Tri-County Toastmasters #5682

The Tri-County Toastmasters club held it’s first official meeting back on Thursday April 3, 1997 at the Virden Area Community Center. Six men started the local educational club, which is an affiliate of Toastmasters International, a decade ago. All original members were from the towns of Girard, Palmyra and Virden.

“We chose the name ‘Tri-County Toastmasters’ back in 1997 because our clubs’ initial vision was to help improve the communication and leadership skills of Macoupin, Montgomery and Sangamon county residents.” states Dr. Todd Austin of Virden. Austin was elected that night in April 1997 to be the clubs first president. Ten years later, he now serves as the clubs’ public relations officer. The club thought it realistic that they could attract members living within 25 miles of Virden.

Over the years the club has seen many members come and go, and has helped approximately 35 people in all. Austin states that “Some members join the Toastmasters club for anywhere from 6 months to a couple years until they feel that they have mastered their communication and leadership skills. Then they leave the club. Other members stay long term and others have since moved away. At just $35 every six months, club dues are quite a bargain.”

The club is now more balanced, as we currently have several women who are also members. And the current list of club members come from not three Illinois counties as the club name indicates, but rather a total of five counties. These include members from the following towns or cities: Auburn (Liz Mollett), Carlinville, Girard, Morrisonville, New Berlin (Jim Blankenship),
Nokomis, Ohlman, Quincy and Virden.

The Tri-County club will be hosting their 10th anniversary open house at their next meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday April 5, 2007 at the Virden Area Community Center which is located as 105 W. Jackson St. “The meeting will start at 6:30 pm.” states current club president and Area 1 Governor Les Apps from Girard. “We are expecting some visitors from two of the Springfield clubs to join us for an exciting evening. Cake and refreshments will be served and the anniversary meeting is free and is open to the public. This will be a great way for people to discover what Toastmasters is all about”. Apps is the only other member that has also been with the club since that first meeting 10 years ago. For more information on the special 10th anniversary open house or about Toastmasters in general, please call (217) 965-3100.

The Tri-County Toastmasters club met on Thursday, March 15th at the Virden Area Community Center. Members in attendance at Thursday’s meeting were: Les Apps, Todd Austin, Jim Blankenship from New Berlin, John Davidson, Liz Mollett from Auburn, Alan Saeger and Billy Watkins. Two guests were also present: Toastmasters Division C Governor Eileen Kluckman and Mary Mitchell.



Alan Saeger was the evening’s Toastmaster. Billy Watkins conducted the table topics (impromptu speaking) portion of the program.



The evening’s first prepared speaker was Dr. Todd Austin, who is currently the club’s public relations officer. Austin delivered a speech called “Putting Tri-County Toastmasters On The Map”, which detailed his club public relations print media campaign. This was a project from the advanced ‘High Performance Leadership’ manual.



The evening’s second prepared speaker was John Davidson. His informative speech was entitled “Our Country’s First President”. This is the speech that Davidson will be competing with in next weeks Area 1 speech contest.



The Toastmasters Area 1 speech contest will then be held on Saturday March 24th at 9:30 a.m. at the Virden Area Community Center at 105 West Jackson Street in Virden. At that time, John Davidson of the Tri-County club will compete against representatives from the 3 Springfield Toastmasters clubs.



All local residents are encouraged to attend the area contest. The contest is open to the public and refreshments will be served. “This is an awesome opportunity to observe some proficient speakers in action.” said Les Apps, club president and Area 1 Governor. “Attending a speech contest serves as a great introduction to what the Toastmasters program can do for people, by turning ordinary men and women into confident speakers that feel comfortable before an audience of any size!” For more info contact Austin at 965-3100.



The next regular Tri-County Toastmasters meeting will be on Thursday April 5th at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Center. The scheduled speaker at that meeting will be Les Apps.

The Tri-County Toastmasters club met on Thursday 3-1-07 at the Virden Area Community Center. Club members present at Thursday’s meeting were: Les Apps, Dr. Todd Austin, Jim Blankenship from New Berlin, John Davidson, Liz Mollett from Auburn, Alan Saeger and Bill Watkins.



Alan Saeger served as the meeting’s Toastmaster or master of ceremonies. Auburn's Liz Mollett conducted a rather entertaining Tabletopics (or impromptu speaking) portion of the program. Mollett gave out boxes of Valentine's conversation hearts. Each participation then had to use as many of the phrases on the hearts as he could during his response. Alan Saeger won the competition by using 23 hearts.



The evening’s first prepared speaker was Billy Watkins. Watkins gave an informative and educational address about “Mastering Impromptu Speaking”. The second prepared speaker was John Davidson. Davidson, a Catholic and longtime (4th degree) Carlinville Knights of Columbus member, delivered an informative presentation called “Why I Joined the Knights of Columbus”.



The Toastmasters club will next meet on Thursday March 15, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Center at 105 West Jackson Street in Virden. The scheduled speakers for next meeting are Todd Austin and John Davidson. “Our club is a community club, so all area residents are invited and encouraged to attend. Whether your goal is to lead a business meeting, just gain some speaking confidence or to talk to an entire room full of people, Toastmasters is an awesome, yet extremely cost-effective opportunity to fine-tune one’s communication and leadership skills” states club vice president Todd Austin. For more information about the Toastmasters program, please call Todd at (217) 965-3100.