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!