VPPR on a Road Trip 5 - San Diego, California

As you may know, your intrepid VPPR (that's me - Hollie Rose, CC) is on a Road Trip. I have determined to make Toastmasters a part of this adventure. I'm blogging about other clubs I visit.

This time I'm in San Diego!

Toastmasters club #2327386
GSDBA Toastmasters
San Diego, California
Jan. 9, 2014 6pm
Location: The Inn at the Park - Balboa Room - 525 Spruce Ave. San Diego, CA 92103

I picked the hotel I'd stay in for three different reasons. 1 - It was very close to Balboa Park and all the Museums and art there. 2 - I found a great sale rate online. 3 - It had a Toastmasters meeting in one of the meeting rooms on exactly the day I was arriving!

Turns out, after an afternoon in La Jolla, I encountered more traffic than I expected. I got to the hotel at about 5:50 pm. I had just enough time to check in and go running downstairs to the Balboa Room. I walked in about 2 minutes before the meeting started.

What a friendly group! Small but very open. I often like the smaller meetings best because I can actually get to know the members some.
To start the meeting everyone introduced themselves - possibly for my benefit and it was much appreciated.
There was Steve Doster - President, Yvette Currie - VPE, Bob Sanchez, Milo Grecian, Stewart Bornhoft, Ryne Ramos, Cory Russo, Pamela MacPherson, Kris Angell, Bob Ristow and me. Later we were joined by Amir Shayan and everyone joked that he's often late.

The theme for the meeting was "Life at the Speed of Mayberry." Toastmaster of the day Bob Ristow gave an interesting and complete vision of why he chose this theme. Recounting a particular episode of an Andy Griffith show and how it led him to this theme. At some point in this monologue he used the word "flustrated" which I loved so much I wrote it down with three exclamation points in my notebook!!!
Basically the idea was that to rush around from place to place all the time like so many of us do, just doesn't give the best experience of life. In the episode he told us abut a visitor through town had his car break down on a Sunday and spent countless hours chasing people down trying to get it fixed only to learn that they'd gone fishing or don't work on Sundays. By the end of the half hour he'd decided he liked Mayberry's speed and decided to stay a bit.
Bob encouraged us to slow down and enjoy life at a laid back pace. Life is not meant to be sped through.

Grammarian Stewart explained his role like we do it in Cromwell Community TM. Not just as grammar police, but keeping an ear open for "awkward or interesting phrasing." 
The Word of the Day was Flexibility and while all members are encouraged to use the word, Table Topics speakers are especially encouraged to do so.

The Table Topics Master was Cory Russo and he used Mayberry as his jumping off point for a theme loosely connected by the topic of old tv shows.
First TT speaker was President Steve Doster who told us about his part playing Opie in the movie of the Andy Griffith crew all grown up, and how it wasn't the blockbuster it was expected to be. The movie went right to TV.
Second was Yvette Currie. She was asked to explain how it was that the Professor on Gilligan's Island could make a radio out of a coconut but yet he couldn't fix a hole in a boat. She justified the Professor's inability by talking about the differences between book smarts and street smarts.Lastly, Amir was asked about Goofy and Pluto and why one talks and walks on two legs, while the other barks and walks on al fours. They're both dogs after all! Amir was great! He talked about the flexibility of doing table topics when you have no idea who Goofy and Plato are! Isn't Plato a Philosopher?
GSDBA Table Topics was fun all the way around.
This groups shares heartfelt laughter a lot and the warmth and camaraderie is palpable.

Speech # 1 - CC Manual, project 4, How to Say It
Title: Believe by Kristine Angell. Evaluated by Pamela MacPherson.
Believe is a simple but weighty word.
Kris is an Ethnographer. She shared with us exactly what that means and how it helps people and companies learn more about their products. With examples, she told us how her works helps them understand when users and customers go "off label." Her works helps them to see when people stop following directions in order to make the product work for their needs. Very interesting. I learned a lot from this speech.

"We need a second speaker."
Me - "Okay, I'll do it."

