Speakers Roundtable members experienced another stellar club meeting this evening. President Pat Schmalzried, after a long period on stand-by, returned to not only conduct the meeting, but also to act as our Sgt. at Arms. Welcome back Pat! By the way, we had 14 members and one guest (Deborah Romann) present for the meeting!
Pat’s second duty was to introduce our stressed-out, tennis playing, hospital visiting and Peach Tree navigating, Dunwoody housewife, Vicki Willard, as our Toast Master. Vicki presented an evening crammed full of great speeches and even greater evaluations. The word of the evening was Bupkus courtesy of our ever challenging grammarian, Paul Johnson.
Paul Poodt took to the lectern as our first speaker. He spoke on Prisoner Visitation Support (PVS) in the Federal Prison System. This is a side of Paul few of us knew he was involved in. He spoke with compassion for the men imprisoned for many years, moved from penitentiary to penitentiary, their family hardships, and how they become lost to their family and friends in the prison system. He softened our perceptions and hearts toward the average prisoner.
Iris Grimm, working on her ATM Silver, presented a speech from the Better Speaking Skills Manual titled A Strong Impression. What could have been a bit of a snoozer type speech, Iris made exciting and interesting through audience involvement and demonstration. It was all about first impressions and the importance of powerfully opening your speeches. She used her virtual power-point to list and discus various openings, such as the quote, the story, a rapport builder, or a provocative statement or question. She then gave us three reasons to create powerful openings.
Our 10 minute break consisted mainly of sweets and lots of conversation. Thanks Pat for bringing the red foil wrapped Valentine heart chocolates.
Our evening culminated with a speech by Steve Cohn, Expectations in Business. Steve never disappoints us with his ability to deliver strong, captivating, and educational speeches. Surprisingly, most business folks have difficulty listing their clients’ specific expectations of them. His intro was especially powerful and positive from US Mail to CompuServe. The risks of not knowing, meeting and exceeding your clients business expectations can impact the financial health and success of your business.
The Evaluation Team wrapped up the meeting. CP-Bill Hoskens reported he had recorded Paul Poodt’s speech. T-Bill Kovach provided us with the speech times, a little over the requested times, but not grossly in violation. GA-Paul Johnson reported that six people had actually used word BUPKUS. He also suggested that we “record” and not “tape” member’s speeches since we use a video cam and DVD’s. He also caught our ums and ahs with flair. GE-Merrilee Morris congratulated Vicki Willard on keeping our program on schedule. Vicki’s introductions were interesting and well done in spite of some confusion regarding the three legged pit bull puppy. To me, Toast Master meetings are a total success when members come away educated, entertained and enriched. Now that’s meeting and exceeding our Toast Master expectations.
- Merrilee Morris