What's Cooking?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Attendence: 11
Word of the Day: Elucidate

Our guests and members were treated to delicious menu of treats at today's meeting. After a warm and thought provoking invocation and pledge by member Bertha Bruner, Treasurer Gene Hargreaves served as our Toastmaster.

Always great with stories, Gene got the crowd warmed up and laughing by sharing his dog's exploits with the park skunk (long term 'stinkiness') before handing the program over to Vice President of Education Paul Burke who emceed Table Topics.

In the spirit of the upcoming election campaigns, Paul asked each participant to lobby for their office. "Which office?" you may ask - Paul had a list of fifteen or so occupations ranging from Dog Catcher (Gene Hargreaves), Restaurant Critic (guest Denise Charles), Opera Singer (Bertha Bruner), Flight Attendant (Vice President of Membership Jennifer Gill) and Morning Show DJ (new member Melissa Rosen).

Our feature presentations were by Club Secretary Kathy Hendry and Club President Joe Simpson. Both well into their Advanced Manuals, attendees were in for a treat, literally and figuratively. Joe presented "Share and Share Alike" the second speech in the Humorously Speaking manual. The purpose of this speech was to open and close with a humorous story but sandwich these around your topic.

Kathy presented "My Travels and Prairie Dogs", an interesting tale of her Canadian travels with Uncle Reon. After a great speech presented with an apron and cooking utensils, Kathy served fresh cookies for the "oven". Yummy indeed.

Note: Remember that semi-annual dues are due by October 1. Drop off your check to Gene at your earliest convenience.

Bring a friend and your lunch -- we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Telling Tall Tales

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
11 attendees
Word of the Day – Drayage

On the six-year anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy, Gene Hargreaves, Club Treasurer, opened the meeting with a thought-provoking invocation about the events. On days like these, I often reflect back on what I was doing when I first heard the news and witnessed the event unfolding on television, observing a moment of silence for those lost...

Sergeant at Arms Cynthia Jimerson greeted for our guests, Angelina Bell and Steven Dominguez from the Real Estate Department. Thanks again for stopping by and we hope to see you again this week.

We delved into Table Topics presented by Gene Hargreaves. A grab bag of topics meant to evoke tall tales, this exercise was a great opportunity to use your imagination and creativity to weave an interest story. Steven talked above a garden sprinkler tool that became a pool operation tool; Jennifer described a scarf (an Ace bandage); and new member Raynard Price and table topics winner Dave Gold described a remote control that performed very different functions.

The great thing about this set of Table Topics is that the national organization often hosts Tall Tales contests throughout the year and this is a great way to become familiar with the subject and get practice at weaving a good one or even entering a contest in the future.

Toastmaster Bertha Bruner introduced our featured presentation for today. Vice President of Education Paul Burke deliver his first speech in the Advanced Communications Series Speaking to Inform manual entitled “Boring Lecture from the VP of Education”. Paul’s speech was a lesson on getting the most out of your experience with our group with informative examples.

Metro’s employee intranet, myMetro.net profiled the 10th Anniversary of our club in a nice piece that was published on September 5th. I've attached a PDF of the article for your reference.

A reminder – semi-annual dues are due by October 1st. Get your checks to our VP of Membership Jennifer Gill.

Announcement - Area D43 Speaking Competition on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 6:00 – 7:30 pm at MWD Building (next to Union Station).

Our featured presentations this week are from Kathy Hendry, Club Secretary and President Joe Simpson. Bring your lunch and stop in Tuesday at 1pm and enjoy the show.