Thursday, September 30, 2010

INCREDIBLE GROWTH MONTH!

By Shirley M. Carolan

September has turned out to be a month of incredible personal growth and health challenge. I had wanted to post another Recap of one of my Toastmaster Club meetings that I write. It follows. I will also be sharing my new project with you that I am very excited about shorly. Meanwhile, enjoy the recap!

RECAP OF SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 MEETING

Our Pledge of Allegiance got started on time by a very dapper Sgt.@ Arms, Jonathan Enerva. It’s good to see Jonathan taking his new role so seriously.

Pat Rarus did double duty tonight in the absence of President, Pat Partin. She conducted the Business Meeting adroitly reminding us of the Humorous Area Speech Contest on Sunday at Watkins Manufacturing in Vista and Debra Simpson who will represent our Club. She also introduced our new Treasurer, one of our newest Toastmasters, Carol Sheckler. Congratulations Carol for stepping up to the plate! Pat Rarus was also the Toastmaster of the evening. We had two guests: Ginnie Donaldson, a very stylish and upbeat resident of Carlsbad by the Sea, and Josh Hartman. Also, it was good to see Darrell Fulmore again after a long absence!

Pat then introduced our Table Topics Master, Jonathan Enerva who chose “curriculum” as the word of the day. Jonathan had some truly fascinating and challenging questions tonight with stacks of books to back up his theme. Shirley Carolan won the trophy for Best Table Topics.

We had two very good speakers tonight: Carol Sheckler and Richard Rettig. Carol gave speech #10 from the basic manual: “Flowers Just Bloom.” She also gave us this poem as a handout which is something all can enjoy. Richard Rettig did a departure from his usual speeches by giving a speech from the Advanced Story Telling Manual : “A Gnome.” It was quite humorous and kept us on edge until the finale. Unfortunately, both our speakers ran overtime.

Cindy Parker was our General Evaluator and introduced our two evaluators: Shirley Carolan and Dan McKeon. Shirley evaluated Carol Sheckler’s speech giving her high marks for following all the objectives of her speech giving her some improvement tips and even complementing her when she forgot her lines. Dan McKeon did a very thorough and helpful evaluation of Richard’s speech. Shirley Carolan won the trophy for Best Evaluator.

We had several new Toastmasters as functionaries tonight. They all did an outstanding job in their respective roles. Scott Trulove gave a masterful report as Grammarian. Leo McFall manned the timing lights and Darrell Fulmore was our Ah Counter.

Ginnie bade us farewell early but Josh remained to give us high marks especially after visiting other Toastmaster clubs. Methinks we have a new member in the wings here!

Till next time,

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
VP-PR
Tick Talk Toastmasters

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Writer ● Speaker ● Artist
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2010 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you

bY

Saturday, September 11, 2010

THE JOYS OF TOASTMASTERING

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G

One of the most important constants for me for the last 29 years has been my membership in Toastmasters International. I enjoy everything about Toastmasters and Toastmastering. It has brought me untold joy, confidence, poise, knowledge, education, the ability to think clearly and organize my words, both written and oral, to share my knowledge and mentor others, courage to compete in annual contests, lifelong friendships and of course a feeling of satisfaction, of a job well done. You might say it is my passion!

As a result of all of the above, I’d like to share with you what goes on at a Toastmasters’ meeting and perhaps encourage you to investigate a club either where you work or live. As the VP or Public Relatons for my Toastmaster Club, Tick Talk Toastmasters, I write weekly recaps of our meetings, i.e., who did what, who won what, etc. Hence, I’ll be posting recaps of our meeting regularly here, starting with the Labor Day weekend. .

RECAP OF SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 MEETING

On the cusp of the Labor Day weekend we had a full house last night. In fact, I’m still jazzed by it. We had 4 guests: Gail Dillon made a return visit, Bob Parsons, aspiring actor Austin Auger, and our new Area 18 Governor, Henry Heller. Also, Ana Santiago visited us again and was our Grammarian. Welcome all. The theme of the meeting was “Labor Day Weekend.”

President Pat Partin conducted a brief business meeting and installed 3 new members into Tick Talk Toastmasters: Carol Shekler, Leo McFall, and Scott Trulove. Congratulations all!

Richard Rettig was our Table Topics Master. He asked some very thoughtful and provocative questions. He chose “Toil” as the word of the day. It was great to see all of our guests participate. Area Governor, Henry Heller won the trophy for Best Table Topics. Good job, Henry!

Pat Partin was our Toastmaster of the evening. She introduced our lone speaker, Bobby Van Hollebeke giving speech #3 from the basic manual. Bobby gave an enthusiastic account of his beloved Padres, told us about their humanitarian contributions to society and stressed that we should support them.

Shirley Carolan was our General Evaluator and introduced our lone evaluator, Andrea Patterson, who evaluated Bobby’s speech. She praised Andrea for the many Toastmaster roles she has undertaken recently.

Shirley gave us high marks for our meeting tonight stressing that we did “jolly good!” She mentioned that when you are the Table Topics Master to be sure the “word of the day” is large enough and dark enough for those in the back of the room to see it. Also, she suggested moving the flip chart out of the way when Table Topics are completed. She did not participate in Table Topics but she did mention that the word “Toil” was used by English Prime Minister Winston Churchill during WWII when he said “I have nothing to offer you but blood, sweat, toil, and tears!” She was a school girl in London at the time.

Stepping up to the plate as our Timer was newcomer, Scott Trulove. Well done, Scott. Jonathan Enerva was our Ah Counter and Ana Santiago was our Grammarian!

After Pat Partin distributed the Best Speaker, Evaluator and Table Topics awards she called on guests for their comments on our meeting. We got good reviews from all of them. Our new Area 18 Governor, Henry Heller, reminded us to attend the Area Contest on September 12 at Watkins Manufacturing and asked for volunteers. Please check the time of this contest as I got it wrong in my last recap!

Lastly, Pat Partin called on Ronnie Bierner for some light hearted humor to cap our holiday meeting. Ronnie reluctantly demurred to Shirley Carolan who told us about a king and a fairy tale… Aw, shucks.

Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G
VP Public Relations

Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Writer ● Speaker ● Artist
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2010 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you