RECAP: August 15th MEETING OF B&P TOASTMASTERS

Hello Everyone:

The lazy, hazy days of summer effect was evident at high noon last Friday when one looked around Joe’s meeting room. The unspoken question was: “Where is everyone?” Just before apoplexy set in a late rally filled the tables and the final head count was 19, including five guests, two “para-” members (more about para in a moment), Inge Geiger and David Borden; first-timer Linda Tucker; and second-timers Terry Coutinho and Uli Chapa.

              We interrupt this message for breaking news. August is club contest month at Business & Professional Toastmasters. This Friday, 8/22 will be Evaluation Contest and Friday, 8/29 will be Tall Tales Contest. As we go to press, the Evaluation contestants are: Jason Meek, Clair Geiger, Frank Suarez, Helen Hunter, and Kathy Moore. So far, Tall Tales contestants are: Jedi Knight, Dave Cornell; Texas Old Timer, Mel Mountjoy; Debonair Frank Suarez; Jet Setter Helen Hunter; Mr. One-Word, Ed Dylla; and the irrepressible Aunt Mabel, aka Kathy Moore.

You can still enter either contest. Contact Pat Hopper or David Bamberger for details.

Back to this “para” business that Wordmaster Pat Hopper brought with her in the form of “para-Olympics” which described organized athletic contests, such as Special Olympics. Para is a prefix meaning, among other things, “similar to; resembling.” Thus, para-Olympics ranks as the gold medal winner for most erudite word put before the club in 2008.

After the word of the day everything seemed easy. TMOD David Bamberger introduced General Evaluator Jason Meek who unilaterally dispensed with the Listener then introduced the members of his team, Timer, Ed Dylla; Ah Counter, Ajani Abdul-Khaliq; and Grammarian, Stella Park.

Then it was time for the speakers and first to the front of the room was birthday girl, Deborah Borden. Yes, it really was her birthday. She said she might cry but she didn’t. Instead, she went through the ways one can think of age, e.g., chronological, spiritual, mental, emotional (she left out her chakras), and the life lessons inherent in each of these components. Her born-on date was 8/15/45, formerly known as VJ Day a historic moment that inspired her father to choose “Victoria Japanesa” as her given name. He was later overruled by Deborah’s mother.

Next up, Kathy Moore. Her persuasive speech, “Membership is Everybody’s Business” covered membership goals and how B&P can once again have a roster of 45 like we had for so many years. Currently we are at 33 members and Kathy offered four simple techniques for us to embrace. 1. Bring a guest. 2. Put your old Toastmaster magazines in your doctor’s waiting room. Affix a label with contact information for B&P. 3. Put out meeting flyers at your work or apartment house. The upcoming Tall Tales Contest offers an opportunity to advertise B&P on a flyer. 4. Contact former members whom you miss. Invite them to return. Kathy is VP-Membership this session and she will be glad to help you with these and other ideas.

The last speaker was “Lefty” Clair Geiger who’s speech from the advanced communication manual, Communicating on Television, was anything but left. The object of his assignment was to prepare a controversial TV editorial of 4 – 6 minutes. Clair chose the subject of public prayer and came squarely down on the side of tradition. He supported a renewed commitment to public prayer and drew material from historical documents. A Q & A session followed with impromptu questions from Kathy Moore, Ed Dylla and Helen Hunter.

While the evaluators were writing and rehearsing, Table Topics Master Mel Mountjoy surveyed the room and concluded that everyone was fair game. So Grammarian Stella Park got up and defended public school uniforms. Albert Gallatin offered his response to high gas prices: he’d rolled out his old car and left the van in the garage. Evaluator Ed Bierschenk took both sides of the bikini car wash issue recently in the news then nonchalantly asked where it was as if he didn’t know. Pat Hopper asked, “What’s a reverse mortgage?” and Ajani Abdul-Khaliq considered light rail a viable public transportation option.

It was General Evaluator Jason Meek’s turn and he called upon evaluators Elaine Miller, resplendent in lei and Hawaiian garb, to critique Deborah; Helen Hunter to analyze Kathy; and Ed Bierschenk to review Clair.

Time was running down and presiding officer, Kathy Moore, announced the winners for the day. Table Topics went to, uh… I didn’t write down who won. Sorry. Best Evaluator was Ed Bierschenk and birthday-girl Deborah Borden won Best Speaker. The Norris Yates Spirit Stick was missing along with last week’s winner, Jan Davis, so we’ll have to wait another week for that one. Just another reason to be at Joe’s this Friday for another terrific soiree.

