Friday, December 30, 2005
Meeting Report 12/10/05
Minutes of Challenge Toastmasters Club 4581
Meeting of 12/10/05
Members in Attendance: 10 Guests: Nicole Jersak
Adam Avery Fred Magee John Ward Ö
Dana Belding Ö Doug Mayton H
Raphael Chalvarian Ö Laura Medeiros Ö
Susan Cooper H Tracie O’Geary Ö
Elliot Essman Ö Marianne Powers Ö
Merv Jersak John Shelton Ö
Gregory Lay Ö Ralph Wallace Ö H – on hiatus
The meeting was brought to order by President John Shelton at 8:00 a.m who saying “We’re alive in 2005!” The salute to the flag was led by Gregory Lay, who also got the meeting off to a great start with a quote from Plutarch on how easy it is to raise objections against man or nation, but to create something better is extremely troublesome.
John Shelton introduced the Toastmaster of the day – John Shelton, who immediately got the program started by introducing Dana Belding as our Skill Builder. Dana reminded us of the power of enthusiasm and details by relating how he got ‘stuck’ with a Corvette rental when on business in California. While driving down the freeway with the top down, feeling the wind in his hair, he witnessed a semi go under a bridge that had a rod sticking down that punctured the semi trailer and suddenly he found himself showered in paper. Oh, his skill builder also included the power of stories….whether a dream (a la Corvette story) or real.
John returned reality to our meeting and related how people are living longer – average to 78 years while 100 years ago the average age was 48. Also people have more wealth and there are more doctors, scientists, and engineers alive then every before. He then introduced our speakers and facilitated a round-robin evaluation of each.
· Ralph Wallace spoke (for 7:22) from the Basic Manual, Speech #2, “Organize Your Speech.” He brought to leadership to life by some sports-minded guy (Rick Pitino) in “Leadership Secrets by Rick Pitino”. He related how success is a choice and Rick had 10 steps to become an overachiever in business and life. Ralph related personal stories to expand upon Rick’s lessons especially the lesson of patience, how adversity can help us challenge ourselves to make things happen, and the immeasurable value of friends.
· Marianne Powers spoke (for 4:56) from the Basic manual, Speech #9, “The Persuasive Speech.” Her title was “Changing the World”. With a freshly printed book, Mariiane motivated us to make a difference. How? Accept everyone. Show people how to be better by believing in them. Marianne’s passion for the subject showed throughout the speech and in her challenges to us. She encouraged us to explore relationships as the path for making a change. In the round robin, we found out that a few were not sure about taking on the task of changing the world, but Marianne’s speech encouraged them to think about changing themselves and/or their environment.
· Our third speaker was Raphael Chalvarian who delivered a speech from The Storytelling manual, speech #5, Bringing History to Life. It was a riveting speech entitled “Known But to God” that relayed inspiration and amazing information about the Tomb of the Unknown and those who guard the tomb. He so captivated us with the history, dedication, and especially the pride associated with being a member of the guard that at least one member had a few tears escape down their cheek.
Elliot Essman gave a formal evaluation of Ralph’s speech. Marianne’s speech was evaluated by John Ward; Raphael’s by the unknown evaluator (ok, it was supposed to be Merv, but I didn’t write down who took Merv’s place. Would the real evaluator please stand up and state your name? Thanks!).
Laura Medeiros kept us on the clock as timer.
Gregory Lay provided us with a memorable toast: Here’s to our pens and our tongues – may they perform in glorious harmony to produce words of inspiration.
Meeting adjourned at 9:58 a.m.
Submitted by your meeting’s reporter
TK O’Geary, B.Sc., MBA, CTM, CL, ATM-B, ATM-S, ATM-G, AL, DTM, BB,
all-but-test PMP, and Mrs. Universe Never-Wanna-Be
Meeting of 12/10/05
Members in Attendance: 10 Guests: Nicole Jersak
Adam Avery Fred Magee John Ward Ö
Dana Belding Ö Doug Mayton H
Raphael Chalvarian Ö Laura Medeiros Ö
Susan Cooper H Tracie O’Geary Ö
Elliot Essman Ö Marianne Powers Ö
Merv Jersak John Shelton Ö
Gregory Lay Ö Ralph Wallace Ö H – on hiatus
The meeting was brought to order by President John Shelton at 8:00 a.m who saying “We’re alive in 2005!” The salute to the flag was led by Gregory Lay, who also got the meeting off to a great start with a quote from Plutarch on how easy it is to raise objections against man or nation, but to create something better is extremely troublesome.
