Saturday, December 31, 2016

We have reached our goals

Congratulations!!! We met both our goals for our Facebook and Blog! Today we officially had 203 views this month for our Blog, and our goal was 200.

We officially had 1,071 views of our Facebook posts this month exceeding our goal of 1,000 views in a month! We also had a record breaking post, with our video receiving 111 views and reaching 151 people in 11 hours!! Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our goals!!

Loyalty days


Every year we host the Newport Loyalty Days Court at our first March meeting at the Pig and Pancake. Each princess, Princess McKenzie, Princess Morgan, Princess Tatiana, Princess Lindi, gave a speech on an event in their life that changed them. As an example, Princess Tatiana talked about her mother living in Latin America and how there were gangs that affected her family there. Because of this, she wanted to become a doctor, something impossible where her mom grew up, and participate in doctors without borders to help those who need her the most. 

A year in Pictures


Friday, December 30, 2016

Social Media review

We have done a lot of growing this year on social media!!

Thank you for making this a great year! Newport Toastmasters created this blog in June of this year, and since then we have reached 718 people, and this month we have reached 152 people, the most people ever. We want to thank you for this support, and we hope that we will keep growing this next year too!

On our Facebook page, support has exploded for Newport Toastmasters. We now average over 100 people reading what we post a week, and around 400 to 500 people a month seeing our page. We want to thank everyone who has visited our page, liked a post, or shared a picture from the blog. It has been a fun ride of pictures and reviews. By far the drab turkey table topics picture was one of the most popular posts on our facebook page. The other highly popular post was the table topics tie between the dog sled versus one horse open sleigh debated by Marisa, and Christa advising santa to move to the Oregon Coast.  Thank you for a great year!

Drab turkey table topics awarded by Brian to Anajanette
Table topics tie between Marisa (left), and Christa (right), awarded by Brain

A Year in Review 2016

As the new year approaches, resolutions come to mind with how you are going to be better next year. For many people, this last year was one they would prefer to forget, for others it is simply another year. At Newport Toastmasters, this year has come with several surprises and things that have gone very well. Let's look back at some happy things that have happened:
December 13th-
Laurie gave her ice breaker speech titled Grand Adventure, where she talked about studying Baboons in Tanzania, and how she appreciated what she had after seeing people with nothing, willing to share with others. Dave went looking for a debate to participate in, and found Lincoln City's Great Sand Debate. In the debate, he stood up to say that Lincoln City should leave the sand where it is. Brian asked Peter about Santa's job, and he said that he was jealous that in his job, Peter only got two weeks of vacation, and Santa gets 364 days off a year. Christa said that her experience in Alaska allows her to relate to Santa wanting to leave the north pole since she understands the cold, so she suggested Oregon with it is a more temperate climate, but is not hot since Santa is used to very cold weather.
Financial outlook- November 15th
Richard talked about how it is important to remember the market is is resilient, has survived and recovered from many setbacks. Anajanette was in charge of table topics and decided to ask fun questions to keep the meeting light. Laurie talked about her adventure paddle boarding with her dog who does not like the heat. She chose that sport because her dog prefers the water and they had an enjoyable day escaping the heat. 
Halloween party- October 25th
Paul, who gave us the tale of his younger Halloween days, where he went to his neighbors and scared them with his costume and how he scared one of his neighbors. Peter was the second speaker, talking about the mysterious wanderer, Leatherman of Connecticut. This wanderer did not speak English, but was allowed to float around for over thirty years. Brian was the Table Topics master of the day, and gave people gravestones to tell stories of.  Christa said that her passed life's tombstone said " here lies an atheist. All dressed up and no place to go". She told us that she was raised in a catholic home, but did not believe in the religion. When she died at an early age due to disease, her parents wrote this on her tombstone.
Speech contest- September 6th
Dave told his fish tales speech where he hooked us on his adventures of fishing across the country and overseas. He told us how when he caught his first fish, he threw his pole in the water. His grandfather rescued the pole for him, so he could reel in the fish, and from then on, he was as hooked as that fish was.  Brian was the second speaker with his speech Confessions of a Funeral Director. He told us about his first funeral where he thought that after making it to the chapel safely in a procession the hard part was over, and then he saw a pair of feet levitating into the room, which ended up being a woman who did not have her oxygen, and emergency services came to help. Brian took first in the speech contest and Dave placed second. 
August 9th meeting-
Lee was the Toastmaster of the day, whose theme was the Olympics. Laimons was the speaker of the day, talking about volunteering at a kindergarten class. He both warned us about, and encouraged us to become a volunteer for Lincoln County School District. Kathleen wrote the last line of a book on a notecard, and passed everyone a card. During Table Topics, we had stories ranging from a major Earthquake occurring, to a soul speaking to their loved ones saying they are at peace. Marisa was the one who took home the trophy for Table Topics, as she told us a story of going through a storm on a fishing boat.
New officers-  July 8th
We, as a club, would like to thank Paul for everything he does and continues to do for our club as sergeant at arms, as well as Laurie for her service as treasurer. Our secretary, and former president Marisa continued to serve as an officer, and we would like to thank her for her willingness to give of her time. Lee continued to be our vice president of membership and has been spreading the word of our club and helping to welcome any new members that we have had visit. Dave, who was our vice president of public relations last year is our vice president of education this year, and changed how we do schedules so we can be booked two months in advance now. Two new officers were Brian, our president, and Lauralee, the vice president of public relations. We would like to thank Brian for the work he has done to find new members and getting to the meeting early every Tuesday to make sure everything is ready for the Toastmaster of the day. 
Loyalty day's speeches march:
Every year we host the Newport Loyalty Days Court at our first March meeting at the Pig and Pancake. Each princess, Princess McKenzie, Princess Morgan, Princess Tatiana, Princess Lindi, gave a speech on an event in their life that changed them. As an example, Princess Tatiana talked about her mother living in Latin America and how there were gangs that affected her family there. Because of this, she wanted to become a doctor, something impossible where her mom grew up, and participate in doctors without borders to help those who need her the most. 

