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CLUB
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ASHEVILLE
TOASTMASTERS NEWS (e-mail your news to mail@ashevilletoastmasters.com) 11/15/07: Welcome Janet Doyle, who joins Asheville Toastmasters as a transfer from her previous club in Pennsylvania. Janet is the third recent transfer, joining Renee Brooks and Dan Desjardins who were both former members of out-of-state clubs. We're delighted to have all three of them join the longest-surviving club in the Carolinas! 11/3/07: Belated congratulations to our own Dan Desjardins who placed second in the Area Humorous Speech Contest. For those members who already making holiday plans, Asheville Toastmasters will not meet on Thanksgiving Day, November 22nd, or on December 27th during Christmas week. 8/24/07: Matt Ray
and Heidi Stewart delivered first-rate speeches last night to another
solid attendance including, a couple of repeat guests. Jim Tyson has
assembled a committee to organize an officer induction party at the
home of Nick Woods. September 15th or 29th are the proposed dates and
Jim will follow-up with a decision after he polls the membership next
week. 8/17/07: Great attendance, including four guests (two were elected our newest members) and two speeches were the key features of last night's meeting. Keith Challenger and Paul Barrett were the speakers - Paul delivered a first-rate icebreaker. Club President, Nick Wood appointed Jim Tyson to assemble a committee to evaluate the feasability of a social event for officer induction and fellowship. The committee is to report within 30 days. 8/10/07: Last night's meeting had to be rescheduled at the last minute because Denny's was closed due to some construction delays. This is such a rare occurrence (it's happened just once in the last five years when most of Asheville was without water due to a broken main) that there is no plan in place for them to contact us. Anyway, a smaller meeting did take place at the offices of Coldwell Banker, and new officers were trained by Division Governor, Mike Kesselring. Sorry to those who showed up at Dennys only to find the doors locked. 8/3/07: Keith Challenger presented the only speech tonight and moves one step closer to his Advance Communicator - Silver award. Some challenging table topics from Nick Woods and a "shuffled" agenda from TM Chall Gray were the highlights of the meeting. We were joined by 3 guests. 7/27/07: Jim Simmons
rose to the challenge last evening and presented a hot seat speech.
After a good-naturedly "blazing"
evaluation by Keith Challenger in which Jim was reprehended for
being stiff and not using gestures or body movements, he returned to
the lectern for table topics. He waved his arms around, gave the grammarian
a neck rub and even hugged the master evaluator in a good-natured attempt
to silence his critics. Classic Jim Simmons! 7/20/07: It was
good to welcome back Wayne Drummond as Toastmaster last night. He switched
the meeting around completely and had most of the members "volunteer"
to write mini-speeches based on articles from back-copies of Toastmaster
magazine. He even changed the evaluation to a group format. What a great
format for learning. 7/13/07: Edison Hill presented a hot seat speech at tonight's meeting in which he spoke about Robert's Rules of Order. The club's two newest members (inducted last week) and Paul Barrett and Bettie Council and both will present their icebreaker speeches within the next few weeks. Several officers were not in attendance, so the official induction of new officers couldn't take place yet. Perhaps next week. 6/22/07: Two manual
speeches tonight from Chall Gray and Anna Challenger (her second in
two weeks) allowed them both to complete their Competent Communicator
certification and help the club toward its Distinguished Club goal. 6/15/07: Anna Challenger got one step closer to her CC certification tonight with a speech about repairing water pipes. Jim Tyson and Chall Gray reported on the results of the nominating committee and the following slate of Officers for the July 1 - December 31 session was adopted without dissent: President - Nick
Woods 6/8/07: Another
good meeting last evening with a remarkable speech from Chall Gray.
