Tonight at our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting:
- We had a fun-filled agenda with three speakers, and great Table Topics questions focused on Leadership.
- Our invocator shared with us the story of when he first joined Toastmasters, and also his recent achievement in his path (Level 5 in Innovative Planning)
- We planned our officers’ meeting for tomorrow night, which would be on Google Meet and promised to be informative.
- We also planned our agenda for our next Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting. The next three meetings are August 12, August 26, and September 9. I will be giving a speech at the meeting on the 12th.
We had a second time guest in attendance. Will attended a previous meeting and it was nice to see him come back. Our VPE even volunteered him for the role of timer. We got feedback from him about the meeting and how much he liked it. Upon getting home, I got an email that he submitted his membership application to join our club, thus giving us 15 active members in Laurel Highlands. We will be Smedley Distinguished (25 members, 10 goals, and have our club success plan up by September 30) by the end of the Toastmasters year.
What a difference a few months made, weatherwise. When I came down here for the second May meeting at the end of the month, it was damp and it was chilly. I would have preferred the upper 30’s and snow flurries over that chilly rain. Thankfully the next week, the weather turned a corner as we welcomed the month of June. I had some hot weather for my week off, thus giving me plenty of swimming opportunities. Yes, there were showers and thunderstorms but overall it was a better June vacation than 2024 was. Tuesday night, I had a nice drive down to Connellsville. Not raining at all, though not too humid either.
I gained a wealth of information from our three speakers, as well as our Table Topics speakers and evaluators. We set a record for most times using the word of the day, which was conundrum. Public speaking should never feel conundrum. Relax, it’s only Toastmasters (R.I.O.T.)!
The meeting ran on time, give or take a minute (6:01pm), and it ran smoothly with all roles being filled. I took on the jokemaster role and told a very funny joke that had the members laughing. Afterwards, I introduced our first speaker. We had enough time at the end of the meeting to hand out awards from the previous year. I won two medals, was named Most Improved Toastmaster, and embarked on a magnificent speaking streak that began last August. Our new members also got certificates as well. We had photos taken with our awards too.
Seeing a full agenda at this meeting and people eagerly signing up for roles for the August 12 meeting is a sign that the club is doing well. It’s a nice contrast from not too long ago, when our core five or six members carried the club. It’s also nice to not have to persuade people to sign up for roles. But, there is still room for improvement. We need to make Base Camp our friend and look at the agenda for roles we can take on for the next meeting. I have speaking dates scheduled through September, and may speak when I go to Johnstown’s meeting in October if there’s room on the agenda. I’ll touch base with the club in September when I confirm the date.
Smedley Distinguished. We’ve got this!
Stylish 🍒 