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 . . .

Do I hear seventy? I hear seventy – can I get seventy five? Seventy five? Who’ll give me eighty?  Eighty.  I have eighty.  Do I hear eighty five?  Eighty it is.  Going – going – Sold.  The September 1 meeting theme was Auctions, and Robert Horan was our Toastmaster/Auctioneer. Super job Robert!

During Table Topics we learned that Leif has a love-hate relationship with the ludicrously pricey real-life Tron car, and therefore may or may not bid on it at an auction.  We learned that Zahra would auction off her own sister, and that Becky thinks the best bargaining strategy is stealing.  Just as auctioneers receive secret signals from bidders, Taline got a signal from a fellow Iron Man triathlete that told her she was meant to be there, in that race, in that place, at that time.    

Heather almost put us to sleep with her speech.  In a good way.  She taught us how to relax, and breathe, and relax…relax……relax……….through meditation.  Heather got buy-in on her mini-lesson on meditation by giving it a Texas twist, and by mentioning beer. As a meditation coach, Heather’s got skills.  As a comedian, Heather’s got skills.  As a speech writer, Heather’s got skills.  Evaluator Corky confessed he can no longer think of her as a ditzy blonde, because he has finally realized that she is neither ditzy nor blonde.

Gina got us thinking creatively in her speech on reducing waste and repurposing.  Repurposing is a euphemism for being extremely cheap — using things again and again rather than throwing them away. A Parmesan cheese container becomes a glitter dispenser, a detergent shaker, a fertilizer sprinkler, a home for fireflies, a place to hide spare keys, a container for golf balls, etc., etc.  Other countries are doing it, why can’t we? Evaluator Brendan gave props to Gina for getting back on track after a rough start.  He encouraged her to use the 3 T’s to give her speech an easy-to-remember structure, which will prevent her from getting overwhelmed, as well as making her speech listener-friendly. “Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, Tell ‘em, then Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”

Brenda, Brenda, Brenda. Yet another new perspective on the topic of inter-personal communication and its elusive facets and ramifications.  Brenda analyzed a set of widely respected skills, which are generally associated with great communicators, and came to the conclusion that sometimes breaking the rules yields the best communication of all.  Evaluator Louis gave Brenda advice about limiting the number of abstract concepts brought into one speech.  Asking the audience to wrap their heads around just one abstract concept can be a challenge (as Brenda did when she wheeled in the imaginary corpse of an accomplished Toastmaster on a gurney as a lead-in to her  autopsy/exploration of what goes on in a speaker’s brain).  Yet it’s always an adventure and a treat when Brenda speaks.

Congratulations to our ribbon winners:  

·         Best Table Topic: Taline

·         Best Speaker: Heather

·         Best Evaluator: Brendan

·         Most Enthusiastic: Corky

·         Best Use of Humor: Corky

·        Most Heroic Recovery: Gina

See you next week at the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest!

Our theme was “Nature and Nurture” and our Toastmaster, Leif, prepared a quote from John Lennon to get us started: “We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.  You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself.  You’ve got to keep watering it.  You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.”

Our word for the day was “cleave” – a confusing, undefinable word, rendered clear at last when ended with “age”.

If Lora were a professor, I would be terrified of her final exams – her numerous table topic speakers Katy, Keith, Heather, Gina and Carol did the “Brookover Table Trot” – the delicate art of taking the long way around the table at a slow enough pace to think up an answer, yet fast enough to not be totally obvious.  Robin and Keith, the quick witted men they are, don’t believe in such silliness and took the quick, short route.

Russell delivered a funny speech titled “It’s in my blood”, about the travails of manly bravado, such as what one should do to a box in the road whilst driving your new truck (e.g. flatten it of course!).  The kicker, though, was not listening to your body, when trying out for the football team, when that small, still voice was trying to warn you about the impending tragedy of ripped muscle.

The tiny house was Louis’ topic, this time with pictures and a powerpoint presentation as he demonstrated the goal of this particular speech of “getting to the point.”  Some of the process seems to be a lesson in the best way to do things – such as not getting screws that are a 1/4 inch too long because they are a pain to install.

The house is indeed tiny (for once marketing hyperbole that is ACCURATE!).  It was nice to finally be able to get an idea of what all is meant by a tiny house.  But, alas, where were the Vibram Five Fingers?

The ribbon winners were easy to pick because of going over-time.

