This was our 2. meeting at the Cathedral Tower meeting location in Buckhead and we are slowly but surely getting used to the new location. The meeting room is spacious and light and we are looking forward to welcoming more members and guests in the weeks to come.
Our SAA Kelly Vandever started the meeting at 6.05 pm but postponed the official start to 6.20 pm since some of our members were still finding their way in.
President Claudia Brogan welcomed 7 members and our guest, the Area Governor Paul Gracy before she introduced the Toastmaster Vicki Willard.
As always, Vicki was well-prepared as Toastmaster and shared interesting trivia and background information about Speakers Roundtable.
- Who were the founding members of Speakers Roundtable?
- When and where was the first SRT meeting?
- What used to be the waiting time to join Speakers Roundtable?
- What was the attendance requirement years ago?
- What makes Speaker’s Roundtable so unique? And no, it is not our evaluation format.
Bill Kovach was our General Evaluator and his team consisted of:
Timer: Merrilee Morris
Grammarian: Claudia Brogan and her word of the day was “buoyant”
Camera Persons: Kelly Vandever, Iris Grimm and Paul Johnson
Our speakers:
Iris Grimm shared a personal story of change and fashion in her speech “Changing clothes – embracing change.” Her friend Elke encouraged her to clean out her closet and upgrade her wardrobe. Through this transition Iris experienced her resistance to change and she explored 3 reasons why change becomes challenging sometimes.
Paul Johnson talked about “Dangerous Business”. With historical pictures wrapped in his Powerpoint presentation Paul shared the interesting story about the Pony Express, the fast mail service crossing the North American continent from St.Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, CA in the mid 19th century and how the invention of the electric telegraph made the Pony Express obsolete. He referred this history lesson back to our business environment today and how our business can become endangered if we are not watching the competition.
Kelly Vandever share with us “Becoming the leader you’d want to follow: 3 questions all leaders should answer about themselves.” Kelly explained how her work in the military increased her awareness about leaders and leadership styles and she shared with us the 3 questions that leaders want to ask themselves consistently:
Is my word my bond?
Who have I helped lately?
What am I doing right now to reach my goals or our goal as a group?
The break was delicious and entertaining with chips, crackers, guacamole, a warm crab dip and doughnuts.
We ended the meeting a bit late but we had a wonderful evening and everyone was glad that they contributed to and learned in the meeting.
Hope to see you next week!
Iris Grimm