Toastmasters International
Presidents Club
District 44, Division D, Area 31, Club 1713
Record of Meeting
Participant / Attend / Participant / AttendAnderson, Charlene / Kingman, Anna
Anderson, Judy – Secretary / X / LaPorta, Ed
Brandon, Tom / Li, Phillip
Brookmire, Dave – Treasurer / X / Mahon-Fordis, Mary
Carmen-Weaver, Sandy – VP PR / McGoldrick, Rob / X
Cobkit, Justin / Miller, Mack / X
Cobkit, Sutham / X / Netterville, Rush / X
Choudhuri, Kumar / X / Nixon, Tom / X
Choudhuri, Sunil - Sergeant at Arms / X / Nogin, Yale
Nogin, Michelle – VP Education
Dawson, Jim / X / Thompson, Robin / X
Deason, Richie / X / Rogers, Judi / X
Dodell, Roslyn / Samur, Gokhan
Field, Debbie –Immediate Past President / X / Samur, Pinar
Goodman, Lisa / X / Scott, Clemmie
Grubbs, Allison / X / Simon, Bill / X
Hilgers, Mike = VP Membership / X / Steinberg, Ilene
Holtzclaw, Eric / Wagner, Vahn / X
Jourdan, Daniel / X / Wadsworth, Michael / X
Kiblinger, Lisa / X
Date: August 21, 2013
Location: East Cobb Government Center
Theme: “LOVE”
- Call to Order:
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm by Sunil Choudhuri
Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance: Mack Miller led us in the pledge. He asked everyone to stand and recite the Indian Guides pledge too. Mack related a story of the importance of instilling traditions and memories for and with your children. Indian Guides is one such touchstone that Mack shares with his now grown kids. Introduced President Richie Deason to lead the Business Meeting.
Business Meeting:
Richie called the Business Meeting to order with officer reports.
- Reminder of the Area level speech contest will be Aug 22 at the offices of CBeyond. Mike Hilgers will represent the President’s Club in the humorous speech contest and Eric Holtzclaw will represent us for the Evaluation contest. Plan to attend if you can.
- VP of Membership, Mike Hilgers, reported that the club has two new members – Mike Wadsworth and Bill Simon.
New Business:
- Lisa Goodman motioned that the club consider the purchase of a full page ad in the District 44 Conference program as a way to support the District and as an opportunity to invite other Toastmasters to visit the President’s Club. The ad is $125.00. Motioned was seconded. Discussion concluded that it would be a worthwhile way to support TM newest District. The motion was called and approved. Lisa will work with Bill Simon and the VP of PR to design/write the ad.
- Treasurer Dave Brookmire asked for follow up comments on the Presidents email dated August 19, 2013 regarding the allocation of dues and list of possible purchases. Dave motioned that Presidents Club establish a minimum balance of $1200.00 be maintained in the checking account. Motioned was seconded. In discussion the treasurer reported that this amount will ensure that the club has a cusion of funds available for the efficient operation of the club. Motion was called and approved.
- Richie asked that the club members review the list of possible purchases and/or activities detailed in his email. Members should reply to him with their top three priorities by Sept 4 and these priorities will be presented for club consideration at the next meeting.
Old Business - None
General Meeting Begins:
Helpers:Humorist: Richie Deason / Grammarian: Tom Nixon
Vote Counter: Richie Deason / Timer: Debbie Field
“Ah” Counter: Bill Simon / Videographer: Robin Thompson
CL Evaluator – Rob McGoldrick
Humorist: Richie Deason – how to deal with DEA when they show up at the farm? Just tell them which field they shouldn’t inspect – “no bull”.
Word of the Day:
Table Topics: Theme “A small treatise on the greatest virtue”
Table Topics Master – Jim Dawson – There are 7 virtues – the 4 cardinal virtues are prudence, temperance, courage and justice. Jim asked members to comment on what is important about each.
Mack Miller – spoke about the 4 virtues being at the core of a good life. If you help others and live with love then you will have a fulfilling life. [Qualified]
Rob McGoldrick – commented on politeness and fidelity which tie to love in that we fulfill vows made to others. Faith, hope and charity that is what inspires and touches people [Qualified ]
Lisa Goodman – spoke about gratitude as being open and kind to everyone is one way to improve your personal expression of gratitude. Share what you have and give that makes it easier for others to give back and give to others as well. [Qualified]
Judy Anderson – She said that the anniversary of the March on Washington provided many opportunities to consider the importance of tolerance and the lessons she learned when she moved to the south as a naïve 14 year old. [Qualified]
DJ gave a brief synopsis of all four table topics speeches and asked for a timer’s report.
