Mitzi, first time Toastmaster, led the May 24th meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings with a very interactive theme of The Mandela Effect- the theory that there may be alternate universes because so many people have alternate memories of events and would swear their versions were correct.  Examples Mitzi gave included Fruit/Froot Loops, Oscar Mayer/Meyer, Darth Vader saying, “Luke, I am your father/No, I am your father” and the Monopoly man having/not having a monocle.  In attendance were 23 members and 2 guests, including our 4 newest T-Toasters David and Liana Brackett, Devin Antoson and George Terciev.  Welcome to the family everyone!  We are so happy to have you!

Andrea served as General Evaluator, and expertly led an all-star team including Ray as Grammarian, Beverly as Ah-Counter, Suzanne as Timer and Lee as Ballot Counter.
 
First to speak was Marcus with his 5th CC project entitled “Kill the Roach”.  Marcus used the squashing of a roach as a powerful metaphor about overcoming fear.  Mary Catherine served as Marcus’s Evaluator and complimented his body language and gestures.  She particularly liked his use of the phrases “kill shot” and “force of a thousand suns”. 

Tiffini gave her second CC speech “It’s Not a Girls’ School” about her time at Agnes Scott.  Josue served as Tiffini’s Evaluator and said, “You had a great adventure.  Your passion really showed.”  He appreciated her sequential organizational approach, and said, he “definitely won’t make the mistake of calling it a girls’ school!”

Jim was the evening’s third speaker.  He gave his third speech from the advanced manual Speaking To Perform, and entitled his work “Better Evaluations”.  Chad evaluated Jim and commended his introduction wherein he raised his hand to get the audience’s attention.  Chad also noted Jim’s good use of gestures, relevant and succinct pace, vocal quality and his ability to create positive feelings in the audience through his use of humor.

Carin, the evening’s winner, was the fourth speaker.  Her project, “Kick the Can”, was her 7th from the CC manual.  Carin spoke about kicking her diet soda habit, citing the numerous negative health effects consumption has on the body.  Greg, her Evaluator, commented on Carin’s “cool, calm and collected” approach and her natural sense of humor while discussing a serious topic.

Courtney served as Table Topics Master for the first time and did a fantastic job of posing questions to the crowd.  Liana, first time Table Topics Speaker, and the evening’s winner, spoke about what she would tell her twenty-year-old self.  She would slow down, not plan, and just breathe.  George spoke second and said that if he could fill a 12x12 box for a child with anything in the world he would choose a puppy, citing their compassion and ability to create trust.  First timer Devin said the best meal he ever had in his life was during an epic canoe trip and he sang the praises of reconstituted food when one has gone without much else over the previous days.

Grammarian Ray, the evening’s Best Evaluator, chose “malleable” as his Word of the Day and commended Suzanne, Jim, Mary-Catherine and Greg for using it once each, as well as congratulating Courtney for her triple usage.  He enjoyed Marcus’s usage of “plain as day”, “It’s an alien thing,” his mention of Thor raising Mjölnir and “triple tapped”.  He liked Tiffini’s use of “special place,” “not a gir’s school, it’s a women’s college” and triple usage of “vast”.  Also mentioned were Jim’s “I’m not worthy!”, Carin’s “dark ages of the 90’s,” and “they are a poison,” Liana’s “not too far from twenty,” and “it’s how I’m wired,” Chad’s “sink our teeth into”.  Ray also recommended dropping the usage of “actually” in our speech, saying it makes us less trustworthy.

Andrea complimented the group on filling all of the roles in advance, and asked that we keep up the good work.  She also reminded us that “Instruction does much, but encouragement does more.” 
Our guests, Tonya and Lakesha commented that they had a great time and found the meeting informative.

President Jim Cyganek reminded us that Toastmasters is similar to a business setting, and we should all be mindful of both our language and decorum. 

