October 22, 2007 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Balcones Toastmasters October 22, 2007

Chapter 3407 District 55

Minutes of Meeting

The October 22nd meeting was opened a by President Jonathan Huizingh. He announced that our contestants Jim Comer (humorous speech) and Steve Gonzales (evaluator) won the Area contest as there were no other contestants!

• Harry Savio led Prayer & Pledge and handled Sergeant at Arms like a champ.

• Rick Bradstreet served as Toastmaster and the meeting flowed smoothly.

• Melissa Lynott was the Timer and reported most everyone kept their parts short.

• Antoinette Griffin was the tough Grammarian and chose "polemic" (a noun meaning one who argues with an opinion) for the word for the day. Karen, Sonny, Gordon and Jim used it but only 2 correctly. Antoinette caught everyone (except Jonathan) with bad grammar or filler words. Excellent report!

• Scott Perry was One Minute Toastmaster - Handsome in his suit jacket, Scott urged us all to dress it up. Dress one notch higher than the audience. They'll think you're smarter and you'll feel better.

Table Topics Master was Dan Naden. Dan got an early start with a theme of Halloween.

• Steve Gonzales - tied winner - 1:16 - If Steve is going to be a super hero, he'll be Super Man. the number one super hero... faster than a speeding bullet.

• Jerry Barrett - 0:56 - Jerry likes to be a monster at Halloween to scare the little kids with his "smile" and then give them their treats.

• Jonathan Huizingh - 0:48 - As a clown he'd be all fun, cute and balloons around the parents and then be scary to little kids who are scared of clowns.

• Harry Savio - 0:41 - Harry says pirates are all about being free and independent and not following any laws... like the city council.

• Anne Child - tied winner - 1:09 - Anne remembered dressing up as a frilly princess but really enjoying the big harvest moon the best.

Speaker #1 - Sonny Sonntag - 4:58 - Sonny filled in with a full length speech at the impromptu request of Rick. Sonny spoke of the wrestling matches at Oklahoma A&M. He spoke of 2 fellows putting on a skit wrestle at half time of a basketball game. People thought one was hurt but it was just play. He won a match but he doesn't remember the pin down but he believes the story from the official.

Speaker #2 - Amanda Garner - 4:04 - "What's New with the Flu" - The flu causes fever, chills and body aches that last for 4-7 days. Flu season is October - February. Fortunately there is plenty of flu vaccine this year. High risk people should get the vaccine, children, those with diabetes, lung and kidney disease, people on chemotherapy, those working and living in health care environments, and pregnant women. Call your doctor or pharmacy or visit www.findaflushot.com to find a flu shot near you.

Speaker #3 - Karen Bondy - winner - 7:52 - "Around the World in 80 Years" - Karen shared the moving story of her families physical and emotional journeys around the world revolving around her father's military career. From the constant moving to dealing with having a dad at war in Vietnam to living with him as an alcoholic after his return. Then in adulthood learning to love and appreciate each other anew. She acknowledged her father with a beautiful 80th birthday party and he acknowledged her for all that she and that day meant to him.

General Evaluator was Vlad Garner. Vlad appreciated people pitching in to fill roles at the last minute this morning, especially Sonny and his wonderful wrestling story.

• Table topics evaluator was Jim Comer - tied winner - 5:05 - Steve has a great voice and his topic flowed as if he was superman. Jim appreciated his use of "ancillary" and his comment about needing a new body to be superman. But since he didn't have a prepared speech, Steve should have stayed in front of the podium. Jerry talked about being tall and big but he should have used it and acted it out around the audience. Jonathan used the great tactic of referring to someone in the audience or in this case someone the audience knows ( J.D.). But he presented a dichotomy of a friendly and mean clown that was disturbing to Jim. Harry correctly asked for a repeat of the question and then let his topic away from pirates to what he wanted to talk about, the city council. Anne started out with a cute story of the princess but showed her real self when talking about the moon.

• Evaluator #2 for Amanda was Gordon Baker - tied winner - 2:11 - Gordon didn't hear the Um's that Amanda asked him to watch for. She started clasping her hands but gestures came later in the talk, let them flow naturally. She spoke like a medical professional. Gordon wanted to hear the history of flu and how it can be deadly and therefore it is important to get the vaccine. He wanted to hear if Amanda chose the nose spray over the shot and why.

• Evaluator #3 for Karen was Priscilla Oehlert - 3:13 - Priscilla acknowledged Karen for choosing a very emotional topic. She was conflicted about whether the speech was about Karen's father or about Karen and her emotions about her father.

• Evaluator #1 for Sonny was Hollis Baker - 2:02 - giving an impromptu evaluation for Sonny's impromptu speech, Hollis fessed up that at his age, he and Sonny could say whatever they wanted and get away with it as "old men." Then he invited us all to attend his 80th birthday bash on August 17th which Gordon now knows he has to live up to Karen's "around the world" precedence.

Timer and Grammarian gave their reports.

Amy Always submitted her application and was voted in but had to leave before the vote!

Jonathan reviewed the schedule for our next meeting on Monday October 29th and we adjourned 10 minutes early!

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