August 18 meeting

At 1:07 p.m., Eva Stimson began the meeting, and shortly thereafter Ada Middleton led the invocation. Ada asked everyone to join her in a body prayer.

Eva led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then began the business portion of the meeting. The minutes from the August 5 meeting were approved as written. Eva announced that there would be no executive committee meeting on August 25, and instead encouraged all club officers to attend the Toastmasters Officers Training session on the evening of August 25 at the Kentucky Farm Bureau.

Perry spoke about the Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest he had attended on August 18, where he also served as judge. The second round of the Humorous Speech Contest will be held in September. Perry also mentioned that another area club is interested in forming a Table Topics contest, which our club could participate in.

Eva introduced Deborah as Toastmaster. Deborah asked members of the Evaluation Team to explain their roles: Speech Evaluator—Becki Moody; Timer—Gary Warren; Table Topics—Joelle Anderson; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Patricia Longfellow; Vote Counter—Bethany Furkin.

Inspired by a recent trip to a car show, Patricia announced that the word of the day was rakish.
rakish (adj.)
Etymology: probably from rake (slant); from the raking masts of pirate ships
Date: 1824
1. having a trim or streamlined appearance suggestive of speed
2. dashingly or sportingly stylish: jaunty

Deborah introduced Kim Kaberle, who gave her Competent Communication Program Manual Project 1 speech, entitled “The Family Circus.” In her speech, Kim shared about how she learned honesty, timeliness, and a sense of humor from her father while growing up, and how those things have played into her own family’s life and experiences.

Deborah then asked Joelle to lead Table Topics. Joelle’s Table Topics questions focused on “family.”

Deborah then asked for reports from the evaluation team.

While evaluating Kim’s speech, Becki Moody praised Kim for her engaging storytelling, clear speaking, and preparation.

Timer Gary Warren reported the following times:

Kim Kaberle’s speech 8:10
Becki Moody’s speech evaluation 2:20
Table Topics:
Bethany Furkin 1:36
Perry Chang 1:49
Ada Middleton 1:57
Eva Stimson 2:01
Patricia Longfellow 1:38
Deborah Hoff 1:45

Ah Counter/Grammarian Patricia Longfellow counted 27 space fillers, three sentence-shifts, and one word of the day used during the meeting.

Vote Counter Bethany Furkin announced a Table Topics tie between Deborah Hoff and Patricia Longfellow.

In her final remarks, Eva thanked Toastmaster Deborah Hoff and all other attendees for a good meeting. Eva closed the meeting at 1:52 p.m.

-- Joelle Anderson

A Fitting Place

What is fitted in the Fitting Place? And what do Graceland and the Fitting Place have in common? Laugh and learn the answers to these and other important questions when guest Ciscley Elliott speaks at the 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, September 2 Peace Speakers Toastmasters Club meeting in Conference Room B.

With this speech Ciscley Elliott won August’s Toastmasters International Area 67 Humorous Speech Contest, and she will represent the area in the division contest later in September. Come hear this winning speech and offer suggestions to help Ciscley win the division contest.

Congratulations!

I am happy to report that for the first time we had 4 officers attend the Toastmasters officer training last night! Joining me there were Eric, Perry and Joelle. This is one of the goals of the Distinguished Club Program, so we did well. Thanks to those of you who attended. I picked up some useful tips, and I hope you did too.

-- Eva

August 5 meeting

At 1:02 p.m., Eva Stimson commenced the meeting. Eva asked Valerie Mansfield to lead the invocation. Valerie shared Psalm 36:4 with the group, and tied this verse simple pleasures and gratefulness to God.

Eva led the Pledge of Allegiance, then welcomed special guest Amy Garvin to the club meeting. Amy is the area governor for Area 66 of Toastmasters (i.e., “Downtown Louisville”).

During the business meeting, corrections were suggested for the July 17 meeting minutes; the minutes were then approved as corrected. Eva reminded club officers that there is a Toastmasters officers training scheduled for August 25 at 6:30 p.m., located at the Kentucky Farm Bureau. Eva decided to cancel August’s executive council meeting in an effort to encourage officers to attend the training

Eva introduced Glenn as Toastmaster. Glenn asked members of the Evaluation Team to explain their roles: Speech Evaluator—Becki Moody; Timer—Eric Darnell; Table Topics—Deborah Hoff; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Kim Kaberle; Vote Counter—Perry Chang.

Kim introduced verbose as the word of the day.
Verbose-
Function: adjective
Date: 1672; Latin verbosus, from verbum
Definition:
1: Containing more words than necessary : wordy 2. Given to wordiness
Verbosely—adverb; verboseness—noun; verbosity—noun—
Sentence Example: In their attempt to explain things thoroughly, politicians tend to be rather verbose.

Glenn invited Joelle Anderson to give her Competent Communication Program Manual Project 2 speech, titled “The Helping of Humor.” In her speech, Joelle spoke of various ways humor can help people cope with awkward, embarrassing or difficult situations in life.

