TOASTMASTERS CLUB 1841
FRIDAY <> JANUARY 6, 2012 KISSIMMEE UTILITY AUTHORITY
CALL TO ORDER: RON SZASZ
TOASTMASTER OF THE DAY – LARRY MATTERN
THEME: “HAPPY @#$%&* NEW YEAR”
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PRESIDENT’S REPORT, HEATHER SZASZ
GUESTS
PAMELLA HALL (FROM SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA)
WALTER DERRENBACHER (BOSTON, MA) – BROTHER OF PRISCILLA VILLAREAL
WANDA BORIO (CLEVELAND, OHIO) - GUEST OF GWEN FIX
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INSPIRATION AND PLEDGE – MICHAEL AUN
“FAR BETTER IT IS TO HAVE DARED MIGHTY THINGS TO WIN GLORIOUS TRIUMPHS, EVEN THOUGH CHECKED BY FAILURE, THAN TO TAKE RANK WITH THOSE POOR SPIRITS WHO NEITHER ENJOY MUCH NOR SUFFER MUCH, FOR THEY LIVE IN A GRAY TWILIGHT THAT KNOWS NOT VICTORY NOR DEFEAT.”
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
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PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS
WELCOME TO GUESTS
“LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING”
TOASTMASTERS TRAINING TAKES PLACE SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2012 AT LYMAN HIGH, RONALD REAGAN BLVD, LONGWOOD @ 8:00 A.M.; COST $10 PER PERSON PAYABLE AT THE DOOR.
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WORD OF THE WEEK – PRISCILLA VILLAREAL
“JUSTICULATE”
To make or use gestures, especially in an animated or excited manner.
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FIRST SPEAKER – GWEN FIX
SPEECH # 3 – COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR MANUAL
“MASS DISTRIBUTION”
Almost 6 years ago at a London auction two dried up prunes were sold (just like these). They were destined to become weapons. They were soaked in water and masked and shipped off to their destination. Who would question a bowl of prunes? The prunes were masked in words of encouragement to the recipients, who were prisoners of war. Today we are in a different kind of war- a war of words. Every day we are bombarded by an onslaught of words. Some people will tell you that words and actions will go together. Perhaps they do help get the message across. Just ask my son Jeremiah. We have all heard the statement “Sticks and stones may break my bones….” The fact is, words can hurt us. A blind man was panhandling for money with his can and collecting the occasional coin. Someone came by and took his sign that said simply “I am blind.” The person came up took his card and changed it to “It’s a beautiful day and I cannot see it.” Suddenly the donations started to come in and the blind man could not understand why. At the end of the day, the lady that changed his words on the sign returned to tell him what she had done. The moral of the story is if you change your words it could change your results.
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SECOND SPEAKER –HEATHER SZASZ – (8-10 MINUTES)
SPEECH NUMBER 5 – ENTERTAINING SPEECH
“THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UNEXPECTED”
Do any of you own your own business? Well there are lots of surprises when you go into business for yourself. Initially when I opened my cleaning business my plan was to hire people to do the work. Lo and behold, I ended up being the person who had to do it all. But I built that business entirely on referral. Ron got the first referral from a persona at the bank. I decided to hire someone and with whom we had a language barrier. That was a bit of a problem. Several interviews with several candidates later I learned about the backgrounds of many people. Eventually I learned that there are cultural differences even among the Latin American countries and some don’t get along. One day an employee came to me to report that a fellow employee was going through drawers looking to steal something. I put him in the car and immediately took him home. Another employee was drunk on the job. I smelled alcohol on her breath immediately. There is the good, the bad and the unexpected. One of our teams was cleaning a house that we do every week. We have the keys to the home so we entered and began the cleaning as there were no cars in the yard. Then she learned that the man of the house was on the toilet. “No problem,” she said, “I see my husband like this all the time.” When you work for yourself, generally you can determine your own hours but sometimes you have to work around the client’s schedule. Sometimes you have to work around their schedules when running the washing machine. There are good sides and bad sides when you run your own business.
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TIMER REPORT- TONY MORELLI
BOTH SPEAKERS QUALIFIED
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TABLE TOPICS – JEREMIAH FIX
Tony Morelli… One of the things I’ve been doing lately is preparing to compete in the 10-K, which is one of my New Year’s resolutions. I was running recently when I injured my right knee and had to put a compress on it. I did compete in the 10-K and had no problems with the knee then but I’ve had major problems since.
