phillip Sweat

 Speakers:
Janet Krenn
Zach Fauver

The evenings speeches were informative, practical and enjoyable. Janet Krenn lead a discussion on the use of video camera and microphone to record speeches  There are two significant advantages to having the speeches recorded. First, it is a good promotional element to have speeches on YouTube. Potential members can view speeches to gain a better understanding of Oyster Point Speakers activities. Also it will give speakers the opportunity to go back and review their speeches and better understand the areas they do well in, and the areas they need improvement on.  Concerns among the group centered around privacy. Many members are not comfortable having their speeches publicly available on YouTube. This concern was resolved by having the option for private viewing, and gaining specific permission from the speaker before airing it on YouTube.

Zach Fauver gave a speech on working by referral in business. He used specific examples from his job as a residential real estate agent. 

Ribbon Winners

Best Speaker: Janet Krenn

Best Evaluator: Christy Gardner

***Dues were also due, and should be paid to remain in good standing.

Fab Five and Fond Farwell

March 21, 2013 - El Tapitio Restaurant

Oyster Point Speakers Club # 2220 - Meeting was called to order by SAA Phillip Sweat.

Toast Master of the Evening: Zach Fauver
General Evaluator: Phillip Sweat
Table Topics Master: Teddy Clancy

Evenings Five Fabulous Speakers:
Sumit Arora
Magda Brugos
Danita Fox
Janet Krenn
Rick Boyer

The evenings speeches were all inspirational, some sprinkled with humor, and some took us back in time to an earlier OPS club...and each speech without question gave us time to reflect on the present and future of not only our personal lives, but that of the OPS club.

The last speaker of the evening Rick Boyer gave his farewell speech to the OPS members present, and the guests in attendance. It was a warm, personal and wonderfully inspiring journey down memory lane with Rick on his past and present time with OPS as well as the different roles he held and the importance of the future of the club. It was no surprise that he also took home the speaker of the evening!

Rick's departure is bitter sweet, he has been a blessing, mentor and back bone to the OPS club in so many ways, and he will be missed dearly. We wish Rick and his family all the best and congratulate him in this new journey.

Ribbon Winners

Best Speaker: Rick Boyer

Best Evaluator: Naomi Lewis

Best Table Topics: Magda Brugos

 

***Important item: Talk up Toastmasters campaign on Facebook ends March Sunday March 31st: Don't forget to participate to have a chance to win fabulous prizes.

 

***Dues were also due, and should be paid to remain in good standing.

 

 









 

 

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.

 

What a Great Evaluation Workshop!

Last night, Danita Fox led a 5th Thursday Special Event on Evaluations, and what a great workshop it was!

We started with a fun activity in which we broke up into teams of three. One person had to describe an image, the artist had to draw what described, and the third person observed how well the team spoke, listened, and acted. It was a perfect analogy for the public speaking in which the speaker talks and the audience listens, interprets, and acts. The observer was like our Toastmasters evaluators, trying to pick out how and why the communication worked or didn't.

Danita pointed out that evaluations are most effective when we compare someone's performance to a standard or model. For example, at toastmasters, the standard is to communicate effectively and meet the objectives in our manuals. An evaluator should compare the speaker's performance to how well they've met these objectives. If you're evaluating an employee, you would compare their performance to their job description and work plan. Those are the models that describe how the individual should perform. The evaluator tries to help the individual learn how well they meet these objectives and suggestions for how they can improve to better meet their objectives next time.

Danita suggested we think about evaluations in this outline:

1. Introduction
2. Praise, things the individual generally did well
3. Specific comments about the individual's objectives
4. Points for improvement
5. Acknowledge the speakers potential and encourage their continued effort

We had the opportunity to try out her suggestions during Lauren White's speech Abraham Lincoln. In the end, Danita reminded us that evaluations are meant to help our speakers, employees, and others improve and grow. She suggested these:

Eight Behaviors of Effective Evaluators

• Know the objectives to which you're comparing the individual's performance
• Listen and observe
• Personalize your language (Use "I" as you describe your opinions.)
• Acknowledge and praise actions that met objectives
• Give suggestions for improvement of actions that did not match up
• Evaluate performance of speeches, not their content 
• Inspire the the individual to continue their effort by stating their potential
• Stay on task; remember, evaluations are about your speaker or employee... not about you!

