Jerome served as Toastmaster to a Midwest theme. He is a Michigan native and shared interesting facts about his former hometown’s region. There were 10 Members in attendance. We intentionally started 2 minutes late and ended a little early.

Scott announced that the club’s Open House date has been moved back one week to 3/30. Scott is working on getting Jamie Stamey as a Keynote Speaker. If she is unavailable then he will try to get a local politician or business person.

Scott also announced that the club has reached “Distinguished Club” in our club status goals and that we will likely achieve “President’s Distinguished Club” again. Only about half the clubs in North Carolina achieve this highest achievement.

Bruce will represent the club in the Area contest this Friday at Concord Fire Station. See last weeks blog post for event details.

Rich and Steve took the club vows and were officially voted in to the club through the New Member Ceremony. Introduce yourself to them if you haven’t done so already.

With all the cororna-virus news going around, the group instituted the “flu-season-fist-bump” to relieve any anxiety about all the handshaking in a typical Toastmasters meeting. Perhaps the future will be fist bumps and bows. Check out Germany’s Angela Merkel getting denied a handshake:

Scott’s speaking tip was to take your time during Table Topics like Geoff did the prior week. Quite often when asked a question we feel pressure to immediately respond. Instead, think about the theme of the question and develop a storied response.

The WOD was “Blustry” which means windy. Yes, it was inspired by the midwest theme.

Jerome sprinkled in these interesting facts about the midwest:

  • 12 states in the Midwest – N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.
  • Great Lakes acronym “HOMES” – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. (Thanks Tony!)
  • Sears tower used to be the tallest building in the US
  • Lake Michigan Sand Dunes – a must visit
  • Mackinac Island – another must visit

Scott gave a prepared speech on his leadership style. He highlighted specific examples of situations as club President where he had to use Coaching, Visionary, Democratic, Authoritarian and Altruistic styles of leadership. He encouraged the group to see themselves less as having a specific style and more of someone who lets the situation determine their style. Don’t be afraid to be the Authoritarian next time no one wants to make a decision about what is for dinner!

“People who are interested in making the best possible decisions are rarely confident that they have the best possible answers.”

Ray Dalio

Sarah gave some great feedback suggesting Scott’s speech could have used a connecting theme like “Don’t put me in a box” with regard to identifying with a specific leadership style. Ironically, Scott wrote a similar blog post about this very thing inspired by one of Nicole’s speeches about rain.

George used the game Apples to Apples as inspiration for Table Topics. Participants had to draw two cards, one a noun and one an adjective. They then had to form a coherent story using the two. These were the cards drawn, what would you have said:

Confused / Bad Haircut

Hilarious / Angry Hornets

Radical / Carnival Workers

Hardworking / Grave Robbers

Innocent / Bullfight

Easy / Sunset

Radiant / Gravity

Sarah took home best speaker with an actual true story. One time she intentionally got a bad haircut so a professor she upset wouldn’t recognize her after clipping her finger nails in class!

George is Toastmaster next week. Use the online agenda and sign up for a role! As Jerome said, “The point of Toastmasters is to speak. You’re just hurting yourself if you don’t sign up!”