Toastmasters is supportive, inclusive group

While we may live in a small city, it seems we have all we need to launch a successful career. A year ago, I moved here feeling this would be a quiet place to work on my book, “Healing Happens: Stories of Healing Against All Odds”. In the beginning, the only time I came to town was to buy groceries, or attend a Yaquina Toastmasters meeting on Tuesday mornings at Pig ‘N Pancake. To my surprise, Toastmasters provided all that I needed- connection and community, refined preparation for my speaking tour, and excellent breakfast catered to my special dietary requirements.
Whether a new member, or a long time member, there is always a friendly face to greet you at the meetings. Every meeting is filled with laughter, as many people in the club have a great sense of humor. Our president, Brian Norris, is very tactful at keeping a great sense of harmony among the members. I have made friends, been given opportunities to speak about my miracle healing stories and success strategies. I see familiar faces in town that make me feel like a welcome member of this community. They have also encouraged me to take on bigger roles within Toastmasters to step out of my shell. Not only have those roles helped me as a public speaker, but also as a leader, and in my ability to communicate in everyday conversations.
People say public speaking is one of their biggest fears. To overcome fears, I find it helpful to establish a supportive environment, find a well-developed training system, and obtain constructive feedback from people more experienced than me. It takes courage to take on a leadership role or stand in front of a room. When I do so the Toastmasters members are always supportive. The energy of the group feels so inclusive they even added the ability to join the meetings online for people like me who travel a lot to be able to stay involved. Now we have members from around the world!
With a program that started almost one hundred years ago, I really feel Toastmasters has polished our training manuals to offer clear guidance every step of the way. I even got to be part of helping roll out the new Pathways program, which I feel is even more tailored to each individual’s goals. Whether you want to focus on speaking, coaching, leading, communicating, negotiating, networking, project planning, motivating others, or mentoring, it seems there is a path for you.
At a recent training with Brendon Burchard, known as “the world’s leading high performance coach,” he shared perfection can’t be achieved until we launch our product or service and see how people respond to it. Yet at Toastmasters, we can practice launching our work over and over again until our message is honed. We have members who have been involved for over twenty years who offer feedback I never would have thought about on my own.
The members are supportive and articulate with their feedback so I always feel great about my
accomplishments and inspired to grow. Now I feel ready to step out into the world, share the inspiration I have gathered from my research and experiences on healing and success, and my tummy has been filled with yummy food!
Please join us at Yaquina Toastmasters on Tuesdays at 7 a.m, at Pig ‘N Pancake, Newport, Oregon. Visit our blog at ybtoastmasters.blogspot.com.

(also seen at https://www.newportnewstimes.com/e-edition)

New Vice President

Our New Vice President of Membership: Jalene Case
Former Sergeant At Arms

Our New Vice President of Public Relations: Kristina Book

Two New Officers

Meet our New President: Christa Colway (on left)
Meet our New Vice President of Education: Brian Norris (on right)

NEW OFFICERS

President: Christa Colway
Vice President of Education: Brian Norris
Vice President of Membership: Jalene Case
Vice President of Public Relations: Kristina Book
Secretary: Brian Haggerty
Treasurer: Laurie Weitkamp
Sergeant At Arms: Cody Bosch


Thank you to our retiring officers:
Vice President of Education: Diane Neslon
Vice President of Membership: Lee Ritzman


Good Luck to our switching officers:
Former President: Brian Norris
Former Vice President of Public Relations: Lauralee Norris
Former Secretary: Christa Colway
Sergeant at Arms: Jalene Case

May 22nd Table topics

Brian won the table topics award by saying he hopes someone will ask him what he wants to talk about for table topics. Diane, who was the Table Topics Master via Zoom, had Lauralee present the award in person.

Roles

Tuesday's Roles:

The Toastmaster of the day will be Christa, evaluated by Dave. Tuesday is election day! Our new officers will be elected so we will not have a first speaker of the day. There will only be one speaker of the day, Brian, evaluated by Lauralee. Brian H will be the grammarian and Jalene will be the timer of the day. Lee will be table topics master of the day.

