What do you say on the spur of the moment?


     It was the first gathering for the new year: a great one, even if small in attendance.  Many members were currently under the weather or had even more severe health issues.  Melinda had laryngitis but did her best to lead us in the pledge of allegiance.  Here she embraces Don and Diane just as they had to leave for a pressing appointment.
     What do you do when you are prompted to speak with no preparation?  Do you pivot or do you press on full steam ahead?  Do you let yourself be vulnerable?  Jeanne Resen, the leader of this meeting on table topics, advised to simply bear on with the truth.

     Today's meeting had some deep truth-seeking, some flights of fancy, and some missed opportunities.  It all comes with the territory, especially when it is uncharted territory. 
      Participants drew some very challenging topics from a bag, spoke for one to two minutes with timekeeper Don Glovan signaling green, yellow and red, and then heard some grows and glows.




In attendance were the following:  Jeanne Resen, Margaret Davis, Don Emon and his guest Diane Emon, Melinda Lowrance, Brad Dienst, Don Glovan, and Stan Coss.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Who is that Masked Man?"

Image
  In Attendance:  Jeanne Resen, Karen Alexander, Brad Deinst, Judy Groff, Don Groff, Dick Miley, Susann Swan, Sally Jones, Ron Climer, Hoyt Griffith, Betty McAllister, Melinda Lowrance, James Bender, Stan Coss, and guest Mitchell Robinson. Our Toastmaster, Don Groff, began with a timely theme, “Who is That Masked Man?”   He intertwined stories of Pandemic masks with the infamous Lone Ranger, the ultimate Masked Man. Our newest Toastmaster, Dick Miley, shared his passion with a delightful tale on a few of his bicycling experiences.  My favorite was the Rocky Mountain adventure with the wild goats demanding a toll of stacks, apples and oranges. As Dick progressed through stopped traffic, the goats followed him, releasing the cars to proceed.  I evaluated Dick’s WHY speech and thoroughly enjoyed learning more about his bicycling adventures.  We now know WHY. Jeanne Resen, our resident thespian,  charmingly share several stage experiences, one of whic...
Read more

Longevity and a Quality of Life that Matters

Image
Toastmaster Brad Dienst gave interesting insights and interludes into longevity, and Word Master Susann Swan supported the theme with "venerable."  Joke Master Betty McCallister incited laughter with a teenage son whose father with the wisdom of Solomon withheld driving privileges:  if Jesus and others of his time had long hair, that did not mean the teen could forego cutting his hair and still get a car to drive.  Jesus and others also did not have motorized vehicles. Speaker Stan Coss converted his back pocket speech before another club two weeks ago into a Pathways project that emphasized body movement.  His title was "These Black Lives, especially, Mattered."  He explained how three people gave lessons in a life that mattered.       Truth be told, the slide used above, along with the mule, was much smaller than Stan recalls.  The mule at times had to pull a rubber-tired wagon loaded with green tobacco leaves, not just thr...
Read more

We Need YOUR Help!!

Image
Ray Daley premiered as Toastmaster on July 10, 2020.  On his theme of baseball, he mentioned a story of Jackie Robinson who felt all alone before a riotous, insulting crowd.  One teammate crossed over part of the field to help him and silence the crowd.    This has some real relevance to our Toastmaster club. How you ask?  Well, we have one lone speaker, one speaker only to face a wide audience.  That speaker is the only one that has signed up for the next four months of speaking! ! !  One lone speaker  for four months. Do we have such a riotous, insulting audience that speakers are afraid to speak.  Of course not!  So, why not offer to help that speaker and help that audience and  sign up right now online.  Just cross on over to the online schedule and support our club with this gesture.  Our club cannot exist without speakers, and that is the one role that you will never  be "voluntold" t...
Read more