Friday, April 24, 2015

Loudoun Toastmasters Apr 16 2015 meeting - “Play Ball!”

Meeting opened by Dan Heck, Sgt @ Arms orchestrated delightfully by Sue Alexander with great baseball references in her opening remarks. A very clever Helpful Hint by Julie Halstead demonstrating how easy it can be to find and develop a story with no notice by merely focusing on an object and asking yourself, “How is life like this object?” taken from Forrest Gump’s “Life is like a box of chocolates.”

Jill Ryan taught us the fine art of book publishing with her speech “I Have a Book In Me”. Lee Crosby won best speaker for his valuable message to all adults, have fun the way kids have fun, in his speech, “Serious Fun” Rob Lin powerfully persuaded us how to work back into  physical fitness with the proper approach to diet and exercise  with his speech, “It’s That Time Again” (beach season is approaching).

Table Topics Master Jo Weaver pitched some clever baseball  related questions to Jim Bapst, Julie Halstead, Brenda Jenkins, Kim Holcomb and the eventual winner, Rick Halstead who reminded us to reward ourselves for good behavior (in his case, regular doses of dark chocolate!)

Gary Bisaga reminded all of the April 30 speech–a-thon and his
competition in the Division Contest this Saturday. Supporting roles by Brenda Jenkins, Grammarian, Jim Bapst Ah Counter, Kim Holcomb, Timer

In conclusion, remember, public speaking is like baseball:

  • “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way” as Babe Ruth said.
  • And as Yogi Berra paraphrased, “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half physical!"