The SRT Meeting Assignments for our next meeting, February 1, 2010 are as follows:

• Toastmaster:  Keith Schroder
• Speakers:
  
  1. Bill Kovach (for Iris Grimm)
  2. Rich Hart
  3. Kelly Vandever
  4. Alternate Speaker:  Dwayne Smith

• General Evaluator:  Vicki Willard

1. Grammarian:  OPEN
2. Timer:  Mark Parham
3. Camera:  Cara Iovino

Please respond to TM  Keith Schroder with the necessary program information.

The Monday, January 18, 2010, meeting of Speakers Roundtable was crammed full of speeches, table topics, quotes, members, guests, learning and fun.  Our meeting observed the Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. through his lesser known quotes mixed in with quotes from Cicero, Plutarch, and Will Rogers.  Toastmaster for the evening, Merrilee Morris, opened the program with this quote.  A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.  (MLK)

First up to speak on the topic, “Wear a Suit that Suits You” was our dapper Paul Johnson.  He was in fine form in his worsted wool pin-stripped suit, white shirt, and eye grabbing tie of rose and red tones.  Paul showed us his tattered paperback book of “Dress for Success.”  Women in the audience perked up when he stated how clueless men are about fashion and shopping.  Paul took us on a tour of his suit including fabric (100% worsted wool is best and breathes) and construction, (making sure pin-stripes match); to proper fit, such as buttoning a suit coat nicely over a Twinkie waist and the correct sleeve length; and lastly, other considerations, items such as perspiration pit pads and collar roll.  Thanks to Paul, we all, men and women alike, are vastly more confident and competent in men’s suit shopping.  Thanks for an informative, useful, and fun speech, Paul.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.  (MLK)

Keith Schroder, also a fashion plate in his black jacket with electric blue and white embroidery and his matching spiked hair with blue hue, took us on a whirl-wind tour in his speech, “Go to Google.” His object was to tell a compelling story and that’s exactly what he did, and then some!  Keith visited his brother Tom in California and was able to visit and tour where his brother works, GOOGLE.  It was an awesome experience for all of us to hear about the non-cafeteria, the non-signing in and out, the beach volley ball courts in the quad, the non-employee badges, and the corporations total trust in employee judgment.  The Google work environment sounded like something from another dimension, definitely other worldly.  For now, we only have Keith’s word for it.  I think SRT should adopt his brother Tom and take our own fact-finding field trip to GOOGLE.  Until then, a wonderfully compelling story, Keith!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  (MLK)

Following an eight minute break, it was Table Topics time.  Four members and two guests reflected on the quotes they were given.  Their responses brought added enrichment to our meeting and to the MLK Holiday.  Thank you Iris, Bob, Claudia, Cindy, Baerbel, and Kelly!

General Evaluator Iris Grim called on her crew for their reports.  Both speakers stayed within their allotted time to avoid having Cindy Light sing with the red timer card as she had threatened to do.  Cindy Cannon provided a very thorough, but not brutal grammarian’s report.  She has a sharp ear for all the ands, double clutches and our shameless use of filler words.  Well done.  Iris summarized the meeting as punctual, well run, with each of us gaining knowledge for having attended.

Acting President, Claudia Brogan reminded officers of the TLI training sessions coming up yet this month.  Kelly Vandever, who is speaking February 1, will be sending out an e-mail for members to bring their hand-held and laptop computers.  It’s something about Twitter Back Channel so be sure to watch for her e-mail.  Oh yes, to a person, our five guests found the meeting informative, worthwhile, and fun. For that matter, so did I, your Toastmaster for the evening.

Paul Johnson, Bill Kovach, Keith Schroder; gentlemen, you are assigned to speak on Monday, January 18, 2010. (Alternates are Donna Satchell and Dwayne Smith.)

General Evaluator is Iris Grim.  Your crew consists of Steve Cohn, Grammarian; Cindy Light, Timer; and Paul Poodt as Camera Person.

Toastmaster for the evening is Merrilee Morris.

We start at 6:00 sharp in Building E at 5775 Glenridge Rd.

Donna Satchell took the helm as Toast Master January 4, 2010 and set the tone and quality of Speakers Roundtable for the New Year.  With quiet confidence and a strong but gentle hand, she not only guided the meeting, but had us reflecting on the past year as well as focusing on the New Year before us.  What was your greatest accomplishment this year? (Personal, business, and as a Toastmaster.)

