THE JOYS OF TOASTMASTERING

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G

One of the most important constants for me for the last 29 years has been my membership in Toastmasters International. I enjoy everything about Toastmasters and Toastmastering. It has brought me untold joy, confidence, poise, knowledge, education, the ability to think clearly and organize my words, both written and oral, to share my knowledge and mentor others, courage to compete in annual contests, lifelong friendships and of course a feeling of satisfaction, of a job well done. You might say it is my passion!

As a result of all of the above, I’d like to share with you what goes on at a Toastmasters’ meeting and perhaps encourage you to investigate a club either where you work or live. As the VP or Public Relatons for my Toastmaster Club, Tick Talk Toastmasters, I write weekly recaps of our meetings, i.e., who did what, who won what, etc. Hence, I’ll be posting recaps of our meeting regularly here, starting with the Labor Day weekend. .

RECAP OF SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 MEETING

On the cusp of the Labor Day weekend we had a full house last night. In fact, I’m still jazzed by it. We had 4 guests: Gail Dillon made a return visit, Bob Parsons, aspiring actor Austin Auger, and our new Area 18 Governor, Henry Heller. Also, Ana Santiago visited us again and was our Grammarian. Welcome all. The theme of the meeting was “Labor Day Weekend.”

President Pat Partin conducted a brief business meeting and installed 3 new members into Tick Talk Toastmasters: Carol Shekler, Leo McFall, and Scott Trulove. Congratulations all!

Richard Rettig was our Table Topics Master. He asked some very thoughtful and provocative questions. He chose “Toil” as the word of the day. It was great to see all of our guests participate. Area Governor, Henry Heller won the trophy for Best Table Topics. Good job, Henry!

Pat Partin was our Toastmaster of the evening. She introduced our lone speaker, Bobby Van Hollebeke giving speech #3 from the basic manual. Bobby gave an enthusiastic account of his beloved Padres, told us about their humanitarian contributions to society and stressed that we should support them.

Shirley Carolan was our General Evaluator and introduced our lone evaluator, Andrea Patterson, who evaluated Bobby’s speech. She praised Andrea for the many Toastmaster roles she has undertaken recently.

Shirley gave us high marks for our meeting tonight stressing that we did “jolly good!” She mentioned that when you are the Table Topics Master to be sure the “word of the day” is large enough and dark enough for those in the back of the room to see it. Also, she suggested moving the flip chart out of the way when Table Topics are completed. She did not participate in Table Topics but she did mention that the word “Toil” was used by English Prime Minister Winston Churchill during WWII when he said “I have nothing to offer you but blood, sweat, toil, and tears!” She was a school girl in London at the time.

Stepping up to the plate as our Timer was newcomer, Scott Trulove. Well done, Scott. Jonathan Enerva was our Ah Counter and Ana Santiago was our Grammarian!

After Pat Partin distributed the Best Speaker, Evaluator and Table Topics awards she called on guests for their comments on our meeting. We got good reviews from all of them. Our new Area 18 Governor, Henry Heller, reminded us to attend the Area Contest on September 12 at Watkins Manufacturing and asked for volunteers. Please check the time of this contest as I got it wrong in my last recap!

Lastly, Pat Partin called on Ronnie Bierner for some light hearted humor to cap our holiday meeting. Ronnie reluctantly demurred to Shirley Carolan who told us about a king and a fairy tale… Aw, shucks.

Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G
VP Public Relations

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Writer ● Speaker ● Artist
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2010 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you