Thursday, October 11, 2012



Simply Speaking Minutes
Colorado Community Church
10/04/2012

It was another great meeting for Simply Speaking with Gigi De Gala as our Toastmaster for the evening.  


The theme was “Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us”.  She gave an example by saying that in her country saying you don’t like the president would get you thrown in jail.

The word of the day was “resonate, a verb” to relate harmoniously, strike a chord, or to receive a sympathetic response.


Sergeant-at-Arms Margaret Seyer led us in the pledge of allegiance before introducing Gigi, our Toastmaster for the evening.  She also reminded us to turn off our cell phones.

Our Inspirator for the evening was Dale Jenkel.  He reminded us to capture the moment.

Rick Burton gave us his icebreaker by telling us he is lucky to be alive.  He said his mom asked him if he had a death wish.  Two examples included the time he went into water that was too deep and he went for a run in 118 degree heat with his dog.

Second speaker Will Osagiede entertained us with his speech on political brokenness.  Using some great visuals and humor, he gave us a laugh at the two major parties.

Kathy Fortune gave a speech, “Don’t Make Assumptions” filled with humor about how easy it is to make assumptions about people In any given situation.  One example involved she and her husband tried to go skiing in Loveland and are upset when no one in town would tell them where the mountain was, they assumed it was because they are black. It turned out they were in Loveland, CO instead of Loveland ski resort.

Maura Thompson, as our table topics master asked what resonated with us in several categories.  Her questions were tailored to give us the opportunity to use the word of the day.  Participants were Diane Nuss, Felicia Arambula, Joy Davidson, Ed Pens, and Pete Hazlet.

General Evaluator Sherry Thomas introduced the evaluators as well as evaluating them and the meeting. She mentioned how well the accomplished evaluators summarized, praised, made suggestions and praised again.  The meeting started on time and we had a very charming toastmaster in Gigi De Gala.


Evaluator Cybele Antonow spoke about Rick’s confidence and he used no notes.  She said he showed his stubborn side and it probably kept him alive.

Deborah Frauenfelder evaulation complimented Will on his great visuals to provide an entertaining speech.


In evaluating Kathy’s speech Connie Akins complimented her on great delivery and humor.
Timer Anne Tacznosky informed us that all speakers, evaluators, and table topics participants were in time.  

Ah counter, Kreg Lyles, keeping track of the “ah’s” and other filler words said there were very few.


Grammarian Diane Nuss  said Maura had used the word of the day six times. Maura said she was "making up" for all the times she never uses WOD.  It had also been used by several others.

Quizmaster Leo Chen put our listening skills to the test. Keeping us on our toes, he asked questions about what was mentioned in speeches and table topics. 

Toastmaster Gigi handed out the awards and recognized our guests.  She then introduced Cybele to make a few announcements.

The awards were presented to:
Table Topics:  Diane Nuss and Joy Davidson (a tie!)
Best Evaluator:  Connie Akins
Best Speaker:  Rick Burton


Announcements:
Cybele reminded us that the Denver Division Speech and Evaluation Contest is Saturday October 13th at 8:00 am. Additional Information

Cybele also announced the 2012 Fall Conference will be Nov 9th & 10th Additional Information

Treasurer Felicia Arambula reminded us that dues are due.


Maura Thompson reminded us we can always get information about the upcoming events on our website http://www.simplyspeakingtoastmasters.org


Next meeting is October 11, same time, same place.  
If you haven’t been in a while please come back and see what you've been missing.


Members present:
Dale Jenkel, Pete Hazlet, Sherry Londo-Thomas, Diane Nuss, Cybele Antonow,  Felicia Arambula, Kathy Fortune, Anne Tacznowsky, Maura Thompson, Gigi De Gala, Rick Burton, Margaret Seyer, Deborah Frauenfelder, Ed Pens, Will Osagiede, Leo Chen, Joy Davidson, Kreg Lyles, and Connie Akins.


Guest: Margaret Seyer Sr, James & Delores Synoviec, Amleset Desta, Doug Williams, and Gene & Deborah Rogers.

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Simply Speaking Minutes
Colorado Community Church
09/27/2012


Sergeant-at-Arms Margaret Seyer led us in the pledge of allegiance before introducing Cybele, our Toastmaster for the evening.


It was another great meeting for Simply Speaking with Cybele Antonow as our Toastmaster for the evening.  