John Shelton introduced the Toastmaster of the day – John Shelton, who immediately got the program started by introducing Dana Belding as our Skill Builder. Dana reminded us of the power of enthusiasm and details by relating how he got ‘stuck’ with a Corvette rental when on business in California. While driving down the freeway with the top down, feeling the wind in his hair, he witnessed a semi go under a bridge that had a rod sticking down that punctured the semi trailer and suddenly he found himself showered in paper. Oh, his skill builder also included the power of stories….whether a dream (a la Corvette story) or real.
John returned reality to our meeting and related how people are living longer – average to 78 years while 100 years ago the average age was 48. Also people have more wealth and there are more doctors, scientists, and engineers alive then every before. He then introduced our speakers and facilitated a round-robin evaluation of each.
· Ralph Wallace spoke (for 7:22) from the Basic Manual, Speech #2, “Organize Your Speech.” He brought to leadership to life by some sports-minded guy (Rick Pitino) in “Leadership Secrets by Rick Pitino”. He related how success is a choice and Rick had 10 steps to become an overachiever in business and life. Ralph related personal stories to expand upon Rick’s lessons especially the lesson of patience, how adversity can help us challenge ourselves to make things happen, and the immeasurable value of friends.
· Marianne Powers spoke (for 4:56) from the Basic manual, Speech #9, “The Persuasive Speech.” Her title was “Changing the World”. With a freshly printed book, Mariiane motivated us to make a difference. How? Accept everyone. Show people how to be better by believing in them. Marianne’s passion for the subject showed throughout the speech and in her challenges to us. She encouraged us to explore relationships as the path for making a change. In the round robin, we found out that a few were not sure about taking on the task of changing the world, but Marianne’s speech encouraged them to think about changing themselves and/or their environment.
· Our third speaker was Raphael Chalvarian who delivered a speech from The Storytelling manual, speech #5, Bringing History to Life. It was a riveting speech entitled “Known But to God” that relayed inspiration and amazing information about the Tomb of the Unknown and those who guard the tomb. He so captivated us with the history, dedication, and especially the pride associated with being a member of the guard that at least one member had a few tears escape down their cheek.
Elliot Essman gave a formal evaluation of Ralph’s speech. Marianne’s speech was evaluated by John Ward; Raphael’s by the unknown evaluator (ok, it was supposed to be Merv, but I didn’t write down who took Merv’s place. Would the real evaluator please stand up and state your name? Thanks!).
Laura Medeiros kept us on the clock as timer.
Gregory Lay provided us with a memorable toast: Here’s to our pens and our tongues – may they perform in glorious harmony to produce words of inspiration.
Meeting adjourned at 9:58 a.m.
Submitted by your meeting’s reporter
TK O’Geary, B.Sc., MBA, CTM, CL, ATM-B, ATM-S, ATM-G, AL, DTM, BB,
all-but-test PMP, and Mrs. Universe Never-Wanna-Be
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Meeting Report 10/22/05
Albuquerque Challenge Toastmasters Club #4581
Saturday, October 22, 2005. Nine members present: Adam Avery, Dana Belding, Raphael Chalvarian, Gregory Lay, Laura Medeiros, Marianne Powers, John Shelton, Ralph Wallace, John Ward.
Guest: Liz Coleman, a mechanical engineer who recently moved here from Los Alamos - will visit several clubs, including Sandia Lite and Weekenders.
Toastmaster: Laura Medeiros. Laura invited those present to talk about a "first time" event in their lives - a highlight was Marianne Powers' first copy of her first book! Way to go, Marianne!
Skillbuilder: John Ward. John gave us good reasons to focus on asking the right questions.
