Greetings fellow Toastmasters and honored guests!
President Steve gave us a warm welcome. We had a special guest LaTanya. LaTanya is our Area 1 director and mentioned some brief news about upcoming speech contests in January 2022. She gave us a brief reminder that dues are due!
Dues for the next term (6 months through March 31) will be only $60.00. Just $60.00 for what we call The Best Buy in Self-Improvement! Dues can be paid to our interim club Treasurer, me, Steve Evans with cash, check or other electronic payment methods including the following:
- Paypal – steveevans123@gmail.com
- Venmo – @Steven-Evans-92
If you are a guest and would like to become a member, click here and follow the instructions.
The Thought of the Day was by yours truly. “We won’t be distracted by comparison, if we are captivated with purpose” -Bob Goff.
The Joke Master was Karan. COVID has been tough. Maybe sell your vacuum cleaner. It only collects dust.
The Toastmaster of the night was Matthew. He did a splendid job by moving us along.
The Timer was Lou.
The Ah Counter was Blake.
The Grammarian was LaTanya. She chose the word of the day which was “galvanize”. It means to excite or inspire to take action.
We did not have any speakers, but Steve had our backs. He showed a course about presenting. He’s been taking classes from CreativeLive. Steve shared a course titled “becoming an engaging speaker” by Andrew Wayland. Tips from eye contact to asking for feedback from the audience. This course is loaded with informative gems to help along with speech craft. Sometimes standing in one position can signal negative or positive vibes. Thank you Steve, for sharing that. Steve also mentioned there’s a sale going on for CreativeLive. They have a lot of courses to choose from at very discounted prices. Take advantage!
The Table Topics Speaker was Ananta. He chose the theme “life”.
What changed 10 years ago to now? Steve was working 10 years ago and when he reached retirement. He needed purpose and meaning. Sitting on the beach is nice, but gets boring after a while. Lucky for us, he chose Toastmasters.
Why did you decide to do what you do now? Kenzii is a para-educator for young children. Most days are great, some are not. Her boss and co-workers are wonderful and makes her work that much more rewarding.
If you knew you were going to die, what would you want people to remember you by? Blake said she’d want people to be devastated and sad. She would like people to remember her humor and that she was loving. Great answer!
If you didn’t need sleep? What would you be doing? Matthew would watch 30 Rock. It may be old to some, but it’s new to him. Binge watching a TV show is never a bad way to spend your time!
What do you love most about yourself? Rafael said he wants to be a good person. He wants to produce good work and he’s proud of that.
A major turning point in your life? Li mentioned a past interview. His honest answer was to not stay with a failing company. After a five hour interview, that question came up and Li was honest. No job, but he was honest. Good job Li!
If there was one thing you would change in your life, what would it be? Karan made some good choices and some bad ones. His heart was in the right place. If he had a redo, he wouldn’t have used too much of his own funds for the startup he started many years ago. Lesson learned.
What are you grateful for in life? I said, life. Being alive and having everything I have is a blessing. Mistakes are made for a reason and lead to better things later in life. The idea of being in my golden years and pondering the many things I regretted keeps me grounded to pursue my dreams now and live life without regret.
That’s all from me! Big thank you to Matthew, LaTanya and Steve. Matthew’s debut as Toastmaster was a memorable one. He guided us along like a pro. Always a pleasure to see LaTanya drop by with news and updates. Thank you Steve for providing the video to cover the missing speeches. Hats off to Ananta, as first time Table Topics Speaker. Great questions that kept us on our toes.
Talk about a switcharoo! Get out those heavy coats, winter has caught us off guard!
See you next time!