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this Evaluations Workshop a complete success!

End of Meeting Announcements

• We have new evaluation tools.
Whether you're a scheduled evaluator or just want to practice, please remember we have evaluation forms you can use, and help us remind others that these are available. 

• Christy is working on the agenda for the next 3 months. 
Those who were able to make it out last night saw a preview, but keep in mind, this is not yet final. She'll email the group with the final document when it's ready. 

• Holiday bash and gift for Jade. 
The holiday bash will be Dec. 20 at Angelo's and will focus around a white elephant gift exchange game. If you can make it, bring a gender-neutral gift (approx. $10) wrapped, and be prepared for fun! We will also be giving Jade (our server) a gift card and card. If you would like to contribute, and haven't emailed me already, please do so by Monday Dec 17. I will not be at the Dec 6 meeting. Please bring your contribution to the Dec. 20 meeting.

• It's Holiday rush at Angelo's, and we get moved around. 
During the busy times at Angelo's there's a chance that we will get booted from the private room and moved into the main dining area. If you don't see us in the back, check the main dining area. 

• Follow Oyster Point Speakers on Facebook! 
One of our guests last night came to our meeting because she learned about it on Facebook. If you're on Facebook, follow us to get event updates, find interesting articles about professional development, and more! We're at https://www.facebook.com/OPStoastmasters

Meeting Summary (October 18, 2012)

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, led by SAA Phillip Sweat, Danita Fox, Toastmaster of the evening, shared a recent experience she had. She attended a meeting where the featured presenter was a Toastmaster. Although that Toastmaster was not experienced in the exact topic of the meeting, he was able to relate themes to stories for an effective speech. For Danita, it just showed how Toastmasters really does develop the professional speaking and leadership skills we set out to get with our membership.

Christy Gardner was the first, and only, speaker this evening. During her speech, Christy shed some light on the many roles that our Oyster Point Speakers Toastmasters Club has at each meeting. Going through each role (Ah Counter, Grammarian, Toastmaster, etc.) Christy explained not only what each role does but also the skills we develop by taking on those roles.

With only one speech for the evening, we had an extended Table Topics brought to us by TopicsMaster Phillip Sweat, who had us thinking about fall and Halloween with his seasonally-themed questions.

Rick Boyer evaluated Christy's speech, and following the rest of the evaluation team's reports, Magda Brugos gave her General Evaluator's report.

One thing Magda noted was that she really liked the extended Table Topics, which required everyone who didn't have a major speaking role to become an active participant. Danita Fox announced guests and ribbon winners.

 Following the meeting, President Janet Krenn introduced Area Governor Frank Gillerlain who reminded members that our District Conference is coming up on Friday-Saturday November 2-3 in Richmond. For more information, go to www.district66.org 

Janet then concluded with the following announcements:

• Mark your calendars! We have special events occurring at Oyster Point Speakers on the following dates: Nov 15, Nov 29, Dec 20, Jan 31. Check the Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oyster-Point-Speakers-Toastmasters-Club/149972398355228 
• Assigning Meeting Roles. Oyster Point Speakers is trying a new method for assigning meeting roles. We will be assigning members roles for 3-months in advance. Those assignments will be in a table that we will distribute to all members via the list-serv. It is each member's responsibility to find their replacement if they cannot attend, and the changes will be made by each individual to the online agenda on our website: http://ops.toastmastersclubs.org/ 
• Role cards available in the Oyster Point Speakers Box. To help new members understand their meeting roles, we have printed table tents that names the role and responsibilities. Each member with a role during our meetings should take their role card out and display it on the table in front of them at each meeting. 
• Get a receipt. Any time a member pays dues or a new member joins Oyster Point Speakers, make sure you get a receipt, regardless of whether or not you want one. This is our best way for keeping club records, and important to help us stay organized.