​Remember to sign up for both roles and food contributions for our upcoming contests.  More information on roles can be found by contacting Mary-Catherine or Andrea.  The food sign-up list is on the t-toasters.com blog. While you’re there, be sure to congratulate our new members by commenting on the welcome post.

In her always gracious way, Theresa served as Toastmaster to the May 17 meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings.  In attendance were 16 members and 5 guests.  Theresa chose “Today In History” as her theme, and informed the attendees that on this day Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs celebrated his birthday, and in 1954 Brown v Board of Education voted for school integration.
Serving as General Evaluator, Beverly introduced her team including Greg as Grammarian, Josue as Ah-Counter, Chad as Timer and Carin as Ballot Counter.

Alyssa was the evening’s first speaker.  She gave her third CC speech entitled “NYC on a Budget”.  As Alyssa’s Evaluator, Tiffini was impressed with Alyssa’s use of imagery, expression of both fear and excitement, topic selection, and ability to speak without notes while maintaining a conversational tone, excellent energy and use of humor.  Beverly congratulated Tiffini on stepping up to serve as Evaluator.

Justin continued his project with “My Philosopy on Purpose”.  Jim, the evening's winner, served as Justin’s Evaluator and summed up his thoughts with his opening line, “Wow!”  Jim complemented Justin’s body language, vocal variety and topic, as well as his conviction and positional anchoring. “You showed us, you didn’t just tell us,” he said, of Justin’s presentation, and complemented Justin’s choice of words and phrases such as, “Purpose finds us.”

Marcus filled in as Table Topics Master with his usual charismatic style.  MCG said Madonna would win a Diva brawl, Lori, the evening’s winner, said she’d choose kid taming as her randomly acquired skill, and Hank passed the responsibility of deciding what to include in a Super Bowl commercial back to Marcus.

Greg’s Word of the Day was, fittingly, “gregarious”, and it was used by both Theresa and Jim. Some of his favorite phrases of the evening included Alyssa’s “My dad is a hippie,” “Siri, I can’t breathe!”, Rob’s “I keep it short and sweet,” “Might be kind of dangerous,” and Hank’s “I’m pink underneath”.

Our guests shared their thoughts about the meeting.  George commented on how valuable the feedback members provide each other is, Liana enjoyed the group’s warmth and ability to see the good in each speaker’s performance, and Jorge though the speeches were fantastic.

Jim shared with us a bit about the District Conference and we all cheered for Anne Taylor’s performance there.  Jim and MCG encouraged us all to follow Anne’s lead by participating in our upcoming contests this summer.  Signups for food contributions during the contests will be posted on the blog.
  

President Jim Cyganek expertly served as Toastmaster to the 13 members and 4 guests present at the May 10th meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings with a theme of Atlanta Traffic.  The meeting was called to order by Sergeant-At-Arms Justin at precisely 6:00 p.m.  Justin shared that he learned how to perform CPR that day, so we are all in good hands in case of a medical emergency!
Jim prepared several interesting tidbits about the epic Atlanta traffic we all deal with, including the fact that I-85 was scheduled to reopen after the recent collapse.  That portion of I-85 typically sees a quarter of a million cars per day, so the impact has been massive.
 
Carin acted as General Evaluator and presided over a team which included Beverly who served dual roles as both Ah-Counter and Grammarian, first time guest George who jumped right in and served as Timer, and guest David, who served as Ballot Counter. 
The first speaker who came to the lectern was Marcus with his 4th speech entitled “Snowpocalypse Now!”  Marcus had lived in Atlanta for 8 ½ years when the infamous Snowpocalypse of January 28 and 29, 2014 hit.  He received a text from his boss around noon to cancel all other stops, but was on a couple of stops he wanted to finish first.   By the time he had finished, it already looked like a winter wonderland. After spending hours in traffic, and only making it ½ mile, Marcus received help from people pouring kitty litter on the road.  Still, he had to spend the night in his truck just 1 exit from home! The next day he ended up parking a mile and half from home and travelling the rest of the way on foot.

