|
Let the Contests Begin!
|
Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest
winners join the Contestmaster, Chief Judge and Test Speaker for a
post-contest photo-op. From left to right, Jackie Pease, Milo Holt, Chief
Judge Cindy Gardner (President, City of Jacksonville Toastmasters), Test
Speaker George Addington (City of Jacksonville Toastmasters), Millie
Tannen, Contestmaster Richard Welty and Grant McManus.
|
|
|
Business Meeting
|
Danny Pritchard presiding
|
|
President Danny Pritchard opened the
meeting by introducing guests Maxienne Samuels, invited by Ulrich Leinhase,
H.F. Molyneux, a member of Worksource Toastmasters, and James Gardner, the
spouse of Chief Judge Cindy Gardner.
|
|
Pritchard reminded members that Area
Humorous Speech and Evaluation contests will be held Friday, September 12,
6:30 PM at the Southside Library. He encouraged all members to come out and
support our club’s contestants.
Danny also called for a volunteer to
serve as Test Speaker for the Beaches Club Evaluation Contest on Monday,
September 8. Former Toast of Jax member Jim Columbus now serves as
President of the Beaches Club and has requested a Test Speaker from among
longtime friends.
|
|
Toastmaster David Rafanowicz advised
that the new club pins had arrived and were now available at $5.00 for
members and $7.00 for non-members (all proceeds support the club). He
thanked Toastmaster Steve Lazar for the initial logo design and suggested
that we now have another means to get the Toast of Jax name out there. (By
meeting’s end, 16 of 17 members present had purchased a pin).
|
|
Rafanowicz requested that the club
recognize Toastmaster Ulrich Leinhase, who retired this week after a long
and distinguished career with the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Ulrich will now serve full time in his capacity as
President and CEO of Maximum Success, Inc., a real estate education company
that provides training opportunities to real estate professionals and
investors and to individuals interested in launching a real estate career.
Leinhase credits Toast of Jax with helping him develop the skills necessary
for maximum success. He hosts a television show on real estate and is
currently negotiating with a local radio station. Congratulations Ulrich!
|
|
Toastmaster Ramin Mahmoodi announced
that he will be hosting a seminar in two weeks and credited his Toastmaster
skills for making that possible. He invited members to attend at no cost.
Details were available in a hand-out and will be reported here next week.
|
|
Last but not least, Club Treasurer Fushan Zhang reminded
members that dues are due. The club would like to have all dues collected
by the September 20 meeting so that the Toastmasters International
remittance can be timely.
|
|
Humorous Speech & Evaluation
Contests
|
|
Contestmaster
|
Richard Welty
|
|
Humorous Speech Contest
|
|
Chief Judge Cindy Gardner, President of the City of
Jacksonville Toastmasters club, kicked off the contest by reading the
contest rules. Contestmaster Richard Welty then intoned the traditional,
“let the contest begin.”
|
|
Millie Tannen – Curiouser and Curiouser (The joys
and challenges of owning a pet hamster named Curious) (1st Place)
|
|
Grant McManus – Flight of the Hamster (No, Millie
and I did not collude on a rodent theme, but my hamster was far more
challenging than her hamster.) (2nd Place)
|
|
Steve Lazar – A Wedding Toast Masterfully Done
(Why does everyone think that Toastmasters helps us master the art of the
toasts?)
|
|
Evaluation Contest
|
|
Chief Judge Cindy Gardner read the contest rules.
Contestmaster Richard Welty then intoned the traditional, “let the contest
begin” and introduced Test Speaker George Addington of the City of
Jacksonville Toastmasters club.
|
|
George Addington – How I Became a Revenuer (The
tales of Bravo 3 smashing rice wine stills in the jungles of Viet Nam – acting
on orders?)
|
|
Contestants
|
|
|
Jackie Pease (2nd Place)
|
|
Ulrich Leinhase
|
|
Milo Holt (1st Place)
|
|
Jim Domenico
|
|
Contest Awards and Appreciation
|
|
After deliberation and contemplation,
the judges handed down their decisions and passed the results to
Contestmaster Richard Welty. Welty announced that in the Humorous Speech
contest First Place was awarded to Millie Tannen and Second Place went to
Grant McManus (The rodent stories ruled). In the Evaluation Contest, First
Place went to Milo Holt and Toastmaster Jackie Pease won Second Place.
