Tri-County Toastmasters #5682

The three speakers at the most recent Tri-County Toastmasters meeting were (from left):Rev. Ron Grimes, Dr. Todd Austin and Auburn's Liz Mollett.

The Tri-County Toastmasters club met on Thursday 6-15-06 at the Virden Area Community Center. Club members present at Thursday’s meeting were: Les Apps, Todd Austin, Dawn Boyer from Auburn, John Davidson, Ron Grimes, Liz Mollett, Alan Saeger and Billy Watkins.

Alan Saeger served as the evening’s Master of Ceremonies. Saeger also served as the Tabletopicmaster, conducting the impromptu speaking portion of the program, during which he asked each participant a different question pertaining to space travel. Participants then delivered one to two minute responses. Todd Austin presented ‘malleable’ as the word-of-the-week, which means capable of being trained or adapted.

The evening’s first prepared speaker was Dr. Todd Austin, who delivered an informative presentation entitled "JING-LO-MAH", which is the Chinese name for acupuncture. As a Chiropractic Physician, Austin has practiced Acupuncture for 13 years.

The second prepared speaker was the Rev. Ron Grimes. Grimes is working from the advanced communication manual on special occasion speeches. His speech was entitled "Receiving the Toastmaster of the Year Award".

The third and final speaker of the evening was Liz Mollett from Auburn, who gave her first speech as a member of Toastmasters. Her presentation was called "Charging Rhinos".

The Toastmasters club will next meet on Thursday July 6, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. in New Berlin at Blankenship Financial Planning (located at 116 West Illinois Street). The scheduled speakers for next meeting are John Davidson and Billy Watkins. "Guests and new members are always welcome to attend our club meetings, which are devoted to helping Central Illinoisans to improve their communication and leadership skills" states club secretary Jim Blankenship from New Berlin. For more information about the Toastmasters program, please call (217) 965-3100.