November 4 meeting

At around 1:05 p.m., President Eva Stimson opened the meeting and welcomed visitor Margaret Williams. Margaret wants to improve her speaking skills for a public access television show she’s involved with. Faith Aeilts also returned for a second visit to the club. Eva then invited Deborah Hoff to give the invocation. Deborah used Ephesians 2:10 to encourage members to “Just Do” the good works God has for them.

Eva led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then opened the business portion of the meeting. Eva announced that a Christmas potluck will be held on the December 16 meeting. There will be a sign-up sheet at the November 18 meeting for food, plates, and other party items. A change was made to the 2010 Peace Speakers meeting schedule: there will be no meeting on July 7, 2010, due to the fact that many people who work in the Presbyterian Center will be attending the General Assembly in Minnesota that week. Sergeant-at-Arms Patricia Longfellow will email the electronic version of the 2010 meeting dates when all meeting locations are decided upon. Eva mentioned that the next executive committee meeting will be held on December 8, 2009. Lastly, Eva announced that Vice President Public Relations Perry Chang designed a Peace Speakers brochure. Vice President Membership Becki Moody had brochures on-hand for those interested in taking some.

Becki Moody assumed her role as Toastmaster and invited members of the Evaluation Team to explain their responsibilities: Speech Evaluator—Eva Stimson; Timer—Joelle Anderson; Table Topics—Eric Darnell; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Bethany Furkin; Vote Counter—Linda Patton.

Bethany Furkin chose expatiate as the word of the day:

Expatiate (ex-SPAY-shee-ayt)

Meaning:
verb
1. To speak or write at length.
2. To move about freely.

Etymology:
From Latin exspatiatus, past participle of exspatiari (to wander or digress)
from ex- (out) + spatiari (to walk about)
from spatium (space)Usage: She had been given enough time to expatiate on the topic until everyone understood.

Becki introduced Perry Chang, who gave his Speaking to Inform Project #4 speech titled “Understanding Church Growth.” In this speech, Perry described statistical analyses that help to identify common aspects of growing churches. A “question and answer” period followed Perry’s speech.

Eric Darnell led Table Topics, with the theme of “food” guiding his questions.

Becki then called for reports from the evaluation team.

Eva Stimson thought that Perry Chang gave a good speech on a complex topic. She found that Perry’s use of PowerPoint in his presentation made the statistical data in the speech easier to grasp.

Timer Joelle Anderson reported the following times:

Perry Chang’s speech 8:23
Eva Stimson’s speech evaluation not recorded
Table Topics:
- Joelle Anderson 0:58
- Patricia Longfellow 1:35
- Deborah Hoff 1:33
- Margaret Williams 1:04
- Linda Patton 1:22
- Bethany Furkin 1:11

Ah Counter/Grammarian Bethany Furkin counted 16 space fillers, 4 sentence shifts, and one use of the word of the day during the meeting.

Vote Counter Linda Patton pronounced Patricia Longfellow the Table Topics winner.

Becki Moody concluded her time as Toastmaster, and President Eva Stimson ended the meeting at 1:55 p.m.

-- Joelle Anderson

Miss Lou Dobbs already?

Is it time to fix our immigration system? Eva Stimson will address this issue in a persuasive speech she will give at the Peace Speakers Toastmasters Club meeting, from 1:00-2:00 p.m., this Wednesday, November 18, in Conference Room B of the Presbyterian Center, at 100 Witherspoon Street, in downtown Louisville.

October 21 meeting

At 1:04 p.m., Eva Stimson commenced the meeting. Eva invited Vince Patton to lead the invocation. Vince read from These Days, a devotional magazine published by Presbyterian Publishing Corporation and edited by Vince himself.

Eva led the Pledge of Allegiance and began the business meeting. The minutes from the October 7 meeting were approved as written. Eva reminded club officers of the next executive committee meeting on Tuesday, October 27 at 1 p.m. Eva noted that the October 18 Hunger Walk was a success, with four club members participating, in addition to past-president Glenn Lewis’s wife and Eva’s dog. Eva mentioned that Treasurer Ada Middleton still had some receipts for members’ dues; if people had not received their dues receipts yet, they were told to contact Ada.

Sergeant-At-Arms Patricia Longfellow compiled a 2010 Peace Speakers meeting schedule, and paper copies were distributed at the meeting. The meeting schedule may still be adjusted for the holiday season.

After concluding the business meeting, Eva shifted roles from President to Toastmaster. She invited members of the Evaluation Team to explain their responsibilities: Speech Evaluator—Joelle Anderson; Table Topics—Becki Moody; Timer—Perry Chang; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Patricia Longfellow; Vote Counter—Patricia Longfellow.

Eva introduced Eric Darnell, who gave his Competent Communication Program Project #5 speech (“Your Body Speaks”), titled “The Imprecise Art of Home Brewing.” In this speech—the first of a two-part series—Eric described the ingredients necessary to make beer, and provided reasons to consider brewing beer at home.

Eva then invited Becki Moody to lead a Halloween-themed Table Topics competition.

After Table Topics, Eva called from reports from the evaluation team.

Joelle Anderson noted that Eric was able to use effective body language during his speech by moving in front of the podium and across the floor and by aiding his descriptions of events through hand gestures. Joelle also found Eric’s speech topic to be fascinating, and thought he provided a good lead-in to the second part of his speech.

Timer Perry Chang reported the following times:

Eric Darnell’s speech 8:44
Joelle Anderson’s speech evaluation 1:56
Table Topics:
- Vince Patton 1:06
- Perry Chang 2:07
- Joelle Anderson 1:13
- Deborah Hoff 1:18
- Patricia Longfellow 1:19
- Eva Stimson 1:11

Ah Counter/Grammarian Patricia Longfellow reported hearing 26 uses of “ah” and one sentence shift. As Vote Counter, Patricia Longfellow announced that Deborah Hoff won the Table Topics competition.

After giving her closing remarks as Toastmaster, Eva Stimson reverted back to her role as President and ended the meeting at 1:45 p.m.

-- Perry