Capital City Toastmasters Meeting Recap - April 1, 2010

Submitted by Wade Hudson and Brian Simpson

 

Today's Theme: Favorite Magazines

 

Mike Eaves led our meeting as our Toastmaster and gave us the theme “Favorite Magazines.”  Dean DiLillo, our Sergeant at Arms, introduced Mike and told us Mike gets excited about UNC, politics, and weekends at the beach. Mike then shared that at his house they subscribe to 16 magazines!

Johnny Carr delivered the invocation with a collection of sayings and proverbs related to April Fool’s Day (see below). One I liked was “A mother takes 20 years to make a man wise; another woman takes 20 minutes to make a fool of him.” David Kiker was our Joke Master and David showed how the real stuff is often funnier than the made up jokes as he shared some actual ads from newspapers. Bob Crump in his role as Word Master looked for an appropriate word for April Fool’s and gave us buffoonery which means foolish or playful behavior or practice. Kerry Leeburn then detailed the time guidelines.

Alyssa Mozingo started our speakers by jumping up and giving her icebreaker “The Benefits of Using a Freelance Paralegal.” Alyssa did a great job of tying a theme into her talk as she introduced herself. Cherry McRae followed with her 2nd speech ever and advised us about starting and running a business as she shared her experience helping her husband start his restaurant. And Brian Simpson asked us all, "What does it mean to be a Toastmaster? And what does it mean to be a Capital City Toastmaster?" in his talk, Keeping the Commitment (out of The Successful Club Series). Brian took us through The Toastmaster’s Promise with plenty of examples as he kept his talk lively and interesting.

A Toastmaster's Promise

As a member of Toastmasters International
and my club, I promise...

  • To attend club meetings regularly
  • To prepare all of my speech and leadership projects to the best of my ability, basing them on projects in the Competent Communication, Advanced Communication or Competent Leadership manuals
  • To prepare for and fulfill meeting assignments
  • To provide fellow members with helpful, constructive evaluations
  • To help the club maintain the positive, friendly environment necessary for all members to learn and grow
  • To serve my club as an officer when called upon to do so
  • To treat my fellow club members and our guests with respect and courtesy
  • To bring guests to club meetings so they can see the benefits Toastmasters membership offers
  • To adhere to the guidelines and rules for all Toastmasters educational and recognition programs
  • To maintain honest and highly ethical standards during the conduct of all Toastmasters activities

 

Tom Presley thoughtfully explained that Table Topics is our opportunity to speak extemporaneously and reminded participants to use the Word of the Day. David Kiker and Frank Andrassy gamely volunteered to explain why they were on the covers of Forbes and the National Enquirer, respectively.

Wade Hudson, Kevin Coppage and Dean DiLillo evaluated.  Kevin provided a good tip about how as our speakers become more experienced they should not even be looking at the timer because they know they’ll have their talk within the parameters.

Uzoma Nwosu, our Grammarian, reminded us all to enunciate especially on longer word so we don’t drop the ending.

Sonja Person gave a quick overall evaluation and complimented Mike on how he welcomed our guests right at the start and let them know we’d be asking for their comments at the end of the meeting.

Speaking of guests, we had SIX, including two who joined today – Tanya Hunt and Travis Vann – yeah! Dorsey Riddek, Amanda Carlson, Mark Rubianes and Frank Andrassy (who is a member of Speech Acrobats Advanced Toastmasters and President of RDU Toastmasters; and came as Brian's guest) all enjoyed the meeting, saying it was positive and organized.

We had 22 folks overall.

 

Responses to the theme, "What is your favorite magazine?" included:

Cuisine at Home
Fast Company
Fire Engineer
Forbes
Linux Format
National Geographic
Popular Science
Sports Illustrated
Sporting News
Triathletes World
Utne Reader
Wake County Physician
Wired

In case you didn't notice, this meeting took place on April Fool's Day. Johnny's invocation included the following memorable quotes, which he called...

Wisdom for April Fool's Day

  1. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.  ~Chinese Proverb
  2. You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.  ~Abraham Lincoln
  3. It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.  ~Max Eastman
  4. Don't give cherries to pigs or advice to fools.  ~Irish Proverb
  5. It is better to weep with wise men than to laugh with fools.  ~Spanish Proverb
  6. I have great faith in fools - self-confidence, my friends call it.  ~Edgar Allan Poe
  7. Real friends are those who, when you feel you've made a fool of yourself, don't feel you've done a permanent job.  ~Author Unknown
  8. "Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish."
    ~Quintilian, De Institutione Oratoria
  9. "Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish." ~Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)
  10. Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side. ~Jewish Proverb
  11. A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes. ~Robert Frost
  12. For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. ~Alexander Pope
  13. Wise men learn more from fools - than fools from the wise. ~Cato the Elder
  14. To be a man's fool is bad enough; but the vain man is everybody's. ~Penn
  15. Only a fool knows everything. A wise man knows how little he knows. ~Anonymous
  16. Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark, or the man afraid of the light? ~Maurice Freehill

 

Award Winners:
Best Speaker:              Brian Simpson
Best Evaluator:            Dean DiLillo
Best Table Topics:      Frank Andrassy