Capital City Toastmasters

Welcome to Capital City Toastmasters!! You obviously have an interest in our association or you wouldn’t be here on our page, but you might ask, “What is Toastmasters?” Toastmasters is an association that thrives on helping individuals reach their full potential by honing their speaking and leadership skills.

Every single day we have to communicate and lead others . . . Toastmasters can help you perfect those skills to be successful in your career and personal life . . .

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Robert served as Toastmaster for our “Ground Hog Day” meeting and helped lift our spirits despite the six more weeks of winter we face.

Lora pitched in as Table Topics Master picking Neil, Amy, and Brenda to answer questions.  From Neil we learned working in manufacturing is a lot like ground hog’s day, where you get to keep doing everything over until it’s right.  Amy told us about the sign foretelling her future that she didn’t quite read right when dating her future ex-husband.  And finally, Brenda told us how she survived a hurricane while living in Houston (her secret a candle, closet, and Honey).

Louis and Brian were the “Ground Hog Day” speakers.

Louis gave a speech titled “Diffusing Verbal Criticism”, which was really much more like a performance.  With Wendy’s enthusiastic help, Louis illustrated how to handle verbal criticism as well as some solid punches from Wendy (not to worry, the punches were an analogy for verbal criticism).  We learned the keys to diffusing a tense situation are empathy and curiosity.  Essentially, to diffuse criticism validate and agree (carefully) with the criticism and then explore why the criticism was given.  All in all, it was a very entertaining and solid performance by Wendy and Louis.

Brian gave his fourth and final speech regarding “Backup and Recovery at Dell – Lessons Learned”; Stuart was crushed by the news of this series coming to a close.  Brian used this speech as an opportunity to revamp his introduction.  He incorporated a new opening story from his days in high school.  He also introduced the key lessons from Dell’s backup and recovery system upgrade.  We now know simple is good, first adopters of new technology work out the bugs, understanding old and new technologies is key, the right people need to be involved, and it’s paramount to know the environment in which you’re working.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Amy

Best Speaker – Louis

Most Enthusiastic – Stuart

Best Evaluator – Robin

Best Humor – Stuart

Erin led us in an Australia Day celebration.  Australia Day is a national Australian holiday with the purpose of celebrating key dates in the country’s early history with the dual purpose of providing Australians another day off from work.  As Lee has come to learn, Australians are quite skilled in taking holidays.

Brian was our Table Topics Master today.  Among other things, he taught us that “rooting” for a sports team in Australia is a much larger commitment than one undertakes when rooting for a favorite sports team here in the states.  If you need more specifics, you should ask Brian.  Joey, Neil, and Li were the fortunate souls chosen to answer Brian’s questions.  Joey told us about the time he had few too many “eucalyptus leaves” and the barely memorable night to which it led.  Neil recounted the time when he nearly encountered his “Steve Erwin esque life-ending-moment”: In nothing but his skivvies, he discovered a rattlesnake in his bedroom.  He graciously spared its life by skillfully capturing it a trashcan and releasing it the next day.  Finally, Li shared with us her wildlife survival knowledge regarding how to deal with rattlesnakes and other poisonous snake species.

Today’s speakers were Robby, Wendy, and Brad.

Robby gave his second speech, which was focused on organization.  His speech was titled “Mountain Biking: Heaven or Hell”.  It was an entertaining and character-revealing speech about a rough and adventurous mountain bike ride down the Santa Barbara Mountains.  Risking life and limb to keep pace with a die-hard roommate, barreling past cliffs, rocks, and trees, Robby’s primary concern was preserving the pristine condition of his roommate’s $3000 bike.  Clearly, Robby is a good guy, putting others before his own well-being.  In the end, he had the time of his life.