This year has been filled with fun times and exciting adventures. A few of these include how one of our members, Marisa, received her Doctorates this year, and another member, Lori went back east and achieved her goal of being able to do book readings more confidently to promote her book Wander. Lauralee received both her competent awards, and Brian received his competent communicator, and Dave was offered a job because of his experience in Toastmasters.
We hope to see you next year!

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Come visit us!

If you would like to visit, and get some information about Newport Toastmasters, please come to one of our meetings on Tuesday at 7AM at Pig 'N Pancake on highway 101 in Newport.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Education program in Toastmasters

Read about the Toastmasters Leadership Track and Communication Track to see what Toastmasters is about.

New Year Resolution

What will your new year's resolution be? Will you work to grow your business? Get over your fear of public speaking? Do you want to expand your leadership skills?

Newport Toastmasters can help you on this journey!
We meet Tuesday mornings at 7AM at Newport OR Pig 'N Pancake.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Pictures from our meetings


See what our meetings are like in person on January second for our business meeting!

Email us!

Have a question about Newport Toastmasters?
Please email us at ybtoastmasters@gmail.com!

Our Facebook Page

Visit our Facebook page at Newport Toastmasters to see the word of the day, pictures of meetings, updates and events, and articles on Toastmasters!

Newport Toastmasters

Christmas party

The Christmas Party was on December 20th. There were no speakers, but instead the White Elephant gift exchange happened. The "host" Toastmaster of the day was Santa Dave. He was also the Table Topics master who facilitated the White Elephant exchange. Anjanette was the grammarian of the day. Christa was the timer for the special table topics, where people had to say why they were thankful for the white elephant gift they were given.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

December 13th review

Today we would like to congratulate our former president Marisa, who defended her thesis and is now officially Doctor Litz.
The Toastmaster of the day was Lee, whose theme was radio and how the first transatlantic radio signal was sent by Guglielmo Marconi on December 12th, 1901. He was evaluated by Marisa, the day's general evaluator, who talked about how that it was a very appropriate theme for Lee, and how he prepares for being the Toastmaster. A word to her evaluation team is that when you are evaluate someone, it is better to take the lectern and give your suggestions from there.
There were two speakers today, Dave and Laurie, who have gone back and are redoing the Competent Communicator manuals. Laurie gave her ice breaker speech titled Grand Adventure, where she talked about studying Baboons in Tanzania, and how she appreciated what she had after seeing people with nothing willing to share with others. She tied the adventure of getting on a plane hoping someone would meet her on the other end, to the adventure of learning new things and being challenged in Toastmasters. Anajanette was her evaluator, complementing Laurie on the way her voice told the story, and showing us her journey after she got out of school. She did mention that she would have prefered to learn more about her adventures out of country, and would have enjoyed if the speech had only been about that adventure.
Dave was the second speaker of the day. He talked about the Sand Debate, how throughout this political season, Lincoln County was having it's own debates. On of the arguments is about what we should do about the sands that are creeping up on the houses and businesses that have been built by and on the sands of the beaches. The suggestion would be to move the sands away, so Dave, looking for a debate to participate in, stood up and said they should leave the sand where it is. He mentioned that it was a waste of taxpayer dollars since scientists have been talking about the impending Earthquake and tsunami, which would undo any work we would have put into the beaches. Paul was his evaluator who liked his many jokes like his abrasive relationship to sand or how adding ketchup to food with sand in it makes it better. Paul did suggest that the title was a little revealing for the speech, and takes the mystery out of the talk.
Brian was the Table Topics Master of the day, whose theme was the holidays. Marisa was asked about the one horse open sleigh, and instead she talked about her experience with a dog sled team. She was about to experience being on a dog sled and said that she prefers dogs over the horses. Brian asked Peter about Santa's job, and he said that he was jealous that in his job, Peter only got two week vacation, and Santa gets 364 days off a year. Christa talked about where she would suggest Santa move to since he was getting tired of the North Pole. She said that her experience in Alaska allows her to relate since she understands the cold, so she suggested Oregon with it is a more temperate climate, but is not hot since Santa is used to very cold weather. Lauralee also made the table jealous with her hot chocolate, a table topics question of the day. Marisa and Christa tied for Table topics today.
The word of the day, provided by Christa, was palaver meaning to talk. The timer of the day was Laimons, who kept us on track.
Have a great day!

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Tuesday December 6th Review

Tuesday was our business meeting. The discussed the date for spring contest, and are waiting on Teo for a date to reserve the library. Another topic was the Waldport High School mentoring dates and times which will be announced in January 2017 after the holidays.
Reminder our Christmas white elephant gift exchange is Tuesday 12/20. Our meeting of 12/27 has been canceled due to so many being out of town that Christmas week. The next meeting will be back on our regular schedule 1/3.
Toastmaster of the day was Dave Coffman. He regaled us with St. Nicholas factoids such as the “real” St. Nicholas was from the area now called Turkey so he really did not look like our Americanized Santa Clause. He also attended the council of Nicea and was so upset that another bishop questioned the virgin birth of Jesus the beat him with his staff, which is one theory of why we have candy canes that look like a Shepherd’s staff today.
Paul was the grammarian whose words of the day were Xenophobia and Bifurcated. The word was very popular and was used in almost all the table topics as well as the speech.
Anajanette gave book speech number three about paddle boarding. She took us on a voyage extolling the wonders of getting close to nature and water and encouraged us to join the sport and go with her to Hawaii to paddle board the wonderful surf there. Laimons gave a wonderful evaluation of Anajanette's speech and was impressed that she was not xenophobic with her extolling other cultures where we could paddle board.
Christa, our table topics master had us all smiling with happy table topics like “what makes you smile?”, and “What two things are you looking forward to?” Peter keep us on track as our timer, as well as our Table Topics winner.
Brian, after remembering that he was the general evaluator, commented on how impressed the meeting ran with Dave at the helm as Toastmaster. He loved the speech about paddle boarding, enjoyed the factoids given by Dave regarding St. Nick, table topics put a smile on his face and the words of the day made everyone think on their feet to work them into their table topics and roles. All in all a GREAT meeting!

Friday, December 9, 2016

Toastmasters Pathways

Have you heard of Toastmasters Pathways?

Toastmasters Pathways is scheduled to roll out to all the districts in January of 2018 after a pilot in January of 2017. So what is this change in Toastmasters?

