November 27, 2007 by Deborah.

Hello,

It was a chilly but lively night tonight, with 13 members and 2 guests present. One member who had a role no-showed. The evaluations were superb!

Our SAA, Keith Schroeder had the room in order when we arrived. He welcomed us and we pledged our allegiance. Deborah Hill stood in for Paul Johnson, our acting president of this month. The roles were shuffled quickly. In the past we’ve been able to quickly fill roles. Unfortunately, lately we haven’t had enough people to fill-in and people are doubling up on roles. Please fill your spot if you can’t attend. If you have a last minute emergency get in touch by phone with the TM or anyone who’s attending so that those present can shuffle quickly.
Deborah Hill was also our Toastmaster.

GE: Merrilee Morris
GR: Bill Hoskin
Timer: Steve Cohn
Camera Person: Kelly Vandever

Our speakers:
Dave Flach spoke to us as his “employees” and explained the Forestry Stewardship Council certification that is now in place at his company. We learned a great deal about trees, paper, the environment, and what’s being done to help save trees in the printing industry.

Jon Schwartz brought Vinny with him tonight, who spoke humorously on the law of attraction and what more is needed to make it all work (such as work). His speech will be part of his closing keynote at the 2007 convention of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. Way to go Jon!

Mike Himelstein took us on a poetic trip through the woods of Mississippi. His picturesque descriptions lit up the story.

Our break was filled with conversation and just a little food. In the past the speakers brought snacks. Shall we reinstate this? If so bring only small stuff that can be eaten by hand. Also, all food will go home with the members, or be thrown away.

Merrilee Morris passed out a sign up sheet for our party, which will be held at Vicki Willard’s home on Dec. 17 at 5:30 pm. It will be a potluck with heavy hors d’oeuvres and desserts. Please email Merrilee to tell her if you’ll be attending or not, how many guests you’ll have with you and what food you’ll bring. The club will supply wine and soft drinks. Bring your own beverage if these don’t suffice.

We ended early and everyone hung out and talked.

See you next week.

My Best,
Deborah Hill
Secretary

Posted in News | Print | No Comments »

November 21, 2007 by Merrilee Morris.

Wow, what a meeting! I’m still energized, spiritually fed, and just plain overwhelmed at the caliber of our SRT Club Meeting last night. From the moment Keith Schroder called us to order and our Acting President, Paul Johnson, acted, we were in for a totally off-the-chart Toast Master evening. Keith also served as the General Evaluator with Paul Poodt as timer, Mike Himelstein as grammarian, and Kelly Vandever as camera person. Hats off to Kelly as she filmed all four speeches her first time at the lens!

Peter Gibson was our charming and witty Toast Master. He kept the meeting on track with four speakers, even entertained us with jokes he’d learned from his son while the DVDs were formatting. First up to speak was Donna Satchell. She more than inspired us with her speech, The Phone Call. She encouraged each us to make a special effort to thank individuals who had made important differences or contributions to our lives; that it was never too late. She gave a polished, professional and inspirational account of her 15 year in-the-making thank you phone call and the moving written response she had received.

Paul Johnson somehow turned a story telling project into a lesson on the dangers of complacency. His speech, The Bears were NOT Goldilocks’ Problem was entertaining, informative and oh so fun! Paul took an old folk tale and with humor and insight turned it into a unique and contemporary business lesson.

Following a Toast Master Gibson Rui Li teaser, we took a short break enjoying chocolate donuts, deviled eggs, and water.

True to his word, Peter introduced Speaker #3, Rui Li who gave her Icebreaker (audition) speech. With a twinkle in her eye, a sparkle in her voice, and her arms gesturing the way, she zipped us through China, California, and landed us smoothly in Atlanta at the CDC, all under the title of A Generation “X.” We learned what a wonderful Toast Master fanatic she is via humor involving family and friends. Her parents know one word in English; Toastmasters. We know one word in Chinese, Rui.

Next on the program was our 4th speaker, Linda Love. Linda’s title was Flakes. Linda is a baby boomer, who came of age with the Feminist Movement. Her developing career as a news reporter, caught her life up not only covering this movement, but becoming a part of it. She shared many heartfelt thoughts with us about the price many boomer women paid by pursuing careers and listening to the flakes in the feminist movement. Linda’s experience is a moving testament to some of this movements consequences.

