Lauralee's Toastmasters Reflection

Picture Taken For a Previous Award

I am extremely happy to announce that I have completed Toastmasters' Advanced Communicator Gold today. I started My Toastmasters Journey in 2016 as a solution to needing an audience for my Public Speaking class at Oregon Coast Community College. Little did I know that starting in Toastmasters would change my life.

After giving my speeches for the class, I was convinced to keep going and finish the Competent Communicator. The system was addicting and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my progress through pages completed. In 2017, I I jumped at the chance to complete a District level role through being a Pathways Guide.

It was at that point that I realized I had a passion for educating and serving the consumer. I switched my major to Business Administration: Marketing. Now, I am in my last year of my Bachelor's in Business Marketing.

So far, I have served as the Vice President of Public Relations at Yaquina Toastmasters, a Pathways Guide for the Coast, and the District Public Relations Manager.

In my time at Toastmasters, I have found many friends and mentors along the way. Dave Coffman challenged me to go beyond technical speeches. Laurie Weitkamp encouraged me to share personal speeches and not be afraid of showing emotion. Paul Brookhyser was always there to lift me up and motivate me. Lee Ritzman helped me prepare speeches and offer insights for my speeches on Germany. Avital Miller worked with me to complete my Pathways speeches. Christa Colway has supported my crazy ideas for Public Relations and helped me reach my goals. Brian Haggerty encouraged me to go outside of my comfort zone and compete in club contests. Svetlana helped me navigate online meetings. Brian Norris has walked me through many speeches to help me fine tune my message. The newer members of the club like Pam and Larry have sparked my curiosity with their speeches and experiences. John Rodke encouraged me to push the boundaries of my mind and let myself grow. Crystal and Donna motivated me to become more involved in the Toastmasters community.

Throughout this journey, I have been touched by the support of my Toastmasters community and I am excited to see where my journey takes me from here.

Congratulations Christa

Christa Colway Competing in the Division Evaluation Contest 

Christa Colway placed Third in the Evaluation Contest!

Congratulations Christa on Placing Third!

Practicing Public Speaking from Home

With the spread of COVID-19 and the cancellation of in-person meetings, some Toastmasters have been wanting to keep up their skills while on break from regular meetings. There are a variety of ways to continue practicing your public speaking skills at home. Here are five ways to keep your public speaking skills strong during the break.
1. Join an online Toastmasters club
There are several hybrid clubs and online clubs that you can attend while your traditional club is on break. Additionally, your home club could consider moving online during this pandemic.
To look up online Toastmasters clubs, follow this link:  https://www.toastmasters.org/Resources/Online-Clubs-List
2. Start a podcast
One of the projects for Pathways is to start a podcast. This would be a great time to look into how to complete that project. What topic would you want your podcast themed around? How long would you want your podcast to run? The possibilities are endless!
You can see the official Toastmasters podcasts to get some ideas here: https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/news-and-announcements/podcasts
3. Start a blog
While on this break, you could start a blog or a vlog, which is a video based blog. The Toastmasters blog project requires 8 posts within a month. With the break from in person meetings, this is a great time to get started on your blog so you have time to reflect on what you learned.
You can find information on how to create the blog on Pathways.
4. Record Live on Social Media speeches
If you are still on the Legacy program, you can work on the Interpretative Reading manual by reading your selected pieces live on social media, such as Facebook. For the Pathways program, level four has an elective of creating a social media presence.
You can find information on how to use live to continue giving speeches in Pathways or on the traditional program.
5. Write speeches to give to your club later
While on break, you can use this time to read through different projects and brainstorm speeches that would fulfill them. This is a great time to explore the Pathways platform and plan out which speeches you would like to give to complete them.

