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