Meeting Recap: Aug. 27, 2014 (Go Stretch Yourself)

Dear APS Members and Guest,

As an advanced Toastmaster, are you still stretching yourself? Many objects can stretch, and will only break when they exceed maximum stress, or tensile strength. Most Toastmasters will never reach that point however. As Toastmaster of the Day I chose the theme “Go Stretch Yourself,” and I mentioned three cases in point:

Marc Williams has been stretching by being a dogged competitor. This year he finally achieved the District 46 Championship, and then defeated eight other District winners at his preliminary round to become a contestant in the World Championship of Public Speaking. Marc will revisit APS in the near future to tell us about his experience.

This month Brian Robinson celebrates his 20th anniversary as a Toastmaster, but he is still stretching. In just the last 16 months Brian was a two time District finalist in International Speech, and he took first place in District Evaluation and Table Topics - an unprecedented series of achievements. He recently expressed interest in presenting a workshop at the Fall Conference or at APS.

Derek Chen just completed his High Performance Leadership project by leading Jade Toastmasters from having only four members to becoming a Perfect 10 President’s Distinguished club in less than a year. In a matter of days Derek will be awarded his DTM, yet he recently revealed to me that he wants my help to stretch himself to his “next level.” I felt inspired by his revelation.

APS has other members known for stretching, but these were the few I spoke of. “Tensile”was the Word of the Day delivered by Grammarian Kevin Bob, and prospective ToastmasterJenny Cheng was an honored guest.

Tim O’Donnell will be a contestant at his Area Contest with “Sassy, Snippy & Surly,” a humorous portrait of his sixteen year old daughter. A Round Robin evaluation reached a consensus that while Tim is always an excellent speaker, his use of printed visual aids – including photos – hindered his engagement with the audience. The evaluators also felt that the story needed more clarity and a message that would directly benefit the listeners.

Table Topics Master Pam Burke – with tablet in hand - challenged everyone with questions about how they stretch themselves. Kevin Bob has been out of his comfort zone since starting his own business where he needs to exercise his verbal sales skills. Pursuing a master’s degree in accounting at Pace University has been great for Jenny Cheng, although she has been separated from her family in China. Georgia Jones has grown by realizing that one should take control and never let opportunities slip away, while Tim O’Donnell said he wants to stretch his leadership skills at his job as a financial professional.

The General Evaluation by Georgia Jones was notable for keen attention to detail, and the wealth of positive alternatives it offered. Georgia closed the meeting by affixing the latest President’s Distinguished ribbon to the APS Banner. The ribbon was recently forwarded by Immediate Past President Gouri Seetharam.

The next APS meeting will be Wednesday, September 10. The APS contestants will be preparing for the 44 Contest the very next night, also held at S&P.

~ - ~ -  ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Todd McKinney

VP Education, Advanced Public Speakers