The October 25th meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings was attended by 12 members.  Toastmaster Christian, decked out in vampire regalia, started the meeting by introducing his timely theme: Halloween.  Christian enjoys the parties and shenanigans which surround the holiday, and kept the group entertained with fun facts about October 31st. 

In his first time as General Evaluator, Josue led a team which included Greg as both Grammarian and Ah-Counter and Lori as Timer. 

​Marcus, the first of three prepared speakers, gave his tenth CC speech entitled “How I Got Over”.  Growing up, Marcus struggled with low self-esteem due to his strict father.  He thought of himself as an Urkele type, and struggled with various challenges through the years.  As he made his way through these struggles, Marcus began to realize that if he relied on his “Four Keepers” he could triumph over adversity.  Marcus advised: Keep your head up (get rid of the stinkin’ thinkin’), Keep serving (get out of your own head by helping others), Keep Pounding (a reference to Panthers coach Sam Mills), and Keep the the faith (his faith has lent him strength).
 
Next up at the lectern was Beverly.  Beverly presented “Why Didn’t You Just Leave?” Beverly presented several sobering statistics about domestic violence.  Every 52 seconds a woman is abused.  More women were murdered by their partners than troops were killed in Afghanastan between 2001-2012.  Women with disabilities are even more suspetible to domestic violence. Beverly included reasons that some women either can’t or won’t leave these situations including a lack of money and work experience, familial pressures, guilt and isolation.  She also included a helpful handout with resources for people who might be living with violence.
 
Anne presented a pocket speech entitlted “You’re Sorry But I’m Dead”.  Continuing the converestation about domestic violence, Anne told us the stories of close friends who lived with violent partners.  Anne cautioned the audience “When someone shows you who they are, believe them,” a quote from Maya Angelou. 
 
George served as Table Topics Master.  With an upcoming birthday of his own, George chose to use various people with October 25th birthdays as his topics.  Ken spoke about Johan Straus (1825), Kristina spoke about Katy Perry (1984) and Christian spoke about James Carville (1944)
Anne evaluated Marcus’s speech.  She praised Marcus’s opening saying,  “In the first few seconds we decide if we’re going to lean in and listen.”   She noted that Marcus gained a consensus of the audience with his statement “Everyone loves a hero” and enjoyed that he included a joke within the first 60 seconds of his speech.
 
Justin evaluated Beverly.  He complimented her preparation saying he appreciated the “respect you gave to us by having your stuff together.”  Justin appreciated the depth of Beverly’s topic and the emotion she used to convey the stories of some who have lived with domestic violence.
 
Greg was Anne’s Evaluator.  He noted her descriptive vocabulary, describing the images that her words brought to his mind.  Greg also appreciated Anne’s use of vocal variety, and her inclusion of Maya Angelou’s words. 
 
Josue announced the evening’s winners.  Anne was named the Best Evaluator, Marcus was our Best Speaker and Ken was our est Table Topics Speaker. 

​Thank you to the Allstar Team of Jim, Andrea and Josue for compiling the minutes in my absence.  You guys rock! -Lori
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The October 18th meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings was led by Toastmaster Tiffini.  In attendance were 17 members and 1 guest, Ed Bauer, our Area Director.
 

Christian was the first speaker. He spoke about challenges he faced in school, specifically Spanish class. Riddled with self-doubt, he questioned his ability to learn…
 
Next up was George T. He presented his college project, which involved studying the effect of automobile accidents on a toddler’s neck. While the information presented included a lot of engineering data, George did a fine job of breaking down the concepts for his non-technical audience. Unfortunately George’s speech failed to qualify – he exceeded the allotted time.
 
Next up was Beverly Peace-Kayhill. She described how pets contribute to their owners mental and physical health. Pet provide not only unconditional love, but also contribute to reducing susceptibility to environmental allergies when babies are raised with pets,
 
And batting clean-up was Anne Taylor, the evening’s best speech winner. Anne’s mantra: “gratitude washes over her” was vividly described as warm water washing over her face on a cold day. She explained she had recently had hip replacement surgery, to replace her previous hip replacement, and was the reason she had missed a bunch of our T-Toasters meetings.  She advised us to pause and let gratitude wash over us when we are stressed or angry.
 
