The start of February meant the start of Capital City Toastmaster’s Guest Fest 2009!  We are challenging each member to bring one guest per month to our meetings for the next five months.  We love guests because they add energy to our meetings.  We also love getting to know new people and sharing with them the opportunity of Toastmasters.  Plus, we think we’re a lot of fun and always love adding new people to the mix.  We’ll throw in some incentives along the way, such as guest cupcakes or the Get Out of Table Topics Free card if you bring a guest to a certain meeting!  Be thinking about people who may benefit from Toastmasters or just cool fun people we need to meet.   And invite away!

The meeting to kickoff Guest Fest started with a little diddy by Wendy and Taline.   It was a one time performance never to be seen again.  If you missed it, see the lyrics below.  Think Beauty and the Beast and you’ll know the tune. 

Our wonderful lyricist Wendy led table topics.  Carol told us that her desire to improve her speaking skills brought her to Toastmasters.  We’re so glad it did, Carol.   Lee told us that he was invited to an inaugural ball where he had the opportunity to meet football coaching great Barry Switzer.   Both handled their topics beautifully.

We had a full lineup of speakers.  Amy gave us tips on how to evaluate to motivate.    She offered so much great information that we’re providing much of it here.  Ask Amy if you’d like more explanation of any of her points.  She’ll happily discuss them with you.

Do:

  • State the obvious.
  • Spotlight star qualities.
  • Be specific.
  • Make suggestions for strengthening the speech.

Don’t:

  • Don’t bash the views of the speaker.
  • Don’t smash the ego of the speaker.
  • Don’t trash the speech.
  • Don’t dash the hopes of the speaker.
  • Don’t make the evaluation all about you.

Stuart – our resident GOM Man (Grumpy Old Man Man) – then gave a fantastic speech called “Learning to Live With RAS Syndrome.”  He explained that RAS Syndrome is Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome and ranted about the use of terms such as ATM machine,  LCD display,  PIN number, and UPC code.

Last but not least, Rey gave a fun speech about the first time she had to take a microphone and speak to a crowd of a hundred people.  She made vivid her terror and told us about how much Toastmasters has helped her pursue public speaking despite a rocky first time.

Brendan, Louis, Patrick and Albert evaluated.  Helpful hints for us all: start your speech with a great story, give structure to every speech, project your voice, and use appropriate gestures.

Special thanks to Stephen, Maria, and Leeanne for serving as role players.  Special thanks to Carol for taking notes of the meeting to make a recap possible.

We awarded ribbons as follows:

  • Best Table Topic:  Lee
  • Best Speaker:  Stuart
  • Best Evaluation:  Patrick
  • Most Enthusiastic:  Amy
  • Best Humor:  Stuart

And now, the lyrics to the theme song for Guest Fest 2009:

Bring a guest, bring a guest
Put our meetings to the test.
Bring your colleague, friend or family
and we provide the rest.
 
A place to grow,
people to know.
We even have Corky Logue!
 
You will not find a club more divine
and only an hour of your time!
 
Sometimes we laugh
Sometimes we cry
Sometimes we don’t even know why.
 
Meetings here are never dull or dry…
 
Bring someone down to visit,
They wouldn’t want to miss it!
 
Bring a guest, bring a guest, bring a guest!! 
© 2009 Wendy