Wendy had has laughing and grimacing right along with her as she told us about that one surfer dude she used to date.  Her speech was her fourth from the CC manual and titled “In the Eye of the Beholder: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”.  It was a tragic romantic comedy (a little dark) as we learned this surfer dude took off to California while Wendy stayed in Texas.  He then lost an eye in a surfing accident and called upon Wendy for support.  Wendy, with her warm, big heart could not say no to a man with one eye, so she spent her MLK Day weekend helping this surfer dude move into a new apartment.  Her good deed was met by only harsh words and disdain.  Not to worry, she got in the last word (and it was a good one) before boarding a plane back to Texas.

Brad shared with us the conundrum of the “Tragedy of the Commons” and ways in which we can address such tragedies once we identify them in every day life.  This was his fifth speech from the CC manual and was titled “My Sheep, Our Land”.  Tragedies of the commons come about when individuals use a common resource, but do not experience the full or actual cost of their use of the resource.  The classic example is when farmers share a common grazing area for their respective sheep and the grazing area becomes overgrazed bringing about the decline of all the farmers.  Government regulation and privatization are a few of the ways tragedies of the commons can be addressed.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Neil

Best Speaker – Robby

Most Enthusiastic – Robby

Best Evaluator – Stuart

Best Humor – Wendy

Corky stepped up to lead us in a New Year’s resolution meeting consistent with his strong belief in setting goals and writing a specific plan to achieve those goals.  He even shared some colorful ones that various role players and speakers have made for 2010.

Our Rey of Sunshine was Table Topics Master pitching questions to Taline, Carol and Leif.  Taline told us about her top two New Year’s resolutions.  Now we know by the end of 2010, Taline will be back to tip top triathlon shape and rich in spiritual clarity after reading the Bible from cover to cover.  We learned Carol once had a crazy New Year’s Eve dancing into the New Year with some friends until one was hit smack dab in the middle of the forehead with a champagne bottle cork.  Turns out that New Year started in the emergency room.  Leif then enlightened us with an analogy relating new fatherhood responsibilities to the drug trade – we all seemed to learn a little something in those 2 minutes.

Today’s speakers were Erin, Brenda, and Stuart.

Erin delivered her sixth speech focused on practicing vocal variety.  Her speech was titled “Out of Tune” and was she ever!  Through demonstrations and lively stories we learned and experienced Erin’s tone deafness, but unwavering enthusiasm and love for music.  Her performance even inspired Albert to display his musical skills by serenading Brenda when he was evaluating her speech.

Brenda entertained us with her speech titled “Life”.  She brought us through her experiences in finding her prince charming (our Toastmaster of the day, Corky) and the family she had dreamed of having as a child.  Although the road she took to get to where she is now was not the road she envisioned, she has arrived and is blessed to be living her dream.  It was a story to which so many of us can relate to in some way – you just can’t be quite sure how life will unfold, but with perseverance you can find your way.

Stuart got us all fired up about going on a Jamaican cruise with his fact-finding report, “Report on the Best Shore Excursions at Montego Bay, Jamaica”.  Of little surprise, it seems many of our crew will be spending the majority of our time on the Appleton Estate Rum Tour before making our way to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville.  There are of course many many more options such as Dolphin Encounters, Dunn’s River Falls, and Chukka Canopy Experience.  Overall, it was a thorough and informative report by Stuart.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Leif

Best Speaker – Erin

Most Enthusiastic – Erin

Best Evaluator – Amy

Best Humor – Erin

Today’s meeting began with a consensus among the ladies that the men of Capital City looked extraordinarily handsome.  Suits, ties, jackets, slacks.  Wow.  Many thanks to Brian, Robin, Brad, and Albert, to name a few, for livening things up a bit for us.  Feel free to maintain that dress code going forward.

Amy – Miss I Moved to Austin Without Furniture Car AC or a Plan – opened us up with a dig on love.  Something about it being lunacy we willingly embrace.  She must have still been thinking about our handsome men.

Maria – Miss I Can Eat a Whole Meringue Pie in One Sitting – timed without incident.  Oreo Bandit Brad acted as grammarian and forced on us some flibbertigibbet. 