A nominating committee was appointed to elect a slate of Officers for
the next 6 months, and Toastmaster Beth Jezek did an admirable job of
keeping things on schedule. 6/6/07: Thanks to
everyone who passed along congratulations and kudo about last Friday's
60th anniversary celebration. There are many people who share the credit
for making it such a success and the club is grateful to each of them. 5/25/07: A very productive meeting with a large contingent of members plus a couple of guests. Jim Simmons delivered a superb speech explaining in very poignant terms why he doesn't go deep-sea fishing any more. We welcomed back lapsed member Dan Desjardain who has been serving his country overseas but is back and will rejoin the club. Particular thanks to everyone who is helping with arrangements for the 60th Anniversary event next week, and a reminder to those who are close to achieveing educational goals - we only have a few weeks left! 5/18/07: As the
club's 60th anniversary celebration gets closer, President Keith Challenger
reported that the venue, catering and most of the arrangements are now
in hand. Thanks to those members who are helping out with invitations
and othe items. The excitement is beginning to mount as more positive
RSVP's are received. 5/9/07: We had no fewer than six guests at last week's meeting (all students from the aforereported class at AB-Tech) who gave us some very kind, complimentary feedback. The club President continues to be challenged (pun intended) on his knowledge of Robert's Rules of Order, and Anna Challenger was a very able Toastmaster. As we head into the warmer summer months, attendance typically slips a little, but we should remember that there are just two months left of this TM year and we have some work to do if we are to retain our status as a Distinguished Club. Let's make every speech count toward an educational goal from now on! 4/29/07: Another
good attendance at Thursday's meeting, including three guests (two students
from the public speaking class at AB-Tech). Thanks to those who have
agreed to help out with the arrangements for the Anniversary Celebration.
The next step is to mail out invitations which we hope to do this week. 4/23/07: Last week's
meeting saw a couple of guests and a healthy membership attendance.
Keith Challenger and Matt Ray presented manual speeches following a
challenging business meeting designed to keep the club Presdient on
his toes. 4/13/07: A light
attendance last night, but we still had a very entertaining and enjoyable
meeting. David Zuo presented his Icebreaker speech and despite having
a speech prepared in advance, Toastmaster Heidi Stewart threw Edison
Hill a curve ball by assigning him a hot-seat topic. Edison never missed
a beat as he demonstrated how more than 50 years of Toastmasters prepares
you for anything! 4/6/07: Anna Challenger retuned tothe lectern for the first time in more than six months with a speech about the real estate market, while Billy Peard presented a great Icebreaker speech. We discussed (and approved) a draft plan and budget for the ^0th Anniversary Celebration which has now been copied to all members who were not present. Assuming there's no further input, we'll proceed with the plan accordingly.Any members who are prepared to underwrite the event ($100 maximum commitment) should contact the club President or Treasurer. 3/30/07: Club membership
continues to grow with the addition tonight of David Zuo. We heard manual
speeches from Chris McCollum and Keith Challenger plus a lively Table
Topics session led by new member Billy Peard. Next week, we hope to
beginning planning the 60th Anniversary Celebration scheduled for June
1st. Please attend if at all possible. 3/1/07: We conducted
the club speech contests last night- congratulations to all those who
participated. There were a total of five guests, including a member
of the new Ridgefield Toastmasters club. 2/1/07: Unfortunately,
we were beaten by the weather today. 1/26/07: Despite the cold weather and threat of snow, we had a good meeting yesterday with nine members and two guests. We heard an excellent manual speech from Karen Chappell and no fewer than nine table topics from TTM Edison Hill. Despite that and a productive business meeting, we concluded before 7:30pm - a goal that I entend to try sticking to, since meetings have been running on rather long lately. The 60th anniversary celebration is set for Friday, June 1st probably at the Blue Ridge Conference Center on Tunnel Road. More details to follow later. 1/20/07: Another
good turn out, although neither scheduled speaker was able to attend.
Kudos to Jim Simmons who stepped up to the plate with a "Hot Seat"
speech at the last minute. We welcomed a returning guest who we hope
will take the membership challenge, plus Anna Challenger who took a
six-month respite due to changes at work but has returned to complete
her CTM. Welcome back Anna! New President Keith
Challenger also presented a special award to his predecessor, Mike Drye
who has now completed no less than four terms as club President (the
last two were consecutive terms in 2006). Mike graciously accepted a
commemorative gavel on an engraved stand, presented in honor of all
his hard work. 1/6/07: What a
difference a few weeks makes! Attendance was good, including three guests. 11/10/06: Attendance
is still an area we need to work on. Two visitors attended last night's
meeting and despite a low membership turnout, we were able to conduct
an enjoyable and informative meeting. 9/7/06: Adam Bracks
is leaving to start a new job in Cleveland, TN so tonight's meeting
took the form of a "roast" with his family and some friends
as invited guests. Adam was totally suprised and (hopefuly) just a little
embarassed as his Toastmaster friends took turns to poke fun at his
Australian heritage, his infamous "plane on a stick" speech
and his complete disdain of domestic pets. Natuarlly, he took all the
jesting in good spirits and was even spottd singing along when Keith
Challenger led a chorus or two of Waltzing Matilda. 7/7/06: We narrowly
missed retaining Distinguished Club status for last year, but have made
a great start with two new members this week, plus four Officer's trained.
