A BadA** Humorous Contest!

A near record crowd of 24 members and one former member (now being re-instated) enjoyed one of the best Club Humorous Speech Contests ever with five (5; count 'em!) outstandingly funny contestants! All five contestants were Jay Leno guest material but only one, Tito Dejesus emerged as the winner with his good-natured parody about New York City. Chance Litton finished second by the narrowist of margins (according to Chief Judge Carl Thormeyer) with a repeat of his now notorious "Five Baddest A____s of All Time" speech. Newest members Max Akhterov and Tonya Holloway gave hilariously funny speeches, as did Angi Anderson talking about "Girls Night Out". Each performed with originality and panache.



So: Tito goes on to represent NPS TM #2032 in the Area A-1 Humorous Speech Contest next Saturday afternoon 13 Sept. in Salinas, while Angi will represent us in the Area A-1 Evaluation Contest. Chance Litton has been tapped to be Toastmaster of the Evaluation Contest.


Tito's winning speech, A State of Mind that Never Sleeps:



Max's speech Cultural Learning of America for the Benefit of Personal Enrichment:



Tonya Holloway's Help Me find My Skin:


Angi Anderson's Girls' Night Out:


Chance Litton's Five Baddest A____s of All Time




The event was ably organized and chaired by Joyce Laker who also serves as President of the MIIS Toastmasters Club. Mike Kensick became our ninth new member since July 1 and was welcomed by Club President Fred Sadler.


Our latest newletter by VPPR Tito Dejesus (newly posted to our Web site) colorfully announced our club pot luck social, which is set for Friday September 19 @ 6pm to be held at the La Mesa Community Center. This is a great opportunity for spouses and significant others to participate in the fun of Toastmasters.



Our Treasurer, John Armstrong announced dues of $39 for the six month period beginning October 1 should be payable to NPS Toastmasters. Please bring a check or cash to next week's meeting. Never in the history of humankind, has so much fun been had by so many for so few (dollars) - with apologies to Winston Churchill.

Competition

With 21 members and two guests present, Toastmaster of the Day Alex Bein led us through a fast paced meeting on the theme of "competition". He was also presented with a "Certificate of Appreciation" for his many contributions while a member of Club #2032. Alex graduates from NPS next week and heads to Norfolk, VA for his next duty assignment.

We will miss you Alex and know that you will continue Toastmastering on the east coast.

Donna Cunningham's Opening Remarks


Max Akhterov's turned the description of the Wordmaster's duties into a short humorous speech:

Masami Maeda became the first in our Club this year to achieve Competent Communicator status by completing her # 10 speech entitled "Mejumi is Japanese" - a moving and inspiring treatise on the horror of abduction and what we need to do about it. She won Most Improved for her outstanding delivery. Congratulations Masami!
Masami Maeda's #10 speech:

Tonya Holloway won Best Speaker for her beautifully crafted presentation on reading and teaching as it applies to her life - a gift to us all.
Tonya Holloway's Icebreaker speech I Wanted to be a Writer; However, I Didn't Like to Read:


Art Testani ws awarded Best Evaluator for his evaluation of Tonya's Icebreaker:

Table Topics Master Fred Sadler thought he put John Armstrong on the spot with his question - "What would you do and say if you were selected for the 'Dancing with the Stars' competition?"
John Armstrong blew us all away as he channeled John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever" with his winning Table Topics response:

The Senate

Robin Walker led an awesome meeting with the theme of "The Senate" - very appropriate on several levels. One of course is the fact that both major Presidential candidates are currently in the Senate. Another is Robin's past work with Senators, and of course the fact that someday in the near future may very well find him among that elite crowd. With 13 members and 2 guests, the attendance was lower than recent meetings. We made up for it in extra enthusiastic clapping. Also, it being the last day of classes, attendance at this meeting is historically low.

Tito DeJesus set the enthusiastic tone for the meeting with his Opening Remarks, showing a painting of the Roman Senate and climaxing by quoting Cicero - in Latin! Tito DeJesus' Opening Remarks;



Brian Anderson led an impeccable Table Topics, calling on John Armstrong, Angi Anderson, and Robin Walker, with Robin being voted best Table Topics speaker for his explanation of why all those in the Senate should wear togas for humility sake (although he doesn't care to look at them in that garb). Robin Walker's winning Table Topics response:



Joyce Laker led off the prepared speeches with another moving description of the travails in Africa, this time the problems in Rwanda, and the failure of diplomacy and the UN to solve them. Joyce Joyce Laker's #7 Speech Failed Diplomacy:



Art Testani went next with an "off the cuff" speech from the advanced manual "Specialty Speeches." In this one, he had evaluator Angi Anderson choose one of five topics at random, and Art gave a 5-7 minute speech on the one chosen. The one picked was "Global Accounts" and we got treated to a clear explanation of how Cisco Systems deals with them.
Art Testani's speech #1 (Speaking off the Cuff) from advanced manual Specialty Speeches, Global Accounts:



Finally, Arnie Buss gave speech #7 from his fourth time through the CC manual. This manual has the theme of "Servant Leadership" (all speeches are on that same general topic), and was about Bayard Rustin, a man whom Arnie feels embodied Servant Leadership in his lifelong efforts towards social justice, particularly racial equality.
Arnie Buss' #7 speech Servant Leadership and Social Justice: A Portrait:



Three excellent evaluation followed. Alex Bein evaluated Joyce, Angi Anderson evaluated Art, and Carl Thormeyer evaluated Arnie. General Evaluator Emilie Staryak gave the nod to Angi for Best Evaluator.

Angi's Evaluation:

Toastmasters International Around the Globe...

Hello Fellow Toastmasters!

Just wanted to let you know that I have recently returned (yesterday) from a successful recruiting trip in Asia! I was in Taiwan and Thailand recruiting graduate students for our programs at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

While there at an event in Taipei, I met a very enthusiastic Taiwanese Toastmaster! He was distributing information about Toastmasters International at this American Education Expo, to encourage students interested in studying in the US to attend Toastmasters in order to improve their English! We had a great discussion about the benefits of Toastmasters, and about what a wonderful international organization it is... I learned from him that the first TM club was established in 1924, in Santa Ana, California, by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley (hence Smedley Saturdays - duh!)

Here is a link to his Toastmasters Club in Taipei and click here to find a club anywhere in the world!

NPS and Monterey Institute students - listen up! Your education in public speaking is not limited to your time in Monterey. You can find great English speaking (and Spanish-speaking, French-speaking, Japanese-speaking, etc. etc.) clubs around the world where you can improve your communication and leadership skills. Oh, and it is great networking too!!!

See you this Friday,
Mary

P.S. For the Grammarian - I know that I used excessive exclamation points in this email.