FS Toastmasters

Jeanne, as Joke Master, told of a parrot put in the freezer. Theme for the day:  Cold;    Word of the day: Glacial;   Toastmaster: Sally Jones Eyes and Ears Team:   Ah Counter- Melinda; Grammarian – Judy; Word Master – Judy; Timer - Don Sergeant Melinda gathered us at 8 am to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.   President Judy welcomed the three guests attending the meeting.   This week’s toastmaster, Sally Jones, described the building of the Eiffel Tower in Paris for the world’s fair, and the cold reception it received from the Parisians, before introducing the two speakers of the day. Not one to shy away from profound topics, Don Emon engaged the audience with his speech, A Model for Understanding Our Lives.   Don explained evolutionary psychology as it pertains to our drive to survive and our drive to reproduce.   He cited examples ranging from home security to clothing to our sense of tribe with others....

This morning, our club was the Toast of Pardee Hospital. On the last Wed. of Feb., March, and April, the FSTM will hold its regular meeting in the orientation room at Pardee to introduce hospital employees to the world of Toastmasters and to enable them to participate and join our club. Jeanne Resen served as the Toastmaster of the day and her theme was “Personal Growth.” The Eyes and Ears team for the day was: Margaret Dav is , Word Master; Sally Jones,   Joke Master; Judy Groff, Grammarian; Ah  Counter, Melinda; Timer, Susann Swan.   Margaret’s word for the day was “tenacious.” Michael Thompson delivered his speech, "Being Grateful", as a practice run before he has to deliver this speech before the Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 8.   Michael was inspired for his speech from member Stanley Yurth’s speech several weeks ago about feeling gratitude for his life.   Stan Coss evaluated Michael’s speech, offering glow and grow suggestions. ...

Michael Thompson relives his kneeling on one knee in his wedding proposal to his wife-to-be.  He was prompted in his table topic to say whether a marriage should be forever.  He gave a resounding yes and told how he planned out his elaborate, heartfelt proposal. Judy Groff was Toastmaster using the theme of "Plan B."  Michael's Word of the Day was "adaptable."  Stan Coss was Joke Master. Don Groff was Table Topics Master, Melinda Lowrance was Grammarian, Timer was Jeanne Resin, Ah-Counter was Susann Swan, and Karla Reese was GE/TTE. Ron Climer gave his storytelling advanced manual speech on "You Can Make a Difference; I Did."    Using the Storytelling manual, Ron told how he was able to change the method used to qualify realtors to teach.  Because of his efforts the criteria have been changed. One grow that Karen Alexander had in Ron Climer’s evaluation is one that we all can put to good use.    “Do not grow roots on sta...

We are making a transition with the officer that is to act as the interim secretary.  In lieu of minutes, here's the agenda.  The only addition is that Ron Climer filled in as the grammarian.

     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 timekee...

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...