April 23, 2007 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Balcones Toastmasters April 23, 2007

Chapter 3407 District 55

Minutes of Meeting

The April 23th meeting was opened by Vice President Education Mary Buker.

• Dan Naden served as Toastmaster. He picked the Internet as a theme. We learned interesting facts, members opinions and learned how they use the Internet.

• Prayer & Pledge was lead by Rich Bradstreet. It was the first time I'd heard "repellent" use in a prayer. Rick also served as Sergeant at Arms.

• Timer was Matt Carlin. During his first experience at the clock, he kept the meeting rolling so he could get to an 8:00 conference call.

• Harry Savio was Grammarian and the word for the day was "golden" in celebration of his son's gold medal at the Special Olympics. It was used by Hollis, Sonny, Nancy (9 times!), Glenn, Steve G, Lesley, Matt and Mary. Harry enjoyed Hollis' use of "immersed" and "enveloped" and Nancy's "inner journey".

• One Minute Toastmaster was Anne Child. She explained the laser talk's EPIC format. Engage the listener, state the Problem, Inform of solutions, Call to action.

Table Topics Master was Mary Buker. She selected varied questions about the Internet.

• Karen Bundy - within time limit - Her favorite website is the HydroMet site giving statistics on water flow and rainfall along the entire Colorado River watershed, It allows her to get information at home.

• Hollis Baker - winner - 4 seconds over - Hollis told his story of learning to use a computer. He likes asking it a question and getting an answer. Hollis has a blog!

• Sonny Sonntag - 3 seconds over - Sonny gave an outsider's perspective of the Internet. People are not personally connected any more. We all agreed.

Speaker #1 Jonathan Huizingh - Most Improved - 7:30 - "Reckless Jonathan Huizingh" - Jonathan humorously described a typical drive to work with all the bad drivers on the road. He theorizes 50% of drivers are bad but 100% believe they are good. He wants to run for office with a platform of removing all the bad drivers from the road. He'll be elected... once!

Speaker #2 Nancy Davis - 7:03 - Ice Breaker - "Highlights of My Life" - Nancy grew up in Indianapolis going to Catholic school. She trained as a nurse and moved into administration until she had to layoff good nurses. She is most proud of raising a child. She loves to travel especially to Greece and Hawaii but her inner journeys are the most rewarding.

Speaker #3 Glenn Nielsen - winner - 8:08 - "Really?" - These were the confessions of a "Toastmaster Nerd." Glenn attends 3 groups meeting regularly, two of them at 6:45 AM. He attends meetings when he travels and has been to 15 in the Chicago area, one at a police station, and one in Hawaii. He even saw Miss North Carolina's icebreaker.

General Evaluator was Steve Helmke.

• Table topics evaluator was Steve Gonzales - 1:57 - Karen is a master of efficiency and directness. Hollis is expressive and Steve wants to know the three letter command that list all the other computer commands. Sonny described well the disconnect caused by the Internet. The human element is missing.

• Evaluator #1 for Jonathan was Jon Beall - 3:24 - Jonathan's lesson was "vocal variety" and Jonathan picked a wonderful topic to allow for sound effects. He suggested using silence as another vocal variety.

• Evaluator #2 for Nancy was Lesley Bradstreet - winner - 3:36 - Nancy's icebreaker was well organized. She used her notes which is OK but when she strayed, Nancy opened up. She teased us with many stories we hope to hear more about later and used the word of the day the most ever reported. For future speeches, pick one topic and tell your story.

• Evaluator #3 for Glenn was Jennifer Wagner - 2:11 - Jennifer was really drawn in by all the stories. He caught her attention with "Toastmaster Nerd" and "human sacrifice" - he scoured the Hawaii church brochure for the latter. Jennifer wants to know, how many groups has Glenn visited total?

Timer and Grammarian gave their reports. Bill Beall visiting with brother Jon felt welcomed. John McMillan enjoyed the meeting too.

Mary reviewed the schedule for our next meeting on Monday April 23th. Future schedules are available at http://www.balconestoastmasters.org/schedule/ .

We adjourned close to 8:00. These minutes provided courtesy of the Internet.