The new Officers
were also inaugurated this week and immediately following the meeting,
Area Governor Keith Challenger conducted Officer training.
With a great start to the new Toastmasters year, the challenge is to
encourage members to get back on track with their educational goals. 6/1/06: No less than three guests joined us for tonight's meeting. We heard two "hot seat" speeches from Anna Challenger and Edison Hill, and enjoyed a lively business meeting with the welcome return of President Mike Drye. New club officers will be nominated within the next couple of weeks, with the hope of regainning our Distinguished Club status during this year! 5/4/06: Chall Gray
and Nick Woods gave a couple of fine "impromptu" speeches
tonight, followed by an inventive Table Topics with a food theme by
Heidi Stewart. 4/24/06: Chuck
Greene did an admirable job of Toastmaster in place of Chall Gray at
Thursday's meeting. We heard two more advanced manual speeches - this
time from Wayne Drummond who spoke about the worrying effects of global
warming, and Keith Challenger who delivered an entertaining "After
Dinner" speech about communications. 4/13/06: Congratulations
to Chuck Greene on winning the Area Table Topics Contest last Saturday.
Chuck will now be invited to compete at the Division contest on April
29th. 4/6/06: Attendance
was unusually light but we had an enjoyable meeting that included a
speech from Alysha Robinson entitled "My Country" We learned
a little about Trinidad & Tobago in a very entertaining and enlightening
speech. 3/29/06: Tonight was the club International and Table Topics speech contests with Edison Hill filling the role of Contest Master. We heard three very capable speakers in each category. Congratulations to Jim Simmons who won the International speech contest and Chuck Greene who won in the Table Topics category. Both will now represent the club at the joint Area speech contest on Saturday, April 8th at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel on Tunnel Road, beginning at 9:00am. 3/24/06: Mike Drye
was unable to join us again tonight but Keren Chappell did a fine job
as Acting President. Then, with Chuck Greene as a very capable Toastmaster,
the evening got off to a fine start with no less than 3 Advanced
manual speeches from Keith Challenger, Beth Jezek and Hilarie Burke.
Wayne Drummond remarked that he couldn't remember the last time we heard
3 Advanced manual speeches in the same meeting- a testimony to Mike
Drye's challenge to all members to resume their educational commitments! 3/10/06: Somehow,
you know that when Jim Tyson is the Toastmaster, it's going to be a
good meeting! Karen Chappell stood in as acting President for Mike Drye.
It was a tough business meeting but Karen kept it together and (hopefully)
considered it a good learning experience. We welcomed several guests
and enjoyed first-rate speeches from Christine Wallace and Chuck Greene,
along with some wonderful table topics from Beth Jezek who managed to
provide participants with a wealth of opportunity for humor. 3/2/06: Club President,
Mike Drye delivered a very direct "State of the Club" speech
tonight highlighting some things that need to be addressed in order
to re-establish standards that have been allowed to slip in recent months.
