Getting the most out of your Toastmasters Experience

Our weekly meeting was once again on the road, this time in the Gateway Conference Room (south side of the third floor). That didn’t exclude those in attendance from enjoying another interesting gathering; we were sure to include all in attendance; and we definitely did not help want to occlude (Word of the Day provided by Gayle Anderson, Secretary) anyone from our proceedings, so we began in earnest…

Gene Hargreaves (Vice President of Membership, Treasurer) delivered an informative and challenging presentation entitled, “Getting the Most Out of Your Toastmasters Experience.” Many of the current attendees have joined the club within the past twelve months and Gene painted in broad strokes how each one of us can maximize our personal goals.

Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer! was his battle cry on the simplest way to get better at getting comfortable in front of an audience. Simply by speaking or participating in one of the functionaries (Word of the Day, Timer, Ballot Counter, etc) you get valuable practice at using your voice.

Cynthia Jimerson provided her wonderfully thought-provoking Table Topics – Has technology confused things? Were John Kerry’s recent comments off-base? If you could change one thing in your history, what would it be? How do you feel morally about a little white lie? Have you stopped dreaming? Who in your family history would you like to meet? Although everyone responded in a variety of interesting ways, Kathy Hendry (Sergeant at Arms) was our winner.

The meeting finished with a recap of this past weekend’s Humorous Speech contest. Club President Falan Guan and Kathy Hendry gave account of the happenings at the Glendale Public Library this past Saturday. If you haven’t attended an event such as this, it is a must according to these two. Our guest last week, Ivan Gerson actually one the contest! In my opinion, just watching his level of expertise in winning our Table Topics during our last meeting I am not surprised – he is AWESOME! Congratulations, Ivan!

See you next week.