2007 Holiday Table Topics Gift Exchange

The meeting was filled with holiday cheer in a distinctly Toastmasters way as 14 members (and one guest) participated in the annual NPS Holiday Table Topics gift exchange meeting. Ably chaired by TMoD Carl Thormeyer and timed with great precision by Team Anderson, a festive and fun time was had by all.

We got off to a great start as Emilie Staryak chose a quonset-hut shaped present that turned out to be a leather-covered box with Chesapeake-flavored peanuts. She successfully defended her gift against two strong challenges by Angi Anderson and Carl Thormeyer. Here Emilie expresses delight in the reminder of Maryland:
Sterling helps Glenn choose a gift.

Fred attempts to steal Angi's book of questions.Angi successfully defends her gift.

Carl unsuccessfully attempts to steal Emilie's gift.

Vindication and Atonement

A packed meeting was superbly orchestrated by TMoD Alec Metz, on the theme of Vindication and Atonement. With 23 members and one guest, it was a great tournout for the holiday season.

A rousing table topics led by Alex Bein was won by perennial favorite, Brian Anderson who scanned his 100 favorite movies at warp speed, picked a winner and discussed it in the allotted time.

The prepared speeches offered an opportunity for our newer members, with two Icebreakers and a #2. All were outstanding and reveal more talent for our already loaded club. Robin Walker was voted best Evaluator.

December 14 will feature our annual party and gift exchange.

Zeki Yildirim's Icebreaker speech -Traveling:

Steve Skagg's #2 Speech - Happy New Goal:

Alex Simmons' Icebreaker Speech:

The meeting had one bittersweet note as we bid a fond farewell to Ryan Squires, who is graduating from NPS with a Masters Degree in Operations Research and will be heading off for fame and glory. Ryan's wry wit and memorable "West Virginia" grammarian reports will be long remembered.

Groupthink

Today a number of milestones were celebrated. With 24 members in attendance, we had a full and fun-packed meeting! Milestone #1 was a "first" for Emilie Staryak filling in as acting Sergeant at Arms. She did a great job getting the room set up and starting the meeting. Next, President Robin Walker announced that our own Chance Litton is the District's funniest speaker! He then passed out pins to all NPS Toastmasters for being the first club in District 4 to achieve "President's Select" status. He recognized Arnie Buss for achieving Advanced Communicator Gold, which gives the club its eighth goal out of ten for the year. Congratulations also to Arnie who now qualifies for Distinguished Toastmaster - the highest award given by Toastmasters International!

Brian Anderson as TMoD led the meeting with Marine precision, on the theme "Groupthink"- that mob mentality groups possess that can suppress creativity or encourage dissenting opinions.

Two outstanding speeches followed - a #3 from one half of the globetrotting Ishags, Rosetta, who spoke of her son's dyslexia and how that was a challenge as well as a gift; and Alec Metz, who inspired us to travel the world and learn about other cultures. This was Alec's #10 speech, and with it he achieved Competent Communicator status and our club will have fulfilled its 9th goal (once the paperwork is filed with World Headquarters)! Alec Metz was voted "best speaker", Rosetta Ishag - "most improved" and Fred Sadler received "best table topics" for his response to Luke Lazzari's question about group think.

Rosetta Ishag's #3 speech, Dyslexics are Anything but Dumb!:


Alec Metz'1 #10 Speech, Inspiration Indeed!



In the business portion of the meeting, a new slate of officers was elected for the January-July 2008 term. Our new club #2032 officers will be:

President: Angi Anderson
VP Education: Fred Sadler
VP Membership: Michael Barksdale
VP Public Relations: Emilie Staryak
Secretary: Cathy Lee
Treasurer: Warner Howser
Sergeant at Arms: Steve Skaggs

Congratulations to our new leadership team.

Mark your calendars for December 14 for the annual Holiday Table Topics Gift Exchange meeting! Bring a wrapped, unisex gift costing no more than $10. It is always an hilarious time - hosted by Carl Thormeyer.

Also, Wednesday evening, December 12 at 6:00 p.m. at the Monterey Beach Hotel will be the Area Holiday Dinner and Table Topics Gift Exchange. This will be a catered dinner, social, and gift exchange. It is a great opportunity to meet toastmasters from other clubs in the area, as well as to enjoy a delicious dinner and have fierce fun! The cost is $30.60 per person - guests are welcome, and are also welcome to participate in the table topics gift exchange, if they bring a gift of course! Bring a check made out to NPS Toastmasters on the 9th-the club will underwrite $5:oo per person.

Thanksgiving Smedley Saturday

Seven members and three guests came out for the November 2007 edition of Smedley Saturday, NPS Toastmasters' monthly speech-a-thon. Ably emceed by Carl Thormeyer, perhaps still a bit groggy from his oh-dark-early stint on the KSBW morning show, the meeting featured three advanced speeches, including one from guest and honorary NPS member Rachelle Onishi.

Arnie spoke of a technique for negotiating a win/win outcome, and followed the speech with a participative demonstration of a couple trying to decide between a baseball game and the ballet. Arnie's speech Negotiating to Agreement from the advanced manual Interpersonal Communication:

Rachelle Onishi's accepted an award as the 1990 MVP of the NBA - a first for a 5'2" (and 3/4!) Japanese woman! Her speech Accepting an Award from the advanced manual Special Occasion Speeches

Finishing off the speeches, Fred Sadler reminded us to breathe from the belly, and showed us how. He was voted "best speaker" for his entertaining and educational presentation. His speech, Ahhhh, the Breath of Life! from Speaking to Inform:

We finished the meeting with three excellent evaluations: Cathy Lee, in only her second evaluation of Arnie's speech, Fred, doing double-duty, evaluated Rachelle's speech, and Robin evaluated Fred's speech, for which he was voted best evaluator.
Robin's winning evaluation:

Chance Dominates at District!

Today at the District Humorous Speech Contest, NPS's own Chance Litton took first place with his hilarious rendition of The Life and Times of Mr. Spock. Robin, Angi, Carl, and Arnie from NPS all attended for the fun-filled sand educational day, that was of course made all the sweeter by Chance's win. Chance's wife and daughter were also present to cheer him on. Congratulations Chance!

The Bayview contestant in the evaluation Contest, Kristian Crump, also won, completing a sweep of Area A1 in the District. Congratulations to Kristian!

Cell Phones versus Land Phones

Our club Treasurer, Warner Howser led a spirited meeting with a theme of "Cell Phones versus Land Phones." We started the meeting with 17 members and 4 guests present, and finished the meeting with 18 members and 3 guests - welcome to our newest member Alex Simmons! Alex wasted no time jumping right in to the club by being Wordmaster. We were also happy to welcome back Elie and Rosetta Ishag, who will be on the peninsula for another few months still. The both acquitted themselves wonderfully in today's Table Topics, but Brian Anderson was voted the best Table Topics speaker for his description of an extremely annoying gentleman having an argument with his cell phone in public. We also bid a sad farewell to Adam Otto, who has visited the club for the past few months as a guest, and is now off to Seattle, where he plans on joining a Toastmasters club when he arrives.

