January 11, 2007 Meeting Summary

Our Toastmaster, Dan B, called the meeting to order and announced thetheme of the day - overcoming the winter blahs. He also shared theactivities his family enjoyed over the holiday break to beat the winterblahs.

Lori G was our Wordmaster/Grammarian. For the word of the day, shechose Exhort - to incite by words or advice; to urge strongly; hence, toadvise warn or caution. Her sample sentence was "I exhort you to overcomethe winter blahs by getting outside for a daily walk." Her family recentlywent snow tubing to beat the winter blahs. They make snow at the skihills, such as Afton Alps, so you can snow tube this winter.

Mark H was our Timer. To overcome the winter blahs, he and his wife extend the holiday celebrations into January and they take a mini vacation at the St. Paul Hotel.

Mary W was our speaker and did speech #4 from the Competent Communicator manual. It was titled "A perfect spot in my life" and she told us abouther two wonderful children, Tad and Maria.

Jeff S was our Topicsmaster. He first asked Sarah to explain how she beats the winter blahs. She responded that she loves winter sports, soshe's taking a vacation in Colorado soon to enjoy time in the snow and cold.

Keri responded to the second question - If you could go on vacation any where in the world next week, where would you go? She told us a funnystory about the impromptu vacation she and her husband are actually takingnext week to the Upper Peninsula to go snowmobiling on their new snowmobiles (that she didn't really want).

Marian was asked why the time between Christmas and Ground Hog Day was the best. She likes the fact that she doesn't need to mow the grass, which gives her more free time, and she enjoys walking to work from her outlying parking lot in the cold weather.

Mark chose to share a counter perspective to Marian's response instead ofanswering his question. He is responsible for snowblowing, not mowing, at their home so he usually has less free time. He also does not like the cold. It makes him achy and lazy, and it leads to higher heating bills.

Marian J was our Humorist. She shared a funny story about when leaving voicemail messages to make sure you leave a concise message. This deletes what you've recorded so far and let's you redo it.

Kathy J was Mary's evaluator. Speech #4 is "How you say it" andMary's goal was to use vivid, descriptive language. Kathy complimented herword choices - they helped to paint a good mental picture of her children. She used good organization and humor, and tied her conclusion to heropening. Areas to work on include limiting ums and ahs and enunciating more clearly. It may also enhance her speech to share pictures of herchildren.

Lori reported that there were more ums and ahs early in the meeting. Noone used the word of the day. Fun uses of the English language included"reap it for all its worth" and "slap in the face".

Mark gave the timer's report: Mary's speech was 8:41. Sarah's topic was1:47. Kari's was 2:03. Marian's was 2:11. Mark's was 2:30. Marian'shumor was 2:33. Kathy's evaluation was 2:14.

Keri gave the general evaluation. She thought the theme was very timely,the word of the day was good, the timing was excellent, and the table topicquestions and answers were good.

Marian shared 2 business items. The winter party is next week. We will have pizza, Caesar salad, beverages, and desserts. Please bring guests andRSVP to Marian. Our group is responsible for the Spring session of Speechcraft. Please contact Marian to volunteer.