You Learn Something New

One thing I love about Toastmasters meetings is that you can learn so much without cracking a book open or entering a topic into your search engine.  Monday's meeting included an interesting speech about presidential assassinations and attempts in the 20th century.  Our history buff, Lou C. picked up the timeline of a previous speech to include some fascinating facts about the attempts on the lives of Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.  Lou also explained the phrase "McKinley handshake."  If you don't know what that means, it's too bad  you didn't visit our meeting.  You can always google it.  Table topics were a fun mix of ideas for spooky stories.  It turns out some people just don't believe in haunted houses!  Thanks again, Daystar Retirement Village for the lovely light lunch.  Come join us.  We have a great time!

Members, Members Members!

Our erstwhile Daystar Toastmaster President, Joe Barreca, has been leading us in some very interesting discussions in recent meetings.  Using the Facilitating Discussions manual, Joe has lead panel discussions, brainstorming sessions and even handled a "difficult situation" in completing this interesting advanced manual.  The topic of Joe's projects?  How To Get New Members!  Members of the club have identified problem areas for our club, brainstormed solutions and have formulated tasks to help us achieve our goal of adding new members.  Thank you, Joe, for choosing such a timely topic and for setting an example of how we can make our speech projects do double duty.

After the meeting members enjoyed a lovely light lunch provided by the Daystar Retirement Villiage.  Our deepest thanks to the Daystar folks for their continued support.

Begin Again

I was all excited when the new Toastmaster year began. I started the blog. I studied my manuals to see what projects I needed to finish and then... Well, we started to have the little bit of summer that we had this year and I got distracted. Now Fall is upon us. The air is brisk, the leaves are turning and the kids are back in school. Somehow, this feels like a new beginning to me, too.

How about you? Are you ready for a new beginning? Are you ready to brush up your speaking skills, develop your leadership skills and set goals to be a better You? Let's go back to our "Toastmasters school" and make the most of the opportunites that membership in Daystar Dialoguers provides us: a wonderful mix of sharpening our skills and honing our friendships. See you there!

On the Reading Railroad

Deb served as our engineer (Toastmaster) on the Reading Railroad for the July 11 meeting. Summer is a great time to sit in the shade and read. (Of course, this summer, in Seattle, you may want to sit in your house with the heat on!) Members shared their favorite books from mysteries to self help to popular fiction.

Our first speaker, Chris, shared some great advice given to him by Joe B.: If you aren't totally prepared for a speech, don't stay home, speak anyway. You will still learn from the experience. Chris cleared a high hurdle in his goal to be more vulnerable and open. Great job, Chris.

Our new president, Mariah, shared her goals and hopes for the upcoming Toastmaster year. It was great to see her positive attitude and exciting goals for the club. In the following table topics session members talked about their goals in the club this year. Mariah busily took notes during each speech. I know she will be encouraging each member to achieve their goals.

Our next meeting on July 25th is looking great. Bill S. will be at the helm as Toastmaster for the first time. Chris and Deb will be speaking. Can't wait to see how all turns out!

And...Don't forget our club picnic coming up on July 23rd. Thank you to Bill H. and his wife, Mary, for their generous offer to host the picnic. If you haven't seen the spectacular view from Bill's deck, you are up for a treat! Contact me or Bill if you need more details.

How Much Fun Was That?

Our June 27th meeting challenged us to remember vacations from times past. We found out that some of us turned out enjoying vacations that we didn't think we'd like. All in attendance got the vicarious experience of vacations in exotic places from Italy to Bellingham. Our Toastmaster of the day, Joe B., did a wonderful job as tour guide for the meeting. Our guest, Vera, handled the Table Topic Master role like a pro and gave many of our members, without assigned speaking roles, the chance to speak off the top of their head.

Our next meeting promises to be equally as entertaining with Deb M. at the helm as Toastmaster. Our Table Topic Master will be Mariah who always comes up with creative ideas. We are also looking forward to seeing Joyce and Frieda at this meeting.

I'm bringing the camera, so bring your smiles. We'd love to get some pictures into this blog so everyone can see how much fun we have.

Our Next Meeting Will Be A Trip!

At next Monday's meeting our Toastmaster Joe, will be taking us on a trip down memory lane as he shares his theme for the meeting: What's Your Favorite Trip. I know there will be some great stories. Can't wait to hear our two dynamic speakers, Gae and Mariah. To top that off, we have a guest Table Topics Master, Vera, who will expand the theme and challenge us to think on our feet. Don't miss the meeting. Guests are always welcome. The meeting starts at noon. Come a little early to get settled in.

June 13: Meeting a Success!

The June 13th meeting was a stand out, in so many ways. First of all, we had great attendance and two guests. Next, our former member, Chris, returned to say he would be rejoining! And, of course, we enjoyed two great speeches by Deb and Joyce. Deb entertained us with the antics of the kitten, Maria-Loki. Joyce shared "Tips for Aging." At 94 years old, Joyce is a shining example of what it means to age gracefully.

First time Toastmaster, Frieda, shaped the meeting with her theme, "In the Good Ol' Summertime." Her introductions of the speakers shared what each like best about summer. The theme continued into our impromptu speaking portion of the meeting with questions about favorite summer foods and suggestions on how to stay cool on the three days of hot weather we have every summer in Seattle.

In our business meeting, we elected our new officer team (see previous post). Again, I want to thank our dedicated 2010-2011 officer team. Outstanding job! Thank you for your service.

I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to our next meeting on June 27.