In yet another return, Elizabeth Guzman marked her return to the club "for real" with her #4 speech The Endangered Species Act. She won "Most Improved" for her moving speech.


Glenn Woodson achieved the milestone of Competent Communicator with his inspiring #10 speech The Glass is Half Full which included stories of his daughter who has struggled through a bone illness with pluck and courage. He won "Best Speaker" - congratulations Glenn of reaching the first milestone in your Toastmasters journey!
Part I:

Part II:

As always, NPS evaluators stepped up to the plate with Angi Anderson and Fred Sadler giving stellar ones for Elizabeth and Glenn. Fred won "Best Evaluator" for his feedback that was insightful as well as emotional.

"Playing Grown Up"

Toastmaster of the Day par excellence, Angi Anderson led a rousing meeting of fifteen club members and four guests on the theme of "playing grown up" with many fun and mind twisting permutations. There were 15 members and four guests, one of whom, Alexander Simmons, joined up right after the meeting! We were also honored by a brief visit by LTG (retired) Robert Ord, erstwhile Toastmaster and Dean of the School of International Graduate Studies.

We had three outstanding prepared speeches featuring Donna Cunningham's "icebreaker" entitled "You did what? (the short version) which was so good that she won Best Speaker. Arnie Buss described the preparation of the recent Division Contest which he chaired as part of an advanced leadership project he completed to achieve Advanced Leadership Silver status. Brian Anderson delivered a moving interpretive reading of the lovely Robert Frost poem "The Mountain" for which he won "Most Improved Speaker".

Amy Treadwell came away with best Table Topics Speaker for her accomplished response to Mary Lineberger's query about "the most difficult thing about being grown up". Best Evaluator went to Arnie Buss for his spot on assessment of Donna Cunninham's presentation. Robin Walker and Leenah Oh also provided high quality insightful evaluations.

Donna Cunningham's Icebreaker You Did WHAT?? - The Short Version

Arnie Buss's High Performance Leadership project report:

Brian Anderson's dramatic reading of Robert Frost's The Mountain:

The Toastmasters Cult

Robin Walker (AKA "The Grand Pooh Bah") led the proceedings today with an entertaining and spirited theme of the Toastmasters Cult. Complete with funny hats, secret handshakes and gestures, and even Kool Aide, the meeting was carried on as it might be for a secret society (I'm not sure how many "secret societies" have their own web page and blog!)













The Grand Pooh Bah Toastmaster

We started the meeting with 17 members and 2 guests, but ended the meeting with 18 members and 1 guest - since Bradley McNary joined and was inducted by acting president Angi Anderson.

Table Topics Master Leena Oh asked some great questions around the "cult" theme, with excellent responses by Brian Anderson, Alec Metz, and our newest member Bradley McNary. Alec won best table topics for his spirited description of the "cult's" new uniforms - which included kilts!













Three excellent speeches were given by newer members. Margaret Stevens gave her Icebreaker "Surprise and Adventure" and won Best Speaker for her evocative description of being a singer, massage therapist, and mother. Alex Bein gave his #2 speech "Performance Eating" and Michael Barksdale also gave a #2 speech "Effective Speaking: The Tool of a Competent Leader" for which he won Most Improved speaker. The meeting was rounded off with evaluations from Arnie Buss, Ryan Squires, and Glenn Woodson, who won Best Evaluator for his insightful feedback on Michael's speech.

Margaret Stevens' Icebreaker Surprise and Adventure:

Alex Bein's #2 speech Performance Eating:

Michale Barksdale's #2 speech Effective Communication: The Tool of a Competent Leader:


Upcoming events:

• Smedley Saturday tomorrow, 1:00 p.m., La Mesa Community Center
  
• District Conference, November 17
  

New Blogger

Arnie,
I have signed on to be part of the NPS Blog team. Thanks.
Fred

Kentucky Wildcats Football and Evening Social

University-of-Kentucky Alum and present MIIS student Elizabeth Mitchell thrilled us all with her cheerleading and Kentucky footbal trivia as she led us through another exciting weekly meeting! Elizabeth's first-time Toastmaster performance was enjoyed by 20 members and one guest (former member and past President Mary Lineberger, ATMB - welcome back, Mary!).

Luke Lazzari won "Best Speaker" for his 5th speech about his escapades at a yard sale, while Leena Oh was "Most Improved" with her #3 speech (thus enabling Angi Anderson to complete her mentorship and thus achieve her "Competent Leader" award). Robin Walker entertained us with an advanced manual speech about his cooking escapades, while his evaluator Angi Anderson was awarded "Best Evaluator". Meanwhile, Cathy Lee's description about "herding cats" won "Best Table Topics".

Leena's #3 speech, Tell Me What You Do, Already!:


Robin's speech #4 from "The Entertaining Speaker" advanced manual, Dinner at Monica's:


But the day was not yet over. Several members and guests gathered that evening for a "potluck social" overseen by Angi Anderson at the La Mesa Community Center. Highlight of the party was Robin Walker's "after dinner" advanced manual speech, which completed his requirements for Advanced Communicator Bronze. Congratulations, Robin --- that now gives us seven (7; count 'em) goals toward the 2007-08 Distinguished Club Plan, making us already "Select Distinguished" and it's still only October!

The food was delicious and the company great! In addition to Robin's after-dinner speech, the dinner itself was punctuated by an impromptu, friendly "toast-off" between the two tables (instigated by Robin). And what is a Toastmasters speech without an evaluation? Robin's evaluation was graciously provided by Fred Sadler, who gave a picture-perfect sandwich - and after dinner, no less! An excellent time was had by all. Many thanks to Angi and Brian, "Team Anderson" for organizing the event!

Robin's After Dinner Speech:

Chance Wins Division Humorous Contest!

NPS Toastmaster extraodinaire Chance Litton won the Division A Humorous Speech contest in Aptos today, besting with his hilarious speech "The Life and Times of Mr. Spock." There was some stiff competition, including one from a human-size banana slug!

Congratulations Chance! All members, come and support Chance as he competes at the District Contest on November 17.

Unfortunately, Robin Walker, the other Area A1 champion, couldn't attend the contest, but his replacement, runner-up Kristian Crump from Bayview Toastmasters won. Congratulations Kristian!

This means that Area A1 swept the Division!

OKTOBERFEST !!!

Well, no beer flowed (a Federal workplace, after all), but the joviality was definitely there as 17 members and three guests (two of whom committed to join) watched Angi Anderson's awesome #10 speech, for which she won Best Speaker (see below). Fred Sadler presented a special module on Evaluation, which he needs for one of the advanced awards.

Fred's speech Evaluate to Motivate


Angi's inspirational #10 speech Remember to Say "Thank You"


Chance Litton won Best Table Topics, Leena Oh was Best Evaluator in her first time in that role, and soon-to-be-returning-member Elizabeth Guzman won Most Improved.

