03_23_04 Geospeakers Meeting Summary

Minutes of March 23, 2004

Ann Gunderson called the meeting to order. Carol Reiss galvanized with the lyrics from "The Hockey Song".

Club Business: Tall Tales contest and International Speech contest for Area C2 (5 local clubs including Geospeakers) will be held on Thursday, April 1, 6:15pm - 9:30pm, Potluck dinner from 6:15-7 pm, Contests begin 7 pm. The cost is $5 + potluck dish (Geospeakers will be refunded the $5 for anyone in our club who serves as a functionary). Please bring main dish, side dish, salad, or dessert to share. Drinks provided. It will be held at Allstate, 321 Middlefield Rd. (corner of Linfield), Menlo Park. Please park in lot at back of building (enter on Linfield). You can also park at the USGS and walk over. Allstate is adjacent to the USGS.

Shane Detweiler will be speaking! Please attend and support Shane. Volunteers are also needed for judging and ballot counting.

GEOSPEAKERS TOASTMASTER OF THE YEAR for 2003 is Ann Gunderson. Congratulations Ann!

Carol Reiss was our Toastmaster today. As a diehard Sharks fan, she introduced the theme of "Games". Cecilia Willer, the Master Evaluator, introduced the evaluation team consisting of : Fran Hostettler as Timer, Ann Gunderson as Ah Counter, Gretchen Luepke Bynum as Wordmaster/Grammarian.

Neil Shapiro gave his Icebreaker speech titled "One Step From the Top – Again". His talk was exceptional in giving us yet another glimpse into who Neil really is. Being one step from becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest Toastmaster award, he shared the deja vu of being one step from becoming an Eagle Scout when he was younger. The minor task of removing his pants while treading water, tying knots in his pants and then blowing the pants up to act as a floatation device was never mastered and, oh by the way, girls entered the picture! Luckily, Neil is on his way to mentoring a Toastmaster group in San Jose to fulfill his requirements and become a Distinguished Toastmaster ideally by September! Thanks Neil for sharing your inherent desire for awards, medals and acknowledgement!

Shane Detweiler gave us a sneak preview of his Tall Tale for the April 1st contest titled "That Time I Got Arrested". Shane seems to be a magnet for window gazers while nude and has been frequented by a few police officers. His tale (or was it really at true story?), vividly portrayed his experiences – cleaning the bathroom and exposing himself while stepping on the toilet to chasing a spider in the night while sleeping nude. I think Shane will be quite the competition on the 1st – what a natural at keeping everyone laughing!

Cynthia Ramseyer led the Table Topic of Games and truly got the room energized and laughing as everyone relayed stories of game experiences. The Most Eloquent award was shared by Chris Gutmacher, Ann Gunderson and Cecilia Willer. Chris spoke about her love for watching the Olympics; Ann shared her favorite game, Apples to Apples. It's a fun game especially when you can throw down a card with George Bush when the director puts down unscrupulous! Cecilia shared being a competitive game player and playing games with other couples. The Most Humorous award went to Joanna Dickson; she spoke about playing trivial pursuit with her Scottish in-laws and leaving the room while the arguments heated up to play some poker! The Most Interesting award went to Gretchen Luepke Bynum; she gave a very graphic reenactment of playing "Experiences in the Dark" as a child.

Joanna Dickson evaluated Neil's speech and Chris Gutmacher evaluated Shane's speech. Both offered acknowledgement of their outstanding speeches and a few suggestions.

The meeting was very energizing! Everyone was anything but POCOCURANTE at the meeting!

Carol closed the meeting with last words, "Now the final flick, of a hockey stick, and a one gigantic scream: THE PUCK IS IN! THE HOME TEAM WINS! At the good old hockey game"

Our next meeting is on Tuesday, March 30th from 11:45am – 1:00pm in Building 3, the Small Conference Room on the 2nd level.

Thanks for a great meeting!

Next meeting is on March 30th (5th tuesday of the month -- no table topics)
Intro: Mitch Smith
Galvanizer : Carol Reiss
Timer: Neil Shapiro
Speech One: Carol Reiss (Moments of Truth)
Speech Two: Shane Detweiler
Evaluator for Shane: Cynthia Ramseyer

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