Speech # 2 - Custom Speech
Title: Flexibility at the Speed of Mayberry by Hollie Rose. Evaluated by Kristine Angell.
This theme and word of the day was perfectly suited for me to tell some of my story. I talked abut my walkabout and the freedom I'm experiencing to change my plans and my mind about the direction I'll go and the need for flexibility to adjust one's thoughts while on the road in order to be open to the situations that present themselves. I also touched on the fact that I'm doing this partially in order to really enjoy life and the places I visit. Much like the visitor to Mayberry in the episode Bon Ristow told us about, I'm in no hurry.

My evaluation by Kris was (and this is no exaggeration) one of the very best evaluations I have ever gotten as a Toastmaster. In a few short minutes she told me what was good and/or distracting about my stance, my hand movements, my eye contact, my use of today's themes, my voice modulation and the fundamentals of the organization of my speech. She told me what was phrased well, what impact my stories and examples carried both as personal stories and as stories, traits and overarching perspectives from which others can learn. AND she told me exactly how to improve. 
She said this was only her second evaluation! Kris, I hope you participate in your club's next Evaluation Contest - you are a natural and I appreciated your insights. I am vey glad I was able to learn from you!

The meeting wound down and I give props to Stewart's Grammarian report as well - it was filled with great detail of both interesting and awkward moments. Great job!

Proving the extra special friendliness of small Clubs... A couple days later, while sitting on a bench waiting for a restaurant to open, I hear someone say my name with a questioning tone. It was Stewart. He recognized me and I was so pleased he stopped to say hi. Thanks for being so welcoming and awesome GSDBA!

I didn't remember to bring my camera in with me from my car when I literally ran from the check-in desk to the meeting so this photo of the club was taken with my phone. And the photo of me was taken by Bob Sanchez with his phone.

Thanks everyone! I loved meeting you and hope to visit again someday!

VPPR on a Road Trip 4 - Scottsdale, Arizona

As you may know, your intrepid VPPR (that's me - Hollie Rose, CC) is on a Road Trip. I have determined to make Toastmasters a part of this adventure. I'm blogging about other clubs I visit.

The last Club I visited was in Memphis on December 17th. After that most clubs I found weren't meeting,or had changed their schedule because of the holiday, so I sort of gave up looking for a while. So there's no visits in Arkansas, Texas, or New Mexico.
The first week of the new year I spent mostly at a friend's house in Scottsdale, Arizona.
As I was getting ready to leave, it occurred to me to look for a TM meeting and I found one to visit just as I headed out of town.

Toastmasters club #8576
Chats Toastmasters
Scottsdale, Arizona
Jan. 6, 2014 Noon
Location: The Raintree Corporate Center    15333 N. Pima Rd Suite 270

I walked into the room a few minutes early. It was a large room bustling with activity and people. A greeter introduced herself to me and took my name and information.
The tables were set up in a basic U shape, with a couple layers in some areas. Speakers had their own table, as did the functionaries. The group is a large one that meets every Monday. I believe they have nearly 50 active members. Today there were 23 members present and three visitors - myself, a prospective member named Candice and a Toastmaster visiting from Denmark. I sat next to her. Her name was Joy and she also visits clubs wherever she goes. She advised me on which ones might be worth visiting in some of the places I'm headed in the next few weeks. She has just relocated to Scottsdale and I believe she is trying to decide which club to join.

Trish Ferree the Sergeant at Arms opened the meeting and gave an invocation. She quoted Zig Ziglar (RIP) saying "You don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start."

The Toastmaster of the day, Jenny Locklin, started their first meeting of the year speaking about the concept of keeping a jar, throughout the year, and putting in it, notes about the joys and glories of a year. Then, at the end of the year, or the start of the next year, when everyone is saying how glad they are to see the old year go, you can pull out the notes in the jar and reflect on just what a good year it was. 
"If Chats had such a jar, some of our notes might read like this..."

So and so overcame breast cancer, So and so celebrated his 50th anniversary with his wife, So and so went on her 3000th date and she's still single, So and so adopted a rescue dog, a group of our male members had a man's day skiing at the lake, So and so started a new business...
It was a very nice start to any year and had everyone cheering and laughing and shouting out comments about the different happenings.

The word of the day was EXTOL - to praise highly
The Ah counter explained his duties while holding up a piggy bank, explaining that infractions cost 10 cents each and at the end of the meeting, after the report, the pig would be passed around and you should pay up on the honor system.