Toastmasters Pathways is a new education program that will be implemented worldwide. According to The Possibilities of Pathways, an article in the Toastmasters magazine, it is supposed to keep the basis of the current program, but combined the leadership and communication manuals to create a more comprehensive program.

What is new?
There will be an online component where you can take surveys, do activities, and go through the manuals. After taking an assessment, Toastmasters will select a path they think that is the best fit for your skills and weaknesses, however you are free to choose from any of the paths regardless of your test results. The paths include Motivational Strategies, Presentation Mastery, Leadership Development, Persuasive Influence, Effective Coaching, and more (Possibilities of Pathways). These paths also include several different project topics such as how to motivate others, and using presentation software (Possibilities of Pathways).
There are five levels of this program:
1. Mastering Fundamentals
2. Learning Your Style
3. Increasing Your Knowledge
4. Building Skills
5. Demonstrating Expertise

Want to know more? Go to our Facebook page Newport Toastmasters to read the whole article!

Monday, December 5, 2016

Come join us

Please join us tomorrow at Pig N Pancake for our Toastmaster meeting at 7:00 AM!

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Throw back

 
To start the meeting, Lauralee received her competent leadership, and competent communicator awards, and pins.
Today was our Halloween themed meeting. The Impaler Dave was our Toastmaster of the day, who brought in some "costumes" for us. These were anything from ear headbands to a witches hat. He told us a variety of jokes about Halloween. Why did the skeleton cross the road? To get to the body shop. He was evaluated by the Zombie Killer, Lauralee, who said she was more like a zombie herself. Other than not telling us the title for the speeches, she said Dave did a very good job of being flexible, and keeping the meeting organized.
Our first speaker was Paul, who gave us the tale of his younger Halloween days, where he went to his neighbors and scared them with his costume. Because of his antics, he scared one of his neighbors so bad that the husband was trying to get away from him, and the wife screamed for what seemed like 20 minutes. Pen was Paul's evaluator, who gave a very specific evaluation for Paul's story.
Peter was the second speaker today, talking about the mysterious wanderer, Leatherman of Connecticut. This wanderer did not speak English, but was allowed to float around for over thirty years. Anjanette was his evaluator, who gave both compliments and criticism in her evaluation. She told Peter that he gave us a historical story that made her think about the story, as well as giving us a "mysterious" vibe to him.
Brian was the Table Topics master of the day, and gave people gravestones to tell stories of. Laimons said that he was upset by the fact that Merv Griffin had passed away, and that he obviously did not believe in the resurrection if he would not be back after this message. The second picture he got said he did not forward the message to ten people, like the scare messages say. Laimons joked that he would die trying to figure out how to forward the message in the first place. Christa won our Halloween table topics award of the day! Her passed life's tombstone said " here lies an atheist. All dressed up and no place to go". She told us that she was raised in a catholic home, but did not believe in the religion. When she died at an early age due to disease, her parents wrote this on her tombstone.
The word of the day was monstrosity. Marisa was the grammarian of the day, who cleverly said that the wizard of ahhs was Laimons.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

November 29th review

The Toastmaster of the day was Peter, who talked about the meaning of different holidays. His impromptu stand in evaluator was Christa, who talked about he was prepared to introduce the speakers, and had many interesting facts to tell us about. She said that her evaluator was too easy on her, and so was Anjanette, who did not point out her umms.
Our first speaker was Christa, who gave a talk about mental health emergency preparedness. She likened it to going through a regular first aid class, so that you can try to help those who need you. She handed out fliers for the next mental health first aid class with information about what they would be doing in Newport, Oregon. Brian was her evaluator who said that this was very needed information for the community. He said she was working on her rate, which he said evened out after the beginning. One thing he said to remember is to add more to the conclusion.
The second speaker was Lee spoke about his family history, and how he found his coat of arms after going to Germany to find his father's family. When he was able to go, he met his second cousins and his father met his cousins he had never seen before. To show us, he brought the coat of arms he made himself from a picture he saw showing the union of his family to another. Marisa was Lee's evaluator, who said she was very interested in his story, and didn't notice that he had gone overtime. She complimented that he was very story like in his speech and how he was able to augment his speech with props.
Paul was in charge of table topics today, where he set up debates on a page for different people in the audience. On the page were different questions that you took a side on. Anjanette talked about the placebo effect being fine for small problems but not for serious conditions. She also said you need to believe in the alternative care for it to work, so that would not make sense for children or animals. Peter chose the question about how the economy is affected during times of peace, and in times of war. He said that the economy would be better during times of peace instead of war. Lauralee was the winner of table topics and talked about the electoral college, which she had just written a five page paper on. She proposed that instead of the mysterious electoral college, that can override popular vote, that we use a more representative group of people.
Have a good day!

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

November 22nd review

Today was a rowdy meeting that was fun filled and a bit silly. Our Toastmaster of the day was Pen, who talked about how we can be thankful. The general evaluator was Paul, who was offended to be called Marisa, and had very little to say about the meeting, other than it was a fun meeting.
The speaker of the day was Lauralee, who gave a longer version of her lesson from the business meeting. She went over the communication and leadership tracks, from competent levels to becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster. Lee was her evaluator who said that the provided PowerPoint from Toastmasters International that could not be edited confined her freedom to work with the speech. He also liked the enthusiasm that she presented with.
From Toastmasters International

Table topics master was Brian whose topic was thanksgiving. He asked Laimons why Mary had a little lamb was not Marry had a little Turkey, since the woman who wrote it was a part of the first thanksgiving. He said that is because turkeys are stupid and lambs are more cuddly. Laurie was asked how big of a family gathering she has had for thanksgiving, to which she said she had 25 people normally in her big family gatherings, which she looks forward to. Anjanette said that she would name the turkey, which meant peacock in an Indian language, a drab peacock. This is because the turkey has the fan similar to the peacock and they are shaped similarly. Anjanette won table topics this week.
The timer today was Laurie, and the grammarian today was Anjanette, whose word of the day was meshuggener, which means a foolish person.
Today was a bit light on people, so we hope wish everyone a happy thanksgiving and safe travels.
Have a good day!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Pictures from our Financial Outlook event