EVENT

Tuesday is Election Day! Our new officers will be elected on Tuesday May 29th

Treasurer

The treasurer is the club’s accountant. They manage the club’s bank account, writing checks as approved by the executive committee and depositing dues and other club revenues. They are also in charge of submitting membership-renewal dues to World Headquarters (accompanied by the names of renewing members), filing necessary tax documents, and keeping timely, accurate, up-to-date financial records for the club. Though the treasurer’s duties are usually not the most demanding of all the club leadership positions, the consequences for members can be serious when they’re not completed accurately and on time. Stay current on all new developments via The Leader Letter and the announcements published on the Toastmasters website.

Treasurer Tutorial

Join us through Zoom

Have you ever tried Zooming in with us? Join us Tuesday at 7 AM with this Zoom link:

https://zoom.us/j/846706418

May 22nd Roles

Svetlana will be the Toastmaster of the day, evaluated by Lauralee. Our speaker of the day will be Avital, evaluated by Christa. The table topics master of the day will be Diane, and the grammarian will be Brian. Dave will be the timer of the day.

Our May 15th Meeting

May 15th Roles

Dave Coffman is our Toastmaster of the day, with Laurie Weitkamp as the general evaluator. There will be two speakers of the day, John and Christa Colway. Kristina A. R. Book will be John's evaluator, and Brian N will be Christa's. Lauralee Norris will be the table topics master, Jalene Case is the grammarian and Julia Carlson is the timer.

Sergeant At Arms

The Sergeant at arms keep track of the club’s physical property, such as the banner, lectern, timing device, and other meeting materials. They arrive early to prepare the meeting place for members, and stay late to stow all of the club’s equipment. They are also in charge of the meeting place itself, obtaining a new space when necessary, and maintaining contact with the people who allow the club to use the space for club meetings. The sergeant at arms also has a role to play during business meetings, speech contests, and other special club events. For example, the sergeant at arms escorts potential new members outside of the club’s meeting place while the members vote on admitting them to the club. The sergeant at arms stands at the door while contestants compete in speech contests to ensure that the speaker is not interrupted by latecomers. Stay current on all new developments via The Leader Letter and the announcements published on the Toastmasters website.

Sergeant At Arms Tutorial

Vice President of Public Relations

The Vice President of Public Relations promotes the club to the local community and notify the media about the club’s existence and benefits it provides. They update web content, and safeguard the Toastmasters brand identity. It’s their job to notify the media whenever they club does something newsworthy. As vice president public relations, they can write press releases, fliers, and maintaining the club’s presence at various key places on the web and in the community. Stay current on all new developments via The Leader Letter, Toastmaster magazine and the announcements published on the Toastmasters website and social media sites.They are in charge of keeping keeping the members up to date on events and meetings. The Vice President of Relations and of Membership will work together often, as well as with the Secretary.

Vice President of Public Relations Tutorial
Vice President of Public Relations Resources from TI

Secretary

The secretary maintains all club records, manage club files, handle club correspondence, and take the minutes at each club and executive committee meeting. They are also in charge of updating and distributing a roster of the current paid membership, and keeping the club officer list current at World Headquarters. Though some clubs combine the secretary role with the treasurer, it’s best to have a dedicated secretary who can help reduce the workload of the treasurer and occasionally assist the vice president education as well.

Secretary Tutorial

Role of Vice President of Membership

The Vice President of Membership helps to conduct membership building programs. They help to give membership material to new members and applications to join for potential members. This officer will work with the Vice President of Relations often as well as the Treasurer. They promote the club and manage the process of bringing in guests and transforming them into members. By initiating contact with guests, making them feel welcome, and providing them with the information they need to join, they help maintain a constant influx of new people into the club. The Vice President of Membership also attentively monitor membership levels and strategizes with the rest of the executive committee about how to overcome membership challenges when they occur.

Vice President of Membership Tutorial

Happy Mothers Day

To All of the Mothers in our club and abroad, Happy Mother's Day!

Role as the President

The first role is the President, who opens the meeting every morning. They are in charge of operation and supervision of the club. At the beginning of the meeting, they will present any news that needs to be dealt with, and then turn over the meeting to the Toastmaster of the day. Generally the President will work with all of the officers, but the Vice President of Education will be their closest officer. The president is expected to provide helpful, supportive leadership for all of the club’s activities. They motivate, make peace, and facilitate as required. Though they must occasionally step in and make a difficult decision, rarely do they so without consulting club members and other club officers. They need to stay current on all new developments via the Leader Letter and the announcements published on the Toastmasters website. 