Michael Aun… New Year’s Resolutions don’t work because people don’t give up on them quick enough. There! I said it. You should consider tearing up your resolutions every quarter. Revise, revisit, revamp and redo them. There was an alleged Harvard study that suggested that people who have written goals made 10 times more money as those who had no written goals. Don’t just write goals down but share them with someone else who will hold you accountable.
Ron Szasz… Instead of giving someone a piece of your mind, give someone “peace of mind.” When you have confrontations with others, try giving them “peace” of mind instead of a “piece” of your mind. Several years ago there was a show on TV about Kung Fu. Instead of opposing things, the show helped the viewer avoid things.
Walter Derrenbacher… I don’t have New Year’s Resolutions; they are useless. We are made to persist; that’s how we find out who we are. Some people persist in doing wrong things like giving a “piece” of mind. I am semi-retired. When I was teaching, I used notes and stood behind a lectern. Today, I get the students to talk, not me. By getting them involved, they will learn more.
Wanda Borio… We must have old memories and young hopes. In the Bible, you read all kinds of stories about how people deal with things. In the last few years, I’ve been recalling fond memories about my grandmother and those memories have helped me along the way to renew and refresh me in my life. Today, I have a new home and new hopes here in Kissimmee.
Pam Leonard…. Children are a unique challenge. I learned in sales never answer an unasked question. “We want to have a testimony, but we don’t want the test.” Most of us don’t reach our New Year’s Resolutions because we don’t want the test. We don’t really want to rise to the occasion. We really have to watch ourselves. Dr. Oz says to write it down and tell a buddy to keep you accountable.
Fred Moore…. Sorry not a winner… Help I’m trapped in a fortune cookie company… Bad quality lasts a lot longer than a good price. Cheap isn’t always better. Resolutions do not work and it proven they don’t. Resolutions are a lot like dating. Keep trying until you get it right.
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TIMERS REPORT: TONY MORELLI
Everyone qualified.
BREAK TIME
MASTER EVALUATOR – FRED MOORE
EVALUATING GWEN FIX – NANCY STREET
Gwen’s presentation today was wonderful! I loved it! The purpose of this speech is to “Get to the point” and not beat around the bush, to say it concisely. You put a lot of thought into your speeches. We know you spent a lot of time thinking about this. I loved your props. You supported everything you said either verbally or with props. I did notice that you were nervous or not sure what you wanted to say. It showed a bit. At one point you seemed stumped but you didn’t stutter your way through it. Instead you used a long pause to recapture your thoughts. Don’t thank your audience for listening to you…. we should be thanking you!
EVALUATING HEATHER SZASZ – HARRY FIX
Heather’s speech is out of the Advanced Communicator Manual and it’s not an easy speech. Your title gives us a great clue as to what to expect. You are a very entertaining speaker. The speech was thought out. One of the things you could have done was provide the person introducing you with a prepared introduction to show what you were attempting to accomplish in the presentation. We had to figure that out. It would have helped set the background. The speech was entertaining. The presentation was full of antidotal stories that wrapped nicely around your points you wanted to make. Great job!
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TIMERS REPORT- TONY MORELLI
ALL EVALUATORS QUALIFIED
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AH / GRAMMARIAN – TONY MORELLI
Nancy would be better at this than me. I didn’t really catch anything except my own. Heather said “I ended up here in a mistake way.” Fred Moore, Larry Mattern, Tony Morelli, Heather Szasz had some uh’s, um’s and you know’s.
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WORD REPORT – PRISCILLA VILLAREAL
JUSTICULATE
To make or use gestures, especially in an animated or excited manner.
TONY MORELLI, LARRY MATTERN, FRED MOORE, GWEN FIX, RON SZASZ, NANCY STREET AND HEATHER SZASZ USED THE WORD FOR THE DAY
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FRED MOORE – JOKEMASTER
CLOSING AWARDS – HEATHER SZASZ
TABLE TOPICS WINNER: WALTER DERRENBACHER
BEST EVALUATOR: NANCY STREET
BEST SPEAKER: HEATHER SZASZ