November 15th review

There were four guests today including our guest speaker. We would like to welcome them, and invite each of them back next week to see a more normally run meeting.
The Toastmaster of the day was Brian, who lead our Financial Outlook After the Elections event. He was evaluated by Christa, who said that the meeting went very well. Christa talked about how our table topics were able to lighten the meeting's intense topic of finances. She complimented the Toastmaster for being flexible, as well as our guest speaker Richard.
Richard talked about how it is important to remember the market is is resilient, has survived and recovered from many setbacks. He suggests spending time in the market instead of timing the market, and investing in domestic stock, because he thinks they will do well. When he talked about which type, he said the less risky stocks were better, but what is important is to set up your portfolio for your life which is a lot longer than the new administration will. Laimons was his evaluator, and said his gestures got more comfortable throughout the speech, starting to use his hands instead of leaving them at his sides. He also said that Richard looked at the audience at the table, but to remember his audience was also off to the side of the main table too.
Anjanette was in charge of table topics and decided to ask fun questions to keep the meeting light. Laurie talked about her adventure paddle boarding with her dog who does not like the heat. She chose that sport because her dog prefers the water and they had an enjoyable day escaping the heat. Peter was asked about a family member that lights up the room, and he talked about his brother in law. He said that his sister's husband who used to be an officer, but still believes that everyone is a good person until proven otherwise. Pen was asked about her favorite concert, and she talked about how she had gone to a concert with the Kinks. They had sang Lola at the concert, which she demonstrated a line from, and said that was her favorite because of her proximity to the time of the concert. After voting, table topics award ended in a tie, between Laurie and Pen.
Paul was the grammarian of the day, whose word was fiduciary, fitting the day's financial theme perfectly. Dave was the timer of the day helping us stick to our schedule.
Have a great day and see you next week!!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Our Free Financial Event

Our Toastmasters free event!!
Come to our Tuesday meeting, on Tuesday November 15th from 7:00 AM- 7:50, at  Pig n Pancake 810 SW Alder St, Newport, OR 97365. This is a free event sponsored by the Yaquina Toastmaster Club. Our guest Speaker, Richard O’Hearn, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones Investments. 

This will be on our financial outlook after the election on Tuesday. Please join us at the back of Pig 'N Pancake in the meeting room. 

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

November 8th review

The Toastmaster of the day was Marisa, whose theme was the election and how women got the right to vote. Lee was the general evaluator today, and he talked about how when answering table topics, treat it more like a short speech than an answer. He also complimented how Peter gave a thorough grammarian report including who used the word of the day, mollify and how he talked about specific phrases people had said.
Brian gave his speech on how you grow through the hard times in life. He talked about how a woman on the radio was thankful that she even had a drain that could clog, since before she was homeless. This put in perspective what he should be grateful for. In his speech, he talked about how it is now how we are knocked down, but how we get back up that matters. This speech was his last speech for the competent communicator. He was evaluated by Christa who really enjoyed his speech, saying it conveyed his message well. The only critique she had was he did not make the ideas personal to him.
Dave gave his speech on how he is half the man he used to be. To demonstrate his weight loss, he stripped himself of his old bigger clothes, so we could contrast to what he wears today. This was a practice for a speech he will be giving to people in a bariatric program. He emphasized how following the nutrition plan made for him allowed him to lose the weight that he had been trying to take off for many years. Paul briefly evaluated Dave, telling him that he managed to humorously persuade the audience about nutrition and how they can do whatever they put their mind to.
Laurie was the Table Topics Master of the day, whose theme was fall. She asked Anjanette about what she liked the least about this election, to which she said the length since in New Zealand you can only campaign for six weeks. Laimons answered that he does not really like daylight savings, though he is not too concerned about the time change because he is retired. The thing Laimons does not like the most about daylight savings is that he has to relearn how to change the clock in his car. Marisa won table topics answering how she felt about all the rain we have had, to which she said that she loved it. Since she is a PHD candidate, and is going to be defending her work soon, Marisa is enjoying the rain which demands she stay home.
Have a good day!

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

November 1st review

The Toastmaster of the Day was Paul, whose topic was Saints Day. He was evaluated by Laurie, who said the meeting went smoothly, but we needed longer and more specific introductions. We would like to welcome our two guests for the day Doug and Carmel, who are visiting for the second time since June! Thank you for coming.
Today was our business meeting, which went rather long today. Our treasurer, Laurie, said that all of our dues were in on time, so everyone is current. Lee, as Vice President of Membership, reminded us that we should bring our friends to Toastmasters so that we can grow. As a part of old business, Marisa our secretary reminded us that we have decided to do a speech contest in the spring. With that contest, she said that we will need to work on a date, and securing the library as our place to hold the contest. Lauralee said that our facebook page has been getting 160 people visiting a week, and 467 people in a month. For our blog we have had 119 people read it this month.
After our business meeting, Lauralee taught a mini lesson on the Competent Communicator and Competent leadership. She first explained the boards, which are around the room, and help the club track it's members progress. From there, she talked about how the Competent Communicator manual has the evaluation sheets where the evaluator fills out how you did, and then the back of the book has a chart where you fill in the title and date of your speeches. For the Competent Leadership, Lauralee explained that each of the projects require you to do different meeting roles. The board shows which day you completed a certain role, but the book signs you off on certain roles for the project. As an example, time management, project 4, requires you to be timer, but then you have to serve in at least one role, such as Toastmaster.
Marisa was our only speaker of the day, working on her entertaining advanced manual. She gave the lifestory of her brother's dog in this eight to ten minute speech. In her speech, she talked about how the dog went with her brother out into the wilderness and scouted the perimeter while he worked. Peter was her evaluator, and said that one sign of a good speech was how quiet the audience is, and everyone there was quiet. He also said that her audience laughed at the right time, another sign of a good speech.
Lauralee was in charge of table topics today, whose theme was Halloween turning to Thanksgiving. Lee spoke about how stores minimize Thanksgiving but how we, as a people, very often travel to be with our family on the day. This shows that we value Thanksgiving. Dave was asked what job would you have if you turned into a halloween costume he had. In response to this, Dave talked about how Saint Francis is his patron saint, and he tries to be like him all the time. Christa won table topics today, and she talked about how she tried to dress up as a lion tamer this year, by dressing her dog as a lion, and using a toy they had to be able to "tame her lion", but the costume never came to fruition as she never completed it.