And, with Angi's speech, we now have 6 of 10 goals for the year, and are again a "Distinguished Club"!

Don't forget to come to the Division Humorous Contest tomorrow and support Chance as he represents Area A1 against the other areas in our division!

Teachers

Welcome to our newest member Emilie Staryak! That gave us 15 members and one guest who witnessed Ryan Squires' first go at TMOD. With a theme of "Teachers", Ryan led us through another great program with his usual wit and humor.

We had two icebreakers (including one "backbreaker"; just ask Alex Bein!), and a #6 speech by Cathy Lee which won "Best Speaker". "Most Improved" was Steve Skaggs, while Glenn Woodson won "Best Table Topics". Robin Walker again won "Best Evaluator" as he gets ready to represent the club and Area A-1 in the Division A contest on October 13th.

Steve Skaggs' Icebreaker Together by Ourselves


Michael Barksdale's Icebreaker Why Being the Little Man on the Bottom is Not So Bad


Cathy Lee's #6 Speech The Play's the Thing

NPS Sweeps Area Contest!

In the Area A1 competition, Robin Walker won the Evaluation contest and Chance Litton won the Humorous contest, making a clean sweep of the area by NPS Toastmasters.

Robin evaluated Test Speaker Carl Nail of San Jose, who spoke about "Showing Up".... the importance of doing your part for team by being there - whether at work or at Toastmasters! Robin was first in a field of four evaluation contestants. Second place went to Kristen Crump of Bayview Toastmasters.

Chance delighted us once again with the adventures and antics of his cat "Mr. Spock". He beat out two other speakers, including second-place winner Alisha Empleo, also of Bayview.

Congratulations Robin and Chance! Be sure to come to the Division A Contest on October 13 to support them as they compete against the winners from the other areas!

Baseball...

Fourteen members and two guests (welcome back, Elizabeth Guzman - hope you re-join us soon!) enjoyed another fine meeting, featuring an interpretive reading advanced speech of two Bobby Kennedy speeches by Robin Walker, and a seven-continent travelogue of sorts by Elizabeth Mitchell as she gave her #2 speech. Robin won "Best Speaker" while Elizabeth was Most Improved. "Best Evaluator" was awarded to a very deserving Shenequa Mitchell for her evaluation of Robin's speech.

First-time TMOD Cathy Lee assembled a great program, deftly switching assignments at the last minute when not everyone scheduled showed up. Baseball was her theme.... because she didn't know much about the game and wanted to learn more!

Margaret Stevens also showed she was on the "fast track" by taking on the Table Topics Master role, with five baseball-related questions. "Best Table Topics" was won by Mike Barksdale, who demonstrated his jiu-jitsu moves on Alex "I'm turning blue" Bein.

Robin's #5 speech from the Interpretive Reading advanced manual, Indianapolis Part 1:

Part 2:

Elizabeth Mitchell's #2 speech: Seven Lessons from Seven Continents:

Two of our stalwart members will be leaving us soon for the East Coast, where they plan on continuing their Toastmasters career with a local club there. We export Toastmasters at NPS!

Congratulations to Scott and Jolene for the birth of their son! Scott Wilbur's Farewell:

Shenequa Mitchell's farewell:

Message from Brendan Epps

I've recently been reading "Where Have All The Leaders Gone" by Lee Iacocca. It's a great read and a call to action. What struck me and drove me to write this message was the word curmudgeon. The instant I saw the word, I recalled an NPS TM meeting, where curmudgeon was the word of the day. Even after seeing it again, I couldn't use it in a sentence, but the point is the power of those words each week. They expand our vocabulary and expose us to something new. Pay attention to those words and make an effort to learn new words. Wordmasters, be sure to choose challenging words, words that will force members to grow and expand their vocabularies.

-Brendan Epps, past club president

What did YOU do this summer?

And so it was with this week's theme, as Immediate Past Area Governor Arnie Buss gave us a lesson in "how to do it" by leading us through another excellent meeting as TMOD. With 19 members and four guests present, our newest member Donna Cunningham was voted into membership and duly inducted. Donna is our 7th new member since July 1st!

One of the guests was former member Elizabeth Guzman, who we sincerely hope will be re-joining the club soon.

In addition to Shenequa Mitchell's excellent #4 speech below, Cathy Lee practiced her lawyer skills by delivering prosecution closing arguments for a criminal trial as her #5 speech. Cathy won Best Speaker, while her evaluator Scott Wilbur was awarded Best Evaluator.

Best Table Topics went to Alec Metz, fresh back from Mongolia, who described his recent marriage and associated travels. Most Improved was Donna Cunningham, who talked about her long-distance marriage. Congratulations to all!

Shenequa Mitchell's #4 Speech The Art of Communication


AREA CONTEST: Note that the date has been changed to the afternoon of Saturday 29 September, and will take place at the Agricultural Conference Center on Abbott Street in Salinas starting about 1PM. Chance Litton (Humorous Speech) and Robin Walker (Evaluation) will be competing.

India

Nineteen members and two guests were treated to three terrific speeches, which were well orchestrated by TMoD and Club President Robin Walker. Robin "set the example" with a precise, efficient meeting program which ran like clockwork. His theme of "India" helped us all get into the spirit of his upcoming around-the-world trip to Singapore, India, and Washington, DC. Table Topics Master Shenequa Mitchell hit the Web to come up with some outstanding Indian-related Table Topics.

We also inducted Masami Maeda into membership. Welcome!

Winners were:
*** Best Speaker: David Schulz's Icebreaker (see below)
*** Best Evaluator: Fred Sadler, evaluating Glenn Woodson's #6 speech
*** Best Table Topics: Luke Lazzari (In his Table Topic, he spoke of his favorite adventure sport!)
*** Most Improved: Alex Bein (In his Table Topic, he said he would buy his wife a Lexus if he could!)

We're #1 (actually, tied...)! We have now achieved three of 10 goals for Distinguished Club Plan recognition for 2007-08. We are tied with three other clubs for the District 4 lead among 200+ clubs. We have met half of three additional goals - let's be first in District 4 to become distinguished, and the first to get all 10 goals as well! To become distinguished, we need two of the following:
*** Two more new members,
*** Dues paid on time (by 30 Sept.), or
*** One more Comptent Communicator!

David Schultz's Icebreaker speech I Have Yet to Work a Day in my Life


Chance Litton's #3 speech A Mystery of Matter


Glenn Woodson's #6 speech Beyond the Nineteenth Hole


Note 1: Due to waning interest, Smedley Saturdays will be scheduled in the future only if at least three members are prepared to give speeches.

Note 2: We now have a vacancy in the office of Sergeant-at-Arms. Eric Timmerman has submitted his resignation from that office due to his overwhelming workload. An election will be held soon to replace Eric for the rest of the term through December.

Note 3: TI WHQ has rolled out the new public and members only Web sites. These sites will take some getting used to, as they are now much different in look-and-feel. For the "Members Only" Web site, you will need to establish login information in order to access all the available goodies. Your member number (as shown on the label to your TOASTMASTER magazine) is your default login. From there you can request and be assigned a password from TI WHQ, which will be returned to you via email. However, one can still conduct club business without logging in as in the past, simply by registering the club number and club password (once you figure out how to get to that part of the Web site).

