We’ve come to expect some things at Capital City Toastmasters.  We expect meetings to start and end on time.  We expect to laugh often throughout our meetings.  We expect our Emperor to ignore the red light and talk to his heart’s content.   What we don’t expect is to hear our own Corky give a speech.  But last week, he did, and those of us in attendance were so glad he did.

Corky delivered an inspiring speech on how to be successful in life.  He encouraged us to do something we love, to write down our goals, and to work on our public speaking skills.  His speech was awesome, not just because of what he said but because of how he said it.  He spoke in his animated Corky style, told lots of stories about his own experiences, and made us laugh.   Some of our members have been asking Corky for a long time to give a speech.  Rumor has it that we won’t have to ask again.  He’s planning to speak more regularly, which is great except that it means we need people who are willing to step up and evaluate him.  Is anyone other than Brendan bold enough to do that?  We look forward to finding out really soon.

As great as Corky was, no meeting thrives on one speaker alone.  Rey did an awesome job as Toastmaster even though she was frazzled at the start due to a rough few days.   Bert delivered an advanced manual speech on how to nudge difficult people towards changed behavior.  Amy spun a table topic on her admiration for the young Peggy Flemming.  Brian blew some smoke about the sheriff who considered prosecuting Michael Phelps.  Neil, a member we haven’t seen for a while, talked of saving the world on a tandem bike.

Other role players included Leeanne, Lora, Jenny, Albert and our newer Patrick.  Patrick, dear Patrick.  We owe you for evoking quite possibly the deepest, heartiest laughter ever in response to a chuckle.  As with Corky’s speech, the brilliance wasn’t in what you said but how you said it.   Feel free to botch chuckles in the future.  It may have been slightly embarrassing for you, but it was a fortuitous slip for us.  Thanks for being a good sport about it!

Here’s the chuckle Patrick intended to deliver:

A boy was playing with himself in the bathtub when his father walked in and said, “Son, if you don’t stop doing that, you’ll go blind.”  The boy said, “Dad, I’m over here.”

  • Best Table Topic: Amy
  • Best Speaker:  Corky
  • Best Evaluator: Brendan
  • Best Humor:  Corky
  • Most Enthusiastic: Corky

This week, we have a special treat.  It’s a meeting run by our newer Toastmasters.  Susana is stepping in as Toastmaster for the first time.  Robin, Kirk and Patrick are delivering ice breakers.  You won’t want to miss it.  We expect another great meeting.