 Ribbon winners: 

Best Speaker: Christy Gardner 

Best Evaluator: Rick Boyer 

Best Table Topics--a tie!: Zach Fauver & Katherine Crawley 

 Guests in attendance: 

 Ruth Giles, Lindsey Santa Maria, Vonda Combs, Frank Gillerlian (Area Governor). 

 Members in attendance:

 Magda Brugos, Phillip Sweat, Danita Fox, Rick Boyer, Christy Gardner, Arnelia Hancock, Sumit Arora, Zach Fauver, Wade Miner, Katherine Crawley, Steve Franco.

Newsletter

October 6, 2012

October 6, 2012

Members present: Regina Gilliam, Rick Boyer, Christy Gardner, Zach Fauver, Lauren White, Phillip Sweat, Magda Brugos, Jean Smith, Janet Krenn, Arnelia Hancock, Charlene Salter-Gilbert 

Guests: Lily Carson, Steve Franco, Sumit Aecou, Asheuosh Leiyes

Meeting was called to order by Phillip Sweat SAA; after the pledge, Janet Krenn the president came to the lectern to welcome members and guests. Afterwards, the lectern was turned over to Toastmaster of the Evening, Magda Brugos. The Toastmaster of the Evening introduced the General Evaluator Lauren White to the lectern so that she could introduce the evaluation team and have each member fulfilling that role explain what they will be doing during the meeting. Upon completion of the role explanations, Magda then introduced the speakers for the evening.

Regina Gilliam was the first speaker. Followed by Regina was Zach Fauver.

Barbara Basabilbaso was the Table Topics Master for the evening. Topic of the evening:  “Telling a tale” providing each speaker with the beginning or ending of a tale and the speaker was to “fill in the gap” All participants did a phenomenal job!

General Evaluator Lauren White led the evaluation team to give speech evaluations and reports. The meeting was brought to a close after brief announcements and ribbon awards. Next meeting is October 18th.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topics: Jean Smith

Best Evaluator: Janet Krenn

Best Speaker: Regina Gilliam

 

July 19, 2012

Members present: Rick Boyer, Danita Fox, Christy Gardner, John Harman, Tim Herrity, Nita Langford, Victor Lopez, Wade Miner, Stacey Felipe, Daniel Finch, Regina Gilliam, Charlene Salter-Gilbert, Tim Tonkovic


Meeting was called to order by SAA; after the pledge,  the president came to the lectern to welcome members and guests.  Stacey Felipe, Daniel Finch, Regina Gilliam, and Charlene Salter-Gilber were inducted as new members. Afterwards, the lectern was turned over to Toastmaster of the Evening, Wade Miner.  The Toastmaster of the Evening introduced the General Evaluator Victor Lopez to the lectern so that he could introduce the evaluation team and have each member fulfilling that role explain what they will be doing during the meeting.  Upon completion of the role explanations, Wade then introduced the three speakers for the evening.

Danita Fox was the first speaker. She spoke about rethinking how we think about first impressions.  Following Danita's speech was Tim Herrity.  Tim spoke about how reality TV is not good for the young viewers. The third and final speaker was Daniel Finch. Daniel completed the Ice Breaker, the first speech in the Competent Communication manual.

Tim Tonkovic was the Table Topics Master for the meeting. Tim used technology by generating questions on his IPad for the audience. There were four participants: Christy Gardner, John Harmon, Stacey Felipe, and Rick Boyer.

General Evaluator Victor Lopez led the evaluation team to give speech evaluations and reports. 
The meeting was brought to a close after brief announcements and ribbon awards.  Next meeting is August 2nd.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topics:  Rick Boyer

Best Evaluator:  Christy Gardner

Best Speaker:  Daniel Finch

Respectfully submitted,

Katherine Crawley, club secretary

May 31, 2012

Special 5th Thursday meeting!