Speaker: John Shelton, "The Snows of Winter." Speaking to Inform advanced manual project #3, the demonstration talk. John told about shoeshoeing in New Mexico, telling about the history of snowshoes and demonstrating modern high-tech shoeshoes. He was complemented on his excellent word pictures and demonstrating how the shoeshoe works using his hand to simulate foot action. (Adam Avery evaluated)
Speaker: Ralph Wallace, "Serving Your World - Ten Keys to Successful Leadership." Ralph previewed the keynote address he will use as an International Director visiting District Conferences this fall. He'll begin his district conference travels next weekend at District 56 in Houston. Ralph's ten guidelines are:
1. Make your vision, share your vision, live your vision.
2. Get the right people in the right place.
3. Many hands make light work.
4. Get commitments and support early.
5. Recognize and reward your team.
6. Share what you know, you'll grow.
7. It's more important to be effective than it is to be right.
8. Mistakes are part of growth.
9. Grow continuously.
10. Keep moving, keep improving.
Ralph fulfilled the requirements for CTM manual, 'organize your speech.' (Dana Belding evaluated)
Other good examples: Raphael Chalvarian set an excellent standard for meaningful dedications and toasts - and Laura M. had a great printed program. Thanks, Laura and Raphael!
We discussed the tendency of speakers to be 'down' on themselves when they do the self-evaluation, and agreed that a positive attitude will be better served by just stating what we might like to improve without being negative about ourselves.
Following the meeting, President John Shelton convened an officers' meeting. Adam Avery reported on our Distinguished Club status, and will follow up with our Area Governor. Adam reported that our current membership is now at 15. We are on track for two Distinguished Club factors, and need to focus on educational achievements. John will update and distribute the goal tracking program that we formerly kept on members. The next TLI for club officers is January 17 - and Challenge will offer to organize a Toastmasters 102 session for that TLI.
Raphael proposed having regular evening meetings to view and discuss taped speeches from the International Speech World Championships, which was approved. Note that Merv proposes to do the same thing during our Saturday meetings.
Challenge members are invited to join Weekenders at their 5th Saturday meeting October 29. Next regular Challenge meeting is Saturday, November 12. Merv just distributed the line-up for that meeting.
respectfully submitted, Gregory Lay, meeting recorder
Saturday, October 22, 2005. Nine members present: Adam Avery, Dana Belding, Raphael Chalvarian, Gregory Lay, Laura Medeiros, Marianne Powers, John Shelton, Ralph Wallace, John Ward.
Guest: Liz Coleman, a mechanical engineer who recently moved here from Los Alamos - will visit several clubs, including Sandia Lite and Weekenders.
Toastmaster: Laura Medeiros. Laura invited those present to talk about a "first time" event in their lives - a highlight was Marianne Powers' first copy of her first book! Way to go, Marianne!
Skillbuilder: John Ward. John gave us good reasons to focus on asking the right questions.
Speaker: John Shelton, "The Snows of Winter." Speaking to Inform advanced manual project #3, the demonstration talk. John told about shoeshoeing in New Mexico, telling about the history of snowshoes and demonstrating modern high-tech shoeshoes. He was complemented on his excellent word pictures and demonstrating how the shoeshoe works using his hand to simulate foot action. (Adam Avery evaluated)
Speaker: Ralph Wallace, "Serving Your World - Ten Keys to Successful Leadership." Ralph previewed the keynote address he will use as an International Director visiting District Conferences this fall. He'll begin his district conference travels next weekend at District 56 in Houston. Ralph's ten guidelines are:
1. Make your vision, share your vision, live your vision.
2. Get the right people in the right place.
3. Many hands make light work.
4. Get commitments and support early.
5. Recognize and reward your team.
6. Share what you know, you'll grow.
7. It's more important to be effective than it is to be right.
8. Mistakes are part of growth.
9. Grow continuously.
10. Keep moving, keep improving.
Ralph fulfilled the requirements for CTM manual, 'organize your speech.' (Dana Belding evaluated)
Other good examples: Raphael Chalvarian set an excellent standard for meaningful dedications and toasts - and Laura M. had a great printed program. Thanks, Laura and Raphael!
