How can you tell we've been good this year?

Easy! Santa came to see us — and Mrs. Claus came along, too!

Chuck and Terry Mencke as the first couple of the North Pole brought Christmas to the Afterburners this year, with a reading of Clement C. Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and a delightful dialogue about the author, the story, and what it's like to be the Clauses.

Calendar reminders

Don't miss it! Our December educational retreat is this Sunday, Dec 19, at Juan and Marla Tovar's home. Lots of good food and fun are a given at these special gatherings. Gary Chiu has more details if you need them.

We will get back in the swing at our first 2011 meeting on Jan 4; there will be no meetings on Dec 21 or 28. The executive committee will meet on Jan 11 and the club business meeting is on Jan 18.

The winter training season continues on Jan 14 & 15 with Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) at Texas Wesleyan University. The officer training sessions are a must for current officeholders, and if you are considering being an officer, this is a great chance to find out what's involved. You do not have to be already elected to attend any session you would like.

Another great TLI opportunity is judges training. If you would like to be a better evaluator, speaker, or contestant, this is very useful. Judging is fun — you go to other clubs, meet new people, and you are in demand — they are thrilled to see you!

Remember that you can see all upcoming club events by checking the calendar on the Members home page on the website. Clicking on an event will open a small window where you can read more details about it.

Dec 14: Give me a break!

After all, we all deserve it!

I don’t like to brag or complain especially when I know for a fact that Tuesday night’s meeting was a great success and memorable with our theme “Give Me a Break.” It was my great privilege to serve as the toastmaster for the very first time; and boy, if you weren’t there you really missed the fun.

Tom Brents gave us “A Memorable Speech.” I’m always fascinated with Tom’s passion every time he delivers his speech; and like he said, memorable speeches contain memorable lines.

Jodie wears her new CC, CL badge.

Which would you prefer to have, a best friend or a better friend? Jodie Sanders shared with us her thoughts about “Being a Better Friend.” All I can say is WOW! What an inspiring speech. Of course she inspired everyone including herself as she became a Competent Communicator. Congratulations Jodie! We are proud of you.

Steven Timmons' speech “Multi-Dimensional 101” was a very complicated topic. To help us understand what he really does for living, Steven took us to what I call “Geek World.” His visual aids helped me to realize that I really need to think outside the box.

Have you ever thought that you can change the world? Setma Maddox’s presentation “Let’s Change the World” gave us clarifications on who was doing what, and it made us wonder what will happen in the future . . . if paternity leaves outnumbered maternity leaves, would it be possible for men to get pregnant and actually give birth? Well, if that sounds confusing let’s talk about how our timer Ryan got confused by mixing up numbers and colors!

Of course we had a wonderful meeting, plus a very special treat from the first couple of the North Pole; Santa and Mrs. Claus came for a visit. If you missed the fun, this was our last regular meeting for this year. Make sure you will not miss our Educational Retreat on Sunday, Dec 19th.

Rose Timmons

Dec 7: Rallying the troops

Tuesday night’s meeting was a success. We don’t know how we made it, but we did. Tammy Bailey rallied the troops — I mean Afterburners — with words of encouragement. Someone would say, so-and-so is not here. Immediately she would ask someone to fill that role. With her smile, wit and gestures, she indicated that “this is a cake walk, and tonight you can have as many slices of the cake as you would like.” Her use of good leadership skills calmed the room and the 12 of us had a great time!

Phillip Silas was a “one man show,” he did it all. Ron Baker did a phenomenal job as Toastmaster. Way to go, guys!

 Ryan Gallagher’s speech title was “Crutches.” He spoke while propped up on crutches, wearing a medical boot. The story and the props were in sync. Imagine walking on the beach, with crutches. Ryan was not only in “sync” but he was sinking — in the sand. (Be sure to let me know if you didn’t get the joke.)

Mike Kelly gave a humorous speech titled “Mariner Moose.” That title had everyone stumped. Mike told about the time he attended the Mariners baseball game, and how he accidentally drenched the Moose (the Mariners’ mascot) with his drink. The gestures and the speech were both dramatic and funny.

George Arndt’s speech was titled “The City,” from the Advanced Communication Manual, Storytelling, Bringing History to Life. George stepped up, straddled a chair, faced the audience, looked to the left and looked to the right, stretched out his left hand and began to speak.

We had a blast, but we missed y’all. Hope to see everybody next Tuesday.

Linda Coleman

Fall Conference highlights

On Friday night, Gary Chiu kicked it off in the Banner Parade with not one, but two banners representing Afterburners. Afterburners' first-timers were Steven and Rose Timmons. By the way, Steven was the Volunteer Coordinator for the conference. I know you'll be proud of your club members, because everyone did something extra (other than just attend the conference). What a wonderful meal, dynamic evaluation contest, and outstanding guest speaker, Craig Valentine, 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking, a funny, funny, funny, guy.

Saturday morning started with the Leadership Breakfast, a biiiiigggg breakfast buffet. Setma was collecting tickets (now if you want someone who will enforce the rules, Setma is your woman, no free meals here). Guess who made it to breakfast? You guessed it — Brenda Daniels.

One of the highlights of the Leadership Breakfast was a skit performed by yours, mine, and our own Division A Governor, Pat Quick, along with the division's Area Governors and Gary Chiu. The title of the skit was “Mission Impossible.” They entered the room to the theme music of the old tv show, wearing black trench coats, black hats, black sunglasses, and black pistols — you get the picture. Their mission was to inform us of our accomplishments as clubs. It was a blast! The guest speaker Michael Meier from Seoul, South Korea, was dynamic.

During one of the Educational Sessions, Brenda Daniels had the honor of introducing Safaraz Nazir, who taught on the subject of  “Go for the WOW: How to Create Memorable Speeches.” Afterburners was the sponsor for his session.

