07-28-05 Meeting Summary

MEETING SUMMARY -- JULY 28, 2005
Theme of the Day: Baseball

Dressed in a Twins shirt and with baseball-related memorabilia decorating
the podium, Toastmaster, Mark H. scored a double with his selection of a
baseball theme for the 7/28 Mutual Voices Toastmaster meeting. Picking up
on Mark's theme, duty holders threw in baseball-related terms at every
opportunity and hit the meeting right out of the park!

Wordmaster/Grammarian, Lori G., introduced indelible, as word of the
day and used it in a theme-related sentence: Some baseball players such as
Babe Ruth are indelible as the ink stains under the breast pocket.

With several years in the majors behind her,Timer, Laura G.,
skillfully described her responsibilities using baseball vernacular.

Speaker # 1, Dan B., delivered a speech under the "Folk Tale" category
of the Advanced Communication and Leadership Series. He opened by
defining the term "Folk Tale." He then read a children's story "We're
tired of living in a house," written by Liesel Skorpen that he thinks fits
the definition of a folk tale. The story is about a group of children who
decide that they'd rather live in a variety of alternative accommodations,
including a cave, a tree house and a lilly pad rather than a house. After
reading the story, Dan described the analogy between the childrens' quest
for the ideal place to live and the quest for the ideal place to work:
Neither exist. Working in HR, he's very aware of how some associates
complain about working conditions here only to discover on leaving the
company and seeking that "perfect" job elsewhere that it wasn't so bad here
after all.

Gadder F., Speaker # 2, gave a speech about Courage, the second speech
in the first manual. According to Gadder, courage is a quality that we
all possess and that eventually our courage will be tested. The essence
of courage is faith in ourselves, which is something each one of us needs
to build. He referred to the Securian brand training that he recently
went through and how Karl S. states that people with strong values are
more successful and happier. If you know yourself, you have faith in
yourself and can build self-confidence, said Gadder. Courage cannot
surface without being tested and we shouldn't shrink away from these tests.
Gadder gave examples of what these tests might be -- not necessarily large
acts but small items. His last words were "Have courage and live and you
might inspire others."

Mark continued the baseball theme by calling the meeting Humorist, Mike
C., to the podium fto lead the "seventh inning stretch." Mike told a
funny story about how the bass section with the Cleveland Symphony
Orchestra decided to go to the bar during an extensive part of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony during which they didn't play. Here's a link to the full
story:http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor3.shtml.

Evaluations of the day's speeches then followed. Evaluator # 1, Bill
S., otherwise known as the first base umpire, provided feedback to Dan
on his speech. He talked about how the children's book provided some
interesting material for the speech.

Kelly T., Evaluator # 2, rated Gadder's second Mutual Voices speech
as excellent. She cited his repetition of thoughts and the examples of
courage that he provided, along with his introduction, body and conclusion

Mark introduced Table Topics Master, Keri O. as the "reliever." Keri
told us that her husband is a White Sox fan and her first question to Jerry
Vang, was "What could she and her husband do to get along amicably through
the rest of the baseball season?"

Jerry V., suggested that Keri sit down with her husband and discuss
scores, nicely. But Jerry reserved his strongest advice for Keri's husand:
Follow what works in his household "wife knows best!"

Keri's second question for Laura C. was "What three items would you
explain to someone unfamiliar with the game of baseball?

Laura started off by saying that she had difficulty figuring out when a
ball was good and so she thought explaining the difference between a hit, a
strike and a ball would be a good idea.

Keri's third question was for new member, Stacia S. If all the Twin
Cities teams had critical and high profile games, what would she choose to
watch? Stacia said she has Timberwolves tickets and so she would most
likely choose to watch them.

General Evaluator, Mary Ellen G., evaluated the meeting as very good
overall, with a good theme, good introductions and explanations of duties
and no distractions. Timer, Laura G., did a good job and turned the
box so the speakers could see the lights, which was very helpful. The
Spirit Award went to Mark H.