Then sweet Brenda – whose craziest act, in her own mind anyway, is leaving a job at Kodak to date a fellow employee – tossed out some creative table topics.  Always handsome Albert described his dream of having Austin be the world’s center stage for a gigantic cultural exchange via a jumbo-tron.  Grumpy Old Stuart lamented his life without adventure and vowed to forever leave the straight and narrow never to be heard from again.  Finally, wild man Corky spoke of his belief in his own immortality and the ridiculous things he did that risked his life before he turned 50 – flying in zero visibility and riding horses without a saddle or reins.  Handsome, grumpy and crazy – we love them all.

Then came the speeches.  Robin made his arguments as to why radio is unequivocally the best medium.  Brian delivered his third of four speeches in preparation for a presentation he’ll be making to some technical types next month.  Both speeches were technical in some respects and personable in many.

Maureen, Wendy and Brendan evaluated.  Useful tips for all of us: (1) give newer toastmasters the opportunity to tackle table topics, (2) connect the content of the speech to the audience, and (3) use charm, folksy or otherwise, to win over the audience.

Thanks to Rey, our Toastmaster, for a fun theme and a well-guided meeting.  The winners:

• Table Topics: Stuart
• Speaker: Robin
• Evaluator: Brendan
• Humor: Robin
• Enthusiasm: Corky

Don’t forget: the International Speech and Evaluation Contests are coming up.  We hope that everyone will consider competing or serving as a role player for one of the contests.   And men, feel free to turn up in suits, ties, jackets, and slacks at the contest…and beyond.

Our Emperor, Albert, helped start out the new year and new decade with a meeting to acknowledge the decades that have defined our lives and the opportunities we come across.  He also reassured us in his State of the Kingdom report the Kingdom is indeed strong and the economy picking up steam.  Long live the Emperor!

Amy, a child of the television watching 1960’s, was our Table Topics Master.  She quizzed Stuart on which decade gave us the greatest music and Stuart responded showing his class and culture by extolling Bach and classical music.  Amy then called on Li to discuss the decade that provided the greatest fashions; Li named the first decade of the 21^st Century since people seem free to where whatever fits their fancy for the day.  Finally, Brad chimed in to tell us about the most mind-boggling technological advance in the last decade, naming Tweeter as an “advance” that he just doesn’t get.

Kim, Erin and Cynthia were our first speakers of the new year and decade.

Kim gave her third speech, which she titled “Smell”.  We learned she has no sense of it along with 2% of the human population.  She amused us with her stories of trying to teach herself to smell and her excitement in finally picking up on the scent of cooked ketchup and ammonia.  However, her lack of smell has not slowed her down in life in the slightest, she even enjoyed a stint as a successful perfume sales women.  Clearly, Kim has talent and we look forward to hearing more speeches from her.

Erin was this year’s second speaker giving her speech titled “Seriously?!”.  It was an amusing anecdote about a run-in with a traffic cone and a police officer, which left her $167 poorer and 8 hours of traffic school smarter.  Remember folks: a police barricade is a police barricade even when it only consists of traffic cones.

Cynthia gave her ice-breaker speech today starting off the new year and her toastmaster debut with a bang.  She had us chuckling as she told us about her Italian, English, and Irish heritage.  And now we know who to talk to for travel tips, the latest information on thermoplastics, and where to get the best ethnic cuisines.  Right off the bat, her delivery, poise and humor in her speech illustrated she has a great speaking foundation from which to work.  She also gets an extra gold star for being the only person at today’s meeting who did not have an “um” or any other such filler words – nicely, done Cynthia!

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Stuart

Best Speaker – Erin

Most Enthusiastic – Brenda

Best Evaluator – Patrick

Best Humor – Erin

Our last meeting of 2009 was led by one of our Distinguished Toastmasters, Patrick.  He schooled us in the etiquette of re-gifting just in time for our holiday party on December 19th.  We learned key lessons in re-gifting including remembering to change the name on the gift, update the wrapping paper, and of course clean the item before passing it on to another.  Excellent words of wisdom – thank you, Patrick.