Members present: Tim Herrity, Curtis Lassiter, Lauren White, Rick Boyer, Janet Krenn, Phillip Sweat, Christy Gardner, Magda Brugos, Nancy Hogg, John Harman, Katherine Crawley, Danita Fox

SAA John Harman opened meeting and turned control to President Christy Gardner.  She explained what this 5th Thursday meeting is about; opportunity for club members to deliver speeches to get one more speech closer to completing either Competent Communicator or Advance level manuals. Tonight there will only be speakers and evaluators! 
As Toastmaster of the Evening, Janet Krenn then had the pleasure of introducing speakers and evaluators.  First speaker for the evening, Christy Gardner, spoke from an advance manual with her topic of "coaching problem employees".  Lauren White and Curtis Lassiter both delivered speeches that were to persuade audience to some kind of action.  Lauren motivated audience to read more and to encourage children to read more.  Curtis challenged audience to choose between stocks or bonds when making financial investments.
Evaluators for the evening were John Harman, Nancy Hogg and Magda Brugos.

The meeting was concluded with Christy awarding best speaker of the evening ribbon to Lauren White and best evaluator to Magda Brugos.

Respectfully submitted

Danita Fox, club secretary

May 17, 2012

Members present:  Barbara Basabilbasco, Magda Brugos, Charisse Carter, Danita Fox, John Harman, Charlene Gilbert, Nancy Hogg, Nita Langford, Naomi Lewis, Wade Miner, Tim Tonkovic, Lauren White, Phillip Sweat, Lester Yearwood, Kathrine Crawley

Guests: Amanda Bekolay, Ciara Lewis, Brittany Pokorny, Samuel Gilbert

John Harman, Sargent-at-Arms, opened the meeting and introduced Nancy Hogg who was standing in for absent club president Christy Gardner.  Nancy announced officer elections coming up in June.  She then introduced Tim Tonkovic as Toastmaster of the evening.  After a brief welcome, Tim introduced the meeting's three speakers: Barbara Basabilbasco, Charlene Gilbert and Lauren White.  Both Barbara and Charlene delivered their ice-breaker speeches, project number one from the Competent Communicator manual.  Lauren White's speech was project number 8 towards the 10 required to complete the Competent Communicator maual, and her speech was on how to use visual aids effectively.
Katherine Crawley, as Table Topics Masters, challenged six people to speak for 1-2 minutes "off the cuff".  She brought each person up, stated a quote and then asked a specific question relating to the quote for that person to speak about.  Participants were: Magda Brugos, Danita Fox, Charlene Gilbert, Charisse Carter, Ciara Lewis and John Harman.
Wade Miner, General Evaluator, introduced speech evaluators and meeting improvment roles.  Evaluators: Danita Fox, Nancy Hogg and John Harman, offered feedback and comments to each speaker of things done well and parts of improvement.
Nancy, standing in for Christy, closed the meeting with ribbon winners.

Ribbon Winners

Best Table Topics:  Danita Fox

Best Evaluator: Danita Fox

Best Speaker: Charlene Gilbert

Respectfully submitted,
Danita Fox, club secretary

May 3, 2012

Members present:  Barbara Basabilbasco, Rick Boyer, Magda Brugos, Frank Connelly, Zach Fauver, Danita Fox, Christy Gardner, John Harman, Charlene Gilbert, Janet Krenn, Nita Langford, Curtis Lassiter, Naomi Lewis, Wade Miner, Lauren White, Phillip Sweat, Lester Yearwood

Guests: (none)