The District Awards Luncheon was Fantastic, desert was Fabulous and the guest speaker, Jennifer Johnson,  spoke on the Future belonging to those who act on making their dreams a reality. (NOTE to readers – the three “F’s”.)

Rose Timmons and Linda Coleman helped on the decorating committee, preparing for the Humorous Speech contest. Great contestants, and oh! so funny.

What we all were waiting for, the climax of the Conference, started with the Dignitary Parade. When Pat Quick walked in, on the arm of her escort George Arndt, it was breathtaking. It is or should be every Toastmaster’s dream to be in that line-up. Guest speaker Kimberly Davis, Founder/Director of OnStage Leadership, inspired us to color outside of the lines, while we “Live in the Color of Our Dreams.”

NOW…The DTM ceremony was a sight to behold. This gives me goose bumps, because as a Toastmaster you have a good idea about what the journey was like. There were 11 individuals who stepped up to receive this award because they conquered obstacles, overcame disappointments, and invested in others to reach the pinnacle, and obtain the prize.

We are so proud of our own newest Distinguished Toastmaster! Pat Quick, congratulations on your accomplishments!

Well, I just wanted to give you little excerpts from the Conference; hope to see you at the Spring Conference.

Linda Coleman

Nov 30: No place like "Home"

Melessa

Just because a meeting is light on speakers doesn't mean it has to be light on quality, as Tuesday proved. Toastmaster Linda Coleman opened with a few comments on the meeting's theme of "Home." I'd actually like to commend Linda for her quick wit and ability to make relevant, clever remarks to fill space. She made several that had me snickering. Congratulations as well to Melessa Baker for giving her Ice Breaker speech. It takes a lot of nerve to get up in front of a group for the first time and speak, and she did an admirable job. Setma Maddox left many of us wondering if she had been timed incorrectly (sorry we doubted your abilities Ron!), as her speech on leadership engaged the audience to such a degree that we lost track of time.

Greg Geis appropriately stepped up the number of Table Topics questions in consideration of the light speaking schedule, and we had some quality impromptu responses from the audience. Tammy's mother, Maxine, won Best Table Topics for her description of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and it was a showdown of veteran evaluators with George Arndt edging out Tammy Bailey for the win. Aaron "The Assassinator" Robinson kept us all in check with our ums, ahs, long pauses, and generally any other excuse he could find to ring the bell. The only real suggestion for improvement that was made for the meeting was that our applause could be a little louder, so any of y'all that missed last week's meeting, come on out this week and help us out.

Ryan Gallagher

First "Dream Big" accomplishments

On Nov 18, two Dream Big commitments became reality: Brenda Daniels achieved her Advanced Communicator Silver award, and Jodie Sanders became a Competent Leader. They're not done, however, as both of them made multiple commitments, Brenda to a second Distinguished Toastmaster and Jodie to a Competent Communicator, so no laurel-resting yet for them.

Several members are only one or two projects away from their goal. There will be more good news soon!

Nov 23: More Thanksgiving Table Topics!

Brenda channels Paula Deen. Is that timing light red?

Our Thanksgiving Feast this past Tuesday can only be categorized as a success, due to both the great food and creative Table Topics. Tammy Bailey, the illustrious President of Afterburners, rummaged around her house and came up with a box of household items that each Table Topics speaker had to choose from, and then attempt to sell to the rest of the group in the character of a randomly selected person. We had everyone from past United States Presidents to Presidential-wannabe's, wrestlers to actors and actresses, and an appearance by the Queen of Butter herself, Ms. Paula Deen y'all (aka Brenda Daniels).

Our best Table Topics speaker for the evening, as voted on by the rest of the group, was Teresa Wilburn. In the character of Pee Wee Herman (yes, that Pee Wee Herman), with his obnoxious voice and all, she sold the audience on a very generic product put to creative use, as only Pee Wee Herman could think up. Mr. Herman's masking tape was peddled to us for its ability to work as a replacement for buttons on clothes, as well as taping your eyes open should you find yourself very sleepy during the day. I don't remember the price of this extraordinary tape, but I do remember it was a deal. Thanks to everyone who spoke and/or brought food for making this meeting a great one. I think most of us gorged ourselves to the point of button-popping of the pants. Luckily there was that tape...

Ryan Gallagher

Nov 23: Our Thanksgiving Table Topics

Holly as Scooby-Doo

Rose tries to sell us . . . a sink stopper?

What an evening! What a meal! What a great time to participate in “Table Topics”!

Well planned and orchestrated, the evening was a culinary hit, with turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, pizza without tomato sauce, macaroni salad, green bean casserole, pie, fudge, birthday cake, and I’m sure I missed something. If you weren’t there you missed something too.

Tammy did an outstanding job with Table Topics, with everyone participating except Luca, our nine-year-old guest.

Melessa, Teresa, John and Luca look both bemused and amused.

Imagine, reaching into a box, selecting an ordinary household item, posing as a famous person and pitching a sale for that item. It was hilarious and lots of fun. The winner was Teresa Wilburn, who was quite convincing as PeeWee Herman.

Keep on reading the blog, you never know what you have missed.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Linda Coleman

My reason(s) for being in Toastmasters

Every person joins Toastmasters for his or her own reason. My reason was to transform my speaking skills from a lecture format to a more amiable, audience-friendly format. After several months of talking about finding a program that would help me, a friend dared me to do something about my goal. She suggested Toastmasters. So I checked out a listing of local clubs and selected Afterburners based on meeting time and place.

When I joined, I thought that I would run through the Toastmasters program in just a few weeks or months; after all, it was only 10 speeches, right? Once my 10 speeches were done I planned to walk away and apply what I had learned. I was in for a real surprise!

