by Jodi Michael Horner
I don’t know about the rest of y’all but I’m still getting used to our new one-hour weekly format! That isn’t to say I don’t love it–I absolutely do. I guess it sort of feels like a TIVO version of our previous bi-weekly meetings that were an hour-and-a-half in length. With such an important meeting as the Final Meeting of the Year it seemed a bit strange to have it condensed to one hour.
Be that as it may the meeting was none-the-less stellar. Can I just once again state how admirably professional the Parker Toastmasters remains while at the same time granting the lucky 20+ members a community feel respite with genuine friendships?
Last night was nearly a packed house with 17 in attendance including one new guest. Joanna Knott acted as Toastmaster with her familiar suave. If one word could be used to describe her style I believe it would “diplomatic.” She handles the curve balls without nodding to any awkwardness. As a Toastmaster she puts us all at ease knowing she’s got it covered–and as club president she operated with the same aplomb.
Speakers Matt Martinez and Eric Dunham provided us with an excellent scope of topics and style. Matt gave his Icebreaker and did so with wonderful first-time moxie. He spoke of his travels and diverse places of residence, including military life.
Eric delivered a speech driven by family values, “focus on the family” he implored. He laid out specific elements to guide our thinking including the two-hour rule: make sure to spend two hours of absolute focused time with our children per week.
Audrey Bolema served her first time as Table Topics Master. It was clear she’d prepared for this role and it was a delight to participate in “what’s going on here?” She had printed photos or graphics that depicted some intriguing situations. We had the chance to create our own story for the scenes. David Bounds won the Table Topics–at his wife’s expense! Just beware of the fires in Aurora, he warned us, as she may have started one in their kitchen.
Marcy Brack gave a refreshingly thorough assessment of the meeting as General Evaluator. Going over and above the classic summary of the night she worked to provide feedback to us all.
Nina Minary evaluated Eric Dunham and Nikita Kazakov evaluated Matt Martinez. Both gave great evaluations as they were rife with encouragement and a couple of points to work on.
Best Speaker: Eric Dunham
Best Evaluator: Nikita Kazakov
Best Table Topics: David Bounds
Joanna wrapped up her year as club president by handing out lovely framed certificates for the officers and award winners from the past year. Sandy Marthaler leapt forth to congratulate Joanna on her job very well done this year. I think I speak on behalf of my fellow officers in stating that our opportunity to celebrate Joanna can’t come soon enough.
We closed our evening out with Officer Nominations and Elections. Eric Dunham took over for Joanna and his first act as president was to lay forth the nominations. All were passed unanimously. The officers for the Parker Toastmasters 2012-13 Year are:
Newly Elected Officers for 2012-13 Year, L-R Top Row: Bill Bevard, Bruce Ekins, Eric Dunham, Nikita Kazakov
Bottom Row: Joanna Knott, Nina Minary, Jodi Horner
President: Eric Dunham, CC
VP Membership: Nina Minary, CC
VP Education: Bruce Ekins
VP Public Relations: Jodi Michael Horner, CC
Secretary: Nikita Kazakov
Treasurer: Joanna Knott, ACB, CL
Sergeant-at-Arms: Bill Bevard