February:

Feb. 212st. OUr Guest speaker, Judith Bergman gave a very interesting speech on Language and accents. Did you know that Bhanu speaks about 4-5 languages because he is from India and apparently that is the rule there. Elizabeth picked up 5 points today; attending without role and getting a TT ribbon. She takes over 3rd place. Congrats to new member Shawn for joining. Feb. 14th: Ilze picks up 5 points today with her TT participation and ribbon but still is one behind Al. Amanda is a close 4th behind Denis. Did you know that "cordate" means heart shaped? I thought the term for heart shaped was "heart shaped" but our grammarian Ryan educated us today. Alice gave her 20min keynote speech and was capably evaluated by Amanda who embraced the challenge. Welcome to Shawn who joined and our newest visitor Alicia. Both participaited in TT today quite well.

Feb. 7: The leaderboard has had some big changes.... Denis & Al moved up with some TT participation. Taking over from Ilze and Amanda..Who thought up this point system anyway? Today we had 2 fab speeches by Elizabeth and Joni who shared some of their personal stories and activities. Alice won a rare GE rib, not easy to do. Elizabeth was a big point winner with 5, gving a speech as a Sub and also ribboning.

.January 31: What a meeting ! There were guests, a french person, an innovating grammarian, a cool Icebreaker and an educational speech by our DTM. Amazingly, we had a French guest thanks to Lindsey who brought a co-worker. Last year on this blog I wrote of finding a French member and that writing it down so that people could see the goal would help it happen. That happened today. I'm a big believer in writing down your goals. Unfortunately I didn't specifically write down that the French person would join... Greg gave an educational speech on what TM can do for you and willl soon be online. Denis, one our newest members gave a great IB. He also has a TM secret that I will not reveal. Only one absence yesterday. TT were fun and inventive thanks to Amanda. Stay tuned for our name change selection.

January 24: A low attended meeting.... Amanda gave maybe her best speech about her secret life on the farm and discovered that Ryan has the same secret life of blue jeans, animals, chores and an aspect of life the rest of us don't share. That's right, they both live on a farm. Alice and Denis both stepped in for last minute cancellations; thanks. Josh gave his 2nd speech about his baby and it was quite funny. And the kid is super cute.

Fashion Throwdown: I wasn't at the meeting on the 17th but Elizabeth shot video of the meeting and one thing that struck me was how well dressed our women members are. Men are you out there? Elizabeth, Kathy, Ilze, Lindsey, Pam, Jody, Joni, Alice, Amanda & Amanda are often much better dressed then we men and we need to take note. Several seem to have similar styles ranging from relaxed corporate to sophisticated casual. Perhaps in 2011 there will be Fashion Mentoring in place of speech mentoring. By focusing on fashion the speeches will improve on their own. Wo-mentors will be assigned shortly but those men or women who know someone they would like to work with please seek them out and wo-mentor! All I know is that when I dress better things go better.

January 17th: Elizabeth's emotional speech about her 2011 Mission Trip provoked some tears but not enough to capture the ribbon like Ryan's speech on breaking fingers when skiing. Lindsey who is on a hot streak and might be THE member to watch in 2012 won the eval ribbon. She also won the 2011 humorous speech of the year and is starting to dominate. Pam's evaluation was quite funny; she is putting her humor workshop skills to use. Next week Joni is first time TM so let's help her by checking in for our flight.

January 10th meeting: Our first 2012 meeting was helmed by the never capricious nor rapacious Ryan who did a very good job. Klassy Kathy gave a well organized and well written speech that got her the ribbon and Rookie Ron gave his Icebreaker. Amazing Amanda won the eval ribbon which is now not so easy to do given that the GE is ribbon eligible in 2012 which meant the proficient Pam was in the mix as well as the jolly Jared. Attendance was 12 members with only one role absence. Many of our "old" er uh I mean experienced members are not attending lately. HN now resembles a corporate takeover operation with experienced people being pushed out to the lectern pasture, replaced by younger members with more hair. There are probably 2 groups in every Toastmaster club, those who take it more seriously, invest more energy, benefit more and those who don't due to work issues usually. Tip: Be selfish, make the group work for you. Find something that needs improving in your professional life and then tailor your TM experience to modify that need. Ask not what your TM club can do for you but how you can manipulate or wo-manipulate your TM club to your benefit.

We had 3 guests today some of whom had visited other clubs. Our guests often mention that our club gives out ribbons for Best speech etc.., and other clubs don't do this and I think I know why. It is a pain. We have to get people to vote by passing a tupperware bucket and then count the votes all before the General Evaluator wraps up the meeting so that the TM du jour can announce the winners. It is a logistical challenge and no one has figured out an alternative. Maybe voting by email the next day ??? We make it work but it is often ugly and not so fun for our Sargents: Joni & Josh, the J Team. We probably could save one 2 trees per year with no paper voting. Speakers should be recognized for a good effort though at the meeting.

2011 Toasty Winners: To see the speeches go HERE

The Coveted Best Icebreaker of 2011 - Ryan

Best Speech of the Year: Andy - "Hotdogs Aren't for Breakfast" & Ilze's "Being Latvian"

Most Humorous Speech - Lindsey - "The Bridesmaid Speech"

Most Humorous Table Topic- Jared's "When to get Married" barely won over Greg's "Pit's Piles and Putzes"

Best Costuming as a Member- Ilze

Best Foreign Accent - Kathy

Best Attendance- 1st: Bhanu, 2nd: Greg & Ilze. Number of times subbed - 1st Greg, 2nd Alice & Jody

Most Ribbons - Greg

We have a guest speaker on February 21st who will address foreign accents.

The Next Humor Workshop begins Jan. 13th. Ask Al for details.

Jan & Feb schedule are now online. In the unlikely event you will miss a role, notify the TM for that week and try to find a replacement. Thank you.

Agenda Changes for 2012: In 2012 the General Evaluator is ribbon eligible and we will still give out Best Speech, Eval & TT ribs but do so without a podium trip to save time for annoucements and networking.

TIP. Check your CL book and see what roles you need to fulfill then let Kathy know before she makes the schedule. This way every time you attend you maximize your effort and help the club. Amanda, Alice, Bill & Bhanu are close to achieving plateaus in 2012.