The theme was “Great Communication: The Key to Success”.  
The word of the day was “reciprocity” meaning mutual exchange.

Inspirator Pete Hazlet gave a short, but poignant inspiration from poet E. E. Cummings, “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter”.

Mauricio Cortes’s speech was titled “Slowing Down”.  He told us that in his younger years he was known as “The Extreme” because of all his risk taking activities, think rugby or mixed martial arts.  His efforts to slow down included golf, skeet shooting, and fly fishing.   He also introduced us to his new best friend, the cortisone shot.

Darryle Brown (who agreed to fill in that day) rocked us with “Rock the Interview Part 3: Win the Job/Promotion”.  Darryle was prepared, as he recommends for interviews, since he was called on at the last minute.  He urged us to practice for the interview to relieve jitters and make a great impression.  He said that what you do before the interview affects what happens during the interview.

Anne Tacznowsky, in her speech, told us about Greta, a woman with great compassion for others, wanting to change career paths.  She started doing data entry at the Denver Rescue Mission and eventually moved up into a position of leadership.  She surrounded herself with people who shared her vision.  Anne also reminded us that leadership is measured by results.

Leo Chen was our table topics master.  Using the method recommended in the manual he asked the question before calling someone up to speak.  In his debut effort as the Table Topics master he did a magnificent job with some great questions relating to where the participants were born.  Participants included Joel Weismann, Sherry Thomas, Danae Deal, and Ed Pens.

General Evaluator Alan Swartz introduced the evaluators as well as giving them an evaluation.  He gave them high marks for their evaluations.  The meeting started on time.  His evaluation of the meeting included a thank you for Cybele, who put together a great meeting and found a replacement speaker in Darryle at the last minute.   

Maura Thompson’s evaluation of Mauricio focused on his great humor. She recommended he pause during the laughter allowing the group to hear his next line.  She also mentioned his great use of the stage and natural gestures.

Felicia Arambula was the evaluator for Darryle.   She was impressed by his show of genuine concern for his audience.  He also offered a lot of good information and inspiring words for us.

Kathy Fortune commended Anne for her topic.  She told Anne she picked someone with great concern for others.  Her subject also had a great crescendo of development.  Anne also had a great line ‘Lead by example”.

Timer Dale Jenkel said that Mauricio’s and Anne’s speeches were in time.  All table topics participant s were also in time.

Diane Nuss was the ah counter, keeping track of the “ah’s”  and other filler words.  Two people had none.

Grammarian David Bounds kept track of our grammar.  He also captured some great lines in the speeches like Ed Pens’s description of “the heavy air of L. A., Anne’s “lead by example” , or “When your very fears are realized” and  “my new best friend, the cortisone shot”.

Quizmaster Danae Deal, (also filling in at the last minute) tested our listening skills.

Toastmaster Cybele Antonow handed out the awards and recognized our guests.  

The awards were presented to:
Table Topics:  Sherry Londo-Thomas
Best Evaluator:  Maura Thompson
Best Speaker:  Mauricio Cortes

Announcemets:
Area Humorous contest Tuesday October 2  7:00 p.m.
Dues are due


Next meeting is October 4, same time, same place.  If you haven’t been in a while please come back.

Members present:
Dale Jenkel, Darryle Brown, Pete Hazlet, Sherry Londo-Thomas, Diane Nuss, Cybele Antonow, Alan Swartz, Felicia Arambula, Kathy Fortune,  Danae Deal, Anne Tacznowsky, Joel Weismann,  Mauricio Cortes, Maura Thompson, and returning member Ed Pens.  Welcome back, Ed!

Guests: Maria & Gary Thomas, Jonna Castle, and Concetta Palmieri.

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Simply Speaking Minutes
Colorado Community Church
9/20/2012 Humorous Speech  and Evaluation Contest

A great test speaker and lots of humor were on tap for this very special contest.  We started on time with Sergeant-at-Arms Pete Hazlet calling the meeting to order and a reminder to turn off all cell phones.  He then led us in the pledge of allegiance.  


Chief judge Alan Swartz explained the roles and the timing of speeches.  He also explained how the meeting would progress and introduced Toastmaster Margaret Seyer.