Time well Spent

VPE Angi Anderson led this meeting as TMOD with the theme of "Time Well Spent" in her usual style of "setting the bar high"! The speeches below were enjoyed by 15 members (including our newly inducted member, Margaret Stevens) and one guest. We also voted into membership Masami Maeda, an MIIS student from Japan - but she was unable to attend this particular meeting. Welcome, Margaret and Masami!

Here is Angi's poem, which codified the theme of the day:

For everything there is a season:
A time to speak, a time to wait
A time to listen and evaluate
A time to ah and a time to ding
A time to practice impromptu speaking
A time to join, a time to adjourn
A time to return control of the lectern.


Best Speaker was Arnie Buss, while Carl Thormeyer was selected as Best Evaluator for his evaluation of Fred Sadler's advanced speech. Most Improved was Margaret Stevens, in her initial foray into Table Topics! Meanwhile, the Best Table Topics award was won by Brian Anderson, who explained how he would use an hour of time prior to evacuating from "Hurricane Angi" (!!!).

Fred's #1 speech in the advanced manual Speaking to Inform, "The Oh So Different World of Identical Twins"


Arnie's #10 speech in his second time through the Competent Communication Manual, "Tell Me Who You Are"


Upcoming Events:

Sat 22 Sept: Area A-1/A-2 Contest (afternoon-ish).
Sat 29 Sept: Smedley Saturday, La Mesa Community Center (afternoon).
Sat 13 Oct: Division A Contest - afternoon - Aptos Academy in Aptos.

Toastmaster 1 and Toastmaster 2 ...

Saturday 25 August 2007
Advanced Manual Speech at Smedley Saturday!

In an intimate setting, Brian Anderson gave his first advanced manual project from the Interpretative Reading manual. His project to read a story was delivered to a "sellout" crowd of 1 other toastmaster at this Special Event Speechathon! In true Toastmaster fashion, it only takes an audience that includes another toastmaster to evaluate your presentation to get credit for the project. Today, Brian earned Best Speaker honors for his interpretative reading of the Dr. Seuss classic "The Cat in the Hat". Angi Anderson was Acting President, TMoD, Timer and Best Evaluator.
Stand by for our next Special Event Speechathon Smedley Saturday on Sep 29th.

Submitted by Brian Anderson

Food and ... Sockpuppets (?)

With a theme of "Food" (no, we didn't eat the sock puppets; but they threatened to eat us with their big long teeth - see Angi's speech video below), 14 members and 4 guests enjoyed another great meeting. And,two of the guests are submitting applications for membership! A third guest was visiting Toastmaster Ngan Tran from Evening Toastmasters in Capitola.

Alex and Leena shared the "Most Improved" award for their speeches, while Angi won another "Best Speaker" award for her very unique #9 persuasive speech. Glen Woodson was awarded "Best Evaluator" by GE Arnie Buss, while new member Amy Treadwell won "Best Table Topics" with a dissertation on Julia Childs as her favorite celebrity chef. Congratulations to all!

Here are the speeches:

Alex Bein's Icebreaker speech Junk Food Gestapo:



Leena Oh's #2 Speech, Adventures in Hiking:



Angi Anderson's #9 Speech, Fear Itself:



Touchdown Club:

Beaches, Water, and....Motivation!

What a great show for visiting Area Governor John Lente! Fourteen members and six guests (including two from MIIS) cheered on Brian Anderson's #10 speech (now our newest Competent Communicator) and Carl Thormeyer's final speech in the "Communicating on Television" Manual.

We also received the happy news of the birth of Eric Timmerman's baby. Congratulations to Eric and his wife!

Acting President Angi Anderson presented the "President's Distinguished Club" award ribbon for the 2006-2007 Toastmasters year - we achieved all 10 goals and World Headquarters has recognized this!

So far this new Toastmasters year (2007-2008) we have already achieved 3 goals outright and half of two additional goals out of 10 total - as once again we work to achieve "President's Distinguished Club" for the 6th time in 7 years!

Amy Treadwell's Opening Remarks (her first) - she won "Most Improved Speaker":



Angi Anderson's winning Table Topics:



Carl Thormeyer's speech #5 from the advanced manual Communication on Television: The Eight Steps to Making a Motion (Click on link to view the video).

Brian Anderson's #10 speech, When I Say Motivation... - he won "Best Speaker".



Arnie Buss' Evaluation of Brian's #10 speech - he won "Best Evaluator" (in a field of 1):



Upcoming events:

Saturday 25 August: Smedley Saturday - See Angi to speak.
Saturday 22 Sept: Area A1/A2 contest; venue TBD.
Saturday 13 Oct: Division A Contest - Aptos Academy.

Presidential Debates

Fourteen members and four guests cheered on Scott Wilbur in his inaugural run as TMoD with his theme of "Presidential Debates". The three excellent speeches follow:

Luke Lazzari's #4 speech about overcoming procrastination:


Shenequa Mitchell's #9 speech about how endings are really beginnings:


Karen Woodson's #4 speech about the joys of NASCAR racing, for which she won both "Best Speaker" and "Most Improved":


Angi Anderson's picture-perfect evaluation of Karen's speech, for which she won "Best Evaluator":


Peter Blouin led Table Topics with three questions related to elections and politicians. Here is Robin Walker's winning Table Topics speech:

General Evaluator Brian Anderson declares Scott's TMoD debut a touchdown...

Next week August 10th: Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation contests. We need everyone there to help select our winners to send on to the Area Contest in September!

Frustration!

Another great meeting.... 17 members and 8 guests became 19 members and 6 guests as we voted Amy Treadwell and Alex Bein into membership. Welcome, Amy and Alex! That brings our paid membership up to 40, so once again we are a "President's 40" club.

TMoD Fred Sadler became frustrated over his computer problems earlier in the week, but he got past that with a little help from his friends (especially Arnie) and that spawned the theme of "Frustration". Fred vented his as he started the program by singing a song of frustration.

Ryan Squires led us in Table Topics, where Scott Wilbur and Alex Bein tied for "Best Table Topics".

Karen Woodson won "Most Improved" for her #3 speech entitled "Have a little faith in yourself" (see below).

Angi Anderson followed with her #8 speech titled "Bag of Tricks", winning "Best Speaker" with her three piles of props representing her past, present and future (see below).

Andrew Kennedy then reported on his High Performance Leadership project, which was performed when he was an Area Governor (see below). Once the paperwork is accomplished, this completes Andrew's final requirement for Advanced Leader Silver.

Chance Litton won "Best Evaluator" for his first-time evaluation, beating out the club's graybeards Arnie Buss and Carl Thormeyer. Here is Chance's award-winning evaluation:

Coming up August 10th: Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests. Sign up with Angi to participate!

We're Back to Normal!

