We planned a meeting that was not our normal 3-speeches-3-evaluations-and-table-topics night.  Instead we had a hands-on learning session about Judging combined with a humorous speech by Alicia Saddoris.

First, Alicia Saddoris gave her humorous speech entitled, “Undomesticated Humans”.  We look forward to her competing in the Toastmasters’ W3 Area Humorous Speech competition in September.

Then Jeff gave a speech entitled, “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Said.”

It was a well-honed humorous speech that Jeff had given many times in the past.  Heidi lead a practice judging session with the group.  Jeff’s speech was difficult to judge.  It was supposed to be…

Then Heidi gave a speech entitled, “The Value of Shame”.  Jeff used the speech to lead a second practice judging session with the group.

We were given handouts of the official judging sheets used in Toastmaster speech competitions as judging aids.  On the sheets all elements of good public speaking are weighted by relative importance.  Exposure to both the process of judging a speech and the system used to judge speeches helps members better develop their own public speaking skills.

 

We are pleased to announce our move to a new meeting site at Mayo Clinic Health Systems–Luther Hospital, 1221 Whipple St., Eau Claire, WI 54703.

We would also like to extend our thanks to everyone at the Goodwill store in Chippewa Falls who made it possible for us to use their conference room these past months.

https://www.facebook.com/Chippewa-Valley-Toastmasters-1908715156024253/

Many of us like to socialize a bit before and after meetings.

Alicia Saddoris was our Toastmaster for the evening.  The Toastmaster is responsible for running the first half of our meeting.

The Grammarian for the evening was Jeff McRaven.  The Grammarian introduces the word of the day and pays attention to language usage in speeches.

Ben was Timer.  The Timer times speeches and gives the speaker a visual cue when they reach the low, middle, and high end of their allotted speaking time.

Steve Daigle, visiting toastmaster from the NSP Xcellence toastmaster group gave a speech entitled ” Business Man”.

Jeff McRaven gave a speech entitled “Evaluations”.

Heidi was our Table Topics Master for the evening. The Table Topics Master prepares several topics in advance and requests volunteers to take one of the topics.  Since the speaker has no idea what the table topic is, this is a great opportunity for learning to speak “off-the-cuff”.   We try hard, but don’t take ourselves too seriously.  So, it makes for lots of laughs.

Alicia Saddoris first spoke about “Why I painted my house with blue and white stripes”.

Tim Haukeness addressed the question, “What would you do if you had a truckload of number 2 pencils?”.  How he managed to work his way through that one we will never know.

Typically we spend quite a bit of time on impromptu speaking, but had additional club activities added to the schedule.  Table Topics helps ensure that all members have at least one opportunity to speak at each meeting.

 

Come meet our members and learn about what we do.

July 20, 2017 @ Mt. Simon Park, Dells Pavilion, Eau Claire, WI

Grill warm at 6 PM and regular meeting will be held at 7 PM.   Bring your own food to grill (if any), a dish to pass, your own drinks, your own plates, eating utensils, etc.

To learn more about our group visit:

https://www.facebook.com/Chippewa-Valley-Toastmasters-1908715156024253/

Public speaking skills are exercised through both prepared and impromptu speeches at every meeting. The mission of a Toastmaster Club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills that in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

A special meeting was held to evaluate how well we are serving our members in all areas.