Travelers Noontime Toastmaster #2532

Meeting Minutes – August 7, 2008

Our Mission: The Travelers Noontime Toastmaster (TNT) Club is dedicated to helping individuals improve themselves by sharpening their speaking, listening and thinking skills, all of which are necessary for success at work and at home. We provide a supportive environment with opportunities for public speaking and leadership development.

Chairperson: LaTasha Smith

Toastmaster: Marsha Pritchard

Timer: Stephen Peterson

Grammarian: Tracey Mirando – Today’s word of the day was plausible which means: seeming to be truthful or reasonable, credible.

LaTasha’s Toastmaster tip for the day was – happiness is a decision. We all have the ability to choose to be happy!

Speaker 1:

Richard Acosta, “How to Make God Laugh” (CC #2; 5-7 min.) [Actual Time = 7m 58s]

Today Richard talked to us about making plans. He explained that he loves to travel, and last year he went on his first cruise to Southern Europe. Once he got on the cruise, he had a great time, but getting there sure was a challenge! He was taking a bus to the airport, and didn’t even arrive at the bus station until 1.5 hours before his flight. He barely made it to the airport in time, only to find out his flight was delayed! He finally boarded the plan some time later, and then had to sit on the plan another 2 hours before taking off! He missed his connecting flight and then had to wait another 5 hours for another plane. He finally got a taxi and arrived at the boat just in time!! After going through all of this, he realized that the best way to make God laugh was to try and make a plan .

Evaluator: Jade Tran [Actual Time = 1m 45s]

Speaker 2:

Ed Foerster, “Bailey and the 60% Decision Rule” (CC #4, 5-7 min.) [Actual time = 8m 18s]

Ed’s speech today was about his dog Bailey. When Ed’s family was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard they noticed that their family dog (a 65 lb golden retriever) was getting a little sluggish. Bailey is typically very energetic, however after taking a long walk on the beach they noticed he was panting a lot and dragging behind the family. After their walk, they stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream and noticed that Bailey was still abnormally exhausted. So they took the dog to the ER where the vet discovered a block stop behind Bailey’s heart. The next day they went to their regular doctor who took an ultrasound to determine what could be the cause of the spot. They thought it might be cancer, so Ed started thinking about his 60% decision rule. Normally, people never have 100% of the information they really need to make a decision. So, as long as he has 60%, he typically feels comfortable making the decision. But with Bailey, even with 60% of the information, he could not make a decision to put the dog down or not. He decided that when it comes to family, it’s more like a 95% rule!

Evaluator: Joyce Grose [Actual Time = 3m 30s]

Table Topics:

Chairperson – Steve Petro. For today’s table topics, Steve showed the speaker a children’s drawing and asked them to explain what it was

1. Ed Foerster [Actual Time = 1m 50s]

Ed’s picture was of baby chicks. He explained that it was drawing completed by his whole family as part of a “team building” exercise. Some of the chicks were drawn by his 1 year old son, and the other (more advanced chicks) were drawn by his 7 year old girl.

2. Lisa Lew [Actual Time = 59s]

Lisa’s picture was of herself standing in her yard. She was freaking out about the state of her yard and drew a picture for her husband so he could really tell how she was feeling about the upside down flowers!

3. Michael O’Brien [Actual Time = 1m 11s]

Michael’s picture was a drawing of his plan for decorating his house for Halloween. He was planning on having critters with a net over them and a pumpkin that was on fire! He also is going to hire kids to throw water balloons. But, then he decided to tone it down a notch so he wouldn’t scare away all of the trick or treaters!

4. Richard Acosta [Actual Time = 59s]

Richard’s picture was of him, and was drawn by his new adopted brother. He asked his brother to draw a picture of his favorite person – and he chose to draw a picture of Richard!

General Evaluator:

Mary Serafino

Mary thought that the room was setup well and that we started on time. She thought the introductions were really good, and that the meeting flowed well. She loved the table topics and also thought all of the evaluations were very good.

Quiz Master:

Our Quiz Master, Greg Fennel had great questions from today’s meeting. Everyone did a great job in listening, since all questions were quickly answered correctly. We got 8 out of 8 – great job!

Club Business:

• If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for the fall contest next week

• This coming Monday is Michael’s session on evaluating. Everyone should have received the invitation. Please consider going as this will be a very informative session!

Next Meeting: August 14, 2008

Our next meeting is our fall contest!! Traditional roles do not apply 