Editor: Bill Anderson     August 24, 2006      Warner Center Toastmasters      guests welcomed
"Time Management" (Broadband recommended)

                              

WCTM's annual "White Elephant" auction and dinner brought a throng of Toastmaster club members to the Tarzana home of Soraya and Shaheed Deen this past weekend, where club members exercised their speaking skills once more as they auctioned off valuable items in a torrid, tropical island atmosphere. 

President Carolyn Goldman opened the event by thanking Soraya and Shaheed for their hospitality, and Founder Rose Lane congratulated all members for another successful year, presenting the annual trophies to our members. (See graphic below for the full roll call of awards.)

 

Polynesian dancing (and instruction) in authentic costumes was headed by the talented  Eleonor Arellano and her lovely daughter, Crystal. Eva Barry and Loan Carrison wiggled their way to Polynesia as well in sultry, tropical attire. A Hawaiian wedding song honored our two newlyweds, Maisie and Jim Stentzm as Club Sergeant Sunit Nangia entertained with his music system.

 

For the second year running, former member David DeFore made a special appearance to manage the auction. Thanks to him, and all participants, we more than covered the expenses of this major event.

 

Sincerest thanks to many of our members for contributing to its extraordinary success: President Carolyn Goldman,  Mohnish Sharma, Eva Barry, Sunit Nangia (sound), Helen Wax and hubby Bob (auction treasurers), Arnold Arch, Cate Bramble, and John Graves.                 -RL, JG

A Meeting of Friends

The Pleasure Principle

Chad Celi served as Topicmaster, the first segment of the evening’s program. Flashing his trademark, pearly-white grin, the fun loving Mr. Celi singled out five members of WCTM for a series of questions about, “What is required to experience pleasure?” Those queried included Erin O’Neill, CTM, Bill Anderson, John Graves, CTM-CL, Mohnish Sharma, and Maisie Lee. Bill Anderson took the first-place ribbon for Best Table Topics for his response to the question, “What is the most pleasurable position in sports?” Executing a series of verbal Salchow’s and double, toe-loops, he announced that the jumps and spins of “Ice Skating” were his preferred sports position.

Prepared Speeches: The Sky, a Quake & Other Things

The Prepared Speeches featured a terrific effort by four WCTM members. First up was Geza Kalman with “Our on Ramp to the Sky”, his version of speech #2 from the Communications & Leadership Manual. Beginning his talk with a metaphor that causes all residents of Southern California to shudder - closed freeway on-ramps – Geza described the similar problems that arise when small regional airports are closed. The benefits of these airports (keeping small planes away from passenger planes, emergency landings, and the aesthetic pleasure of watching planes takeoff) he said, “Make them valuable onramps to the community in the sky.”

Colin Giles followed with speech #3 entitled, “The Handicap”. Speaking in a “no-holds-barred” style about his seven years as a “handicapped” person, the wheel chair-bound Mr. Giles disarmed the crowd with both the humanity he displayed and his candor. Whimsy too entered into the mix as he warned about handicapped parking spaces, “Better not park there. The fine costs a lot of money!”

The always perfectly coiffed Jackie Goldberg's offering, “Important People You Can’t Live Without”, fulfilled the requirements of speech #6.  Speaking of the four people that no one can live without – ‘”everybody”, “somebody”, “anybody” and “nobody” – the diminutive pink lady told the crowd, “These are the people that rule our lives. They keep our conversations alive!”

The final offering  was Glen Rankel’s “Predictions”, a speech #7 from the CLM. The subject was earthquakes, and the loquacious, lifelong Californian took the assemblage through his experiences with the major shakers that have occurred, one about every 20 years since 1933. Of the quake experience, Glen observed, “It’s the aftershocks that bother most. They make you think, ‘Is this the big one that pushes California into the ocean?’ In closing, he gave his prediction for the next major seismic event – 2014, exactly 20 years after the Northridge earthquake. For his efforts (and not his prediction!), Glen Rankel was voted the evening’s Best Speaker.

Evaluators Find Members in Rare Form

Evaluations were led by General Evaluator Lois Coburn. Summing up the gathering she said, “This was a great, great, meeting. Everyone was in rare form.” However, in response to several electronic meeting interruptions, she admonished everyone to, “Turn off your cell phones.” Individual evaluations were done by Marie Umali (Geza Kalman), Loan Carrison, ATM-B (Colin Giles), Shelly Bright (Jackie Goldberg), and Rose Lane, DTM (Glen Rankel). The “Best Evaluator” award went to Loan Carrison.        -BA