For table topics Theresa Worthy gave each of the participants an article of clothing and they had to tell us where they were when they wore it. 
 
1st Marcus James received a slick black dress. He wore that dress to the Miss America pageant on a mission to get his target. To not arise any suspicion he participated on behalf of Idaho. Halfway through the contest he spotted his target so he quickly removed the dress because his weapon was hidden underneath. 
Not to worry- he had on a bikini and because he got his target it counted as his talent as well. In the end he became the greatest Miss America secret agent there ever was. 
 
2nd Mr. Ed Bauer received a very elegant bedazzled woman’s shoe. It was worn by a very elegant lady he met on a night fresh into his college life at 18 in New York City. He was out with his buddies and met this gorgeous woman. After he built up the courage to speak to her he found out he was a lady of the night. Regardless it was a night he will never forget. 
 
3rd Matt B. received a black hat and an ID holder with logo MATCHUP. He wore those to the MATCHUP convention also in New York City. He was desperate, okay?! He went around letting everyone know who he was and what he was interested in. However, at the end of it all he recommends we don’t waste our time or money with it as it was not worth it. 
 
4th Lee Pratt received a giant green jacket that she wore on a very particular day. She left home with it flapping her arms around hoping the jacket would leave her to adventure.   She visited her neighbor Beverly and Jim too but no luck. She then went over to Marcus and she found the purpose that day was to they Marcus a piggy back ride while flying away flapping her arms in the giant leprechaun green jacket.
 
Andrea evaluated Christian, Chad evaluated George, Lianna, the evening’s winner, evaluated Beverly and Greg evaluated Anne. 
 
Lianna expressed concern about evaluating a member that was more advanced through the Communication Track than she was. It is important to understand that speakers need to hear feedback from ALL audience members, not just those Toastmaster members whose experience and education level exceeds their own. This is a lesson I was taught by Anne Taylor, who graciously explained this fact to me during my first evaluation of her speech when I was a very new Toastmaster. 
 
Despite arriving late, Jim served as Grammarian with “Balk” as the word of the day. Matt served as Ah Counter, and Josue served as Timer (and did an outstanding job of informing the group of the qualification status of each member prior to “Best of” votes).  Marcus praised the group for pulling the meeting together despite a light turn-out and a number of late arrivers (traffic was HEINOUS). He applauded those folks who stepped into roles upon request: Josue, Matt, and Traci. Traci counted ballots and announced the winners. 
 
Ed Bauer, our Area D41 Director, closed the meeting with the call to action to use the skills we develop within Toastmasters for positive purposes. He quoted the famous phrase uttered in the movie Cool Hand Luke: “What we have here is a failure to communicate”. Ed offered that this “failure to communicate” was why all of his clients came into his office (Ed is a lawyer), was the reason for the protests and riots in the 1960s and is at the heart of the political and community discord of today. Ed requested our help with a struggling Toastmaster club, Shaw Speaks, which (unfortunately) meets on Wednesday nights. 
 

​The October 11th meeting of T-Toasters of VInings was led by Toastmaster Theresa.  Theresa’s theme for the evening was Conglomerates.  Jim served as General Evaluator.  His team included Josue as Timer, Jasmine as Grammarian, Kristina as Ah Counter and Lee as Ballot Counter. Jasmine’s Word of the Day was “logophile” meaning “lover of words”.  Christian, Greg, Andrea and Lori (Best Evaluator) served as speech evaluators.
 
Four prepared speakers were on the agenda.  First up David with his 3rd Advanced project “What Do You Attract”.  David inspired us all with his speech.  He shared that when it comes to attaining goals, “The story you tell yourself is very powerful”.
 
Next up was Best Speaker Chad with his second Advanced speech “A Toast to Toasmasters”.  Chad took us down memory lane with his journey to finding Toastmasters and conquering his fear of public speaking. 
 
George was the third speaker.  He presented “The Ajmerican Nightmare”, his 7th CC project.  George pointed out some worrying  statistics about the state of American’s savings.  People are spending more than they earn and are not saving enough.  This could easily lead to instability, being a burden on family, and being unable to retire.

