October 15, 2007 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Balcones Toastmasters October 15, 2007

Chapter 3407 District 55

Minutes of Meeting

The October 16th meeting was opened a by Contest Chairman Jerry Barrett. Jerry organized the event keeping track of every detail. He dealt with cancellation of various roll participants, even this morning, without breaking a sweat. He deserves our greatest gratitude.

Hollis Baker served as Toastmaster. Hollis served masterfully following the prescribed script during the event but filling the wait periods with storybook tales of Liberty Hill and John Steel.

Evaluation Contest

Dan Naden was our test speaker for the evaluation contest. His speech was not intended to be a humorous speech but he had enthralled with his beautiful descriptions of playing soccer as a youth and in college. They learned early to work as a team of 11 vs. 11, everyone focused on one goal. His group of 6-7 year olds won the city championship. In college, the team appreciation of every team member grew as they lived, traveled, worked out and shared their lives together.

• Antoinette Griffin - 1st place - Antoinette was the first participant in the evaluation contest. She told how Dan painted a picture and used small and large gestures effectively. Not only did he scan the room to make eye contact, he locked eyes. She noted nervous side-to-side pacing and thought his descriptions sounded rehearsed. For the latter, she suggested he use pauses and more vocal variety.

• Steve Gonzales - 2nd place - Steve was the second participant in the evaluation contest. He really felt Dan's passion for soccer through is memorable picture words. Dan's posture, gestures, and eye contact were all great. Dan brought it home to the audience and we can appreciate what soccer means to him.

• Jonathan Huizingh - 3rd place - Jonathan was the third participant in the evaluation contest. Dan gave amazing descriptions and great introduction. Jonathan was able to relate Dan's story to his own soccer experience. Nothing about Dan's presentation was distracting and the content was great. At the beginning Dan had said he wanted to share his passion with his kids but did not say how he wanted to accomplish this nor did he encourage us with ways we could get involved with soccer.

Humorous Speech Contest

• Jonathan Huizingh - 3rd place - "Computer Programming & Indoor Soccer" - Jonathan was the first participant in the humorous speech contest. Jonathan described the trials and tribulations of playing soccer with a team of geeks many of whom have never played soccer before. They lost badly in their first game. In the next, Jonathan fell and hurt his knee badly but scored a goal as he hobbled to the sideline, sadly the only goal of the game. As he rehabbed his knee, the team trained and now operates more as at team. They have yet to win a game. Really Jonathan's tragic story was very funny!

• Jim Comer - 1st place - "To Pay the Rent" - Jim was the second participant in the humorous speech contest. Jim described his attempt at fame and fortune via the TV game circuit. He described how this high-strung man was able to finally get on $10,000 pyramid by befriending the casting judge and then how he progressed to the final pyramid question by terrorizing the celebrity contestants and finally bringing home $3,300 enough to pay the rent. Also a story that was much funnier than this description.

• Steve Levering - 2nd place - "Forever Behind" - Steve was the third participant in the humorous speech contest. Steve flowed from one one-liner to another in his description of finding a gastro interologist for a colonoscopy. He didn't go to Drs. Butt, Hiney Tusch or O'rear. But his doctor does stand behind his work. He described the preparation process as nothing less than a Hiroshima event. I wish I could remember more but Steve ended soberingly to urge us to get a colonoscopy as too many of us will get colon cancer.

Many thanks are due to the many volunteers filling various roles. The visiting judges were:

• Lorraine Boyden
• John Boyden
• Rich Bassemir
• Ravi Mayavaram
• Richard Hartman
• Bill Stevens

Other roles were filled by our own members:

• Harry Savio - Sergeant at Arms
• Jerry Barrett - Sergeant at Arms & Prayer & Pledge
• Karen Bondy - Timer
• Anne Child - Timer (when she remembered... thank goodness we had Karen!)
• John McMillan - Ballot Counter
• Sonny Sonntag - Ballot Counter
• Arthur Vanderbilt - Ballot Counter
• Anne Child - Awards Chair
• Anne Child - Chief Judge

No one was disqualified due to going over time!

Future schedules are available at http://www.balconestoastmasters.org/schedule/ .