Global Warming?

Tuesday, May 8, 2007
9 attendees
Word of the Day – Anemone

Kathy Hendry (Sergeant at Arms) called the meeting to order at 12:08pm. Gayle Anderson (Secretary) provided an invocation from the book “This Is It” by Alan Watts. Avid Bike to Work Day (coming May 18) supporter Ed Begley Jr recommended this book to Gayle and it deals with the subject of Zen philosophy.

Toastmaster Tony Li opened the meeting with a greeting and filling of the remaining functionaries. He then brought up Joe Simpson (Vice President of Public Relations) to present Table Topics. Kathy described an embarrassing moment, Bertha Bruner (Vice President of Membership) described her best quality, Tony recalled a hometown memory, Falan Guan (Club President) told us about something she does to relax/getaway, Gayle told us about something that we’d be surprised to find out about her and Cynthia told us about her favorite childhood treat.

We were then “Persuade with Power” by member Paul Burke. His ninth project entitled “Global Warming” presented the pros and cons of this hot button topic. Is the world’s climate changing? Is it man’s fault? Can we reverse it? Paul covered plenty of ground during his seven minutes speech. Good work Paul!

Falan closed the meeting with announcements. In June, the club will hold its annual officer elections (June 12) as well as a year-end party (June 26). Please mark your calendars and plan on joining us.

We're Family

Tuesday, May 15, 2007
6 attendees
Word of the Day – Sycophant

Member Paul Burke following the pledge with a thought provoking invocation by an anonymous writer - “you own a key that opens the gates of heaven, but that same key opens the gates of hell.” Club Secretary Gayle Anderson presented the word of the day.

Acting President for the meeting Bertha Bruner (Vice President of Membership) provided news and information for the general membership regarding an upcoming event at the Beverly Garland (8am – 5pm) . In addition, she urged anyone interested in running for leadership roles in the club (President, Vice President of Membership, etc) to mark the date June 12 on the calendar. The club is also planning a year end party to celebrate our successes this past year.

Guest Denise Charles presented this week’s table topics. Her topics spanned the gamut, asking Bertha Bruner to describe a skill she’d like to have simply by asking (the ability to sing), Paul Burke touched on how we can avoid high blood pressure, Vice President of Public Relations Joe Simpson talked about Angry Drivers, Club Secretary Gayle Anderson told us what she’d show guests around LA and Sergeant at Arms Kathy Hendry told us who was a role model in her life (her sister). These topics highlighted each member’s varied styles and strengths.

Long-time member Cynthia Jimerson presented her fourth speech (How to Say It) entitled, "How to Plan a Successful Family Reunion”. This speech was incredible! Cynthia’s delivery gained confidence as she walked members through how to put together a major event. She described key roles of the primary officers and why each was important.

She also showed some examples of what the family historian and creative director did for their gathering (a scrapbook noting the history, a bag and t-shirt) which helped illustrate responsibilities and goals of these officers.

The meeting moved crisply and ended ahead of scheduled with a full program. General Evaluator Paul Burke noted this and speech evaluator Kathy Hendry chimed in with some excellent tips on items we can incorporate into our meeting and specifics individuals (hand gestures, etc) can work at.

Is the Fare Change Fair?

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
11 attendees
Word of the Day – Roil

Due to room access issues, the meeting started a few moments behind schedule. Club President Falan Guan followed Word of the Day and Invocation with announcements. She shared her experiences in the recent Division Contest and encouraged members to take the leap in upcoming Toastmaster’s activities.

Guest Jennifer Gill repeated her role from last week as Table Topics Master. This week’s topic revolved around the Fare Changes Metro is proposing. A hot button issue in Southern California, members and guests expressed their feelings on what an increase means to the Agency and our customers. We had two winners today, with first-timer Mike Gainor and Gayle Anderson (Secretary) offering intriguing opinions on the cost of transit worldwide (in comparison to Metro) and how a change will affect those at the lower end of the socio-economic level.

Bertha Bruner, Vice President of Education was our featured presenter today. As is always the case, she presented “Teachers, We Remember” in her trademark smooth and distinguished style. Bertha's calming voice and engaging delivery always draws you in to her message.

The goal of this speech is to utilize body movements to enhance your topic. For the fifth speech in the Communication and Leadership program, "Your Body Speaks", Bertha would deliver her topic in five to seven minutes. She touched on the role teachers have in our children’s lives and highlighted the heroism of the 67 year old professor at Virginia Tech University who held (Bertha used an effective gesture to illustrate) the door while some of his students escaped the deranged gunman bent on destruction. Poignant and eloquent, Bertha did a wonderful job.

As members Paul Burke, Bertha Bruner and Gayle Anderson approach completion of their workbooks, come out and lend your support. If we haven’t seen you in a while, stop on by, bring your lunch and say hello. See you Tuesday!

Bitter Rivals?

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
12 Attendees
Word of the Day – Infallibility

For regular attendees to our weekly gatherings, you are well aware of an uneasy truce. Those who follow athletics know rivalry between schools is often heated and unreasonable at times – almost like living next door to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. Today’s presentations were another light-hearted glimpse into Paul Burke and Joe Simpson’s continuing Ohio State/Michigan banter.

After Invocation and Word of the Day, Guest Jennifer Gill delivered an interesting set of Table Topics. Jennifer asked participants to speak about a color that was chosen from a box of art pencils. Guests Dawn Williams and David Gold chose white and red respectively. Member Tony Li led off by talking about his ideal vacation.

Next, member Paul Burke followed with speech number seven (Getting comfortable with visual aids). His topic was an interesting visual tour of his wife’s home country, El Salvador. Contrasting its natural wonders and some of its critical issues, Paul delivered a much different speech than his normal high-energy fare. Very prepared with a good deal of facts and imagery, Paul received kudos from all in attendance on what seemed like a professional tour or travel show on television.

Next up was Joe Simpson (Vice President of Public Relations), presenting the third speech in the Advanced Communication Series entitled the Roast. The speech requires that you present three to five minutes of “jokes and anecdotes adapted from other sources that apply to the honored guest”. Paul Burke was a good sport serving as the subject of the Roast and Joe quickly dug in.

Quips about Paul came early and often – notes about his hailing from the town that invented Memorial Day (Waterloo, New York); Paul’s obsession with the school of his dreams led in elementary school into requesting they add Silver to the primary color wheel; his drive to add the word “THE” to all references to his Alma Mater Ohio State University (to make the school more distinguished and important); and his quest at Metro to add a Silver Line as a rail line name to go along with the Red Line (in keeping with his school’s colors).

The meeting was then closed with evaluations, announcements and an open invitation to our guests. See you next week.