October 11, 2017 minutes

​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.