August 24, 2006 Meeting Summary

Mark H presided as Toastmaster. Since there were no guests and few members he decided the meeting would be somewhat informal – no explanations of duties were necessary. He also introduced the theme of the day – Challenges – as he is preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon. Duty holders will discuss challenges they have encountered.

Dan B served as both Wordmaster Gramarian and Timer. He discussed the challenges of having a son be the smallest kid in the heavyweight football group. He needs to keep quiet and calm. The word of the day was "risk". Dan shared four of the many definitions and a sample sentence based on his own experience "Getting on a ladder, you run the risk of breaking your ankle."

Marian J was speaker #1. She gave a speech entitled "What will be, will be" for speech #2 from the Story Telling Manual (Let’s Get Personal). She spoke about growing up in England and later adapting to life in the United States. The principles she learned as a child helped he to adapt – smile a lot, be honest with yourself and others, and work as smart as you work hard.

Mary W shared a challenge and an inspiration. Her challenge was a recent family challenge. For inspiration, she shared the definition of challenge, gave several examples of types of challenges, gave ideas for handling challenges in a positive manner.

Laura B was evaluator #1. She explained how the organization for storytelling speeches is different from other speeches and that Marian did it well. She had a beautiful opening that gave a great visual. Her gestures were natural and her conclusion brought you back to her opening. Laura suggested she could have provide more of a description of her father and used a sideways motion to show the passing of time.

Kathy J was the Topicsmaster. She told us about the challenge of passing her LOMA exams. She recently completed them. Dan spoke on the first topic – words of wisdom. His advice for his kids is that it’s ok to admit you made a mistake. Laura B. spoke of the challenges along the skyway including Macy’s and good food. Mary was asked to speak of a fear or phobia. She discussed the fear of her house burning down, so she makes sure to turn off appliances when not in use and not run the dryer when she’s out of the house. She also discussed a fear of being raped and has taken self defense courses to prepare herself if she’s ever in such a situation.

Dan gave both of his reports. He noticed ums and ahs so we still need to work on that. The also pointed out some interesting phrases, such as Laura’s "throw out the crap". Marian’s speech was 7:10. Mary’s inspiration was 4:07. Laura’ s evaluation was 3:18. Table topics were as follows: Dan – 1:16, Laura 1:30, and Mary 2:20.

Betsy S gave a general evaluation. She complimented Mark for establishing an informal meeting for the small group and on his transitions. Dan and Laura gave good mini-speeches for their table topics and Mary made good uses of pauses to collect her thoughts. Laura ’s evaluation was a good mini-speech and she gave good examples. Mary recovered well when she left her definition at the table and gave great ideas that connected her well with her audience. The Spirit Award was given to Marian. Overall, it was a good meeting.

Thursday, August 3 Meeting Summary
Kathy J was our Toastmasters for todays meeting. The theme she chosewas 'Cartoon Characters'. Kathy showed us several items that had picturesof cartoon characters on them that her kids like.

Jeff S was our first speaker. His speech titled "Fish Are Fun" was about the pets he has at his home. He gave us three reasons why startingout with fish are a good choice for a pet. 1) they are relatively inexpensive - gold fish can be bought for 12 cents each 2) they are easily maintained - you can get rid of a dead fish with a flick of your wrist 3)They are a great addition to your home - they can be the center point of aroom and people enjoy watching them. (6:25)

Mike C was our second speaker. His speech titled "Fuzzy Future of HDDVD Players" was about a research project he did for Best Buy executives(the audience). Mike pointed out three reasons why sales that wereprojected at 10 million only actually reached one million. 1) ImmatureTechnology - high definition DVD's are relatively new 2) Prices - they cost around $500 which is much more then regular DVD players 3)Availability - There are two types on the market and HD DVD's are specificas to which DVD player you can play the movie on. One is from Sony and onefrom Toshiba. (5:55). After Mike's speech he had a question and answer session. Mike answered questions from Matt, Mark and Laura G. (4:34)

Laura Bourgeault was our Table Topics Master. She told us of a web site that you can answer some questions and they will tell you what cartooncharacter you are. Laura is Tweety Bird. If you are interested the website is: www.naucon.net/misc/tests/cartoon_char.htm Laura had several pieces of paper with different cartoon characters namedon them. She asked the person to draw a slip of paper and then describewhy they are like that particular cartoon character. Mary Wood was the first lucky person and she drew the Road Runner. Mary states that she is like the road runner because she is always zipping around. She likes to be on time so she is always moving fast. She has abusy life style and the road runner has a similar personality to hers. (55sec) our guest Matt took the second table topics slip and pulled the Tasmanian Devil. Matt said that when Taz is calm most people don't even realize histrue nature. Like Taz Matt can take risks and still be ok. (40 sec)Dan B took the last table topic slip and chose Shrek. Dan relates toShrek often because like Shrek he does not like to be bothered by people.When he gets home he likes to just be left alone. On the other hand Shrekhas a soft side that Dan also likes. (around a minute)

Keri O evaluated Jeff's speech. She felt he fulfilled the purpose ofhis speech. He had good organization with a clear opening and closing. She especially like the humor Jeff used during this speech. For future speeches she would like to see Jeff use the flip chart instead of notesduring his speech. (2:58)

Mark H evaluated Mike's speech. Mark felt the speech was very wellorganized and he could tell that Mike did allot of research on this topic. Mark felt the topic was relevant and Mike talked at our level. Mark talkedabout Mike having good purposeful movement during the speech and encouragedhim to add yet more into his next speech. Mark felt that Mike did a good job answering the questions at the end of the speech. He told Mike that hecan repeat the question before answering so that others in the room thatmight not have heard the question would have the opportunity to hear itfrom the front of the room and that would give Mike more time to formulatehis answer. (3:55)

Marian J was our Wordmaster Grammarian today. She chose the word'Doldrums' because that was the way she was feeling when it was time topick out the word of the day. Doldrums means: A period of stagnation orslump, A period of depression or unhappy listlessness, A region of theocean near the equator characterized by calms, light winds or squalls andThe weather conditions characteristic of these regions of the ocean.Marian noted several ahs and ums during our meeting today.