Have a great day!!

Monday, October 31, 2016

Background before the lesson on Tuesday: Competent Leadership

Toastmasters International offers two beginning manuals, the Competent Communicator and the Competent Leadership. The Competent Leadership manual contains ten projects to help develop comprehensive leadership skills.
Leadership skills are learned in every meeting role, however you choose which roles you complete to finish the different projects. There are requirements for marking off a role for a project, since each meeting that you fill a role can only count for one project. Example: Critical thinking and giving feedback require the same roles, however if you are grammarian on August 9th, you can only count that for one project not both.
Projects include skills such as listening, motivation, and time management. Some projects require meeting roles, such as being timer for time management. Others require you to help lead a extra role, such as organizing a contest speech. Others, such as Mentoring, require you to help other members complete speeches, or complete leadership projects.
Just like the Competent Communicator, once you have completed the ten projects, Toastmasters International can send your employer a letter with your accomplishment. From there, Toastmasters has more manuals tracks that you can continue building your leadership skills. The Advanced Leadership Bronze and Silver. At the end of these manuals, including the communication series, you will receive the Distinguished Toastmaster award.

Event on Tuesday November 15th!!

Topic: “Investing and protecting your retirement accounts post-election day”.


When: Tuesday November 15th 7:00AM
Where: Pig n Pancake 810 SW Alder St, Newport, OR 97365
What: Free event sponsored by the Yaquina Toastmaster Club
Who: Guest Speaker, Richard O’Hearn, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones Investments
About the speaker: Richard O'Hearn is a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones Investments. His office is Located at 1460 N Coast Hwy immediately north of Power Chevrolet in Newport. Richard holds the following licenses and credentials:
Series 7 General Securities representative registration covering FINRA, NASDAQ, NYSE, Series 66 uniform Combined State Law Examination registration in 17 states, Insurance Licensed in Oregon and Washington
Richard and Carol Wilks work as a team with three key objectives that focus around the client
We want to understand what's important to you.
We use an established process to help you build personalized strategies to achieve your goals.
We will partner together throughout your life to keep you on track
Richard is a Board member of the Samaritan House in Newport, Newport Chamber of Commerce and Newport Rotary club. Richard is also a Ambassador for the chamber of Commerce and leads a 4-H archery group of kids.
With his copious amounts of free time he likes to go camping, traveling and outdoor activities. Richard also is a first time Grandfather in October.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Background before the lesson! Competent Communicator overview

The Toastmasters program helps you through manuals such as the Competent Communicator, but is not a formal course such as Communications 111. There are no grades or tests, but instead you have Table Topics and the Ice Breaker Speech. Club meetings help you to work together to study and practice your communication and leadership skills.
You can work with introductions, perform roles during club meetings, and work on projects, such as the ten speech projects in the Competent Communicator. In this manual you build speaking skills with each new project. Most of the speeches are five to seven minutes, focusing on a single skill. It works on everything from organization, to body language, to researching a topic. This will help you learn to speak with clarity, and confidence.
With each speech you give, you will be evaluated to help you grow and learn. They will point out strengths and offer suggestions on how to improve the speech. This manual focuses on the basics of public speaking, and your evaluator will focus on the basics as well. If you are working on vocal variety for your speech, they will also focus on it when giving your evaluation. The manual will help you gain the skills through it's ten projects, then you will receive the Competent Communicator Award.
Want to learn more than just the basics? There are plenty more manuals for communication that you can work on, ranging from storytelling, to career related learning. After you have finished the manual, Toastmasters International will send a letter to your employer if you wish them to, notifying them of your achievement. This is especially nice if your work has a program to pay for you to be in Toastmasters.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Benefits for work

A lot of people come to Toastmasters to improve their skills for work. Whether you are trying to get better at interviews to get a job, improve your resume for a job, or gain skills to be able to lead a group, Toastmasters can help. As you gain confidence in your skills, and practice activities such as evaluator, you will see improvement in your daily life.

10 benefits for work:
1. Learn how to lead a meeting through being a Toastmaster for the day.
2. Learn how to present technical presentations to a room, but still make it interesting.
3. Learn how to persuade through the communications manual.
4. By being the timer, and being timed, you will become more succinct in your answers.
5. As an evaluator, you will improve on giving feedback to those around you.
6. Through table topics, you will be able to think on your feet easier.
7. To improve your skills, you will be evaluated on what you did well, and where you need to improve.
8. You will gain connections to other leaders in the community, and a wide variety of professions.
9. Toastmasters can send your employer a letter of completion for each manual.
10. It can hone your speaking skills so you can be more confident in your answers.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Halloween Review

To start the meeting, Lauralee received her competent leadership, and competent communicator awards, and pins.
Today was our Halloween themed meeting. The Impaler Dave was our Toastmaster of the day, who brought in some "costumes" for us. These were anything from ear headbands to a witches hat. He told us a variety of jokes about Halloween. Why did the skeleton cross the road? To get to the body shop. He was evaluated by the Zombie Killer, Lauralee, who said she was more like a zombie herself. Other than not telling us the title for the speeches, she said Dave did a very good job of being flexible, and keeping the meeting organized.
Our first speaker was Paul, who gave us the tale of his younger Halloween days, where he went to his neighbors and scared them with his costume. Because of his antics, he scared one of his neighbors so bad that the husband was trying to get away from him, and the wife screamed for what seemed like 20 minutes. Pen was Paul's evaluator, who gave a very specific evaluation for Paul's story.
Peter was the second speaker today, talking about the mysterious wanderer, Leatherman of Connecticut. This wanderer did not speak English, but was allowed to float around for over thirty years. Anjanette was his evaluator, who gave both compliments and criticism in her evaluation. She told Peter that he gave us a historical story that made her think about the story, as well as giving us a "mysterious" vibe to him.
Brian was the Table Topics master of the day, and gave people gravestones to tell stories of. Laimons said that he was upset by the fact that Merv Griffin had passed away, and that he obviously did not believe in the resurrection if he would not be back after this message. The second picture he got said he did not forward the message to ten people, like the scare messages say. Laimons joked that he would die trying to figure out how to forward the message in the first place. Christa won our Halloween table topics award of the day! Her passed life's tombstone said " here lies an atheist. All dressed up and no place to go". She told us that she was raised in a catholic home, but did not believe in the religion. When she died at an early age due to disease, her parents wrote this on her tombstone.
The word of the day was monstrosity. Marisa was the grammarian of the day, who cleverly said that the wizard of ahhs was Laimons.
Remember that next week is the business meeting, and we will be going over the Competent Communicator and Leadership books!