Glenn next asked Deborah Hoff to lead Table Topics. Consistent with the meeting’s theme, Deborah’s questions centered on the topic of “humor.”

Glenn then asked for reports from the evaluation team.

In evaluating Joelle’s speech, Becki Moody noted that the speech was well-organized and contained good stories. She also thought that Joelle displayed a good use of vocal variety during the speech.

Timer Eric Darnell reported the following times:

Joelle Anderson’s speech 5:41
Becki Moody’s speech evaluation Time not available
Table Topics:
Eva Stimson 1:08
Bethany Furkin 1:12
Gary Warren 0:29
Patricia Longfellow 1:00
Glenn Lewis 2:16
Ada Middleton 1:48

Ah Counter/Grammarian Kim Kaberle announced that the word of the day had not been used at all (but she included it in her evaluation!). She counted 21 ahs/ums throughout the meeting, and 153 smiles. J

Vote Counter Perry Chang awarded Ada Middleton with the Table Topics victory.

Amy Garvin spoke briefly about a few upcoming Toastmasters events, including the Humorous Speech Contest on August 18 and the Humana Speaks “Moment of Truth” meeting on August 27. She also reviewed the goals that the Peace Speakers Toastmasters Club would need to meet this year in order to become a Toastmasters Distinguished Club.

In her final remarks, Eva observed that humor is difficult to talk about. She then closed the meeting at 1:56 p.m.

-- Joelle Anderson

September events

On Saturday morning, September 26, Peace Speakers will get a chance to cheer on Ciscley Elliott, who won the area Humorous Speaking contest in August, as she tries out her winning speech on – well, bras – at the division level Humorous Speaking contest, at 10 a.m. at the Bank of America merchant services building at 1231 Durett Lane near the airport and Louisville Male High School (pictured above) on Preston Highway. This is a great chance to hear some of the area’s top speakers. The winner will represent the division in the contest at the District conference this fall in Fort Wayne (IN).

Between 11:50 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29, members will have a chance to check out another Humana Speaks Up event. This club will sponsor a Table Topics contest – maybe something like the one we had last year – and club members have invited Toastmasters from other clubs to join in. will get to check out how another club operates. The contest will be at the Humana 25 Auditorium. Interested folks might contact Ashish Parekh at aparekh@humana.com.

July 15 meeting

Perry Chang, filling in as presiding officer in Eva Stimson’s absence, opened the meeting at 1:00 p.m. Kim Kaberle led the invocation, and all attendees (including visitors Bethany Furkin and Vince Patton) introduced themselves and told of something they will be doing in the next three weeks.

Perry led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then transitioned into the business portion of the meeting. During this time, corrections were suggested for the June 17, 2009 meeting’s minutes.

Becki Moody began her role as Toastmaster by asking members of the Evaluation Team to explain their roles: Speech Evaluator—Perry Chang; Timer/Vote Counter—Deborah Hoff; Table Topics—Valerie Mansfield; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Kim Kaberle.

Kim identified chary as the word of the day.
chary \CHAIR-ee\, adjective:
1. Wary; cautious.
2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing.

Investors should be chary, however, for the returns are far from sizzling.
--“The Stampede Into Variable Annuities”, Fortune, October 13, 1986

Bankers, consulted as to whether or not they believed that the full force of the decline had spent its fury, were chary of predictions.

Becki next called on Eric Darnell to give his speech entitled “Corn, It’s What’s for Dinner” (Competent Communication Program Manual Project 4).

Becki then asked Valerie Mansfield to lead Table Topics. Valerie’s Table Topics theme was “Vacations.”

Following Table Topics, Becki called for reports from the evaluation team.

Timer Deborah Hoff reported the following times:

Eric Darnell’s speech 6:57
Perry Chang’s speech evaluation 2:58
Table Topics:
Betsy Blocker :50
Vince Patton :30
Becki Moody :52
Kim Kaberle :48
Bethany Furkin 1:10
Perry Chang 1:35

Vote Counter Deborah Hoff announced that Bethany Furkin was the Table Topics winner for the meeting.

Becki Moody gave her final remarks as Toastmaster. Perry Chang then closed the meeting.

-- Joelle Anderson

Area events

Three upcoming area Toastmasters events club members and others might want to be part of:

At 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18, the area Humorous Speech Contest will take place. Even if Peace Speakers holds no Humorous Speech contest and sends no representative, it’s useful to watch these contests to see good speakers and other clubs in action and support local Toastmasters. The speech contest will be in Conference Room A in the main Humana Building (pictured above) at 500 West Main Street. Contact Amy Garvin at agarvin@humana.com if you decide to go.

Between 6 and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25, officers from Kentuckiana Toastmasters clubs will participate in a twice-a-year officers’ training. There will be separate training workshops for folks from different area clubs serving in each different office (president, vice president for education, and all other offices). Toastmasters encourages veteran officers, new officers, and even members who think they might want to serve as officers in the future to participate, and hopefully at least three or four Peace Speakers officers will do so. The training will be at the Kentucky Farm Bureau building (pictured below) at 9201 Bunsen Parkway, off of Hurstbourne Parkway just south of Interstate 64.

