Home About

The Less Formal Meeting

By on Wednesday, December 8th, 2010 | No Comments

Twice we have tried a meeting format that is streamlined. This is when we had fewer than usual members to take roles. It seemed to work out well. It was as if we had more people attending than really were there!

We let our president, Loretta run the whole meeting. She took on roles of Toastmaster and General Evaluator, too.

Everyone who wanted to speak was able too. Then, the speaker used the manual to evaluate the next speaker. (Like a speakathon.)

Each had an opportunity to give an oral evaluation, too.

Then, we finished with Table Topics. First Loretta asked a member to answer a question. Then the person did the table topic. And followed up by asking a question of the next person.

The meeting went smoothly. It was fun and spontaneous, and yet, we got our tasks done.

A New Season Begins at Toastmasters

By on Saturday, September 25th, 2010 | 2 Comments

The meeting Wednesday night went smoothly for the seven members and two guests who were there. Our guests were students of SPC who were attending as part of the course requirements.

Robert was Toastmaster of the meeting. Speeches were given by Jonathan, Elan, and Loretta.

Jonathan is continuing to build on his surprising strength as a story teller. He revamped the traditional Goldilocks fable to make some points on the subject of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine.

Elan confessed to starting a marketing campaign to move a nutritional product. He asked for comments about the best way to use media for hand to hand marketing. If you weren’t there you missed the insightful comments from members and guests.

Loretta gave the talk on the Distinguished Club Program. Her theme was “written goals.” You could just about see Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins and Bob Proctor in the background nodding their heads.

Arnie was General Evaluator and also evaluated Jonathan. Kim evaluated Loretta and also led Table Topics. Elan got a written evaluation in the manual.

If Mel or Pam had been there we might have had an Ah Counter and Grammarian. Timing is the one task we cannot defer, and Alison handled that very well.

************************************************************************
At our next meeting Kim will step up for her first time as Toastmaster of the meeting. Speeches are looked for from  Alison and Robert. Jonathan will serve as Table Topics Master. Loretta will be General Evaluator. That leaves Arnie and Elan to pick up what slack we can as Timer, Evaluators, Grammarian, Ah Counter and word of the day.

One idea that got discussed was allowing the Timer to select the word of the day. If I get to be Timer, I’ll have a word.

How We Appreciate Our Guests at Tarpon Talkers

By on Monday, September 13th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Kim Kerbs and Elan Chalford worked out a message to send guests by email. This represents out club. All the members of Tarpon Talkers can read it and see how it fits the spirit of out club.

Dear [name],
We enjoyed your recent visit to our Tarpon Talkers Toastmaster Club meeting.  We hope you found the experience interesting and fun. We certainly appreciated the energy you bring to the meeting.

The Toastmasters program of training in public speaking and leadership is completely adaptable to your goals and needs. Every member of our club would like to help you develop your public speaking and leadership potential.

As a reminder,  We meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 6:30 in the evening. Our meeting room is the Kappa Building on the St Pete College campus in Tarpon Springs on Klosterman Road..  You are welcome to visit any future meeting as a guest.

You may consider joining us as a member on your own time table. We are ready to pitch in and set you up for success.

If you wish to call an active member for more information, try Elan Chalford at 938-1417. Or, email Elan by chalford@earthlink.net,
Kim by kkerbs@tampabay.rr.com,
Loretta by lobuckner@gmail.com.

Again, thank you for sharing your time with us. We hope to see you again.

Kim Kerbs, Secretary

*************************************************
At our last meeting our newest member, Alison Shepard, gave her Ice Breaker. She spoke of her reading as  means of disengaging from social activity as she was growing up. Now she has to stand in front of all of us and talk.

Arnie inspired us to fly and pursue our dreams. Enough waddling and quacking already!

Jonathan did a smooth and effective job as Toastmaster of the meeting. And it was  his first time, too.

Loretta gave an especially supportive and insightful evaluation for Alison. She recognized the good cadence of the story teller and arc of exposition.

