June 2, 2008 Minutes
From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)
Congratulations!
Jim Comer took 1st Place at the District 55 International Speech Contest!
Balcones Toastmasters received an award for having 4 member complete Competent Communicator!
Glenn Nielsen completed his 10th speech from Silver Advance Competent Communicator manual today.
Kathy Lovelady, a former Round Rock Toastmaster, visited our group for the first time today. She brought her checkbook to sign up.
Jerry Barrett presided over the meeting capably while Jonathan was away taking the next step towards being a fireman.
Mary Buker rooted the meeting as Toastmaster with thoughts on gardening.
- Anne Child led Prayer & Pledge.
- Steve Gonzales was timer.
- Mike Prentice counted Ahs from half of the participants and 3 people (Jerry, Sonny, Mary) used the word of the day "guerdon" meaning reward (winning word in the recent spelling bee contest).
- Gordon Baker's One Minute Toastmaster speech instructed us to connect to unfamiliar audiences by telling a joke involving at least one member of the audience but making yourself the butt of the joke.
Jerry Barrett lead Table Topics keeping to the gardening theme.
- Fred Maynard - winner - Fred grows tomatoes, peppers and peas. His wife has an all out war (fought with the garden hose) on the squirrels who harvest their pecan tree.
- Kathy Lovelady loves her iris as she does not have to tend to them, they come up and bloom with no fuss. She is "in the audience not the director seat" of their splendor.
- Sonny Sonntag doesn't have a garden but if he did, he knows his efforts to scare away squirrels and deer would not have the desired effect.
- Anne Child would let her neighbor steal her tomatoes in order to keep peace in the neighborhood.
Glenn Nielson - winner - "A Glimpse of Heaven" - Glenn related the story from "90 minutes in heaven," the story of a man who died as an 18-wheeler creamed his Ford Escort. He saw the bright light and deceased friends & relatives who had helped him along his path of Christianity. Then he went to the pearly gates and got a glimpse of Heaven before returning to earth. His messages: Do you know where you will go?
John McMillan - Most Improved - "Why Privacy Rights Are Crucial" - John urged us to investigate if we have reports filed about us. He has found that when he filed a complaint about someone stalking him, a report was filed saying that he was bright, articulate, that he could mover around the U.S. and could easily buy a weapon (as most of us could). Another memo filed at Texas A&M questioned speeches he made in Austin about tripling the number of bus stops. We benefit from being in charge of our lives. Protect yourself from dishonest communications.
Jim Comer - "A Rose for Mrs. Kennedy" - Jim reworked this story and wanted our help refining it for the next level of International Speech Contest in two weeks. Jim's story is of a young Trinity student, in awe of the Kennedy's being able to catch a glimpse of them in a motorcade. Spur of the moment, he bought a rose and attached "Welcome to Texas from a friendly Republican." He was able to run past police and secret service agents to hand the rose to Jackie. She shared the note with JFK who laughed. 22 hours later, JFK was assassinated in Dallas.
Karen Bondy, General Evaluator, appreciated the great evaluations from those she introduced. She was especially appreciative of Priscilla being excited to evaluate John.
- Vlad Garner evaluated the Table Topics. He liked the way Jerry addressed the victim and then posed the question. Fred had fantastic vocal variety, word usage and visuals but did have some hand pinching. Kathy had good eye contact and impressed Vlad with her audience/director seat metaphor. Sonny used the word of the day but ended too abruptly. Anne attempted a Hollis story but also was too abrupt.
- Harry Savio evaluated Glenn's speech. Glenn has great hand gestures & timing and has a voice that projects even when speaking softly. The beginning seemed a little rough to Harry and he suggested a pause on either side of the last line "Do you know where you will go?"
- Priscilla Oehlert - winner - Priscilla evaluated John's speech. His topic was interesting, we hear so many different topics. He had a good introduction making us wonder if we are hounded. She could feel and see his passion. As always John had good research. He came out from the lectern and used his notes well for quotes but was grounded in one place so tended to look to the left side of the room only. It would be good to move around and emphasize points with pauses.
- Antoinette Griffin evaluated Jim's speech. Jim was well within time at 5:35. He painted a picture of a young man, the fiesta at the parade and handing the rose to Jackie. If worried about time, Jim could leave out the part about waiting and waiting on the motorcade and the point of borrowing a ballpoint pen to write the note. For dramatic effect, whisper "she took the rose!" Another good visual was of Jack laughing but please pause before and after "he died 22 hours later." In the conclusion perhaps develop more about how this event affected this young man.
