We all have hidden talents and today we got to learn and see some of our fellow toastmasters’ secret skills.  Erin led this unconventional St. Patrick’s Day meeting with plenty of support from other toastmasters including Taline who spoke cat to get the meeting rolling.

Brian was Table Topics Master for the day.  He confessed he has the hidden talent or maybe not so hidden talent of aggravating his wife – even when he has the best of intentions.  Heather, a brand new member, was the first victim to face one of Brian’s table topic questions.  She responded like an absolute pro – as if she was born for table topics.  She shared with us and showed us her hidden ability to read people’s minds by simply holding something they own – it was awesome.  John was Brian’s second victim.  John told us about his aspirations to make it onto American Idol – he only needs to find a way around the age limit (as he said he is only a few days beyond 27 years old) and that trivial piece of singing in the correct key.  Taline was so thrilled to get to answer Brian’s third table topic question.  Taline shared with us her dream of having a weekly news column to comment on people, places, events, and her latest movie star crush.

Brandon, Wendy, and Stuart were the day’s speakers.

Brandon gave his first speech!  It was titled “A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing”.  Brandon, another very new member, spoke like a natural with a pleasant, calm, composed demeanor.  As Albert put it, he is clearly future Emperor material; he did a great job bringing literature to life.  We got to hear about Brandon’s experiences in reading some of the classics like Don Quixote and some of the disastrous things that followed when he would try to apply what he read in books to his every day life.  It was an entertaining speech revealing depth and wisdom – we are looking forward to speech number two.

Wendy gave her sixth speech from the Competent Communication Manual; her speech was titled “Confessions of a Secret Agent Wanna-Be: Part 2”.  It was the continuing saga of Wendy’s quest to become an FBI Secret Agent.  We heard about her Phase 1 testing experience in San Antonio.  She had us chuckling as she recounted the tight security screening they had to endure and the three elements of Phase 1 testing: biodata, logical reasoning test, and a situational judgment test.  But, alas, while we heard about these tests we did not hear whether she continued onto Phase 2.  There are rumors that this story will continue with an upcoming “Part 3”.  Please keep an eye on your local listings (i.e., the roster) for the next installment of this adventure.

Stuart was the third speaker of the day; he gave his last speech from the Speaking to Inform Manual.  The title of the speech was “Begging the Question”.  We learned the structure of a logical argument, what a logical argument looks like and how to most effectively use them.  This knowledge led the way for Stuart to teach us what “Begging the Question” really means – it is so commonly miss used in every day language.   The phrase refers to a logical fallacy (i.e., an invalid argument).  It occurs when someone uses circular reasoning to “prove” or “conclude” something.

Ribbon Winners:

Best Table Topic – Heather

Best Speaker – Wendy

Most Enthusiastic – Wendy

Best Evaluator – Louis

Best Humor – Wendy