October 29, 2007 Minutes
From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)
Balcones Toastmasters October 29, 2007
Chapter 3407 District 55
Minutes of Meeting
The October 29th meeting was opened 10 minutes late a by Vice President Mary Buker.
- Melissa Lynott led Prayer & Pledge and took on Sergeant at Arms for the first time.
- Jerry Barrett was Toastmaster introduced everyone with thoughts on sports.
- Steve Gonzales was the Timer and promises to work on the screaming red light.
- Hollis Baker was the Grammarian and allowed most any word having to do with sports, active or sedentary.
- Sonny Sonntag was One Minute Toastmaster - Sonny one upped Scott from last week by wearing a suit for his duties. He stressed to us that we needed to put professionalism into each of the roles we fill in Toastmasters as each role has a mission.
Glenn Nielsen was Table Topics Master. He asked varied and probing questions about sports.
- Melissa Lynott - 1:30 - The sport Missy grew to like is tennis. She and her mom pretended to be Chris Everett and Billy Jean King.
- Jim Comer - winner - 2:15 - Jim likes baseball because he went to Cleveland and Atlanta Crackers games with his family.
- Steve Gonzales - 1:04 - Steve's most bizarre sports memory is of his football team dressing up as cheerleaders for their pep rally.
- Scott Perry - 1:05 - Scott described Ultimate Fighting Championship as wrestling, boxing and street fighting combined. It's very gory, not something he likes to watch.
Speaker #1 - Anne Child - winner & most improved - 6:44 - "You are Invited" - Anne invited everyone to the RESULTS fundraiser with Jim as M.C. and Turk Pipkin as keynote speaker. She mentioned RESULTS' causes and urged folks to come find out more.
Speaker #2 - Harry Savio - 6:50 - "Single Member Districts" - Harry presented argument both for and against single member districts in Austin. He mentioned problems in the city government that might be better overseen if we representation that was responsible to particular constituents rather than to the city at large. The Hispanics, though possessing a position through a gentleman's agreement, are under represented.
General Evaluator was Scott Perry. Scott was appreciative of our members not skipping a beat even though there are last minute changes to the schedule.
- Table topics evaluator was Mary Buker -4:30 - Melissa repeated the question and listed a few other spots before she lit on tennis. She spoke to the 4th light in the ceiling and forgot to shake the TT Master's hand, otherwise a pretty strong response. Jim didn't hesitate in his answer and had great vocal variety. He almost forgot to shake hands at the end. Steve was silent for a while but was cleaver with "I'm working on the pause." She liked is description of the "burly guys and then me." He looks around the room well but could stick with a person for a while. Scott acted out the fighting. She liked "not for the weak of heart or stomach." He put his hands on his hips once... not that there's anything wrong with that.
- Evaluator #1 for Anne was Steve Helmke - 3:03 - One of Anne's best. She was passionate and powerful. No notes and a good call to action. He wanted to hear how coming to the event would benefit him.. She had praying hands at the beginning and could have used vocal variety and pauses better.
- Evaluator #2 for Harry was Antoinette Griffin - winner - 3:18 - Harry referred to his notes since he had lots of facts. He could have been more effective if he put them on the lectern. He had tons of examples which were strong but rushed. If he had paused to let them sink in, it would have been powerful. It was great that he countered with reasons not to support single member districts.
Timer and Grammarian gave their reports.
Rick reported that the game of cricket is slow drip torture.
Mary reviewed the schedule for our next meeting on Monday November 5th and we adjourned on time!
Future schedules are available at http://www.balconestoastmasters.org/schedule/