The second speaker was Theresa, the evening’s Best Speaker winner.  Theresa’s speech, “Runaway Another Day” served as her 2nd project from the Advanced Storytelling manual.  Theresa entertained us with the story of her son, Richard, and his perpetual desire to run away several times in his childhood, beginning at age five.  Finally, Theresa helped him pack his bag and snacks, reminding him not to forget about going to kindergarten.  Richard capitulated (nice Word of the Day usage, Andrea!) his plans to run when he realized, “Mom, I forgot my pillow!”

Kristina, as the third speaker, completed project 2 from the Competent Communicator manual.  It was entitled “The Best Me”.  Kristina asked the crowd to ask themselves, “What makes me happy?” and “How do I qualify happiness?”  She listed career, family and travel as possible answers, and encouraged the crowd to take steps to make themselves happy.  Kristina suggested planning things, networking, joining professional organizations, taking classes, meditation and therapy as possible stops on the path to happiness.

Josue was the final speaker, and he gave his third speech entitled “Cars of the World”.  Josue told us hr is a self-diagnosed car nut, and his passion for automobiles has been around since he was nine years old.  Speaking with enthusiasm and humor, Josue let us know that cultural differences and automobile manufacturing standards are one of the reasons that Americans are unable to experience cars that the rest of the world enjoys, much to his dismay.  Requirements like certain colors for taillights and specific allowable wiper lengths are things most of us wouldn’t think about, but these things limit availability, as do cultural influences such as seatbelt usage. 

Ray filled in as the evening’s Topics Master with some fantastic questions and a great introduction to that segment of the meeting.  Greg was up first, and he gave his reasons behind thinking that New Yorkers are to blame for Atlanta’s traffic woes.  “If we control the New Yorkers, we control traffic!” Lori, the evening’s winner, said she thinks living where you work would be the most helpful traffic law to put on the books.  David felt we should consider both flying cars and underground tunnels to help the congestion. 

Best Evaluator Suzanne evaluated Marcus’s performance, and complimented his warmth, use of humor, engaging style, vocal variety and gestures.  Greg, as Theresa’s evaluator, loved her great entrance, and said her opening instantly captivated the crowd.  He liked her build-up of stories, motions and fantastic ending.  Justin pointed out that Kristina’s topic selection and voice quality were both top-notch.  Andrea, evaluating Josue, said that his personality really came out with his speech, and she applauded his amazing growth, connection with the audience, flow and use of words, and enjoyed how he seemed to flawlessly adjust his opening to include the topic of the day.
With a hefty dose of humor, Beverly’s Grammarian report noted Marcus’s use of “eerily silent” and “scene from the Walking Dead”.   

Towards the end of the meeting we heard from our guests.  George had thought the meeting might be boring, but was pleasantly surprised to find out it was not.  Shawnee enjoyed the humor and the good energy of our group.  Leanna and David commented on the benefits of having all levels of speakers and our ability to roll with the punches, then announced their intention to join us officially, which, of course, was met with a round of applause. 

Jim reminded us that the conference will be held this weekend, and said he felt we’d had a great evening. 

Please note that there are many open roles over the next several weeks.  Serving in these roles is crucial to obtaining your Competent Leadership Award, and the skills you gain by doing so are very valuable.  Please sign up early, confirm your role, and do your part to make T-Toasters the amazing group it is by fulfilling your commitment to serve, communicating in a timely fashion with meeting leaders and by arriving prepared.  We appreciate your efforts.  T-Toasters would not be what it is without its members!

​Special thanks to Andrea for filling in for me by taking notes for the first portion of the meeting! 

“Toastmasters Rocks!” Beverly, acting as the Toastmaster of the May 3rd meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings, started the meeting off with high energy and lots of enthusiasm. Under the theme “Being a Toastmaster Is Great!” Beverly gave the 12 members and 4 guests in attendance lots of reasons to be excited about being there.  Despite an unplanned change of venue due to carpet replacement in our usual meeting place, our members pulled together and ran a fantastic meeting.

