Taking care of business

The monthly Club Business Meeting was held on September 29th. Club Officers each gave their reports. We reviewed the proposed Club Budget and approved it with one change. The next Executive Committee Meeting will be on October 13th with the Club Business Meeting scheduled for October 20th.

Brenda Daniels

Area 61 Contest Information

Our area contest is Friday, October 9th.  Please mark your calendars and plan on supporting our club contestants. Tammy Bailey and Will Higgins will compete in Speech Evaluation, while Tammy and Jodie Sanders will compete in Humorous Speech.

The contest will be in the Lone Star Room, just down the hall from our normal meeting room, in the Tarrant County Plaza, 200 Taylor St, downtown Fort Worth, beginning at 7:00 pm. The mandatory briefing for contestants, judges and helpers begins at 6:30 pm.

Refreshments will be provided. The sponsoring clubs are the Afterburners, Energizers, Longhorn and Star-Telegram Toastmasters Clubs.

The name of our building

Be aware that our building is now named "Tarrant County Plaza" and is referred to as such on the county's website and all the signage around the building. We should be sure any publicity or meeting announcements have the right name to minimize confusion.

Sept 22: Club Contests

Wow..... What a great contest! We had six evaluation contestants and four humorous speech contestants, each one a winner...

Thanks again to our guests Keith and Sara who came from other clubs to support our contest and a special appreciation to Keith who gave a dynamic and touching target speech for our evaluation contestants. Please come back to see us again...

 Keith is interviewed by John after his test speech.

Also, we gained a new member tonight, Hunter Allen.... We only need three more to finish our new member Distinguished Club Program goals.... YEAH!!

Congratulations to our 1st and 2nd place contestants who will move on to compete at the Area 61 Contest on Friday, October 9th. I will send the flier to you when it becomes available. Linda Coleman will be the Toastmaster for that event... Way to go, Linda!

1st Place Evaluation - Tammy Bailey
2nd Place Evaluation - Will Higgins

1st Place Humorous - Jodie Sanders
2nd Place Humorous - Tammy Bailey

Kudos to our wonderful Toastmaster tonight John who is brushing up on his contest skills because he will be the Toastmaster for the Division F Contest on Friday, October 30th.

Also, we are blessed to have the District Chief Judge, Brenda Daniels in our club to help us achieve a well-run and fair contest. Thanks Brenda!!!

Great job everyone...........

Pat Quick

Sept 17: Youth Leadership Meeting

Tonight was the second session of the youth leadership program. If you have never been to one, it is a streamlined version of a regular meeting with an instructional component. The participants (between ages 8 and 17) elected officers at the first meeting. President Austin (above left) called the meeting to order and led the Pledge. Vice President Dan (below) was the Timer (with me as assistant). Three young men gave prepared speeches. Seth told us some things about his life and what he likes to do. David (above right) wants to be an astrophysicist one day so he told us something about the solar system. Ian is a fencer and spoke to us about the three different fencing weapons: foil, épée, and saber. All three speeches were interesting, informative, and well-delivered.

Program coordinator Pat Quick evaluated the first two speeches, then the whole group contributed to the third evaluation. Each one singled out the best aspects of the speech, areas needing improvement, and finished with a positive comment.

Pat introduced the meeting role of the Listener. One new role will be added each week. This week Robert took it on, and had six great questions at the end of the meeting. Everyone had the answers immediately, proving to be great listeners. Next week's meeting will add an Ah-Counter.

After a break, assistant coordinator Linda Coleman asked table topics questions about different aspects of the Internet. Parker Arndt demonstrated how it's done with the first question, then Kyle, Dan and Austin each gave it a good shot.

Pat discussed the elements of a great speech, illustrating many of her points with examples from the speeches we had just heard. She gave the assignment for next week — the participants have a booklet to read.

I liked being at this meeting — listening to the speeches, talking to the guys and their parents, and seeing Pat lead the program. We should all take the time to go at least once, to support our club's program and the young men and their families, and to simply have an enjoyable evening that makes you feel good — and doesn't cost anything!

Jodie Sanders

Next week is our contest

The Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest will take place at the Sept 22 meeting. As of right now, Tammy Bailey, Jodie Sanders and Joyce King are on tap to speak. This will also be one of those "eating meetings," so for that reason alone, you should not miss it.