• Best Table Topic: Heather
• Best Speaker: Russell
• Best Evaluator: Leeanne
• Most Enthusiastic: Heather
• Best Use of Humor: Heather

Congratulations to our ribbon winners!

“My Mama Told Me” was the theme of Wednesday’s meeting.  We learned that one member of our club has a wise mama, one has a mama who will love her more than anyone else will ever love her, and one has a mama who is as dumb as a rock.  

Leeanne “The Screamer” Pacatte was our Toastmaster.  She showed us that finally, after more than six years of Toastmasters coaxing and training, she has learned to make her quiet voice heard.   

During Table Topics, led by Li, we heard from Russell, who told us about his mother’s “Failing Forward” philosophy: Go forth and try to succeed even when you suspect you will not be successful; try even when don’t have complete information; try even when you know you’re not the best or the strongest, and learn from the outcome….here I thought that was the definition of stupid, but Russell made it sound noble. Taline talked about her wonderful, generous, caring, guilt-tripping mom, who fits the description of a Jewish Mother to a T, even though she is not Jewish.  New member Katy did an excellent job in her first time up at bat, letting us know that, while her mother discourages the use of salt for health reasons, Katy thinks it is more important, for the sake of spiritual health, to make food taste good!   Amen to that!  Great job, Katy!

Three outstanding speeches today.  Wendy completed her tenth speech and, in doing so, earned her Competent Communicator award. Her funny speech took us through her journey of becoming the new target of office jokes after setting fire to the microwave, and being forced to endure a worksite safety training (totally unrelated to the microwave incident, or so she was told). At the training, Wendy didn’t learn much about safety, but she did realize how much she had learned at Toastmasters: the presenter could have been a lot more effective, and could have shared more pertinent information if he had taken the time to learn more about his audience. Evaluator Lora pointed out that Wendy is a great speaker, because Wendy is a great person we always love to hear from: full of conviction, full of ambition, and full of joy.    

Stuart, ah Stuart.  Who else can turn an off-color story into something artful and witty.  Normally, the act of peeing into a plastic container during a road trip is the act of a lazy bum. But when it’s Stuart in real life, it’s the act of a philospher grappling with a moral dilemma.  Brendan gave props to Stuart for setting up a story that had us thinking all kinds of awkward and inappropriate things, though none were ever stated.  Brendan also provided a psychoanalysis of Stuart that would have made Albert proud.

Keith used a speaking slot to practice 5 to 7 minutes of standup comedy he will be presenting at an actual gig for actual people in real life. Keith, as we know, is a comedy monster.  He was hugely funny when going for the laughs, and, in classic Keith style, was almost even funnier when he hit a brick wall and the jokes weren’t working. Evaluator Heather praised Keith for steady laughter all the way through, and liberal use of physical comedy and self-effacing humor. Keith, we wish you the best of luck tonight.

Congratulations to our ribbon winners!

• Best Table Topic: Taline
• Best Speaker: Stuart
• Best Evaluator: Brendan
• Most Enthusiastic: Keith
• Best Use of Humor: Keith

And Congratulations to Wendy on earning her CC

Next week’s theme: Yo Mama.   :-)

The theme was hats and that was that! Kudos to Maria, Carol, Stuart, Louis, Brenda, and everyone else who wore a hat.  Extra points to Cynthia who showed up in Palestinian headgear. 

During Table Topics we learned that Brendan has a giant head, we learned that Lora’s husband has had a Cat-in-the-Hat- like impact on her life, we learned that Maureen has no need for an impressive hat as long as she has her Toastmasters skills in tow, we learned that Louis needs a hard hat with a soft sponge on top for work on Tiny House, and Albert stands in awe of people who can pull rabbits out of their hats or use other diversionary tactics to dazzle us.

Brenda told a great story about getting tricked into taking motorcycle-riding lessons.  While the speech was a lot of fun, and full of spills and thrills, there was a wonderful message underneath.  Try something new and don’t be afraid.  There were will be obstacles. For sure.  But there will also be laughter, and you will grow, and get wonderful memories as well.  Brenda’s got skills!   And Brian gave her props in his very enthusiastic and spot-on evaluation.   

Robert’s got it all going on when it comes to travel!  His presentation covered all things travel-related including insider tips on planning, saving money, little-known out-of-the-way vacation destinations, cool websites, and more.  Robert is the “Go To” guy if you want to Go To anywhere in the world.  He’s been around.  As Heather, his evaluator, pointed out, Robert has a wealth of knowledge which should have been presented with a wealth of confidence, given all he knows, and perhaps a few more wonderful anecdotes about traveling to engage his audience. It was agreed after the meeting that if Robert had done nothing more than say the word ”Agriturismo” ten times  with finesse and conviction, he would be holding a ribbon in his hand right now.