It took me almost two years to complete the Competent Communication Manual. Afterburners set high standards, and there were other requirements such as attending and participating in conferences, judging contests, serving as contest toastmaster, presenting Better Club and Better Speaker modules, taking a leadership role in the club by serving as club treasurer, vice president education, and eventually as president, and helping other club members reach their goals. Whew!

These requirements were not explained to me as being “if you can” alternative activities. They became an integral part of achieving my CC and CL simultaneously. Because of the high standards, I found that I enjoyed the challenge of honing my speaking and leadership skills. I also enjoyed the learning experience of receiving thoughtful, constructive speech evaluations.

Afterburners has always led the way and is known throughout District 25 for producing strong leaders and as “the loud and the proud” club. We tend to whoop it up any time our club name or a member’s name is mentioned, or our banner appears. Yes, I have completed my 10 speeches. I have achieved Competent Leader, Advanced Communicator Bronze and Silver, and my Advanced Leader Silver. I will soon achieve the title of Advanced Communicator Gold and then Distinguished Toastmaster.

My reason for being in Toastmasters has changed to REASONS for staying. Afterburners has become an integral part of my social life. It is where I see my closest friends. The club is where I come to stimulate my mind with things other than what I have been working on all day. It is where I relax and have fun with people I care about and who care about me. I am still working on transforming my lecture format to a more amiable, audience-friendly format, but while I work toward that goal, I enjoy being associated with the strong, proud club called Afterburners. Like every other club in the District, Afterburners has experienced some shifts in leadership and membership. But the friendships that we form in this club bind us as a family. Each of us has the opportunity to be part of that family if we choose.

Setma Maddox

Thinking ahead to the holidays . . .

We Afterburners usually have holiday functions of some sort, when we gather for lots of fun and food. Just to give you an idea, here's last year's Christmas party, memorably described by Tom Brents.

What's in store for us this year? We're not sure yet, but if you have suggestions or want to volunteer to host a gathering, let President Tammy Bailey know. That way we can decide on a date before it gets too late!

Calendar reminders

Our monthly business meeting is next week, Nov 16, just before the regular meeting. On the 23rd, it's food time again at our annual Thanksgiving "eatin' meetin'." Gary has already sent out his sign-up email, so let him know what you're bringing.

The Fall District Conference is next weekend, Nov 19-20! Can't do it all? A one-day pass costs $35 and will get you into the educational sessions and the humorous speech contest on Saturday. Peruse the schedule, then register online. You can also add a meal or two for a few bucks more.

The winter training season starts on Dec 11 with Toastmasters Leadership Institute (what we call TLI in our mysterious alphabet shorthand). The officer training sessions are a must for current officeholders, and if you EVEN THINK you might want to be an officer, this is a great chance to find out what's involved. You do not have to be already elected to attend any session you would like.

Another great TLI opportunity is judges training. If you would like to be a better evaluator, speaker, or contestant, this is very useful. Judging is fun — you go to other clubs, meet new people, and you are in demand — they are thrilled to see you!

Remember that you can see all upcoming club events by checking the calendar on the Members home page on the website. Clicking on an event will open a small window where you can read more details about it.

Nov 9: Being thankful for . . .

M&M’s, Stressful weekends, Animals and Cluttered emails. That’s what last night speeches were about. Our theme was ‘Giving Thanks’. Great theme because we all have something to be thankful about.

Ryan Gallagher’s speech ‘Animal Magnetism’ was hilarious. He thought he was getting two big dogs to run with but instead he got two weenie like dogs that had tails like propellers. Ryan drew the line for love for his weenie dogs when their tongues entered his mouth. Singing in public is something that Antoinette Silas can now say she has done. She sang ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin at the end of her speech and boy was it happy. Antoinette won best speaker. Dodi Foster, re-establishing member of Afterburners, won Best Table Topics. Kim Alvarez, a seasoned Toastmaster did a great job evaluating Jodie Sanders speech, ‘Don’t Let Email Rule Your Life’.

Come join us next week at Afterburners Toastmasters Tuesday November 16, 2010. Theme is ‘Most Influential Person in My Life’. Now that should be interesting.

Aaron Robinson 

Honorary Toastmaster

Steven has a full day of contests!

What do clowns and barnyard animals have in common?
Give up? Toastmasters!

At Saturday's contests at Polytechnic United Methodist Church at Texas Wesleyan University, Division D's Clowns theme in the morning was followed in the afternoon by Division A with a Barnyard Humor theme. Afterburners were there in force! Before Division D could even get started, Brenda Daniels, the Contest Chair for Division A, was on the scene and in control. Pat Quick, Division A Governor, was ready and raring to go. Setma Maddox and Rose Timmons were already starting to bring in food to feed the afternoon crowd.

I was on hand to give my Project 9 speech, Persuade with Power, called "Dare to Dream" about the Dream Big Promotion as the Test Speaker for the Division D Contest. In it, I was able to indirectly brag on the super effort being made by Afterburners as one club that is still leading the way in the Dream Big Promotion. The contest, led by Division D Governor James Hansen, was done very well and was a great deal of fun. As soon as it ended around 12:30 pm, the Division A contest moved to take the hall.

The tables were covered with red and white checkered tablecloths, and decorated with buckets of peanuts, cow print balloons, mini bales of hay, and incredibly funny theme cards. Ryan Gallagher, Balloon Chair, assisted with the decorations. The kitchen was full of helpers, many of them Afterburners. Marla and Juan Tovar and Holly Trinh were prepping the food. Joyce King pitched in, and I understand she brought one of my favorites for the dessert contest, an excellent rendition of a southern favorite, Banana Pudding. Jodie Sanders was popping photos and awaiting the Humorous Speech contest, and Mack Mercer soon appeared for the Evaluation Contest, both representing Area 12. Antoinette Silas brought the beautiful certificates for the helpers and participants.

