07-06-06 Meeting Summary

Jerry Vang was our Toastmaster at todays meeting. The theme he picked was
"Cleaning your car". Jerry explained that he chose this theme because he
was recently cleaning out his own car and found a can of pop under the seat
that had exploded. It took him some time in cleaning that mess up.
Our Wordmaster Grammarian today was Dave Baston. His word "luster" means:
Soft reflected light, sheen, glory, radiance, distinction, splendor, as of
achievement, reputation, beauty, any of various substances such as wax or
glaze used to give an object a gloss or polish. Dave also told us of some
pictures he found while cleaning out his wife's car to sell shortly after
they returned from their honeymoon of his wife and her ex-husband in
intimate positions.
Our first speaker was Keri O'Brien. (10:16) Her speech "Keeping the
Commitment" was about staying committed to our Toastmasters club. She
handed out cards to all of us that has the Toastmasters promise on it.
Here are the promises we need to make and keep:
a)To attend club meetings regularly
b)To prepare all of my speeches to the best of my ability, basing them on
projects in the Communication and Leadership Program manual or the Advanced
Communication and Leadership Program manuals
c)To prepare for and fulfill meeting assignments
d)To help the club maintain the positive, friendly environment necessary
for all members to learn and grow
e)To serve my club as an officer when called upon to do so
f)To treat my fellow club members and our guests with respect and courtesy
g)To bring guests to club meetings so they can see the benefits
Toastmasters membership offers
h)To adhere to the guidelines and rules for all Toastmasters educational
and recognition programs
i)To maintain honest and highly ethical standards during the conduct of all
Toastmasters activities
Our second speaker today was Marian Johnson. (10:20) Her speech "Separated
by Different Educational Systems" was about the difference in the
educational systems between the U.K. and the U.S. In the U.K. they have a
very rigid and strict educational system the requires you to pass several
exams to be able to continue higher education and you are not able to
transfer studies once you are on a set path. The U.S. model of education
was patterned after the German system and is much more open and not nearly
as rigid as our english speaking friends from England. Marian also noted
some of the terms that both our educational systems use that are very
different from each other.
Dave Baston was our Table Topics master today (doing double duty!). Dave
asked Laura Carmody (1:28) "What's the best thing you have ever found when
cleaning your car?" Laura told us of a pair of shoes that she had been
missing for about a year that she found while cleaning out her trunk and
she found a lint brush under a seat that she uses to pick up the dog hair
from her car so her car pooler won't get so full of dog hair when riding in
Laura's car.
Dave asked Mary Wood (1:07) "Are you a clean car or a dirty car person and
why?" Mary says that actually she is both a clean car and dirty car
person. She is a dirty car person because she has children in her life and
even though she asks them to pick up their garbage it still seems to get
left behind at times. She is a clean car person because she grew up with
parents that took pride in their car and washed it regularly and besides
who does not want to be a clean car person because if you have guests
riding in your car you want to impress them.
Mike Cahn was the evaluator for Keri's speech. He felt she did a good job
of tailoring the C.L. speech to our club. Mike appreciated the humor Keri
added to the speech. For improvement he noted that the light from the
screen was on Keri's forehead and she should try to slow down her speech
when reading from the speeches preprinted text.
Jeff Streeper (doing double duty also!) was the evaluator for Marian's
speech. He felt the topic was very interesting and he especially liked
Marian's introduction. Jeff liked the fact that Marian was an expert on
this subject by growing up in England and going through their educational
system. For improvement Jeff noted that some information was not shared
with us because the time had run out.
Dave Baston noted our meeting had more then normal ahs and ums. Two people
used the word of the day - Jerry and Mike.
Dan Bennek was the general evaluator for the meeting today. Dan felt that
Jerry did a good job as Toastmaster. He had good segways between the
speeches. For improvement Dan noted that Jerry left the front of the room
open when Dave was coming up to do Table Topics and he could lead the
clapping more. Over all the meeting went well today. The Spirit Award
went to Marian J!
Hope to see you all next week...