He also stressed the need for all members to commit to their educational
goals. The club is easily in reach of Distinguished Club status. 1/12/06: A first-rate
meeting tonight with new President Mike Drye showing why he's such an
asset to the club. At the end of the business meeting he gave a brief
review of some of Robert's Rules of Order that several members hope
will become a regular feature of his Presidency. This website will soon change as we transition to a new technology that will give us a lot more versatility. The address and all the existing content will stay, but don't be suprised if things begin to look a little different. You can see a sneak preview here. 1/9/06: Happy New
Year! 12/15/05: Pity we had to cancel another meeting tonight, but kudos to Jim Tyson for a sterling job in contacting everyone. The online schedule has been adjusted so please check to see what's going to be happening next week. 12/9/05: Looks
like the weather forecasters got it wrong again! 11/10/05: Keith
Challenger moved one step closer to his Advanced Toastmasters goal tonight
with a speech that required him to read a story. Meanwhile, Chuck Greene
stepped up to the plate with a first-rate "hot seat" speech
that demonstrated what an extremely competent speaker he has become! 10/27/05: Two first-rate speeches from Wayne Drummond and Chuck Greene were the highlight of tonight's meeting, along with the inauguration of our newest member, Alysha Robinson. The new schedule for November has been posted on this site, and members are reminded that the site is now also available at www.ashevilletoastmasters.com which might be a little easier to remember! 10/6/05: Despite
some planning difficulties, tonight's meeting was one of the most entertaining
in quite some time, with a "hot seat" speech, some hilarious
table topics and an innovative timekeeping improvisation. Mike Drye
bravely attempted to keep things on track as the Toastmaster. 10/1/05: The Area
12 Humorous Speech and Evaluation contests were conducted at the Marriott
Courtyard Hotel this morning. Asheville Toastmasters turned out in good
numbers to support the Area contest. Our own Chuck Greene won the Humorous
Speech contest despite strong competition from Rick Fornoff (Blue Ridge),
and Elizabeth Pavka (Arise and Shine). All three delivered outstanding
speeches! 9/29/05: Tonight's
meeting was well-attended and included one guest. There were two speeches.
Chuck Greene used the opportunity to practice his speech for this wekend's
Area Hunorous Speech contest, and Karen Chappell entertained us with
a vivid verbal description of underground caving experiences. Finally, Elizabeth Collins will not be able to fufill the role of President for the next three months due to other commitments. However, Jody Gill has kindly agreed to step in, and with the blessing of the membership, she will be inducted as the next President of Asheville Toastmasters next week. Thank you Jody! 9/23/05: What a
treat to welcome back Edison Hill after a prolonged absence, and John
Stevens who's been traveling but has landed back safely in Asheville. 9/15/05: Tonight's
meeting was preceded by a birthday celebration for Anna Challenger.
Chall Gray and Adam Bracks presented first-class speeches, once again
underlining the very high standards that Asheville club is capable of
attaining. 9/8/05: After such a well-attended meeting last week, we were back to a much lower attendace, although it was particularly good to welcome bak Mike Drye after an absence of several months. Nick Woods presented a speech from the basic manual and Beth Jezek contributed a "hot seat" speech. Members were reminded that their semi-annual membership fees are due within the next two weeks. The cost of TMI plus club dues for the next 6 months is $45. 9/1/05: With attendance beginning to improve (as it usually does after the summer activities), we were delighted to welcome no fewer than 4 guests tonight - all former or current Toastmasters. Chuck Greene presented a very entertaining speech and Chall Gray was impressive in his first stint as Master Evaluator. New guidelines for the VP Membership and Sargeant at Arms will be implemented next week and reviewed in six weeks' time. Guest feedback was very positive - we can expect to see at least one of them return in a couple of weeks. 8/27/05: This week's meeting featured speeches by Chall Gray and Keith Challenger. In an active business meeting, Karen Chappell presented recommendations from the Membership/Public Relations team which will be circulated and discussed next week. Adam Bracks continues to handle the business portion of the meeting skilfully, despite being challenged by some knowledgeable members. 8/15/05: The regular
meeting was postponsed in order to condust the club's Humorous Speech
and Evaluation contests. Congratulations to all who participated and
a particular nod to Adam Bracks who did a fine job as contest master. 7/28/05: Tonight's meeting featured speeches by Karen Chappell and Jim Tyson. Adam called for volunteers to compete in the club speech contests which will be held during the regular meeting on August 18th. Winners of the club's evaluator and humorous speech contests will represent the club at the Area contests to be held early in September. Attendance is beginning to pick up and we look forward to welcoming back some familiar faces in the next week or two. 7/25/05: We held
the new officer induction on Saturday night at a very enjoyable social
event. Edison Hill, our most senior club member joined us early in the
evening. It's always a joy to see Edison and we're delighted that his
health is improving! 7/21/05: A very
entertaining meeting included speeches by Beth Jezek and Heidi Stewart.
Adam Bracks is settling very well back behind the lectern and is demonstrating
fine leadership skills as President. Fortunately, a motion to paint
all the leaves brown to begin celebrating fall early was tabled. We
welcomed three guests who are visiting different clubs in the area for
ideas on forming a (junior) gavel club. 7/16/05: Edison Hill is doing fine! Both he and Helen have had health issues lately, but the latest news is good news. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. 7/14/05: What a
great meeting! Anna Challenger and Chall Gray presented speeches with
the kind of contrast that's difficult to find anywhere but Toastmasters.