A Member of Yaquina Toastmasters Receives the Leadership Excellence Award

Lauralee Norris, a member of Yaquina Toastmasters, has been awarded the Leadership Excellence Award for the completion of her High Performance Leadership Project. This is one of the highest leadership awards recognized in Toastmasters, and the first time a member of Yaquina Toastmasters has achieved this award.
The High Performance Leadership (HPL) program puts into practice the critical skills needed to be a successful leader. This project is a minimum of six months long, and follows every step needed to carry out a major project, from goal setting and creating a feasible timetable, to pitching a project and presenting results at the end. As Vice President of Public Relations for Yaquina Toastmasters, Lauralee had already been awarded Advanced Leadership Bronze and Advanced Communicator Silver. Taking on a year long project, Lauralee chose to complete a Public Relations Campaign to work on for her High Performance Leadership Project.
Lauralee's campaign consisted of working with several forms of media, from a social media revival, to publicizing Yaquina Toastmasters through newspaper articles and a radio show. In addition to gaining publicity for her club through media outlets, Lauralee also organized an open house featuring the Loyalty Day's Princesses, drawing in 10 guests to a 7 AM meeting.
Lauralee became a member of Yaquina Toastmasters in 2016 to help with her communications class at Oregon Coast Community College. She has since graduated with two Associates degrees, and is currently attending Eastern Oregon University online as a Business Marketing student. Using the skills she learned at Toastmasters and her High Performance Leadership project, Lauralee created an awareness and prevention campaign, The Blue Butterfly Campaign, against human trafficking in Lincoln County, which she is currently carrying out.

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.

We would love to see you.

We would love to see you at one of our meetings! We meet 7 AM every Tuesday at Pig 'N Pancake in Newport, Oregon.

April 24th meeting

The Toastmaster of the day was Brian, who talked about the 4H program, as this week the 4H kids practiced their speeches. Because of time constraints and technical issues, there was no general evaluation for the day.
The first speaker, Kt spoke about Soul Surfer, which is a movie and a book that came out in 2011. She talked about how Bethany loved to surf, and even was sponsored to surf before the shark attack in 2003. Her arm was severed by a tiger shark, and she lost over 60% of her blood by the time that she got to the hospital. One month after the attack, Bethany got back in the water and today she is back to surfing and even competing. Dave was Kt's evaluator, who said that she had a great speech that was really well organized. He said that she did a great job telling the story, and giving us the emotion in the story. One thing he did suggest was to project to the back of the room so that everyone can for sure hear.
The second speaker of the day was L, who talked to us about bullying. She said that her speech is dedicated in the memory of her 13 year old cousin who died by suicide after being a victim of bullying. There are several types of bullying, she said, from cyber bullying to verbal and physical bullying. According to stopbullying.gov, bullying is both requires an imbalance of power and repetition. She talked about how if you are being cyber bullied, you need to report them to the website administration, and block the people. If there is still bullying happening, delete your account. For those on the sidelines, stand up to the bully and look for those who could be vulnerable. Laurie was L's evaluator, who said she did a great job conveying her message, and bringing people into her story. Laurie said she did a great job with the technical glitches, and had good eye contact.
Our third speaker was B, who talked about her guinea pigs. She had a poster with a picture of her guinea pig on it to show people who she was talking about. The first thing she did was explain how she cares for them, by feeding them hay and water. B said she likes to watch her guinea pigs sleep and walk around. Everyone complimented her on being brave and speaking in front of us.
For our second to last speaker, Ka, her speech was called Trauma Bonds. She started her speech by telling a story of two sisters who grew up in an abusive and drug filled home. The older sister would steal food for herself and her sister to keep them alive. The two sisters then were bonded through this trauma. At the end of her speech she quoted psalms 71: 14 "But as for me, I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more."
Dave was our last speaker of the day, who did a practice run through of his speech Half the Man I Used to Be. To start his speech he told us that he had got rid of a person and he is glad he did.  Telling about his transformation, 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. After gaining weight, and becoming over 400 pounds, he realized he needed to do something about his painful hip. The doctor said he would need to lose 200 pounds before he could safely do the operation 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, to realize 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.
With a round robin evaluation, one of our guests, Estelle, said that she was very inspired by his speech, and how he was able to go through that journey. Kt said that she really enjoyed the joke at the beginning of the speech, and L said that she liked how he was engaging with the audience. Another guest, Liz, said it was shocking to see him take off the clothes he wore.

Scheduling at Yaquina Toastmasters

Ever wondered how you decide when to give speeches at a Toastmasters club?

