Simply Speaking Minutes

Colorado Community Church

11/29/2012

Fresh from a Thanksgiving break Joy Davidson served as our Toastmaster.  The theme was “Lead Yourself” , John Maxwell said that when leading people the hardest to lead is himself.  The word of the day was “Envisage”, meaning to view or regard in a certain way; to have a mental picture of especially in advance of realization.

Margaret Seyer led us in the pledge of allegiance and reminded us to turn off our electrical appendages, also known as cell phones.

Inspirator Sherry Thomas gave us some great words from Albert Einstein, who said “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”   She added” so next time someone tries to kill you dreams, consider the source.”

First speaker was Concetta Palmieri, who presented her first speech – her icebreaker.  She told us about growing up in Germany, the daughter during her father’s military career with great skill and enthusiasm, a future champion in the making.  It gave her an insight into living in two cultures, especially when it came to Christmas.  In Germany presents are delivered by the Christ child instead of Santa.  Her sister was concerned and their mom explained that it depended on the passports, the kids with German passports received their gifts by the Christ Child and the kids with the American passports received them from Santa.  Her mom would be good at Table Topics.


Second Speaker Alan Swartz presented his speech “Red Flags”.  He tied together some famous men who did some really stupid things.  Michael Vick got into dog fighting, Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods, Ted Haggard all had extra-marital affairs.  They all ignored red flags that should have warned them they were headed for a fall.  Alan tied this to Toastmasters that just like these men who knew better, ignoring the red flags can have disastrous results.  He went over some of the red flags that could be ignored and destroy a club.  Alan provided a plethora of information and advice we can use to look for the red flags and take care of our club, or any other club we might also be a part of.

Tom Marrs was the 3nd speaker and spoke about Dr Ralph Smedley, the founder of Toastmasters, which began as a class at the YMCA.  He believed that adult education outside a classroom and that the meeting is a laboratory experiment.  He felt that the speaker needs to let the audience know what you want them to do.  We also should use the skills we learn inside the club outside the club also.
Margaret Seyer filled in as Table Topics master, calling on guest Kelli Malcom and Toastmasters Connie Akins, and Kreg Lyles.

General Evaluator was Darryle Brown, who introduced and evaluated the evaluators, Will Osagiede, Cybele Antonow, and Rick Burton.

Will evaluated Concetta, calling her a gem in the rough. She used the word of the day.  He saw, heard, and felt what she said, and how she connected with the audience and spoke to all of us.  He also gave her ideas on improving as she progresses.

Cybele told Alan that he had some well cited examples of celebrities who screwed up.  The meat of the message was very specific details to spot and correct red flags in our clubs.  She also offered Tom suggestions for improvement.

Rick, in his first time as an evaluator, acknowledged Tom’s experience as a speaker.  He also commended Tom on his command of the stage.  He moved around the stage with purpose, moving from one side to the other, looking at the audience.  Rick also offered suggestions to Tom for improvement.

In Darryle’s evaluation of Will he noted how well Will has grown over time.  He also told Cybele that she did an outstanding job as always and encouraged her to get ready for another Evaluation Contest.  Darryle complimented Rick for being observant in his evaluation of Tom by recognizing Tom’s accomplishments.  He told Rick that evaluating an experienced speaker is tough, but he did it well.  Darryle also offered the evaluators tips for improvement in is sandwich approach.

Darryle went on to say that overall the meeting was very professional, it started on time and progressed very well.  He also encouraged us to use the bell for the double clutches, ahs, and ums to help speakers improve.

Timer David Bounds told us that of the speakers, Concetta and Alan were in time,. Also all Table Topics participants and evaluators were in time.

Ah Counter Deborah Frauenfelder kept track of all the Ahs and other filler words and pauses.  There weren’t many, great job by all the speakers!

Grammarian Pete Hazlet reported that the word of the day was used by 9 people.  There were some great phrases and word usage by members, too.

Joy had the pleasure of handing out the awards.  The awards went to:
Best Evaluator: Will Osagiede
Best Table Topics: Kelli Malcom
Best Speaker: Concetta Palmieri

Will also presented Joy Davidson with her Advanced Leadership Bronze (ALB) and Maura Thompson with her Competent Communicator (CC).

Present at the meeting:
Darryle Brown, Alan Swartz, Connie Akins, Margaret Seyer, Maura Thompson,Sherry Thomas, Pete Hazlet, Tom Marrs, David Bounds, Kathy Fortune,  Joel Weissman, Will Osagiede, Ed Pens, Kreg Lyles, Deborah Frauenfelder, Joy Davidson, Cybele Antonow, Rick Burton, and Concetta Palmieri.

Guests: Margaret Seyer Sr and Kelli Malcom.

Next meeting December 6, 2012
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