Holiday Party

I had an absolute blast at our Holiday Party this week!

It was held at the Golden Bowl Bowling alley in Golden, President Pamela Gould was kind enough to organize this wonderful event for all of us.  It was a small group, but this gave as a great opportunity to get to know each other better and eat more pizza:)

The meeting was very informal with two speeches given by myself and by Darryle Brown.
Darryle's speech was amazing, not only did he share valuable, personal information about his life, he also gave advice and lessons he has learned.  Darryle's speech had such an effect on us that it was the center of our conversation while we ate pizza.  It was a speech that each of us could relate to, in a variety of different ways.  It was really interesting to sit around and share our stories, ideas and feelings related to Darryle's speech and to Toastmasters in general.
As we sat down for pizza and talked, we also evaluated the two speeches.  Instead of the formal evaluations we usually present at Buffalo Toastmasters, we did a round table evaluation where each member gave their input and ideas to the speaker.  At first it was a little intimidating having my speech thoroughly analyzed by the group, but then I really enjoyed it.  Everyone offered great insight and thoughts for how to improve.  I am really grateful to have presented that day and to have received such amazing feedback.
I really felt like I got to know the group so much better over pizza and great conversation.  It made me realize what a wonderful, caring and thoughtful group of people we have at Buffalo Toastmasters.

And then we bowled....

My score of 56 paled in comparison to Larry's 210!!!  He printed the results as proof, and I am sure he will be carrying them around with him.  Although only Ray, Larry and I bowled we had a great time.  They are both amazing bowlers, I tried to keep up:)

Thanks to all who made it for a wonderful Holiday Party! But next time, I will need a little more bowling support!

Happy Holidays and I will see you all in the New Year,

Caroline, Treasurer

Toastmaster Words of Wisdom

"The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.— George Jessel

"There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you."
— Winston Churchill

"The duty of a toastmaster is to be so dull that the succeeding speakers will appear brilliant by contrast."
— Clarence B. Kelland

"Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening."
— Dorothy Sarnoff

Every speaker has a mouth;
An arrangement rather neat.
Sometimes it's filled with wisdom.
Sometimes it's filled with feet.
— Robert Orben

December 1st meeting

We moved the meeting to Intrawest Shared Services in Golden, but we didn't miss a beat.  Ray Hebert (the 2nd) ran the show as Toastmaster in his always resourceful and witty style. Two fine speeches from the veteran Ron Wachenheim and a relatively newcomer (but talented) R.J. Kern. The evaluations by Walter Weinig and Linda Knudson were equally accomplished with positive feedback and constructive suggestions (although not many needed).  And fun, OMG.  Pamela Gould came up with the most creative Table Topics in many a moon. She drew a target on a white board with various sections depicting topic categories. The extemporaneous volunteer speakers shot suction darts to see what their topic would be. The bulls-eye said "Ask Ray any question". Volunteers hit on "How they got to Buffalo TM", wild card and jokes. Alas, no one could hit the bulls-eye, allowing Ray to escape potentially embarrassing interrogation. A rollicking good time was had by all . . . but then, that's not unusual for Buffalo-ers!

Fall Open House - Come One, Come All!

Hello Buffalo and all former guests!  Please join us for a bit of fun and excitement for our Fall Open House, this Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at the Western Area Power Administration Building at 12155 W. Alameda Parkway at 11:15am.

Check out the video below for more info!

Regards,

Ray Hebert

VP of Education

Wednesday Sept. 15 | Foreign Affairs

A big shout out to Caroline Armstrong for putting together a superb meeting.  Many of us expected a serious and to-the-point meeting with the subject matter but by the end of the meeting everyone had enjoyed numerous laughs and chuckles.  Ray Hebert lead off with his speech the "Rule of 3" in the Advanced Manual, Speaking to Inform while Big Darryle Brown finished with "Once You Say It, You Can't Take It Back."  Both speaker provided great subject matter and expertise around their respective subjects.

