April 19th Lamorinda Toastmasters Meeting Diary

Announcements:

**Different Meeting Room for next week - at the Temple in their Adult Lounge. Continue on the same road past the social hall where we usually meet and park down below. Our meeting is in the last building on the right. 

- Please take a moment to introduce yourselves to our three newest members - Fermin, Marissa, and Kenneth. Welcome!

Meeting Notes:

Toastmaster Kevin Markl presided over our Spring-Themed meeting at Gordon's office. Cozy and comfortable, our meeting was graced with four prepared speeches and stimulating table topics. A special thanks to Gordon for offering his office space at the last minute when Mary fell ill and was unable to host. Mary, I hope you're on the mend!

Iris opened the prepared speeches part of our meeting with Speech 7 from the CC manual - First a proponent of Flea Markets, Iris challenged us to consider whether Flea Brownies and other bug-based foods could be the next sustainable food source. While I couldn't argue with her points, I, along with others, was relieved when she spared us samples. 

Gordon wowed us with his personal speech from the Storytelling Manual's Speech 2 - Let's Get Personal, about how he met and got to know his son, Jim. I know I am always amazed and moved by the wide variety of our member's life experiences. 

Thomas spoke next and gave a heart-felt update about his work to launch a Spanish version of the 12 week NAMI family course for families who have a member with a brain disorder. The next stage of Thomas' high performance leadership project (a task required to earn one's Distinguished Toastmaster Award (DTM) the highest award in Toastmasters) will be to roll out a family course targeted at military families dealing with brain disorders brought on by war.

Rae presented her speech 7 from the CC manual, "You Are What You Eat", on the importance of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and encouraged us all to seek out ways to buy our produce directly from farmers through these collectives. Visit localharvest.org for more information on CSAs in your area.

A special thank you to everyone who brought bug-free food and drink to the meeting. The sweets for the sweet were enjoyed by all.

Join me, Karen, as your Toastmaster, and all of your fellow Toastmasters next week in the Adult Lounge at the Temple. 

April 4th Lamorinda Toastmasters Meeting Diary

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Fari Pouransari.  It was her second turn as Toastmaster and she did a commendable job. She was warm and welcoming to our two guests and to all us Toastmasters as well!

Scott L. is right: It is one of the best jobs on the roster!

Fari also stepped in as Humorist--an outgoing answering machine message she had shortly after coming to the US.

Our Thought for the Day person was Stephanie who spoke on stopping to smell the roses and living in the moment, not in the past or future.

Grammarian was Marzi who presented a word few were familiar with: afflatus. Means to inspire. Good job for finding such a word!

Yolanda was our timer, a difficult job as Fari noted.

We  had three speakers: Elizabeth Leary, Kevin Markl and Iris Wesselman. Elizabeth had a neat take on being skinny, Kevin provided a tale of woe, riches and redemption and Iris gave us the history of the hair styling trade in Germany that has been so prevalent an occupation for her family.

Evaluators were Lee, Jennifer and Gita, respectively. Lee, always reliably to the point, stepped in at the last minute to critique Elizabeth's funny and mostly fond memories. Jennifer gave a spot on eval on Kevin's complex presentation and offered tips to work on shortening a speech. Gita enjoyed reviewing Iris' topic since it was mostly familiar to her.

Melanie did an awesome job at TT Master. She fit in 10 speakers, thinking of a few questions off the top of her head. Mostly participants were asked how they would deal with situations requiring diplomacy and delicacy acquired from the act of living life. Can I name them all? Gordon, Dave, Lise, Heather, Rae, Tracy, Helen, Mike, Greg and yours truly.

Scott was our GE. He focused on Fari's job as Toastmaster. Aside from it being the best job, he added it requires advanced organization for him.

Our awards (because we are all winners) went to: Elizabeth, Jennifer and Mike.

We missed some of our stalwart members: Thomas, Chris, Karen, Patrick et al.

We hope you'll all join us next week!

March 29 Lamorinda Toastmasters Meeting Diary

Announcements:

- Dues are due! Please get your check to Chris Young or go on our website to use the new Paypal option. Don't make Chris have to come hunt you down, people.

- Our Club Needs You! - Officer elections are coming up soon. Our club is run entirely by volunteers and we need *you* to help it continue to run smoothly. Our board meets once a month for 45 min. before our regular meeting. Free training by Toastmasters Int'l included for all officer positions. Please contact Patrick for more information.

Meeting Notes:

Toastmaster Chris Holton presided over a heartfelt "Fond Farewell/ Haven't Seen You in Forever" evening. Several past members joined us to celebrate! It was wonderful to see Nancy, Josh, Grace, Nan, Mark and Fumi. 

Iris opened the prepared speeches part of our meeting with Speech 2 from the CC manual - She shared her passion for shopping at flea markets and getting excellent massages from Joshua. What can you learn at flea markets? Public speaking, negotiating and math skills. Join her Saturdays at the Ashby Bart parking lot for fun and relaxation.

Stephanie posed a conundrum with Speech 9, Persuade with Power - honesty or kindness? She effectively persuaded us to marry the two and utilize her helpful acronym "WITS" - Words, Intention, Tone of Voice and Sandwich - to do so. When in doubt, don't say it.

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on? Mike's timely presentation on earthquakes and earthquake measurement scales effectively illuminated the newer way to measure earthquake intensity with the Moment Magnitude Scale. Developed in the 1970's as a successor to the Richter Scale, the MMS measures the size of earthquakes in terms of energy released. Most memorable quote from Mike's speech - "It's going to be quite gnarly if the north and south portions of the Hayward fault go off simultaneously."

It was "old times" night for table topics. Visiting former members were all called up to participate. Rae dazzled them with challenging, non-sequitur questions from our club's Book of Questions. We learned our friends believe in haunted houses, embellish their stories, and would rather be rich than famous.

A special thank you to Chris and Mary for providing the champagne and sparkling beverages for our toast to past members and friends. 

Join Toastmaster Fari and your fellow Toastmasters next week in the Social Hall.