Anna spoke about our wonderful city and highlighted Parks and Recreation
as well as other City services that enhance all our lives. In contrast,
Chall's speech was heartfelt and sombre. A speech that required the
audience to simply become part of the experience and go where Chall
took us - with expertise beyond his years! A fine speech by a young
man who's turning into a fine Toastmaster! 7/7/05: The first
meeting of the new Toastmasters year, we were delighted to welcome Adam
Bracks back to the lectern as club President (his term will go through
the end of September when Elizabeth Collins will take over). 6/30/05: Two exceptional
speeches by Chuck Greene and Jim Tyson were the highlight of tonight's
meeting. In her final appearance at the lectern as the current President,
Heidi Stewart once again proved herself equal to the challenge. When
the members put her through her paces in the business meeting, Heidi
kept control and maintained order. It's long been a hallmark of Asheville
Toastmasters that we practice parliamentary procedures and encourage
every member to at least learn the basics. 6/23/05: There were three speeches presented this evening, by John Stevens, Devin Walsh and Tracey Roizman. The new slate of officers was tentatively agreed (a quorum wasn't reached so the decision will need to be ratified at a later date). The new officers are President - Adam Bracks/Elizabeth Collins who will each serve a 3-month term; Chuck Greene - Secretary; Keith Challenger - Treasurer; Chall Gray - Sargeant At Arms; Karen Chappell - VP Membership and David Dietrich - VP Education. Thanks to each of these members who have agreed to serve the club as Officers for the next 6 months. Next week's meeting marks the end of the Toastmasters year and we encourage all member to attend to show their appreciation to the outgoing Officers. 6/16/05: Another summer meeting with a modest but active group. Keith Challenger gave the only speech of the evening on a hot-seat topic. With only a couple of weeks left of Heidi's term as club President, she was challenged a little more in the business meeting, but did a fne job of maintaining order and decorum. It was agreed that a proxy vote will probably be required for the new slate of officers who will begin their term next month. Thanks to all those who have already agreed to be nominated for club officer positions. 6/9/05: Beth Jezek won the uncontested "Best Speaker" award this evening. It was an active meeting although we didn't quite attain a quorum and therefore had no opportunity to vote on the slate of new officers. Adam Brack has departed to spend a couple of weeks in his native Australia, but will assume the role of President when he returns. It has been suggested that the President's responsibilities for the next 6 months be shared by Adam (July - September) and Elizabeth Collins (October - December). We'll probably vote on that next week! Incidentally, you may have noticed (or maybe not) that our club website has begun to pick up some activity on the Google search engine. Searches for many of the members' names have high placement on this site. If that's a problem, please let the webmaster know and your name will be omitted from future updates. If not, enjoy the exposure!!! 6/2/05: A modest
gathering of 11 members enjoyed two speeches tonight, from Elizabeth
Collins and Jim Tyson. Congratulations to Elizabeth on achieving her
ATM goal before she takes a break for the summer. 5/12/05: Tonight, we enjoyed two exceptional speeches from Elizabeth Collins and John Stevens, who presented his Icebreaker speech. It was also a pleasure to welcome Nick Woods as the newest member of Asheville Toastmasters. Now that the warmer weather is here, meeting attendance typically drops a little. That makes it all the more gratifying that we seem to be sustaining a regular attendance of 15 or more. Great Job! 5/2/05: The District
37 Spring Conference attracted delegates from across the state,, with
attendance at the final banquet in excess of 125. The registration committee
received well-earned praise from many people who commented on the speed
and efficiency of the registration process. Well done Heidi and her
team! Particular thanks to Jim Tyson, Molly Sandfoss, Beth Jezek and
Keith Challenger who gave up their time to help out. 4/28/05: Another well-attended meeting with our potential 9th new member of the year submitting a registration form. We heard 3 outstanding manual speeches, by Keith Challenger, Chal Gray and Elizabeth Collins. We're gearing up for this weekend's Spring Conference so Heidi made a final appeal for volunteers to help with the registration duties on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. 4/14/05: Tonight's
