January 6 meeting

Since President Eva Stimson was unable to attend the meeting, Vice President of Public Relations Perry Chang filled in for Eva and commenced the meeting at 1:05 p.m. Perry asked Eric Darnell to lead the invocation; Eric shared from a book called Everyday Tao. Perry then welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked people to share their New Year’s resolutions. During the business portion of the meeting, the minutes were approved as written, and Perry led the Pledge of Allegiance. Perry also announced that the next executive committee meeting would be held on January 12 at 1 p.m. Executive committee members were encouraged to attend the officers training session at the Kentucky Farm Bureau on January 27. The registration for this training begins at 6 p.m., while the actual training commences at 6:30 p.m.

After the business meeting, Valerie Mansfield took her role as Toastmaster, and invited members of the evaluation team to explain their responsibilities: Speech Evaluator—Becki Moody; Timer and Vote Counter—Joelle Anderson; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Eric Darnell; Table Topics—Ada Middleton.

Eric Darnell chose resolve as the word of the day:
Resolve vt. –solved’ –solv’ing [M.E. resolven < L. resolvere] 3. to cause (a person) to decide or make up his mind [the flood that resolved him to sell]. Valerie introduced Bethany Furkin, who gave her Competent Communication Project #1 (Icebreaker) speech. Bethany spoke about some of the personal and practical lessons she has learned during her recent travels as a reporter for the Presbyterian News Service.

Ada Middleton led Table Topics, and she asked questions about the chills, thrills, and challenges of winter weather—a very appropriate topic considering Louisville received a few inches of snow the next day.

Valerie then asked for the evaluation team to present their reports.

Becki Moody found Bethany Furkin’s speech to be “engaging” and well-organized. She particularly enjoyed the vivid examples Bethany used in her speech.

Timer Joelle Anderson reported the following times:

Bethany Furkin’s speech 6:00 (approximate)
Becki Moody’s speech evaluation 2:41

Table Topics:
- Betsy Blocker 1:28
- Becki Moody 0:49
- Vince Patton 0:53
- Eric Darnell 1:29
- Faith Aeilts 1:54

Ah Counter/Grammarian Eric Darnell reported 1 use of the word of the day and 23 space fillers, and later noted that there was also 1 pause and 3 sentence shifts used during the meeting.

Vote Counter Joelle Anderson announced that Eric Darnell won Table Topics.

Valerie Mansfield made her final remarks as Toastmaster, and Perry Chang closed the meeting.