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Editor: Bill Anderson    September 28, 2006      Warner Center Toastmasters      guests welcomed
Theme: "Words"

Class is in Session

Twenty-eight members and three guests gathered in the Marriott’s Ventura Room for Warner Center Toastmaster’s regular meeting on September 14th. Toastmaster, Rose Lane, DTM introduced the theme of the evening, “Back to School”, with a rousing rendition of that golden oldie, School Days.  “Humor makes everything more tolerable…even my singing,” declared WCTM’s newest chanteuse.

Table Topics: What’d You do in School Today?

The opening segment of the every Toastmasters Meeting is Table Topics. Taking the podium as the evening’s Topics Master was Maisie Lee, one of WCTM’s most active members and its newest bride. Reminiscing about the excitement that the start of each school year engenders in children, the ever smiling Ms. Lee told the group that Table Topics offers a learning experience whose three “R’s” are “listening, thinking and speaking up.” She then asked the following twelve WCTM members to explore various aspects of the educational experience: Vlada Dymtrenko, Art Hugon, Norm Dornfest, CTM, Nastaran Motiei, Larry Blackford, Glen Rankel, Arnold Arch, Bill Anderson, Geza Kalman, Alan Reveles, Ken Slusser, CTM, and Tess Asiala, CTM. Taking the first place ribbon for Best Table Topics was Bill Anderson with his answer to the question, “What is the status of teachers in our society?”  

Prepared Speeches: It’s All in Your Mind

The “Prepared Speeches” portion of the program featured three exceptional offerings that looked at the human experience from several perspectives. In “Senior Citizens”, Colin Giles’ speech #4 from the Communications & Leadership Manual (CLM), the always forthright Mr. Giles spoke of the pathos and the humor that he has experienced while living in The Woodland Hills Home for the Aged. Detailing the many challenges he faced in adjusting to the facility, Colin told the group that socializing was the key to success, “You can’t stay in your room and get depressed.”

Chad Celi was up next with another CLM speech #4 entitled, “Search for Unhappiness.”  In it the happily cerebral Mr. Celi told the audience that “thinking” and the concept of “time” are the two main obstacles to true joy. “Happiness is found within and only in the present moment,” he stated.    

The evening’s final speaker, Jackie Goldberg approached the concept of happiness from a somewhat different direction in “Dispelling Old Myths,” speech #7 from the CLM.  In her talk the diminutive Pink Lady described the psychological benefits of using hypnosis to explore the subconscious. “It eliminates self ‘un-worth’ and gives you a more positive attitude about the self,” she said.   

For his efforts to help the audience "get happy" in the present moment, Chad Celi was voted the evening’s Best Speaker.

Evaluations: Critiques Not Criticism

The meeting’s final segment, Evaluations, was led by General Evaluator, Beverly Rankel, CTM, who emphasized, “We do not criticize, we critique.” In describing the meeting she said, “Tonight’s meeting was very upbeat with simply great participation.” Among her procedural suggestions, Beverly pointed out that the lectern should always be covered and that Table Topics participants should listen more closely to the Topics Master.  Individual evaluations were done by Shelly Bright (Colin Giles), Marc Cohn, CTM (Chad Celi), Dan Marzec, ATM-B (Jackie Goldberg). The “Best Evaluator” award went to Shelly Bright. 

Schedule Change for Club Fee Payments

Rose Lane, DTM, announced that the WCTM Board of Directors had passed a resolution changing the payment procedure for club dues and meeting room fees. Instead of paying these fees quarterly, payments will be made twice per year.