15 Members and 2 Guests (Ronnie, Brooke) were in attendance as Tony served as Toastmaster to a festive Christmas Lights theme. We started on time and ended a few minutes early.
The club’s Holiday Party is next Monday, 12/16. It will be an all Table Topics night with no prepared speeches. We’ll still have the other meeting roles so sign up! Please bring a dish to share and wear an ugly Christmas sweater if you like. You can indicate what dish you are bringing at the bottom of the 12/16 agenda.
TLI is this coming weekend. You can learn more here. If you do plan on attending, please let Scott know so we can get club credit.
We are meeting on 12/23 but NOT meeting on 12/30. Maarten, our newest Member, is giving his Icebreaker on 12/23.
The WOD was “Festive”. An adjective that means cheerful and jovially celebratory. It was used by 8 different people.
Scott speaking tip of the week was a summary of strategies from a research paper he came across on overcoming a fear of public speaking. The study indicated that most experts agree there are three strategies to implement to overcome the fear. It concluded that no one strategy stood out as superior and that a combination of all three is likely the most effective solution. They are:
- Systematic Desensitization – Gradual increased exposure to a fear. Examples include starting conversations with strangers, holding small meetings at work, asking a question at an event or filling smaller roles at a Toastmasters Meeting. The gradual exposure helps to mitigate the fear response over time.
- Cognitive Therapies – Become more aware of distorted thoughts and behavior patterns. Practice mindfulness, work with a therapist, or keep a journal. By becoming more aware of a conditioned thought it can then be challenged and replaced.
- Skills Training – Becoming more competent at a skill leads to increased confidence. Skills like breathing, pace, eye contact, vocal variety, movement and structure are the fundamentals worth mastering.
Tony shared some interesting facts about Christmas lights:
- Thomas Edison is credited with creating the first Christmas lights.
- Grover Cleveland was the 1st President to put lights on the White House Christmas Tree. This helped the tradition take off.
- Some towns and HOAs have fines for leaving up lights for too long,
- Shijiao is a small town in China that recycles 20 million lbs of Christmas lights every year!
- McAdenville, NC is Christmas Light Town USA.
Nicole returned to the stage to give a speech about Estate Planning. You can spend around $1150 to set up a plan that will help your family when you are unable. She highlighted these components to good Estate Planning:
- Living Trust
- Will
- Guardianship
- Power of Attorney
- Health Care Directive
- Final Initiative
Sarah gave a speech entitled “An Unwitting Mentor”. She spoke to how a college roomate unexpectingly served as a mentor that helped her change some things about herself. She showed how her friend taught her to:
- Be Spontaneous – Some of the best adventures in life come from a spontaneous spark.
- Be Open – Engage people with an open attitude to cultivate more rewarding conversations and relationships.
Both speeches were outstanding. Interestingly, both evaluators highlighted the importance of vocal variety in speaking. George mentioned how he once read that Margaret Thatcher actually hired a coach to help hone her speaking voice.
Robert got super creative by implementing a “And then,” story-line themed Table Topics. He started the story with Queen Charlotte from Fruitopia in search of a Christmas gift. Participants then had to keep the story going with their own creative injection. Somehow a sleigh ride, Normy the LKN monster, guillatines, risotto, ice fishing, dancing, Birkdale, Christmas shopping, alcohol and Jewish people led to a happily ever after ending!!! Bravo for the creative spark Robert!
Congrats to Sarah for taking home Best Speaker, Traci Best Table Topics and George Best Evaluator.
Yvette pointed out how helpful the Ah/Um Script was to her as a New Member. You can view them here. They and the other role scripts are available in print form in the blue folder in our club container. Scott will update the New Member Manual to better inform New Members of their availability.
Attend next week for some festive holiday fun!
Lake Norman Toastmasters Blog 