The GE explained he job as that of evaluating the evaluators. (This was nice to hear as it's been something we've been pushing for in our club! Let's make it an official art of the role description!)

Table Topics was Fortune Cookies. And while everyone exclaims what a brilliant and original idea it is, in my Toastmaster travels, it seems to be the Table Topics tactic I see most.
People lined up at the side of the room. I was unsure how the participants were decided on. I quietly asked the TT Master if one just gets up in line. He said no, people get picked. I watched him, hoping to get picked but it was not him doing the picking. That was the role of another member, who did eventually ask me if I'd like to get in line. In this way they were able to get about 10 or 11 Table Topics in a very short period of time.

Speech # 1 - Humorous Manual, project # ?
Title: Proposed Laws For Language Criminals; Are You and Offender? by Sheila Whittington.
Sheila used slides to consider three of the worst offenses, as well as considering appropriate penalties for each.

Speech # 2 - Facilitating Discussions Manual, project 1, Panel Moderator.
Title: Global Warming; Fact or Fiction? by Brent McDonald.
Brent said he was a seeker, and unsure of his positions on the matter. He introduced 2 experts (club members Kevin Maxwell and Avery Goodman, playing experts, with scripts) with opposing viewpoints. Most of the speech stage time was taken by the two experts telling their perspectives on the matter, with some light prodding by Brent.

Speech # 3 - First speech - impromptu speech, hasn't even done Icebreaker yet, but stepped up today when a slot opened.
Title: How to Make Your Dreams a Reality by Jeff Geiser.
You know I loved this one! Jeff spoke about jumping into your resolutions. He told of a friend who gave him the book "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway." Said he didn't even need to read the book. He gets it. The title told it all! He also said he'd written a book "Awakening Oneself."He closed by talking about the power of Purpose in every single thing we do each day.

Evaluations were good. I liked how Brent's evaluator (Stephanie) pointed out that in a really good panel discussion, the moderator has an opinion and an awareness of both sides of the argument and uses his knowledge to guide the discussion, as opposed to the way he opened, saying he didn't have an opinion.
Stephanie actually had a really good overall approach and a theme to her evaluation. "Well, that's Awkward."
Everything she said was couched in the view of what was awkward.

Towards the end of the meeting votes were tallied and prizes given to the winers of Best Table Topics, Best Speech, Most Improved Speaker, and Best Evaluator. Today's prizes, in reference to the opening talk about a jar for notes on the year, was a small mason jar. I sure hope it included a note inside that said "I won Best ____ at the year's first Toastmaster meeting."

This club has a man who functions at Club Mentor. His name is Joel Weldon and he's a professional speaker and friend of many well known professional speakers whom he has convinced to interact with the club in the past. The last segment of the meeting was a talk by Joel Weldon about the importance of accepting and dealing with controversy in a club like Toastmasters. Especially a club this large.
He also gave a short evaluation of everyone and everything that happened in today's meeting. His thoughts on it all were truly top notch. This Club Mentor concept is a good one and methinks this club benefits greatly from having Joel's insight

The meeting closed and members were reminded to sign up for roles for the next meeting by putting their name tags of a large bulletin board that was off to the side of the room.

After each meeting Joel Weldon adjourns to a smaller room for what is known as The Mentor's Minute. Any member is invited to stay after for deeper discussion of the day's events as well as important things to consider for the club's future plans. I joined this week's Mentor's Minute. I was surprised only four member and myself joined Joel in the luxurious room with a gorgeous table and comfortable executive chairs. It was a bit of a round table discussion with all of us adding thoughts and ideas and experiences to the conversation.
He discussed in more depth the reality of controversy in a group setting and how to be free to express your opinion and yet, do it without offending others. Often merely acknowledging the other side of an issue is enough to mollify those who don't agree with you. "I know not everyone here will agree with me, but this is what I think." as opposed to "This is the way it is."
He likened the Toastmaster's approach as best seen like they view their experience on the lake when he has a summer home; Don't harm anyone. Don't inhibit anyone. Don't harm the lake. Or. Don't harm anyone. Don't inhibit anyone. Don't harm anyone else's experience of Toastmasters.