RECAP: August 8th MEETING OF B&P TOASTMASTERS

by David Bamberger

Hello Everyone:

How is it that we can get together every week and still have so much fun?  We do though and Friday was no exception. In fact, everyone was so voluble (Wordmaster Chris Cowley’s word of the day, meaning “fluent and smooth in speech”) that President Frank Suarez had to work the gavel extra hard to tame all the voluble volume.

TMOD Clair Geiger, still sporting an arm sling, opened the educational portion of the meeting and explained the Toastmaster program for our cosmopolitan visitors: Saad Moussa Bouraleh, Uli Chapa, Teresa Tran, and regular guest, Inge Geiger. General Evaluator Diana Marin’s voluble explanation of the evaluation portion belied her novice status. The TMOD revealed at the end of the meeting Diana had never taken on this job before, a revelation to all since she performed so well. 

Next on the agenda: Table Topics and another revelation.

Before tossing out topics, Topicmaster David Bamberger publicly confessed his conversion to the often maligned, one-word format championed by Ed Dylla.  Apparently Mel Mountjoy was powerfully influenced by this confession.  When it was Mel’s turn he converted “firefly” to “fire bug.” Other impromptu speakers worked with what they were given.  Chris Cowley spoke on his appreciation for “summertime.” Lucky Michael Marchbanks told of attending his first “baseball game” the week before.  Kathy Moore dove into “swimming hole,” and Ajani Abdul-Khaliq (yes, you read that right, Ajani was back) told of “star gazing.”  The voting backed Mel’s conversion and he won the white ribbon.

When it came time for the speakers, we were in for another revelation.  Elaine Miller, looking tanned, fit and rested, revealed that she was working on an “identity recovery project” and went on to tell us how we might undertake similar work using a 95-year plan. Elaine admitted she was a bit of an overachiever and whipped out her 100-year plan. Later Elaine confessed some pre-speech jitters because it had been quite a long time since she’d given a speech.

Pat Hopper’s speech, “Who Is That Woman?” was a funny, original roast of voluble Kathy Moore. Pat recalled her first impression (“Who is that woman?”) and how they’ve been friends ever since.  Hard to believe she found so much material to speak on.

Wearing his geneologist’s hat, Albert Gallatin spoke of his father, Eugene Gallatin, whom Albert considers his hero. Eugene served in WWI and Albert has carefully chronicled his father’s experiences and travels in France and dreams of retracing his father’s route across that country. Get Albert to tell you the story of how, years later, his father came face-to-face with the German Officer who had carried him to a field hospital in France.

Voters chose Elaine’s warm, funny, and informative 100-year plan for the blue ribbon.

With aplomb and confidence, General Evaluator Diana Marin introduced her evaluators and led the second half of the meeting. Evaluator Ed Dylla complimented Pat’s use of original humor; Doug Kelly noted Elaine’s courage to be vulnerable; and Jan Davis remarked on Albert’s warm recollections. The vote count was in Doug’s favor and he took home the red ribbon.

The Norris Yates Spirit Stick went to Jan Davis. Attendance was 21 with four guests bringing the member/guest ratio up from last week. And, fourth-time visitor Teresa Tran turned in her membership application.

Special Announcement! The Evaluation Contest is set for 22 August, the Tall Tales Contest for 29 August.

Coming this Friday: TMOD David Bamberger; Speakers, Deborah Borden, Chris Cowley, Clair Geiger; General Evaluator, Jason Meek.

See you at Joe’s for another terrific get together.

RECAP: August 1st MEETING OF B&P TOASTMASTERS

by David Bamberger

Hello Everyone:

We picked up last Friday where we left off at the previous meeting. You may recall that regular guest Inge Geiger had raised objections to the manner in which she had been timed as an impromptu speaker in the Table Topics segment of our meeting; Doug Kelly had gratuitously besmirched Republicans, and Jason Meek was nowhere in sight.

Now Part 2.

In this week’s installment, Inge Geiger takes up the impromptu speaker challenge again—And qualities! Doug Kelly singles out President Bush for excoriation and Jason Meek returns.   

There was excitement in the air at Joe’s on Friday. The speaker line up was rock’em-sock’em with three experienced, talented speakers: Kathy Moore, Jan Davis, and Doug Kelly. Three eager evaluators were on the bench waiting for their signals from General Evaluator Jason Meek, and Kathy Moore was pulling double duty as TMOD. President Frank Suarez gaveled the meeting to order and things took off.