Test Speaker Ousmane Ndoye of Absolutely Articulate gave a speech titled “Stand with No Excuses”.  He told about his life in Africa.  His parents divorced when he was young.  They were poor and he had to live in a compound with his father, who physically abused him.  He found himself on a beach one day kneeling, crying, and asking himself “Is this why I was born?’  He eventually move to the United States for a better life and remembering the words of his grandmother “no excuses”.  He compared them to viruses or mushrooms, spreading everywhere.  In a very riveting and inspiring speech he told us that if you don’t fight them they will destroy everything.

Sergeant-at-Arms Davorka Lipovscak escorted the evaluators from the room for the evaluation contest.   She brought each contestant in for their evaluations of Ousmane’s speech. 

Cybele Antonow was the first evaluator.  She found it heartwarming when he was on the beach crying “Is this why I was born?’  She also liked the analogy of excuses being like a virus that would destroy everything.  Using the sandwich approach, she also offered feedback on what he could do to improve his speech, as well as complimenting him on a great speech.

Evaluator Lee Johnson said Ousmane took us on an emotional journey.  He commented on Ousmane’s analogy comparing excuses to viruses or mushrooms growing here and there.  Lee also offered suggestions in his sandwich approach and commented on a great speech that offered up Abraham Lincoln and Dr Martin Luther King Jr as examples of people who did not use excuses.

Final evaluator Tom Marrs said he was inspired by the speech.  He said it seems like everyone is trying to come up with excuses for why they fail or why things go wrong.  He brought out the point that Ousmane made, saying that he talked back to his excuses and laughed at them.  He too used the sandwich approach in his evaluation by offering suggestions and congratulating Ousmane on a great speech.

The humorous speech contest got under way with Mauricio Cortes revealing his funny side.  In his speech, titled “Coming Out” he started talking about the macho things men like to do.  Men like to watch football, drink kegs of beer and have triple meat pizza from Domino’s.   He then explained that it was time to come out, to reveal something that he really enjoys.... scented candles.  He even brought a few for some of the men and said he has gotten bold enough to burn two different fragrances at the same time.

Just when you thought the sidesplitting laughter was over, Cybele Antonow told us about her time on Fear Factor Live.  She asked “did you ever sign up for something only to ask yourself ‘Why am I doing this”  The first challenge was to walk out on a plank 40 feet up.   She held onto a bar as the plank dropped out from under her, leaving her to hold on.  She had to outlast three other contestants.   This, and another challenge involving retrieving balls wore our president out (not that I could do any better !)! 

Maura Thompson told us about her dream. It starts with winning a table topics contest and being congratulated by President Obama. He would ask her "to be his Boo." (he and Mrs Obama having broke up) and say that he could not will the election with out her impromptu speaking skills.  She would agree,  he would win and her dream would come true as she became Maura Shannon Obama becoming the First Lady and bringing World Peace.

Rick Burton rounded out the comedy portion of the contest with his speech titled “Beauty Transformed”.  He started out with the statement “Beauty is only skin deep”, a line that has been around so long it’s become trite.   We need some new slogans, like “if life hands you a lemon, put it in your bra”. He went on to describe how he adopted the ugliest dog in the shelter but loves him greatly because ..beauty is only skin deep.

Awards went to the following people:

Evaluators:
3rd Place:  Lee Johnson
2nd Place: Cybele Antonow

1st Place: Tom Marrs

Humor:
3rd Place: Mauricio Cortes
2nd Place: Cybele Antonow
1st Place: Maura Thompson


Deborah Frauenfelder offered her congratulations to all who participated.  Cybele Antonow also thanked and acknowledged all who participated.  The D6 Area Contest is Tuesday October 2.

Members present:
Margaret Seyer, Pete Hazlet, Davorka Lipovscak, Zelimir Adamic, Mauricio Cortes, Leo Chen, Deborah Frauenfelder, Dale Jenkel, Cybele Antonow, Tom Marrs, Rick Burton,  Lee Johnson, Felicia Arambula, Alan Swartz, Connie Akins, Maura Thompson, Kathy Fortune, Sherry Thomas, Diane Nuss, & Danae Deal.

Guests included Margaret Seyer Sr, Betty Funderburk, Virginia Deal, Ousmane Ndoye, Curtis Eubanks &  district treasurer Joanna Knot.

