The drizzley, foggy, cold, raininess was chasing me, dancing ahead of me, and flirting with me from directly above as I cruised down 81 though Virginia.
It was cold and potentially slippery. And my staying for Kari's Toastmaster meeting had put me behind schedule.
I had planned to attend a Toastmasters meeting that evening in Blacksburg, VA. The speed I was able to travel looked like I wouldn't make it there for 7 pm.
As a visitor, it would be rude to show up late I thought.
At my final gas stop before Blacksburg, I thought, if only the meeting started at 7:30 instead of 7.
I decided to check the Toastmasters International website one more time.
Ha! Look at that! It IS a 7:30 meeting! I'll be just in time!
Toastmasters club #3715
Christianburg Toastmasters
Blacksburg, Virginia
Dec. 9, 2013 7:30 pm
Location: Blacksburg Church of Christ, 315 Eakin st. SE
It was their Christmas Party and they had all arrived early to eat treats and socialize. I only had time to meet a few of the members before the meeting began.
There were 12 members in attendance and 3 guests: myself, a business owner newly moved to the area, and a friend of the Club's President.
President Tom Gilliam, ACB began the meeting by asking about members who were not present and assigning particular members to reach at and check on them.
Toastmaster of the day Liam Hall, CC began by introducing the "evaluation team" which consisted of the General Evaluator, the functionaries, the evaluators, and a new position called the "Listen Up Master." This person, at the end of the meeting, would ask questions about things said in speeches and table topics to insure people had been paying attention.
The Word of the Day this evening was Convivial; friendly and agreeable, fond of feasting.
This suited the evening well and the word was used by many, all throughout the meeting.
Speech # 1 - CC Manual, project 4, How to Say It
Title: Working the Room In the Digital Age by Lisa Bleakley.
She made members laugh with her dialogue, telling us how it goes whenever she tells her husband they have a party to attend. She talked about the importance of having a short intro to deliver to guests that give them valid into about you, as well as giving them something to latch onto with which to start a conversation. She also spoke of the courtesy involved with being present face to face with the people you meet and leaving your digital devices out of the mix.
Speech # 2 - Advanced Manual, project Interpretive Reading
Title: Little Red Riding Hood read by Patrick D. Owens, ACB.
This was very creatively done. Patrick introduced all the characters we would meet in the story and demonstrated how they would be represented by him. He then proceeded to act out the entire story with costume changes each time a different character spoke. Grandma wore a little white hat and had a blanket pulled up to her neck. The Big Bad Wolf had dark sunglasses and a cowboy hat. Would you be surprised to hear that Red had a knitted red hood?
The Table Topics Master was new to the role and she approached it in a unique and extremely creative way. There were a bunch of "White Elephant" gifts in holiday bags. She assigned all those present into groups. Each group picked a wrapped gift. Each group in turn would come to the front of the room and each member of the group would say only one sentence, moving down the line, about the story of the gift. Group One had toilet paper. Group Two (my group) had a lighthouse/birdhouse tree ornament. Group Three had a set of watercolor paints. Group Four had a bunch of gourds, and wooden spoons.
Evaluations had many good suggestions for improvements and functionary reports were thorough.
The meeting ended with a welcome to the newest member and a going over of the minutes from the previous meeting, making the necessary corrections, and voting to accept the minutes.
They all stayed after for more of their holiday party but I was unable to stay as I had previously planned to meet with the person I was staying with at a local eatery.
It was obvious how much everyone here enjoyed this group.
I got a nice photo of them before I left, that I've posted at the top of the page
~~~~~ Hollie Rose, CC
Good to meet you, Hollie!
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