October 19, 2009 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

President Fred Maynard introduced our Toastmaster, Michael Giles. Michael chose "gratefulness" as his theme.

Timekeeper was Jane Sanford. All participants finished within time except Dan Naden.

Steve Gonzales was our Grammarian. 'Astonish' was the word of the day and got plenty of use during the meeting.

Glenn Nielsen was the One Minute Toastmaster. He reminded us that making bad Power Point presentations means a confused audience, muddying the message and distancing the receivers. A great Power Point slide should be like a bill board. Just a few words, clean graphics supporting the idea.

The Table Topics Master was Guoen Wang, who continued the theme of gratefulness. Guoen is grateful for being granted a Visa to the US, where he can make more money and have as many children as he wants.

• Edwin DeAngel - told us about Pastor Santos in Puerto Rico, who made a lasting impression on him. The Pastor encouraged him to play the piano for the church even when he only knew 2 hymns.
• Keith Taylor has had a lot of help along the way from special people...all named David. He told us about a few of them who helped him through different times of transition.
• Dugg Tankersley explained how joining the Kiwanis Club and Rotary helps him give back in a way that would be impossible to do alone. He is currently involved in a project to build cisterns for water storage in the mountains of rural Ecuador.
• Jon Beall said that it remains to be seen if being a mentor has been a help to the young man he has worked with in the past, who is currently in jail due to drug charges.
• Jim Comer talked about making a gratitude list when he is feeling down or jealous of others' success.

Jerry Barrett gave the first speech entitled "Take It Up A Notch," targeting the District 55 Website, of which he is now webmaster. Although the site is organized and straightforward, Jerry would like to see it be more aesthetically pleasing and have richer function in addition to being easier to maintain and update.

Harry Salvio gave a speech entitled "Housing." Harry started by having us imagine our dream home and then telling us that in Austin...we can't have that! He asserted that Austin has the most contentious building codes and attitudes in the state and even beats California in that regard. He backed up his statements with facts and statistics (home ownership in Austin - 47%/home ownership in U.S. - 76%). Harry ended by asking for advice in how to talk about this subject in new ways to change things at the legislative level.

Sonny Sonntag - Best Speaker - gave a speech about being a volunteer. He said that we volunteer each Monday when we come to Toastmasters and listen to the speakers. He suggested becoming part of a charitable organization and making a difference that way. He still volunteers delivering books for RIF. His speech was funny, moving and motivating.

Antoinette Griffin was our General Evaluator. She is grateful for her health. She suggested that the President contact the Toastmaster before the meeting to obtain a more detailed introduction, which helps lend an air of professionalism to the meeting.

Mike Prentice was Table Topics Evaluator. He said, "What is there NOT to be grateful for?" Guoen Wang followed the theme of the meeting and did a good job checking on time to see if we were on time with the meeting. Edwin DeAngel was enthusiastic, but needs to take his hand out of his pocket. Keith Taylor has a very engaging and conversation style and is well organized. Dugg Tankersley gave a typically solid response and was also well organized. John Beall had his hands on his hips like he was warming up to throw a baseball. Watching Jim Comer is like going to a clinic on gestures. Since Mike is used to Jim using up every minute, he was surprised when Jim ended his talk more quickly.

Dan Naden is grateful for morning walks with his dog, Bailey. He evaluated Jerry, who is going for his Leader Silver and always achieving at Toastmasters. Jerry has instant credibility and a positive presence. He uses good eye contact and is very knowledgeable. A suggestion might be to steer away from talking about style sheets and get to the "what's in it for me". Testimonials might help make his point.

Peter Ryon evaluated Harry Salvio, who gave his speech out of the Public Relations manual. Harry helped Peter adopt a new view of the subject. He was effective in the visioning of the dream house and used statistics well in building his case. He might use more visualization relating to the restrictions to help the audience picture them and also would have like more information on voting issues.

Edwin DeAngel is grateful for no injuries during his 10k run yesterday. Sonny gave us an inspiring story and was focused on the optimistic. His content was very effective, but he might think about moving around more to keep his stance from being static.

Comments:

• Bill Williams said it was a great meeting and he was astonished at the inspiration.
• Jerry Barrett reminded us that Glenn Nielsen will be competing in the TableTopics Contest at the Division level at LCRA Red Bud Center. Contact Jerry or Glenn for details.