May 20

The May 20 meeting has been cancelled because most Prebyterian Center employees will be on furlough that week and the Presbyterian Center will be operating with limited staff. Peace Speakers will meet next on Wednesday, May 6, and Wednesday, June 3 - both at 1 p.m. in Conference Room B, at the Presbyterian Center, at 100 Witherspoon Street, in downtown Louisville, a couple of blocks from the waterfront. Normally, the club meets from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, at the Presbyterian Center.

Welcome, Gary!

New member Gary Warren has the distinction of bleeding both red and blue. He’s got master’s degrees from both the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Gary is a long-time local librarian and runner and lives in the South End. Welcome to Peace Speakers!

-- Perry

Suggestions

Toastmasters International encourages clubs to have someone always standing at the lectern during club meetings (except if a prepared speaker or the Table Topics master stands in front of the lectern or wanders around the room a little or perhaps if a Table Topics Master finishes up Table Topics and then we’re giving people time to vote). People done with what they have to do at the lectern should wait for the next person to come up. Except sometimes with the invocation, we should clap during lectern exchanges and the people exchanging the lectern should shake hands with each other.

When serving on the evaluation team, we’ve also traditionally stood when we’re explaining our responsibilities and when we’re presenting our reports. Timers have also turned on the green light, then turned it off and turned on the yellow light, and then turned it off and turned on the red light. In my opinion, there should not be multiple lights on at once.

-- Perry

April 1 meeting

President Glenn Lewis opened the meeting at 1:05 p.m., and introduced the invocation leader, Joelle Anderson. She offered a prayer by the Trappist monk Charles de Foucauld, called the “Prayer of Abandonment.”

Glenn welcomed members and guests, and invited first-time visitor Damon Ford to introduce himself. Glenn then led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Glenn then opened the business part of the meeting. The minutes for the March 18, 2009 meeting were approved as written. Glenn announced that Joelle Anderson and Deborah Hoff had officially joined Toastmasters since the last meeting.

Treasurer Ada Middleton congratulated everyone for paying their membership dues on time. She was able to send a check to Toastmasters International before the April 1 deadline. She said Patricia Longfellow, whose membership has lapsed, hopes to return to meetings and pay her dues soon.

Glenn called attention to a handout about the Toastmasters International District 11 spring conference in Indianapolis, April 17–18. He encouraged members to visit the Peace Speakers blog (http://peacespeakers.blogspot.com/) and leave comments.

Glenn, who was also serving as Toastmaster for the day, invited members of the Evaluation Team to explain their responsibilities: Speech Evaluator—Eva Stimson; Timer— Ada Middleton; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Susan EngPoole; Vote Counter— Deborah Hoff.

Susan EngPoole introduced the word of the day, genre (noun: jon-rah): (1) a category of artistic, musical, or literary compostition characterized by a particular style, form, or content (2) kind, sort (3) painting that depicts scenes or events from everyday life, usually realistically. Example: Music can be divided into genres in many different ways.

Glenn introduced Eric Darnell, who gave his Project #3 “Get to the Point” speech from the Competent Communication Program Manual. The topic of his speech was “Morel Mushrooms: Elusive Prey.”

Glenn then introduced Becki Moody to lead Table Topics. She invited four people to speak on topics related to April Fools day. Each topic was a famous quote containing the word “fool.”

Glenn then called for reports from the evaluation team. Speech Evaluator Eva Stimson gave Eric Darnell high marks for presentation, for moving out from behind the podium and speaking without notes, and for using visual aids, gestures and body language effectively to help make his points. She liked his humor and conversational style. She thought his conclusion was a little abrupt, and the speech would have been improved by stating the “specific purpose” more clearly at the beginning.

Timer Ada Middleton reported the following times:
Eric Darnell’s speech 8:31

Table Topics:
Eva Stimson 1:53
Susan EngPoole 1:26
Kim Kaberle 5:57
Deborah Hoff 1:49

Speech evaluation 2:31

Ah Counter/Grammarian Susan EngPoole reported that the word of the day was used two times. Susan also counted 21 space fillers.

Vote Counter Deborah Hoff reported that her own Table Topics speech received the most votes. Becki presented her with a prize and trophy to keep until the next meeting.

In his closing remarks Toastmaster and President Glenn Lewis pointed out the flying penguins photo on the day’s program, explaining that this was an April Fool’s joke. He announced that the Peace Speakers Toastmasters officers would meet Tuesday, April 21, from 1–2 p.m. at the Presbyterian Center. The next Peace Speakers Toastmasters meeting is at 1 p.m. April 15 in Conference Room B.