To open the meeting, Wordmaster Albert Gallatin gave us “colon.” I know what you’re thinking because I’m at that age, too, but remember a colon is also a punctuation mark. While folks considered this interesting word and how to use it in their introduction, Bob Cuyler gave a thought for the day. Summed up, he asked us to consider what was more important the coffee or the cup? By the time Bob led us in the pledge everyone had a lot to ponder.

 TMOD Kathy Moore was also the first speaker so club president Frank Suarez helped out and introduced her. Kathy’s presentation was a report on her High Performance Leadership project this year. This was her final presentation for attaining DTM. Kathy joined B & P in May 2005—38 months ago. Her achievement is a testament to passion, talent, and hard work. Kathy has served as president of B&P, in district officer positions, helped start clubs and mentored others. She’s tireless, upbeat and a sparkling speaker. She deserves DTM recognition and soon we can look forward to a ceremony honoring her achievement. It is no small thing to earn DTM and we are rightfully proud to have Kathy call our club home. This recognition is also a testament to the supportive environment and positive atmosphere within B & P. Folks, stay here and grow.

Jan Davis was the second speaker. Her poignant, personal story about losing her son was touching and uplifting. In her speech she drew a comparison between the organization that helped her through her deep loss, Compassionate Friends, and Toastmasters. Both organizations are positive, helpful, and supportive.

Doug Kelly closed out the prepared speeches measuring President Bush’s leadership. Doug found much to criticize and sounded awfully upset about it, too. Apparently last week’s jab at Republicans in general was a warm-up. In the end, Jan took home the blue ribbon for best speaker.

General Evaluator Jason Meek, although chagrined by Doug’s presentation, stuck to the format like a gentleman and called upon the evaluators, David Bamberger, Michael Marchbanks, and Mel Mountjoy. Mel had probably the hardest job that of evaluating Doug. But The Texas Old Timer did it like a pro, in stark contrast to David Bamberger’s attempt to break, mangle or dance with—it was unclear what he was doing actually—Kathy Moore’s flip chart and easel. Some fast footwork on Kathy’s part saved her demonstration material. Second-time evaluator Michael Marchbanks showed what a quick study he is and garnered the red ribbon for his clear, concise evaluation of Jan Davis’s speech.

Topic Master Clair Geiger, using his meeting role as cover, tried to wheedle an answer out of Inge about where she’d most like to go. (I had a wife once that you didn’t dare put on the spot in front of anyone.) However, on the plus side Inge did qualify this time. Bob Cuyler spoke on his favorite food (wild pork shish kabobs); Pat Hopper defended the border fence; David Bamberger defended it, too, but that wasn’t exactly the question; and Dave Cornell waxed on his favorite car (the Stutz Bearcat). The white ribbon went to Dave B.

The only thing missing was the Norris Yates Spirit Stick. (Elaine, you promised…)

Attendance was 17, including three guests, Terry Coutinho, Anne Hatfield, and Inge Geiger. Thus, the member/guest ratio fell from the previous week.

Special Announcement! President Frank Suarez wants to know: Is anyone working in the Special Occasion Manual? Call the TMOD, Clair Geiger, and ask him if you can get on the agenda this Friday to present to past-presidents, Pat Hopper and David Bamberger, the President’s Distinguished ribbon awarded by Toastmasters International to B & P for the period July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. This is the highest recognition a club can attain in Toastmasters.

Coming up this Friday: TMOD, Clair Geiger; Speakers, Michael Marchbanks, Elaine Miller, Albert Gallatin; General Evaluator, Deborah Borden.

See you at Joe’s. Same time, same place, great new experiences.

Hello from Business & Professional Toastmasters!

Hi, My name is Kathy Moore.  I am the 2008 VP-Membership for the Business and Professional Toastmasters in San Antonio, TX.  Welcome to our new blog.  B&P has been in existence for 51 years.  We currently have 34 members and meet at Joe’s Crabshack at The Quarry, off Hwy. 281 in Central San Antonio. 

Our membership is open which means anyone can join.  You are welcome to visit our meetings and see if Toastmasters is something for you.  We meet every Friday from noon to 1:30 pm.  You do not have to RSVP.  Just show up.  If you have questions, feel free to call me at 210-663-0658 or email me at mooreinspire@earthlink.net.

Toastmasters is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping its members improve their speaking, thinking, listening and leadership skills.  If you would like to really grow professionally, we encourage you to visit us.

Thank you for visiting this blog!

Kathy Moore, AC-Gold

Business & Professional Toastmasters.