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. 
 

The April 26th meeting of T-Toasters of Vinings was attended by 3 guests and 17 members, including our newest T-Toaster, Rob Knudsen.  The meeting was led by first-time Toastmaster Andrea Lewis who chose “The Power of Attitude” as the evening’s theme.  Andrea kept the meeting running at a smooth pace, and peppered it with inspirational quotes and gave the attendees much to think about, for example, Winston Churchill’s words, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
Carin served as the General Evaluator.  Her team included Hank as Timer, Mary-Catherine as Ah-Counter, Ray as Ballot Counter and Josue as Grammarian.   

Beverly was the first of four speakers with her Advanced Manual Project #5 entitled “Freedom by Any Means Necessary”.  She told three moving tales of innovate and courageous people who escaped slavery.  Harriet Jacobs hid in a slanted crevice of her grandmother’s shack for seven long years, before escaping to freedom in Philadelphia.  Henry “Box” Brown lived in Virginia until an Abolitionist shopkeeper decided to build him a custom crate so that he could ship himself to freedom.  William and Ellen Craft were a couple from Macon who were owned by two different masters.  Fearing separation, they dared to disguise themselves as a white man (Ellen) and his servant (William) only to find themselves on the same train as Ellen’s owner’s attorney!  Even more surprising, the attorney ended up signing Ellen’s ticket, and unknowingly aided the duo on their journey to Boston. 

The evening’s second speaker was Alyssa with her second speech entitled “Active”.  As one of the product’s designers, Alyssa will be giving training presentations at work, and used this opportunity to further enhance her delivery.  She described the design team’s goals of “getting people moving”, the reasons behind their color choices and told us they hoped to create a feeling of movement and playfulness. 

Jim kept us laughing with Project #3 from the Advanced Communication manual which he named “College Life”.  After the shock of learning what adulthood really entails, a stint in the Navy, and an attempt at a self-study physics course at Georgia Tech (aka self-shaft), Jim gained a lot of appreciation for the things that had previously been provided for him.  He joked about learning things like food and working lights didn’t just appear, and perhaps his Dad was someone who might actually have some valuable advice.  Despite the challenges involved, Jim says that the 9 years it took him to earn his B.A. in Engineering were a fantastic experience, and that both of his sophomore years were the best years of his life!

The last speaker, and the evening’s winner, was Courtney with “Peanut Butter and Jelly”.  This speech was only Courtney’s second, making her win quite the accomplishment!  Courtney and her family have turned the crafting of PB&J into an art form.  They credit their success, in part, to Captain John Derst’s Yellow bread, creamy Skippy peanut butter and Smucker’s preserves.  The Quatermans feel that the PB&J can be enjoyed as a meal, a snack, or even a dessert, and clearly T-Toasters appreciated Courtney’s ode to this tasty treat.

Lori served as the evening’s Table Topics Master.  The first volunteer was Jim who spoke about a time when his attitude led him to success.  Justin, the evening’s winner, spoke about the powerful effect his pastor’s attitude had on his approach to following his dreams.  Keeley told us about her spunky attitude that she feels has been hers since birth. 

Greg evaluated Beverly’s performance and complimented her on her passionate, vivid descriptions, excellent use of body language and her ability to keep her audience on the edges of their seats.  Chad noted Alyssa’s excellent set up, use of props and opening story, as well her transitions and product knowledge.  He felt Alyssa spoke with “wit and warmth”, and will go on to conduct her training session with great success.  Mitzi spoke highly of Jim’s great opening joke.  She praised his powerful vocal projection, and discussed how his warm, human touch adds greatly to the energy of his speaking.  Mark, who took the prize for Best Evaluator, praised Courtney’s confidence and poise as a speaker.  He noted that her relatable topic struck a chord with the audience, and kept them thinking and involved.

In his role of Grammarian, Josue made great use of humor and gentle encouragement.  He pointed out the use of “money honey” by Hank, “ramshackle shack” by Beverly, “Sitting is the the smoking” by Alyssa, “overgrown puppy” and “recovering teenager” by Jim and “holy hell” by Keeley.  He pronounced Courtney as the Word of the Day Winner with three uses of “degust” (to taste something carefully, to appreciate it fully). 

Carin, in her General Evaluator’s report, recognized Andrea’s spectacular performance as Toastmaster, noting her great commentary.  Ms. Bowman also gave us some very valuable constructive criticism, reminding us that we need to remember to give our full attention to our speakers, and that prompt responses to emails are vital to our success as a club.  The feedback provided by all of our evaluators is essential to our growth, and seeing real, practical suggestions given is very much appreciated.

​Our guests, Keeley, Devin and Suni, were enthusiastic in their comments about the meeting.  We appreciate their attendance and participation, and hope to see them back next week.  In closing, Andrea inspired us by saying that 50% of our happiness in life is based on our genetics, 40% is in how we react to situations, and only 10% about the circumstances we face in life.  No matter what challenges you’re facing this week, remember that your attitude is key!  

Congratulations on your new job, Justin! We know you'll be fabulous!

​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.