This past Tuesday night was an unusually good meeting, which speaks volumes since we always have Great Meetings. What made this meeting so special was the presentation of our first Competent Communicator ( CC ) awards to new members since we revived the club in November 2006.

And there wasn’t just one winner – there were FOUR!
CONGRATULATIONS to you all.

From L to R: Kathy Clifton, John “Baldhead” Becker, and Nancy Porter.  Unfortunately Lacey Crowe was unable to attend but was there in spirit none-the-less.

We also had a very intense speech from John ‘Baldhead’ Becker, on “Alpha Male – Alpha Dog, Yeah Right!” John was his usual highly animated and expressive self as he explained the accumulation and subsequent interaction of his family and their dogs. It was entertaining and quite funny.

Then Michele Hubbs gave us a Dramatic Reading of a story written by her, from stories her father had told her. She masterfully used her voice to express the word pictures her Dad had described in the story of his youth in upstate New York in the winter. We were all leaning forward on the edge of our seats as the story developed in the cold frigid moonless night after the game.

Our meeting participants performed flawlessly, and a special thanks and congratulations to Alan Keling for successfully completing his first speech evaluation of Michele’s reading and also to Dan Adams for his fine job as the General Evaluator.

We all had fun with John Beckers grammarian word of ‘Chic’ or “Chique” whichever you prefer. Joe Parker was our Toastmaster of the evening and kept everything flowing in a timely fashion after setting the tone/theme for the meeting of Halloween.

Our Topics Master, Bill Hanger gave awards to the topics speakers for their original renditions of “To Be Determined” yet in their lives. “Yes” we do have a good and interesting time at Toastmasters in Franklin, NC.

Respectfully Submitted,
Jim Alvord | President
Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club # 296

Last night  the Gem City Toastmasters Club gathered for our weekly Tuesday night meeting. This turned out to be no regular meeting as right from the outset our Toastmaster, Kathy Clifton explained the ‘Theme’ by teaching us the general how-to’s of a Toastmasters Meeting.

Kathy covered not only the Nuts & Bolts of times and topics, but she also covered the greeting and special handling of Guests and then offered a special group Congratulations to our Competition Participants Barbara Cook and John Becker.

Our Speakers offered more lessons through their presentations!

Barbara Cook shared through talk and example some of the lessons she’d taken from her competition this past Saturday, and generous feedback she’d received from some of her fellow competitors taht we all could use to improve our presentations.

Barbara skillfully showed how much more powerful a speech can become simply by moving out in FRONT of the lectern. She also showed examples of gestures both behind and in front of the lectern, proving through example how much more open and useful the same gestures can be when combined with a full body presence not hidden by the lectern.

Our second speaker for the evening, Dwayne Phillips again entertained and challenged us through his masterful story telling speech modal.  Dwayne has enetertained us many times by sharing experiences from his past for simple enjoyment purposes. Last night he added a new layer to his story by using it to inspire us all to stand up for injustice in support of others.

Dwayne told of moving from the city to the rural country life at a young age, and how he became the target of the school bully. He skillfully used comedy and positive feedback throughout his story to assure us that this was not a sad or distressing childhood but merely the way things were and despite the school stresses – he actually believes that he had a great childhood. We all laughed when he explained how he had ‘Yellow Fever’ (an self induced allergic reaction to school buses) to try to get out of going to that stressful place in his young life.

The meeting ended on time and we all went home with a lot to think about and a satisfaction of being a better person and a better speaker because of the lessons we had learned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jim Alvord | President

Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club # 296

Gem City Forum Toastmaster Club Local Winners Place 3rd at Division Competition!

On Saturday October 17th several members of the Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club # 296 from Franklin, NC attended the Division A ‘Humorous Speech’ and ‘Evaluation’ competitions in Hendersonville, NC.  It was a cool rainy morning drive over the mountains for the participants and support members who made the pilgrimage.

This competition was the culmination of Gem City Forum’s first sponsored Humorous Speech and Evaluation Competition in recent years. Both of our qualified winning members John “BaldHead” Becker for the Speech Competition, and Barbara Cook for the Evaluation Competition showed up in Hendersonville at 9:30AM with support staff in tow, to give the rest of  Division A the best we had to offer.

John and Barbara were masterful in their  execution and when the smoke had cleared they had secured Third Place Wins in both categories! That’s very impressive considering it was the first competition for both of them outside the local club, and they were up against highly skilled competitors with many years of experience and seasoning under their belts. The level of competition was amazingly intense and extremely close for all participants in both categories and the effects of Toastmaster’s training was clearly evident in all the presenters.

CONGRATULATIONS John and Barbara for proudly facing the fierce competition and coming out in the Top 3!! We’re extremely proud of you and your accomplishments.

I’d also like to thank our Division A Governor, Michael Beach and the Hendersonville and Asheville Toastmaster’s Clubs for hosting the competitions and to the “Lake Point Landing Senior Community Center” for the fabulous accommodations and hospitality they provided.

Special thanks to Kathy Clifton, our own VP of  Membership and Public Relations who was one of the 2 Timers for the events and Jim Alvord our club President who was one of the 5 judges for the competitions. I’d also like to extend a “thank you” to our Franklin Area support group who made the trip to cheer for our participants including John’s wife, Elise Becker, Barbara’s husband, Chuck Cook, and Barbara’s parents, Mike and Rita Houston whose support is very much appreciated.

In closing, We at Gem City Forum Toastmasters want to Congratulate our Division Winners; Karen Strange who won the Speech Contest, and Keith Challenger who won the Evaluation Contest. We feel very confident in our representation to the District 37 Competitions next month in Asheville and wish both Karen and Keith “Good Luck” to win at the District Level.

Jim Alvord | President

Gem City Forum Toastmasters Club # 296

Franklin, NC    28734