Tuesday night we held our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters. We were online with six in attendance. This was our first meeting since Winter TLI. It seemed like everyone was well rested since our big Saturday and ready to share their stories. Ryan thanked everyone for coming out to WCCC and Sharon (Program Quality Director) applauded him for stepping up on short notice.
I stepped up and served as jokemaster, looking for some funny holiday jokes to get everyone laughing. We had two dynamic speakers giving presentations from their paths. Cosmas’ speech was titled “KIDS”, and I learned that it makes a great acronym. Our Vice President Education puts the highlights from the meeting in the chat whenever we go virtual. In the chat last night, he put in the acronym and what the letters stood for.
- K (Keeping Eye Contact)
- I (Intentional Listening
- D (Display Reassuring Gestures)
- S (Speaking by Listening)
Gary’s speech was titled, “Why Are So Many Sick?”. Judging by the title, I was thinking about a speech centered around COVID or the common cold. It was about how the Bible is the best medicine to cure our ailments. Therefore, the title provided quite a twist. It reminded me that when giving a speech, I need to put effort into my speech title when I present. I enjoyed the video and song at the end.
Table Topics were holiday themed and I liked the questions as well as the background. It was very festive and Helene did a great job putting this all together. My question was “What holiday ritual do you do that goes unnoticed”. I talked about how I’ve been getting into the Christmas spirit this season, finding time to do everything. I may not decorate or bake that often, but I do my part. It’s our busiest two weeks at Giant Eagle as people shop for their holiday feasts. The turkeys are still there, but more people are buying ham during the holidays. When I’ve gone to Paula’s the last two years for Christmas Day, we’ve had turkey. We do a different spread for Christmas Eve with our longtime staple turkey balls. Mom has really enjoyed doing charcuterie the last few years as well. Everyone has their own tradition.
I’ll close off the blog by beginning from the beginning. At the start of the meeting, we shared our little wins. We all had something to share and all of our stories were special in their own way. I didn’t share this last night but I was fortunate to attend TLI last weekend and stick to my weekend plans. We had a few team members on vacation and one or two off so I might not have been able to do what I wanted. Either way, I would have been fine.
This was the last meeting of 2025 as we will forego the Dec. 23 meeting so everyone can get ready for Christmas. Happy Holidays and we’ll reconvene in 2026.
Stylish 🍒 