Visuals, Mentors, Proteges and Pledge Drives - a sagacious morning at EarlyBirds!

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends:

 

TM Chris started us off with pictures – which are worth 1,000 words….  We thus learned that…

 

• TM Jose likes cats that hang out to dry and used Jazmin the cat as a neckwarmer in frigid Montana in his college days.
• DTM Mary Helen was awed by the memorable rear view of Mt Rushmore:    
• TM Lois was soooo excited that the python snake (?) in the picture was not 1,000 words.  She’s happy to let science take over.
• Returning TM Jeff painfully recalled trying to learn stand up paddle boarding and looking more like a stand up comedian!
• TM Aleta called our Topic Master a stinker and gave a quick rendition of ‘dead skunk in the middle of the road’.
• TM BeckyJo reminisced about the day her father caught the Great Crustacean of the Keys and had the party to end all parties, where clothing was optional.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.

 

We had fabulous prepared speeches….

 

• TM Jim G. reminded us that our first mentors and coaches are our own parents – his own Mom’s great breakfast-cooking skills are largely responsible for his happy 20-year marriage, and his Dad taught him perseverance and the ability to take the helm of any floating device – including aircraft carriers if necessary.
• TM Marie waved the flag of surrender, showed her vulnerability and asked for help, and was mentored by a wonderful woman who will be laid to rest this coming weekend, leaving an impressive legacy behind.  She Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM Kip has some sagacious strategies to increase his congregation’s Annual Pledge Drive – the main one is to talk to people about trivialities before hitting them up for money.

 

And regarding evaluations…

 

• TM Paolo enthusiastically praised TM Jim’s verbal melody and thanked him for taking us on a harmonious melody ride, and to please consider standing up and expanding his chest for  better posture.
• TM Tom was entertained and informed by TM Marie’s speech and moved by the unexpected ending as a memorial to her beloved mentor/sponsor.
• Fundraiser TM Jeff totally feels DTM Kip’s pain and was so inspired by Kip’s new strategies that he may join the pledge without even knowing to which congregation.  The power of a speech!  He Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

SAGACIOUS, adj.

 

Having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgement.

 

Ex.:  The VP of Membership in EarlyBirds performs sagacious investigations to determine the whereabouts of meandering members.

 

Below is the link to the recording:

 

Link to recording http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flMo2qWbFwk

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Sagacious Recrap Writer

Soaring, Reminiscing and Love In The Time of Cholera, an intense speech contest at EarlyBirds

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

The level of intensity of our EarlyBirds Club international speeches has soared to unprecedented profound heights.   All speeches were magnificent!

 

• Our President, TM Paolo, reminded us that we are all potential eagles even if we are living like chickens.  Have vision, be fearless and remember that fortune favors the bold.  He Won First Place Speaker Award and will proudly represent our Club here, there and everywhere!

 

• DTM Mary Helen revealed the truth about her evil twin, Maureen, who in reality is a fictional character with a real name.  In the interim, MHD is laser-focused on what will be the message on her billboard?  She Won Second Place Speaker Award.

 

• TM Chris wouldn’t have minded being stuck in the Maldives although it would have broken the Bank of G.; but in these times of Cholera, err… Covid, they had to settle for pupusas and lotsa wine delivered by room service in the country of The Savior, Central America.

 

While our profoundly polifacetic Sargeant-at-Arms/Judge/Ballot Counter/Tech Guru (and more) TM Jim G. counted -and recounted- the votes, we had time for timely Table Topics, ably led by TM Marie.

 

Here are interpretations of quotes from recently commemorated Rev. Dr. Luther King, Jr.:

 

• TM Carmine waxed and rewaxed poetic and philosophical and concluded that the time is always right to publicly declare that we are all brothers and sisters in Public Speaking adventures.
• TM Tom believes that  the goal of education is to acquire the ability to discern that the answers are truly within us – and stop looking outside of ourselves!
• TM Lois stated that her life consists of both quality and longevity and she has never ceased in her quest to learn something each and every day.  Go Lois!
• TM Jose would rather love intensely and enjoy life to the fullest and end it by skidding on the road less traveled at extremely high speeds.  He Won Best Table Topics Award.
• I, Ana, avoid future-tripping in fear by remembering that the acronym stands for Future Events Appearing Real, and praying, praying, praying.
• TM BeckyJo sadly stated that our education system teaches us to be uniform instead of being taught to be critical thinkers.  Profound thinkers of the world, rebel!
• DTM Jim D. believes that we need to forgive our neighbor although we do not forget, but we must be accountable and quit being blamers.
• DTM Kip has slipped many a time in the dark going down the steps – there’s always one less or one more than he anticipates – and has taken the wall paintings right with him on his way to the floor.  This has led to a full redecorating of his house.

 

Although we had no official Word of the Day today, PROFOUND was the unspokenly and unanimously adopted term in the collective consciousness – to quote TM Carmine.

 

Here is the link to the recording:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k8mQQ4nK40

 

See you next week!

 

Ana I.

Recap Writer

Nowhere Else but at Early Bird Toastmasters....

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

Aptly  led by Chief Judge DTM Kip and Contest Master DTM Mary Helen and presided by TM Paolo from his 200-year-old wine cellar bunker, we launched our Table Topics Contest with no further preliminaries.