Timer’s Report: All table topic speakers qualified, voted for Best Table Topics Speaker
Five minute break
Speeches: Prepared speeches began at 7:54 pm
“How to Get Rid of Your Accent: - Lisa Kiblinger
(CC Manual: Project 2 – Organize your speech; Time: 5-7 min)
Lisa’s grandmother abhorred the lazy accent she had acquired and in long summer visits, she made Lisa watch and more importantly listen to Walter Cronkite on the news with the instruction that Lisa should model her speech on Walter’s. Over time she did just that; she learned to pronounce all the vowels and blends precisely and led the club in a vocal demonstration of how to use North American Standard English as the pronunciation guide. Then she wisely instructed us to practice and practice and correct your speech patterns and eventually you too can get rid of your accent. [Qualified]
“Are you feeling old yet?” – Mike Hilgers
(Advanced Communication Manual, The Dramatic Talk: Time: 5-7 min)
Mike started with the question “what makes you feel old?” and got a few club members to respond. In a few humorous stories Mike spoke about the things and activities that were making him realize that he just isn’t as young as he once was, from mountain biking, to receiving an AARP membership to limping on the people mover or accepting a ride in cart from the airport steward. Mike gave us three keys to aging gracefully 1) take advantage of the Pros in your life; 2) forget about the Cons 3) blame them both on getting older. [Qualified]
“The American Dream: - Kumar Choudhuri
(Advanced Communication Manual, Humorously Speaking, Make them Laugh: Time: 5-7 min)
Kumar said that it had taken him 25 years to become an American citizen. Partly because the citizenship test is intimidating and onerous. But is it a fact that 1 out of 3 native born Americans cannot pass the citizenship test so that should tell you how obscure some of the hundreds of questions are on the test. 17 million immigrants have come to the US since its founding. Most of the Fortune 500 companies today were founded by immigrants. These individuals took risks and built ownership in the country and its economy. If the results have been so good over the last 200 + years, why don’t we let more immigrants in and encourage their citizenship as part of the American dream? What are we afraid of? America is no longer a melting pot but a salad bowl – we have to give immigrants time to assimilate, sometimes a few generations to move beyond the ethno-centric communities to assimilation that can generate the entrepreneurship and innovation that each wave of immigration has proven to be America’s secret weapon. [Disqualified over time]
“Embracing the Future” – Rush Netterville
(Advanced Manual: Speeches by Management; Speech Time: 8-10 min; Q and A up to 5 min)
Rush presented a power point discussing the Wells Fargo financial managers with background and information for presenting the banks financial management products to customers and how to analyze the risks, growth factors and funds that managers should know to help customers embrace their future with confidence. In the Q&A members asked for more detailed specifics from Rush regarding how to talk about various risk levels and options available and how to utilize the program to illustrate these with customers. [Disqualified over time]
Timer’s Report – Two speakers qualified; voting took place for Best Speaker.
Evaluators and Evaluations / General Eval / David BrookmireEvaluator for Speaker #1: Lisa Kiplinger
Evaluator for Speaker #2: Mike Hilgers / Sunil Choudhuri
Vahn Wagner
Evaluator for Speaker #3: Kumar Choudhuri / Judy Rogers
Evaluator for Speaker #4: Rush Netterville / Sutham Copkit
Sunil Choudhuri – complemented Lisa on a wonderfully constructed speech. She met her objectives for organizing the speech clearly so that the audience could grasp her points. The topic was great for the club and the speech practice exercise was a great device to engage us in her topic. Suggested that she move and gesture more and project her voice a little more as this will enhance her natural vocal abilities. [Qualified]
Vahn Wagner – gave Mike high marks for this very polished speech given “on the fly.” Mike gave us some great stories that were short and spiffy and tied together the larger theme of the speech. One improvement would be to weave the moral of the stories into the content a little earlier and even repeat it so that the audience would know where you were headed and go there with you. [Qualified]
Judi Rogers – Kumar gave us a great speech with humorous personal stories that were woven into the more factual content. Suggested that he could have told us more of his own personal solution to the question of immigration might be and to be a little more passionate. But as always, Judi “loved, loved, loved” the speech and love Kumar! [Qualified]
Sutham Copkit – the technology delay and issues in the presentation could be fixed with some additional pre-set work. The introduction by the toastmaster set the stage for the presentation’s intended audience and purpose. The information in the power point may have been more appropriate to have in a handout as it distracted Rush from using his personal knowledge of the materials as the focus of the speech. Rush handled the Q&A with skill and humor and it was in this section that we were able to see Rush’s natural ability to connect with the audience. [Qualified]
Timer’s Report – All evaluator’s qualified; voting took place for Best Evaluator
Announcements: none
Guest Comments: Returning guest Kay said she now agreed that the President’s Club is the best club on the planet. Josie said she appreciated the friendly greetings from the members and enjoyed being a part of the meeting.
Awards
Most Enthusiastic Helper – Richie Deason
Best Table Topics – tie Rob McGoldrick and Judy Anderson
Best Evaluator – Vahn Wagner
Best Speaker – Lisa Kiblinger
Meeting Adjourned at 9:05 pm