Tri-County Toastmasters #5682

The Tri-County Toastmasters club met on Thursday at the Virden Area Community Center. Club members present at Thursday’s meeting were: Les Apps, Dr. Todd Austin, John Davidson, Marcia Osterholt and Alan Saeger. A guest present at the meeting was Michelle Suslee. Suslee also became the club’s newest member at Thursday’s meeting.

Alan Saeger served as the Toastmaster of Thursday’s meeting. Saeger also conducted Tabletopics (the impromptu speaking portion of the program), during which each participant was given a different question about house cats. Each then delivered a one to two minute response. Todd Austin came up with the word-of-the-week which was ‘Perseverate’ meaning to repeat or recur persistently.

The evening’s first prepared speaker was Marcia Osterholt, who gave her first speech as a member of Toastmasters, which was entitled “My Icebreaker”. The second prepared speaker was Todd Austin. Austin’s informative speech was named “SCUBA Diving 101”, during which he demonstrated the equipment and explained the basic techniques of his new favorite hobby, SCUBA diving.

The Toastmasters club will next meet on Thursday September 7, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Center at 105 West Jackson Street in Virden. The scheduled speakers for next meeting are Jim Blankenship from New Berlin and John Davidson. “Guests and new members are always welcome to attend our club meetings, which are devoted to helping area residents from all walks of life to improve both their communication and leadership skills in a friendly environment” states club president Ron Grimes. For more information about the Toastmasters program, please call (217) 965-3100.