 

The topic was EVERYONE ELSE….

 

• TM Marie affirmed unequivocally that the idea of Everyone Else is simply a fallacy – we are all connected as one in being citizens of the world and we need to like even those who are unlikeable.   She Won Third Place.
• I, Ana, used to be a blamer, it was always EVERYONE ELSE’s fault, until I heard that if you take ME out of BLAME, all you have is BLA, BLA, BLA…. I am the common denominator in everything that happens to me.  I Won First Place.
• TM Pam yearns to be like EVERYONE ELSE after a lifetime of pointing out that The Emperor Has No Clothes – she wants to dress him up once and for all, dang it!  She Won Second Place.

 

And then, unexpectedly, the conversation turned sexy….

 

• TM Pam regaled us with a highly-charged speech explaining that one size does not fit all, as she taught an adult sexuality class and it turned very hands on….  She Won Best Speaker Award.

 

Her evaluator….

 

• TM Chris admired TM Pam’s ease and comfort when speaking publicly about sex, especially in the wee hours of the morning for those of us on Eastern Standard Time.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.

 

While the ballot counter counted, DTM Mary Helen pursued pertinent Table Topics, and we learned that…

 

• What else?  For TM Aleta, something new always seems to find her…. Lately it’s a talking pet centipede who accompanies her to church….
• Where else?  For TM Paolo, there’s no place like his hometown, population 11,000 - and he’s on a first-name basis with all of them!  Ciao, Giovanni! Bon giorno, Salvatore!
• Or else? TM Tom’s HOA drives him to cogently and contagiously put cognitive thoughts together, gracious mercy!
• Who else?  TM Lois is learning to be the Who Else and marches ever onward to build her skills as a public speaker.  She Won Best Table Topics Award.
• Anyone else? Our Bionic Man, TM Carmine is the incredibly shrinking man – and that includes his brain.  Anyone else?  That’s an uncertainty….
• Someone else?  TM Jim G. passed the timely test - quarantined for one week with his other half in a hotel room in a foreign country.  Now he knows definitely he would not have made it with someone else….
• When else?  DTM Jim D. marveled that out of forced sequestration has emerged a new way of life – and without any of us even being part of a jury.

 

We were graced by the visit of our Area Director, TM Mary, who thoroughly enjoyed watching the camaraderie that reigns in Early Birds!

 

Our Techs were back in full force, TM Chris creating flash-lightning polls, online judging tools and TM Jim G. displaying them and counting – and recounting- ballots.  After all, this is Florida…

 

Next week is our International Speech Contest, so fasten your seat belts – here we come!

 

Link to the recording - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YGCxbntvaU

 

Submitted from somewhere else,

 

Ana

Recap Writer

Contests, The Magi and Speech Introductions, a paramount meeting at EarlyBirds

 

Dear Members, Guests and Friends,

 

Multifaceted DTM Kip launched us off with Table Topics about Table Topics (Like a circle in a spiral, Like a wheel within a wheel, Never ending or beginning, On an ever spinning reel).*  We discovered that…

 

• TM Carmine remembers memorable speeches - an icebreaker speech where a 25-lb block of ice was smashed and an unprooted speaker who yanked a plant out of a planter in front of a mesmerized audience.
• I, Ana, admire the creativ genius and inventive paramount capacity of contestants who attempt to make sense of bizarroworld, unrelated words.   I Won Best Table Topics Award.
• TM BeckyJo denied having opinions about everything but is of the opinion that many avoid contests because they don't want to take it to the next level.  She rests her case.
• TM Lois drags a wheeled suitcase with her and empties it on the Table Topics table.
• Guest Elsa reminisced about a Math contest in which she participated years ago and which allowed her to drop her Math books for the rest of the school year.   Bravo Elsa for participating!

 

Then came our prepared speeches…

 

• TM Jose regaled us with the story of the Three Kings, which were Melchior (Persian scholar), Caspar (Southern India scholar) and Balthasar (Babylonian scholar) who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn King and invented decorating the top of the Christmas tree with the Star of Bethlehem and eating cake on January 6^th in Hispanic countries. He Won Best Speaker Award.
• DTM Kip introduced the importance of a speech introduction (Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon, Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon)*….

 

As for evaluations…

 

• TM Marie liked how TM Jose's speech went from general to specific as an inverted pyramid and he spoke in a soothing storytelling voice (Like a door that keeps revolving In a half forgotten dream, or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream)*.  She Won Best Evaluator Award.
• DTM Mary Helen praised DTM Kip (from one DTM to another) for placing himself in a little corner of the visual aids and for paying attention to the clock, for once!  (For those who may not know, it is rumored that DTM really stands for Don't Time Me).

 

*Lyrics from "The Windmills Of Your Mind" best listened to under the influence of incense.

 

The Word of the Day was

 

PARAMOUNT, adj.

Very important, of highest rank.

 

Example:  Toastmasters is a learning lab of paramount importance to improved communication skills.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHzol7d4VMM

 

See you next week at the Table Topics contest!

 

Irreverently submitted,

 

Ana

Recap Writer/Blogger Extraordinaire