Hard at work

Will Higgins and John writing speech evaluations
at the Sept 15 meeting.

What time is it?????????

It's dues time.... If you haven't paid your club dues, please be prepared to do so at our next meeting Tuesday, September 22nd.
Thanks bunches.

Pat Quick

Sept 15 meeting: "The Awesome 80s"

 So, this was like, a totally rad meeting tonight, you know? Toastmaster Theresa Eller and her multicolored hair took us back to that best-of-times, worst-of-times decade with a full slate of speeches and a full house. We were pleased to welcome four visitors on our membership drive night: Rachel, Hunter, Olivia and Padraic (this was his second visit).We had topnotch speeches and textbook evaluations for them.

Linda Coleman talked about "Hats" - and wore one during her speech, too. In "Leading the Way," Pat Quick shared some of her vision for our club and inspired several listeners to make commitments to it. Mack Mercer's stories are always greatly anticipated and he did not disappoint in "Small Things with Great Love," taking home the blue ribbon for best speech.

The third installment in the ongoing Saga of the Eureka Springs Trip, "My Version" by George Arndt was the evening's best entertainment value, closely followed by Joyce King's Table Topics riff on how she would be a conspicuous consumer. Husband Rodney is already thinking of his "My Version" speech.

Again, we had only one speaker (out of 11) over time tonight. The meeting ran a few minutes long, but considering the number of speakers and the little bit of extra time taken on the visitors' behalf, it was quite productive and did not drag. Which would have been like, grody to the max. Whatever.

Jodie Sanders

Welcome to the club!

 

New member Mike Witt and his sponsor, Bob Titiryn. 

We're glad to have you, Mike!

Business meeting now on Sept 22

Because the membership drive is planned for next week's meeting on Sept 15, the executive committee decided to postpone the club's regular monthly business meeting until a week later, Sept 22.

Sept 8 meeting: "Rock Stars"

Toastmaster Tammy Bailey rocked the meeting with a theme that struck a chord with everyone. Imagine: George Arndt extolling "sex, drugs and rock and roll." Gary Chiu playing in a garage band. Brenda Daniels married to a drummer who could play "Wipe Out" for 38 minutes. And Tammy herself at a Carpenters' concert in the '70s, wearing red-and-white-plaid jeans and a pink turtleneck. Some things are just . . . unimaginable.

We had only two prepared speeches after last week's riches, but they were quality. Pat Quick was deeply moving in an interpretive reading of the eulogy delivered by Edward Kennedy at the funeral of his brother Bobby. And Rodney King was warm, outgoing and engaging in his Icebreaker, "I Am Who I Am," taking home both his purple 1st speech ribbon and the prize for best speech.

Among the ten speakers who were timed, only one person was over time, by only 3 seconds — an amazing record for one of our meetings. (No, I will not tell you who! Should have been there!)

Jodie Sanders

Woo-hoo, Tammy!

At the District 25 Awards Banquet on August 22nd, our very own Tammy Bailey (at left) was named the Division Governor of the Year. She received her award from Past District Governor Peggy Holloway, DTM. (Tammy is also a Distinguished Toastmaster, one of five in our club.)

Noticed the new club banner?

Parker Arndt has noticed! It's obviously turning his head! It has our new "Leading the Way" tagline on it, and bunches of ribbons already. You should take a look at all the awards we've won. Many thanks to George Arndt for his generosity in providing the new banner.

Sept 1 meeting: "Cuban Culture"

Dámaris Thorn was Toastmaster. She read a little from a book about a cucharacha named Martina, illustrating several aspects of Cuban life. Dámaris left Cuba on a plane, not a boat, in 1960.

The big event of the evening was the very auspicious debut of Robert Castle, the Youth Leadership First Place Contest Winner. His parents and brother Nick were also present.

Tony Morris, Mack Mercer and Brenda Daniels gave excellent speeches. Brenda showed slides of the now-infamous "Hills" trip and skewered Parker Arndt a few times. Mack was his usual entertaining and informative self, giving us much good speaking advice and dropping to the floor at one point. As for Tony, we should all hope that we do not drive on the same streets, live in the same neighborhood, or shop at the same grocery store as he does.

Jodie Sanders