Keeping the Peace

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 to think more about where our thoughts and actions originally stem from.

Our speakers were later evaluated by Don 2 and Michael.

Table Topics were orchestrated by Don 1. Members who were chosen to participate were Jeanne, Hoyt, Stan, Brad, and Betty. Three of the five Table Topics challenged the members to take one of the letters in the word "Peace" and off the cuff describe what that letter represented to them. 

Thank you to our Eyes and Ears Team for helping the meeting run smoothly and for giving the end of meeting reports:

Grammarian - Susann;   Ah Counter - Ron;   Word Master - Margaret;   Timer - Stanley

Nathan wrapped up our meeting as the General Meeting/Table Topic Evaluator by suggesting that it might not be a bad idea to use the smaller room from time to time for our meeting space since practicing in different environments strengthens our skills as speakers.

Thanks to our guest, Molly Garnett, for joining us this week for the first time. Molly was first exposed to Toastmasters by her son, Nathan, who forces her to do a Table Topic every time they get together. Molly works at Pardee Hospital and attended the outreach event our club recently organized. 

In Attendance: Nathan Garnett, Margaret Davis, Hoyt Griffith, Susann Swan, Jeanne Resen, Don Emon and repeat guest Diane Emon, Ron Climer, Stanley Yurst, Don 1 Groff, Don 2 Glover, Stan Coss, Betty McCallister, Brad Dienst, Michael Thompson, Judy Groff, Amy Sahf, and Melinda Lowrance.

Lake Pointe will be a plush setting no matter what the room is.

Hoyt handles his table topic with style.  Don gives his thinking outside the box and outside the millennium with his evolutionary psychology.