16 December 2008

This is the last meeting of the year. What a year it has been! Thanks to all who participated and contributed to this fine club. 

Congratulations, Neil, on doing your Ice Breaker speech so soon after joining last week!

This meeting being our last had a touch of the sentimental and the celebratory. We had tea and coffee and SWEETS! Chocolates, muffins, and candy helped us celebrate the end of another year of Toastmasters. The sentiment and warm feelings came from Ann mostly, who will be leaving her post as President of EarlyRisers. We will miss her. Ann used her speech time to give thanks to all the members and to recognize each member with a crisp certificate of accomplishment and a binder to hold all those manuals. Thank you for all your great service, friendship and support, Ann.

This meeting was brought to order at 6:30 AM by Bud. At 6:35 AM, we all partook of the goodies before launching into the meeting in earnest.

Attending: Neil, Bud, Connie, Ann, Kelly, Stephanie, Mark, Daohua, Laura, Tony, Theo, and Josie.

Toastmaster of the Day: Connie

Theme for the day: How time flies!

The Prepared Speeches at this meeting:
1) Neil, "Ice Breaker", Competent Communicator, project #1, time 5-7 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:09:56. Evaluated by Kelly. Evaluation time: 00:03:09. 

2) Ann, "Swan Song: And the Winner is...," Ann gives special recognition to each club member. 00:16:16. No evaluation for this speech.

3) Laura, "Cold Calling", The Persuasive Speaker, project #2, time 10-14 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:14:16. Evaluated by Josie. Evaluation time: 00:02:59.


Other Roles at this meeting:

Inspiration: Stephanie , 
WordMaster: Stephanie (the word was bustle)

Timer: Mark
Ah Counter and Grammarian: Daohua
Table Topics Master: Tony ("What is your sense of time?" Note: All impromptu speeches on time for this segment.)

General Evaluator: Theo
Joke of the Day: Bud

Awards at this meeting:
Best Table Topics: Stephanie and Mark
Best Evaluation: Kelly
Best Speech: Laura

"And the Winner is..." - President Ann's Recognitions Awards:

Best Early Risers Attitude: Daohua

Outstanding New Member: Mark

Best Sense of Humor: Tryphine

Outstanding Heads Up Award: Connie

Club Historian: Bud

Most Accomplished Toastmaster: Jane

Most Cooperative Toastmaster: Theo

Most Outstanding Leadership: Stephanie (VPE)

Outstanding Member/"Martha Stewart" Style Award: Laura

All Around Nice Guy and Mr. Amiable Award: Tony

Outstanding Good Sport Award: Neil

Outstanding Speaker: Kelly

Outstanding Team Leader Award: Josie

Club Business: EarlyRisers will not meet for the next two Tuesdays. We resume January 6, 2009. Enjoy your holidays. Happy New Year!

Meeting adjourned at: 8:00 AM

9 December 2008

Wow. This was one of those meetings that flowed beautifully! I can think of a few minor glitches, but this is how a Toastmasters meeting is to be run and experienced. The Toastmaster, the General Evaluator, Table Topics Master, speakers, functionaries and evaluators were organized and effective. We even had a new person join EarlyRisers today! Welcome, Neil! What a great meeting. 

The theme was: Caring for Ourselves.

Stephanie was the Toastmaster.

Attending: Stephanie, Bud, Jane, Tony, Connie, Laura, Kelly, Ann, Theo, Tryphine, Neil, and Josie.

Bud brought the meeting to order at 6:30 AM.

The prepared speeches at this meeting:

1) Josie, "Tending the Fire," Competent Communication manual, speech #6 (Vocal Variety), 5-7 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:05:51. Evaluated by Laura. Evaluation time: 00:01:59.

2) Connie, "A Thank You to... Ann, our Club President!", Special Occasions manual, speech #4 (Presenting an Award), 3-4 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:03:50. Evaluated by Kelly. Evaluation time: 00:03:23.