Halloween meeting

Dave with a Spider

Christa (cat ears) and Marisa (Shrek ears) with ears

Christa with kitty ears

Lee with a "bowtie"

Laurie as the Mad Biker

Monday, October 24, 2016

Halloween Special Meeting

The Impaling Toastmaster of the day is Dave, being evaluated by the Zombie killer (General evaluator) Lauralee. There are two speakers of the day, Paul the Prankster and Peter Pumpkin Eater. Pen Bigfoot will be evaluating the Prankster and Anjanette the Kiwi will evaluate the Pumpkin Eater. The Grave Digger, Brian, is table topics master. For the grammarian of the day, the Haunted Surfer Marisa will scare us into good grammar and expanding our vocabulary. Laurie, the Mad Biker will be the timer of the day.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Meet Richard O'Hearn

Meet Richard O'Hearn:

Richard O'Hearn is a Financial Advisor with Edward jones Investments. His office is Located at 1460 N Coast Hwy immediately north of Power Chevrolet in Newport. Series 7 General Securities representative registration covering FINRA, NASDAQ, NYSE. Series 66 uniform Combined State Law Examination registration in 17 states. Insurance Licensed in Oregon and Washington Richard and Carol Wilks work as a team with three key objectives that:Focus around the client We want to understand what's important to you.We use an established process to help you build personalized strategies to achieve your goals.We will partner together throughout your life to keep you on track.Richard is a Board member of the Samaritan House in Newport, Newport Chamber of Commerce, member of Toastmasters and Newport Rotary club. Richard is also a Ambassador for the chamber of Commerce, and leads a 4-H archery group of kids. With his copious amounts of free time he likes to go camping, traveling and outdoor activities. Richard also is a first time Grandfather in October.

Financial Outlook After the Elections

New Event!!

After the election on November 8th, 2016 please join us for a free informational speech on finances after the election. 
Richard O'Hearn is a Financial Advisor with Edward jones Investments. He will be talking about his perspective on the financial outlook and investment strategies for after the election this November.
This will be on Tuesday, October 15th, 2016 from 7 to 8 AM at the meeting room in Pig in a Pancake (
810 SW Alder St, Newport, Oregon 97365). 



Tuesday, October 18, 2016

October 18th review

Lee was the toastmaster of the day, and his theme of the day was Alaska. His evaluator was Laimons, for the last time in awhile since he and his wife are leaving for Hawaii. The only suggestion he had for the meeting was leading the applause. He also complimented lee for being able to working with the schedule changes.  
Our only speaker for the day was Lori, who did a run through on her reading she will be doing in Denver. She read two parts of her book, Wander, and explained the lead up to the two parts. To evaluate her was Brian, and he pulled from personal experience as he suggested that she look and connect with an audience member at pauses. He also complimented her volume and the organization of the speech.  
For table topics, everyone spoke on a picture of Anjanette's grandfather with his children. She asked us different questions to tell a story about. Christa said that she had a slingshot in her pocket, and that her father had given a lecture so long she no longer cared about the toy, and gave it up. Lauralee spoke about how the older man in the picture was her great grandpa Cecil telling her grandfather Dave and his brother that they should know better than to play on the train tracks. Brian piggybacked off of Lauralee's story to say that the young boy in the picture was important because he was his father. Vickie won table topics saying the youngest boy was her husband as a boy, and telling the story of him growing up and eventually meeting her.  
As a reminder: next week's meeting is Halloween themed, and therefore will be a special meeting. After our Halloween meeting will be our business meeting, and we are highlighting the competent manuals.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

October 18th meeting

Lee will be the Toastmaster of the day with Laimons being the general evaluator. There will be two speakers for the day, Dave and Lori. Dave will be evaluated by Laurie, and Lori will be evaluated by Brian. For Table topics, Anjanette will challenge us with questions, and Laura will serve as grammarian. Marisa will be the timer.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

October 11th meeting review

Laurie was the Toastmaster of the day. Her topic was emergency preparedness, giving us several facts such as how if we had a 9 magnitude earthquake, about 10,000 would die. She also talked about how we can prepare for these emergencies. One suggestion was that as a family, it is important to have a meeting place planned if there was an emergency. A second suggestion was to have an emergency contact out of town. Her general evaluator was Brian, who said that the meeting was smooth and started on time.  Brian enjoyed the theme of the day, as well as the innovative form of table topics for the day.
Anjanette was the only speaker for the day, giving an 8-10 minute speech.  Her topic was turtles, which she studied in Hawaii during college. She told the story of going to an island, where she collected the baby turtles, to bring the turtles back to the lab where she would do research on them. After the turtles grew bigger, the team transferred the turtles to a bigger tank, where some unfortunately got stuck in the pipe. Lee was her speech evaluator, and he complemented Anjanette on her ability to tell stories, especially with her hands. He also suggested that she work on the abruptness of her ending, since she changed from turtles to whales.
Marisa was in charge of table topics, who capitalized on the saying "a penny for your thoughts". She gave us each a penny, and asked us to tell a story about the year written on it. Lori talking about her uncle who let her sister and herself annoy him until the year he passed away, and how even a child knows a phone call in the middle of the night is not a good sign. Dave spoke about his experience coming home from Vietnam, and the vast change in temperature between Vietnam and Alaska. Lee tied for first place talking about what he had thought was a penny given to him by his father as a child, but turned out to be a five dollar coin his grandma saved. The other person to win was Christa, who talked about her past life, where she was a supporter of the free love movement, after being bitter from her brothers being killed during the Vietnam war. Christa was also the grammarian of the day, whose word was misanthropy, meaning hater of humankind, which she said she became when her siblings passed away in this previous life