President Tutorial

Role as the Vice President of Education

Do you know what the Vice President of Education does?

The vice president education helps to schedule members’ speeches and projects to help keep the members on track towards their awards. They serve as a resource for questions about education awards, speech contests, and the mentor program. They are an important source of Toastmasters knowledge for club members, and it is their job to become familiar with all aspects of the Toastmasters education program. The Vice President of Education will work with the President often, as well as the Vice President of both Membership and Relations to help gain more members and set up schedules.

Vice President of Education Tutorial

Pathways- Leadership Development

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Mastering Fundamentals
• Ice Breaker
• Evaluation and Feedback
• Researching and Presenting
Learning Your Style
• Managing Time
• Understanding Your Leadership Style
• Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring
Increasing Knowledge
• Planning and Implementing
Level 3 Elective Projects (choose 2)
• Deliver Social Speeches • Focus on the Positive
• Using Presentation Software • Inspire Your Audience
• Connect with Storytelling • Prepare for an Interview
• Creating Effective Visual Aids • Understanding Vocal Variety
• Using Descriptive Language • Effective Body Language
• Connect with Your Audience • Active Listening
• Make Connections Through Networking
Building Skills
• Leading Your Team
Level 4 Elective Projects (choose 1)
• Create a Podcast • Manage Online Meetings
• Building a Social Media Presence • Question-and-Answer Session
• Managing a Difficult Audience • Public Relations Strategies
• Write a Compelling Blog • Manage Projects Successfully
Demonstrating Expertise
• Manage Successful Events
• Reflect on Your Path
Level 5 Elective Projects (choose 1)
• Lessons Learned • Leading in Your Volunteer
• Moderate a Panel Discussion Organization
• Prepare to Speak
Professionally
• Ethical Leadership
• High Performance Leadership

Record Month

Thank you to everyone who helped us break our record! We had over 2,000 views of our blog in the month of April.

May 8th Meeting

The Toastmaster of the day was Avital, whose theme was travel. She talked about how when she was in India, she was texting voice to text, and when she paused, the cell phone picked up one word from the audience was love. Jalene was the general evaluator of the day. She said that she liked how Lee gave an overview of the speech and how he gave some things that were general and then specific things that Lauralee could do.
Lauralee was the first speaker of the day, giving her speech "Survival of the Middle Ages". As the "representative" of a "company" called "Living History Inc." Lauralee talked about how they were a time travel agency that brings dreams to live. Offering a one night, weekend, week and month stay in the middle ages, Lauralee talked about how Living History Inc. She talked about how there are several options available to help your stay in the middle ages become the most comfortable, from Middle Ages Meals Ready to Eat, to powdered toothpaste and simple clothes. At the end she wished us all a wonderful stay at Living History Inc, and reminded us to pick up our "Survival of the Middle Ages for Time Travelling American's" guide. Lee was her evaluator, who thought this was a very humorous speech that fit the criteria of unexpected. One thing that he did suggest was to work with more varied gestures and remember to keep eye contact with her audience.
The second speaker of the day was Kristina, who redid her square dancing speech from last week in full costume. She started her speech off with a call, and explained how some call are sung and some are spoken, but either way they give the dancers instructions on how to perform the next move. Thought most dances make us think back to PE and how we were forced to dance with kids who had "kooties", square dancing is a fun and healthy way to spend your time. Kristina shared that she began dancing at a very young age, even competing at several levels of competition, from regional to national. Her family was highly involved in it, and they would take her to square dances all the time. At the end of her speech, Kristina talked about how beneficial dancing was, and told us that we could go to a square dance in Corvallis, Oregon. http://corvallissquares.com/
Christa was Kristina's evaluator, who said this was probably her first time evaluating a person on the same speech twice. She said that Christa loved Kristina's costume that she came in, and how she was able to use it in her speech. While Kristina did not get rid of her notes, Christa said she did a great job not using them at the beginning of her speech. One thing she did suggest is to practice using gestures while she practice her speech so she knows what to do with her hands.
The theme of table topics was gastric adventures. Dave asked Brian H how he would prepare spiders. Brian said curried spiders are delicious and the key to a good spider is to cook them on low heat. Laimons was asked what the worst thing he ate was, and he said in school he was served Kidney, where he was forced to eat everything on his plate. Innards, according to Laimons, was the worst thing to be fed. Jalene said she had to opportunity to eat guinea pig and ants in South America, but turned down both opportunities. Brian H was the winner of the table topics trophy.
John was the timer of the day, and Diane was the grammarian, whose word was adventure.

