First Message from Our President

Dear Fellow Marsh Winders,

Greetings to all, and I hope this afternoon finds each of you active, healthy, and with a song in your heart.

I have been president for ten days now, and golly, how time has flown. It is an honor and a blessing to be trusted by all of you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve and learn.

My learning curve is steep, and I will continue to work on figuring out who does what, and what I need to do to best serve our fabulous club. Please know that I will strive to continually improve my communication and leadership skills and also welcome any and all direct feedback. We are all on this journey together, and many of us recognize and appreciate how supportive and convivial our club is. (A good Toastmasters vocabulary word – convivial - which is an adjective meaning enjoyable because of its friendliness
;-) ) It is truly a blessing to part of Marsh Winds (really!).

I would like to thank the past executive committee for setting up everything to run smoothly and with excellence in every corner. Bravo! I would type the names here, but fear I would forget someone, so please just know that these thanks are specific to each of you.

We all appreciate the marvelous variety of talents and temperaments in our club, and because of unified efforts by all members, Marsh Winds achieved all ten out of ten points in the 2008-2009 year towards the Distinguished Club Program. Here is the web address for all of the District Clubs and their point scores. It has not been updated for the end of the year, so check it in a few weeks again, to see how we have a “P” for President’s Distinguished Club by Marsh Winds. Amazing! I believe that it is definitely again a realistic goal for our club to achieve this level of distinction for the coming year.

One of the most pivotal roles at our club meetings is that of Toastmaster. The Toastmaster at a meeting helps set a creative and energetic tone, enriches our lives with individual personality and new ideas, and organizes the agenda so the meeting flows smoothly. Also, the Toastmaster makes sure that most of the other jobs at the meeting are filled. We have even had a brand new member be Toastmaster, and my goodness, that went smoothly. I think the whole team pulls together beautifully when the need is there, too. Please feel free to sign up to be Toastmaster on the duty roster for the upcoming months. It would help reduce my stress level and that of the VP’s Education (Crissy and Lee) if that particular job is signed up for weeks in advance. So sign into the duty roster and pick one future week. It’ll be fun! And even if it isn’t fun, it’ll be wonderful.

This coming week, there is an executive meeting at 8:15. At the 9:15 meeting (we can all arrive by 9:05 or 9:10 to make this happen on time), we look forward to speeches by Lisa and Lee, Table Topics by Marleen, and also pitching in are Sandy, Shaun and Jennifer Ray. We do still need Toastmaster most of all, then also two evaluators. Plus, there is still room for one more speaker… and the theme is still up in the air. The possibilities are plentiful, so check out that duty roster and sign up soon, please.

Just a few times a year the District sponsors a "TELI" and we get to have one in a week… Check on-line at the District 6 website:

http://www.d6tm.org/TELI

Every single one of us welcome, and without the luncheon, the cost is only 5 dollars. I went to my first TELI before I was even a member, and it impressed me with how organized and professional Toastmasters is; plus I learned some wonderful things, met a few new people, and enjoyed seeing fellow Marsh Winders there.

Thank you all,

We’ll have a fun, thought-provoking, joy-spreading and creative year!

“Dare to be Distinguished

Accept the Challenge”

. . .Toastmasters!

Dawn Anderson

President, Marsh Winds Toastmasters