What a wonderful sight to arrive at Toast Masters and find the parking lot filled with cars. Claudia Brogan, our VP of Education stood at the door guiding members through the throng of children to our meeting room. It was tempting to go the VBS route since they were so young and bubbling over with excitement. However, our TM meeting was equally exciting and bubbling over with great speeches, on the mark evaluations, and good snackies. Nine members and two guests were present.
Guest Margaret Edinburgh called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Margaret is a visitor from an IBM TM Club invited by Kelly Vandever. Our Toast Master, Paul Johnson, kept the meeting moving and fun with his impromptu “It’s in the Bag” theme. Yep, the camera, the flag, the eval forms, the plates were all in the bag and the bag never appeared!
Rui Li was first on the program with her interpretive reading “Alone with a Tsunami.” She took us to the serenity of a lazy pleasant beach day, the sand, the surf, the sky. The Tsunami shattered this solace snatching people from their loved ones and friends. The aftermath seemed surreal.
Bill Kovach followed with another powerful reading, “St Crispin.” He set the stage wonderfully letting us feel the bone weariness of the English as they faced a much larger contingent of French troops. This is Shakespeare’s King Henry V’s rousing speech to the troops before the Battle of Agincourt. Bill’s powerful reading had us ready to take up arms and charge the French.
Following a break of scones, cookies and seasoned green bean chips, our 3rd speaker, Paul Poodt gave us a warm talk on fathers. Paul’s father was 53 years old when he was born, worked hard, but found time for his family. He discussed the death of Tim Russert and also asked for some personal audience input on fathers. Paul’s speeches calmly unfold, bring us fresh insight, and enrich us.
GE Pat Schmalzried called on her team for their reports. Iris Grimm informed us all speakers stayed within their allotted times. Claudia Brogan provided us with our grammatical report card for the evening.
GE Pat morphed into President Pat and we held our club elections. The slate of officers:
- President: Claudia Brogan
- Treasurer: Deborah Hill-Flach
- Sergeant at Arms: Kelly Vanderver
- VP Public Relations: Paul Johnson
- VP Education: Iris Grimm
… was approved by a voice vote. We are still in need of a Secretary and a VP of Membership. New officers assume their offices July 1, 2008. A special thanks to each of you for stepping forward and carrying the SRT administrative load!
The schedule for June 23 is as follows: TM: Pat Schmalzried, S#1: Iris Grimm, S#2: BUS: Claudia Brogan or Cara, S#3: Deborah Hill-Flach. GE: Jon Schwartz, TR: David Flach, GR: Merrilee Morris, CP: Bill Kovach.