meeting was attended by Division Governor, Mike Kesselring and features
speeches by Beth Jezek and Elizabeth Collins, along with a very touching
"hot seat" speech by Anna Challenger. We began the evening
experimenting with a different room set-up which allowed for more space
around the lectern. It provided an opportunity for more animated movements,
but challenged us to beware of pacing and other distractions! 4/7/05: We were
delighted to welcome Edison Hill back to the lectern tonight. He delivered
a speech about the history of Asheville Toastmasters, complete with
a photograph of himself as a younger man entertaining Dr. Ralph Smedley,
the founder of the Toastmasters Organization. Chuck Greene had attended
the Division Speech Contest last weekend and reported that Keith Challenger
earned second place. 3/25/05: Due to the snow, last week's meeting was cancelled so instead of our regular meeting, we held the club speech contest, immediately followed by the Area 11 speech contest. We were entertained by 3 first-rate speeches by Heidi Stewart, Adam Bracks and Keith Challenger. It was a tough choice but Keith was the winner and went on to compete later in the evening against Pamela Dengler from Mountain Messengers club, with Division Governor Mike Kesselring presiding as contest master. Keith won the Area contest also and will now represent Area11 at the Division speech contest on April 2nd. Next week, we're back to our regular meeting format and Anna has promised to publish the new schedule some time this weekend. 3/11/05: Speeches
were presented tonight by Diane Collins, Jim SImmons and Mike Drye.
During an active business meeting (in which a violent coup to overthrow
the club President was narrowly avoided!), Beth Jezek appealed for volunteers
to again work with the children at St. James AME Church in preparing
and presenting speeches for their Church oratorical competition. Beth
has kindly agreed to coordinate this activity. Please contact her if
you can spare an hour or so for this delightfully enjoyable project
on Saturdays between now and April 16th. 3/4/05: It was a good night for evaluations with Wayne Drummond and Jim Simmons at the lectern. There were three manual speeches from Keith Challenger, Chall Gray and Elizabeth Collins, as well as a very active and entertaining set of table topics. Elizabeth did a good job her first time out as Acting President in Heidi's absence. Particular thanks to David Dietrich who brought along his camera and took some updated photos for the website. We'll be updating them within the next few weeks. 2/25/05: Another well-attended meeting, including Amy GArza, the Area Governor who performed Officer Training after the meeting. We heard three speeches, from Adam Bracks, Chuck Greene and Beth Jezek. Tracey Roizman did a fine job for her first time in the role of Toastmaster, and John Stevens won the "Most Imporved" accolade for his first speech evaluation. The club has already achieved the goals for Distinguished Club status and with four months remaining in the current TM year, President's Distinguished Club status is within reach! Finally, a reminder that everyone is encouraged to exercise good time-management and keep their speeches to a reasonable length. In the last few weeks, we've heard an increasing number of speeches in excess of ten minutes. Longer well-planned and delivered speeches are certainly encouraged, but they should be the exception rather than the rule. Time recommendation for most TM manual speeches in 6-8 minutes. 2/17/05: It was
a delight to see Edison Hill, Jim Tyson and Mike Drye back in action
tonight. As some of Asheville Toastmasters' more senior members, their
contribution cannot be understated! 1/28/05: Due to the large number of new members working toward their CTM & ATM certification, if you are unable to attend a meeting at which you are scheduled to deliver a speech, please let the VP Education (Anna Challenger 828-275-2398) know as soon as possible. Anna will then schedule an alternate speaker. Also, members are encouraged to follow the speech times suggested in the manual whenever possible. 1/27/05: No less
than three new member inductions were one of tonight's highlights. We
are happy to welcome Chuck Greene, John Stevens and Barbara Newman as
the newest additions to Club 436. Barbara is a former Toastmaster from
San Diego and we're certain all three will make a positive contribution
to the club. 1/20/05: Another
well-attended meeting and once again, we were happy to welcome several
guests. Mike Drye and Keith Challenger both presented speeches from
the Advanced Manual - Mike's in the form of a press conference, while
Keith (with help from Adam Bracks) presented a role-play sales demonstration.
