Business Meeting

Jim Akers presiding

Vice President Membership presented the membership applications of Mady Janisch and Gail Antonie for consideration. Motions to accept the applications were made, seconded and discussed Welcome new members Mandy Janisch (Mandy’s e-mail address will be Mandy@Toastofjax.org) and Gail Antonie (Gail’s e-mail address will be Gail@Toastofjax.org)

President Jim Akers reviewed our Club’s standing in the Toastmasters International “Distinguished Club Program.” He reported that we have an opportunity to reach the top level, “President's Distinguished Club,” if we achieve one more ATM and at least one Competent Leader or DTM before June 30, and if complete officer training later this month. 

Toastmaster Kamlesh Fadia plans to accomplish his ATM very shortly and Akers plans to personally achieve the Competent Leader level before the deadline. Officer’s Training is scheduled for Thursday, January 23. See details <here>.

Regular Club Meeting

Toastmaster

Milo Holt (Lutefisk – dried cod fish treated with lye – and other enjoyable Norwegian traditions)

Word of the Day

unctuous (adj.)

1.  excessively ingratiating: attempting to charm or convince somebody in an unpleasantly suave, smug, or smooth way 

2.  oily, fatty, or greasy: resembling or containing oil, fat, or grease 

Ribbon for best use: Fadia Kamlesh

Table Topics

Jim Domenico (The Culture of the Hats)

(Note: Participants chose two numbers, one for a hat and one for a question. They then were to tailor their replies based upon the hat.)

Shauib Karim

#2 – Hard hat, #5 – Explain the concept of an ideal woman to a the man in the hard hat. (2:05)

Mel Epley

#7 – Spanish hat, #4 – Explain how to make an American sandwich to this Spanish person. (1:16)

Yurania Causey

#3 – Norwegian hat, #2 - How would you define the ideal man to a Scandinavian lady? (1:20) (Best)

Richard Welty

#1 – Tunisian hat, #1 - Explain how airplanes fly to this man from Tunisia (1:54)

Fushan Zhang

#5 – Mongolian prince’s hat, #6 - Explain American football to this Mongolian prince. (0:51)

Speakers

Ron Johnson

Communicating More Effectively To Learning Styles (Know Your Audience – Not Everyone Hears the Same Way) (7:41)

Beverly Farnell

Risk vs. Return (Getting What You Want Out of Life – An Alternative to the Corporate ‘La Vida Loca’) (7:34)

Jackie Pease

The Miser and the Fairy Gump (A Fascinating Fairy Tale for Adults to Recapture Their Youth) (6:23)

David Rafanowicz

Quality and Success are Directly Proportional to Effort (An ‘Outside the Box’ Icebreaker Speech on Getting Out of Life What One Puts In) (10:28) (Best)

Evalumaster

Roy Kenski (Review of the strong points)

Evaluators

Monica Harrell (1:49)

Danny Pritchard (2:15)

Chris Spears (2:48) (Best)

Kamlesh Fadia (2:31)

Educational

Jim Akers – The Effective Use of Humor (Setting Up the Alleged Kleptomaniac for a Few Laughs)

Miscellaneous

Guest Comments

No guests. Two new members instead.

Joke Meister

Jackie Pease (She Who Must be Obeyed!)

One night, a torrential rain soaked Louisiana.  The next morning the resulting floodwaters had risen about six feet into most of the homes.  Sitting atop one roof were two older women, Frances and Irene, waiting for help to arrive.

Irene noticed a baseball cap float up near the house, but then it floated away to where the edge of the front yard would be. The baseball cap then reversed direction and returned to the house before it suddenly floated away again. 

She pointed to the cap and said to Frances, "You see that there cap a floatin’ back and forth?  Must be awfully weird currents in them flood waters". 

Frances responded, "Oh that's just my husband. I told that lazy cuss that he was gonna cut the grass today, come hell or high water!"

Announcements

We will have an  Innduction Ceremony for new members next week in lieu of a fourth speaker. Toastmaster Monica Harrell volunteered to move from Speaker #4 next week to the same slot at the January 25 meeting.

There is a Speaker slot available for the February 8 meeting.  If interested, please advise VP Education and Training Danny Pritchard ASAP, as it will likely go quickly. Danny can be reached at danny@toastofjax.org.

Attendance   23 members and no guests.

Presiding Officer Jim Akers adjourned the meeting with a decidedly Presidential flourish at approximately 9:23 a.m.

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

Yurania Causey reporting

David J. Rafanowicz, Editor