-- Eva

Prayers for Ada

Those of you who pray might pray for healing for our club treasurer, Ada Middleton, who was involved in a serious car accident this past Wednesday afternoon (during Holy Week). The driver of a minivan apparently fell asleep, and his minivan hit Ada’s car, ultimately sending three people to the hospital. Ada was diagnosed with a concussion and an ankle injury and given a splint for her ankle and pain medication. Her car was totaled. Ada nevertheless returned to work today.

Also working with health care providers this week is Becki Moody, our vice president for membership. Becki continues to explore possible responses to her own health problems.

March 18 meeting

President Glenn Lewis opened the meeting at 1:05 p.m., and introduced the invocation leader, Valerie Mansfield. She read a selection from the Daily Word on forgiveness, followed by Matthew 18:21–22.

Glenn led the Pledge of Allegiance. He welcomed members and guests, and invited first-time visitor Kim Kaberle to introduce herself.

Glenn then opened the business part of the meeting. Valerie Mansfield made a motion that the minutes for the March 4, 2009 meeting be approved as written. The motion was seconded and approved.

Treasurer Ada Middleton announced that all but a few people have paid their membership dues. Two new members joined and paid dues at the March 18 meeting. Dues must be sent to Toastmasters International by April 1.

Glenn announced several changes in the meeting program due to last-minute absences. He said he would replace Perry Chang as Table Topics master and Deborah Hoff would replace Betsy Blocker as timer.

Glenn introduced Toastmaster Eva Stimson to begin the educational program. Eva invited members of the Evaluation Team to explain their responsibilities: Timer—Deborah Hoff; Ah Counter/Grammarian—Ada Middleton; Vote Counter—Gary Warren.

Ada introduced the word of the day, immoderate (adjective): Exceeding just, usual, or suitable bounds; going beyond a normal limit (immoderate spending, immoderate eating). Example: The buffet at Golden Corral attracted customers with immoderate appetites but limited cash in their pockets.

Eva introduced Glenn Lewis, who led a special expanded Table Topics competition on the theme of March Madness/Sports. For Round #1 he invited seven people to speak on topics related to various types of sports or sporting events. He then asked those present to vote for the best speech on the slips of paper provided. Vote counter Gary Warren declared that the winner of Round #1 was Eva Stimson, whose topic was running.

For Round #2 Glenn invited five people to speak on topics related to famous people in sports. In a vote following the speeches listeners chose Eric Darnell, who spoke about Rick Pitino (pictured above) as the winner of Round #2.

Glenn explained that Round #3 would be a run-off between the winners of Rounds #1 and #2. He invited Eva and Eric each to draw the name of a city that hosted March Madness games and speak about it. After a vote, Gary Warren declared Eric the overall winner of Table Topics, and Eva the runner up. Eric spoke about Portland, Ore., and Eva spoke about Philadelphia, Pa. They each received a prize and a trophy to keep until the next meeting.

Eva then called for reports from the evaluation team. Timer Deborah Hoff reported the following times for the Table Topics speeches:

Round #1:
Valerie Mansfield 1:09
Eric Darnell 1:14
Joelle Anderson 1:28
Ada Middleton 1:21
Gary Warren 45 seconds
Eva Stimson 2:07
Deborah Hoff 1:21

Round #2:
Valerie Mansfield 48 seconds
Joelle Anderson 39 seconds
Eric Darnell 1:30
Gary Warren 48 seconds
Deborah Hoff 18 seconds

Round #3:
Eric Darnell 1:08
Eva Stimson 1:40

Ah Counter/Grammarian Ada Middleton reported that the word of the day was used 1 time, by Gary Warren. (Eva Stimson used the word 1 time following Ada’s report.) Ada also counted 19 space fillers and 2 sentence fragments.

After closing remarks, Toastmaster Eva Stimson turned the meeting back over to President Glenn Lewis. He announced that the Peace Speakers Toastmasters officers would meet Tuesday, March 24, at 1 p.m. in room 1050 at the Presbyterian Center, and the next Peace Speakers Toastmasters meeting would be at 1 p.m. April 1 in Conference Room B.

Glenn also announced that Valerie Mansfield would be using her speaking skills to teach a class at Unity of Louisville April 13–17. He adjourned the meeting at 1:58 p.m.

-- Perry