Carolyn Clark (Sergeant at Arms) opened the meeting with the mission of the Toastmasters club and the pledge of allegiance.  Carolyn introduced Jayanth Jagannathan as the ToastMaster of the Day (TMOD).

Jayanth explained the meeting theme-“Diversity”.  Jayanth read the Quote of the Day which was by Jerome Nathanson.  Before getting the meeting underway, Jayanth instructed everyone in the meeting to look around at each other…he wanted everyone to see the differences in the room and how this related to the theme of the meeting.  He gave the meaning of Diversity.  Diversity (as defined by AT&T) means promoting an environment of inclusion, one in which each individual is valued.  He talked about the common myth that Diversity and Affirmative Action/EOE (equal opportunity employment) being similar which has changed over time.  Jayanth addressed how AT&T and other corporations look at Diversity and Affirmative Action/EOE from a corporate strategic viewpoint which makes the two atypical of one another (passed out a worksheet that listed the differences between Diversity and Affirmative Action/EOE).  Jayanth then asked the timer and grammarian to explain there roles.

As the timer, Priya Shanmugam described her role and the different color codes used to time speakers.

Paulava Carr-Morris served as grammarian.  Paulava explained her role and presented the Word of the day: Gauche - lacking social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkward; crude; tactless.

After Priya and Paulava explained there roles, Jayanth then went forward with introducing Stacy Tidwell as the JokeMaster.

Stacy Tidwell (JokeMaster) shared a funny joke about God having a married couple’s only meeting in heaven.  In this meeting God listed the Divine Hierarchy that all should follow (man, woman, children, pets, and everyone else).  He wanted to know if the men had fulfilled their obligation to the Divine Hierarchy so he ordered the men who fulfilled their responsibility of being the head of the household to get in one designated line and those who lapsed in their responsibility to get in another line.  Only one man was in the line of having fulfilled his responsibility.  God told the man to turn to the others to explain how he was able to maintain his role as head of the household and follow his Divine Hierarchy.  The man turned around, shrugged his shoulders and said “I don’t know, my wife told me to stand here”.  A very funny joke in which ALL the women in the meeting enjoyed J.  Thanks Stacy

Alvin Mungin delivered his third speech (project #3, Get to the Point) titled "Think of Us".  Alvin’s speech detailed the struggles that left-handed people go through adapting to instructions that are tailored for right-handed people.  He emphasized this fact by showing the audience the 3 different ways to tie a tie (Four in Hand Knot, Windsor knot, and a Bow Tie).  He provided instructions to the audience on each process and even asked for a right handed person (Paulava) to come up to the lectern and try to tie a tie left handed.  Alvin wanted the audience to think the next time that we read instructions for any process  that we think of left-handed people (Think of Us).  Alvin did a great job with completing his third speech.  You have 3 down Alvin, 7 more to go.

Before introducing the second speaker, Jayanth welcomed our guest to the meeting.  The guest name is Natasha Johnson.  Thanks Natasha for coming out to our ToastMasters club meeting.  We enjoyed having you.

 Vicki Robinson (ToastMaster Club President) delivered her second speech (project #2 Advanced speaker series, Interpreting Poetry) titled “Maya Angelou, You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth”.  Vicki described how Maya Angelou poems are related to her struggles with her identity, of being heard in a world that had trouble accepting who she was as a poet/artist.  Vicki pointed out that most of Maya Angelou poems focused on self-love, where she wanted the reader to love/value themselves.  She chooses 2 Maya Angelou poems to recite to the audience. 

·         Still I Rise

·         Phenomenal Woman

Both poems illustrated what Maya Angelou thought of herself and what other people thought of her.  It did not matter what they thought of her she still felt beautiful.  Vicki definitely kept the audience at attention with reciting both poems conveying the imagery, rhythm, and cadence felt in poems.  Great job Vicki.

Bonnie Smith served as the Table Topics master.  Bonnie tied the theme of the meeting into Table Topics but with a twist.  Bonnie asked the table topics speakers/volunteers to find similarities in a list of pictures that she brought to the meeting.  The lists of speakers were…

·         Natasha Johnson (Guest) – Picture: Cow…similarities: provision for her kids, nursing her kids (and other people’s kids…LOL you had to be there), and likes wide open spaces and to roam.  Great job Natasha for your first time speaking in front of the audience.

·         Jayanth Jagannathan – Picture: Turkey…similarities: very nice, treats everyone fairly, very sociable gets along with everyone.

·         Vicki Robinson – Picture: Panda…similarities: gets a lot of attention, loves being outside, calm, cute, and cuddly

·         Stacy Tidwell – Picture: Shrek…similarities: love of spouse and kids, spending time with family. 

TMOD Jayanth Jagannathan turned evaluation phase of the meeting over to Allyn Davis (General Evaluator), who explained his role to the club members.  Allyn asked for Gokie Varadarajan to come up to evaluate Alvin Mungin speech “Thinking of Us”. 

Gokie Varadarajan served as evaluator for Alvin Mungin’s speech.  She stated he did a good job on his speech, very well structured/organized.  He started the speech off very well, talking about the different ways to tie a tie, the kinds of ties, and how it related to the troubles that left handed people have with interpreting right handed instructions.  Gokie’s suggestions for improvement on future speeches were to be conscious of time as he did go over his speech time limit.  Gokie proposed that when he has handouts for the audience to pass them out differently to conserve time. 

Shem Orwenyo served as evaluator for Vicki Robinson’s speech.  He stated that she did a good job on her speech and that this was good way to show how speeches are done at the advanced level.  He commented on how she delivered the poems drawing the audience into the imagery of what was being recited through the verses.  He noted her enthusiasm and knowledge of the poems that she read from Maya Angelou.  Shem’s suggestions for improvement were to be careful of transitioning from point to point.  For example, when Vicki was reading her poems it was hard to tell when she transitioned from the first poem to the second poem (maybe taking a few sentences to introduce the second poem).  Overall Vicki did a great job and we are all looking forward to her next speech in the advanced speaker series.

Allyn gave an overall evaluation of the meeting.  The meeting started on time and we managed to cover everything and end on time.  Also, Allyn congratulated the speakers on doing a great job with presenting their speeches.  He evaluated the evaluators stating that they did a good job in critiquing the speakers.  Everything was covered and the suggestions of improvement were very helpful to each speaker.  Allyn reminded the audience to make sure that they turned off/muted their cell phones and pagers during the meeting.  This is to show respect to the people that are going up to the lectern to speak to the audience.  Allyn presented an achievement ribbon to Alvin Mungin (Speech #3).  Allyn then asked for Priya Shanmugam (Timer) and Paulava Carr-Morris (Grammarian).  He then turned over the dismissal of the meeting to our club president Vicki Robinson.

Vicki reminded members about the ToastMasters Thanksgiving Potluck being held on November 18^th, 2010 (sign up sheet) and the Role Masters contest.