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Meet the Vice President of Membership

Lee Ritzman
I am retired after a career in public works administration. I was born and raised in Utah, and graduated with a masters degree in civil engineering from the University of Utah. While at the UofU, I met and married Kathleen – we have 5 children and 13 grandchildren currently in three different states.
I had just started as Public Works Director/City Engineer in Newport when two colleagues invited me to attend Toastmasters with them. Kathleen and I both went – she enjoyed it because her public speaking skills were much better than mine – I went along. It was not long before I realized that improvement in my speaking ability could benefit my career. That was in 1994. Other than a 3-year gap, we have both been members of Toastmasters since then.
We have both accepted the opportunity to serve in various leadership positions, including club and district offices. We have also enjoyed District training sessions and conferences, and have participated in speech and evaluation contests. Best of all, we have met some great people.
My experience with Toastmasters has helped me tremendously with public presentations and the ability to think and respond quickly while on my feet. I have also learned that those skills help a lot, but are not a replacement for preparation.
I continue to enjoy the fun atmosphere in the Toastmasters meetings and watching others gain experience and skill as well.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

October 4th review

The Toastmaster of the day was Peter, whose theme was October, and the change in season. Peter entertained us with facts about everything from the holidays in October, to the gem stones of the month. He was evaluated by Anjanette, who complimented his smooth transitions. She also suggested we give longer introductions, and make sure that we explain how the meeting works for those who are new to the club.
Today was our business meeting. Brian led the business meeting, asking the officers to give a report on the months activities. Our vice presidents of education and membership, Dave and Lee, had no new business to report. Lauralee, our vice president gave a guestimate of the numbers since she forgot about the business meeting due to school starting. Officially, our Facebook page has reach 561 people this month, and 418 people have interacted with the page through likes, comments, or sharing posts. Through Facebook, we have also reached 45 cities throughout the US and 15 different countries. For the blog, we have reached 414 people in the last four months, and 143 in the last month. (If you would like to visit our pages: we are Newport Toastmasters on Facebook and http://ybtoastmasters.blogspot.com/). Our treasurer, Laurie, said all dues have been paid, and we have plenty left over in our bank. Marisa gave a review of the month sparking discussion about our speech contest that we have requested to host.
Our speaker today was Christa, who spoke on significant moments, and how she always thought her parents knew everything. Her topic was about "adulting", and how she did not feel like a grown up until she got a renter and had to keep records. Laurie was her elevator, and talked about her impressions of a 16 year old were very good. She also talked about the fact that Christa was excited and spoke a bit fast.
Laimons was table topics master, and challenged us with a variety of questions ranging from politics to "the blob". Paul and Dave spoke about our political climate, how the third and fourth party candidates seem more reasonable, and that our political system has been permanently changed from this election. Laurie was the table topics winner, speaking about how there are a variety of "blobs" in Hawaii, ranging from the one in the ocean, to the lava that could destroy your house.
Schedules will be out soon.

Have a good day

Sunday, October 2, 2016

How Toastmasters can benefit the college student

Toastmasters can benefit everyone in some way. Whether it be through the leadership track, or communications track, going through the manuals and getting experience can help everyone. The leadership manual can help you learn how to give good evaluations, or how to put together a committee. In contrast, going through the communications manual will help you get comfortable in front of a crowd.
10 Benefits for the college student:
1. Table topics can help you be able to think on your feet (especially if your professors like to randomly call on people).
2. Improve your confidence and leading ability for work.
3. If you are in online communications class, here are your five people to present in front of.
4. Being the grammarian will help you expand your vocabulary.
5. Being timed, or the timer, can help you to organize your thoughts quickly and more effectively.
6. When you are the toastmaster of the day, you will work on timeliness and leadership for the group.
7. As an evaluator, you can work on your analyzation skills, and how to give feedback for others.
8. As a speaker, you will gain experience being evaluated, and presenting in front of an audience.
9. Through this club you will meet a variety of people throughout the community.
10. You will have a supportive group to help guide you through your journey to achieve your goals.

Humorous speech contest





Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Meet the Vice President of PR

Lauralee
My name is Lauralee Norris, and I am a college student at Oregon Coast Community College. For school, I am completing my associates so I can go to Oregon State to become a dietitian. I work as a funeral assistant, and webmaster for Bateman and Affordable Burial and Cremation funeral homes. Last winter I joined Toastmasters when I was taking a communications class. We needed to speak in front of an audience of five or more people, and my dad said I could come to Toastmasters meetings with him. After being able to give my speeches at Toastmasters, I decided to stay on as a member.

I enjoy going to Toastmasters and giving speeches. It helps me get used to being before an audience, and be more confident. Being in Toastmasters also has helped me think faster on my feet, which has been useful for scholarships, daily life, and work. My favorite thing about Toastmasters is being able to go through the manuals and track my growth. The group is really supportive, and friendly. If you are thinking about joining us, there are several new members who are going through their competent communicator as well, so you won't be alone in learning about your speaking habits, or in your attempt to stop saying umm. At Yaquina Newport Toastmasters, we have a variety of people, from NOAA scientists, to people who are retired, to a writer and a teacher, so you are likely to find someone you can relate to.

September 27th review

Lauralee was the Toastmaster of the day, and her theme was the Roman Colosseum, inspired by the presidential debate. To evaluate her was Marisa, who said that Lauralee needed longer introductions and to be confident in what she was saying.
Brian went first to go through his revised version of his humorous speech Confessions of a Funeral Director. His focus today was on making sure the speech was not offensive in any way, and that the ending was more complete. Laimons was evaluating him, and said that the organization and humor was good, but that he might want to make the identity of the family even more vague.
Our second speaker was Pen, who gave a five to ten minute speech called Awe-Full. The topic was her vacation, where nature inspired her, especially the birds. Peter was the evaluator for Pen, who complimented her on humor and bringing elaborate word pictures.
The word of the day, given to us by Dave, was shenanigator. Christa was the table topics master of the day, who talked about the shenanigans of growing up. Everyone loved her questions, so much so three people stood up to talk about what it meant to them to be a grown up. Answers ranged from hearing your baby cry for the first time, to being an adult by age but never a grown up who does not remember how to have fun. Dave was the table topics winner after he was asked about his greatest achievement. To this he said that becoming half the man he used to be was how he achieved what he believed to be impossible.
Have a good day!