We ate sliders made with Cousin's Bar-B-Q, thanks to Rick Newton of Tip-Top and Jacqulyn Hudgins, Area 12 Governor. Cousin's Bar-B-Q also supplied all the fixin's. Setma Maddox made a whole heapin' bunch of deviled hen eggs and Linda Coleman brought the most delicious cole slaw. There was potato salad provided by Holsters Bar-B-Q and baked beans made by Warren Ehn. The food was incredible, and then the desserts . . . They were marked with a sign that said "Remember that stressed spelled backwards is desserts." The only stress was how to pick out the best. They were all so good.

The contest itself started at 3:00 pm to a packed house. Robi Ley was a great Toastmaster. Test Speaker Loren Norris gave his Project 6 speech, which was definitely an example of Vocal Variety and quite entertaining. Mack Mercer delivered an effective evaluation. Later, Jodie Sanders told us of her experience with "Apartment Living." And even as they both took 3rd place in their respective contests, they made me proud to be an Afterburner with them.

Pat Quick gave out the Division's Outstanding Officer awards and our own Brenda Daniels took the Outstanding Secretary Award. At the conclusion, Brenda's minions quickly cleared the tables and the kitchen, and all the evidence of a superb contest was gone.

Thanks to all of those who made it a fun and delightful day. See you in the Spring!

Steven Timmons

Nov 2: Election night debuts are winners

New members inducted tonight are (back) Ron Baker, Teresa Wilburn,
Ryan Gallagher, (front) Melessa Baker, and Holly Trinh

First-time toastmaster Ryan Gallagher worked hard on preparing for this meeting, and it paid off, with almost no changes to the agenda, and nearly every role player ready to go at the Call to Order. His organization and efforts to make sure everyone was ready were exemplary, and we hope everyone will follow his lead in their own opportunities.

In other debuts, Teresa Wilburn and our honorary member, Aaron Robinson gave their Ice Breaker speeches, showing us that we should anticipate good things to come from them. Aaron had previously given his Youth Leadership prize-winner, but this was his first official club speech, with a real-life verbal and written evaluation. Teresa has wasted no time getting started on her Toastmasters career, stealing a march on several other members who joined us before she did! 

And speaking of new members, we inducted Teresa, Ryan, Holly Trinh, and Melessa and Ron Baker tonight. All of them have jumped right into the swim by making speeches, taking meeting roles, and most exciting, volunteering for outside-the-club activities. We are glad they're here!

Jodie Sanders

Tarrant County alliance brings new opportunities

The day could not have been more exciting! On Tuesday morning, October 26th, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved our proposal. Brenda Daniels, Gary Chiu and Pat Quick were in attendance to witness the vote. After six months of negotiations, Afterburners has forged a deeper partnership with Tarrant County. Since March, we have been at risk of losing our meeting location at the Tarrant County Plaza building, but thanks to several key people at Tarrant County we are now secure in holding our weekly meetings, officer training, contests and Youth Leadership series in the building by offering Public Speaking and Leadership classes to the Tarrant County Employees.

This new alliance will give our more advanced speakers the opportunity to work on their training skills. Also, because conducting a Youth Leadership series is one of the prerequisites for achieving a DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster Award), the extra Youth Leadership classes will assist more of our members in achieving their DTMs. We are grateful to everyone who helped make this happen. A special thank you to David Phillips, Tina Glenn and Dean Lampman. We are looking forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with Tarrant County!

Pat Quick

Go to the Commissioners Court agenda page,  click on the Oct 26 agenda, and you can see pdfs of the actual documents and a video of the meeting. Fast forward to about 24:00 to see our little part.

Oct 26: A scary good time had by all

Who said you can’t have fun and learn better communication and leadership skills also? Well, you can at Afterburners Toastmasters. Last night’s theme was "Halloween Costumes." We had some interesting costumes. 

We had some great speakers as well. Ryan Gallagher talked about a road trip to Marfa, Texas in “From Marfa with Love.” He told us about the great food he had, the infamous Marfa lights, and the connection he had with people who had been there before. Ryan won for the best speech of the night.

Setma Maddox's title, “Kicking and Screaming,” pretty much told us how she became District Treasurer; after that she decided it was a great opportunity. The moral of her story was, it's ok to say yes to other opportunities within Toastmasters International because it helps you grow, you meet new friends, and you don’t know where it may lead you.

Brenda Daniels, who is the Contest Chair for Division A Evaluation and Humorous Speech contest on Nov 6, talked about ways to participate outside your club.

Finally, we had special guests from the United Kingdom, Gordon Piggott, a member of Eastbourne Speakers Club, and his colleague Gerard O’Donovan, who won best Table Topics speaker. What a treat! They had nothing but good things to say about Afterburners. 

We continue to Lead the Way!

Antoinette Silas

An Invitation to the October 26 Meeting

Oct 19: Toastmasters in funny hats

Last night several of our speakers wore hats in honor of the theme "A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats!" The presentations can be equated to a train ride as we covered all the meeting roles and Toastmaster acronyms.

Pat Quick led the train by describing how to prepare for and to perform the Toastmaster role. Bob Titiryn tooted the train whistle by explaining the role of Timer. Conductor Dámaris Thorn gave a great lesson in the appropriate use of the English language, and Tom Brents counted the train stoppers — ah, umm, and-so, so, well, —. Our CPA deluxe, Steven Timmons, suggested several ways to prepare to be Vote Counter and what is expected at the meeting when serving in this role.

