April 19, 2017 meeting minutes

​The April 19th meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings began promptly at 6:00 with announcements that two members (Justin and Lori) found new jobs this week!  In attendance were 15 members and 6 guests.  Greg Palmer served as Toastmaster with a theme of Books I’ve Read.  Greg is an avid reader, racking up completed book totals of 75-100 annually.  Not a fan of Harry Potter, Greg prefers Milton Friedman’s work on the free market, and enjoyed “Good to Great”, which focuses on corporate culture.  Mary-Catherine served as the evening’s General Evaluator, presiding over an all-star team including Jim as Timer, Beverly as both Ah-Counter and Grammarian and Justin as Ballot Counter. 

Three members gave speeches. The first up was Tiffini, the evening’s Best Speaker, who gave her Icebreaker entitled “Pieces of Me”.  Tiffini was born and raised in Atlanta, and considers herself to be a true Georgia peach.  Family is at the center of her life, and she has been influenced by some truly amazing people. Her grandmother was born in 1919, and passed on to Tiffini her “quiet strength”.  Her mother was the first college graduate in the family, and Tiffini credits her father for her drive.  A graduate of UGA Law School, Tiffini was also cheered on throughout her life by her close-knit community.

Second at the lectern was Carin with her 6th CC speech entitled “How to Have Fun While Working From Home”.  As an introvert, Carin enjoys her current workspace, but says in addition to benefits like avoiding Atlanta’s Interstate disasters and office politics, there are also downsides like occasional loneliness and too much quiet.  Carin utilized a colorful PowerPoint presentation to walk us through some of the things she enjoys doing to battle boredom at home.  Laundry, chipmunk-tending and perusing NPR for entertaining tidbits all made her list, along with keeping an eye on her favorite meteorologist’s reports, popcorn breaks (with or without beer) and collecting Instagram quotes.  She recommends breaks from all of this entertainment because “Having fun is exhausting!” 

Andrea “got comfortable with being uncomfortable” and gave an unplanned speech on the topic of Leadership Framework.  Andrea recommends beginning with a vision and goals in mind, then developing a strategy, choosing processes and using metrics to measure progress toward goals.  As an employee in the finance department of a large company, Andrea saw how these steps can lead to fantastic outcomes for employees and customers.  She says we all have “limitless potential” as individuals and as organizations.  Andrea completed her 6th CC speech with this project.

Suzanne, our Book Fairy, was the Table Topics Master for the evening.  Equipped with a backpack full of titles, Suzanne encouraged participants to choose a book they’d like to read, or to explain why they would not choose said title and instead recommend an alternative.  Lori was up first with her pick “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg.  Second was Kristina with “It Ain’t Over” by Marlo Thomas, which she chose because she feels she needs to figure out what is going to make her happy in this stage of her life.  Hank decided to pass on Suzanne’s selections and instead told us he prefers Pat Conroy’s “Great Santini”.  Three guests stepped up to participate.  Keeley Evans, the evening’s winner, recommend “QBQ” (also a favorite of Suzanne’s), Suni chose “Playing Big” by Tara Mohr and Mark chose “Built for Growth”.

Lee, the evenings Best Evaluator winner, evaluated Tiffini’s speech.  She commended Tiffini on her open, honest and vulnerable approach.  Marcus evaluated Carin, complimenting her combination of humor and professionalism, as well as her triumph over technological difficulties.  Chad evaluated Andrea, noting her excellent use of hand gestures, pitch, rate, pace and use of pauses, as well as her speech’s organization.

Beverly’s Word of the Day was munificent which means very generous.  She noted uses of the word by Tiffini, Suzanne, Marcus and Mary-Catherine.  She also gave kudos to Tiffini for her use of the vivid phrases such as “quiet strength” and “tooth and nail”, Carin for her use of “office riffraff”, Lee for “slew of family members” and Marcus for “snarky”. 

Our guests provided us with some fantastic feedback about the meeting.  Rob said he found it “engaging” and noted that we laugh a lot, Dylan suggested an explanation of the ballot for newcomers, Suni commented on the group’s energy, Mark complimented our high attendance and pace, and Keeley announced that she’s ready to officially join us, to a chorus of applause.

Our president, Jim, closed out the meeting by letting us know that he heartily approves of the speakers’ use of personal stories, commenting on how effective that technique is at reaching audiences.
In addition to his new job, Justin also plans on seeking district office, and is beginning the search for a new Sergeant at Arms for T-Toasters.  Interested parties should get in touch for more information.

​Keep in mind that the District’s Spring Conference will be held May 12-13, and there will be a Storytelling Workshop April 29th.  Be sure to visit t-toasters.com for more information and for pictures of the meeting.  Also, please remember to send information and a picture for your member profile to Lori at lori@lorilphillips.com.  The website has new information every week, regular blog updates, and you can now find downloadable documents under the Members’ section.