Casually suave, Brad was Table Topics Master tossing out questions to Robby, Wendy, and Amy whose answers surprisingly erred on the side of sentimental – well, except for Amy’s response.  Robby shared with us a touching story about his Schwinn childhood bicycle he hasn’t been able to part with.  As many of us can relate to, Wendy admitted that while her parents annoy her at times they are cooler than she once thought and she truly respects and admires their work ethic as well as their life successes.  Amy tickled our funny bones as she recounted the time her parents forced her to pick a graduation present, which she turned around and re-gifted to her next boyfriend.

The speaking agenda for the meeting was packed with Joey’s icebreaker, Raj’s “Ode to Christmas”, and the second piece of Brian’s technical presentation series.

Joey related his life history to us through a football analogy highlighting the key lessons he has added to his playbook over the years and the people who have been instrumental in teaching him those lessons.  His first speech illustrated he has many of the basic speaking skills at his fingertips.  He even illustrated a flare for comedy as he skillfully slipped in a one liner about a his decision to nix the idea of using a golf metaphor since Tiger’s recent indiscretions have brought forth so many double entendres to many golf phrases.

Raj made his annual appearance to give the “Ode to Christmas” speech – a ten-year tradition at Capital City Toastmasters.  The “Ode to Christmas” was originally written by Chuck Kramer and is broadcast on NPR each year; however, no one can deliver it quite like Raj.  He made the tongue twisting, rapid fire, head spinning and yet, rhythmic delivery appear easy.  At the end you can’t help but ponder, “Good Lord, what have we done to Christmas?!”

Brian delivered his second technical speech in a series of four regarding lessons learned through backup and recovery at Dell.  He started off his speech with a clever cartoon that illustrated his main point for the speech: first adapters work out the bugs in new technologies paving the way for others.  He successfully walked us through discovering one of the early glitches in attempts to improve Dell’s back and recovery system.  We are looking forward to learning how these bugs were addressed in Brian’s upcoming speeches.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Amy

Best Speaker – Joey

Most Enthusiastic – Corky

Best Evaluator – Stuart

Best Humor – Amy

The ever capable Amy was the Toastmaster for this week’s meeting.  She started it off by telling us a great personal story of how Toastmasters has helped her and opened doors for her.  Come to think of it, many of us would be able to talk about similar stories as well, as Corky did in Saturday’s TLI meeting.  Thanks for sharing, Amy!

There must be something about this cold weather – the timekeeper said most of the speakers were “short.”  Even the traditionally longer winded speakers were of few words, moi included.

Albert gave us a preview of what to expect in his Imperial Speech to the Masses.  Brad, you weren’t there today, but you should know that if you are in the market for a new scooter, one will soon be raffled off, as a token of the Emperor’s largesse.  Albert gave a rousing speech, practicing his upcoming media frenzy, and really propelled himself into the moment.

Carol gave her 10th speech and we gave her a well deserved ovation.  The topic was “Bond, James Bond” and she dressed the part.  Her body language from the airport proximity to Pierce Brosnan was amazing.  I want Carol on my team for Pub Trivia Night, for those inevitable James Bond questions.

Maria delivered a handy toast and flowers to Carol to celebrate her milestone.  It was heartfelt, sincere and well done.

Brian was the Table Topics Master and he came prepared with some great questions that will likely become contest questions at some point.  John, Li, and Robbie were his first victims, but then Corky opened it up to the rest of the unspoken Toastmasters due to the rare, abundant extra time.

Ribbon Winners:

• Best Table Topic: Robby
• Best Speaker – Carol
• Most Enthusiasm – Albert
• Best Evaluator – Rey
• Best Humor – Carol