A Blast from the Past — Meeting of May 7, 2011

We opened the meeting by greeting our guests (David and Stephanie) and having everyone introduce themselves. Today’s meeting emcee (“Toastmaster”) was Amara D.
Toastmaster Amara started out by explaining why she chose the theme A Blast from the Past. She has just moved into 1920’s-era house, complete with all the charms and challenges of an older dwelling. Amara then introduced the Timer (Nicole B.) and Ah Counter/Word of Day person (John N.) to explain their roles. Our Word of the Day was “duplicitous.”
SPEECHES

Diane describes work life in jail.

1. Speaker 1, Diane B., “I Did My Time in the King County Jail.” Project No. 4 from the Competent Communication manual, How to Say It. Diane shared her experience working for three years as a counselor inside the jail. We learned in precise detail how regimented and controlled life is inside the slammer. Diane’s caveat: if you can avoid jail, you are better off!
2. Speaker 2, Beth G., “What have you been up to?” Project No. 3 from the CC manual, Get to the Point. Beth shared her recent adventure with time-tracking — the process of recording and analyzing how much time one spends on the various activities of daily life. Beth’s advice: you can more effectively achieve your goals if you understand what you spend your time doing from day to day. Beth shared a handout that detailed her research results.

TABLE TOPICS

Listeners were spellbound by jail tales.

First-time Topicsmaster Raj ran with the “past” theme to ask members and guests questions on topics including going back in time, changing the past and reincarnation. The Best Table Topic award went to guest David for his answer on reincarnation.
EVALUATIONS
Joel H. and Lisa L. gave feedback to Diane and Beth, respectively. First-time General Evaluator Dave E. gave the speech evaluators feedback on how well they suggested improvements to the speakers and commented on the meeting as a whole. 

President Dave prepares to speak.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

1. Lisa is off to spend the summer in Africa working in public health nursing. Take care, Lisa!
2. The club received $50.00 in gift certificates for TI goods from District 2 for our achievement in gaining four new members during March.
3. Officer elections. June is time to elect officers for the next Toastmaster year, which starts July 1st. As training for new officers will be June 18th, we will elect officers at the first meeting in June.  
4. Next Meeting is May 21st. Meeting Roles: