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!