Toastmaster: "Fellow Toastmasters, and guests, welcome to
today’s meeting of the Terradyne Toastmasters club. My name is David
McIlhenny. I will be your Toastmaster today."
"Let me describe our meeting format for our guests. To warm us up, a member tells a
joke or story. Then another Toastmaster presents a vocabulary word for speakers to use
during the meeting. The first part of the meeting is devoted to off-the-cuff speaking --
the Topicmaster calls randomly on club members, presenting each with a topic. Their
challenge is to speak off-the-cuff for two minutes on that topic. Next, two to four
Toastmasters deliver speeches they have written and rehearsed. While each Toastmaster
speaks, another member evaluates him or her. We wrap up by hearing from the evaluators,
then the Grammarian and Timer deliver their reports, and the General Evaluator summarizes
the meeting."
"And now, Fellow Toastmasters, to get our meeting started on a light note, help me
welcome our Jokemaster for the day, Susan Murphy." (Be sure to lead applause
while Susan comes to the lectern.)
Narrator: "Susan tells a joke about a snail that knocks on a Maine
farmer’s door in the dead of Winter and asks to sit by the fire only to get a most
inhospitable reception. Susan has a talent for telling jokes, and tells this one with such
dry Maine-like wit that she leaves the audience in stitches and gets the meeting off to a
warm and friendly start."
Toastmaster: "Thank you, Susan. Our Word Master for the day
is Sean Bixby."
Narrator: "Sean holds up a card with the word
‘Procrastination’ on it. He challenges all speakers to use it in their speeches.
Sean reads the dictionary definition of ‘procrastination’ and uses it in an
example: ‘My car was running on fumes, but I kept waiting for a Shell station, so I
procrastinated until I ran out of gas.’"
Toastmaster: "Thank you Sean. I wouldn’t want to be
accused of procrastination, so we’ll move right into Table Topics. Our Topic Master
for today is Rich Hagopian."
Narrator: "Rich looks around the room. His eye falls on Ralph
Greene: ‘Ralph, please come up and tell us if you believe Britain should keep the
Royal family, and why or why not.’ Then he steps out of the way after Ralph comes to
the lectern."
"Well, Ralph has some pretty strong thoughts about British Royalty. He admits that
right now they seem to be pretty stodgy and cold, but he maintains that they have given us
some fascinating headlines over the years. And what else would the English do with their
time, he asks. He concludes that Britain should keep the Royal family but only on
condition that they have a weekly TV comedy show on the BBC, complete with a programmed
laugh track.
"Ralph turns the lectern back to Rich. Rich spots Barbara Brown and
challenges her with a new topic, ‘Barbara, We’re all dying to hear what you
would do if you woke up tomorrow and found yourself President of the country.’ He
waits for Barbara come to the podium."
"Barbara hasn’t thought much about being President, but she decides to have some
fun, "President, Schmesident. I don’t want to be President, I want to be the
Queen. It’s high time we had a Queen, and you’re looking at the right person for
the job! I’d look great in a crown! Now, as for my King, I just happen to know where
Elvis lives ...’ She launches into a creative two-minute description of what the
country would be like if we had Royalty, and concludes with a regal bow to the
audience."
"Rich wraps up Table Topics. ‘That’s all the time we have for Table
Topics. Mr.(Ms) Toastmaster.’"
Toastmaster: "Thank you, Rich, for a challenging set of
topics. Now we move into the heart of our meeting, the prepared speeches. Our first
speaker, giving speech #1 from the Communications and Leadership manual, the
‘Icebreaker’, is Dennis Hutchinson. The title of his speech is ‘Liver and
Onions and Me.’ Dennis."
Narrator: "Dennis opens his Icebreaker by saying that all his
life he hated liver and onions because his mother insisted on serving it every week,
‘But it’s good for you!’ she would say. As a kid Dennis would go to any
length to avoid eating liver -- feed it to the dog under the table, hide it in his milk,
put it under the cushion of his chair, or just stuff his cheeks like a chipmunk. Then,
years later, as a break from his career, Dennis decided to take a night course in cooking.