Laura G was our General Evaluator for the meeting. She felt that Kathy did a great job as the Toastmaster and had a great theme which made the meeting fun. Laura liked the word of the day, but felt that the wordshould be a little larger when placed in front of the room. Laura G. enjoyed the way that Laura B. did the table topics with the little slips of paper. Our table topic respondents did a good job describing why they were similar to the cartoon character that the chose and our evaluators did anexcellent job with their feed back of the speakers. Over all the meeting went great and the Spirit Award went to Jeff S.

July 27 Meeting Summary
Dan B, our Toastmaster opened the meeting at precisely high noon. He
shared that his theme of 'Summer Slipping By' was inspired by his recent
thoughts about all that he still wanted to accomplish and do with his kids
before the end of summer. We had one guest, Matt P who works in Human
Resources.

Wordmaster Grammarian Jeff S shared that the Word of the Day was
persevere. He chose that word because he is training for the Twin Cities
Marathon and has been trying to "persevere on my long runs."
Our only speaker, Mary W shared her Ice Breaker. She shared that she is
a positive, upbeat person with lots of energy. Her personal mission is to
make a positive impact in others' lives. Mary told us about her career
journeys, starting with her work at Minnesota Mutual Life when it was
located at 345 Cedar. After her daughter was born, Mary left MML to pursue
a career in fitness and personal training at the YMCA. After a period of
time she accepted the Director of Fitness position at the downtown YMCA.
Mary also practiced what she preached and even entered a bodybuilding
contest where she finished 3rd in her age category and 4th in her weight
class.

Two months after getting divorced and becoming a single parent, she lost
her job at the YMCA. Realizing she didn't want her kids raised in
day-care, Mary turned to a profession as a Sales Consultant for Mary Kay
Cosmetics. Mary informs that Mary Kay is "more than pink Cadillacs and
lipstick" and that the values of the company very closely align with her
personal values. Her position at Mary Kay allowed her to be a good role
model for her kids by demonstrating hard work, a positive outlook and
living the Golden Rule.

She returned to ML (now Securian) a couple of months ago. She is happy to
be back and feels that the experiences she has gone through in the past
five years have been more challenging than any other part of her life. But
she wouldn't change those experiences because she believes that your life
experiences shape the person you become.

Mary Ellen G was our Table Topics Master and she asked Bill S what his vacation plans were for the rest of the summer. Bill informed
that he doesn't have time for a vacation. He took time off to do some
landscaping in 90 degree weather (doesn't sound like much of a vacation).
He shared that if he did have time, he would like to take a vacation
somewhere in the desert (maybe Las Vegas).

Laura G was asked to tell us about her favorite summer activity.
Laura shared about the planned community she lives in, Stone Mill Farms.
They have Music in the Park and recently she and her family and Mary Ellen
and her husband went to hear Boogie Wonderland. She talked about how fun
and relaxing it was to let the kids run around and be able to relax and
visit with family and neighbors.

Jeff S was asked to share about a summer project that turned out
well. Jeff shared that he and his wife decided to finally hang some
pictures (family was coming into town). The project was deemed a success
because the pictures made it on the wall, stayed on the wall and no one got
hurt. Jeff also said that he was attempting to keep his lawn alive during
the scorching sun and unrelenting heat that we have been experiencing.

Mark H was asked to share a project that didn't go so well. mark
shared about a project to replace the garage door opener at his house. He
asked Dave B to assist him. As it turns out the model of garage door
opener that he bought wasn't an exact match to the old one in terms of
size. Much chaos ensued when the new opener didn't fit and there was
discussion about how to make it work. Dave slyly asked if Mark had read
the directions which did not meet with much approval at the time. Several
years later Dave asked Mark to help him replace his garage door opener and
he did buy the exact model he was replacing and he did read the directions.
Things went much more smoothly at Dave's house.

Laura B was our Inspirationist. She shared photos she had taken
of animals at the Minnesota Valley Humane Society. The pictures were being
used for postcards that will be sent out to potential donors for their new
capital campaign to build a new building.

Marian J evaluated Mary's speech. She spoke about how Mary's speech
"underscored her uniqueness". She felt the title reflected thoughtfulness
and preparation. She said that Mary's voice was pleasant to listen to.
She felt the storytelling structure that Mary used was appropriate for her
Ice Breaker and felt that the more formal speech structure would come with
experience. She concluded that it was a great first speech and she was
excited to hear more from Mary.

Keri O provided a two-part General Evaluation. She praised Dan for a
job well done and Jeff for providing a word that was easy to use. She then
realized that Dan had forgotten to have the Timer and Wordmaster give their
reports so she took a brief pause in her General Evaluation so these events
could transpire. Upon resuming, she noted her appreciation for the
structure of the Table Topics respondents and felt that Marian provided
good suggestions and positive examples in her evaluation.

The Spirit Award went to Mary W for her outstanding Ice Breaker speech.
A good time was had by all in attendance. If you missed this meeting, know
that you were missed. You have another chance to join us on Thursday,
August 3. Hope to see you all there.