Attendance this week more than doubled from last week!  Did you folks think that a ”Happy Thanksgiving” theme meant we were serving turkey?  Whatever the reason for the fantastic turnout, we’re so glad you all made it.  It was great to see Stephen and Maria again.  And we loved having David and Amit make repeat visits to our club.  And long time member Neil returned.  We hope that your schedules will allow you to stay with us!

Wendy, once again, stepped up to serve as Toastmaster and was perfect as our Thanksgiving hostess.   Assisting Wendy was Stephen as invocator who also delivered perhaps the most memorable chuckle really without saying a word!  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Albert befriended his ”enemy” – the time clock – and served as timer.  Seham got into the Thanksgiving spirit as she participated as first time grammarian.

Rey, whose energy we always appreciate, served up the appetizers for this week’s meeting – the ever beloved table topics.  Stuart told of fasting for his upcoming birthday colonoscopy.  Neil relayed memories of getting up at the “crack of ridiculous” to see family on Thanksgiving and heaving in a hospital waiting room.  Keith commanded more applause for his District 55 Tall Tales Contest win and then proclaimed his love for parades and his role as potato maker on Thanksgiving Day.

The main course consisted of two flavors of speeches.  Taline relayed the horror of turning 35 and some much needed changes she has in store.  Susana educated us on the how to properly recycle, confessed that she has actually read the City of Austin waste manual, and shared her joy over her new recycling bin and the hope it brings.

Since evaluations are often the richest part of any meeting, we’ll call those dessert.  Jenny, so inspired by Susana’s speech, also proclaimed her love for recycling before she evaluated the meeting.  Brian and Jason evaluated the speeches.  The take home messages?  Remember that we all get nervous.  Deliver each speech with enthusiasm, which is always infectious.  And make eye contact with the audience.  Those were good reminders for us all.

After Albert delivered the longest timer’s report in the history of Capital City Toastmasters, we awarded the ribbons as follows:

  • Best Table Topic:  Stuart
  • Best Speaker:  Taline
  • Best Evaluator:  Jason
  • Best Humor:  Jenny
  • Most Enthusiastic:  Susana

Then we formally welcomed Seham to the club and voted in officers.  Wendy, Rey, Jenny, Lora, Jason, and Taline will continue their positions for another term.  Our new president is Keith.  We thank Louis for his past service and thank Keith for his future service. 

Just a reminder – we are not having a meeting next week.   We will be off for Thanksgiving.  So eat lots, practice table topics with your families, and come back on December 3 for another great meeting. 

We hope that some of you who we have not seen for a while will be able to join us in the coming month.   Happy thanksgiving to you all.