Meeting Minutes for 10-23-2006

Greeting Fellow Toastmasters,

The meeting of October 23, 2006 was called to order at 8:00 P.M. with Simi Rokolaqa as Toastmaster, Jill Burk as Table Topics Master, Anna Falth as Word Master, Marlene Flom as General Evaluator, and three scheduled speakers on the agenda. Simi did an outstanding job of summarizing the essentials of the Toastmasters organization and the meeting procedures. Anna challenged us to use the word- leviathan -in our presentations, and Jill opened the Table Topics session with a challenging question for Brad, followed by a provocative question for Jim Luce to respond to. With his usual sharpness, Jim used humor to effectively sidestep the risk of a thoughtless reply. Her next challenge was for Doris in the form of delivering a brief extemporaneous acceptance speech as an Academy Award winner, an assignment Doris with grace and charm using a strategic twist of humor and some kindly words of praise for herself. The next challenge was to me to comment on my reasons for wanting to go on a trip to outer space. Damon was asked to choose the one superpower he would like to have and explain his choice. He chose the ability to fly, and his comments were followed up on by the next speaker, who selected as his favorite tune the theme song from the Superman movie. Jill commented that John Williams had composed that tune and much of the soundtrack for the Star Wars series. Her excellence as Table Topics Master was equal to her excellence in the role of evaluator, and she was voted Best Evaluator for the evening. Bronco was the last Table Topics speaker and perhaps the best sport of the evening since, as a guest and recent arrival from Croatia, he could have declined to speak. And he was voted Best Table Topics speaker for his response in English (not his first language) about soccer as the one sport he would want to play professionally. Don Guan completed Speech #3, and there were two Icebreakers - the first by Elena Como, and the second by Rene Salayeva - that were as interesting as they were informative of the background and aspirations of the speakers. It was a tough choice for many of us I'm sure, but when the votes were tallied, Elena had won Best Speaker honors for the evening. Letitia Archer, formerly Area 55 Governor and the current Division E Governor, was present to honor Malcolm Cohen with a trophy and photographs for his recent first place win in the District 46 Table Topics competition. And she had some helpful comments and kind words of praise for the Roosevelt Island Toastmasters Club as well. After a brief business session lead by Doris, an announcement by Jim, and an ancient quote by Simi, Club President Arlene Stock adjourned the meeting at 9:40 PM.

The next meeting will be on November 13, 2006 at 8:00 PM - Rivercross Community Room.

To honor the Veterans Day Holiday and my birthday on November 11, I'll supply the refreshments and condiments (wines included) for a bit of socializing after the meeting. Looking forward to seeing you then.

Submitted Respectfully,

Woodrow R. Deas, Secretary