Anniversary Celebration
In May 2001 I joined the Small Town Owl Toastmaster group. I had been a member of Toastmasters when I lived in Albert Lea. When I was transferred to another city there was no club there and I had to quit. I felt bad about that, I really like Toastmasters.
Toastmasters International for those of you that don't know about it, is a group dedicated to improving communication and leadership skills. There are groups all over the world. The meeting structure is the same though. People give speeches and are evaluated on their presentations. There are Table Topics,where members are given a topic. You have to speak at least 30 seconds and no more than two and a half minutes. Clubs have officers and events like speech contests and a workshop called Speechcraft. Clubs are given goals and are recognised when those goals are met. One of the higher recognitions is President's Distinguished. STO has been a President's Distinguished club for most of the last 10 years.
I realised last year that this milestone was coming up. It's a big deal to me. I joined TM because I needed to improve my ability to organize my thoughts and to speak extemporaneously. (Pharmacists get asked lots of questions on the job.) It's helped me to become a better writer and speaker. Now I am working on improving my evaluation skills. (It wouldn't hurt me to give more speeches either...)
I really felt this was cause for celebration. I contacted Kurt Jensen, who joined the same day that I did. STO was a struggling club when we joined. His efforts ten years ago helped to make our club the successful one that it is today. I had to include him. Aside of what he has done for the club, he is also my friend. He went on to start another club in a nearby town, so I don't see him much anymore. Still...we did join on the same day and I had to include him.
I started planning at the end of last year. I was going to do something I've never done before, I was going to be the Toastmaster. The Toastmaster is there person that sets up the agenda ahead of time, lines up the speakers and anyone else that participates. The Toastmaster also emcees the meeting. I had never done it before. It is a bit more labor intensive than I am able to manage most of the time.
It was going to be a theme meeting. Everything had to be about celebrations or anniversaries. I wanted to limit the number of speakers to two. Table Topics is my favourite part of Toastmasters and I wanted to make sure we had time for them. (The meeting lasts one hour.) It came together much easier than I expected. There were a few people who couldn't show up and some minor squabbling over a speech.
I had the agenda ready and printed out, I had some silk flower table decorations and I was nervous. I wanted this to be fun. I wasn't going to get to do this again and I wanted it to be a good time for everyone. I dressed up in a navy blue shirt, red print skirt and a big red hat. In the summer I almost always wear a hat to the meetings so I had to wear one. I headed to the meeting spot.
There were some people there already getting the room in order. I passed out the agendas. (I had enough printed out.) The others helped me to arrange the flowers. It looked pretty festive.
Kurt showed up along with a couple of other former members that he had invited. I was happy to see him. He brought his scrapbook with all the clippings from the earlier years. It was fun to see them again. We had decided that he and I were going to co host the meeting. That usually isn't done in TM, but I wanted to recognise him too.
The meeting started. I teared up a little when I introduced Kurt, he has held many offices on various levels and I am proud of him. Then things got started. The first speech was a roast...and I was the one being roasted. It was done in good taste and it was obvious that the speaker had listened to a lot of things that I've said over the years. He even remembered that I'm not a big Judy Garland fan. The next speech was on persistence. I had heard the speech before. The speaker had done a major revamp of the speech. It was really good before and was even better the second time.
We had time for Table Topics. In fact there was more time than I had thought. I had slotted almost 20 minutes for the second speaker instead of six minutes.
Then I had Kurt take over. The rest of the meeting consists of hearing evaluations and voting for the person who gave the best speech,evaluation and Table Topic. Kurt did his usual great job. There is no one who can run a meeting like him.
I joined him up front for the closing remarks. I thanked him for his help with the meeting. He thanked me for the experience of being a co host.
It was a good meeting.
Toastmasters International for those of you that don't know about it, is a group dedicated to improving communication and leadership skills. There are groups all over the world. The meeting structure is the same though. People give speeches and are evaluated on their presentations. There are Table Topics,where members are given a topic. You have to speak at least 30 seconds and no more than two and a half minutes. Clubs have officers and events like speech contests and a workshop called Speechcraft. Clubs are given goals and are recognised when those goals are met. One of the higher recognitions is President's Distinguished. STO has been a President's Distinguished club for most of the last 10 years.
I realised last year that this milestone was coming up. It's a big deal to me. I joined TM because I needed to improve my ability to organize my thoughts and to speak extemporaneously. (Pharmacists get asked lots of questions on the job.) It's helped me to become a better writer and speaker. Now I am working on improving my evaluation skills. (It wouldn't hurt me to give more speeches either...)
I really felt this was cause for celebration. I contacted Kurt Jensen, who joined the same day that I did. STO was a struggling club when we joined. His efforts ten years ago helped to make our club the successful one that it is today. I had to include him. Aside of what he has done for the club, he is also my friend. He went on to start another club in a nearby town, so I don't see him much anymore. Still...we did join on the same day and I had to include him.
I started planning at the end of last year. I was going to do something I've never done before, I was going to be the Toastmaster. The Toastmaster is there person that sets up the agenda ahead of time, lines up the speakers and anyone else that participates. The Toastmaster also emcees the meeting. I had never done it before. It is a bit more labor intensive than I am able to manage most of the time.
It was going to be a theme meeting. Everything had to be about celebrations or anniversaries. I wanted to limit the number of speakers to two. Table Topics is my favourite part of Toastmasters and I wanted to make sure we had time for them. (The meeting lasts one hour.) It came together much easier than I expected. There were a few people who couldn't show up and some minor squabbling over a speech.
I had the agenda ready and printed out, I had some silk flower table decorations and I was nervous. I wanted this to be fun. I wasn't going to get to do this again and I wanted it to be a good time for everyone. I dressed up in a navy blue shirt, red print skirt and a big red hat. In the summer I almost always wear a hat to the meetings so I had to wear one. I headed to the meeting spot.
There were some people there already getting the room in order. I passed out the agendas. (I had enough printed out.) The others helped me to arrange the flowers. It looked pretty festive.
Kurt showed up along with a couple of other former members that he had invited. I was happy to see him. He brought his scrapbook with all the clippings from the earlier years. It was fun to see them again. We had decided that he and I were going to co host the meeting. That usually isn't done in TM, but I wanted to recognise him too.
The meeting started. I teared up a little when I introduced Kurt, he has held many offices on various levels and I am proud of him. Then things got started. The first speech was a roast...and I was the one being roasted. It was done in good taste and it was obvious that the speaker had listened to a lot of things that I've said over the years. He even remembered that I'm not a big Judy Garland fan. The next speech was on persistence. I had heard the speech before. The speaker had done a major revamp of the speech. It was really good before and was even better the second time.
We had time for Table Topics. In fact there was more time than I had thought. I had slotted almost 20 minutes for the second speaker instead of six minutes.
Then I had Kurt take over. The rest of the meeting consists of hearing evaluations and voting for the person who gave the best speech,evaluation and Table Topic. Kurt did his usual great job. There is no one who can run a meeting like him.
I joined him up front for the closing remarks. I thanked him for his help with the meeting. He thanked me for the experience of being a co host.
It was a good meeting.
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