FS Toastmasters

Brad was our Toastmaster of the Day today as we found ourselves back in our normal meeting space. Thanks to our two guests for being with us today, Molly Garnett returning for a second time and Michael's guest Brianna.  The theme Brad chose was Finite and Infinite Games with a focus on Play, and the word of the day was "Misinformation", which was woven in by speakers throughout the meeting. Thanks to Brad for gifts of holiday eye glasses and candy as part of the meeting. After hearing a well-delivered joke about jokes from Ron, we heard from our first speaker of the day, Stanley. Stanley is working on his Evaluation and Feedback Project, and he gave a wonderful speech on the importance of gratitude including sharing his own personal transformation with learning how to incorporate it into his life. Our second speaker was Stan. His speech was titled "Some Dreams You Just Let Go For a Time". It was the Storytelling Advanced Manual s...

We had a slight change of pace at this week's meeting. Due to a craft fair that took place in the big auditorium we usually meet in, we had to relocate to a much more cozy living room style space which offered the group an entirely new setting to work on our public speaking. Amy led our meeting and chose "Keeping the Peace" as the theme which was reiterated in our word of the day "Diplomacy" and throughout our Table Topics. Susann was our Joke Master and shared a holiday themed joke about Martha Stewart preparing for Christmas. A signature part of Toastmasters is reciting a famous speech. Speaker 1 was Judy who masterfully memorized and delivered "The Jimmy V Never Give Up Speech", an inspiring speech on living with cancer. Don E was our second speaker, and he spoke on the subject of evolutionary psychology. It was a fascinating speech that included subtopics such as racism and cheating. The speech challenged the audience t...

President Judy Groff did a tag team as the Toastmaster with intense, "disastrous" transitions as her husband Don reinforced her theme with six solid table topics. These covered the gamut from California wildfires to school shootings to natural gas explosions to the elections. Hoyt as joke master gave an innovative way to have all the family there for Thanksgiving.  (You had to be there.) Margaret Davis gave "The ABC's of Maple Syrup."  Being from Vermont, she explained the content of presentations she and her husband give in the area to boost sales of her authentic maple syrup products from Vermont.  She exposed some of the imposter products that masquerade as Maple.  She demonstrated how up to two taps are put on the trees.  Margaret said the Sugar Maple may live and "work" for 300-400 years.  A tree of just 30-40 years was too young to tap.  She also showed some of the intensity or robust range in different bottles captured in the three mon...

Today was a big day for Four Seasons Toastmasters. In addition to a great meeting, our meeting was  video recorded  to be featured as part of an English curriculum for international students. We also did an outreach event at Pardee Hospital and had our monthly officers meeting (notes below, including information on the upcoming TLI conference for those interested). In honor of the election this week, Hoyt chose the theme "Waiting for Results" as meeting leader.  Michael and Sally were our featured speakers. Michael's Research Project from the Pathways program was about the Russian Adoption Program and his personal story of adoption. Sally gave the second half of her Evaulation and Feedback Integration Project and gave an improved version of her speech called "The Hero and the Peach", an entertaining account of her family history.  Stan brought a newspaper to the meeting and used some of current events to create speech prompts as Table Topic Ma...

Happy Halloween from Four Seasons Toastmasters!  Nathan led our meeting this morning and chose the topic Sugar, calling it the True Spirit of Halloween. Throughout the meeting, he shared memories of trick or treating as a child and gave the groups some facts and advice on sweet treats. Ron then introduced our Word of the Day, Nefarious, meaning wicked, and then shared his unique sense of humor with us by filling in as Joke master. We had two speakers today, Melinda and Amy. Melinda ran with the theme of the day and, with a sense of light-heartedness and nostalgia, shared some of her memories of being a kid at Halloween. She was later evaluated by Don Groff. Amy, our social media guru, then gave us an excellent overview of social media in her Mentoring Moment and encouraged our club to be more active on platforms such as Facebook as a way to keep the community informed of what Toastmasters is and what we're up to.  Our Table Topics, led by Karla, were also theme-...

Today, we broke from the ordinary routine of our meetings and practiced our Table Topics for the entire meeting. Most Toastmasters members have a love/hate relationship with Table Topics. We hate them because impromptu speeches are difficult and uncomfortable, yet we love them because at the end of the day they push us to become better communicators (we also love the relief we feel when we're not called on to give one).  During most meetings, we devote a fair amount of time to Table Topics but don't typically spend much time evaluating each other on them. In today's meeting, however, we got the chance to put our Table Topics under a microscope, and it was a big success.  At the beginning of the meeting, we divided up into three groups. This allowed each member to give 2-3 different speeches and receive feedback from their group. Prompts were written in advance by members and then chosen at random. Feedback was done in a conversational way where we had the...