Ah, closing time following the Evaluation Team reports, and no one wants the evening to end; not the members in attendance nor our three guests, Osker Hofer, Rui Li and Cindy Light. We move on to Club business and unanimously vote Rui Li membership in Speakers Roundtable. We welcome and congratulate Rui.

This was close to a 10 Wow night. Thank you everyone!

Next week: Toast Master: Deborah Hill-Flach
Speakers:
Dave Flach
Jon Schwartz (exchanged with Paul)
Mike Himelstein

GE:Merrilee Morris
GR:Linda Love
TR:Steve Cohn (replacing Donna)
Camera:Jon Schwartz

It sounds like another Wow night for Speakers Roundtable.

Verbose Merrilee Morris, Acting Secretary for Deborah, signing off.

Posted in News | Print | No Comments »

November 13, 2007 by Deborah.

Hello,

It was an intimate night tonight, with only 7 members and one guest present. Two members who had roles no-showed. So, some of us wore many hats.

Our SAA, Keith Schroeder had the room in order when we arrived. He welcomed us and we pledged our allegiance. Paul Johnson, our acting president, was unable to attend. Deborah Hill acted as President and welcomed our guest, Lee (who will give an ice breaker next week). Linda Love was our Toastmaster. The roles were
GE: Deborah Hill
GR: Kelly Vandever
Timer: Bill Hosken
Camera Person: Keith Schroeder (filmed himself)

Our speakers were:
Keith Schroeder gave an energetic speech on the “Colon End Parenthesis” and the terrors of the age of technology. This speech was acutely punctuated by Keith hammering his cell phone to bits. (or so it seemed)

Deborah Hill spoke on how you may be your own worst obstacle. She explained how your beliefs define you and your life. She gave three examples of limiting beliefs and story-backed truths that refute them. Her last line was popular: “Your beliefs define you. You can choose what you believe. Choose wisely.”

Merrilee Morris swept us through the generations with her very clever ice breaker speech. We learned about her past as she discussed her prodigy and significant aspects of the generations that they spanned – which was all of them.

Our break was well stocked with all sorts of goodies. However, a decision was made concerning future breaks. We will now only serve finger food. No one wants to cart the big box of stuff around, and with good reason. We’ll have plates, serving spoons and napkins. So bring only small stuff that can be eaten by hand. Also, all food will go home with the members, or be thrown away.

Merrilee Morris will head up our party organization, which will be held at Vicki Willard’s home on Dec. 16 at 5:30 pm. It will be a potluck. Merrilee will contact you to see what you want to bring.

We ended on time and everyone pitched in on the clean-up.

I will be out-of-town next week. It would be nice to have a volunteer newsletter person when I’m gone. Any takers?

My Best,
Deborah Hill
Secretary

Posted in News | Print | No Comments »

November 7, 2007 by Claudia Brogan.

Folks: I know you’ve seen lots of all-group emails in the last few days, offering switch-deals and good bargains. I’m suggesting we curtail those, please—for fear of overwhelming our members’ emailboxes.

Let’s look at the Roles/Speaker Sheet this way: That document was simply a ’snapshot’ that was taken with info we knew at the start of Nov/Dec timeperiod. Things will happen, people’s schedules will change, assignments will modulate from this. No need to ‘reply all’ to the group with each schedule change.

As noted before, let’s use the Meeting Toastmaster for each night as the key person to have info for coordinating that meeting’s changes/updates, not the whole group. Try your best to find a sub, with one- on-one emails or phone calls, then notify the Mtg TM. (If you find that you can’t serve your night as TM, please do the same replacement process off-line.) Since we are now using Tuesday-preceding-a-meeting as the time for the Mtg TM to be in touch with each of her/his people, that Mtg TM will learn if there are still some unfilled gaps, will move swiftly if Speaker Slots are still unfilled, then will shouldertap indiv. roles beforehand or even AT the mtg.  We’re flexible, we can adapt, we can handle these challenges well, even spontaneously.

Let’s not try to fix this at the ‘meta’ level, but solve at the simplest level possible. Once we get in sync with each other & these agreements, all will work just fine I’m sure.

As usual, my best to you~~~CHEERS to some fine, learning-filled meetings!

Posted in Clues for Members | Print | No Comments »