At Yaquina Toastmasters, we have tried several different ways to schedule roles. As a Hybrid Club, we now have an online scheduling platform. On a google document, our Vice President of Education has provided a schedule out at least one month, if not four months in advance. The members can then go in and edit the spreadsheet, adding their name in empty spots to sign up for roles. This way, our members, in person or online, can all sign up for roles, and our schedule will automatically update.

April 17th, 2018 Meeting

The Toastmaster of the day was Diane, whose theme was tax day. She gave us interesting facts about taxes, such as how Disney made a movie about income taxes to help explain what they were to Americans called the New Spirit which was made in 1942. Laurie was the general evaluator of the day, who reminded our speech evaluators to balance their feedback with both positive and constructive comments.
The first speaker of the day was Jalene, who gave her ice breaker. She first talked about how she went on a trip to Mexico with her brother. During her time of the beach, she felt she had reached a turning point where she had to acknowledge the fact that she was unhappy with her life. Her second turning point was when she moved to Oregon with her new husband, and began her masters degree. The last turning point that she came across is when she took a two year trip from Oregon to Argentina and back on her motorcycle. This last turning point gave her the courage to go after her dream of owning a business, and she has now started Jalene Case Coaching. She was evaluated by Brian H, who first told her what an amazing job she did at giving her presentation. Brian said she had great organization and was able to explain what she was talking about easily. One of his suggestions was to make sure she is projecting for the whole room to hear.
The second speaker of the day was Julia, who gave her research speech on social security. She said there are many different things that can contribute to our decision about when to take social security, such as spousal benefits, medical and monetary concerns, and life expectancy. As an example, she said that Jalene has a social security benefit of 1,000. If she waited until 70, her social security will increase to around 1,300. One of her facts was that a man who is 65 years old today is expected to live until 84.3 years old, and a woman lives until 86.6 years old. With all of this taken in consideration, making the decision on when to take your social security and a financial advisor can help. Svetlana was Julia's evaluator, who said that she did a good job making eye contact with the audience. She also liked how Julia used so many facts in her speech. One suggestion Svetlana had for Julia is to look back at her speech before and compare it to today's speech.
https://www.ssa.gov/ 
Lee was the table topics master of the day, whose theme was also taxes. He asked Svetlana how taxes work in London. She said that she is self employed so taxes work a little differently for her than for others, but their department that handles taxes is called Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Brian H was asked if he would like to be able to choose where his taxes went. He said that if people could choose where their taxes went, it would be a mess. He would put some of his taxes towards defense, and a lot more towards social programs such as medicare and public schools. Brian H was the winner of the table topics trophy.
Lauralee was the grammarian of the day, whose word was prognosis. Dave was the timer of the day.

Congratulations Dave

Dave, one of our long time members, took first place at Division contest with his speech Half the Man I Used to Be. On May 5th, he will be competing at Districts to have a chance to go to worlds. Districts will be held at Kroc Center 1865 Bill Frey Dr, Salem, Oregon 97301. For more information, see the link below.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/share-your-story-d7-spring-conference-tickets-40979747528

