December 1, 2008 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Mike Prentice was the Toastmaster of the day. He had us recollecting favorite movies and scenes.

• Jason Boehle first time visitor.

Karen Bondy opened with Prayer & Pledge encouraging us to openly express our feelings for those in our lives.

• Charlie Cole as Timekeeper had his hands full with extra-time-needed speeches.
• Steve Gonzales, Grammarian, picked “incumbent” as the word of the day. It was used in its various meanings: holding an office, obligatory, and resting/lying/leaning. Ums were used by Sylvester, Fred, Cathy, Harry, Dugg and Anne.
• Jon Beall as One Minute Toastmaster instructed us on how to make sure the audience doesn’t fall asleep. Provide bumper sticker moments. Read quotable quotes to fill your rolodex of quotes.

Megan Morris took on Table Topic Master for the first time and did well grilling the participants with movie questions.

• Jerry Barrett found the opening scene on Saving Private Ryan very graphic, hopefully impressing on the audience that war is dumb and we should avoid it. Then in one of the final scenes after the heroic battle, the sergeant, tells Ryan with his last words “You earn it.”
• Laura Ivy-Schultz, in her first table topic appearance, suggested that a movie about her life would be about volleyball at SWT as sports teaches you many life lessons including to accomplish goals.
• Jim Comer – Best Table Topic – He would show High Noon to kids. Trouble comes on the high noon train and the citizens of the town chicken out. But Sherriff Gary Cooper succeeds. It is important to stand alone no matter what the cost.

Sylvester Levario – tied Most Improved - Changes in Life – Ice breaker – Sylvester is from Judge Roy Bean’s town, Pecos Texas. It’s an oil and gas town. His parents owned a grain combine and his grandparents had a farm. The whole family worked together. There were 2 sisters and 6 brothers in his family. He went off to college in El Paso but then his parents divorced and his mother got cancer. He decided to move home to raise the little kids. His sister in Houston helped during treatments for his mom. When his little brothers went to school in Austin, he fell in love with our city. He brought his brother to Austin from Lansing Michigan during a driving snowstorm. Now he is in technical regulation work at Emerson Processing. Nothing is wrong with change if it is in the right direction.

Fred Maynard - tied Most Improved – Christmas Memories – Fred painted a picture of his childhood. Everyone came together to Grandma’s house with a big tree, bright lights and homemade noodles together. IN the basement they popped popcorn in a wire basket in the fireplace. Santa came on Christmas Eve and all the kids had one last chance to tell him what they wanted. In later year, after Fred learned there was no Santa, he found the presents stashed under the guest bed. He rode his pink skate board after school before he received the gift on Christmas Day. He urged us all to think about the Christmas memories we can create with our loved ones.

Dan Naden – Best Speaker – The Briefing – Dan urged CEOs to consider email marketing to get our message to the public. It is a relatively cheap, direct method that can give you feedback on who you are reaching. First, you want to learn what content works. Put yourself in the shoes of your target. Find a subject line that will entice them. Give them valuable information and then an opportunity to take action. You can use marketing services to provide feedback on: 1) deliverability - # of people that the email actually reached (did not bounce or get stuffed into a spam folder), 2) open rate – # of folks that actually opened the email (proving your subject was enticing), 3) click through rate - # of folks that took the action you suggested (by clicking on a link for more information or to order). Campaignmonitor.com provides these metrics. But Dan reminds us not to forget the face time. Follow up in person with your customers! Dan’s speech was followed by a Q&A that brought out questions showing great interest from the audience.

Jonathan Huizingh – final :-{ General Evaluator – Jonathan thought movies was a great theme and found Jon’s One Minute advice useful. Harry didn’t shake hands after his evaluation. Cathy was encouraging. Dugg didn’t recap during his evaluation but correctly talked about the pros and cons of the speech. Dan really drew in the audience.

• Harry Savio – Table Topics Evaluator – Jerry had good hand gestures but could try to draw in people more. Laura gave a good first Table Topic with her good presence and wrapping up with a smile. Take time to tell your story. Jim concluded with a powerful pause.
• Cathy Lovelady evaluated Sylvester – He was relaxed, used good gestures, spoke to everyone, and was warm and personal. He kept one hand his pocket, however.
• Dugg Tankersley evaluated Fred – Best Evaluator – Fred has childlike enthusiasm and brought it to life by relating specific memories, like Grandma’s noodles. He did stay still and at first was touching his hands together but transitioned to good gestures later.
• Anne Child evaluated Dan – Dan’s speech was well organized with 3 main points. He build accountability with personal experiences and quoting well known authorities. He continued with more good information in the Q&A tailored to the questions. He used some jargon (ROI) and introduced the idea of Blocking Domains during Q&A but didn’t have time to get into it.

• Michael Giles was voted into the group. He feels like he’s back in school where he’s a student and everyone else is a teacher.
• Sonny Sonntag says Toastmasters gives him memories.
• Jane Sanford would show To Kill A Mockingbird to teach kids not to judge by looks.
• Jason Boehle was in Toastmasters before. He liked the flow of our meeting.
• Guoen Wang was happy to just have asked a question during Dan’s Q&A.