"Friday the 13th" didn't even merit a mention, as first-time TMoD Eric Timmerman led us through another great meeting with 17 members and four guests present. Eric's theme, "Hollywood and its Impact on your Life", was woven into the meeting throughout, as we all learned of each other's favorite movies.

To add icing on the cake, our visiting dignitary Division A Governor Tim Childers installed the new officers that were present. (Division A consists of 20+ clubs in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.)

Scott Wilbur led Table Topics, with Shenequa Mitchell capturing the "Best Table Topics" award with her dissertation on who she would like to play in a movie if she were a movie actress. New member Steve Scaggs (congratulations!) also participated; we specifically voted him into membership at the beginning of the meeting so he would be eligible for Table Topics!

We had three good speakers once again - Ned Powley gave his #6 speech about the different types of speech detractions (ahs, ums, like, you know, fade-aways, etc.). Chance Litton won "Best Speaker" for his strong defense of nuclear power while debunking the various nuclear power myths (his #2 speech). Arnie Buss won "Most Improved" for his third #2 speech (working on his 3rd CC) on "Servant Leadership".

"Best Evaluator went to Fred Sadler for setting the example with his excellent animated suggestions regarding Ned Powley's speech. General Evaluator was Carl Thormeyer.

Robin Walker as Wordmaster started what may become a new tradition in our club - if everyone uses the word, then the Wordmaster gets fined five cents as the word must have been too easy! (He didn't have to worry...)

Upcoming:
20 July: Chance Litton volunteered to be TMoD. Please help him and volunteer for a job!
28 July: Smedley Saturday. Sign up to speak with Angi.
10 Aug: Club Evaluation and Humorous Speech contest.

Surprise!

At our July 6th meeting, we had 11 members and four guests present (one of whom signed up after the meeting)! Alec Metz, with his smooth and flowing mastery of the English language, led us as TMoD in another terrific meeting with his theme of "surprises"!

The biggest surprise was that there was no assigned Table Topics Master! Instead, pieces of paper were attached to the bottom of each chair in the room, and the three lucky individuals with a black dot on their piece of paper got to each be a Table Topics Master and call on one person each! This went unexpectedly smoothly, with Scott Wilbur emerging as the "Best Table Topics" winner for his "Ugly American" diatribe about his menu expectations in a foreign country where he didn't speak the language! We even voted for a "Best Table Topics Master" among the three who drew the assignment - that award went to Leena Oh.

Oh, yes... we had speeches, too! Eric Timmerman was "Most Improved" for his #4 speech about camping in Big Sur. Scott Wilbur then won "Best Speaker" for his #3 speech on bone marrow, and how to be a donor. "Best Evaluator" was a tie between Glenn Woodson and Brian Anderson.

Another very pleasant surprise was the return of Michael Barksdale, who we promptly voted into membership!

We hope to see the rest of the active members back again soon now that the NPS term break is over. We can get a little lethargic when there are a lot of empty seats!

Upcoming events:
Mon July 16: Executive Board meeting, 6PM, La Mesa Community Center
Sat July 28: Smedley Saturday, 1PM(?), La Mesa Coomunity Center
(Sign up now with Angi to get one of the ten speaking slots)
Fri Aug 10: Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest

Bang! (...and bumble bees!)

Bang! (as in 4th of July) was the theme at our June 29th meeting... with Brian Anderson leading 11 members and one guest as TMOD (record attendance for the last Friday in June!) With three speakers and with Alec Metz leading us in Table Topics, we had a full meeting indeed!

We started the meeting with a bang by hearing three speeches. Unfortunately, we have no "You-Tube" videos this week, but here is a synopsis:

Glenn Woodson was "Most Improved" with his #4 speech about the use of analogies, metaphors, similes and other figures of speech, and the need for appropriateness.

Arnie Buss started work on his third "Competent Communicator" manual with an icebreaker, for which he won "Best Speaker". This time around, his "CC" effort will revolve around the topic of leadership.

Great speeches both, but the "piece d' resistance" (excuse my lousy French) was Angi Anderson's #7 ("Research Your Speech") about bees! Addressing the TMOD as "Mr. BuzzMaster" and dressed in a stunning handmade "bumble bee" dress made of alternate black and yellow horizontal stripes, Angi gave us a bee-utifully delightful PowerPoint "HR-rep-to-workers" lecture. Referring to the audience ("NPS Buzzmasters") as worker bees in a new hive (hive #2032), Angi provided us all with "bee and hive" training, and we learned all there is to know about bees! If you want to know more, send a B-mail to Queen Bee Angi at brrep@hive2032.bzz (!!!) Unfortunately, Angi was ineligible for the Best Speaker voting as, alas, she went overtime. (And, like the Army says, "Bee all that you can bee!")



Angi had another chance at an award, though, and once again walked away with "Best Table Topics" by discussing in what way she could be considered the center of the universe! Best Evaluator was Carl Thormeyer for his analysis of Arnie Buss's third icebreaker.

Ed. note: We now have five officers trained for the new term. Two to go to reach 100%!

Blogmasters note: A new online photo account has been set up - you can see more photos of this great meeting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/npstoastmasters/sets/72157600628951322/

"Oh, What a Beautiful Morning..."

With Fred Sadler as Toastmaster opening the meeting by leading us in singing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" from the Broadway play "Oklahoma", 14 members and 3 guests celebrated Fred's theme of "Summertime"! (Note that this was a record crowd for an end-of-June meeting; usually we have fewer than 10 present at meetings during the last two weeks of June due to NPS and MIIS both being out of session.)

Robin Walker won "Best Speaker" for his third speech from the Entertainment Speaker manual - "Make them Laugh". The speech, "Canoes", is presented below. Angi Anderson won "Best Evaluator" in her critique of Robin's speech.

Robin's entertaining and humorous speech about the perils of canoing:


Meanwhile, Alec Metz gave an animated #5 speech entitled "Movement", and with lots of body language described a classmate who "danced" the story of the fall of the Soviet Union! His speech follows:



Table Topics Master Warner Howser called on five participants; Glenn Woodson won "Best Table Topics" with his description of his favorite summertime activity. Leena Oh was "Most Improved" with her description of the perfect summertime.

Upcoming Events:
Sat 30 June from 1-4 pm: Officer Training - Golden Gate Univ., Fort Ord.
Tues 3 July - 11 am: New Student Fair - Barbara McNitt Ballroom.
Sat 28 July: Next "Smedley Saturday" for those wishing to speak more.

A Fond Farewell to Glenn Tolle

It was "Family Day" at NPS Toastmasters, as a near-record crowd of 21 members and 13 guests witnessed three outstanding speeches (see below). The group also honored outgoing President Glenn Tolle, who was attending his final meeting at NPS TM the same day as his graduation! With several family members in tow, including wife Nancy, sister Kim, and his two children, Glenn once again "did us proud" with his "swan song" General Evaluation.

Angie Anderson, whose father was one of the 13 guests, led us in an outstanding Table Topics session which brought us into "the inside of Glenn Tolle's mind"! Table Topics winner was Alec Metz, who somehow ended up at a chess table in a public park!