We received two more New Member Applications which will be voted next
week. 1/13/05: Well,
we had a wonderful social evening last Saturday - thanks to Anna Challenger
and Scott McDowell at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel for the facilities,
along with Beth Jezek and Diane Collins for the delicious food! 12/16/04: Beth Jezek stepped in as acting President to welcome visitors from St. James AME Church. Several children from the church came along with their parents and church leaders. They presented speeches, showing off the skills they had learned earlier in the year with coaching from Beth, Anna and Keith Challenger and Richard Shaw. It was a delightful experience and Asheville Toastmasters look forward to working with the church youth group again next year. We skipped the business meeting but will catch up with club affairs at the last meeting of the current officers' term on December 30th. There will be no meeting next week. Happy Holidays! 12/9/04: Two excellent
manual speeches were presented by Diane Collins and Molly Sandfoss.
Thanks to Heidi Stewart for stepping in as acting President - she has
agreed to fill the role of President for the next term. Other nominated
officers are: The membership
will vote on this slate of officers (or any suggested amendments) at
next weeks meeting. We were delighted to induct no less than three new
members - Aron Dennen, Chall Gray and Tracey Roizman who will certainly
be excellent additions to Asheville Toastmasters. 11/18/04: Three
guests (including one from Blue Ridge Toastmasters) joined us for tonight's
meeting. They were treated to two very entertaining speeches - Keith
Challenger presented an almost totally fictitious account of the origins
of the "Sinko de Mayo" celebration, while Wayne Drummond presented
a wonderfully inventive speech about people with bad attitudes. 11/11/04: We had
a smaller turnout tonight but were happy to welcome one guest. During
the business meeting it was reported that the Land Of Sky toastmasters
club were very complimentary about our site and have asked to use the
template and some of the content. There were no objections from the
members present to Keith Challenger will communicate with them accordingly. 11/4/04: At tonight's
meeting, we were treated to an impromptu speech by Phil Pressley, evaluated
by Wayne Drummond. David Dietrich gave an impressive performance in
his first time as Table-Topics Master. 10/28/04: A Powerpoint® presentation by Adam Bracks and a speech about 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" by Jim Tyson were the highlights of this weeks meeting. Guests and new members continue to boost the attendance, as well as adding variety and diversity to the club. 10/21/04: Beth
Jezek stood in as acting President in Anna's absence and did a fine
job. 10/14/04: This
week, we welcomed the new Area 11 Governor as well as one new and one
returning guest. It was reported that Jody Gill won the Division Humorous
Speech Contest over two other competitors. Congratulations Jody, and
thanks to Jim Simmons, Edison Hill, Heidi Stewart and Keith Challenger
for being there to support her. Unfortunatley, she will not be available
to continue her winning streak at the District contest next weekend
in Charlotte. 10/7/04: Another
excellent turnout this evening with one returning guest. Jason Eilers
presented a very entertaining speech from the basic manual, and Jim
Simmons maintained his usual high standards with a hot-seat speech about
Harry Houdini. 9/29/04: We had
a good turn-out tonight and welcomed 3 guests, plus Phil Presley who
seems to be hovering somewhere between a guest and a member (actually,
Phil is a past President of Asheville Toastmasters and we're delighted
to have him attending regularly again!). 9/16/04: Last week's
meeting was cancelled due to the after-effects of hurricane Frances
which left much of the Asheville area (including Denny's Restaurant)
without clean drinking water. The club's humorous speech contest was
therefore re-sheduled for tonight and we welcomed back Division Governor,
Mike Kesselring who acted as contest master. He also stayed after the
meeting to conduct the officer training required by Toastmasters International. 9/2/04: Tonight was designated a "dress down" meeting which prompted a good-natured "protest" from Edison Hill and Anna Challenger who showed up in formalwear. We heard two excellent speeches - an icebreaker from the newest Club 436 member, Ed Cortwright, and a speech about memories from Adam Bracks. 8/19/04: We were treated to a first-rate speech tonight from Elizabeth Collins who delivered a manual speech about playing "mom" to a girl scout troup. Asheville Toastmasters inducted new member Ed Cortwright to the club. 8/12/04: It was
a pleasure to welcome back past president Sherry Masters who returns
