A Morning of "Firsts," including some first-time Guests, too
The official theme of our meeting was "Firsts," and, appropriately, we had a number of "first-time" guests. But one of the most gratifying additions to the meeting was a guest who was a member from the past, Don Emon. He was joined by another guest and past member, his wife Deanne.
Judy Groff was Toastmaster, but she is not pictured until the very end with the link to her Youtube video that won second place in last Saturday's contest.
Carole Kitchen took center stage with her first, her first ride on an ATV. She was very descriptive with her gestures to simulate accurately her adventure, which included flipping the ATV upside down. Carole was animated throughout in showing the various moves of the vehicle up and down the hills, or mountains they seemed to be. Betty McCallister, another member highly reputed for gesturing, was her evaluator.
A Vision was the objective of Stan Coss, who first played up the vision Judy Groff had in moving our club to Pardee. Stan said a normal attrition would mean losing six to eight members a year, and three at least have been lost since October. Stan's vision was on how to attract first-time visitors that could go on to become members. Stan spoke of his speech before the Four Seasons Rotary Club on Monday night that recruited seven Rotarians in an effort to create Ice-Breaker speeches. The partnership with Rotary was an international initiative that will take grassroots participation of individual clubs. Stan echoed the Rotary theme of service before self in saying that Toastmasters could perform a great service in enabling Rotarians to better find their voice, their speaking voice as in an ice-breaker.
Karen Alexander was Stan's evaluator and was in attendance at the Monday meeting. She is also part of Stan's guidance committee. Both Stan and Karen have fully embraced the vision of a Rotary partnership, and they'll be calling on Toastmasters to buy in for future joint ventures. A second speech for some time in April is a requirement to show the results.
Table Topics Master Susann Swan was shadowed by second-time guest/nearly new member Blanca Sanchez. (A initiation ceremony for several first-time members is forthcoming.) Susann had prepared some prompts that, of course, dealt with "firsts," real or imagined. The impromptu responses were quite memorable and deserve not just of a bare mention but a fuller note for posterity.
What "First place prize" would Don Emon reveal? He briefly spoke of a mathematics award before adding to the theme Stan mentioned with an old Chinese proverb: happiness for an hour could mean a nap; happiness for a day could be fishing; happiness for a lifetime could be helping others.
Now, what do you suppose was Jeanne Resen's "First time in the slammer?" It was for crime as a street walker. She sashayed around with her best Southern sweetness that had a slight edge to it. This episode, as she made clear, was before she had six legitimate kids. (Yes, Jeanne is quite an actress.)
Josh Gravley talked about his "First job." It was washing cars at Apple Tree Honda. It was part of the free service the car dealership provided for every car serviced. Josh mentioned he'd recently had car servicing at another dealer without having a car wash or any other special gesture. He said service is very important and should not be overlooked.
Danielle Messer spoke about her "First dance." Being a hometown girl, she'd attended school at Balfour before it became the site of the county's Emergency Services. Her memory was of a 5th grade dance where girls lined up on one side and boys on the other. Boys, naturally, were carriers of cooties.
Rotarian Guest Dick Miley told of "Winning first prize in a speech contest" and its location. He said he first had to pick himself off the floor, as he didn't expect to win. He then changed locations or direction with a pivot, which is a good strategy in dealing with table topics. He said Rotary and Toastmasters had much in common, having both started in 1905. He asked audience member Ray Daley who was the founder of Rotary and got the correct response (from this fellow Rotarian) of Mr. Harris. He then spoke of the Rotarian's Labor Day Cycling and proposed Toastmasters might host one of the rest stops. (This was a great location to stop at, as he'll be back to pitch this in a future speech.)
Joke Master Don Groff opened the meeting early on with a set of jokes. President Susann Swan closed the meeting with an interesting story involving the Rotarians that showed the club's willingness to be a peacemaker. The Eyes and Ears Team gave their reports: Grammarian and Word Master, Wendy Whitaker; Timer, Don Groff; Ah-Counter, Ray Daley.
Members attending were the following: Karen Alexander, Ray Daley, Josh Gravley, Don Groff, Judy Groff, Carole Kitchen, Betty McCallister, Danielle Messer, Jeanne Resen, Blanca Sanchez, Susann Swan, and Wendy Whitaker.
Guests: Cameron Kanetzke and Caselyhn Rhodes (both from Coss's BRCC Public Speaking Class); Carole's niece _______, Don and Deanne Emon, and Rotarian Dick Miley.
Judy, as our club representative, will be offered a speaking slot some Friday close to the April 4th division contest to help maintain her readiness to present and get any final tweaking suggestions. Her recent performance can be viewed at this link:
Stan was our local club's contest master, so he entered as a contestant for the Ridgefield club. His performance can be viewed at this link:
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