Beverly reported on her High Performance Leadership Project.  Beverly was charged with arranging a speech contest for her Alpharetta area clubs.  Unfortunately, she found herself with only two contestants- one for each competition!  Despite this challenge, Beverly managed to pull off a successful contest, providing participants with a chance to break out of their comfort zones.  “If you’re not embarrassed or afraid, you’re not taking chances!” counsels Beverly.
 
Devin served as Table Topics Master for the evening and gifted T-Toasters with a box of Table Topics cards from 2006.  Pulling from the deck, three participants were given the chance to practice their impromptu speaking skills.  Best Table Topics Speaker Kristina talked about the life experience that strengthened her the most.  Tracee told us what she enjoys about the single life.  Lee told us that the change she would most like to make to her personality is her impulsivity.
 
Remember that the annual T-Toasters holiday party will be held on December 13th at the Lake Laurel Clubhouse which is at the intersection of Cooper Lake Rd and Beechview Dr SE in Smyrna.  Please contact Jim if you’re available to help with setup.

​The October 4th meeting of T-Toasters of VInings was led by first time Toastmaster Christian.  Christian’s theme for the evening was Atlanta.  Christian asked ”What makes the city great?” and gave examples of what he thinks makes our city qualify as such.  
 
Marcus served as General Evaluator.  His team included Jim as Timer, Theresa as Grammarian, Chad as Ah Counter and Justin as Ballot Counter. 
 
Three prepared speakers were on the agenda.  First up was Atlanta native Tiffini with her fourth CC speech entitled “My Atlanta Bucket List?””.  Tiffini took listeners through her hometown of Southwest Atlanta, home of Outkast, Mayor Kassim Reed and the very first Chick Fil A ever.  Other stops included Atlanta University Center, the Busy Bee Café, the new Mercedes Benz Stadium, the Varsity, a Georgia Tech game, the Atlanta History Center and the Pink Pig.  Devin served as Tiffini’s evaluator.  He told Tiffini she is fun to listen to and her “enthusiasm is to die for”. 
 
Next up was George with his sixth CC speech “Hands and Pockets: Can We Make It Work?”  George’s speech focused on this small detail of public speaking call it a “No-no that we all know”.  He told the story of an evaluator at another club’s meeting presenting in a casual confident manner with his hands in his pockets, and his struggle to decide if this body language choice should knock him out of the running as Best Evaluator.  In the end, George decided that if one knows their audience and has the confidence to pull it off, hands in pockets can be a valid style choice.  Josue evaluated George saying his topic was “a question we always ask but never get answered”. 
 
The Best Speaker of the evening, Greg, completed his 10th CC project which he named “My Journey as a Speaker”.  Greg crafted a touching speech beginning with his experiences as an athlete.  He told us how this phase of his life led to him developing an often brusque style of communication, and that this style didn’t translate well to corporate America.  He gave listeners some insight into the brain injuries that resulted from his wrestling career lightening the mood with his statement “I’ve been hit in the head a lot but it’s all right- the ladies still love me!”  Greg finished by letting T-Toasters know that we’ve given him something even more valuable than money and bacon- we’ve given him hope.  Best Evaluator Liana told Greg she genuinely enjoys listening to him speak.  Liana said Greg has a great presence, and complimented his transparency, declaring he’d “nailed every objective”.
 
Table Topics Master Lori took the crowd on a visual tour of some Atlanta hotspots by showing participants images and asking them to either explain what we were looking at or to share a story about each place.  First up was guest Trinity who told listeners about the Georgia Aquarium.  Mark spoke about the fabulous Fox Theater, guest Yvette gave a moving talk about the Martin Luther King Memorial and Justin gave his theory about the Vortex In Little Five Points.
 
Grammarian Theresa counted seven uses of the Word of the Day which was “rudimentary” (involving or limited to basic principles).  Congratulations to Mark, Jim, Lori, Tiffini, Greg and George for working it in.  Theresa also appreciated Christian’s use of “gazillion”, Marcus’s “We have a spy among us!”, George’s “we emote”, Greg’s “As an athlete, I could get away with murder” and “zero-sum game”, Devin’s “enthusiasm to die for”, Josue’s “George, our favorite Bulgarian” and Liana’s “thesis statement”.
 