He closed by reminding folks of Chats Toastmasters Motto - "Get Them On Your Bus."
And to do that you always have to be respectful.

Hollie Rose and Joel Weldon January 6th, 2014

VPPR on a Road Trip 3

As you may know, your intrepid VPPR (that's me - Hollie Rose, CC) is on a Road Trip. I have determined to make Toastmasters a part of this adventure. I'm blogging about other clubs I visit.

I fell in love with Memphis, Tennessee.
I spent a couple of days there and I managed to find a club not too far from where I was staying.
I walked to the meeting site with no idea how long it would actually take me so I arrived pretty early. It was to be held in a conference room at The Urban Child Institute. I sat alone in the room, reflecting on life and the holidays for about ten minutes.

Toastmasters club #1530301
Brain Builders Toastmasters
Memphis, Tennessee
Dec. 17, 2013 Noon
Location: The Urban Child Institute, 600 Jefferson Ave.

Ashutosh Pandey was the first to enter the room with a warm hello. He was followed by Detlef Heck. Both of them were friendly and pleasant. And both asked me, at about the same exact moment, if I'd do a speech. Detlef explained that they were a very small club and there was only one scheduled speaker today.

I said I would. I told them I'd promised some of the members of my home club that I would give a speech any time I was asked.

Sotonte Ebenibo was the next to enter the room, again with warm greetings. Then came Grant, whose last name I did not catch. Grant is their brandy newest member. Last to join us was Gloria Dobbs. What a fabulous little group.

Sotonte gave a quick opening to the meeting - he is both the President and today's Toastmaster.
We jumped right in with the Word of the Day, given by Ash.
Juggernaut - an overwhelming force, particularly a destructive one.

Speech # 1 - Speaking to Inform Manual, project 5,
Title: You Are What You Eat by Detlef Heck. Evaluated by Sotonte Ebenibo
This was an excellent speech by an excellent speaker. His objective was to convey to the audience an abstract concept. Detlef is a professor at the University of Tennessee in the Anatomy and Neurobiology department. Today he was speaking about some of the newest scientific awarenesses around the idea of gut bacteria and its effect on a body's overall health. It was truly fascinating.

Speech # 2 - Custom Speech
Title: How I Came to Be Here Today by Hollie Rose. Evaluated by Detlef Heck.
I spoke about the reasons for my journey across the country and some of what I've encountered so far.

Ash was today's Table Topic Master. He had three thoughtful questions for the group.
Grant was asked what he'd say if he only had one minute to talk a suicidal person off the ledge.
Sotonte was asked to share with us what got him into trouble most as a youth.
Gloria was asked if she had 1000$ to give away, who would she give it to?

The evaluations were encouraging and kind and the meeting was short and sweet.

