The mission of a Toastmasters club
is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in
which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral
communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster
self-confidence and personal growth.
Ada, our president, offers up her usual churlish greeting. Whoops! I mean just the opposite!!! Our word of the day is churlish, meaning surly or difficult to deal with, and Ada is the living antithesis of this. Her smile is friendly, her mood is genuinely warm, and today she opens our meeting with the encouraging chant, "Spring has sprung!" Now we all know better. Spring is still hiding under the snow and ice today, but Peace Speakers choose to will spring into happening. And winter's staying power? This too shall pass!
Today Peace Speakers celebrate their winning video creation for the recent Toastmasters International Branding Contest. Here's the link to view it:
Thanks to individual members, delicious potluck goodies are on the menu for our celebration. Robin starts to play the Oscar nominee song "Happy" just as our meeting begins. She also shares a District 11 Public Relations Contest flyer in hopes our club will make at least one entry in a given division.
A LOVELY SURPRISE
 |
| Robin and Kay receive accolades from Ada |
CELEBRATORY INVOCATION
Kay's invocation today is a
prayer that uses the 12 words we chose for our winning Peace Speakers video. Those select words are highlighted in blue in the prayer below:
Amazing God of Love and
Light,
Today we joyfully gather together to celebrate our good fortune and seek inspiration for the challenges before us. We are members of Peace Speakers, a trans-cultural collection of thoughtful people who are accountable to each other by offering supportive ideas, encouraging words, and meaningful suggestions as we expand ourselves personally and professionally. Help us be thorough in our approaches and affirming with each other as we talk and lead. Stir us to give organized feedback that is rewarding and transformative in the lives of our members. We each have to decide how strong our desire is to be successful in our communication and leadership skills. Inspire us to stay committed in Peace Speakers, push us out of our comfort zones, and help us yield spectacular results from our involvement and hard work. With your influence, God, there is nothing we cannot achieve. Our grateful hearts are full as we close this humble prayer. Amen.
Today we joyfully gather together to celebrate our good fortune and seek inspiration for the challenges before us. We are members of Peace Speakers, a trans-cultural collection of thoughtful people who are accountable to each other by offering supportive ideas, encouraging words, and meaningful suggestions as we expand ourselves personally and professionally. Help us be thorough in our approaches and affirming with each other as we talk and lead. Stir us to give organized feedback that is rewarding and transformative in the lives of our members. We each have to decide how strong our desire is to be successful in our communication and leadership skills. Inspire us to stay committed in Peace Speakers, push us out of our comfort zones, and help us yield spectacular results from our involvement and hard work. With your influence, God, there is nothing we cannot achieve. Our grateful hearts are full as we close this humble prayer. Amen.
JOKE MASTER SHARES SOME RIDDLES
Fred shares a few humorous jokes with us:
How does the man in the moon cut his hair?
Eclipse it!
What did the big bucket say to the little bucket?
You look a little pail!
Why did the skeleton go to the party alone?
He had no body to go with him!
What do you call a bear with no teeth?
A gummy bear.
How do you fix a broken tuba?
With a tuba glue!
Betsy, our Toastmaster for the day, opens the educational part of our meeting. Atop our agenda today is the picture of our club members creating our winning Toastmasters video. She expresses joy at how quickly and masterfully we were able to develop this winning concept.
TABLE TOPICS MASTER FOCUSES ON THE CURRENT
Eva, our Table Topics
Master for the day, shares that her prompts for our 1-2 minute impromptu
talks focus on Lenten practices. She adds that even if you don't
adhere to the practice of Lent, there are always things we want to
change. And, that's the overall focus of her questions today.
NOTE: As the blogger, I added a few comments in italics after each Table Topics speech.
Randy mulls this one over and admits that he gave up chocolate for Lent this year. But chocolate isn't really that big a deal. He feels it's more important to focus on avoiding negative thoughts while at work, at church, and any other situations we find ourselves in at the time. He reminds us to think more about all the ways we are blessed and chooses to not think about negative thoughts during Lent. (Unlike you, Randy, I'd be consumed with wildly negative thoughts if my dark chocolate was out of the picture!!!!)
I should give up _________ for Lent.
Eric shares that he has wanted to buy a car for some time now. He admits he's wasted hours on YouTube and the Internet searching for the car of his dreams, and this is driving his wife crazy! He admits he's been susceptible to endless car commercials while trying to make a good decision. In the end, he thinks that maybe he should give up looking for that special car to buy and just get the one his wife wants! (Hmmmmmm, Eric, have you not learned the lesson "Happy wife...happy life?" Maybe go car hunting together!)
Ada confesses that she loves piddling. It's so soothing! She doesn't watch TV and instead is upstairs, downstairs, and all over the house piddling from one activity to the next. She is searching for a way to stop this. She wants to focus on getting more rest, doing more meditation, and spending more time with God. So she thinks giving up piddling for Lent would serve her well. (Personally, as a professional piddler who operates in a bumblebee-like way around the house doing one thing and then another, I often amuse my husband. It could be a lot worse!)
I should spend more time doing _______ during Lent.
Catherine shares
that a few years ago at a work conference, she chatted with a fellow
who had taken on the spiritual practice of a daily walk to get closer to
God and because he was nature-oriented. She admits that she feels the
same but finds it easy to be lazy and stay home instead. However, now
that spring is upon us, she will add in a daily walk as her Lenten
practice this year. (I may want to join you for a few of those walks around our neighborhood, Catherine!)
What should you do more of during Lent?
Fred suggests
he'd be better off saying "God bless you" more often. After all, it's a
blessing to be alive and associate with others and do things that make
others happy. "God bless you" is biblical and appropriate to say in
many situations. It is also much appreciated. It's a privilege to
receive such a blessing as well. A friend of his died of cancer
recently, and they were able to exchange this blessing between them before he passed.
That was meaningful to each of these men. (So sorry to hear of the loss of your friend, Fred. How fortunate you were to be able to express those heartfelt words to him.)
AND THE WINNER IS...Fred!
After a vote, members decide that Fred has delivered the most compelling Table Topics talk. He gets to take home the trophy until our next meeting on March 19.
Ada, returns to the podium after an interesting round of Table Topics. She closes our Peace Speakers meeting reminding us that soon spring will emerge and we'll be enjoying the fruits of it before long. Some of us have been feeling a bit churlish awakening week after week only to find layers of ice, more snow, additional school closings, and cancelled events due to the frigid weather. There is a lot to look forward to...and in the meantime...we'll take one day at a time, be fully present, and make the most of what is presented to us.
If you're a visitor to this blog, drop in for a few of our meetings and see what
they're like. Unlike today, we usually have a speech in addition to Table Topics. The meetings are meaningful and fun. Who knows, maybe you'll find opportunities to grow your communication skills, enhancing your
professional realm and personal relationships.
We are an open Toastmasters club,
so please pay us a visit!
OUR NEXT FEW 2014 MEETINGS:
MARCH 19 - Conference Room B
APRIL 2 - Conference Room B
Peace Speakers Toastmasters Club
Presbyterian Center
1st and 3rd Wednesdays (usually)
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
100 Witherspoon Street
Downtown Louisville, KY
Respectfully submitted,
Kay Chambers
VP of Public Relations for Peace Speakers
To access our previous blogs, here are the links:
(We kept running out of space and needed to start a new one!)
No comments:
Post a Comment