Rocktober

Hi, Mudslingers,

We  had another good meeting yesterday with a full agenda and roster. A HUGE thanks to all those who stepped in last minute to fill roles and did so with a big smile.

I would like to give a shout-out to the new members who did a great job filling in for their “first-time” roles:

Meghan Riley delivered a very thorough report as ah counter, grammarian, and WOD . She was no-holds- barred in her evaluation, even with the guest speaker. Way to go!

Tor Palmgren was very calm, laid-back, and precise with his time keeping. He is always the gentleman even with  a stopwatch in his hands.

Eric Ngo gave a very solid first evaluation of Nathan Rife's speech, So You Chose Not to Listen To Me. Eric remembered to select things to share with the speaker to improve upon, as well as, what was good.

James Stark made us all laugh. As humorist, he really helped to start the meeting off on the right note.  Not many first-timers fall to the ground to prove a point.

Not to be outdone, the seasoned-members shone yesterday, too. Our brilliant and elegant, Sara Hinkley, delivered a strong evaluation of our guest speakers’,  Lt Governor of Education and Training, Andre Romeo, inspiring speech, The Prescription. Sarah  proved  once again that she belongs among the best. Sashi Mettath,CC, also had the honor of evaluating our star of the day, Kathy Leu, who earned her Advanced Communicator Bronze with the speech, Life Can Be Funny. Sashi echoed our sentiments as a club on just how much we appreciate and have enjoyed Kathy as a speaker.

And how wonderful was it to see our very special guest, Glenda, yesterday? She is a Mudslinger Alum who brings smiles to everyone’s faces when she walks into a room.  She is iridescent - our WOD. 

We had almost half of our membership absent yesterday and we missed them, BUT the encouraging part was that the show still went on AND goals were reached.  Not many clubs can accomplish that. We have been on a roll!

Yesterday, we as a club earned a newly-branded banner! But as a Distinguished Club looking to go Select and even Presidential this year, that is just the first of many accomplishments our group will see come to pass.

Congratulations, Mudslingers! You ROCK!!! NOW, let’s keep it going.  Please remember to sign up for roles today for next week’s meeting.

Happy Weekend!

Keep The Date:

Monday, October 31, 2011 - Toastmasters International Mudslingers Halloween Event

Change It Up!

Happy Monday, Mudslingers!

Last Thursday we had another full meeting filled with a lot of good stuff. The word of the day was languid and the theme of the meeting was CHANGE.  Certainly, our club has not been languid in our attempts to move forward in the midst of change. Here are some examples: 

 1) James Stark, our new member, made his debut as the Table Topics Master this past Thursday and did a great job! The topics were really creative and  interesting which made for a very entertaining Table Topics session. In the end, there can only be one Table Topics winner  and the trophy traveled to Eric Ngo’s office.

2) Nathan Rife,  Sara Brunner, and Eric Ngo were recognized for delivering their 8^th (9^th in manual), 1rst (Ice Breaker), and 2nd speeches respectively. 

Eric Ngo (left), Nathan Rife (center), and Sara Brunner (right)

3) While Doug Graves presented the Distinguished Club ribbon sent from Toastmasters International recognizing the Mudslingers’ accomplishments over the past year.

Past President, Doug Graves, and Past Vice President of Education, Kathy Leu

4) The new members have also brought in new energy that have helped to add zest to our meetings and they have really taken the bull by its horns and have jumped right in.   

I would also like to thanks every member for stepping up and making the meetings successful, not only by volunteering for roles, but by being an engaging audience.   I would also like to thank everyone for being on top of their CL and CC manuals.  It is great to see goals being met.

Don’t forget to sign up for roles today. We have a guest speaker this week and two members delivering speeches. Therefore, we  may not be able to do Table Topics, but will have them in our back pocket just in case. The theme is ROCKTOBER. Let ‘s have fun with it!

See you, Thursday!

Quick On Your Feet

Photo provided courtesy of VietnamFreeLancer.Info

Table Topics™ can be fun. For most of us, they are even more fun when others are taking them on.  Usually, there is an awkward silence that follows the Table Topics Master (TTM) when he or she asks for someone to come up to the front for a topic. Then, there are the members who are willing to bail the TTM out and go up to the front. We all appreciate those members! 

But, if we only listen and enjoy as spectators and not participants, then we are not reaping the full benefits of conducting Table Topics in our meetings.  The Table Topics segment was designed to keep us in practice for thinking and speaking quickly on our feet. According to Toastmasters International, 

That’s why the “Table Topics” portion of the Toastmasters club meeting was developed. Table Topics provides you with the opportunity to practice impromptu speaking. By answering brief Table Topics questions, you learn how to present your thoughts clearly and convincingly, with no more than a few seconds of preparation. You also learn to listen constructively, and to think flexibly.

 We can even think of Table Topics as exercise for the mind. The more repetitions we do, the stronger we become at delivering them.  By achieving this goal, we also gain more confidence which helps us when we are put on the spot or know we may be asked to field questions during a meeting or presentation. 

However we push ourselves into participating in Table Topics, we are moving ourselves in the right direction. By taking on Table Topics, we are well on our way to becoming better thinkers, listeners, communicators, and Toastmasters. As Toastmasters we know that no one in the audience is waiting to throw a tomato at us, at least not in the meeting. We also know that we are wishing success for each other, especially at impromptu speaking. More importantly, we have all been there. Yes, at one time or another, we have all been asked something out of the blue or had to wing it. 

At the next Table Topics segment in our meeting, let’s go ahead and take the plunge.  Let's raise our hands and go to the front and prove to ourselves and to the world (cue Chariots of Fire to play in the background) that we can do it!  We can answer the topic:

What was your strangest date ever?

And everyone would love to hear it.

Plus, rumor has it; there is a pretty nifty award we can win for being the best.