Contestmaster Welty thanked club members who had played a
supporting role in the contests, including Sergeant-at-Arms Davis Loop and
Timers Ramin Mahmoodi and Fushan Zhang, before returning control of the
meeting to President Danny Pritchard.
Pritchard thanked Toastmasters from other clubs for their
support today, including Test Speaker George Addington, Chief Judge Cindy
Gardner, and Judges Marilyn Fenton-Harmer (VP Membership, COJ Toastmasters)
and John Becker (COJ Toastmasters). Danny also announced that all four of
today’s contest winners are eligible to compete in the Area Contests
Friday.
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
|
|
Guest Comments
|
|
|
Maxienne Samuels – “With Wachovia bank; invited by Ulrich
Leinhase.”
James Gardner – “Employed by the State of Florida; guest of
Chief Judge Cindy Gardner.”
H. F. Molyneux – “Club Secretary for
Worksource Toastmasters and came out to see how Toast of Jax works. I’d
like to join this club.”
|
|
Joke Meister
|
David Rafanowicz (The Mayonnaise Jar)
|
|
A philosophy professor stood before his
new class and held up a very large, empty mayonnaise jar. He proceeded to
fill it with golf balls and then asked his students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor then poured a box of
marbles into the jar and shook it lightly, whereupon the marbles filled the
gaps between the golf balls. He again asked if the jar was full and the
students agreed that it was.
He then poured in a bag of sand and
shook the jar lightly. The students all agreed, once again, that the jar
was full; whereupon the professor reached into his desk, produced two cans
of Budweiser and poured them into the jar.
“Now it IS full,” he declared and
screwed a lid on the jar.
After a long, awkward silence, one of
the students raised his hand and asked the point of the exercise.
“Glad you asked,” said the professor,
“You see, this jar represents the time continuum of your life. The golf
balls are the important things--your faith, your family, your children,
your health, your friends, your favorite passions--things that if
everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be
full.
"The marbles are the other things
that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything
else--the small stuff.”
"Now, if you put the sand into the
jar first," he continued, "there’s no room for the marbles or the
golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy
on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are really
important. Too much sand will crowd out the important things.”
After another awkward silence, a student
raised her hand and declared, “I get it! But what about the beer? What does
that represent?”
“Glad you asked,” replied the professor,
“The important lesson here is that no matter how busy you are, there's
always time or a couple of beers."
|
|
Announcements
|
|
|
President Danny Pritchard thanked
Toastmaster Jackie Pease for sewing the club’s most recent award ribbons
onto the club banner.
Toastmaster John Becker of the City of
Jacksonville Toastmasters club recognized Toastmaster Roy Kenski in
absentia. Becker said that Roy has been a tremendous asset to their
one-year-old club. In addition to his long service with Toast of Jax, Roy
is a member and officer of the fledgling City of Jacksonville club. Becker
thanked Roy for all his hard work in making the club a success.
|
|
Attendance 17 members and 7
guests (including contest guests)
|
|
Presiding Officer Danny Pritchard adjourned the meeting with
a decidedly Presidential flourish at approximately 9:16 a.m.
Another great contest semi-annual meeting. A good time was
had by all!
This section is available for members to submit an article
on how Toastmasters has positively impacted their lives. Publication is
subject to editorial discretion based upon appropriateness of content,
length and language. Articles should be limited to 250 words (and a
photograph if appropriate). A maximum of one such item will be published in
each edition. Members are encouraged to submit an article. (For anyone concerned
about authoring a publishable article, please submit a draft with main
thoughts and ideas for consideration. It will be edited and returned for
review before publication.)
David Rafanowicz
reporting
Grant McManus,
Photographer
David Rafanowicz,
Editor
|
