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.