As it turned out, the specialty of the chef teaching the course was -- you guessed it --
liver and onions. Now Dennis’ mother comes over to his house every Friday for
liver and onions!"
Toastmaster: "Thank you Dennis. We’ll be happy to come
over Friday night for your specialty. What kind of wine goes with liver?"
"Our next speaker is giving speech #6 from the basic manual, ‘Work with
Words’. The title of her speech is ‘Lessons From the Plains of the
Serengeti.’ Please help me welcome Karol Maxwell."
Narrator: "Karol’s speech is more serious than Dennis’.
Karol spent two years in the Peace Corps and was assigned as a medical assistant in
Africa’s Serengeti region, famous for its huge herds of animals. Karol crafts a heart
warming story of the family values of the tribesmen of the Serengeti. She describes how
they honor their elderly, gather as a family at night to tell stories, and spend a great
deal of time with their children. After the first week she didn’t know where her
purse was, and didn’t care, and after the second week she didn’t know where her
watch was, and didn’t care. Karol closes by describing how the lessons she learned in
the Serengeti have made a lasting change on her attitude about family. Now, every Thursday
night at her house they turn off the lights and TV, light candles, and tell stories for
the whole evening."
Toastmaster: "Thank you Karol, for that gift. Now we move
into the evaluation part of the meeting. Our General Evaluator today is Beth DiAngelo."
Narrator: "To start the Evaluations, Beth calls on the first
evaluator: ‘Evaluating Dennis Hutchinson’s Icebreaker speech is Carolyn
Baecher.’ She waits for Carolyn to come to the lectern and steps aside."
"Carolyn congratulates Dennis on organizing his speech with a clear opening, body,
and close. She suggests that if he were to give the speech again it might be even more
effective if he took his hands out of his pockets so he could use them for gestures. She
concludes by observing that Dennis has a great sense of humor and, because of it, his
speech was exceptionally entertaining."
"Beth returns to the lectern. ‘Next, evaluating Karol Maxwell, is Art
Mercer.’"
"Art begins his evaluation by reminding us that the goal of Karol’s speech was
to work with words. He says that in his opinion, she more than met the challenge -- the
words she used were creative, and she not only built vivid pictures in his head, but she
also made him feel the emotions she had been feeling. He describes some examples.
Art suggests that for her next Karol might concentrate on making more eye contact with the
audience. He wraps up by saying that her speech touched him deeply, and because of her
speech, this Thursday night at his house, they’ll turn off the TV, light candles, and
tell stories all evening."
"Beth returns to the lectern. ‘And now, to give the Timer’s
Report, Cheryll Allen.’"
"Cheryll presents a crisp report: ‘The Jokemaster took 1 minute 23
seconds and the Word master used 45 seconds. Ralph Greene’s ‘British
Royalty’ table topic ran slightly over target at 3 minutes 3 seconds. Barbara
Brown’s ‘Lady President’ table topic was on target at 2 minutes 4 seconds.
Dennis’ ‘Liver and Onions’ speech was 6 minutes 11 seconds, and Karol
Maxwell’s ‘Serengeti’ speech was 8 minutes even. Each of the evaluations
took 3 minutes 10 seconds.’"
"Beth then calls upon the Grammarian/Ah counter, Barry Gold."
"Barry says that Ralph, Barbara, and Sean each used one ‘ah’.
Dennis, being a new Toastmaster, used ten ‘ah’s’. Susan used
‘gonna’ and ‘wanna’ several times; Barry sentences her to listen to an
old Nat King Cole record five times to improve her diction."
"Finally, Beth gives the General Evaluator’s report. She says that the
meeting started five minutes late and recommends that the meetings be started on time even
if only three people are in the room. She congratulates the Toastmaster on keeping his
remarks between speakers brief. Finally, Beth suggests that for advanced speeches such as
Karol’s, the club consider having group evaluations."
Toastmaster: "Thank you Beth, for a crisp and well-focused
evaluation. And thank you fellow Toastmasters and guests. This concludes today’s
meeting."