Monday 8/13/07

Hello fellow Toastmasters of the Amigo Club.

Tonight we had the distinct pleasure of saying hello to a wayward Toastmaster that wandered in out of the cold, or rather, into the air conditioned comfort of our meeting. A warm welcome back to Mr. Rock Dasher.

If I am not mistaken, Mr. Dasher has been traveling the world in search of adventure, but finally realized that our border community offered many more exciting opportunities at less cost. Rock graciously stepped up and presided as our Toastmaster for this evenings meeting. Thank you Rock.

Our group was small this evening, but we had an entertaining meeting none the less. John Dunham filled the roles as Grammarian, Ah Counter, General Evaluator and all around good guy. Thank you John for your support.

Tom Christiansen was our timer and I provided some table topics and an Amigo moment. We discussed the various roles that can be performed at meetings to help earn your Competent Communicator or Competent Leader designations. We also talked a bit about a new scheduling program that we will have up and running soon that will allow members to go in and see the schedule for upcoming meetings and accept or decline assignments or request to present speeches, etc... It will be really cool and hopefully will help eliminate some of the confusion we have been experiencing of late.

Our word of the day was kenetic, but it was, unfortunately not used in most speeches. I believe our word for the next several meetings should be "commitment".

Let's look at this word. One of the meanings listed in the American Heritage Dictionary is:

Official consignment, as to a prison or mental health facility.

That's not the one we were looking for. How about this one:

A pledge to do.

That's closer, but I prefer:

The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons: a deep commitment to liberal policies; a profound commitment to the family.

When I accepted the role of President I made a commitment to you, the members of the Amigo Toastmasters Club to guide the club in the right direction, and I am attempting to do that, but I am in desperate need of some assistance in fulfilling a couple of roles that are not being managed. If anyone is willing to "step up" and accept the challenge I will assure you of all the support I can provide. Volunteers for leadership positions can count on my commitment to provide that support. If you are interested please give me a call at 329-5868. We owe it to our new members to provide the guidance and support that they need to progress in their search for self improvement.

I look forward to next week when Darleen will give her Icebreaker speech. I hope to see you all there and please bring a friend. Until next week....Rick