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!

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

Upcoming dates:

Money due- October 1st
Division Contest- October 1-31^st

Fall Conference- November 5^th

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.

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.