Spring has Sprung

Brian H was the Toastmaster of the day, whose theme was spring fever. He lamented though that spring has come and gone, with yesterday's 67 degree and sunny weather. As he was giving facts, Brian talked about how he was seeing evidence of spring as some of the plants that he and his wife had bought last year were finally showing signs of life. Brian H was evaluated by Brian N, who said he did a great job on introducing the players of the meeting. One suggestion he had for Brian is to make sure to hand off the lectern, and not leave it empty.
The first speaker of the day, Julia, talked about social security for her research speech in presentation masteries. She said there are many different things that can contribute to our decision about when to take social security, such as spousal benefits, medical and monetary concerns, and life expectancy. As an example, she said that Brian has a social security benefit of 1,000. If he waited until 70, his social security will increase to around 1,300. A man who is 65 years old today is expected to live until 84.3 years old, and a woman lives until 86.6 years old. With all of this taken in consideration, there are a lot of factors to consider when deciding on social security, and a financial advisor can help. Svetlana was Julia's evaluator, who said that she did a good job engaging the audience, especially by bringing a member into the speech. She also liked how Julia turned he lectern so that she could include the entire audience. One suggestion that was given is that she use less notes so that she doesn't say as many umms.
https://www.ssa.gov/ 
Christa was the second speaker of the day, who gave her speech "Making them laugh" from the entertaining manual. Her speech was tales from the sea, a female perspective. Coming in full gear, she talked about how she could be the only female on the ship, and how crew members she had never even talked to could mistake her everyday behavior as flirting. One man said that she had been flirting with him by how she was handling the fish. Christa then demonstrated how she had been flinging the fish, then showed us "what he saw". Dramatically, Christa flings off her hat, shakes out her hair and flirtatiously winks as she grabs an invisible fish, kissing the air. Lauralee was her evaluator, who said this would be a great competition speech. Obviously, Christa's stories of getting slapped by a halibut and how sexy a life vest and jumpsuit are were funny. One suggestion that Lauralee had for Christa was to watch her pacing as she checks in on her notes.
Lakota was the table topics master of the day. He asked Lauralee how she experiences wanderlust. She talked about going down the coast and taking pictures of what would not be considered beautiful to others, but is to her, like a mossy tree, a stormy beach and an up close of a spider. Dave was asked what he loves about spring. He said he loves the flowers on the coast, and how scotchbroom starts to bloom even though it is a menace for it's pollen. Brian was asked what makes his heart beat faster, to which he joked riding bikes and walking on a treadmill does. In all honesty, Brian said that his wife, Donna, even though they have almost been married 35 years, she still makes his heart flutter. Brian was the table topics winner of the day.
Dave was the grammarian of the day, whose word of the day was whatchamacallit. Kristina was the timer of the day.

Avital and Her barbies

On March 13th, Avital taught the Toastmasters about the different officer's roles through her barbie collection.

Mary Poppins themed meeting

A Perfect Launch by Avital Miller

While I may live in a small coastal town in Oregon, it seems we have almost all I need to launch a successful career. A year ago I moved just outside of Newport, Oregon feeling this would be a quiet place to work on my book, Healing Happens: Stories of Healing Against All Odds, and prepare for my book tour launching in April 2018. In the beginning the only time I went to town was to buy groceries or attend a Yaquina Toastmasters meeting on Tuesday mornings at the restaurant Pig ‘N Pancake. To my surprise Toastmasters provided all I needed; connection to community, refined preparation for my speaking tour, and an excellent breakfast catered to my special dietary requirements! Whether a new member or 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 all over this region 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 are a hybrid club and 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 7:00am Pacific time online at zoom.us/j/503657370 or in person at Pig ‘N Pancake, Newport, Oregon. Visit our blog at ybtoastmasters.blogspot.com. And, get a free gift when you visit my website at healinghappensbook.com.
Avital joined Yaquina Toastmasters in 2017. She has achieved her Advance Communicator Bronze, Her book is available on amazon.com