Elie Ishag and Brian Anderson tied for "Best Speaker", Leena Oh was "Most Improved", while Robin Walker was "Best Evaluator" for his analysis of Brian's speech.

Leena Oh's Icebreaker speech, "When I Grow Up:"



Elie Ishag's #3 speech, "Live in the Moment:"



Brian Anderson's #9 speech "Single Planet Species Do Not Survive:"



The meeting ended with several presentations to Glenn Tolle on behalf of the club by Area Governor Arnie Buss. Since the role of "Ah Counter" was Glenn's favorite, the club presented him with his very own "Ah Bell" which he can use with gusto in his new post in Korea while listening to visiting VIPs!

On Saturday 16th, Angi Anderson, Carl Thormeyer, Warner Howser and Arnie Buss attended Officer Training and the Toastmasters Leadership Institute at the main Yahoo! facility in Sunnyvale. Over 170 toastmasters from throughout District 4 attended this outstanding program.

The Best of Glenn Tolle

Fred Sadler video taped two of Glenn Tolle's most famous speeches so they are now preserved for posterity....

"Humble Pie - the Fifth Basic Food Group"

Originally Glenn's #2 speech, he entered it in the club humorous speech contest and won - followed by winning the Area and Division contests, and competing strongly at the District 4 contest.



"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!"

This speech, from the advanced manual "Interpretive Reading," is the "rest of the story" of Patrick Henry's original speech containing the memorable quote.

Star Wars and Toastmasters

With a meeting-long innovative analogy between Star Wars and Toastmasters International, TMoD Angi Anderson and her associates (functionaries!) had us spellbound all meeting! DTMs were compared with Jedi Masters, and the history of Toastmasters was presented in a way that related to the sequential Star Wars movie themes. (Could it be that Dr. Ralph C. Smedley was the original Obi-Wan Kenobi?) See the Opening Remarks "You-Tube" link below for more details!

The three excellent manual speeches (two #2, one #8) are reproduced at the You-Tube links below. Winner of "Best Speaker" was Arnie Buss, with Ryan Squires as "Most Improved", and Robin Walker as "Best Evaluator". Robin also won "Best Table Topics" for his description of the possible role of the Ah Counter in counteracting (no pun intended) the "Death Star".

The meeting closed with a heartfelt good-bye from our resident Mongolian member, Mashbat Otgonbayer. We will miss you, Mash; and wish you the best in the future!

And then it was "Party Time", with the potluck at the La Mesa Community Center on Saturday evening, where a good time was had by all! (More on this later!)

Scott Wilbur's inspiring opening remarks:



Angi Anderson, TMoD extraordinaire:
















Rosetta Ishag's #2 Speech "The Bar Mitzvah," a loving and moving tribute to her grandson David on the occasion of his bar mitzvah:



Ryan Squires' #2 Speech extolling the virtues of Savannah, GA and the "Spanish moss" link to Monterey:



Arnie Buss on the tools of Toastmasters, an excellent "primer" on what a Toastmasters meeting is all about:


Robin Walker's award-winning evaluation of Ryan:

















And may the Force be with you...

June Gloom - Not at NPS Toastmasters!

June in Monterey is so typically foggy and cool that today's theme was "June Gloom." Guided expertly by seasoned Toastmaster Mary Lineberger, the meeting was anything but gloomy! With 16 members and three guests (including Sterling Woodson), the meeting was lively and filled with laughter and fun.

The meeting got off to a spirited start with Rosetta's dramatic Opening Remarks. Glenn Woodson's continued his out-of-the-box style with a highly creative and challenging Table Topics session. Reminding us that it is National Donut Month, participants were requested to give a designated award to another member. In keeping with the donuts, Arnie won best Table Topics for giving Glenn Tolle an award for relentlessly "gotta make the donuts."

Rosetta gives an uplifting Opening Remarks:

We were treated to another fantastic and funny Icebreaker speech from new member Chance Litton entitled "The Three L's of Chance Litton" (which turned out to be "Lazy, Lucky, and Loquacious" btw). Chance's wife Becky, who was prominently featured in his speech, was one of the guests. You can view Chance's speech:



Arnie gave a speech in the advanced manual "Interpersonal Communications" about ways to assert yourself in a problem area without damaging the relationship, and included a role play with Glenn Tolle. The consensus in the club appeared to split along gender lines, with men being dubious about the approach and the women being more favorably inclined towards it.

Arnie and Glenn role play a situation:

Brian evaluates Arnie's speech:

Awards went to Chance for Best Speaker, Arnie for Most Improved, and to Brian for his evaluation of Arnie's speech. For an hour today, the gloom of June in Monterey was dispelled by the bright sunshine of another fantastic NPS Toastmasters meeting!

Don't forget the Spouses Social to be held Saturday evening June 9 at the La Mesa Community Center!

May Smedley Saturday

Another thrilling Smedley Saturday! We had 10 members present and four prepared speeches. Brian Anderson had the reins as TMoD and expertly guided the meeting.

Scott Wilbur led off with an outstanding #2 speech "The Google" that touched on topics from marriage to the challenges of a MySpace page. He was followed by Robin Walker's advanced "Interpretive Reading" of the rousing "St Crispin's Day" speech from Henry V. Speaking from the advanced manual on Entertaining Glenn Tolle kept us completely entertained and laughing. Finally, Arnie Buss gave a speech from the "Interpersonal Communications" manual on a reflective technique called "tracking," ably assisted by Angi Anderson in a role play.

Evaluations were led by Robin evaluating Arnie, Glenn evaluating Scott, Brian evaluating Robin, and Angi evaluating Glenn.

Scott was awarded "Best Speaker" and Angi "Best Evaluator." Mash and Rosetta took turns being timer and ah counter. Also present were Elie Ishag and Fred Sadler.

Scott's "The Google"


Robin's St Crispin's Day Speech:


Glenn's "The Truth"

Memories and Memorial Day

With 22 members and one guest present we once again had a great meeting, with Shenequa Mitchell doing an outstanding job as a first-time Toastmaster of the Day as she shepherded the three speakers pictured below through the program. Best speaker was Eric Timmerman (see You-Tube link below), while Best Evaluator was Brian Anderson.

Ned Powley led a great Table Topics session with five participants discussing subjects related to memories. Ilie Ishag was the winner of Best Table Topics with his description of his most memorable historical figure, who was Menachem Begin (former Israeli Prime Minister). Mash Otgonbayer won Most Improved for his 3-minute plus dissertation on memorable memorials he had seen in Rome! Great job, Mash... Another interesting "must know" tidbit... never offer Karen Woodson a piece of chocolate cake!

The Speakers...

Andrew Kennedy expounds on emotional pain and friends who have made tragic choices. (#2 speech - Andrew's doing the manual again!)

Glenn Tolle Reading Rudyard Kipling's "If". (This was an advanced speech from the Interpretive Reading Manual.)t

Eric Timmerman on the Three Phases of Fishing (#3 in the Competent Communicator manual).