First up was Mark Parham with his speech entitled “Getting Those ‘People Issue’ Conflicts Off Your Desk.”  Mark’s goal was to provide specific tools for leaders to build better work environments.  Leaders have a hard job creating a work environment where people work in harmony while achieving their company goals.  Mark listed six qualities a leader should measure and reward.  He focused on the first quality measurement which was Feedback.  Feedback included receiving, giving and responding.  Mark paused midway and checked with the audience for questions and responded to a couple, mainly regarding measurement and incentives.  We were then introduced to Bob “The Jerk” and learned the pitfalls for a leader with a Bob in his department.  (Non-Bobs can grow to be like Bob.)  We look forward to Mark  elaborating on the remaining five measurements and their impact on achieving company goals in his future club speeches.  Well done, Mark.

What, in 2009, turned out differently than you had planned? We took a six minute break at a table all too loaded with sweets.  No doubt we must have been dumping our pantries of all these goodies to facilitate our dieting resolutions.

What incident(s) made you laugh very hard this past year? Wouldn’t you know, next up was Merrilee Morris with her desultory, inane speech, “Old Medicare Me.”  She took us on a joy ride through old age and the fact that physicians don’t like to care for old folks, don’t want to care for the elderly, aren’t trained to care for Old Crocks, and believe it or not, Gerontologists are pathetically under paid, even less than Proctologists.  She elaborated on each point, even gave the audience folded strips of paper with common treatable but non-curable diseases of the elderly.   She then handed out additional diseases to go with the ones they had since 30% of seniors have two or more of the five conditions.  We now know about and understand retangularization of our population and the burgeoning senior population.  Right?  As one evaluator put it, “You lightened up the doom!”

Donna turned the meeting over to our General Evaluator, Cindy Cannon.  Timer Rich Hart was devastated at not getting to exercise his full authority by flashing the red card.  Grammarian Keith Schroeder found a few ah’s and um’s, but nothing serious once we warmed up.  Cindy Cannon felt the meeting was well on target for an advanced club.

What will you do differently this year? Toastmaster Donna turned the meeting over to our President, Bill Kovach.  Bill called on our six guests to stand and let us know what they thought of the meeting.  Our Sgt at Arms, Keith, then escorted the visitors and membership applicant into the hall so the club could vote on the membership of Cindy Light.  Cindy was welcomed back into the club.

We packed up and took our sweets back home to our cupboards and will start our diets on a later date.  Thanks for the great Toast Mastering, Donna!  Happy New Year to us all!

Cindy Cannon is a founding Partner of  Growth    Management Group. GMG is a consulting practice specializing in professional recruiting, career assessment and training. Cindy shares her experience and knowledge helping to strengthen businesses and motivate their employees. She is known as an expert in her field and has created and developed a series of programs called, “The Insider Secrets to Interviewing Series.” Recognizing each organization has a unique mission, GMG delivers a very unique program specifically tailored to each company and individual.

Cindy is also an Inspirational Speaker and published author sharing her incredible story of how she lived through and conquered 15 surgeries, a very real near death experience, an extremely painful rare chronic disease and still achieved an awarded elite status as a nationally recognized top recruiter.

Today, Cindy is a graduate of the Bill Gove Speaking school and a sought after speaker in the non-profit, public and private sectors. In addition to being an executive recruiter, she is an interviewing coach, author and also a frequent guest on various radio programs.

Cindy is a  past District 14 Governor for the State of GA for Toastmasters International where she led over 4,800 members and 270 clubs to being #4 in the world and #1 in North America. Cindy has reached the highest achievement that Toastmasters International offers, a Distinguished Toastmaster.

Today Cindy is President of Speakers RoundTable Toastmaster Club and a member of the PB & J club. .She also was nominated for Region 8  Director for 2010 – 2011. Cindy will be responsible for 7 different districts + Caribbean and Bahamas for Toastmasters International. The region advisor marketing helps solve pressing issues districts face and serves as a vital link among districts, Toastmasters International (TI) and the TI Board of Director. For more information on this position: http://www.toastmasters.org

Cindy’s entire purpose in life is to share with you her belief you can do anything that you want to do no matter the circumstances. You just need to know how.

Please visit www.askbestinterviewquestions.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/cindycannon to learn more