Last week’s meeting started at 6:35 pm due to inclement weather. The business session saw the tabling of the treasurers report. The club greeted Sherry’s announcement that all dues had been paid in full with thunderous applause. Sherry also announced that the fee for educational sessions at the upcoming spring conference would be shared between participants and the club. Your secretary encourages all members to register for this exciting weekend conference. TingTing Li was welcomed as a new member of the club with much fanfare.

The theme of the evening was “April Fool’s Day” and the toastmaster, Big D! veteran toastmaster– John Sessions ATM-G. John had a lot of stories to share about the origin of this day and the famous pranks that were played on this occasion. Neetu made a special presentation on the newly constituted hospitality committee which she leads and called for volunteers to assist in her duties as sergeant-at-arms. Thereafter John Checki led table topics with his usual panache.

During the break John brought in a cake that he had baked (April fool’s recipe – sauerkraut and mayonnaise) and the club sang for Angelo whose birthday falls on April 1^st. Your secretary was touched by this wonderful gesture and would like to convey his profound appreciation to all of you on behalf of Angelo.

After the break, Katherine Gean spoke of her love for simple poems with “Simply William”, Angelo spoke on carbon credits through “The (Un)usual Indulgences”, Mike Weibel on the “The Three Keys to Change” (which I seem to have lost already) and Jim Wolff told us of his entry into the Colonoscopy club with “I’ve joined the club”. Sherry was the general evaluator and individual evaluators where Tony Brucks, Rosa Temengil, Paul Carter and Jagadeesh Krishnan.

We had six guests at the meeting – Jeff Markus, Tina Jones, David Medart, Burt Fiezer, Suzie Checki and Rick Hall. Area governor Debbie Allen was also present.

The awards went to Danni for “Best Table Topics”, Mike for “Best Speaker”, Paul for “Best Evaluator” and Mac Smith for “Toastmaster of the Evening”.

There was no unfinished business and the meeting ended at 8:45 pm.