Whistle stop entertainment was provided by Brenda Daniels and Setma Maddox. Brenda pointed out that the Table Topicsmaster should know the theme and prepare questions ahead of time regarding the theme. She also provided guidelines as to who should be asked to answer Table Topic questions. Setma clarified many of the acronyms used in Toastmasters, explained how those acronyms get attached to your name, and provided a method to track your progress.

George Arndt kept us on track with how and why the General Evaluator should give feedback to the speech evaluators, and on the running of the overall meeting. Tammy Bailey demonstrated how to evaluate a speaker by giving Pat Quick a short evaluation on her presentation. Gary Chiu enlightened us to the fact that much goes on behind the scenes before a meeting can even take place, such as setting up the room and making sure all the equipment is in operative condition. Jodie Sanders reminded us that when we are not assigned a specific meeting role, we are in the Hot Seat. As such we should always be prepared to step up on the train and help make the meeting run smoothly no matter what role we are filling — including Speaker.

At the end of the meeting, two new members were accepted into our club. Welcome, Kim Alvarez and Teresa Wilburn!

We Are Leading the Way!

Setma Maddox

"An extraordinary learning opportunity"

I don't remember where I heard this quote, but I like it: "There is no man so poor that he cannot afford to learn from another."

Our October 19 meeting will be an extraordinary learning opportunity, not to be missed! Based on an advanced communication module called "A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats," we will present an in-depth look at each of the major roles in a Toastmasters meeting.

Why are we doing this? One reason is the explosion of growth our club is experiencing. Some of our newer members joined after just one or two meetings, and are now thrust into the arena without proper preparation for the roles we're asking them to perform. Another reason is our need to balance meeting the educational & leadership needs of all our members with the desire to remain respectful of everyone's time on meeting nights. Knowing more specifically how each role should function can help us accomplish that goal with our usual Afterburners success.

This week's meeting will provide insight into each major role and guidelines on how to execute each one as well. I hope to see each of you there as we learn from each other!

Tammy Bailey

Special Meeting on Oct 19!

I am personally inviting you to our SPECIAL Afterburners Toastmasters Meeting next Tuesday, October 19, at 6:50 p.m. Well, our meeting actually begins at 7:00 p.m. on the dot; however, the extra ten minutes will give you time to visit.

The SPECIAL speakers during this meeting will describe the opportunities available during an Afterburners Toastmasters Meeting. You will learn several important speaking and leadership skills. For example, when someone calls you by name, do you respond: "It is I" or "It is me." When do you use the words "that" and "which" in a sentence? What is a double negative? Am I talking about a car battery? Come to the meeting to find out!

Dámaris Thorn

Calendar reminders

Our regular monthly business meeting is next week, Oct 19, immediately after the regular meeting.

District 25 is having a Marketing Workshop on Saturday, Oct 23, 1:00-3:00 pm, at Texas Wesleyan University. If you are interested, more information and online registration are available on the D25 website. It costs nothing to attend, you can get a free lunch (if you RSVP online), and you can meet other Toastmasters and find out what's going on in their clubs. (Take your Afterburners business cards with you!)

The Division A Contest is Saturday, Nov 6, at Polytechnic United Methodist Church, 1310 Collard St, in Fort Worth. If you are going to be involved as a helper or contestant, be there at 2:00 pm, otherwise the contest starts at 3:00 pm. If you want to help, talk to Brenda Daniels, contest chair. Jodie Sanders and Mack Mercer will be representing our club in Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation, respectively. We would like to have lots of familiar faces out there. (Jodie would like to have some audience members who know the right places to laugh at her speech.)

If you're planning on going to the Fall District Conference on Nov 19-20, better get those plans in gear. Prices go up after Nov 6, which is a little over 3 weeks away!

Remember that you can see all upcoming club events by checking the calendar on the Members home page on the website. Clicking on an event will open a small window where you can read more details about it.

Oct 12: Coming to a New World

Taking on the toastmaster role at short notice, Steven Timmons did a great job of getting the meeting organized beforehand, and keeping it rolling along. Over 30 people were present, including three first-time visitors.

For me, the high points were Holly Trinh's icebreaker speech, "Freedom," about her experience leaving Vietnam as a young child, and Rose Timmons's evaluation of that speech. Both women are quiet, but shining, examples of courage and determination in living in a country that's not their own.

David Thorn wore safari garb for "Don't Feed the Orangutans." This was a nice example of a funny speech with a serious underlying theme uniting its parts. As well-constructed as David's speeches have been so far, I'd say he needs to start thinking about the next contest.

As an experiment, we tried a procedure used by other clubs in having the timer make reports after each meeting segment. This allows everyone to know the speakers' times earlier in the meeting. We welcome your feedback on how well you think that worked.

Jodie Sanders

Keep up with what's happening on the D25 website

The next big District 25 event is the Fall Conference, Nov 19-20.
It's time to make your plans!
Go here for specific information.

The Dream Big Commitment List — is your name on it?

Or just go to the D25 main page and look at everything going on.

Oct 5: We Were At the Movies!

Doesn't this look like Greg?

Boy, did you miss a good Afterburners meeting tonight! Our theme was "Your Favorite Movie." Too funny. One of the highlights was Toastmaster Greg Geis. He really got into the theme when he wore a TopGun outfit while presiding as toastmaster.

Our winner of Best Speaker Mrs. Rose Timmons really stood out in her speech "Culture Shock" when she summed up that it's not always a foreigner who needs to adjust to another person's culture but everyone needs to be open to learning something new. She culturally shocked us.

Another highlight was Table Topics which was filled with Love, Greek Epics, War, and Humorous characters. Everyone that was chosen had interesting movie insights.

Lastly, the biggest highlight of the night was Ms. Saraí Garcia announcing her engagement and we are all invited. Hooray!!

Come and join us at Afterburners Toastmasters every Tuesday evening.

