Business Meeting

Jim Akers presiding

President Jim Akers began by recognizing those who gave their lives in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

President Akers announced that there will be an Officers Training session in Orlando, Florida as part of a Planet Toastmasters program to be held January 5. For details, click <<here>>.  VP Education & Training Danny Pritchard added that the Division Governor was also considering an Officer’s Training Program within the Division.

Regular Club Meeting

Toastmaster

Chris Spears (Holiday cheers and how to care for your Christmas tree.)

Word of the Day

Reciprocate (verb)

give mutually: to give or feel something mutually or in return

e.g. I couldn’t accept such a generous gift without reciprocating.

Ribbon for best use to Shauib Karim

Table Topics

Mel Epley (Times to Remember)

Beverly Farnell

Tell us about Thanksgiving Day (0:55)

Jackie Pease

Tell us about Black Friday (1:28)

Richard Welty

Tell us about what happened on December 7, 1941 (1:44)

David Rafanowicz

Strom Thurman celebrated his birthday December 5th. Should there be a maximum age to retire from public office? (1:45)

Nandu Shah

Calendar-wise it is not winter yet. What about this weather? (1:52) (Best)

Speakers

Ron Johnson

Kurt Corbain, Cultural Icon or Idiot?  (A Retrospective Glance at a Difficult Story from an Alternative Perspective) (9:06)

Steve Lazar

Speech Craft – A Special Gift (Helping Others by Sharing the Gift of Communication Skills)(7:06)

Shauib Karim

Listening - Is it important for Communication (Not by the Hair of My Cheeky-cheek-cheek) (7:11) (Best)

Ulrich Leinhase

Taxes (Making the Inevitable Less Painful Through Good Planning and Insight) (13:46)

Evalumaster

Danny Pritchard (Protocol calls for the person leaving the lectern to exit behind the person arriving at the lectern and to assure that the lectern is always occupied. Overall, excellent meeting)

Evaluators

Kamlesh Fadia (3:02)

Fushan Zhang (3:30)

Millie Tannen (2:12)

Felix Unger (3:17) (Best)

Educational

Beverly Farnell scheduled. Educational speech omitted due to time constraints.  

Miscellaneous

Guest Comments

One guest was expected. None were present. 

Joke Meister

Jim Domenico (Squeezing Blood from a Stone)

I recently read a news article that featured fellow Toastmaster John Roberts. It involved a local pub that had posted a sign announcing a $1,000 prize for the person with the most arm strength.

Under rules of the contest, a huge, burly bartender would squeeze a lemon. Any contestant who was able to squeeze more juice out of the lemon would win the $1,000 prize.

Several big, bulky contestants tried – among them were lumberjacks, longshoremen, and steelworkers – but none were able to extract even a single drop of juice from the severely squished lemons.

One day, the mild-mannered John Roberts strolled into the establishment, saw the sign and asked to participate in the contest.  The bartender chuckled. “We’ve had far bigger men than you try and fail,” he said. But John insisted.

The bartender crushed a lemon in his strong right hand and turned the lifeless remains over to John. With seemingly little effort, John smiled and squeezed another six drops of juice from the citrus cadaver. 

“Wow!” exclaimed the bartender, “That amazing. How’d you do that?”

“I’m with the IRS,” explained John.

Announcements

David Rafanowicz announced that Club Secretary Yurania Causey had come up with an idea to include an Ah Counter’s report in the weekly newsletter to help members improve communication skills. Fair notice was given that effective with the next meeting, use of ahs, ums, ers, double-clutches, etc. will appear in a newsletter section titled: Silence is Golden.

Attendance   23 members and no guests

Presiding Officer Jim Akers adjourned the meeting with a decidedly Presidential flourish at approximately 9:15 a.m.

Another great meeting and a good time was had by all!

Yurania Causey reporting

David J. Rafanowicz, Editor