March 9, 2009 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Mary Buker, president, was also the Toastmaster of the day. Her theme was March Madness… broadly Spring!

• Peter Ryon opened with Prayer & Pledge giving thanks for this opportunity to learn to speak.
• Jerry Barrett, Timekeeper, tracked and reported our use of time. We started a bit late and ended a bit late.
• Laura Ivy Schultz, Grammarian, kept an ear out for our use of language including the word of the day “Salient” (prominent, conspicuous)… used by Megan, Peter and Jerry.
• Priscilla Oehlert was One Minute Toastmaster. Priscilla urged us to practice, practice, practice. Don’t wait until the last day to prepare your speech. Practice it 10-15 times while recording and timing yourself. You’ll feel the difference.

Jane Sanford took her first swing at Table Topic Master. She stuck to the theme of “spring” but her questions involved different meanings on the word.

• Dugg Tankersley deals with Spring Fever by going outside and breathing in deeply and soaking in the sunshine. He’s grateful for the change of seasons (Hawaii is the same all the time) but glad we aren’t shut in for too long (like Chicago).
• Mark Hicks remembers when he was 16 in the 1960s and wanted to impress a girl. He bought her a plastic Easter bunny. But then was nervous so just dropped it off and ran. Later she called him to say that she really liked the bunny.
• David Gaddy – Best Table Topic – David springs from people who enjoy the earth, hiking and hunting. But often he is not appreciative of hunters. But another thing his dad was great at was getting to know all people, no matter their outlook.
• Bruce Solberg remembers the feeling of being set free from school for the summer. He and his friends had shaving crème fights… spraying old-fashioned shaving cream, not the gel kind, all over each other. It was a blast.

Megan Morris - Experimental Megan – 6:04 – Megan told us about several different things she has tried to improve herself: stop eating corn syrup, stop eating wheat (cured her achy joints), stop eating refined sugar, join Toastmasters, learn to photo read, tried polyphasic sleep (20 minutes every 4 hours), stop eating meat most of the time (she doesn’t feel sluggish anymore). She tried them for a reasonable period and has stuck to some of them. She has figured out her limits and that she can push herself.

Mike Carr – Best Speaker – 8:35 – Quasi Icebreaker - Joyful Chaos – Mike started with a joke about a fellow who went to a bar everyday to drink 4 vodkas. When asked why, the fellow said he and his 3 brothers had a pact to have a drink “together” every day, wherever they were. One day he only got 3 vodkas. Fearing one brother had died, the bartender asked why the change. But thankfully, the fellow had only decided that he’d stop drinking. The point, life is about change. One day in college his professor debated with him about the reason for the revolution. Mike ended up just getting frustrated. He learned from his professor that he would do well to consider that he could be wrong. He married and they were going to be career minded and not have any kids. Then some how she got pregnant and now they have 8 kids. In 1994 when the bond market melted down occurred, he learned that he should have focused on the process and that path will eventually take him to the summit. Change is the constant. Life is going to be chaotic. We can choose to make it joyful.

Michael Giles – Most Improved - Positive Self Talk – 9:55 – What you say to yourself can affect reality. He was a crappy English teacher in Japan. Kids spoke badly about him. He started telling himself “I am a good English teacher”. Eventually he was saying “Thank you God for making me an incredible English teacher” and things started to change. Auto-suggestions can help. He took us through how to improve your suggestions. “Everyday and every way, I am getting better and better.” 1) Make it present tense. 2) Make the language positive. 3) Pre-suppose (state your feelings). 4) Super charge it with God. So that it becomes “Thank you God, for everyday in every way, I am happy that I am good.”

Jason Boehle, General Evaluator, urged us to think about what change we need in our lives.

• Charlie Cole evaluated Table Topics – Jane was clever in her use of several definitions of spring. Dugg reflected, took a pause. Charlie could feel the sun. He liked how he contrasted the various locations. Dugg could start hitting on all cylinders. Mark had us from the get-go as his story was real to many people here. His gestures could be bigger. David had great gestures, vocal variety and humor. Bruce gave good detail by reminding us about the change in shaving crèmes.
• Guoen Wang evaluated Megan. Her speech was very personal, who knows the topic better than Megan? You could feel her arthritis. He felt lighter when she ate fresh veggies. We all felt her excitement.
• Antoinette Griffin evaluated Mike. Mike is a CTM but this was his first speech in our club. He started with a joke then related it to the speech. He outlined changes in is life… changes in outlook and priorities. Antoinette was confused about the path and the process. His conclusion wrapped it all up well. He was confident and showed no nervous habits. He looked like he was having fun. The joke was long and many have made him shorten the end of his speech.
• Dan Naden evaluated Michael – Best Evaluator – This reminded Dan of David Brooks’ stages of speaking (concern for self, message and audience). Michael is already at the second stage and he can see him getting to the third. Michael has knowledge of the subject matter. His passion and energy level is good. Good outline with 3 suggestions. Michael’s tone was borderline yelling. He should whisper for effect sometimes. The introduction did not match the conclusion. His ending seemed abrupt.

Comments from other attendees:

• Sonny Sonntag – There were a plethora of salient remarks.
• Anne Child – March Madness means CROP Walk where RESULTS gets people to write postcards on an issue of poverty… that is if the wind doesn’t blow them away.
• Sylvester Levario - Change with the seasons as they come along.
• Jim Comer took 4 pages of notes from the wonderful speeches.
• Jon Beall has it all documented on video.
• Fred Maynard was just happy to be here to hand out the awards.

Business:

• David Gaddy was voted into Balcones Toastmasters. Welcome!
• Dan Naden reminded us that dues of $45 are due by April 1.
• Laura Ivy Schultz invited us all to a SXSW party at Sholz’s Garden.