Antoinette Silas

Two wins at Area 12 Contest

Last Saturday, September 25th, Area 12 conducted its Speech Evaluation and Humorous Speech Contests. Steven Timmons did a great job as Contest Toastmaster. Dressed in a bright green hat, he led the group in a fun-themed event. Several attendees came dressed in boas, tiaras, weird hats and crazy glasses.

The food was wonderfully coordinated by Gary Chiu and Rose Timmons. Mack Mercer won 1st place in the Speech Evaluation Contest and Jodie Sanders won 1st place in the Humorous Speech Contest. Everyone had lots of food and fun. We will be ready to support Mack and Jodie as they compete at the Division A contest on November 6th.

Congratulations Mack and Jodie...

Pat Quick

Gary's take on the contest!

The Humorous Speech and Evaluation contest was a BLAST! Not even the drenching downpour outside could shake our spirits.

Our own Jodie Sanders and Mack Mercer were in fine form and are moving onto the next round...fantastic job to both of you!

With all due respect to Julius Caesar, we came, we saw, we laughed while eating powdered sugar donuts (ewww!).

Gary Chiu

'Burners Are Dreaming Big

Do you dream? Of course you do. We are Afterburners, and we do in fact DREAM BIG.

Well, here is your chance to turn your Big Dreams into rewards with the new District 25 DREAM BIG promotion. Commit to completing an education level, sponsoring 5 or more new members or even sponsoring a new club charter. Just commit to doing something and we can all push each other to make our goals.

Thanks to Pat Quick who brought a Commitment List to the Sept 21st meeting, the Afterburners have already kicked in on this one. I have entered commitments for everyone who signed our Commitment List, or with whom I have spoken by phone.

We have 16 commitments so far. Ten to achieve CC, a CL and several other advanced rewards including 3 DTMs. WOW! . . .  That bears repeating. WOW! The club has also committed to make President's Distinguished for an eighth great year in a row.

If you have not had the chance to commit, don't feel left out. This is just the start. To enter or see your commitment please go to www.d25toastmasters.org/dreambig.

Remember, making the commitment is just the first step in the journey. You need to complete your chosen commitment as well.

I challenge the Afterburners Club to burn this thing up. DREAM BIG, COMMIT and COMPLETE!!!

Steven Timmons
Club Secretary

Sept 21: Football & Wildlife

Our recent Afterburners Meeting celebrated the theme of the American Football Season. One of the highlights of the evening was the rivalries between the TEXAS football teams. TEXAS is the HOME of AMERICAN FOOTBALL! Did you know that MANY college football coaches recruit football players from TEXAS high schools?

Another highlight of the evening was the first place winner's speech given by Mr. Steven Timmons. The title of his speech was "Why I Could Never Be Steve Irwin." Mr. Timmons' speech included adventure, humor, action, drama, vocal variety, and last but not least, alligators. We invite you to join us next Tuesday evening for another exciting Afterburners Toastmasters Meeting!

Dámaris E. Thorn
General Evaluator

Get carded!

 Here's an easy way to invite someone to our meeting — give them an Afterburners business card! The day and time of the meeting, plus the physical address and website address, ensure that the potential visitor has all the information needed to find us.

Having them will also make networking easier at Toastmasters functions like visits to other clubs, contests, district conference, and TLI (Toastmasters Leadership Institute).

You can customize it with your own name, phone number, office you hold, or whatever you want on it. (See the samples above.) Then I can print however many you need, say 5 or 10. When you run out, ask me for more. The cards will also be available without any personal information printed on them.

Jodie Sanders
VP Public Relations

Calendar reminders

Our regular monthly business meeting is next week, Sept 21, immediately after the regular meeting.

The Area 12 Contest is Saturday, Sept 25, at Tarrant County Public Health, 1101 S Main St in Fort Worth. Afterburners is in charge of the refreshments. (We are good at anything to do with food.) If you are going to be involved as a helper or contestant, be there at 9:15 am, otherwise the contest starts at 10:00 am. If you want to help in any way, see or talk to Pat Quick. Come to have a good time, and to support Jodie and Mack, our club's representatives in Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation, respectively.

Remember that you can see all upcoming club events by checking the calendar on the Members home page on the website. Clicking on an event will open a small window where you can read more details about it.

Sept 14: Great accomplishments

WOW!  What a meeting  tonight!  If you were unable to attend the Afterburners meeting, you missed a treat.  The speeches were great.  Ryan Gallagher's speech, "Stranger Danger" was about people who ride the train from Ft. Worth to Dallas. He talked about the little old ladies, the children on field trips, and the funniest of all, the sleepers on the train. The handouts were cute little (4" x 5") booklets with pictures (hand drawn) that were so funny.  

 

Rose Timmons was spectacular; her speech title was "Change."  She shared three aspects of change and how a 12-year-old spoke to a world renowned group about saving the planet, the way she makes changes without spending any money, and she challenged us to make changes in our personal life. Rose took command of her audience and she made an impact in seven minutes.

 

Jodie Sanders gave an impressive speech on "Speak Greek," giving facts about the Greek alphabet, the origin of the alphabet,  and handouts with the alphabets.  She explained how we use the Greek alphabet in math and science, religion, and education.  In her conclusion she recited the alphabet from Alpha to Omega.  This was an awesome speech.

 

Linda Coleman

Sept 7: Fall contest has big turnout

Test speaker Rick Newton and evaluation contestants Mack Mercer,
Brenda Daniels, Dámaris Thorn, Joyce King, and Tom Brents

We had a big night at this year's Fall Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest, in spite of it being the day after a holiday. First, we had excellent attendance: lots of members and several visitors came to assist with eating all that good food. (I'm sure they were interested in the contest as well.) Second, we had quite a full slate of contestants: five evaluators and five humorous speakers, with two people participating in both contests. Third, we accepted applications from three new members — Holly Trinh, Melessa Baker, and Ron Baker.

