President Robert Wall called the meeting to order at 6:30 with Barbara Weisenberger as Toastmaster for the evening. Melissa Bystedt, Shelly Cedarblade, John DeRyckere, Susan Moch, Arlene Radtke, Gene Radtke, and Jerry Simpson were present.

The announcements included the reminder that dues will be collected beginning today and are due before October 1. All members should make checks out to Chippewa Valley Toastmasters in the amount of $33.00 and bring the check or cash to the next meeting or send a check to Melissa Bystedt.

The Humorous Speech Contest (club level) will be held at the second meeting in September. Currently there are four contestants signed up. Volunteers are needed to fill the support positions for the contest also.

There is a chart showing our current position in the Publicity Contest. Barb will keep that updated and bring it to each meeting.

The Eau Claire Advance Club is thinking about having an overnight campout this fall and is seeking feedback from all of the area clubs. Please contact Claude Schilling, Gene Radtke, Barb Weisenberger or Melissa Bystedt if you are interested.

Robert Wall -Grammarian (word of the day) Perennial.

John DeRyckere – General Evaluator

Arlene Radtke and Gene Radtke – Table Topics.

Melissa Bystedt – Timer

The speakers for the evening were Jerry Simpson, Robert Wall, Shelly Cedarblade, and Susan Moch.

The evaluators for the evening were Susan Moch, Shelly Cedarblade, Robert Wall and Jerry Simpson.

It was a well run meeting and we adjourned at 7:54.

The next meeting will be held on September 3rd.

Please contact John DeRyckere if you wish to speak or have a role that you would like to fill at that meeting.

On Thursday, April 2nd, 10 people graduated from our 2009 Spring SpeechCraft program.  Way to go everybody!

“I had an issue come up here at work that really involved a company-wide solution.  To handle things like that we have an “Innovation Committee” set up which considers and often interviews people who make suggestions.

I made a suggestion and was told at 12:30, that they would like to have me speak about my idea at 2:20.  I had several projects scheduled, so I was not able to work on what to present until about 1:15.  I put to use everything I’ve ever used at Toastmasters that has been successful and was amazed when I was told what a polished presentation I had given.

Only the gentleman who asked me to give the presentation on such short notice and myself knew how little time I had, but because of the “power” of my comments, it has been passed on for further review and it certainly didn’t do anything to hurt my standing in the company.

I think, too often, we can forget how important what we practice at our meetings is.  It truly does develop our abilities to speak clearly and effectively, even with short notice.

I know the training is this weekend and look forward to listening and learning much more — and I also know that this time, I’ll be paying even closer attention.  It’s kind of like my eyes were only half open before — they’re wide open now and I can’t wait to pick up some more tidbits.”

Barb’s experience perfectly illustrates many of the benefits of Toastmasters.  By attending Toastmasters meetings and developing her skills on a regular basis, she was ready to step up at a moment’s notice when it was really important.

Whether you’re a seasoned speaker who could use some polish, or a novice starting from scratch, there’s a friendly, supportive place for you to learn and grow at our club.  We invite you to attend a meeting and see for yourself!

Fortunately, there are some simple guidelines for speech preparation that will help us get our speeches in within the time constraints.

First, and most important, type your speech up on the computer. You don’t have to read from this for your presentation, but figure out what you plan to say! One page, 11-point font, single-spaced is somewhere around 5 to 7 minutes – depending on your reading speed. If all you have is 5 minutes, you want to be under that one page limit. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to actually read your speech and time yourself either!

Secondly, if you’re over your time limit, ask yourself some “trimming” questions. What in your speech is non-essential? What are the most important points? Could some of your supporting data go on a handout, with your speech primarily covering the highlights? Are there anecdotes that could be shortened or removed? Are you trying to cover too much in this one speech? What other things in your speech are taking up valuable time, and not contributing to the goal of your speech?

Third, if you’re really stuck, phone a friend! A third-party, unbiased opinion of your speech will help you determine what’s necessary and what’s not.

Fourth, once you have your own edits and/or your friend’s suggestions, re-work your speech on your computer. Make sure it’s within the timeframe you need.

Last, give your speech a practice run. Read it from the paper, moving at whatever the natural pace of your speech is going to be. Time yourself, and make sure you’re coming in on time.

If you follow these steps religiously, timing issues with your speeches will become extremely rare to nonexistent. Take the time to be on time, and believe me – your audience will thank you!

Fortunately for speakers everywhere, this isn’t true. The audience doesn’t know everything you know – otherwise there wouldn’t be a point in you giving the speech. Your audience is there to be informed by you, not to compare your delivered speech to the script you’re working from.

In reality, your audience will typically want you to succeed and will give you every opportunity to do so. If you make a mistake, nine times out of ten the only way the audience will know is if you point it out to them. So when you’re up there and you stumble, just keep going – it’s not a big deal!

Of course, there’s no better way to gain confidence (and the ability to recover) than by practicing. If you’d like practice speaking, in a friendly, supportive environment, there’s no better place than at a Toastmasters club!

It’s great to watch and listen, and it’s great to have role models. The one thing that isn’t great, however, is trying to duplicate that professional speaker’s style and mannerisms.

That speaker didn’t become successful because their style and mannerisms are the only correct way to do things; they became successful because the style and mannerisms they’ve selected work well for them. If you try to copy them exactly, what you’ll wind up being is a poor imitation of somebody else’s success.

So why not be yourself? Rather than being a poor copy of Tony Robbins, why not be the best you? Focus your attention on your material and your audience, rather than trying to copy others’ mannerisms. Your speeches will be 100% better – without any extra work!

We had three competitors in our club competition, and three fantastic speeches.  When the points were all tallied, Barb Weisenberger took 1st place, and Christopher Kamrath took second place.  This means that both Barb and Chris will be advancing to the area contest later this month – which will also be held at our normal meeting place (the LDS church in Eau Claire).  Way to go Barb and Chris, and good luck at the area contest!