Toastmaster – Distict39 – Club1055258
Tracy Leadership Club Recap
Toastmasters Meeting April 8, 2014, Room 109 City Hall
Members present were: Binh Nguyen, Chris Foley, Connie Vieira, David Tabora, Jon Colton, Judy Castellon, Lucy Kaye, Maureen Bastedenbeck, Rocki Chaparro, Rowena Donaldson, Sam Wong, and Terry Donaldson. Guests were Mary Dean and Michele Edwards.
Sergeant at Arms David Tabora called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. President Chris Foley welcomed us and introduced Connie Vieira, who was presiding as Toastmaster of the Day. Her theme of the day was “Today and this week in history.” Throughout the meeting, Connie informed us about very interesting events that occurred the first two weeks in April. Connie joined Toastmasters 6 years and 1 week ago on April Fools Day – April 1, 2008 – and she admits to being the “biggest fool.” She even cited that Rowena was born on April 10, 1923 – 91 years ago!!
Lucy Kaye was Timer / Vote Counter and Rowena Donaldson was Grammarian.
They did great jobs, as usual. Rowena let each of us know what crutch words or sounds we need to work on eliminating. (Uh . . . Whuddya mean?)
Binh Nguyen, Speaker #1, presented from the Facilitating Discussion Advanced Manual: “Robert’s Rules #1.” This is from a book that was first published in 1875. Connie Vieira and Judy Castellon helped Binh with this presentation with a script that Binh prepared. By a show of hands, we all learned something about parliamentary procedure.
Sam Wong, Speaker #2, fulfilled #1 in the Entertaining Speaker Advanced Manual: The Entertaining Speech. The title of his speech was: “To Toast or not to Toast.” He told us about his journey in Toastmasters. When he visited his first Toastmaster’s Club, he volunteered to speak during Table Topics and ended up comparing a dollar and a Big Mac. He can’t remember what he said but does remember the flock of butterflies in his tummy. Checking out the two clubs in Tracy, the 7AM meetings on Fridays were eliminated because Sam admitted he is a night owl.
He shared that this was his 26th speech! His journey includes what he has done with Easy-Speak and creating the new and improved Website. He told of his plans for the future. Not dreams but plans!
The Table Topics were conducted by David Tabora. Judy Castellon explained that the ocean was her favorite place. She cited the sounds, smells, textures, temperature, beauty and feelings the ocean evokes. Rocki lit up when she talked about her favorite hobby: Shopping! She spoke about finding bargains and telling her husband about her “treasures.” Jon Colton was asked about his favorite book. He could remember back a couple of decades to High School!! On a Pale Horse was so significant, Jon described in detail why it was so memorable. (I had to look it up: On a Pale Horse is a fantasy novel by Piers Anthony, first published in 1983. It is the first of eight books in the Incarnations of Immortality series.)
Maureen Bastedenbeck, Evaluator of Binh’s speech, was sent the information ahead of time that she needed to use to evaluate the advanced speech. She found it difficult to analyze and evaluate the presentation based on the guidelines she received. She literally threw away the manual (yes!!) and gave her opinion on the “discussion” about following the 6 steps of processing a motion.
Chris Foley, Evaluator of Sam’s speech, complimented Sam on his passion and his confidence. Stating his goals make it happen because Sam now has a room full of accountability partners.
General Evaluator, Terry Donaldson, asked Lucy Kaye and Rowena Donaldson to give their respective reports. Lucy announced that Jon Colton was the winner of Table Topics. Recognizing that there was inadequate time for a thorough General Evaluator’s report, Terry Donaldson only made simple remarks about the meeting and promised to include her Evaluation of the Meeting in the Recap. (See below.)
Connie Vieira wrapped up the meeting, telling us about other moments in history. President Chris Foley asked for announcements. Maureen Bastedenbeck talked about using Facebook and our website to recruit new members. She will create a speech about that!! Responsibilities for next meeting were covered. Chris will check with those who were not in attendance about their roles next week.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Donaldson