Sargent-at-Arms John Harman opened the meeting and then introduced President Christy Gardner.  Christy welcomed members and delivered announcement about upcoming 2012-2013 officer elections.  Christy then introduced Toastmaster of the Evening, John Harman.
Four members delivered speeches; Christy Gardner, Lauren White, Naomi Lewis and Curtis Lassiter.   Christy's speech was an advanced manual project where she spoke about diffusing crictism. Second speaker, Lauren, spoke from the Competent Communicator "research your topic" project about John Merryman.  Naomi Lewis was the third speaker of the evening, speaking from Competent Communicator manual, she delivered an inspiring speech about cancer survivors.  Rounding out the speakers for the night was Curtis Lassiter delivering the first of a four part speech series on investing.
Table Topics Master, Danita Fox, followed the speakers by challenging other members present to speak "off the cuff" for one-to-two minutes. Danita put general "table topics" on each table, such as "food, polictics and employment".  One person from each table had to select a topic then Danita had specific questions or statments prepared about each that the person was to speak about.  Participants were: Rick Boyer, Lester Yearwood, Zach Fauver and Janet Krenn.
After Table Topics, General Evaluator for the evening, Magda Brugos, took control of the meeting for speech evaluations and meeting improvement.  Speech evaluators gave feedback for improvement to each speaker. Evaluators: Frank Connelly, Wade Miner, Rick Boyer and Nita Langford.
President Christy Gardner brought the meeting to a close with announcements and ribbon winners. Announcements: club currently has 7 of the 10 points required to make President Select status and need 2 members to complete their Competent Communicator and 1 person to complete Advance Communicator. 

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topics: Janet Krenn

Best Evaluator: Rick Boyer

Best Speaker: Naomi Lewis

Respectfully submitted,

Danita Fox, club secrectary

April 19, 2012

Meeting Minutes:

Members present: Barbara Basabilbaso, Rick Boyer, Magda Brugos, Charisse Carter, Zach Fauver, Danita Fox, Christy Gardner, John Harman, Tim Herrity, Curtis Lassiter, Victor Lopez, Tim Tonkovic, Lauren White, Phillip Sweat, Lester Yearwood, Katherine Crawely, Charlene Gilbert

Guests: Samuel Gilbert, Regina Gilliam

Promptly starting the meeting  at 6:45pm, SAA John Harman introduced Club President Christy Gardner to welcome members and guests, then she introduced Toastmaster of the Evening, Danita Fox.  Danita guided members and guests through the agenda, making changes and updates as well as explaining to guests what some of the TM jargon meant.  General Evaluator Rick Boyer continued with explanations with the introduction of the Evaluation Team; grammarian, Ah counter, speech evaluators, listen-up master and timer.

Four club members delivered speeches: Lauren White, Charisse Carter, Zach Fauver and Magda Brugos.  Lauren's speech titled "Customer Service for Toastmasters" was number 6 towards the ten required for Competent Communicator.  Second was new member Charisse giving her ice breaker speech titled; "Faith Family and Friends". Following Charisse, club member Zach Fauver took advantage of the forum to deliver a speech presentation that he'll be giving professionally on Monday. His speech was titled; "Virtual Simulation Technology".  Last but not least, Magda delivered a persuasive speech from an advance manual and she challenge the members to be officers.

Following the speeches Table Topics Master Tim Tonkovic, challenged everyone with topics to speak "off the cuff" for 1-2 minutes.  Participants were: Katherine Crawley, Curtis Lassiter, Christy Gardner, and Phillip Sweat.

General Evaluator Rick Boyer lead the next part of the meeting, feedback for growth and improvement.  Speech evaluators offered constructive comments to enhance speakers methods and style when delivering speeches and the ah counter and grammarian gave comments about use of fillers and grammar.  Evaluators: Victor Lopez, John Harman, Christy Gardner and Katherine Crawley.
Rick summarized the meeting with comments of actions that were good and ones that need to continue to be developed.

President Christy Gardner brought meeting to a close with announcements and ribbon awards.  Announcements included the status of club towards President's Distinguished and needing two CC's and 2 AC's. 

Ribbon Winners

Best Table Topics:  Katherine Crawley

Best Evaluator:  Christy Gardner

Best Speaker:  Lauren White

Respectively submitted,

Danita Fox, Club Secretary