This past Tuesday Dec.18, 2007 was a last get-together for the members of the Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club for this year. Many of our members gathered at the home of our President, Emily Markham and her husband Ron for Christmas Dinner Party and one more chance to get to know each other a little better.

Ron provided one of the most delicious pork tenderloin roasts I have ever tasted and some beef that just melted in your mouth. Ron and Emily shared their beautiful home and some wonderful stories with the rest of us.

Small groups got together and shared stories and got acquainted throughout the course of the evening. Everyone had the opportunity to become better and more personal friends as the evening progressed. It was interesting to learn about common friends, hobbies, and interests that we shared with our fellow members throughout the evening.

After a scrumptious meal of dishes provided by each of the members which were all delicious,(My compliments to the Chefs) , more conversations and relaxing continued.

Here Phil Drake and Danny Clifton relax in the livingroom to let the food settle.

It was a magical evening and one that we will all remember! What a great way to end the year 2007 and establish a starting point for 2008.

Thank You everyone who was there and Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all members and their families.

See ya Next Year!
Jim

Last night was the official final meeting of 2007 for the Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club, and what a way to go out.

Our Toastmaster, Nancy Porter started the meeting off in fine fashion with her feelings adn insights on our theme – “It’s better to Give”. One of Nancy’s key points which really hit home for a  lot of us was that we need to practice and prepare to be just as gracious and grateful at receiving as we are at giving. That’s not always as easy for many of us.

Next our Grammarian, Phil Drake showed us three words for the night, but only offered”Regale” as our nightly vocabulary enrichener. Later Phil offered us ‘octothorpe’ and ‘Locofoco’ for our over the Holidays words to ponder.

Our newest member and Joke Master, John Becker then entertained us all with a mysterious Burgler Story. John’s use of voice inflection combined with his command of facial expression had us all in stitches.

Then it was time for our speaker for the evening, Michele Hubbs. Michele shared a moving story about her life based on the ‘Ice Breaker’ format from the Toastmasters suggestions. “A Paramecium in the Ocean of Life” or “Go with the Flow”whichever you choose were the titles.

Michele then told of how her early years of constant moves with her family due to her Dad’s business relocations served to make her and her brothers stronger and more closely knit. She also shared how her Mom & Dad would turn each move into an opportunity for inspiration and adaptability in helping the kids look forward to the new moves and getting resettled in their new homes.

Like with all of us, Michele’s life had it’s challenges along the way too, and she reflected on how the many moves of her early years served her and her daughter well when life served up it’s rocky shores. In concluding we all learned of how being flexible and “Going with the Flow” has brought Michele to the life she shares to day with her husband Tim here in Franklin, NC.

We are blessed to have both Michele and Tim as members of the Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club and look forward to everything they can teach and share with us. Thank you Michele, well done.

Next week our meeting will be replaced with our Christmas Party at the home of our President, Emily Markham at our regular meeting time, and I’m sure that many the story will be shared amoung the group.

In conclusion, our next official meeting at the Macon County Library will be on January 8th, 2008. May you all have a safe and Happy Holiday Season and a Blessed new Year.

PLease members, get me your schedules for January 2008 so I can plan next years meetings. Thank You

Jim

I’m very pleased to announce two new contributing editors to the Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club website!

The first one is Kathy Clifton our VP of Membership and a Broker for the ‘Exit Smokey Mountain Realty’ office in Franklin, NC. Both Kathy and her husband Danny also a Broker, are very instrumental in the revitalization of our organization.

If you get to one of our meetings early, you’ll usually find Kathy and Danny setting the room up for our meeting. Welcome aboard and we look forward to hearing more from Kathy about our goings-on in general and membership promo’s in particular, in the future.

The second editor is John Becker / Bald Head the Realtor our newest club member. John is also a Broker for the ‘Exit Smokey Mountain Realty’ team. It was our pleasure to welcome John into the club just this past Tuesday 12/04/07and hear him speak for us as a Topics speaker.

John is a natural presenter and musician and we look forward to reading his future posts on what’s happening of interest to speakers as well as general community and member posts from his unique perspective.

Please let these people know how much you appreciate their time and efforts in the future as they contribute to the growth of our organization and our website. Thanks for stepping forward Kathy and John – Welcome!

Jim

Last night’s meeting was awesome!  With Phil Drake as our Toastmaster for the evening, the meeting flowed like a precision swiss watch.

Nancy Porter started us off laughing at her catchy joke about the young boy’s first semester at Catholic School.

Michele Hubbs continued the light-hearted attitude with her “Table Topics” based on the theme of ‘I’m so Grateful’. All three of the Topics participants spoke from their hearts and memories within their alloted times very successfully.

Two of the Topics speakers were regular members Danny Clifton and Tim Hubbs. Our third Topics speaker was a brand new member in front for the first time, John Becker. We all agree that John is a natural and very welcome member to the Gem City Forum group. During his speech, John treated us all to the beautifully visual phrase “stained glass forest” as he talked of his love for walks in the woods during the falls leaf color changing period. Thank you John.

The meeting continued with Kathy Clifton’s uplifting speech about overcoming life’s challenges by focusing on strengths and positives, rather than being further limited by our beliefs on top of our adversities. Kathy’s based her speech on a chapter out of her life when she got her first job out of college working for Al Thieme and his “Amigo Mobility International” company in it’s infancy. A very moving and uplifting speech, well done!

The meeting was concluded with a reminder about our upcoming Christmas Party on the 18th and we adjourned at 6:32PM.