I failed to log a blog post of our November 14th meeting. Shame on me. In my excuse I was the 2nd speaker of the night. My speech was entitled, “Brandon’s 9-20-9 Plan to Save America.” I may have cribbed some of my ideas from another fairly famous plan with numbers. The best speaker of the night award went to Michael Cooper, Norman Adcox won Best Evaluator, Mary Halter won best table topics for her song, that she sung, Silent Night.
The November 28th Meeting blog post begins here. You have been so warned.
Michael C.’s is the first speaker of the night. His speech’s goal is to deliver bad news. He created a fictitious company named, Soleful Shoes, who has recently laid off scores of middle management. The production staff is nervous. Additionally, a large order of 50,000 boots delivered to Sears has been returned for quality issues. To make matters worse, there is going to be a 10-day furlough at the end of December for all employees. Michael’s job is to deliver the bad news while reinforcing the financial stability of the company.
Joe H’s speech educated us on the history of tea. White teas (light), black teas (robust), green tea, Boston Tea Party (fights), etc. To make sure we were in the spirit of all that is tea, Joe’s trusty assistant, Mary (his wife), the entire club was offered a choice of a variety of teas. Super fine orange flowery peco. Tea improves cognitive abilities. Yep, tea makes you smarter.
Norm A. is in charge of Table Topics for the night. I have a feeling it’s going to be holiday related. At this exact moment the speech evaluators are finishing up their evaluations and there’s a lull in the meeting. A great time to get in a few extra notes here for the blog. By-the-by, if you’re thinking about visiting a ToastMasters club, stop delaying and drop on by. We love having guests.
Norm A. is now starting the Table Topics. Sure enough, it’s holiday-themed. In a twist of regular Table Topics, Norm is going to start by reading the beginning of a well known Christmas poem. He is then going to call on a member to continue the story. That member will continue the story until they receive a green light (at least 1 minute), and then they will call on another member to continue the story. This will happen repeatedly until all members speak or we run out of time.
Brandon H. introduced a Grinch who stole all the presents. Linda R. introduced children who stole the presents back from the Grinch’s cave. The Grinch fell and hit his head when the children twirled him around. Michael brought in an insurance adjuster to replace the presents. Meanwhile the children are bringing back the presents. Mary H. brings in insurance fraud. The children find a mechanical locomotive device in the Grinch’s cave that will help bring back the presents. Kris K. finds the parents discovering the children driving back the monster vehicle. Police report now includes grand theft auto, driving without a license. Officer Jones is the Grinch’s relative. Joe H. brings all the presents back and restores order to save Christmas for these poor children.
John R. is our first evaluator and he will be evaluating Michael C. He recommended more dramatic pauses and slowing of speech for important points.
Michael C. is our second evaluator and he will be evaluating Joe H. Michael recommended pairing down the amount of information and introducing some visual aids.
The awards for the evening are as follows:
Best Speaker: Joe H.
Best Evaluator: Michael C.
Best Table Topics: Joe H.