Toastmaster Stan Coss started off the meeting with the theme of driving and being driven.  Stan expressed his apprehension about riding shotgun with his daughter Chloe, who will get her learner's permit in two weeks.  Other apprehensions were expressed by some members on the driverless cars soon to be on the road.  Stanley Yurst, who manages a transportation company, voiced great positive anticipation of this during his table topic. No, Don is not taking driver's ed, but he is supportive of Stan's theme. Jokemasters were enlisted to tell two riddles on drivers.  This required great listening skills, and Ron Climer solved the first one with much aplomb.                                Margaret Davis, as a former police officer for nearly 30 years in Vermont, gave her Pathways Ice-Breaker with the title of  “GOOD GRIEF Charlie Brown, will I ever get over my fear of public s...

We're featuring another member of our club this week as part of our Member of the Week series. Jeanne Resen joined Toastmasters back in 2007 in West Palm Beach, FL. She was in a transitional point in life and was looking for some new things to do, so she decided to join the organization. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to get out of it, but she says it has enriched her life by being a source of friendships and has given her a platform for self-expression. Jeanne has been an actress for 18 years and enjoys speaking about the theater as one of her topics. Jeanne O'Connor, as she's known in the theater world, will be performing in a play called Deathtrap this weekend and the following two weekends at the Brevard Little Theater. She will be portraying a ditzy, Dutch psychic, so go see her if you have the chance! Today's first speaker was Jeanne who currently serves as our VP of membership. Her speech was on how and why we should increase our club memb...

Our very first club contest away from "home" was at a great facility called Interfaith Assistance Ministry or IAM at   310 Freeman St, Hendersonville, NC 28792.  Freeman St. is what Thompson St. (from Lake Pointe) becomes when you go past Taco Bell and through the Four Season Blvd.   It is on the left side as you go down the hill past Mattress World and KFC.  Plan to attend there on a Saturday morning in late February or early March when we hold the Inspiration Speech Contest. Sixteen were in attendance and heard a very entertaining set of speeches.  First place winner in humor was Nathan Garnett; Second Place went to Karen Alexander; Third Place went to Hoyt Griffith.  First place winner in table topics was Don Groff; Second Place went to Judy Groff; Third Place went to Karen Alexander.  Melinda Lowrance ran the show as Contest Master.

This week, we're debuting a new component of our blog called Member Spotlight. Certain weeks throughout the year, we're going to be featuring a member of our club and learning about why they joined Toastmasters and what they've gotten and hope to get out of the organization. Our Member Spotlight this week is Susann Swan. Susann joined Toastmasters briefly in the Mid 90's because at that time she was interested in becoming a Franklin Quest Trainer and thought Toastmasters could help with that pursuit. 20 years later, after retiring and moving to Hendersonville, she found her way back to the organization. One of Susann's interests in retirement is Nameology, which is the science of what our names can teach us about ourselves. She hopes Toastmasters will help her with her presentation skills as she plans to give presentations on this topic for civic groups and organizations around town. We're glad you found your way to Four Seasons Toastmasters...

Our meeting today, despite it's theme of Habits and Routines, was anything but habitual and routine. We debuted a new Toastmaster of the Day and heard about cute, furry animals doing hard drugs.  Amy led our meeting for the first time, sprinkling facts, anecdotes, and inspiration about habits throughout the meeting.  Don 2 shared a joke about a rabbit, a giraffe, heroin, and cocaine. There's nothing like a great premise to hook an audience. Judy was our first speaker and gave her Ice Breaker speech for Pathways. She focused on why she got into Toastmasters, what she's gotten out of Toastmasters over the last 5 years, and shared that there are still things she'd like to gain such as improving her storytelling and humor skills. It goes to show there are always areas to improve. Don 1 was our second speaker, and he gave his revised version of his Summer Jobs speech as part of his Evaluation and Feedback Project. Don focused on 3 jobs in particular: being a...

Michael took his first stab at leading our meeting this morning and did a great job. He excelled at using his theme - Summer Equinox - throughout the meeting and even ended the meeting with a short fact about the Sun's effect on leaves. The word of the day was "Celestial."  Michael debuts as Toastmaster of the Day. Melissa's joke about 2 trouble-making boys in church got a big laugh before we heard from our two speakers. Karen challenged us to identify those taking us in the wrong direction. Karen gave an inspirational speech titled "Directionally Challenged" which she will be giving again this weekend. Using two personal examples, she inspired us to stay close to the people who are helping us move in the right direction in life and keep our distance from those who aren't. She was later evaluated by Judy who's glows included organization, flow, and delivery and her one grow was to work on clarity at the beginning.  ...