"A Few of My Favorite Things"

(Sung to the melody of “These are a few of my favorite things” from the Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein)

These are a few of my favorite things

Statues with ribbons
And bright colored banners,

Name tags and ballots
World Bank and timer,

A lectern and gavel
And ahs that go ring.

These are a few of my favorite things!

Hands that go clappin
And words that go tappin,

No time for nappin
Table topics is happnin,

Speakers that fly
With a song on their wings.

These are a few of my favorite things!

When the fear strikes
When the words go
When I’m feelin sad:
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad!

Adapted by Fred Sadler for his #10 speech entitled “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” – NPS Toastmasters Club #2032 - May 18, 2007

Angi Takes Second at District!

Our very own Angi Anderson, the Division A representative to the District 4 Table Topics Contest, took second place Friday night in Foster City.

Competing against a tough field seven other winners of their respective divisions, Angi fielded the question "What is your mission in life?" with humor and wit.

Friday was also the Anderson's eleventh wedding anniversary - we all offer our congratulations to Brian and Angi!

Thank you Angi for representing your club, area, and division so effectively!

A Road Less Traveled...

Eighteen members and two guests witnessed several unique events at our 11 May meeting... specifically:

Robin Walker (below) served as acting president as we voted in four new standing rules (soon to be posted on the Web site).

Glenn Woodson (below, left) was TMoD par excellance while conducting a semi-"grab bag" meeting! All but the major functionaries received their roles at the meeting by a drawing. Glenn brought along a dictionary, paper, and marking pens for impromptu Wordmaster Shenequa Mitchell, who did a great job in her unexpected role! Glenn's theme? "A Road Less Traveled".

Mash (below, left) explaining how the weather in Mongolia is slightly different than Monterey, delivered his #4 speech on "The Environment, Nukes and Mongolia". He was voted "Most Improved".

... and Shahid Abrar ul Hassan (below, left) telling us more about the different forms of the English language in his final meeting at NPS Toastmasters. Shahid won "Best Speaker" with this #6 speech. A new graduate of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Shahid is leaving the U.S. for his new position in Kuwait much closer to his home in Pakistan. He expects to find a Toastmasters club to join there!

Ned Powley (below left) presents his #7 speech, which was a discussion of his current research efforts.

Karen Woodson (below, left) as Table Topics Master ran an outstanding session which was won by Robin Walker.

And last but not least, Cathy Lee was chosen "Best Evaluator" for her critique of Shahid's speech.

NEXT UP:

18-19 May: District 4 Spring Conference in Foster City. Come support Angi as she represents our club and Division A in the Table Topics contest Friday night!

26 May: Smedley Saturday. Specifics TBA.

9 June: Evening Pot-Luck social event at the La Mesa Community Center.

Survey Monkey Results

Smedley Saturday Druthers

1. Which Saturday works best for you?


12 May
22.2%
2

26 May (Memorial Day weekend)
33.3%
3

I can't make either date--perhaps later!
44.4%
4
Total Respondents
9

A Smedley Medley

It's the last Saturday of April, the sun is shining in a bucolic part of the world - where else would you find members of NPS Toastmasters but at our monthly Smedley Saturday. And today was no exception! We celebrated a veritable medley of speeches, ranging from North Korea to Boston, from monthly phone calls to parents in China to a Monterey organization that promotes international peace, from the practical decisions about growth in our own community to the inner depths of the spirit experienced through yoga. Even more impressive was the fact that two die-hard Red Sox fans (Peter and Carl) chose to forgo watching the game to attend - now that's dedication!

Continuing the tradition of exciting, fun-filled meetings, we were ably led by Angi and Brian ("Team Anderson") with Brian performing the role of TMoD. The first "inning" consisted of Scott presenting an objective case for North Korea's involvement in international drug trade, followed by Shahid informing us of Global Majority, an international organization promoting world peace that started here in Monterey. Batting "cleanup" in this inning was our guest, Ying Shiroma from Bayview Toastmasters, who gave an entertaining speech about her monthly call to her parents in China. The evaluators were, respectively, Carl for Scott, Angi for Shahid, and Arnie for Ying. Maybe it was the fact that it was Saturday, but none of the speakers or the evaluators managed to come in within their time limits.

We did better time-wise after the "seventh inning stretch." Cathy led off by a humorous account of her encounter with Yoga, Pete continued with a hilarious speech about the tribulations, and occasional joys, of a Red Sox fan. Glenn Woodson finished with a persuasive #9 speech urging us all to become informed voters in the upcoming election over the Monterey General Plan. The evaluators were Arnie for Cathy, Scott for Peter, and Glenn Tolle for Glenn Woodson. Peter won best speaker and Arnie best evaluator.

Thanks to our timer for the meeting, Karen Woodson - and thanks also to Glenn Woodson for setting up the video taping on his sturdy tripod!

So it was indeed a Smedley medley, in the great evolving tradition of Smedley Saturday!

Below are some pictures and a video from the meeting.

Scott presents a briefing on North Korea



Carl evaluates Scott Ceremuga



Arnie Evaluates Ying



Pete extols the Boston Red Sox in "Bostonian"





Cathy Lee confronts Yoga

Glenn Tolle achieves Competent Communicator!

With Glenn's terrific #10 speech, NPS TM has again reached the pinnacle of Toastmasterism by achieving all 10 goals as a President's Distinguished Club for 2006-07. Glenn's speech, entitled "Roads", discussed the choices he had made through life and how those choices made him a better person - and how we could "grow" in the same manner. And yes, our newest Competent Communicator won "Best Speaker"!

Luke Lazzari gave a terrific #3 speech describing and evaluating key personnel decisions that Admiral Chester Nimitz made in the Pacific theatre during World War II. Luke was voted "Most Improved". Best evaluator was Brian Anderson evaluating Luke's speech.

(Ed. note: Luke's speech mentioned ADM Halsey, who ADM Nimitz supported in the Pacific theatre in spite of insisting that the fleet perform an underway replenishment (UNREP) in the path of a typhoon. This typhoon ended up sinking three of four destroyers in a picket line with over 800 men lost. The fourth destroyer, the USS Buchanan, included a resident sailor by the name of (our very own) Joe Tacker! Joe has given several speeches about this incident in his life and our country's history.)

Leading the charge as Toastmaster in a well-structured and well-executed meeting was recently anointed Competent Communicator Scott Ceremuga. His theme? "Dreams, Desires and Wishes". Eric Timmerman led us in Table Topics - out of five participants, one of our newest members Scott Wilbur took away the trophy for the second week in a row.

Fourteen members and five guests enjoyed this well-run meeting. Next up: Smedley Saturday tomorrow April 28th from 2-4PM at the La Mesa Community Center.

Another "squared away" meeting...

Nineteen members and four guests became 20 members and 3 guests as Dave Schulz was elected into membership today. Welcome, Dave! (That's 28 new members and one reinstatement since last July 1st.)

