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Letter from the President

In her monthly letter to the club, Warner Center Toastmasters President, Carolyn Goldman urges all members to attend the upcoming Division “A” International Speech Contest. Click her to go to Carolyn’s letter.

Toastmasters: A Rite of Spring (Recap of March 22^nd Meeting)

          Springtime was the timely theme of the night as 28 Warner Center Toastmasters (WCTM) members and 9 guests gathered at the Warner Center Marriot on March 22^nd, the day after the Vernal Equinox, for WCTM’s regular bi-monthly meeting. Club President, Carolyn Goldman, CTM opened the meeting by congratulating Susan Mayberry on her first place finish in the Area 13 International Speech contest the previous Saturday. She then introduced guest speaker and former WCTM member, Dave De Fore, CTM, who was visiting his “old club” for the first time in several months. Dave spoke to the group about “best practices” for successful public speaking. These boiled down to the twin concepts of “preparation and practice.” Citing the latter as an important to the development another leadership skill, listening, he concluded, “If you practice (listening), you are going to be a better person and others are going to be better people. That’s what Toastmasters is all about!”

          Susan Mayberry, ATM-B / CL then took control of the lectern as the evening’s Toastmasters.  Likening the Toastmasters  experience to that of gardening, Susan metaphorically asked her audience, “Have you ever planted bulbs in the fall and realized in the spring when they come up that you don’t remember what color they are? Are you that little bit of green popping through the soil trying to decide what color you’ll be?”

Table Topics: Springtime Fun

The “Table Topics” segment of the evening’s program was moderated by Topics Master, Donna Stewart. “The spring season means hope, life and happiness,” she told the group. “Let’s have some fun!” With that our Ms. Stewart asked ten WCTM members a series of seasonally inspired questions. Those queried included: Eva Barry, Marc Cohn, CTM, Rose Lane, DTM, Jason Thompson, Arnold Arch, Dennis Rowe, ATM-B, Francisco Rotich, Alan Reveles, Tess Asiala, CTM, and Audrey Forte. The ribbon for the Best Table Topic went to Audrey Forte for her answer to the question, “Are you planning to do some spring cleaning this season?”

Prepared Speeches: Travel, Healthcare, Acting & Payback

          The “Prepared Speeches” portion of the evening’s program featured terrific efforts by four WCTM members. First up was Jill Pye with her Icebreaker from the Communications & Leadership Manual (CLM), “I Need to Mind My Own Business!” Lamenting that for years she has been working for others, Jill observed, “Wages give you a living. Profits make you wealthy.” However, with the coming retirement of the baby boom generation, demand for travel is expected to double. That is why she wants to develop her own home-based, internet travel business. To succeed in promoting such a business, she noted that public speaking skills are invaluable. “Sign me up because I’m a WCTM!” Jill concluded.

          The current crisis in the state healthcare system was the topic of Geza Kalman’s speech #3 from the CLM entitled, “California Healthcare: Where Did We Go Wrong?” Deftly focusing his audience on the topic by polling them about their healthcare needs, Geza went on to describe four reasons for the California system’s sub-par performance. Calling for reform, he concluded with the admonition that no one is served by a system that fails to provide adequate, cost-effective care for all.

            The irrepressible Coin Giles then took the lectern for his CLM speech #7, “My Life as an Actor.” Sharing fond memories of “being before the lights,” Colin described working with such luminaries as Peter Falk and Mae West (“Come up & see me sometime!”). In addition to feature films, movies for TV, and series work, Colin also spoke of working on the New York stage. One of the joys of acting, he confided, is that, “…you can be an Indian, a cowboy with a gun, or anything you want to be!”

          Completing his 10^th and final CLM speech in fulfillment of the requirements for the Competent Communicator designation, Glen Rankel wowed his audience with “Payback”, a satiric turn on aging, youth culture, and street crime. Commenting on how hard it is to walk the streets of the Valley at night Glen said, “I’d rather walk through Bagdad than through Van Nuys after dark.” The solution – start a club for septuagenarians only. (“Don’t you younger people fret. You’ll be there soon!”) Club members would dress in black and go out after 11 p.m. to mug teenagers, buy drugs, and “tag” everything in sight. “What are we doing this for? …To get stuff off the street? …To help our community? No! We’re doing it to have fun!” Glen said gleefully. If they get caught, they’ll either get off because age (“Our smart attorneys will give us walkers for court appearances.”) or do time in Lompoc. “Sitting around the pool with celebrities, can you imagine the conversations? We can write our congressman complaining about the treatment we’re receiving!” he concluded with a gleam in his eye. In recognition of his outstanding effort, Glen Rankel was voted the evening’s Best Speaker.

   

April 12 , 2007                                                         Club #2966                              Editor: Bill Anderson      
Theme: "Stories"

Evaluations: Great & On Time Meeting

          Ken Slusser, CTM served as General Evaluator for the final portion of the evening’s program, “Evaluations”.  Describing the night as a “great meeting,” Ken went on to observe, “This one was on time!”  Individual evaluations were done by Shelly Bright (Jill Pye), Bill Anderson (Geza Kalman), Dan Marzec, ATM-B (Colin Giles), and John Graves, CTM / CL (Glen Rankel). John Graves was voted the meeting’s Best Evaluator.

New Members

Warner Center Toastmasters is pleased to welcome Bonnie Schuman to its Membership ranks. An Ethical Will Advisor by profession, Bonnie joined the club at the March 22^nd meeting. Best of luck at WCTM, Bonnie!

Letter from the President

Dear Warner Center Toastmasters,

Come one, come all!  But do plan to come to the Division “A” International Speech Contest, which will be held on Saturday, April 28.

Now, I know I have said this many times at our meetings. I have encouraged everyone to attend the speech contests. Why? Because the experience you will gain will benefit you in several ways. What ways? First, you will see some really wonderful speakers in action. We can all benefit from this because we see things we may want to incorporate into our own speaking style. But, this is just one benefit. A second is that attending a contest is a great way to meet other Toastmasters from outside our club.  It truly is! I’ve met some very interesting people whom I would not have met had I not gone to a contest. What’s more, each time I go, I see many of these people again. Friendships are made and renewed every time you attend a contest.

Finally, as Warner Center Toastmasters, we will be attending to encourage our Susan Mayberry to win! I don’t know about you, but I would certainly want my audience packed with friends if I were competing!

So, please come one and come all to an exciting, fun event from which you will learn, make friends and encourage a fellow Toastmaster to reach her highest potential!

Your President,

Carolyn

Upcoming District 52 Events

Division “A” International Speech and Evaluations Contest –

Saturday, April 28, 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. Where: Location TBD. For more information contact Division A Governor, Erin O’Neil at egtoneill@yahoo.com.

          District 52 Spring Conference –

Saturday, May 19. Where: Beverly Garland Holiday Inn; 4222 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood, CA. For more information go to the District 52 Web Site: http://www.district52.org/.

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MEETING ARCHIVES
 

For many, the ability to speak in public is absolutely vital for success and, at the same time, one of the most frightening skills they have ever tried to master. Where and how do you acquire such knowledge and skills? You can read about it in a variety of books, but where and how do you take action that puts the principles you’ve learned into practice? Where can you do this in an environment that is both supportive and challenging? The answer is Warner Center Toastmasters (WCTM).