We started and ended on time. We had 16 attendees including 2 guests.

Our two guests were: Brooke (daughter of our newest member, Danny) and our new Area Director, Shawn Turner. Shawn would like LKN Toastmasters members to become more involved with our other 3 local clubs. Feel free to visit another area club for extra practice! They include:

Tony provided the WOD: Germane (being at once relevant and appropriate). It was used 4 times.

Elizabeth provided her grammar tip of the day with a great reminder, proper usage of:

  • There – place
  • Their – possessive
  • They’re – contraction

At the end of the meeting, Elizabeth tested the group with this sentence:  

 _______ not happy that ______ drink order is still sitting on the bar over ________.

Sarah was “ah, um” counter and talked about why we use crutch or clutch words. Ah was our favorite word of the night!

Praveen was Toastmaster and provided some great tips in preparation for next week’s humorous speech contest. The he pointed out that his theme was germane. Praveen’s tips included:

  • Know your audience.
  • Self-deprecating is good, but poking fun at audience members can upset and alienate them.
  • Pacing and rhythm is important. As a tip, he recommended listening to professional comedians and noticing their pacing/rhythm.
  • Take your jokes for a “test drive” by testing them on your friends or other Toastmasters members.

Bruce presented his awesome speech, “My Rewireable Brain,” and gave the audience the tools needed to change their habits.

  • Enyonam encouraged Bruce to be stronger with the persuasion piece of the speech.

Ed presented a funny speech which included some online dating examples.

  • Sunny made mention of Ed’s great use of props and suggested he work on more eye contact and use of stage.

Rupali led Table Topics and got creative. She presented several members with “award certificates.” The winners were all surprised by their “award” and their brief acceptance speeches were hilarious.

  • Tony won the award for Best TV Remote Control
  • Danny won the Best Jazz Dancer Award
  • Elizabeth won the award for Climbing Mount Everest
    • She lost some fingers and toes on her adventure!
  • Sarah won the Award for Best Race Car Design.
    • Her car has wheels that can climb at a 90% angle!
  • Mandeep accepted the award for Best Nuclear Plant Design
  • Sunny won Best House Design.
    • Sunny plans to hang the award in her living room!

Sarah won Table Topics

Sunny won best evaluator

Ed won best speaker

Next week is our Humorous Speech contest! Bruce, Mitra and John will be our speakers. We will use the best speaker vote to determine who gets to represent the club in the Area contest. Nicole will represent the club as an evaluator.

It will still be a regular meeting so sign up for a role ASAP!