03_09_04 Geospeakers Meeting Summary

Geospeakers minutes of March 9, 2004

(Please note the next meeting announcement at the end of the minutes)

President Mitch Smith called the meeting to order. Shane Detweiler galvanized us with the immortal words of the theme song from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I think everyone spoke rather than sang the words, even though Shane had added to the agenda, "c'mon, everyone, you know you want to sing!"

Club business:

Carol Reiss proposed an extra meeting for Geospeakers on March 30. She is working for her CL, and wants to present the module entitled "Moments of Truth." For this she needs a minimum of 6 people. If enough of the officers attend, she further proposed that the monthly officers meeting be held at that time. From a show of hands, it looks like the extra meeting will take place.

V-P Education Ann Gunderson said we needed people to fill the roles of Toastmaster and Master Evaluator for the next meeting. As usual with our group, people immediately volunteered. (See list at end of these notes.)

Mitch pointed out that the Tall Tales and International speech contests will take place on April 1 (a most propitious date!) Volunteers -- contestants and judges – are respectfully requested to step forward. He also passed out ballots for our Geospeakers Toastmaster of the Year. Neil Shapiro requested that his name be withdrawn, because Sunset, his other club, has already so honored him. But Carol countered that that was not a valid reason to withdraw one's name. Neil's name remained on the ballot, and I assume we will see the voting results at the March 23 meeting. One last happy task remained to Mitch: the awarding of the ATM-Gold badge to Neil and the ATM-Bronze to Cynthia Ramseyer.

We had 3 guests today: Area C-2 governor Louise Wolfe, making one of her official visits; Peggy Lew, returning for her second visit; and Linda Steenkamp, who hails from South Africa. Linda had not previously told us she was coming, but at the end of the meeting she asked how much it cost to join Toastmasters. Whereupon V-P Membership Neil immediately handed her an application form!

Ann Gunderson was our Toastmaster today, introducing the theme of "Neighbors." Gretchen Luepke Bynum, as Master Evaluator, introduced the evaluation team as follows: Carol as timer and Cynthia as wordmaster/grammarian. Neil volunteered as "the wizard of ahs," substituting for Chris Gutmacher, who arrived late.

Joanna Dickson gave her Basic Manual Speech #3 (Organize Your Thoughts) on "Socially Responsible Investing and the Bottom Line." She cleverly tied in this type of investing with the upcoming elections: "Imagine voting each day of the year" for causes you care about. Joanna pointed out that such investment does not mean having to sacrifice healthy monetary returns. Invest your principal with your principles – excellent food for thought for all of us.

And now for something completely different. Mitch presented his Basic Manual Speech #4 (Show What You Mean) with a most arresting title:" UFO! UFO! Attack!" This speech was all about finding out that the mild-mannered security guard at his former workplace had really been abducted by aliens. Once this guard took him into his confidence, Mitch learned all the secret signs that fellow alien abductees use to communicate with one another. What an entertaining speech!

With the proper cutting for time limits, this would be top-notch for a Tall Tales contest!

Cecilia Willer, as a NEOPHYTE table topics master, tackled the subjects of "neighbors." First time for everything and a fine first performance it was. Carol took Most Eloquent with her description of her neighbors on opposite sides of her house – one is the "best kind" of neighbor, the other isn't. Gary Curtis had a Most Interesting situation with a new neighbor who kept strange hours, had a gun, a bulletproof vest, and a formidable dog, and liked to "spin donuts" with his 4 x 4 vehicle. Turns out the guy was a police officer on night shift. Cynthia and Neil tied for Most Humorous. Cynthia defined the perfect neighbor as one you never see. Neil considered the possibilities of a domino effect in building upward—a situation of a cousin in a hilly neighborhood in Burlingame. The cousin had to add a second floor to his house to maintain a proper bay view, after his neighbor below him blocked that view with his own second-floor addition. (The vision of overly tall houses on steep slopes in earthquake country toppling over onto each other may not be so farfetched.)

Stephanie evaluated Joanna's speech and Shane evaluated Mitch's speech. Both evaluators thoughtfully combined praise with excellent suggestions.

Shane closed the meeting with the Last Word, "In my mind, I'm already gone." (This from Kramer to Jerry Seinfeld, "one of the quintessential neighbors of all time.")

Our next meeting is March 23, same time and place (Bldg. 3, Small Conference Room; 11:45 AM --1:00 PM). Also, remember to mark your calendars for the extra toastmasters meeting on Tuesday, March 30, 11:45 AM –12:30 PM, when Carol Reiss will be presenting the "Moment of Truth" module" for her CL.

From the Geospeakers schedule, a reminder on roles for the March 23 meeting:
Carol Reiss-- Toastmaster (please contact speakers and include titles in agenda)
Carol Reiss-- Galvanizer/last word
Cecilia Willer -- Master Evaluator (please contact evaluator)
Fran Hostettler -- Timer
Ann Gunderson -- Ah counter
Gretchen Luepke Bynum -- Wordmaster/grammarian
Mitch Smith -- Table Topics
Neil Shapiro -- Speaker #1 (evaluator: Joanna Dickson)
Shane Detweiler -- Speaker # 2 (evaluator: Chris Gutmacher)
Nice work, everybody. See you next time.

Gretchen

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