Hello Fellow Marsh Wind Toastmasters! I hope this day finds you staying warm and sunny in your hearts and celebrating each day as if it is your birthday. Here’s to you!
Mark Forsberg, DTM, did the honors of preparing the room, and being our Sergeant-at-Arms. He ably remembered that today is exactly the 85th anniversary of the official beginnings of Toastmasters, an auspicious date to be sure. He shared the thoughts of the Toastmasters International President, Gary Schmidt, to start us off, stating that to communicate ideas well is a means of “improving life in all its phases”. Here’s to improving phases!
After a few words of welcome to our guest, James, our co-VP Membership, Deborah Dora, CTM, glided smoothly into her role as both Ah-Counter and Grammarian. Her choice of word for the day for this celebration: Razzle-dazzle. Her ah-counting report at the end of the meeting demonstrated world-class listening abilities. Here’s to incredible listening without the razzle-dazzle!
Filling in the role of timer at the last minute was our other co-VP Membership, Ruth Fernandez. She made the job look much easier than it actually is, to be sure, so here’s to keeping time effortlessly!
We had three outstanding presenters who shared their expertise and stories with us today:
Stacey Modahl, co-Sergeant-at-Arms, gave her Ice Breaker entitled, "The Challenge”. The story was eloquently relayed and masterfully written speech about a two-mile outdoor swimming race. Inspirational thinking abounding as we heard, ”Think positive… you’ll be fine!” Stacey was awarded the coveted “Toastmaster of the Day Award” for her very first speech! Here’s to you, Stacey!
Lee Handwerger, VP Education delivered his eighth speech entitled, ”It’s Optional”. His humor did not end with this tricky title, as his speech was on the buying and selling of options, a skill that he has expertise in and will use well in his new-new job at Cargill. Here’s to new-new jobs and all the best to Lee!
Betty Liedtke, DTM, gave the first half of an inspirational speech that is slated to be the keynote address at the upcoming Distirct 6 conference this weekend. In response to the district’s motto this year, “Dare to be Distinguished!”, she entitled her talk “In Undistinguished Company”. Her speech in one word: amazing. Here’s to hearing the speech in its entirety soon and perhaps every year!
Ralph Smedley, the founder of Toastmasters 85 years ago, said “The ability to approach an audience in a friendly style is partly a gift of nature, and partly a cultivated art. It is worth cultivating if you want to be as effective as possible in your speech”. Celebrating 85 years of individual personal growth, here’s to Toastmasters! Happy Day!
Toastmaster Dawn Anderson
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