This was a great meeting! Highlights:

Madeleine tells of club membership-building project.

• Diane practiced vocal variety in a talk on the risks of prescription drug use by seniors. Good work, Diane.

Members listen from the gallery.

• Sherry taught us about the Toastmasters educational program. Thanks, Sherry!
• Madeleine described the results of her membersip-building project at Northgate Sunrise. This speech completed her High Performance Leadership project, for which she will receive the Leadership Excellence award. Congratulations, Madeleine.
• Joel quizzed us on the topic of Going Home Again as Topics Master. Mary took the Best Table Topics ribbon.
• Norma and Maryallene visited from the Northeast Club and Ballard Weekenders to serve as General Evaluator and Speech Evaluator, respectively. Thank you!
• Mary served as Timer for the first time. (Not as easy as it might seem!) 

Detailed Agenda:

Raj tells of boyhood summers in India.

• Dave E. opened the meeting on time and greeted everyone.
• John led the meeting as emcee (“Toastmaster”) for the first time. Well done!
• Raj gave his final presentation of the Speechcraft short course and graduated to become a regular Toastmasters member. Go Raj!
• Nicole regaled us with questions for impromptu speaking practice on the high gas prices we will contend with this summer. She challenged each of us to combat gas and mileage myths.
• Joel practiced vocal variety setting out the pros and cons of transgenic organisms (aka GMO’s). Who knew?
• Ben broke into public speaking with his first speech, the Ice Breaker. Congratulations, Ben!
• David B., visiting for the second time, decided to join the club! Welcome David!

John leads as Toastmaster (emcee)

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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: