Working at It

Tuesday, December 12 12:05-1pm
Meeting Attendees – 8 (1 new, 3 veteran, 4 regulars)

This week’s meeting started late due to the room being locked but the delay didn’t prevent us from getting right into the tasks at hand. Acting President Gene Hargreaves (Treasurer) began our meeting with some interesting thoughts on sharing and giving by Michael Josephson and provided the club with our Word of the Day, Myopic presented by Garth Garrett.

Table topics had a holiday flare, presented by Joe Simpson (Vice President of Public Relations). First time-visitor Richard Perez won speaking on what his favorite holiday song is and why. Other interesting presentations were from Gene (Favorite holiday dish), Tony Li (holidays in your home country), Cynthia Jimmerson (favorite toy), Kathy Hendry (be a Grinch and tell us what bothers you about the holidays), and Garth Garrett described his run in with a nuclear submarine (most memorable white elephant or dirty Santa gag gift).

Our feature presentation was by Gene Hargreaves, an interesting preview of an actual seminar he plans on presenting at his church. The intended audience is married couples working at their relationships. The speech dealt with topics with examples that help couples strengthen and maintain a sound and healthy relationship. Geared towards husbands, it masterfully touched on concepts/roles of protecting and nurturing in relation to our inner circle. Gene used visuals, interacted closely with the audience (held Cynthia’s hand to make a point), excellent use of gestures to expertly describe a sometimes delicate topic.

Afterwards, Garth Garrett provided a griping evaluation and shared his personal experience and how Gene can improve his speech because such a topic has to walk a very fine line with its audience. Kathy suggested use of more positive outcomes that the attendees can use that pay off with work at it. All in all, another great example for budding Toastmasters to utilize as a learning to on how to effectively present.

Reminder! Holiday Potluck Next Tuesday

Instead of a regular meeting, we’ll gather to enjoy our annual holiday party. If you haven’t signed up, contact Kathy to do so. See you next week!

Photos by Gayle Anderson, Club Secretary

Connecting the dots

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Attendence
Meeting Attendees – 13 (2 new, 2 veteran, 9 regulars)
Word of the Day – Habeas corpus
Toastmaster - Pauline Lee (ATMG)
Table Topics Master – Cynthia Jimerson

We’ve all joined Toastmasters with a common cause – to achieve personal and professional goals that include becoming better communicators. Tuesday’s meeting was one such occasion. Joe Simpson (Vice President of Public Relations) presented the tenth and final speech in the Communication and Leadership Program workbook, Inspire Your Audience. Achieving a goal set just over a year ago, Joe has achieved his CTM (Competent Toastmaster) certification.

The goals of the speech were:

To inspire the audience by appealing to noble motives and challenging the audience to achieve a higher level of beliefs or achievement; Appeal to the audience’s needs and emotions, using stories, anecdotes and quotes to add drama; and avoid using notes.

A visual was placed on the board behind the podium containing a partial image with dot and numbers. As the speech evolved, Joe turned and slowly connected the dots which revealed a picture at the conclusion.

The story revolved around ensuring that we do the things in our lives that make us happy, carve time to unplug from our stressful and sometimes mundane daily environments and deeply think and develop plans to succeed in our lives. Citing the inspirational life of founder and CEO of FedEx/Kinkos, Paul Orfalea from his biography, Copy This! : Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic who Turned a Bright Idea Into One of America's Best Companies and how questions about his future were answered, the eight to ten minute speak was a story of hope.

To listen to excerpts of the speech, click one of the links below

• Opening
• Part 1
• Part 2

Evaluator (Kathy Hendry, Sergeant at Arms) and Timekeeper (Gene Hargreaves, Treasurer):

• Stronger opening reference to the title and its purpose; and
  
• Speech went too long; narrow speech down to most vital points during practice

For more information on the various educational tracks available to you, visit Toastmasters.org

Photos by Gayle Anderson, Club Secretary

Providing the Tools to Improve

Tuesday, November 28 12-1pm
Meeting Attendees – 13 (2 new, 2 veteran, 9 regulars)

This week’s meeting proved to be a continuation of a different type of Table Topics presentation. Club Secretary, Gayle Anderson once again served as Topics master and asked attendees to come forward and choose a partner. One member of the team was then required talk through and the other act out the topic supplied.

One of our most valued veteran members, Pauline Lee (ATMG) served as Kathy Hendry’s (Sergeant at Arms) partner and won with . This exercise asked that members work together to clearly describe through the use of gesture and words a topic. A very challenging and credit twist to our session!

Our prepared speech portion of the program featured Joe Simpson (Vice President, Public Relations). He presented the ninth of ten speeches (Persuade with Power) entitled “The Virtue of Forgiveness.” A plea to members to forgive friends or family members in keeping with the spirit of the holiday season, this speech proved to be a challenge.

Evaluations are a vital tool in provided members tools to improve there communication skills and learn things that can be used in future presentations. This feedback is provided in a positive and constructive manner and is given during a two minute time span. As members progress through their workbook, you'll have a roadmap to refer to for notes on the positive aspects of your presentations and of things to work on in the future.

Evaluator Gene Hargreaves (Treasurer) provided excellent feedback on the speech. For example:

- Establish mental markers to help keep you on track; and
- Provide more logical points to persuade your audience to provide balance

A special Thanks goes out to our guest Lorna Vargas and Cynthia Chin-Pak from ITS. We hope you'll join us again in the future!

We’re published!

This week marked our first club appearance in the Downtown News events listing. A bit more brief than I had written, I hope it will entice the public to give our club a closer look.

Christmas Potluck

Fellow Toastmasters and other Interested Parties:

We the Toastmasters of Los Angeles METRO are planning a holiday get-together with food, games, a talent show-off and (well-spoken) fun, and would love to have you join us.

The tentative date selected is
Tuesday, December 19th
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
in the Board Overflow Room @ Metro Hdqtrs Bldg, 3rd Floor, across from the Cafeteria.

Please advise Kathy Hendry by Thursday, December 7th if you plan to attend and if you would like to bring a pot-luck dish of finger foods or dessert.

E-mail: hendryk@metro.net
Phone: x 21270 or
213.922.7170
Interoffice mail: 99-21-7

MWD Invites Metro Toastmasters to Holiday Party

Tuesday’s meeting started off with a bang when Kathy Hendry substituted her shoe for an errant and misplaced gavel. Toastmaster Cynthia Jimerson served up a great meeting.

The group was treated by a visit from Chris Hill from MWD. Seems he met up with Pres. Falan Guan and Sgt.(at arms) Kathy Hendry at the Fall Education Conference the previous Saturday. All shared their experience gleaned from attending the conference and encouraged us to think about attending the Spring conference. Best tip: “How to sparkle! Forget about yourself by focusing on the audience.”

Chris invited us to visit the MWD Toastmasters - they meet the first and third Wednesday of every month. Chris says: “Our holiday celebration will be on December 13 starting 11:45 a.m. in Room 3-599 and you are most welcome to attend. We will be having a white elephant gift exchange, where everyone brings a wrapped present, with high, medium, or no value, and walks away with a different present! We will be delighted to have you here.”

We had a rousing round of Table Topics from Gayle Anderson followed by a prepared speech from Paul Burke: “Why Are We Here.” He took humorous turns around the cafeteria polling for the Top 10 Reasons we are here in this building. The conclusion: One can’t work for at ATM. Evaulator Kathy Hendry gave him good marks, and rightly so. Good gestures and word variety, she said, but watch the pacing, Paul! Stay tuned for news on the Holiday Party.

How about a not complicated potluck and a couple of e-z impromptus to get us in the mood?