WTM News and Notes

Washtenaw Toastmasters is working on finding a Toastmaster for Thursday’s meeting, among other key roles.  Please check the website out to see if you can help fill all the needed roles for our meetings!

Several of us met at Colonial Lanes for another bowling expedition.  We had 13 people there two Sundays ago, and we spent two hours on three lanes.  It was great fun, even though we weren’t awarded any trophies, and the time seemed to fly by.  Thanks to Yong for organizing the trip!

The International Speech Contest last week was a great success.  If anyone has comments on any of our meetings, please feel free to contact me and I will post what you have to say, as the blog requires one person with access to check and post everything.  Also, the blog is a great place for you to share with fellow Toastmasters your thoughts and feelings about public speaking!  Take a chance, you will probably find it a rewarding experience!

International Speech Contest

The International Speech Contest is going to be held on February 2 from 7-9, in our regular meeting room.  As of now, we need 2 timers and 3 ballot counters.  All members who have completed 6 speeches are encouraged to enter, and any member can participate in the evaluation contest.  Members are encouraged to bring guests to cheer on the contestants.  We are also asking members to volunteer as judges for several of our sister clubs’ contests:

o Masco TM on Jan 31 and Feb 7 at Noon.

o Michigan TM on Jan 30 from 6-8:30.

Any volunteers should contact Carolyn directly.  csmccamman@sbcglobal.net

(And by the way, have you signed up for the speech and/or evaluation contest yet???)

Speak and Present with Confidence (a free event) Come and Meet Toastmasters from surrounding clubs

Do you want to be a better public speaker?

Do you have an upcoming presentation?

Do you want to improve your interviewing skills?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, we can help you

Toastmasters offers a proven way to alleviate your fear of public-speaking.

Learn how to effectively use your voice and body to engage your audience.

You will learn through practice and will be mentored, supported and encouraged by experienced speakers. Take that first step. Just do it.

Area 11 Open House Thursday, January 19, 2012 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.Room 150, Morris Lawrence BuildingWashtenaw Community College 734-961-8431 

Contact: Jeannie Oliver  oliverjro@gmail.com

Winter Solstice Holiday Party

Washtenaw Toastmasters gathered together for a holiday party and public speaking events last Thursday.  We were treated to an “after dinner talk” by Sadhana Alangar, which was about her childhood house in India and her unfounded fears of “devil-worship”  in her home.  Mayna Shumacher gave a worthy and inspiring evaluation of Sadhana’s talk afterwards.  We were also treated by a video of the scholar and writer Malcom Gladwell, talking about a history of marketing techniques and landmark changes in the way we think about food, especially spaghetti sauce.  Afterwards was a round-robin evaluation giving people the chance to say what they did and did not like about his speech.  There was a Table Topics event as well, which was led by our Toastmaster Carolyn McCamman.  The party included many different types of food, drinks, and desserts.  There were so many types to choose from, one could not try all of them.  My personal favorites were the chili, curried vegetable dish, the Ferrero Rocher chocolates, and the coconut graham cracker & chocolate chip cookies.  John Pas will be our Toastmaster this week, and we will be meeting in our regular room again this Thursday.

 

Christmas Party Coming this Week

Thursday will be the Washtenaw Toastmasters Christmas party.  Not only will there be food and socializing, but some special speaking and evaluation events.  Don’t forget to bring your food to pass if you signed up, and be ready to have a good time.  As always, bring guests if you so desire!

Several Washtenaw Toastmasters and other local Toastmasters enjoyed exciting games of “Feather Bowling” in Detroit Saturday.  The game is similar to Bocce and bowling, but you roll a piece of wood, looking like a small tire, down a dirt alley and the objective is to get as near to a feather stuck in the ground as possible.  The game originated in Belgium, and the only place in the US which has it was there, at the Cadieux Cafe.  Afterwards, there was dinner in the main part of the building.

WTM Sister Groups and the Christmas Party Plans

The Christmas party on December will be both a party and a time for public speaking.  Everything will begin by 6:30, and we will have a couple of speeches, a round-robin evaluation, table topics, and more celebrating afterwards.  There will be no meeting this week on Thanksgiving, and the December 1 meeting will be our Silent Auction night.

Our Washtenaw Toastmasters public speaking club has some sister organizations that you may or may not be aware of.  These groups have been initiated with the help of some of our own members!   I am proud to give you some further information about them so that you might become more aware of what they are about and consider taking part in some of the new opportunities to grow as public speakers and leaders.

The “Youth-Leadership” program is designed to help youngsters to reach their fullest academic potentials and to become responsible citizens.  The core curriculum follows the Toastmasters Competent Communicator manual.  Other activities such as court cases and debates are added to enhance the program, engage the students more, and make it educational.

Being part of the program provides you with ways of:

1. Giving back to your community.
2. Sharing your knowledge and helping youngsters succeed.
3. Being a positive role model.

Meetings are held every Saturday, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, and  at the Parkridge Community Center.   See http://tinyurl.com/3wax8a8 for a map.

The group’s website is: http://orchard.wccnet.org/~amin/Youth-Leadership/Home.html

Thanks to Amin Ladha for providing us with not only this information, but our rooms at WCC as well.

 

Another public speaking group in our area is “SpeakOUT!”, an LGBT-friendly Toastmaster club that moved here from Ferndale.  They meet on the first Thursday of the month from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Jim Toy Community Center in Kerrytown.  The meetings will change to twice per month soon.  Guests are always welcome!

Check out the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/280130395337006/

Thanks to Annie Wolock for providing us this this information.

The Holiday Season is Nearly Upon Us!

Now that the days are getting shorter, the holidays are not far behind.

There will be a trip to Detroit to go featherbowling and have dinner at the Cadieux Cafe. This is an old style Belgium bar that has the only featherbowling lanes in the country. The date of our outing is December 3 at 5 pm. We’ll need to leave at 4 to get there on time. We’ll carpool from Concordia. For more info and to see a video about featherbowling.  Ann Arbor Toastmasters and Friends initiated the idea and we will be joining them.  Thanks to our President Sadhana Alangar for this contribution.

Also, we will be having our Holiday Party on December the 8th.  The gold folder has been circulating around the meetings, and many Toastmasters have signed up to bring various food items and treats.

If you have spare copies of the Toastmasters Magazine, please bring them with you to meetings so that guests and new members may have them as resources to understand what we are all about.