With a brief break, Christine Groves lead a wonderful Table Topics around foreign affairs but kept it light hearted with Paul Murphy discussing M&Ms and their correlation to International Affairs, Tim Cazier with a thought provoking look at a Cartoon Character Conference, and Pamela with tales of skipping rope.

Christine Groves introducing table topics:

Ron Wachenheim and Pamela Gould came through with 2 wonderful evaluations for our speakers and provided positive feedback coupled with tips for improvement.  Thanks for stepping up everyone!

Ron W. evaluates:

See you in October for TM Open House!

Regards,

Ray Hebert

VP of Education

Wednesday September 1, 2010 | Ivy-Colored Walls

What a meeting today!  Absolutely wonderful with our venerable DTM, Ron Wachenheim, taking the reigns as TM with the theme Ivy-Colored Walls.  I enjoyed this meeting tremendously and we had a wonderful line up of speakers.  I had hoped to have a successful taping of each of the speakers; however I have now learned that the battery in the microphone for the camera died.  In addition we have a set limit on the amount of video we can upload so I've only uploaded the evaluators.  I'm a bit disappointed but not to worry, we will come back in the next meeting with some taped speeches with sound as well as the corresponding evaluations.
This may have been better named the Mimed TM meeting.  However if you wish to see body movement in action then please see below:


Evaluator 1: Walter Weinig - Evaluating Caroline

Evaluator 2: Ray Hebert - Evaluating Paul Murphy

We will continue to improve our video tapings, first and foremost by ensuring the microphone has a fresh battery.

Thanks,
Ray Hebert
VP of Education

It's All About DOODLE!

Buffalo,

Good morning; I hope this finds you well.  For those of you who haven't responded to Doodle check the link below:

http://www.doodle.com/e4wefybbk8y2rt3m


Also, a quick vid from your VP of Education using the club camera...

Regards,
Ray Hebert
VP of Education
Buffalo Toastmasters

Wednesday August 18, 2010: Emergency Preparedness

Thanks to the Buffalo TMers who made the "Emergency Preparedness" Meeting a success. With all members doubling up and some tripling up on duties we still managed to have fun and accomplish a significant amount.

Ray lead off as TM, Jokemaster, and Wordmaster. Tim Cazier pictured below knocked out his 3rd speech titled, "Get Inspired to Read".

R.J. Kern followed suite with his 3rd speech, "How to take photos of finicky pets." Although R.J. isn't pictures, a BIG SHOUT OUT goes to him for taking the photo above as well as the new photos that have now been posted to our http://www.buffalotoastmasters.org/ site! Thanks R.J.!
We had wonderful feedback from our other members including Walter W, Linda Knudson, and our General Evaluator, Pamela Gould pictured below.



We look forward to seeing all of you again at the next meeting on September 1, 2010. Ron Wachenheim, our DTM, will be heading up the meeting and we have 3 superb speakers lined up, don't miss it!


Regards,
Ray Hebert, VP of Education

Wednesday July 7, 2010 | Riddle Me This!

Our first Buffalo Toastmasters Meeting of the summer kick off with great enthusiasm and merriment (our word of the day). Shannon Lucio, legend among Buffalo TMs, provided a wonderful subject, Riddle Me This, and as always delivered a wonderful meeting as TM complete with enthusiasm, anecdotes, and of course riddles!

Our 2 speakers performed exceptionally well!

Clint Jones tackled Project 5 (Your Body Speaks) in the CC manual with true precision and wonderful body language and facial expressions. His subject, A Capitol Experience, provided a gripping story of hiking the Capitol Peak in Colorado. One of the more difficult 14ers!

R.J. Kern finished strong with Project 2 (Organizing Your Speech) in the CC manual with wonderful enthusiasm and superb use of power point. His "Ode to his P.T. Cruiser" as speech subject will be remembered most assuredly.

Our evaluators provided great evaluations with tips for improvements, thank you to Ray Hebert and Darryle Brown. And our GE provided a very thorough and spot on look at the meeting as whole. Special thanks to Roger Surdahl for this piece.

As always, thanks to everyone for a superb meeting! Looking forward to seeing you on July 21, 2010 at Addenbrook Park in Lakewood for the picnic!