As Seen On Voices!
http://www.newslincolncounty.com/archives/197923

Seven??? by Brinn Hemmingson

Michelle said, “I started my Toastmasters journey in an unusual way. In 1996, I owed a major debt of
gratitude to a friend who helped me in my hour of need. When I asked her how I could repay her, she said “Attend a Toastmasters meeting.” I did, and I fell in love with Toastmasters.” Currently, Michelle belongs to seven clubs:
Undistricted 100% Online Clubs
• Witty Storytellers Online, #05618837 - District U, Area 01
• Global Trainers Online, #06650465 - District U, Area 01
• Competitive Communicators, #06621765 - District U, Area 01
Onsite with online attendance
• Transtoasters Toastmasters, #003548 - District 7, Area 41
• Making Better Consultants (MBC) Speak EZ, #03287370 - District 27, Area 14
• Emperor Mandarin Toastmasters Club, #0707197 - District 75, Area 3
• Yaquina Toastmasters, #003880 District 7, Area 33
Michelle has held all club officer roles, and served as Area Governor in District 75 and District 7, and Lt. Governor Marketing (LGM), Lt. Governor Education and Training (LGET), and District Director.
Michelle said, “I’ve participated in contests in three districts (D7, D75, and Founders District). I’ve placed 2nd at District 75 Table Topics and Evaluation Contests, and 2nd at Founders District Table Topics Contest.” “Through Toastmasters, I’ve made friends all over the world. Toastmasters has also impacted my life in a way that very few people know because I’ve kept it secret until now. Twelve years ago while visiting the East Coast, I experienced a devastating personal betrayal. I came precariously close to literally ending it all and jumping off the 3rd floor of the New York City Hall. The thought that I was coordinating a new Toastmasters Club Open House/Demo Meeting in Irvine (California) in a week, and that none of my club mates knew I was on the East Coast, made me pause. If I didn’t show up at the Toastmasters event they’d think I was a flake! That few seconds pause was all I needed to realize that I shouldn’t give up on living. So I can say that Toastmasters literally saved my life!” Michelle has discovered the joys and benefits of online attendance. “Since last year, I’ve been helping clubs to add an online attendance option. I would be honored to help any D7 member who would like to explore online attendance for their club(s).”
Contact her at https://www.facebook.com/Celeste.Michelle.Alba.Lim or michelle@wlfcentre.com

As Seen On Voices!

Toastmasters Made the Difference by Leanna Lindquist

When I first met Lauralee Norris, I thought she was a high school student. That was about two years ago when I was a guest at Yaquina Toastmasters Club in Newport, Oregon. It was obvious Lauralee was an integral part of the club. She joined in 2015 while taking an online public speaking class. She was required to film her speeches and present them to an audience of five or more. Her dad, Brian, suggested she give her speeches at his Toastmasters club. This was a match made in heaven for Lauralee, and it turns out for her club too. She completed the first four speeches in her Competent Communicator Manual while taking the class.
Her father’s job took the family from Portland, Oregon to Newport in 2014. Lauralee is the youngest of four girls, and the only one still at home. She enjoys singing in her school* choir and
is taking private guitar lessons. She was part of the  NASA Team for the solar eclipse.And, she does
Toastmasters. A lot of Toastmasters. Lauralee received her Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degree to go to Oregon State University from Oregon Coast Community College (OCCC). This program has allowed her to earn guaranteed transferable credits to Oregon State University (OSU). At the age of twenty, Lauralee is a junior in college. She is enrolled online with OSU for finance courses. She is also enrolled at OCCC for her electives. Between the two part-time enrollments, she is a
 full-time student. Her goal is a Business Marketing Degree. Passing the Series 66 exam (The Uniform Combined State Law Examination also called the Series 66 exam is designed to qualify candidates as both securities agents and investment adviser representatives) will allow her to register as an investment adviser representative. By enrolling in both programs and living at home, it makes college affordable. Clearly Lauralee is planning ahead for her financial security.
This is Lauralee’s second year as VP Public Relations. She keeps up the club’s Facebook Page which reaches 3000 through shares and likes. She posts regularly on the District 7 Facebook Group. She maintains the club website, YouTube channel, and Google+. Lauralee shared, “People from across the country come to our blog just for what we have about Pathways.”  Her efforts have been
responsible for club members being on the radio and write-ups in the newspaper (which required her to learn to write press releases). Lauralee has helped Yaquina Toastmasters be well known in Newport.
Yaquina has become a hybrid club thanks to Lauralee and her expertise with the Zoom online platform. The club currently has 5 online members. One is a wildland firefighter who has tried to find a permanent club for years. He is never in one location more than three months at a time. After visiting the club, he joined as an online member. The club has members from Wisconsin, Nebraska, and London. Some joined because of her YouTube videos. They wanted to start Pathways right away and not wait for it to roll out in their own Districts. The club uses a Google spreadsheet to sign up for roles. A local member travels for work and is able to stay active in the club using Zoom. Soon they will welcome a member from the Galapagos. Being a hybrid club has been a boost to the club’s membership numbers. Their lighthearted meetings, that help people get over the fear of public speaking, attract new members to the club. Professionals are joining to improve their speaking skills, to become better trainers, and to speak to the media. The club has a long history of coaching the Newport Loyalty Days & Sea Fair Festival princesses with their speeches. They are vying for scholarships based on the speeches they give. By the way, the club has earned 10 goals.
When Yaquina Toastmasters held a meeting for Rotary, Lauralee served as Topicsmaster. One of the attendees, a business owner, was impressed wth how she handled her portion of the meeting. After seeing all that Lauralee does as the VP Public Relations, she called her in for an interview. Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group hired her to manage their public relations and social media. Bateman Funeral Home, Affordable Burial and Cremation hired her to manage their website and social media. She credits Toastmasters as the reason for learning how. Toastmasters also helped with her role as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Club president. And, it helped her complete her communication classes. “I am confident talking to others.” she says. “I feel comfortable leading other people.” Lauralee believes in the education program and likes the variety of speeches she can give. Lauralee loves teaching. To help orient new members in her club, she created a 5-7 minute speech on how to fill out a Competent Leader Manual. Her love for teaching inspired her to become a Pathways Guide. She completed her Pathways training for clubs in District 7. She will be training online clubs. Members of her club have completed levels 1-5. She likes the relevancy of Pathways. Innovative Planning is her Path. She is in level 3. Lauralee is looking forward to other new paths, especially Storytelling, which is one she has heard will be coming in the future. Lauralee will finish her Advanced Communicator Gold before she goes further in Pathways. Her High Performance Leadership Project is a *public relations campaign that finishes this month. She will easily wrap up the three required speeches. Her last requirement to earn her DTM, in the traditional program, is to start a new club. She is already working on it. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is Lauralee is the youngest Toastmaster in District 7. I am sure she will be our youngest Distinguished Toastmaster. Lauralee wisely tapped into what Toastmasters has to offer. I predict when she graduates and applies for a job she will be head and shoulders above all her competitors. She is confident and articulate. She will go far.