Yum!

Toastmaster Rodney King kept the contest humming along, with the necessary breaks for plate refills. Did I mention that we had a lot of good food? Leading off, our guest test speaker Rick Newton (of Tip Top Toastmasters) had us all wanting a Porsche. Or was it Por-sche? This was a question that came up several times in the evaluations!

After a short break (too short to be called halftime or intermission, but we had a lot of speakers still to hear), Rodney conducted the humorous speech contest. What an entertaining and educational night this was! A real-life "Bates Motel." A creative practical joker named Benny. The risks of apartment living. Dangerous, independent women. How to determine if your socks are ripe enough to launder. (If you are worried about that last one, don't sit next to Ryan at meetings.)

Humorous speech contestants Steven Timmons, Jodie Sanders,
Brenda Daniels, Dámaris Thorn, and Ryan Gallagher

After the judges and vote counters did their work, the highly-anticipated results were finally announced. There were two disqualifications for time (out of the 10 speakers). The first-place winners will go to the Area 12 contest on Sept 25. Each second-place winner will be ready to compete if the first-place winner is unable to.
Speech evaluation contest results:
1st place: Mack Mercer
2nd place: Brenda Daniels
3rd place: Joyce King
Humorous speech contest results:
1st place: Jodie Sanders
2nd place: Ryan Gallagher
3rd place: Steven Timmons

A big THANK YOU goes to contest chair Pat Quick and the helpers, judges, contestants, participants, club members, guests, cooks, and eaters — all of whom made our contest a success and created an enjoyable evening for everyone. I want to especially thank our wonderful photographer:

Awards Banquet is fun for first-timer

This year's awards banquet was my first ever. I had a wonderful time eating dinner with friends and among many other toastmasters from many other clubs. What I liked the best was the camaraderie among our district's leadership. I didn't expect that from a district that boasts so many clubs and members. I also enjoyed the past district governor's roast. It was the highlight of the evening! It's great to know that our district can be so dedicated to its members and at the same time not take themselves too seriously. What a relaxed evening!

Saraí Garcia

Two more club goals reached in August

We added two new Competent Communicators in the month of August — achieving goal #1 on our Club Success Plan! Congratulations to Joyce King and Nick Colón, who finished their CCs on the 17th and 31st, respectively. It won't be long until we have two more, as several other members are close to finishing their manuals.

Also in August, Pat Quick applied for her Distinguished Toastmaster award, accomplishing Goal #6 (an additional Leadership award). Congratulations to our immediate past president, who has actually been distinguished for quite some time, as far as we're concerned.

How close are you to your CC, CL or advanced award? Look at your manuals! Bring them to the meetings! Talk to your mentor. Let Benson, the VP Education, know what you want to accomplish by filling out the Member Survey on the Members Area home page of the website. Remember that you can update your goals here at any time.

By the end of the year, we want to be neck-deep in alphabet soup!

Distinguished Club Program Update - EXCITING!!!!

Our superb Secretary, Steven Timmons, submitted dues renewals for those members who have paid so far. When he received confirmation of those dues renewals from Toastmasters International, it marked a very important occasion for Afterburners.

WE ARE OFFICIALLY A DISTRICT 25 DISTINGUISHED CLUB.

We have now reached five of the ten goals set forth by Toastmasters International to measure how well we are meeting the needs of our members. Here's the summary:

Goal #1: Two Competent Communicators. Joyce King & Nick Colón have accomplished this, and we're very proud of them!

Goal #5: One Competent Leader, Advanced Leader Bronze, Advanced Leader Silver, or Distinguished Toastmaster. Tammy completed her CL manual on July 27.

Goal #6: One more CL, AL-B, AL-S or DTM. Patricia Quick submitted all the completed requirements to attain Distinguished Toastmaster in August 2010. What a momentous achievement!

Goal #7: Four new members: Since July 1, we have added Juan & Marla Tovar, Ryan Gallagher, and John Bacon. They will bring fresh ideas and energy to Afterburners!

Goal #9: Minimum four officers trained July & December. All seven of your club officers attended district training in July, so we have a half-point to our credit on this goal.

Goal #10: One membership dues renewal and one club officer list. We now know we have achieved this, which puts us at 5.5 points for the year.

If we did NOTHING else for the rest of the Toastmaster year, we would still be Distinguished, but of course, Afterburners is not known for resting on its laurels. Our sights are set on being Presidents Distinguished, which requires a minimum of NINE of those goals, and we have a tradition of meeting all TEN goals.

I know we'll get there!

Congratulations, Nick!

Nick Colón celebrated achieving his Competent Communicator AND his 30th birthday at tonight's meeting! This was a personal goal Nick set when he first joined Afterburners, and one he can now check off his to-do list. In my opinion, tonight's speech was the best he's ever presented (no pressure for the future, Nick!) and I look forward to many more Advanced Communicator projects from him. Way to go, Nick!

If I may, I'd like to offer a word of caution. We had a guest tonight and sadly, none of us walked her to the proper exit. Poor Holly became trapped between the inner and outer doors on the first floor and couldn't leave the building! Thankfully, we have club officer phone numbers on the agenda, and Holly called Rodney King. Rodney called Tammy Bailey, who called Holly back & stayed on the line with her while Brenda Daniels and Patricia Quick maintained visual contact with her through the first floor windows. The angel of the evening turned out to be Pat, the maintenance man who chases birds out of trees in the parking lot. He heard Patricia & Holly calling to each other through the door and came to the rescue, escorting Holly to the second floor parking lot entrance. She shared a hug with all of us and was extremely happy to be set free! If she was intimidated by public speaking before, who knows what opinion she'll have now, but my guess is she's much more brave than she knew she could be! In the future, let's be sure someone walks with our first-time guests to make sure they get safely to the exit and don't have to wander through the basement catacombs!