3) Tony, "Bicycle Riding," a non-manual speech (however, I believe it was a nice example of good/basic speech skills, so I'd call it, Competent Communication manual, speech #2 [Organize Your Speech], 5-7 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:04:50. Evaluated by Theo. Evaluation time: 00:03:16.

Other Roles at this meeting:

Table Topics Master: Jane (how to balance your life?); All impromptu speeches were within time.

Inspiration: Bud

Grammarian/Ah Counter: Ann

Timer: Kelly

Word Master: Josie. The word of the day was cognizance.

General Evaluator: Bud

Joke of the Day: Tryphine

Neil was sworn in during this meeting.

Awards at this meeting:

Best Table Topics, Tryphine

Best Evaluation, Laura

Best Speech, Tony

Officers Ann and Stephanie presented club business: roles for next week and announcement of the upcoming Officer's meeting on Friday, December 12. Check email for time and location.

Meeting adjourned: 8:00 AM

2 December 2008

December already! The end of the year approaches. There are five Tuesdays in this December. We will not be meeting as a club the last two Tuesdays of the year.

The theme for this meeting was EXERCISE. With so many holiday activities and such, you are commendable for staying physically active. During this meeting we discussed strategies for being active, which included combining holiday shopping with getting out and about and burning some calories. This was a timely and useful topic.

Of note at this meeting: New Officers stepping up for the next six-month term! 

For the next term (January 2009 to June 2009), the EarlyRisers Toastmasters Officers are:

President, Stephanie

Vice President of Membership, Bud

Vice President of Public Relations, Jane

Vice President of Education, Josie

Mentoring Coordinator, Daohua

Treasurer, Tryphine

Secretary, Connie

Sergeant at Arms, Mark

Attending: Bud, Kelly, Tryphine, Stephanie, Lee W., Daohua, Theo, Ann, Kelly, Tony, Mark, and Josie. Two guests today: Kevin and Akram.

Bud opened the meeting at 6:30 AM. Bud was also the Toastmaster for the day.

Stephanie provided the inspiration of the day, which unfortunately I didn't write down. So much happens at these meetings! It can go by fast. This meeting was not without inspiration, though. I do remember being especially inspired by Tony's description of Toastmasters being the practice of "trying to get comfortable in an uncomfortable situation." Tony is back from several weeks (or was it months?) of travel. Welcome back, Tony!

The speeches at this meeting:

1) Mark, "The Fungus Among Us," Competent Communication manual, speech #2 (Organize Your Speech), 5-7 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:07:13. Evaluated by Josie. Evaluation time: 00:03:00

2)Theo, "I am Theo," Competent Communication manual, speech #1 (the Ice Breaker), 4-7 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:06:13. Evaluated by Connie. Evaluation time: 00:02:49.

3)Kelly, "Ni Hau," Competent Communcation manual speech, #1 (the Ice Breaker in Mandarin Chinese!), 4-7 minutes. Actual delivery time: 00:04:30. Evaluated by Daohua (in English). Evaluation time: 00:02:50.

Other roles at this meeting:

Word Master: Kelly. The word of the day was conducive.

Ah Counter/Grammarian: Tryphine

Timer: Stephanie

General Evaluator: Tony

Joke Master: Kelly

Table Topics Master: Lee W.

At the conclusion of the General Evaluation of the meeting, Tony returned control of the meeting to Toastmaster, Bud. Reports from the grammarian and word master followed.

Awards at this meeting:

Best Table Topics, Tony

Best Evaluation, Josie

Best Speech, Mark

Officers Ann (president) and Stephanie (VP of Education) announced the roles for next week, and the new officers stepped forward to assume their new roles. There is an officer's meeting this coming Friday, December 12. Old and new officers will attend. 

The meeting ended with the joke from Kelly. Something about meeting an old girlfriend at a high school reunion.... It was funny! You had to be there. :-)

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 AM.