Chairperson: Dale Jenkel
Chief Judge: Alan Swartz
Timers: Diane Nuss & Leo Chen
Toastmaster: Margaret Seyer
Sergeant-at-Arms: Davorka Lipovscak & Pete Hazlet
Judges: Curtis Eubanks, Joanna Knot, Felicia Arambula, Connie Akins,&  Deborah Frauenfelder,
Refreshments coordinators: Lee Johnson & Rick Burton
Ballot Counters: Sherry Londo-Thomas & Pete Hazlet (filling in)
Test Speaker: Ousmane Ndoye
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Simply Speaking Minutes
Colorado Community Church
09/13/2012

The theme for this meeting was “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success”.  


The word of the day was “synergy”: (noun) the interaction of elements that when combined produce a 

total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements.


Deborah Frauenfelder was our Sergeant-at-Arms and she led us in the pledge of allegiance before introducing Toastmaster Gigi De Gala.

Our Inspirator for the evening was Cybele Antonow who reminded us that we are all important and the roles we fill are important.  She left us with this quote from the movie “The Help” “you is kind, you is smart, you is important”’ Amen to that!

Tom Marrs was our first speaker of the evening urging us to be mediocre, most of the world is anyway.  With great speaking skills and a PowerPoint presentation to support him he proved his point and gave us a great speech on how to make an effective PowerPoint presentation.

Connie Akins brought back Jolene with some Pearls of Southern Wisdom.  Jolene assured us she is not an attention hog.  She also said she knew the meaning of “synergy” – sinning with energy!  You've got to hand it to southern women.

Darryle Brown, in speech number three for the evening, presented “Rock the Interview” part 2.  He reminded us that many times the interviewer is just as nervous as the interviewee.  We must see interviews as fact gathering meet and greet.  Be prepared to sell yourself & remember that success is not spontaneous.

Diane Nuss was our Table Topics master and we had some great answers, as well as first time jitters.  Participants included guest & former member Abigail Smucker, as well as guests Erica Beaudrey and Terry Hiden.

General Evaluator Deborah Frauenfelder introduced the evaluators and gave an evaluation of the meeting which started on time after someone mentioned the clock was a little fast.  She also offered her evaluation of the evaluators, noting their strengths as well as offering suggestions.

Kathy Fortune evaluated Tom’s technical speech.  She said she thought it would be like watching paint dry.  She was as surprised as we were that it so humorous.  In her evaluation she kidded him saying “the opposite of a motivational speech, how dare you!”  She also thanked him for making it fun to watch the paint dry.

Dale Jenkel gave kudos to Connie for her humorous speech and noted another one of her great lines “I was born sassy”.  He was greatly impressed with her confidence and at how at ease she was on the stage.

Felicia Arambula evaluated Darryle.   She mentioned that he has a strong voice, as well as a strong presence.  He offered a lot of details in his speech, helpful details such as the interview is an opportunity to see if you’re both a good fit.  She also said she aspires to be like Darryle, to be a rock star and tame those butterflies.

Timer Sherry Thomas said that all participants were in time.

Ah counter Rick Burton kept track of the “ah’s” & other filler words.

Grammarian Pete Hazlet kept track of grammar usage and great lines like “ the opposite of a motivational speech”  while Quizmaster Alan Swartz tested our listening skills.


The awards were presented to:
Table Topics:  guests Abigail Smucker & Erica Beaudrey (YES, a tie)
Best Evaluator:  Felicia Arambula
Best Speaker:  Connie Akins

Announcements:
President Cybele Antonow reminded us there is a humorous speech contest on 9/20, participants need to be there early.  She also reminded us to not speak during speeches, or interrupt speakers during their speeches unless they ask for audience participation.

Treasurer Felicia Arambula reminded us that dues are due.

Next meeting is September 20, Humorous Speech Contest

Members present:
Dale Jenkel, Joe Long,  Darryle Brown, Pete Hazlet, Sherry Londo-Thomas,  Deborah Frauenfelder, Diane Nuss, Gigi De Gala, Cybele Antonow, Alan Swartz, Connie Akins, Tom Marrs, Rick Burton, Felicia Arambula, Kathy Fortune,

Guests: Terry Hiden, Joy Davidson – soon to be a member, Abigail Smucker & her soon to be fiancĂ© Michael David, Brandon Auger & Erica Beaudrey(engaged couple), Jennifer Peele, Rita Ward, & Lachance Pickett(daughter of former member Monica Brown)

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