Nuts!!!!

Tuesday, January 31, 2007
11 attendees (2 Guests)

Our group had the great privilege of hosting area Ted Crisell, Area District Governor at this past week. After a hearty welcome from our Club President Falan Guan, Ted shared news of interest regarding District events with members and introduced himself. Ted is a member of the Mercury Toastmasters club in downtown; his parents were involved in clubs – his mother was a founding member of a club in the 1940’s and has carried on their love of Toastmasters forward. Through his love of speaking, he’s met a number of dignitaries from both political parties and has even run for mayor in his travels.

Part of his reason for visiting was to invite members to participate in upcoming Area contests. He stressed that recent winners have had long-term associations with club as well as brief experience but the key element they both had in common was that they got involved.

Members Paul Burke served as Table Topics master and Jiceri White led the club’s invocation and pledge. Table topics paired up members to speak jointly on various topics. For example, Cynthia Jimmerson and Richard Perez talked about Las Vegas’ good or bad qualities; Jiceri and Guest Paul Cyrano spoke about whether technology makes things easier or cheesier; and winners Gayle Anderson (Club Secretary) and Bertha Bruner (Vice President of Education) humorously debated if our Metro Cafeteria is yum-yum or yuk-yuk. This exercise was a good chance to see member interaction based on what the pair said at each particular moment.

We closed out the program with a presentation from Ted entitled “Nuts”. The speech opened with a bang as he took off his coat slamming it to the ground exclaiming the title of his speech over and over. He masterfully set the backdrop for the speech in wartime Belgium and a brigade of officers trapped by the enemy and their response to a call for surrender (“nuts”). He engaged the audience further by sharing a close call with death during a vacation in the tropics and his guardian angel. His wove in a poem tying it all together nicely. His voice conveyed moments of excitement, suspense and held the audience captive as the story concluded.

Very well done, Ted.

If we haven't seen you in a while, stop by next week and say hello.