Between 12 noon and 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 27, club members will get a chance to see how another club implements an activity in Toastmasters International’s Successful Club series: the Moments of Truth program. Humana Speaks Up and guests will participate in this program, on the 25th floor of the 600 West Main Street Humana Building, during a lunchtime meeting. During the first year of Peace Speakers, club members participated in an adapted version of this program, which provides information about club growth and development and gives members a chance to brainstorm about what the club is doing right and how it can improve.

-- Perry

aha moments

Two of our members – Becki Moody and Kim Kaberle – took the opportunity earlier this month to speak before the videocameras and have the Mutual of Omaha insurance company post the resulting (edited) videos on the Web.

The aha moment tour – which will ultimately generate some material for ads for Mutual of Omaha – which says it helps protect the lives of people and their families, so they can make the most of life-changing experiences (aha moments) - involved a team of folks touring around the country with a recording studio in an Airstream.

Becki – in a video dubbed “Never the perfect moment – talked about deciding to go back to college: http://www.ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/4968

In “Clear as a bell,” Kim talked about passing up a business opportunity: http://www.ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/4987

Both Becki and Kim did great, and good for you all for seeking out a different kind of speaking opportunity! To view more of these or to find out how to upload your own homemade aha moment videos, go to: http://www.ahamoment.com

July 1 meeting

At 1:02 p.m., Eva Stimson opened her first meeting as President of the Peace Speakers Toastmasters chapter. Shortly thereafter, Eric Darnell served as the invocation leader, reading a quotation on public speaking from William Jennings Bryant.

Eva led the Pledge of Allegiance, then asked for introductions from the two guests at the meeting. Return visitor Bethany Furkin is a reporter for the Presbyterian News Service. First-time visitor Suzie Coe interns with a business growth advisor in Louisville and will be attending college in Maryland in the fall.

During the business portion of the meeting, Eva noted that the June 17 minutes had been corrected from the draft emailed out earlier in the morning. Glenn made a motion to approve the updated minutes for the June 17, 2009 meeting. The motion was seconded and approved.

Eva announced that she has new officer guides for Toastmasters officers, and also noted that the next executive officers meeting will be held on July 28 from 1-2 p.m. She reminded those present that the next chapter meeting will be held at 1 p.m. on July 15. Since both she and Glenn Lewis, Immediate Past President, will not be able to attend the July 15 meeting, Vice President for Public Relations Perry Chang will serve as presiding officer over this upcoming meeting. Eva also mentioned that Secretary Joelle Anderson will be away during this meeting, and encouraged those who would be in attendance on July 15 to lend a hand in order to make the meeting run smoothly.

Joelle began her role as Toastmaster by asking members of the Evaluation Team to explain their roles: Speech Evaluator—Becki Moody; Timer—Eva Stimson; Table Topics—Perry Chang; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Glenn Lewis; Vote Counter—Eric Darnell.

Glenn was listening to music by the band Enigma when he chose enigma as the word of the day.
e·nig·ma, a noun
1. a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation.
2. a person of puzzling or contradictory character: To me he has always been an enigma, one minute completely insensitive, the next moved to tears.
3. a saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.

Joelle next invited Deborah Hoff to give her “Ice Breaker” speech (Competent Communication Program Manual Project 1). In her speech, Deborah described herself as an animal lover, and explained how animals have played a big role in her life—from her childhood up to the present-day.

Joelle then asked Perry Chang to lead Table Topics. Perry created a set of “Fourth of July”-themed multiple choice questions, with topics ranging from most patriotic color to most misunderstood American value.

Following Table Topics, Joelle called for reports from the evaluation team.

Becki Moody praised Deborah Hoff’s speech, telling Deborah she did not look nervous during her speech delivery. Becki also mentioned that Deborah’s use of notes during the speech did not distract or detract from the speech, and that in time Deborah will become even less dependent on her notes.

Timer Eva Stimson reported the following times:

Deborah Hoff’s speech 6:38
Becki Moody’s speech evaluation 1:32
Table Topics:
Eric Darnell 1:34
Glenn Lewis 1:44
Becki Moody 1:12
Eva Stimson 1:32
Bethany Furkin :54
Suzie Coe 1:44

Ah Counter/Grammarian Glenn Lewis announced that the word of the day had been used twice, and that he had counted nine space-fillers throughout the meeting. He reminded those present that there was still time before the end of the meeting to increase the number of times the word of the day was used (as well as to increase the number of space-fillers used!).

Vote Counter Eric Darnell announced a tie between Eva Stimson and Becki Moody for best Table Topics speech. Since both trophies were available, one trophy was given to each of the winners until the next meeting.

Joelle Anderson gave her final remarks as Toastmaster. In her closing comments, Eva used the word of the day once more, and adjourned the meeting at 1:45 p.m.

-- Joelle Anderson