Meeting Recap: Oct. 8, 2014 (Comedy Central)

Guest comedians were Lois Lynn and fellow Toastmaster Elena Bakhtina visiting from Atlanta.“Persiflage” was the Word of the Day chosen by Court Jester Todd McKinney.

Georgia Jones revealed that “The Secret” to overcoming the discouragement of a day where everything went wrong, was to attend a Toastmasters meeting the same night. This had happened just the day before when APS captured The Traveling Gavel from LIU Brooklyn, where she encountered some inspirational Toastmasters like Marcia Chambers, Kinja Dixon, Marc Williams and others. Evaluator Manuel Saldana was impressed by Georgia’s message and engaging delivery, but suggested using the entire speaking to area enhance the presentation. 

“Did you know that your passport has expired?” “Really?” replied Eloise Johnny, feigning surprise at the question. Eloise gave a humorous lesson in how to travel internationally with an expired passport. Harry Aneziris loved the humor and that Eloise raised her voice at some key moments, but thought that including some whispering would balance out her arsenal of vocal effects.

Lois Lynn has been “Driven to Distraction” by a co-worker in a nearby cubicle, but this has thankfully provided humorous inspiration for her Division E contest speech. A Round Robinevaluation praised Lois’s universal topic and stoic humor. More unexpected twists and surprises, better use of props and a more attention grabbing opening were also suggested.

In “Kitty, Meet Pussycat,” Marcia Berry gave a tutorial on how to introduce a new cat into the territory of another. Interestingly, the system of gradual acclimation combined with positive rewards also works with people! Georgia Jones thought Marcia’s delivery was littered with good qualities, but suggested scratching even deeper into the humorous possibilities.

Todd McKinney led a Table Topics segment where the challenge was to give humorous answers to deadly serious questions. Manuel Saldana revealed he’s glad that he never killed anyone, while Christine Navigante said that lying can be acceptable in order to spare someone’s feelings. Area 54 Table Topics winner Eloise Johnny believes there can be a time when giving up makes sense, and Division H Champion Harry Aneziris said he would like to get his name in Toastmasters Magazine just like Gouri Seetharam.

General Evaluator Manuel Saldana was also making his official club visit as Area Governor. He mentioned that members needed to use the signup sheet, so that all meeting roles would be filled in advance and the agenda would be completely accurate. Timer Christine Navigantereported that no one had exceeded their allotted speaking time even though some may have tried.

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Todd McKinney

VP Education, Advanced Public Speakers