August 20, 2007 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Balcones Toastmasters August 20, 2007

Chapter 3407 District 55

Minutes of Meeting

The August 20th meeting was opened a by President Jonathan Huizingh.

• Frank Peters served steadily as Toastmaster. This theme was memories of learning to drive.

• Anne Child led Prayer & Pledge and served as Sergeant at Arms.

• John Allert was the Timer and kept the program rolling .

• Jerry Barrett was Grammarian and chose "mellifluous" (meaning flowing with sweetness) for the word for the day. It was used by Matt, Sonny, Frank, Antoinette, Hollis, Steve G., Steve L, and Anne. Jerry gave a detailed report of repeated words, um's, ah's and other oddly spoken phrases.

• Matt Carlin was One Minute Toastmaster - Matt spoke about the value of table topics in everyday life. Not only does it allow everyone to participate in the meeting but ie develops skills for speaking and thinking on your feet.

Table Topics Master was Darlene North. Darlene kept with the topic of the day and asked various driving questions.

• Hollis Baker - 1:37 - Hollis treated us to his story of learning to drive in a apple box cart suspended on tricycle wheels coasting down Liberty Hill.

• Harry Savio - 1:56 - Harry's first auto accident was with a tourist parked illegally in the National Forest with whom he collided while chasing down a service truck dropping TP and other paper products. Since he was a park official, he declared the accident to be the tourist's fault.

• Jonathan Huizingh- winner - 2:43 - Jonathan regaled us his run from the law, down a side street, waiting for the police to pass, to prevent getting a 5 mph speeding ticket while driving home from volunteering at the Cedar Park animal shelter. The lady cops slapped him with a ticket for avoidance.

• Sonny Sonntag - 2:15 - Sonny described a road trip through "most of nothing" west Texas, meeting friendly people along the way, to a family visit in California. He reminds us the it's more fun to drive 55 instead of 70 and everywhere there are fun and interesting sites to see.

Speaker #1 - Jake North - 6:12 - "Eating right for your type" - Jake related information from the book by this name by Peter D'Adamo The theory (love it or leave it) is that the different antigens in the various blood types allow and prevent various foods from being absorbed and utilized properly. Type O is the original hunter blood type. Type A evolved in agrarian societies and Type B in fishing communities. He has seen benefits from avoiding wheat and dairy products as recommended for Type 0's. (Secretary's note: search on the web to find lots of supplemental books on pregnancy, allergies, cancer, etc!).

Speaker #2 Priscilla Oehlert - most improved - 6:20 - "Risks never sleep" - Priscilla educated us on risk management. 1) identify exposures (human resources, liability, property, income) 2) analyse claims (cause and cost), 3) develop a control program 4) consider financing (deductible vs. direct costs), 5) implement the ability to track each of these steps. Investors look at risk measurement = (insurance cost + losses + outside costs + administration)/revenue. Each of us is a risk manager of our own lives.

Speaker #3 - Karen Bondy - 6:09 - winner - "Raising adopted identical twins"- Karen told the story of Jade and Julie, her adopted twins from China. Twins have a bond because they have each other and shared history and interests. Her girls did not cry when handed to their new parents in China since they had each other. They tried separating them in pre-school to develop independence but Julie withered. They like to dress alike and if one chooses something else, the other claims "you're not on my team."

General Evaluator was Antoinette Griffin. Frank chose a creative theme. She liked the word of the day. Matt showed confidence as One Minute Toastmaster and chose a great topic.

• Table topics evaluator was Hollis Baker - 2:20 - Hollis wishes he had given his spot to our guest, Carrie. Harry's table topic was a job well done... no further comment since Harry had left. Jonathan changed his subject to tell a great story. It reflected his security. However he had Ums and crossed his arms. Sonny told a good story and gave advice on how to enjoy a trip.

• Evaluator #1 for Jake was Jennifer Wagner - winner - 2:51 - Jake has a commanding presence and good eye contact. He could have expressed excitement more dramatically. Jennifer was hoping for more examples of diet recommendations for other blood types.

• Evaluator #2 for Priscilla was Dan Naden- 3:37 - Priscilla give a great speech, especially considering it was just her 3rd. She got to the point and clearly informed us about risk management with no notes. Dan wanted a more complete story/example of IHOP dealing with risk management. Priscilla's gestures stayed centered near her mid section. Her introduction and conclusion were brief but the overall contact and visuals were strong.

• Evaluator #3 for Karen was Steve Gonzales- - 1:58 - Karen used good gestures in her "your body speaks" speech but could have used more. Her purpose was clear and Steve enjoyed the connection between her being an Irish twin to the kids being identical twins. Her story was believable and flowed well.

Timer and Grammarian gave their reports.

Steve Levering shared the wonders of learning to drive from his dad who is blind.

Carrie, here from California for 3 months to work at Abbott, enjoyed visiting our group.

Amy Always (sp?) joined us at the beginning of the meeting

Jonathan reviewed the schedule for our next meeting on Monday August 27th.

Future schedules are available at http://www.balconestoastmasters.org/schedule/ . Videos will be uploaded to http://www.esnips.com/web/BalconesToastmasters/?v=667987&source=ws .