A Big Change by Small Steps

We had another great evening this past Tuesday at the Gem City Forum Toastmaster’s club! To start, Lacey Crowe introduced the theme “A Big Change by Small Steps.” Her theme centered on impacting the earth by making small changes in how you dispose of your trash. She explained that the national average per person per day is five pounds of trash! Lacey gave us some good advice on how to lower our daily trash average through use of recycling bins in our homes. Her talk was quite informative and she made sure to cement her position by offering a handout at the end of the meeting. All participants were prepared and ready to give a trenchant example of their roles. In fact, the grammarian, Andrew Robertson, presented the word of the day, “Trenchant.” We had first-time timer, Dwayne Phillips, who was steady in his duties and an “Ah-Um Counting General Evaluator,” Phil Drake, who displayed poise and proficiency with his dual roles. Finally, the Joke Master, Jim Alvord, had us all laughing at his reverse blonde joke!

Kathy Clifton challenged us with some interesting objects for Table Topics volunteers. She presented small, medium, and large objects concealed in bags. The large item was a Galileo thermometer – Jim nailed his explanation of how it works. Next, the small object was the “shrunken head” of fellow member, John Becker. (Evidently, John has some toy figurines of himself lying around the office!) Nancy Porter explained that the head would be useful on an occasion when John is absent because he is always great talk too. Finally, the medium object was a packaged Hormel Chili meal. Loretta Newton, explained that she wouldn’t be likely to eat this meal because her husband is a champion chili maker.

Our only speaker for the evening, Bill Hanger, gave speech # 9 from the Competent Communication manual. The goal of the speech is to persuade the audience to adopt your point of view. His speech was entitled, “The Biblical Cannon.”

Bill was motivated by some friends to research the five aspects of the bible which give it authority. It was apparent that Bill was very comfortable with his subject and his research. He gave very smooth gestures and presented his list of points with ease.

Overall, it was another successful meeting – When I see our members improve and try something new, it keeps me motivated to keep coming back week after week. It is apparent that as communicators and leaders, we are making big changes for ourselves by following the small steps recommend in our TM manuals.

Barbara Cook

VP Education | Gem City Toastmasters Club # 296