We discussed the tendency of speakers to be 'down' on themselves when they do the self-evaluation, and agreed that a positive attitude will be better served by just stating what we might like to improve without being negative about ourselves.
Following the meeting, President John Shelton convened an officers' meeting. Adam Avery reported on our Distinguished Club status, and will follow up with our Area Governor. Adam reported that our current membership is now at 15. We are on track for two Distinguished Club factors, and need to focus on educational achievements. John will update and distribute the goal tracking program that we formerly kept on members. The next TLI for club officers is January 17 - and Challenge will offer to organize a Toastmasters 102 session for that TLI.
Raphael proposed having regular evening meetings to view and discuss taped speeches from the International Speech World Championships, which was approved. Note that Merv proposes to do the same thing during our Saturday meetings.
Challenge members are invited to join Weekenders at their 5th Saturday meeting October 29. Next regular Challenge meeting is Saturday, November 12. Merv just distributed the line-up for that meeting.
respectfully submitted, Gregory Lay, meeting recorder
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Meeting Report 9/24/05
Our meeting of September 24, 2005 saw a core group of Challengers meet at the main Presbyterian hospital. Our President, John Shelton, led us in a business meeting, in which we commented that we have not had steady attendance by the Sergeant-at-Arms and hence have not been well prepared for meetings. We also noted the loss of several members. It was decided that Elliot Essman would prepare an article on advanced Toastmasters clubs to be published in the district newsletter that would serve as a recruitment vehicle for the club.
We had one guest courtesy of the College of Santa Fe, Jack, who apparently is not really named Jack, but who prefers Jack to his more complicated real name. Don Dubois and Area Governor Tony Gallegos, arriving early to the area contest, also sat in and no doubt enjoyed our meeting. Jack participated in all the round-table evaluations and gave encouraging comments after the meeting.
Marianne Powers gave a skill-builder all about blogs, indicating she had created an Albuquerque Challenge blog for our benefit.
Toastmaster Adam Avery did yeoman work in leading the meeting. Merv Jersak, evaluated by John Ward, spoke about “Looking Out for Number Two.” Elliot Essman, evaluated by TK O’Geary, did his humorous speech “I Dunno.” John Shelton then gave an impromptu speech in which he treated several items in the news.
Since we didn’t have an actual humorous speech contest as originally planned we unanimously appointed Marianne Powers to represent the club in the Area contest, which took place immediately after our own meeting.
Submitted by Elliot Essman
We had one guest courtesy of the College of Santa Fe, Jack, who apparently is not really named Jack, but who prefers Jack to his more complicated real name. Don Dubois and Area Governor Tony Gallegos, arriving early to the area contest, also sat in and no doubt enjoyed our meeting. Jack participated in all the round-table evaluations and gave encouraging comments after the meeting.
Marianne Powers gave a skill-builder all about blogs, indicating she had created an Albuquerque Challenge blog for our benefit.
Toastmaster Adam Avery did yeoman work in leading the meeting. Merv Jersak, evaluated by John Ward, spoke about “Looking Out for Number Two.” Elliot Essman, evaluated by TK O’Geary, did his humorous speech “I Dunno.” John Shelton then gave an impromptu speech in which he treated several items in the news.
Since we didn’t have an actual humorous speech contest as originally planned we unanimously appointed Marianne Powers to represent the club in the Area contest, which took place immediately after our own meeting.
Submitted by Elliot Essman
Friday, September 23, 2005
Audio Blog
Challenge Toastmasters
Welcome!
Challenge Toastmasters meets the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month at 8:00 AM at Kaseman Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Except for some Saturdays, like this one, where a speech contest immediately follows our meeting and we are meeting at the contest location, which is Presbyterian Hospital in Southwest A&B near the Food Court in the basement!
Please come by or call us at 892-4990.
See you soon!
Marianne
Challenge Toastmasters meets the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month at 8:00 AM at Kaseman Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Except for some Saturdays, like this one, where a speech contest immediately follows our meeting and we are meeting at the contest location, which is Presbyterian Hospital in Southwest A&B near the Food Court in the basement!
Please come by or call us at 892-4990.
See you soon!
Marianne