Our four guests shared their thoughts on the meeting. Diane found the meeting “interesting”.  Trinity said, “At points it got a little boring and you sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher, but I liked talking about places and the Atlanta speech!”  Nikki described us as “so welcoming” and Yvette said “As usual it was fantastic!” and recommended that we pay attention to the details in each speech project.
 The October 4th meeting of T-Toasters of VInings was led by first time Toastmaster Christian.  Christian’s theme for the evening was Atlanta.  Christian asked ”What makes the city great?” and gave examples of what he thinks makes our city qualify as such.  

 
Marcus served as General Evaluator.  His team included Jim as Timer, Theresa as Grammarian, Chad as Ah Counter and Justin as Ballot Counter. 
 
Three prepared speakers were on the agenda.  First up was Atlanta native Tiffini with her fourth CC speech entitled “My Atlanta Bucket List?””.  Tiffini took listeners through her hometown of Southwest Atlanta, home of Outkast, Mayor Kassim Reed and the very first Chick Fil A ever.  Other stops included Atlanta University Center, the Busy Bee Café, the new Mercedes Benz Stadium, the Varsity, a Georgia Tech game, the Atlanta History Center and the Pink Pig.  Devin served as Tiffini’s evaluator.  He told Tiffini she is fun to listen to and her “enthusiasm is to die for”. 
 
Next up was George with his sixth CC speech “Hands and Pockets: Can We Make It Work?”  George’s speech focused on this small detail of public speaking call it a “No-no that we all know”.  He told the story of an evaluator at another club’s meeting presenting in a casual confident manner with his hands in his pockets, and his struggle to decide if this body language choice should knock him out of the running as Best Evaluator.  In the end, George decided that if one knows their audience and has the confidence to pull it off, hands in pockets can be a valid style choice.  Josue evaluated George saying his topic was “a question we always ask but never get answered”. 
 
The Best Speaker of the evening, Greg, completed his 10th CC project which he named “My Journey as a Speaker”.  Greg crafted a touching speech beginning with his experiences as an athlete.  He told us how this phase of his life led to him developing an often brusque style of communication, and that this style didn’t translate well to corporate America.  He gave listeners some insight into the brain injuries that resulted from his wrestling career lightening the mood with his statement “I’ve been hit in the head a lot but it’s all right- the ladies still love me!”  Greg finished by letting T-Toasters know that we’ve given him something even more valuable than money and bacon- we’ve given him hope.  Best Evaluator Liana told Greg she genuinely enjoys listening to him speak.  Liana said Greg has a great presence, and complimented his transparency, declaring he’d “nailed every objective”.
 
Table Topics Master Lori took the crowd on a visual tour of some Atlanta hotspots by showing participants images and asking them to either explain what we were looking at or to share a story about each place.  First up was guest Trinity who told listeners about the Georgia Aquarium.  Mark spoke about the fabulous Fox Theater, guest Yvette gave a moving talk about the Martin Luther King Memorial and Justin gave his theory about the Vortex In Little Five Points.
 
Grammarian Theresa counted seven uses of the Word of the Day which was “rudimentary” (involving or limited to basic principles).  Congratulations to Mark, Jim, Lori, Tiffini, Greg and George for working it in.  Theresa also appreciated Christian’s use of “gazillion”, Marcus’s “We have a spy among us!”, George’s “we emote”, Greg’s “As an athlete, I could get away with murder” and “zero-sum game”, Devin’s “enthusiasm to die for”, Josue’s “George, our favorite Bulgarian” and Liana’s “thesis statement”.
 
Our four guests shared their thoughts on the meeting. Diane found the meeting “interesting”.  Trinity said, “At points it got a little boring and you sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher, but I liked talking about places and the Atlanta speech!”  Nikki described us as “so welcoming” and Yvette said “As usual it was fantastic!” and recommended that we pay attention to the details in each speech project.