Brian Anderson as Toastmaster led another outstanding meeting in true Marine-squared-away fashion, which featured three speakers in yet another successful shakeup of the normal agenda. Speakers went first, followed by Table Topics, followed by the speech evaluators. The theme was "April 20th", which has different meanings to different people.

Shahid Abrar ul Hassan gave his #3 speech entitled "Be Concerned", where he objectively made the case that we all live on the same planet and need to learn to get along. Angi Anderson's well-presented speech on "Depression " (without notes and without lectern) won Best Speaker, while Pete Blouin won Most Improved with his #5 speech describing poker-playing body language.

Shenequa Mitchell was awarded Best Evaluator for her critique of Pete's speech by first-time General Evaluator Eric Timmerman. Best Table Topics went to new member Scott Wilbur. Third-time guest Leena Oh was brave enough to participate in Table Topics as well! Thanks, Leena, and congratulations on your participation.

NEXT UP: Regular meeting of 27 April will feature Scott Ceremuga as TMoD and Glenn Tolle with his #10 speech. Plan now to attend!

Saturday Afternoon 28 April: Smedley Saturday at La Mesa Community Center from 2PM -4PM.

NPS TM achieves "President's Distinguished" Once Again !

Using the live Internet capability we have in our regular meeting room, VPE Robin Walker entered into the TI WHQ database the recent Competent Leader manual completions for Fred Sadler and Carl Thormeyer after Friday's meeting. Fred and Carl are the first to finish this new manual and achieve the new CL award. Congratulations!

With these accomplishments, NPS Toastmasters has achieved 9 of 10 goals for the 2006-07 Toastmaster year, and is again a President's Distinguished Club! We have now achieved this level of club excellence in five of the past six years (we were "Select Distinguished" in 2005-06 with seven goals). We will make it unanimous this year by achieving Goal #10 within the next month.

And, as Arnie mentioned in an earlier blog entry, our club received more recognition awards at the Division A contest yesterday than any of the other clubs in the Division!

Flash from Salinas: Angi Wins Table Topics!

I'm just back from the Division A contest in Salinas, and it was a wonderful one! Being at the Agricultural Conference Center brought back memories of last fall's Areas humorous and evaluation contest.

The highlight of course was Angi Anderson winning the Table Topics contest - so she will represent Division a at the District Contest on May 18. The question was one of the toughest I have heard at a contest - "How do you justify your existence?" All four contestants gave outstanding responses, and Angi's was more outstanding than the others - Congratulations Angi!!

Here is Angi receiving her award from District 4 Representative, our own Carl Thormeyer:















More photos from the contest can be viewed here.

The other highlight was our District Governor Ken Cawley giving out special awards to clubs who have met various goals in the DCP. Our president, Glenn Tolle (who also served as the chief judge for the International Speech Contest) got his exercise in from all the times he was called for yet another award to NPS.

It was a terrific event - what better way to spend a rainy day than at a Toastmasters contest - especially if our contestant won!

As Luck would have it...

First-time Toastmaster of the Day (TMoD) Luke Lazzari wowed us all with his smooth running of our Friday-the-13th meeting using a theme of "luck". With only two scheduled speakers, Luke continued the format of last week with speakers/evaluators first and table topics second. This permitted no fewer than seven (7; count 'em!) table topics participants, with Brian Anderson's smooth presentation coming away as the winner.

Our resident Mongolian Mashbat Otgonbayer presented his #3 speech which expounded on the importance and advantages of traveling to different lands. And Area Governor Arnie Buss gave a short-notice but hilariously funny "hip pocket" #5 speech on body language, with a title of "Breaking Through the Fourth Wall". Arnie, already an ATM-S, is working on his second CC award and is halfway there! Arnie won Best Speaker while Mash was Most Improved. Fred Sadler won Best Evaluator, in part for pointing out how Arnie was setting the example for the rest of the club (second CC, hip pocket speech, and various speech techniques).

Welcome to our newest member, Scott Wilbur! Once we voted him in, Scott was one of 17 members and 4 guests who thoroughly enjoyed this meeting.

NEXT UP: 20 April regular meeting. Details soon!

28 April: Smedley Saturday. Sign up now for a speaking slot!

A "Mastery" of a Meeting - and, a new CC !

Our newest "Competent Communicator" (CC; formerly CTM) Scott Ceremuga showed his public speaking mastery by completing his #10 speech in the Communication and Leadership Manual , as President Glenn Tolle led the April 6th meeting with his theme of "Mastery". Scott used the occasion to do a "dry run" of the speech he hopes to present at the upcoming Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) graduation, and won "Best Speaker" in the process! Scott is in competition with several other graduating MIIS students for the coveted assignment of commencement speaker. Good luck Scott, and congratulations!

Glenn Woodson jumped in as a speaker following a last-minute cancellation, and presented his #5 speech describing his experience with the sport of rowing. His evaluator, Eric Timmerman, came away with the "Best Evaluator" award.

In a variation of the normal schedule of events, Table Topics followed (rather than preceded) the speeches. TT Master Pete Blouin called on six (!) members to answer questions centering on the word "Master". They were:
* Master of Puppets: Angi Anderson
* Blaster Master: Robin Walker
* Master Card: Warner Howser
* Master of Ceremonies: Fred Sadler
* Masters of the Universe: Brian Anderson
* Jedi Master: Luke "Skywalker" Lazzari (he won "Most Improved")

Karen Woodson served as Grammarian, Shahid Abrar ul-Hassan raised a lot of money as "Ah" Counter, while Angi Anderson did a great job as a first time General Evaluator. We had a good crowd with 18 members and two new guests.

NEXT UP: 13 April meeting - see emails from Toastmaster Luke Lazzari.

14 APRIL: Division A Contest, 12:30PM, Agricultural Conference Center, 1432 Abbott Street, Salinas. Cost: $5.00. Come and support our Table Topics contestant, Angi Anderson!

28 APRIL: Smedley Saturday. See Robin to sign up for a speaking slot.

Angi Wins Area A-1 Table Topics Contest!

Congratulations to our very own Angi Anderson, who walked away with the 1st place trophy in the Area A-1 Table Topics Contest on Saturday. The competition was tough and against some very seasoned Toastmasters, but she prevailed with a very uplifting answer to an extremely tough question. Second place went to long-term Toastmaster Mary Jeanne Vincent, representing Monterey TM #934.

Fred Sadler also did himself proud with his International Speech Contest entry about how to overcome his fear of public speaking. It was the best speech Fred ever gave, but alas, he was up against some very tough competition. Winner was John Lente from Bayview Toastmasters, who spoke of his experiences in Iraq. Second was Barry Kilzer of TGIF Club, with his "southern preacher" parody on the TM Communications and Leadership manual.

Area Governor Arnie Buss also presented the award for "Area A-1 Toastmaster of the Year" to a very deserving Rachelle Onishi of Bayview.

NPS TM members Glenn Tolle and Carl Thormeyer served as International Speech Contest Toastmaster and Chief Judge, respectively.

NEXT: Division A Contest at 1PM Saturday 14 April in Salinas. Details to follow.