*corrected for accuracy

As Seen On Voices!

March 27th Meeting

Lee was the Toastmaster of the day Tuesday, March 28th. His theme of the day was April Fools, and he played a trick on us with "dog treats" which were really sugar cookies. His evaluator was Lauralee, who said he did a great job adjusting to the time restraints. One suggestion she did have is to make sure he consistently leads the applause.
Svetlana was the first speaker of the day, giving her speech for Innovative Planning, where she had to adapt to the reactions of her audience. She talked about her experience as a guide in Uzbekistan, something she had not done for a long time, and was excited to be able to do it again. As an interpreter, she had lead tours for a long time, but with a job change, it was something Svetlana had not been able to do for awhile. She talked about how they went all different places on foot for their tour, and got to go shopping for souvenirs. One of the tourist asked whether they should buy certain items and Svetlana said that she should buy whatever she wants because she will not have this type of experience again.   Laimons was her evaluator who complimented Svetlana on her gestures as she was on camera. Since there were some issues with the lights, it was suggested that the online members have a timer they use on their end as a back up.
Avital gave a better speaker series speech about being nervous before giving a speech. She talked about how she has been nervous about a lot of the things that could happen before a speech, such as falling and being late. After giving speeches for several years, she has learned that your audience does not notice mistakes nearly as much as you do. To get rid of anxiety, she suggested practicing your speech at your Toastmasters club and in front of a mirror so that you can feel more comfortable giving your speech. Lakota was her evaluator who said she did a great job adding personality to the speech since it was written for her. One thing that he said could improve is that he really could not see her on his screen. As an online member, he watched her speech from his computer, and  since she was sharing her screen, her picture was very small making it hard to see her expression and gestures.
Since we had two long speeches, we did not do table topics, and there was no table topics winner.
A reminder was given to pay dues since membership ends March 31st if you have not renewed. 

 https://zoom.us/j/503657370
The link to attend our meeting via Zoom is attached above.
See you Tuesday!

Did you miss our Open House?

OPEN HOUSE

Are you coming to our event Tuesday? Check in here!


https://www.facebook.com/events/138650976807395/

Congratulations

Avital was awarded her Advanced Communicator Bronze this week!