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Meet the Treasurer


Laurie

My name is Laurie Weitkamp, a member of Yaquina Toastmasters since 2006ish.  Professionally, I'm a fish biologist. Back in the mid 1990s I did a leadership program, which identified public speaking as a skill I needed to improve, so I joined a toastmasters club and the rest is history. Compared to any other commercial program that teaches public speaking, Toastmasters is a bargain.
As a scientist, I have to give a lot of talks, such as at scientific meetings to my peers, and in a variety of venues to the public. I find attending toastmasters keeps my speaking skills sharp, so I'm effective in my presentations. It gives me the confidence to stand in front of a crowd and know "I can do this!". I've also also learned a lot about giving good evaluations, pointing out what was done well with how the speaker can improve. This skill is directly applicable to my work, since I often have to evaluate the work and writing students and my peers.
I've been a member of Toastmasters since 1996. I stay because it keeps my speaking skills sharp, but also because I enjoy getting to know my fellow toastmasters and we have a lot of fun at meetings.

Speech contest awards





Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Upcoming dates:

Money due- October 1st
Division Contest- October 1-31st
Fall Conference- November 5th

The speech contest

September 17th was the humorous speech contest, and table topics in Florence, Oregon. Three members went to the contest from Newport, Dave, Lauralee, and Brian. For the contest, our president Brian competed in both the table topics contest, as well as the humorous speech contest. Our vice president of education, Dave, was one of the timers. Lauralee was the representative judge for Newport, one of four judges for both contests.
Brian gave his speech, Confessions of a funeral director, for the humorous speech contest. There were four judges for the speech from different clubs in area 31. He gave us the story of his first funeral he ever did, and how it was not a simple one that a new funeral director usually gets. For the contest, he used the podium to emphasize what it was like to listen to Reverend Johny Pack preach. The audience really enjoyed his story about how the Reverend "raised the dead" as he watched a pair of legs levitate into the foyer, since one of the audience member's had run out of oxygen in her oxygen tank. He was up against Paul, from the Siuslaw club, and another speaker who did not show. Paul spoke on how integrity was important, but after telling his nieces and nephews about being moral, he himself decided to shirk responsibility. This occurred on a day when someone had left their pants in front of his workplace after having an accident.
The results of the contest were Paul placing first, and Brian placing second. Both of them will be moving on to the division humorous speech contest on October 22nd 2016.
Brian also competed in the table topics contest, which were held today, and judged by the same judges as the speech contest. The question given to the contestants was how they would ask for a promotion at work? Brian said he would ask himself as the co-owner of Bateman. To do so, he would write himself a letter of recommendation, and leave it on his desk to discover the next day. He also pretended to have a conversation with himself about how he deserves a promotion for all his hard work. Vickie also competed from another club, and asked the same question. She said that she would attempt to make herself invaluable and do extra work, so that she would be favored as a candidate for promotion.
Brian took first place in the table topics contest, and Vickie placed second. They both will move on to the division contest in October. The third contestant did not show for the competition.
I hope you have a great day.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

September 20th review

The Toastmaster of the day was Lee, whose theme was pirates, after the holiday Talk like a pirate day, which was September 19th. To evaluate Lee, Anjanette was the general evaluator for her first time ever. She gave a very thorough evaluation of meeting, reminding us that not everyone knows acronyms like CTM (competent manual).
There were two speakers today, Lauralee and Laurie. The first speaker was Lauralee who spoke on Leaving Stress Behind. She gave us "tools" to fill our "toolbox" to help combat stress. Her three tools were guided imagery, exercise, and progressive muscle relaxation. To complete her last speech of the competent communicator, Lauralee both showed us the benefits of each tool, and how to use them to combat stress. Christa was the evaluator for Lauralee, and suggested that she put less on her slides since the audience wanted to listen to her, not read. She also mentioned that the speech was really well organized, and she would try some of the techniques to help with her speech.
Laurie was the second speaker, giving her speech In Denial, in order to complete speech three of the competent communicator. This was about getting to the point, and she is doing it as a refresher course. For her speech, she talked about how she is in denial of the seasons changing, and winter getting closer. She said that summer was a great time of year, and spring brought the promise that winter was over. However, she said she did not like winter because she doesn't like going to work and coming home in the dark. Laurie also said she did not like that she has to walk her dog in the dark and rain.
Paul was in charge of table topics, who gave Laimons, Peter and Pen slips of paper with advice on them and asked whether it was wise or foolish. Laimons said that being informed was wise but reading the comments on social media was not. Peter said that laughing was good advice, and that his age they can't worry all the time. Pen talked about how she would have been diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder and how did they know if she had good or bad memories. In the end, Pen won the table topics award!
Our grammarian was Brian, who liked the use of "leaving stress behind, ten minutes at a time" saying it sounded like a business tagline. His word of the day was quidnunc, which means someone who likes gossip. 
Have a great day.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Meet the Secretary

Marisa pictured on far left

My name is Marisa Litz. I am a PhD candidate in Fisheries Science at Oregon State University studying salmon ocean ecology at the Hatfield Marine Science Center with collaborators from NOAA Fisheries. My work is aimed at understanding how environmental variability impacts interactions between juvenile salmon and their prey in the nearshore ocean. When I'm not studying, I enjoy surfing and spending time with my husband Greg and my two dogs Gilbert and McKenzie.
I joined Toastmasters to improve my public speaking and to be better equipped to think on my feet and respond to questions in a thoughtful and precise manner. In Toastmasters, I like interacting with and getting to know members of the community with whom I otherwise wouldn't have a chance to meet.I always enjoy our holiday meeting in December when we exchange interesting gifts in a white elephant gift exchange, and develop table topics around the weird and wonderful gifts that are opened.
I would encourage new members to set a goal for themselves to finish the Competent Communicator manual before giving up. I would also like to remind them what a great sense of accomplishment it is to complete the manual. And I know 7 am is early in the morning, but it is a wonderful feeling to know that you have already been productive and learned something, helped someone, or honed your own skills by 8 am on a Tuesday morning before most people have even started their day.
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