Kim recognized Arnie for his good physical presence. She invited him to dare a more heart centered talk next time.

For the meeting coming up on Sept 22, Toastmaster of the meeting is Robert. Elan and Jonathan are scheduled speakers. There is room for another. Arnie shall be General Evaluator. (Let’s all salute him.) Kim is handling Table Topics.

Hope to see you all there!

The Summer Toastmaster

By on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 | 2 Comments

Tarpon Talkers Toastmasters Club met Wednesday, July 14, Bastille Day.  I believe  we achieved a further measure of liberation in our self expression.

First we had wee bit of a business meeting. We decided to allow and hour and a half for our club meetings. This permits three speakers and five to seven table topics, as desired.

We have another bit of business coming up. We shall discuss and decide how we want to handle voting for best table topic, best speech,best evaluation.

This was the first meeting presided over from beginning to end by our new President, Loretta Buckner. She did a fine job of that, and also treated us to a story she made up, “The Goldfish Boy.” She’s starting the Advanced Manual in Storytelling.

Arnie Milnes gave a talk that reminded us about the warning, “The British are coming. The British are coming.” The reminder was that we had failed to pay attention. Now we have British Petroleum.

Elan Chalford spoke about “Teaching Violin.” He drew a comparison and contrast between teaching one on one the traditional way, and teaching by video on YouTube.

Robert Chalford, as Table Topics master, cued each question with a personal tidbit of self revelation, to set the context. This encouraged participants to really spill some beans about themselves.

Jack Lynch nearly brought down the house with his physical humor. The room was rockin’. (Well, it is a portable classroom.)

Our guest, Rochelle Goodner, joined the talk with a confession of being a staunch Harry Potter fan. We shall hear more from her, as she is joining the club.

Next time, July 28, Jonathan Teller and Pam Cohn will be speakers. One more spot is open.

Arnie will be Table Topics Master, Elan will be Toastmaster, Jim Setaro will be Timer. Other roles will be filled as we can fill them.

Thanks to everyone for making it a memorable meeting.

Four Great Talks and More

By on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 | No Comments

At our meeting Wednesday the 10th of Feb., we had no less than four speakers sharing their stories and wisdom.

Mel Springer gave her Ice Breaker, telling about her family’s idyllic vacations on Croton Island in New York. She gave vivid description and even drew charts on the white board.

The part about predator capitalism attempting to rip off the legacy of the Croton native American tribe was a bit of a downer. But we appreciated the personal story Mel shared with us.
A similar personal story came from Ron Hughes. Ron is a guest who visits us during the winter. He told about establishing a gavel club in a prison. It sounded like a positive experience all the way!

Sparkie Lovejoy revealed a simple breathing exercise she discovered that improves her mood and spirit. She had us all breathing in unison!

Arnie Milnes rounded out the evening of talks by giving his revised contest talk, Power 101. He told us how we could reclaim our power by overcoming addictions. He did not specifically mention Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but I knew that’s what he was talking about.

He will give the talk again tomorrow at the Area 74 contest at Aston Gardens at Westchase. The event starts at 9:00 AM and should be finished before 12:00.

Open House February 24 at Tarpon Talkers

By on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 | 1 Comment

The meeting coming up this week [in 2010] is our open house. Teachers and staff members of St. Pete College have been invited. The general public is cordially invited. I’m even inviting my two friends.

The meeting is oriented towards showing what a Toastmasters Club meeting is like. I’m hoping to give a talk on Advocating Toastmasters. Robert will be giving a talk on a recent discovery about learning skills.

Arnie is to be Toastmaster for the meeting. Loretta will serve as General Evaluator. Mel is up for Table Topics Master.

I’ll be contacting other members to completely fill out the agenda before the green flag drops.

Don’t miss this one!

    Optional Widget Center

    Setup via Dashboard Widgets

    Optional Widget Right

    Setup via Dashboard Widgets