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.