Congratulations to our Ribbon Winners:

• Best Speaker: No Ribbon awarded, both speakers went overtime
• Best Table Topic: Maureen
• Best Evaluator: Heather
• Most Enthusiasm: Brenda
• Best Humor: Stuart who might be the Funniest General Evaluator of all time

See you next week!

Toastmaster Robert Horan picked a theme that was at once high-tech and nostalgic.  Our agenda was the coolest: an image of an old fashioned typewriter, taking up most of the page, with all the roles succinctly stated in a narrow strip on the right.  The theme?  Pet Peeves about Modern Technology. And don’t we all have them. 

Li’s word of the day was “Savvy,” as in techno-savvy

Brian’s Table Topics gave Amy, Cynthia, Corky, Taline, and Albert a chance to rant about cell phones, iPhones, Facebook, teenagers, texting, and tweeting. Carol Conner was not in the house, so Cynthia channeled Carol and danced and sang, and as we all know, this is the surest way to walk off with the ribbon.

Is it a purse?  Is it a calendar?  Is it a feedbag?  No, it was the visual aid for Brenda’s second speech, a flip-chart on a string, featuring photos of flies.  I have been a Toastmaster for twelve years now and I have never seen anything quite like it.  Each fly represented an aspect of communication, and  Brenda discussed each one as an analogy.  Sort of.  Kind of.  Maybe.  Corky, as Brenda’s evaluator, confessed he couldn’t completely figure it out and prefers to be spoon-fed.  Again, we applaud Brenda for jumping in as a new member, signing up for speeches, trying new things, and confounding Corky.

Heather did it again!  An endearing, touching, informative, thought-provoking speech, thoroughly infused with humor.  This speech was about her realization that her daily thoughts were like annoying bugs buzzing in her brain, taking up her time, and preventing her from living her life fully.  Her casserole of random thoughts was crazy funny and her demonstration of trying to breathe according to the new instructions learned at meditation class while driving the car were priceless. Maria evaluated Heather with praise and suggestions for the future.

And it all wrapped up quite nicely with Stuart’s chuckle: When people meet online and fall in love they become “Tweet-hearts”  

Congratulations to our Ribbon Winners:

• Best Speaker: Heather
• Best Table Topic: Cynthia
• Best Evaluator: Corky
• Most Enthusiasm: Cynthia
• Best Humor: Heather

The Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest was announced for Wednesday Spetember 8. 

I’m in!

See you next week!

Hot Dogs, HoHos, Reese’s Puffs Cereal, Coke, Fries…and that was just the agenda. Cynthia made her debut as Toastmaster and did a dynamite job of it.

Brenda did her Ice Breaker. It was a Magical Mystery Tour, hilarious and meandering and thought-provoking and endearing all at once, with a sweet ending that let us know she is truly on board to learn and grow in her communication skills. Heather, as Brenda’s evaluator, gave Brenda the props she was due, applauding her courage and her humor, and her willingness to share her weaknesses, which helped her make a connection. Heather suggested that Brenda try a formal structure next time, just for variety sake.

Corky also spoke today, without much notice, and pulled together 7 minutes and 30 seconds worth of pure entertainment. You may not want to fly with Corky, but you definitely want to hear (while on solid ground, where it’s possible to laugh about this) his stories of practical jokes played high high up in the air. Could a man really be so devilish? Who knows, and really, who cares, as long as he keeps bringing these speeches. Louis, Corky’s evaluator, liked all the self-effacing humor, and came to a greater understanding of why not all of Corky’s marriages have worked out.

We heard Table Topics from Wendy, Russell, Robert, Zahra, and Taline, who collectively shared their weaknesses for ice cream sandwiches, chocolates, tortillas, fries, peach pie, marshmallows, Oreos, and butter. And I believe McDonald’s and Wendy’s both got an honorable mention today.

Maria was the Topic Master! Brian was the Timer! Carol and Zahra both were the Grammarian! Li did the Chuckle!

Congratulations to our Ribbon Winners:

• Best Speaker: Corky
• Best Table Topic: Taline
• Best Evaluator: Louis
• Most Enthusiasm: Heather
• Best Humor: Corky

Delicious meeting!

See you next week!