The Turkey Club Raids project gets going!

How many of you have ever attended another club’s meeting?

Years ago, District 25 offered a challenge to encourage club members to visit other Toastmaster clubs. The rules were simple. Take five of your members to another club, and you could walk out with that club’s banner. The only way for them to retrieve their banner was to send five members to attend the bandits’ meeting.

What if our club were to send five members to another club to deliver a turkey trophy we have created? We would get the raided club to swear to display it at their regular club meetings until they could send five members to unload it onto another club.

Here’s where you come in. I invite you to sign up for possibly all of the following committees. Each one will entail diverse levels of time and effort. For instance, expect the Naming Committee to be rather short-lived compared to the Aviator Design Committee. Whichever your choice, all are essential to the project’s success.

Guidance (Steering) Committee: These are a group of leaders who will help guide my leadership.

Naming Committee: Come up with a name for the game, our turkey, and the awards. Expect to work with the product produced by the Aviator Design Committee and the Awards Committee.

Aviator Design Committee: Dress up the bird to make it distinctively Afterburners.

Rules Committee: We’ll need official rules posted on our website and condensed rules to present to the raided clubs. District 25 will probably examine these as well.

Club Raid Presentation Committee: We’ll need a script to deliver ‘the bird’ to raided clubs and possibly to present to District 25. It needs to drive your audience to accept the challenge of displaying the trophy until they can arrange five members to deliver it to another club. Expect to train groups of five to entertain and challenge the raided clubs. Work with the Rules Committee.

Awards Committee: How can we recognize those clubs who accept and fulfill our challenge? Expect to work with the Naming Committee to select appropriate awards. Your task includes scripting the presentations.

What’s in it for you? Tammy has pointed out that all committee members and leaders can get credited in their Competent Leadership manuals. Leaders and presenters will also have speaking opportunities.

I encourage you to embrace this opportunity to voice your creative suggestions, to craft a one-of-a-kind turkey, and to lead a team of fellow members.

Bob Titiryn

Distinguished Club Program Progress Report

Each year, Toastmasters clubs around the world strive to achieve Distinguished status by meeting criteria set forth by Toastmasters International. These criteria measure how well a club is meeting the educational and leadership development needs of its members, and include the following:

1. Two Competent Communicators (completing the 10 speeches in the CC manual)

2. Two more Competent Communicators

3. One Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB), Advanced Communicator Silver (ACS), or Advanced Communicator Gold (ACG)

4. One more ACB, ACS, or ACG

5. One Competent Leader (CL), Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB) or Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)

6. One more CL, ALB or DTM

7. Four new members

8. Four more new members

9. Minimum of four officers trained during each of two training periods

10. One membership dues renewal report and one club officer list submitted on time.

Clubs meeting five of these goals attain Distinguished Club status; clubs reaching 7 goals are recognized as Select Distinguished; clubs that achieve 9 of 10 are lauded as Presidents Distinguished Clubs.

Afterburners Club takes great and proper pride in achieving ALL TEN of these goals each year, and the sooner the better! Here's how we're doing since July 1 when the Toastmasters year began:

Goal #5, One CL, ALB or DTM: Tammy Bailey finished a CL manual on July 27.

Goal #7, Four new members: Ryan Gallagher, John Bacon, and Juan & Marla Tovar.

Goal #9, Minimum of four officers trained: All 7 of Afterburners officers were trained during this training period, so we will have another Super 7 ribbon to add to our banner! This must be done twice, so it counts as a half point.

We have 2.5 points toward our goal of 10, and the achievements keep accruing for the loud & proud Afterburners! Look for more updates as we advance toward Presidents Distinguished yet again!

July 27: A great time at the Great Debate

Brendan & Jacqulyn

There was quite a crowd in attendance at the 2010 edition of Afterburners' Great Debate. District 25 dignitaries abounded, along with many friends from other clubs, some of whom served as judges, all enjoying good food, fellowship, and two GREAT debates!

A couple of debaters had last-minute schedule conflicts, but Juan and Marla Tovar bravely stepped up to fill their places. Juan and Marla had planned to join Afterburners at this their 3rd meeting to attend, so at the end of the meeting they were indeed voted into membership with great acclaim.

Juan & Judy

Tammy Bailey moderated the disciplined and orderly debate proceedings. The first topic, "Resolved, that Texas should follow Arizona's example in crafting a new law to protect its border against illegal immigrants" was potential dynamite, but calm and reason (tinged with emotion) prevailed. Saraí Garcia's team (Gary Chiu, Ryan Gallagher, Juan Tovar, and Mack Mercer) won the coin toss and chose the Against position, and Phillip Silas and his team (Jodie Sanders, Antoinette Silas, Rose Timmons, and Pat Quick) argued the For case.

Dámaris, Steven, & Greg

After a break for plate refills and announcements, the second topic, "Resolved, that dogs are indeed man's best friend" brought forth a great deal of hilarity. Steven Thorn's team (Dámaris Thorn, Greg Geis, Marla Tovar, and George Arndt) were valiant in defense of canines. Benson V.'s team (Steven Timmons, Joyce King, Linda Coleman, and Tom Brents) were eloquent in their Against arguments.

The winning "dog team!"

The judges' decisions were announced to the usual noisy finger drumrolls that accompany all Afterburners awards: Phillip's team was declared the winner of the immigration law debate (for), and Benson's team won out in the dog debate (against).

All of the Afterburners Club members want to say "thank you" to our friends who came to the debate. Your presence made this a very special occasion for us. We hope you had a good time and will return to visit our club whenever you can.

Jodie Sanders

P.S. See more debate photos on our website.