May 1st Meeting

Brian H was the Toastmaster of the day, whose theme was Cinco de Mayo. He talked about how this is more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. The general evaluator was Lauralee, who said Brian did a good job transitioning between speakers and into table topics. One thing that she did suggest is to make sure all of the business for the day is delivered at the beginning of the meeting.
Kristina was the first speaker of the day, who gave a speech on square dancing. She started her speech off with a call, and how she began dancing at a very young age. Her family was highly involved in it, and they would take her to square dances all the time. At the end of her speech, Kristina talked about how beneficial dancing was, and told us that we could go to a square dance in Corvallis, Oregon.
http://corvallissquares.com/
Christa was Kristina's evaluator for her research speech in Pathways. She loved how Kristina was able to bring the fun into square dancing for her. She really like the invitation at the end and how it is motivating with all of the benefits that Kristina mentioned.
Dave was our second speaker of the day, who did a practice run through of his speech Half the Man I Used to Be that he will give on Saturday. To start his speech, Dave told us that he had got rid of a person, and he is glad he did. Dave started at the beginning with being diagnosed with depression after Vietnam. Later he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. To make himself feel better, he would eat, but it progressively took more and more food to give him comfort. The doctor said he would need to lose 200 pounds before he could safely do the hip replacement and recovery. By 450 pounds, Dave had a heart attack and had a lot of time to think about what he had been doing with his life. He realized that he was trying to commit suicide by knife and fork. Once he had lost 30 pounds, the weight loss surgeon agreed to do the procedure, and with the help of a dietitian, Dave was on his way to getting his hip replaced. Today, Dave is half the man he used to be and is able to shed his past as he symbolically steps out of the clothes that he wore at 450 pounds, to emerge a new Dave.

Brian H suggested that Dave make sure to take at stance at the beginning of his speech so that he would not rock, but thought the content of his speech was very good. Jalene suggested that Dave emphasize the transitions of his speech to help them stand out, from energized to storytelling, and motivational. Svetlana said to make sure that Dave use his props for everyone to see since they help to tell his point so vividly. 

Brian H was the table topics master of the day. He asked Christa to talk about the Franco-Mexican war, who said that her father was a major history buff. He had taken Christa to a lot of war sights since they lived on the East coast. He asked Lee how he would be celebrate Cinco de Mayo day, to which he said that that he would be going to the Loyalty Day parade since it falls on Cinco de Mayo this year. Lauralee was the last person who was asked about how in high school her teacher had us tell the preschoolers about Cinco de Mayo. Christa was the winner of table topics. 

Pathways- Innovative Planning

INNOVATIVE PLANNING
Mastering Fundamentals
• Ice Breaker
• Evaluation and Feedback
• Researching and Presenting
Learning Your Style
• Understanding Your Leadership Style
• Connect With Your Audience
• Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring
Increasing Knowledge
• Present a Proposal
Level 3 Elective Projects (choose 2)
• Deliver Social Speeches • Focus on the Positive
• Using Presentation Software • Inspire Your Audience
• Connect with Storytelling • Prepare for an Interview
• Creating Effective Visual Aids • Understanding Vocal Variety
• Using Descriptive Language • Effective Body Language
• Make Connections Through Networking • Active Listening
Building Skills
• Manage Projects Successfully
Level 4 Elective Projects (choose 1)
• Create a Podcast • Manage Online Meetings
• Building a Social Media Presence • Question-and-Answer Session
• Managing a Difficult Audience • Public Relations Strategies
• Write a Compelling Blog
Demonstrating Expertise
• High Performance Leadership
• Reflect on Your Path
Level 5 Elective Projects (choose 1)
• Lessons Learned • Leading in Your Volunteer
• Moderate a Panel Discussion Organization
• Prepare to Speak Professionally
• Ethical Leadership