Marcus, in his first-time acting as General Evaluator, presided over a team of volunteers including Hank as Grammarian, guest Imoh as Ballot Counter, and Tiffini, who did an amazing job pulling double duty as both Timer and Ah-Counter.  Marcus did a fabulous job explaining the duties of the General Evaluator, and kept the meeting running smoothly, despite some challenges.  Beverly reminded us that “Success comes from knowing how to communicate with other people,” and told us that her participation in Toastmasters has been the best thing she’s ever done in her life.  “When you become a Toastmaster, you are special,” Beverly stated, and with that, we fired up and ready for our speakers.

Andrea was first up, giving her 7th CC speech, “Where Your Mind Goes, Your Attitude Follows”.  Andrea explained that she had gone into her last speech with negative thoughts.  She’d feared forgetting the order of her points, and even slipped into a “nervous dance”, which she gave a quick demonstration of, bringing a bit of humor to the subject.  She went on to tell the audience that when she acted as Toastmaster the following week though, she’d begun with a more positive mindset, and was grateful that it came across in her performance.  Andrea said that 90% of our thoughts are subconscious, and only 10% are conscious.  “Our mind has stories about how we’ll react to life, but we can change them,” she said.  Andrea kept the audience involved by calling out specific listeners, and reminded us to “Create the story you want your life to tell.”

Justin, our Best Speaker, was up next.  Working on a major project that will run through August, Justin introduced his topic “Justin’s Philosophy”.  His goal will be to facilitate discussion about our personal philosophies.  Justin began his speech with a powerful and personal story about some of the current struggles in his life.  He said he has felt discouraged because his efforts weren’t bearing fruit.  He made fantastic use of his body language, vocal variety, pace, tone and pauses.  Justin involved the audience by inviting us to participate in the discussion, and kept a serious topic enjoyable by regularly injecting his signature humor.  He provided a helpful handout listing questions like, “What is your philosophy?” and “Are you living by your philosophy?”  Jim, Marcus, Theresa and Suzanne’s participation all helped to enhance the discussion.  Justin concluded with a strong call to action.  “It’s not about me, it’s about you,” he told us, and he asked us as we moved forward to “dig deep” and to keep open minds. 

Kristina bravely volunteered to speak on a moment’s notice with her second Toastmaster’s speech ever!  She gave a pocket speech “A New Look at the Aviation Industry”, and described her participation in a recent convention in Orlando as a newly appointed leader in her family’s business.  This convention was Kristina’s first, and she ended up organizing the exhibit!  The industry is heavily dominated by men, which presents some unique challenges, but Kristina was up to the task.  T-Toasters applauds you on your willingness to challenge yourself in life, and within our club, Kristina!  Performing on the spur of the moment like that was no small feat, and you inspire all of us to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable”.  (Have you all noticed that concept keeps coming up? Something to think about.)

Theresa acted as Evaluator for Andrea, Lori, the evening’s winner, evaluated Justin’s performance, and Kristina’s evaluation was a team effort between Suzanne and Greg Palmer.    Hank’s Word of the Day was “nonplussed”, and the word means “filled with bewilderment; puzzled; at a loss”.  Several of us were nonplussed by this word, clearly making it a fantastic choice for Word of the Day!  Despite that, Jim, Greg and Beverly all managed to use it.

First-time guest Leanna, her husband, David, repeat guest Devin (who says he’s ready to make things official) and Imoh, there to support Justin, all seemed to enjoy the meeting, as did our members.  All signs point to us returning to our regular location next week, so we hope to see you all then!

​Keep in mind that we are still looking for a Sergeant At Arms to replace Justin, and anyone who is interested in running for any other office is encouraged to contact anyone from the leadership team to discuss your intentions.