Clint Jones will be our TM and Darryle Brown will provide TT. I will send an email shortly with Pot Luck sign up!

Regards,
Ray Hebert
VP Education
Buffalo Toastmasters

Executive Committee Meeting Update

Hey Buffalo!

The Executive Committe for the new 2010 and 2011 year met today at Atlanta Bread Company in Lakewood. We had a very productive meeting and look forward to working with the club this coming year. We will continually provide updates regarding our progress toward Distingued Club and will be implementing the feedback you provided in the Survey.

Thanks again to Caroline for the Survey as well as all the great responses from club members. We greatly appreciate your enthusiasm and interest in making this a better club! Thanks to Pamela for putting together a great Ex Com. meeting as President!

It's going to be a great year! Let's make the first meeting a great one and lead off the year right!

Regards,
Ray Hebert
VP Membership
Buffalo Toastmasters

Buffalo Toastmasters Meeting; June 2, 2010

Hi all,

We had another great meeting on Wednesday. We have so many new members and new personalities, it really adds a lot to the group.

We started the meeting off with our annual Executive Committee elections. I was happy to be elected Treasurer this coming year. Last year I participated as Secretary and I really enjoyed being a part of the meetings and interacting with the group on a different level.

Following the elections Christine, a new member, presented us with the most entertaining Table Topics I have witnessed. It was hilarious. Each participant created a story of how they were taking over our pretend business. The stories were all connected and build off of each other. I was very impressed at the story tellers' talent, and a little frightened by some of their ideas!

We also had speeches from Darrlye and Tim. They are both natural speakers and alwaya have interesting subjects to present. Tim explained to us the details and information needed to be a successful photographer. He also shared some of his own photos, he definitely has a talent!
Darryle shared a 'folk story' with us, it was extremely entertaining. I was drawn in right from the start. He is a talented speaker and it is always a treat to hear one of his speeches!

It was a fun meeting, as always. Next month we will be having our summer picnic, July 21. It should be a blast: food and Table Topics!

That is all for now!

Caroline

Wednesday, May 5th Meeting - GE Comments

Hey Buffalo,


I want to commend Darryle for putting together a superb meeting! Special thanks to Paul Murphy for a great icebreaker speech and elevated heart rate as well as the talented Mrs. Pamela G. for her "Practice" speech.

The evaluators provided "spot on" feedback and the vibe was truly great! I'm actually taking my daily french press tradition to a new level and practicing it to perfection!


Our two guests had a blast (R.J. Kern & Maggie) and I believe with a successful vote we will have another new member in the way of R.J. Kern! R.J. is a photographer and I believe he will add some wonderful new perspective to the club.


And I'm going to throw a shout out to Linda Knudson for one of the best round of jokes I've heard in quite some time! Nice job Linda!


Well I'm signing out for today, my French Press is calling...


Ray Hebert II
VP Membership
Buffalo Toastmasters

Wednesday's meeting

Hi all,

We had so much fun at yesterday's meeting! Darryle was our Toastmaster and he did an amazing job. He is such a positive person and has so much energy, he made it a great meeting for all of us.

It was really fun to see Paul's Icebreaker speech. It is always nice to learn about new members. He did a great job, and didn't seem nervous at all. It was hilarious at the end when he told us how high his heart rate was! I remember my Icebreaker, I thought I was going to die! But I didn't, and I am still a member of Buffalo Toastmasters:)

My mentor, Pamela, also did her final speech in yet another manual. I can't believe how much she has accomplished through Toastmasters. It is very admirable and it motivates me to keep working on my speeches, no matter how challenging they may be.

I was an evaluator this meeting for Paul's speech. It was difficult to find things that he needs to improve on since he did so well. I did have a lot to say about his natural speaking skills.

I also participated in Table topics. Martha came up with some fun and challenging questions for all of us. It was tough and I didn't speak for as long as I should have, but I also didn't open it with "Ummmmmmm....".

I had a great time, and I can't wait for the next meeting!

Caroline