Because my walk there was longer then expected, Detlef gave me a ride back to my hotel while we discussed how to grow membership and contemplated some of the newest scientific research in various disciplines. If I lived in Memphis this would be my club, hands down.

~~~~~ Hollie

VPPR on a Road Trip 2

As you may know, your intrepid VPPR (that's me - Hollie Rose, CC) is on a Road Trip. I have determined to make Toastmasters a part of this adventure. I'm blogging about other clubs I visit.

 

After the Newark, Delaware TM meeting I hit the road right away. Headed south.
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

VPPR on a Road Trip 1

As you may know, your intrepid VPPR (that's me - Hollie Rose, CC) is on a Road Trip. I have determined to make Toastmasters a part of this adventure. I'm blogging about other clubs I visit.



December 9th, 2013

I began my trip on Sunday December 8th from Middletown, CT.
My expected first destination was Baltimore, MD. That was the plan.
The weather report had said it was to start snowing soon in NJ and the entire Eastern Seaboard. Reports said that by 5 pm it would be raining in Baltimore with temps so cold it would freeze on contact.
I thought maybe I should put off beginning my journey this day.
But ya know, there's always something. That weather world be settling in to CT on Monday and what? Put it off another day?
No.
Just go. Get as far as I can towards Baltimore, then stop when I must.

As I drove through the mess it occurred to me that I have a friend who'd extended an invite in Newark, DE. Maybe I could make it that far?
I called her. She too was driving in this mess and determined that we'd near her house at just about the same time.
In fact, we arrived within 5 minutes of each other.
Now the thing about Kari is that we'd never actually met before. At least not face to face. We made each other's acquaintance 12 or 15 years ago on an email list serve book group of avid readers. This was a very special group and many of us have kept in touch through the years.
So Kari came to my rescue in the snow and opened her home to me.
I tell this whole story partially because I recently gave a speech about serendipity and how I welcome it into my life, and how important it is to me to be open to the flow of possibilities.
Late night Kari and I are talking in her living room before going to sleep and she says offhandedly that she's Toastmaster at a meeting in the morning.
Well no wonder I came here instead of going to Baltimore!
Serendipity.

Toastmasters club #2129155
Siemans Glasgow Toastmasters
Newark, Delaware
Dec. 9, 2013 Noon
Location: Bldg 700 Auditorium, 700 GBC Dr.

Because of the snow Kari was able to work from home that morning while I slept in. By the time I followed Kari to work the driving was much better. Siemans Glasgow is a closed corporate club so we had to go to one building to get me a visitor pass, then another for the meeting.

What a fun and lively bunch they all were! I got to chat with many of the members before the meeting started. People greeted me warmly and introduced each other as "this is my mentor" or "this is my mentee." That made me smile to see the pride and camaraderie of the members. There were 17 attendees and myself.

President Jamie Sterner opened the meeting with some timely quotes about leadership from the esteemed and recently departed Nelson Mandela. Then she introduced me and I gave a two minute hello-this-is-who-I-am-and-how-I-came-to-be-here speech.

 

My friend Kari was introduced next as Toastmaster. It was her first time in that role and she'd told me she was nervous but I couldn't tell. 

She did a great job.
The theme for today's meeting was Friendship. How appropriate.
The Word of the Day, given by Raju Danthurluri, was Confidant: A person with whom one shares a secret. 

We were also introduced to an Indian word: Dhost, which means friend, like amigo does. Most speakers used Dhost in their speeches, table topics, and evaluations.
The Toastmaster introduced the functionaries and then, in turn, she introduced the Evaluators who shared the upcoming speaker's project and objectives.

Speech # 1 - An Icebreaker by Tridib Borkakoty. Evaluated by Earlean Oduaran.
Tridib told of growing up in India and the many moves he experienced due to his father's work transfers. So much so that when he came to the US it was no big deal. Recently on a trip to Switzerland he overheard his native tongue being spoken on a train. This was unusual as his native language has less than two million speakers worldwide. It turned at to be an old school friend! Small World.

It is tradition in this club to give a standing ovation for an Icebreaker. A very nice touch.

Speech # 2 - CC Manual, project 8, Visual Aids.
Title: Wisdom by Edwin Chrisostam. Evaluated by Yali Yang.
I loved Edwin's speech! He used three props to show some of what we, as fallible but important humans should remember, always. One. A twenty dollar bill, crumpled and trampled is still worth 20$. Two. A pencil has an eraser because there are always mistakes, but nothing so grave that it cannot be fixed. Third. Three bananas. One not yet ripe, one perfect and one black banana. Sometimes the time is not right yet. Sometimes it's perfect. And sometimes its too late. "Gobble up the present before it is too late!"

Speech # 3 - CC Manual, project 2,
Title: Pongal by Rama Arumugam. Evaluated by Gladys Privon.
Pongal is sort of like Thanksgiving in Tamil. Pongal literally means "boiling over"
like milk does. In fact, boiling milk is one part of the many days of celebration. This was a lovely slideshow and I enjoyed learning some of the traditions of this holiday.

The Table Topics Master was Carolyn Franklin. Her theme was Christmas. I didn't catch the name of the first speaker who answered the question about her favorite holiday movies. Earlean was asked if her kids still believe in Santa Claus. Um. No. When they moved into an apartment with no chimney, it was easier to just tell them the truth. Raju answered about holiday traditions and how they incorporate Christmas into their lives even though it is not part of their beliefs.

The evaluations in this club were outstanding, with both appropriate praise and good ideas for future improvements.

The meeting ended quickly as the room was scheduled for another group right away.
We gathered a moment in the lobby to take the photo you see at the top of this post.

Great people. Great meeting.

~~~~~ Hollie Rose, CC