A Catered Affair   Mark your calendars, for you and your date!  Our annual Holiday Party will be on Saturday, December 10th, at the beautiful, palatial home of our hostess, Rebecca Shakib.  This is the night we can let our hair down and whoop it up in dressy attire.   Catered by the famous Wood Ranch restaurant, which is popular for its delectable fare, including tri trip, chicken, beans, coleslaw, whipped sweet potatoes, and rolls.  Snacks, soft drinks, wine, dessert, and coffee will also be provided.   This gala begins at 6:30 p.m. with dinner served at 7:30 p.m.  Headed by Maya Debus, we're checking out fun and zany entertainment options for your evening pleasure.  If you have a special talent--please don't hold out on us!   The cost for this lovely evening is a modest $10.00.  If you'd like to attend, please submit your payments to Rose Lane no later than November 30th.

At the last meeting, Warner Center Toastmasters inducted two new members into its ranks: Taguhi Grajyan and Nastaran Motiei.  Keeping with the theme of the evening, "In the Mood for Food," Topic Master, David Wurth, posed culinary centered questions.  During the Table Topics session Monish Sharma admitted that peas gave him the creeps as a kid, Tess Asiala told that the crowd that she "hasn't met a chocolate chip cookie that she didn't like, and the anti-connoisseur of food, Stewart Juggler, won Best Table Topics for disclosing that he eats everything.  Although he didn't win Table Table Topics, one of the most memorable responses came from Nitin Arneja who made rationalized the difference between American and Indian cows. 

Erin O'Neill started off the speech portion of the evening with her second speech entitled, "What I Didn't Know Then."  Through the use of short, personal narratives, Erin explained that "public speaking is a skill we can develop."  She gave the audience three of the essential ingredients to a successful speech.  The first ingredient, choose a topic you connect with, she learned in first grade after an unsuccessful speaking experience.  She learned the second ingredient, be excited about your topic after another unsatisfying speaking experience in 8th grade.  The final ingredient for public speak is to know your audience, a lesson she learned in her senior year of high school.  Put the three elements together, she said, and anyone can give a successful speech. 

Don West, giving speech #5, told a humorous tale about his brush with the FBI.  For Don, the trouble started when a friend told him that braces would make him ineligible for the draft, "they can't draft you with braces on.  You'd glow in the dark!"  Taking his friend's advice, Don went to see a local dentist who explained that because of Don's overbite he would need braces.  Although the military thought that Don "would be a great officer candidate," the braces Don had gave him a medical deferment.  Then, in 1971, Don was visited by FBI agents who had him go down to the Los Angeles Federal Building for an interrogation.  Noticing that he no longer had braces, the FBI Agents grilled Don about being a draft dodger and/or a conscientious objector.  It was this experience that prompted Don to serve his country by joining the Naval Reserve. 

Dennis Rowe, on of our advanced Toastmasters, gave a speech about unleashing your inner creativity.  He explained that there are three steps to the creative developmental process: preparation, incubation, and the a-ha moment.  Dennis used the stories of Newton and Archimedes to explain that anyone can find new uses for ordinary objects.  He encouraged the crowd to try this by picking something, such as a brick, and trying to come up with as many uses as possible.  His speech encouraged the audience to "look at things through new glasses" and explore our own potential for innovation and invention. 

The final speech of the evening came from a smooth-talking Chick Saffell.  Entitled "The War Time Love Story," Chick's speech was a heart-warming recounting of how he met and married his wife.  Chick's story started in 1942, when at 19 years old he was drafted for WWII.  Just before Chick left to serve his country, he met and fell in love with a woman he met at a party.  Although he was gone for three years, Chick returned home to marry the woman whose picture he carried around with him during his tour of Europe.  Today, Chick and his wife have been married for nearly 60 years and he still has the picture of her that kept him throughout the war.  The moral of the story, Chick said, was that if you want something, go get it.

Awards for November 10, 2005 Trophy Master: Vlada Dmyrentko
Stuart Juggler Best Table Topics	Chick Saffell Best Speech	Susan Mayberry Best Evaluator

Are you thinking of visiting Warner Center Toastmasters?
  
The purpose of Toastmasters is to help you develop your public (and private) speaking skills, improve your self-confidence in business and personal situations, and to help you define yourself to your world more clearly. Why fumble around in the dark with your self-image? You can communicate more effectively than you ever dreamed possible!

If this sounds good to you, then come join us for a light buffet and some great speakers at the Warner Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills. Among the most prestigious and popular Toastmasters meeting locations in greater Los Angeles, the Marriott provides a wide variety of superb meeting rooms for one of Los Angeles' finest Toastmasters organizations.  

Warner Center Toastmasters has been enhancing careers and enriching interpersonal communications for our members for more than two decades. Why leave great speaking skills to politicians and CEO's? You too can speak like a pro, and we'll show you how. 

It all comes together in a clearly defined and well-supported program of speeches and exercises that help you to sharpen your verbal skills, organize your words and gestures, and make you fast on your feet. Lose your fear of speaking in front of a large group, and you'll feel more relaxed speaking to anyone!

The Warner Marriott is located at 21850 Oxnard Street at the corner of Topanga. From Granada Hills to Calabasas, Santa Monica to Chatsworth, we have active members from all over the area.

We DO meet every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month without fail. Meeting begins at 630pm, gavel at 7pm. Meeting concludes approximately 9pm. Guest fee: five dollars.  This site is updated twice a month with forthcoming meeting details, so check back often.  For more information, please contact: