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The regular meeting of the Big “D” Toastmasters on July 22, 2010, was called to order at 6:30 p.m. with a quorum being present and Vice-President for Public Relations Mike Weibel presiding.
The business session started at 6:36, and the minutes of the previous meeting were approved as read. There were no reports from officers or committees. Danni Babik announced that our own Stew Carson had been the keynote speaker at the TLI Lite #1; announced the upcoming TLI Lite #2 on Thursday, July 29, at Thomson Reuters; and announced that a site had not yet been chosen for the TLI Last Chance on August 7. Mike then concluded one of the quickest business sessions on record at 6:41 with no unfinished business!
Brad Johnson was Toastmaster of the Evening for the first time with the theme “Football Training Camp.” First-time Table Topicsmaster Essam El-Beik asked questions of five speakers, none of whom are about to start a dynasty. Prepared speeches were given by David Rouble (appropriately, on his visit to a Cowboys training camp), Chase Miller, Mike Weibel, and Eric Dyson who delivered his second icebreaker. First-time General Evaluator Dan Martínez cheerfully coached us through the speech evaluations by Angelo Pereira, Danni Babik, Stew Carson, and John Sessions, and then evaluated the meeting as a whole.
The awards went to Jennifer Huch for Best Table Topic, Stew Carson for Best Evaluation, and Chase Miller for both Best Speaker and Outstanding Toastmaster of the Meeting. Our lone guest was Brian Alexander. The meeting ended at 8:30 p.m., and a good time was had by all. |
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| Posted by David Medart at | | | |
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The regular meeting of the Big “D” Toastmasters on July 15, 2010, was called to order at 6:30 p.m. with a quorum being present and Vice-President for Public Relations Mike Weibel presiding.
The business session started at 6:35, but the minutes of the previous meeting were not available to be read. The only officer’s report was from Mike who mentioned that an e‑mail would be forthcoming to solicit testimonials for the club Website. After brief but thorough questioning, the club then inducted Tamera Ranney as a member after only one visit. Immediate Past President Steve Patterson announced District 50’s free Super Saturday educational event in the Plano City Hall on July 24; David Medart then announced some of the astounding results of the very well-attended Toastmasters Leadership Insitute Kick-off where four Big “D” officers already got trained. To Mike’s relief, the business session then ended at 6:44 with no unfinished business.
Victoria Perez was Toastmaster of the Evening for the first time with the theme “Johnny Depp.” Veteran Table Topicsmaster Mac Smith asked questions of six speakers, some of who were less than infatuated with the questions. Kim Balog, guest speaker and the new president of the State Farm Toastmasters Club, presented “Going Beyond Your Club” from The Successful Club Series. Advanced manual speeches were then given by Benjamin Vincent and Keri Boyce. First-time General Evaluator Brenna Smith guided us through the speech evaluations by Brandon Holloway, Brad Johnson, and David Medart, and then evaluated the entire meeting quite well.
The awards went to Linda Martin for Best Table Topic, Keri Boyce for Best Prepared Speaker, Brad Johnson for Best Evaluation, and John Sessions for Outstanding Toastmaster of the Meeting. Our guests were Brittany and husband and wife Bill and Victoria. The meeting ended at 8:31 p.m., and a good time was had by all. |
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| Posted by David Medart at | | | |
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 The final numbers are in for member sponsors for the 2009-2010 Toastmasters year. Chase Miller, our club’s vice-president for membership throughout the past year, got credit with Toastmasters International for officially sponsoring eight of our club’s new members. This ties him with two other Toastmasters for sponsoring the sixth-highest number of new members of a single club in all of District 50! Danni Babik also officially sponsored five. Since 24 new, reinstated, and dual members joined Big “D” over the past year, Chase can realistically be said to be responsible for 19 of them. Since the highest number of members officially sponsored for any one club was 13, Chase could have topped District 50’s list had he gotten credit for everyone who otherwise joined without someone else specifically inviting them! Wow!!
See the entire first page of the report for District 50. (Gary Gillespie was Hillcrest Toastmasters’ treasurer for the entire year and president for the second six months.) The entire report is at Individual Member Sponsors, 2009-2010; District 50 is on pages 387-395. Also, here is the “secondary” report with the totals for all the member sponsors within the district.
Thank you, Chase, for your unwavering enthusiasm, especially after last August when things didn’t look good, and for an outstanding job as VPM! You deserve the recognition that you have already received from World Headquarters and that you will receive by being listed in the Hall of Fame at District 50’s Fall 2010 Conference! As T.I. says, “Membership growth is important to ensure club success.” |
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How many attended July 10’s TLI Kick-off, you ask? Well, the large cafeteria for the general session ran out of seats about 15 minutes before it began. There were people standing up all around the room, especially in the far corner, along the center of the back wall, and near the entrance. I already knew that quite a few new members and non-officers attended—including the vice-president for education of a club that chartered on June 28—but I had no idea how many. So, I asked Summer 2010 TLI Chair Tracie Henderson (and 2009-2010 Southern Division governor) if she knew. She replied,
“This weekend was in fact a huge success. We had 358 club officer positions trained! Officers from 113 [out of 146] clubs participated! 48 clubs had 4 or more officers trained! WOW! There were over 400 attendees and we do have an exact number that I can’t seem to find right now. Oh, we also had two clubs from District 25 that had all of their officers trained. So, overall it was a great day for everyone involved.”
Wow, indeed!
 I got to see several officers from the Hillcrest, Eagles, and ProSpeak clubs that were in my Area 33 last year. One thing’s for sure, once you’ve been an area governor, it forever changes your perspective as a Toastmaster. The classes were full for the first three hours. The first hour, I went to Helen Liu’s class on what is required to a become Distinguished Toastmaster; having earned two DTMs and being a recent past district governor, she definitely knows how to accomplish that. I took  extensive notes on the requirements for the High Performance Leadership (HPL) project; that’s perhaps the most difficult requirement for the Advanced Leader Silver (ALS). At the time, she was close to deciding on her third HPL project!
Next, I returned to the cafeteria where Gary Gillespie—Spring 2009 District 50 Table Topics Contest Winner and Fall 2009 recipient of the Heart of District 50 Award—explained in his inimitable way how to succeed in table topics, both in a club and in contests.
 It was still packed with long, patient lines for lunch, but some of us had to wait for more of what we paid for to arrive!
The third hour I spent in Lisa Hill’s session about the educational series—The Better Speaker Series, The Successful Club Series, and The Leadership Excellence Series while also mentioning the  Success/Leadership and Success/Communication Series. There was a fascinating mix of people in the room that included those of us who have presented at least one educational module and at least five new Toastmasters who said they were “just soaking it all in.”
 Then I returned to the cafeteria where Spring 2009 District 50 Humorous Speech Contest Winner Cynthia Brown described the unexpected journey she went on and told us how to apply that to our own winning humorous speeches, including the lessons learned during the process and even from the winning speech itself.
All in all, the TLI’s Kick-off was an amazing, educational, and uplifting event that I am very glad I was able to attend. Congratulations to Tracie, Danni, and everyone who helped Dare us to Succeed! |
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The Kick-off on July 10 for District 50’s Summer 2010 Toastmasters Leadership Institute was an overwhelming success! The cafeteria in the State Farm Building is a wonderful facility and  had plenty of seating last February 13; but, it was standing room only by the time it started just after 9:00 AM! New Sergeant-at-Arms Dan Dodd needed a microphone just so people could hear him even begin the proceedings. I rode with Diane Kirksey and then spoke with a lot of people I had met and worked with over the past year. Apparently, almost all areas now have governors; there are a few openings, though, and at least a couple divisions could use some assistant area governors. We were truly blessed and inspired by LaShunda Rundles, 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking (WCPS), who gave the keynote address; the standing ovation she received was well-deserved!
There were quite a few district officers present from last year who either aren’t holding a district office or are filling a new office this year. District Governor Susan Gardner began by asking us to stand and be recognized for our just-completed service. She showed the list of all the governors and their mottos that District 50 has had since 1994; of course, she just had to recognize that no less than five past District 50 governors were in attendance—Carla Ranger (1999-2000, Select Distinguished District), Jack Balko (2003-2004, Select Distinguished District), Michael Goforth (2006-2007, Distinguished District; 2010-2011 Quality Education Chair), Helen Liu (2007-2008; DTM2), and Les Guse (2008-2009)! Now-Immediate Past District Governor Paulette Harvey couldn’t make it in from Bossier City, Louisiana, but I was glad to see her good friend Patty Kim (last year’s district secretary), did. I was personally inspired by the ever-on-fire Pauline Shirley, Past Distict 25 Governor (1986-1987) and Past International President (1994-1995), who not only cheerfully spoke with many present but arrived early with anticipation to get a good seat in the classes! Susan introduced this year’s new governors by division—almost all of the new D50 Executive Committee was there.
 Lieutenant Governor for Marketing Monnica Lamb unveiled her marketing campaign for building clubs and starting new ones; several have already started the process toward chartering. She also announced D50’s Jewels and Gems Membership Campaign through July. Lieutenant Governor for Education and Training Danni Babik announced both the goals set by  World Headquarters and the higher goals that she is challenging District 50 to achieve! Susan had some additional comments before we dispersed to officers’ training and elective educational sessions.
I knew that Big “D”’s officers Diane Kirksey and Jennifer Huch were there for training; Brenna Smith was there as well, and Shawnda Corker arrived just before the general session began. So many people attended that I didn’t know until later that Frank Kozel and Mike Weibel also attended—which means Big “D” already has the minimum four officers traned! Brenna, Jennifer, and I stayed all day, as did Area 31 Governor Lee King and Speechcraft Chair Denise Cothern (last year’s Metro Division governor). Shawnda attended classes the first two hours and said she really learned a lot as a brand new Toastmaster. The entire TLI Kick-off was full almost all day and didn’t noticeably thin out until the last hour! |
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The regular meeting of the Big “D” Toastmasters on July 8, 2010, was called to order at 6:32 p.m. with our new President Diane Kirksey presiding. She began by reading A Toastmaster’s Promise, which every Toastmaster  swears to uphold when he or she signs the Form 400 Membership Application and is printed just after the title page of every manual.
The business session started at 6:36, and the minutes of the meetings of June 17 and July 1 were approved as read. (For the sake of time and with the chair’s approval, the minutes of the meeting of June 24 were to be e-mailed to the club for approval or corrections.) There were no reports from officers or committees. With new Sergeant-at-Arms Jennifer Huch taking the chair, Diane announced that she had just accepted a new job that will keep her from attending most club meetings for at least the next three months, but she will otherwise remain as involved as possible. Eric Dyson noted that no objections were raised; so, by general consent, Diane will remain an active member and thus able to stay in office. District 50’s new Lieutenant Governor for Education and Training Danni Babik enthusiastically announced the Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) Kick-off on Saturday, July 10, at the State Farm Insurance Building in far north Dallas; District 50’s own LaShunda Rundles, 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker. The business session ended at 6:48 with no unfinished business.
 Stew Carson was first-time Toastmaster of the Evening with the theme of “Karoake,” which he gave a lot of interesting information about throughout the evening. To start with, the word itself comes from two Japanese words that together mean “empty orchestra.” Table Topicsmaster Danni Babik asked questions of four loquacious speakers, all of whom qualified. Prepared speeches—all for Competent Communication manual Project #2 (Organize Your Speech)—were given by Fadi Tabbara, Luke Donev, and Vicky Tamez. General Evaluator John Sessions guided us through the speech evaluations by Jim Wolff, Dan Martínez, and Benjamin Vincent, and then evaluated the meeting as a whole.
The awards went to newlywed Brad Johnson for Best Table Topic, Ben “Can-I-Draw-You?” Vincent for Best Evaluation, and Truffle-maker Luke Donev for both Best Prepared Speech and Outstanding Toastmaster of the Meeting. Our guests were Cory Huddleston, Steven Young, Tamera Ranney, and Jill. The meeting ended at 8:31 p.m., and a good time was had by all. |
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| The following four images were originally posted in the club Website; but, they are good highlights of the officer-installation dinner party and worth repeating. I cropped and adjusted the brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness as needed before posting.
Victoria Perez was definitely in the moment while being installed as
secretary! Frank Kozel, Jennifer Huch, and Chase Miller look on.
Diane Kirksey installed as president while Keri Boyce, Victoria Perez,
Frank Kozel, and Jennifer Huch look on
Big “D”’s newly installed officers for July-December 2010:
Mike Weibel, Victoria Perez, Frank Kozel, Jennifer Huch,
Joseph Pezanowski’s certificate, Diane Kirksey, and Keri Boyce
A little after-dinner Tai-chi, Ben Vincent?
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Getting ready for our first club portrait since March 2006. Standing: Chase Miller,
Victoria Perez, Luke Donev, Diane Kirksey, Keri Boyce, Fadi Tabbara, Jennifer Huch;
seated: Vicky Tamez, Angelo Pereira, and Danni Babik. With so many members present and only
14 remaining from 4-plus years ago, we knew we had to do this!
This is not our club’s new portrait! Mike and Ben wanted a "crazy" picture; so, this is what we managed when the picture was taken. After 61 years, Big “D” Toastmasters still know how to have fun! Back row: Linda Martin, John Lawson, Essam El-Beik, Luke Donev just before he picked me up, David Rouble, Jennifer Huch, Stew Carson, Mac Smith, Frank Kozel, Cliff Hutchinson; middle row: Chase Miller, David Medart, Diane Kirksey, Keri Boyce, Fadi Tabbara, Dan Martínez, Benjamin Vincent, Mike Weibel; front row: Steve Patterson, Shawnda Corker, Victoria Perez, Vicky Tamez, Angelo Pereira, Danni Babik, Mac McAdams, and John Sessions.
“Are you sure they’re okay?” “Yes, they look good to me!” Previewing some of
the pictures taken—Diane Kirksey, Keri Boyce, Vicky & Ana Tamez, and Dan Martínez
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| Posted by David Medart at | | | |
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January-June 2010 officers pose with club banner in
the Pattersons’ back yard
One last picture in front of the club banner of Jan.-June 2010
VPPR Mike Weibel, President Steve Patterson, VPE Linda Martin,
SAA Frank Kozel, Treasurer Victoria Perez, and VPM Chase Miller
Newly installed July-December 2010 officers in front of the club banner:
VPPR Mike Weibel, President Diane Kirksey, VPM Keri Boyce, Secretary
Victoria Perez, SAA Jennifer Huch, and Treasurer Frank Kozel
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| Posted by David Medart at | | | |
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