periodically as her family responsibilities allow. 8/5/04: The past few weeks have been extremely busy - hence the lack of updates. We continue to do a fine job of attracting guests, several of whom will probably join our ranks before too long. Edison Hill reported on a successful visit this week to Asheville Rotary Breakfast Club where a small group of toastmasters staged a mini-meeting to demonstrate some toastmasters acivities. Thanks to Edison, Jim Tyson, Anna Lee, Beth Jezek and Keith Challenger for participating. 6/25/04: Last night was the final meeting of the current Toastmasters year and we were delighted to welcome back some familiar faces. Jody Gill completed her ATM-Bronze certification with a "Press Conference" speech. She modified the format slightly and made it a "Job Interview" speech, answering probing questions from fellow Toastmasters. Keith Challenger completed his Competent Leader program with a prepared speech called "Keeping the Commitment". Those two achievements helped us to exceed our Distinguished Club target. In his final wrap-up
comments as President of Club 436, Keith Challenger announced that for
the first time in the club's history, we had attained Select Distinguished
Club status - an accolade celebrated with a cake provided by
Anna Lee. 6/3/04: Attendance
was low tonight (though we did get to welcome Adam and Luke Bracks to
the meeting briefly) so Keith Challenger presented a "hot seat"
speech asking the question "Is There Life On Other Planets?" 5/227/04: Welcome to Mary Halterman who was inducted as our newest member. Heidi Stewart presented a speech from the ATM manual and Edision Hill gave a very entertaining speech about guarantees, with a startling finish! Despite the warmer weather and other commitments, it's good to see the average attendance at meetings is on the increase and we hope it will continue. 5/4/04 - Keith Challenger presented a program from the Competent Leader series called "Evaluate To Motivate". Thanks to Anna Lee for stepping in as toastmaster at the last moment. 4/29/04 - Two very
experienced speakers gave outstanding performances this week. Beth Jezek
did a speech from the Advance manual, followed by Wayne Drummond who
"practiced" a very entertaining and amusing comparison between
teaching dogs and children. We welcomed four guests - one all the way
from Canada! 4/26/04 - It was
a clean sweep for Asheville Toastmasters at the Divisional speech contest
in Morganton! 4/23/04 - The high
standard of icebreaker speeches was continued by Diane Collins who won
the evening's "Best Speech" award. Adam Bracks also presented
a very entertaining and informative speech about radio-controlled aircraft. 4/19/04 - At last Thurday's meeting, Jason Eilers presented his icebreaker speech and Keith Challenger presented his first speech from the Advanced manual. We were delighted to welcome back Wayne Drummond and Hilarie Burke who have been attending to other committments for a while. An even bigger suprise was the return from Arizona of Jim Lavelle! The Division Speech Contest will take place this Saturday (April 24th) at 1:00pm in Morganton. 4/9/04 - Another meeting which was well attended, particularly by new members and four guests. Elizabeth Collins presented her icebreaker speech and Jody Gill returned to Asheville for spring break and presented her "Roast" speech from the ATM manual. Copies of the new schedule were distributed (updated on the website also). 4/5/04 - Asheville
Toastmasters club hosted the Area 11 International Speech Contest last
Thursday with Division Governor, Mike Kesselring acting as Speech Master.
Speeches were presented by Bill Serle from Mountain Messenger Club,
and Keith Challenger from Asheville Toastmasters. The standard of speeches
was very high and in a very close contest, Keith Challenger won and
will represent Area 11 at the District contest on April 24th. 
Bill Serle, Keith Challenger and Jim Simmons at Area 11 Speech Contest 3/29/04 - Congratulations
to Sherry Masters on the safe delivery of her new son, Eli David Masters
who was born on Sunday, March 21st, weighing in at 7lb 5oz. 3/19/04 - No less than four new members were inaugurated at yesterday's meeting. We welcomed Elizabeth Collins and her mother Diane Collins, Jason Eilers and John Poltrock who will now begin preparing their Icebreaker speeches.
Josh
Simpson was also a guest at the meeting and requested a membership form.
We will then have the five new members needed for our Distinguished
Club goal! 3/8/04 - Congratulations to Anna Lee who started a new job today. She is Area Director of Sales for McKibbon Hotel Management, Inc. and will be leading a sales team for the Marriott Courtyard and Spring Hill Suites in Asheville. She's currently attending a training course in Atlanta so she'll miss this week's Toastmasters meeting.
3/4/04 - Heidi Stewart has kindly offered to coordinate the collection of baby shower gifts for Sherry Masters. Please contact Heidi with donations or gifts. Once collected, we'll discuss how to get Sherry to a meeting to present them. |
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