Meeting Minutes September 25, 2006

Greetings Roosevelt Island Toastmasters,

The meeting of September 25, 2006 was called to order at 8:00 P.M. by Club President Arlene Stock, and thanks to the improvisational skills of the very able Sue Brown, our Toastmaster for the evening, things went quite well in spite of some last minute changes in the agenda. Guests in attendance were Melissa, Marcus, Bart, Anna, and Elaina. We also welcomed the return of Janet Schoene, who was in good form after her recent knee surgery - she served as General Evaluator. Arlene served as Timer, and I (Woody) was the Word Master. I challenged the audience to use the word "rambunctious" in their presentations. The first speaker was Ana Alba, who skillfully presented Speech #2 (Organize Your Speech). Ana provided us with plenty of interesting details about her favorite vacation, from a turbulent airplane ride enroute to scenic San Francisco, with its famous cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge she has fond memories of. Her well organized presentation allowed her an opportunuty to make excellent use of visual aids (photographs), hand gestures, body language, and she demonstrated a good knowledge of her subject. Speaker #2 was Anna Doumnova, who also made great use of colorful visual aids, and her masterful demonstration of the principles of making and launching an airplane fashioned out of a sheet of paper reminded many of us of our childhood years. We were comfortable with her topic - Get Comfortable With Visual Aids -the title of Speech Project #8, and she did a fine job of it. Speaker #3 was Marlene Flom, who spoke from the Advanced Storytelling Manual, Speech #4, entitled Deja Vu. She started by defining the adjective, which is derived from French and literally means already seen. Then she shared a fascinating story about a deja vu feeling she experienced during a trip to China. Webster's Dictionary speaks of the illusion of remembering scenes or events when experienced for the first time, but Marlene's telling of the story with an interesting deja vu twist and a bit of drama at the end, made it all seem so real. She took Best Speaker honors. Al evaluated Ana Alba, Doris evaluated Anna Doumnova, Jim Luce evaluated Marlene, and Janet evaluated the evaluators and the meeting in general. Jim won Best Evaluator honors. Don, Malcolm, Doris, Bart, Elaina, Al, and Marcus participated in an extemporaneous commentary session that was not in the usual Table Topics format - Bart was honored for his performance in this session. After the Officers report and other Club business was completed, Arlene adjourned the meeting at around 9:30 P.M.

RITM extends a hearty welcome to the four new members who have joined during the past month.

The next meeting is October 9, 2006 at 8:00 P.M. - Rivercross Community Room.

Submitted Respectfully,

Woody Deas, Secretary