Saturday, April 18, 2009
Toastmasters Club Welcomes a U.S. Soldier as a Guest Speaker
Todd Austin (left) was the Tabletopicmaster and Jim Blankenship from New Berlin was the Toastmaster (master of ceremonies) at Thursday’s Tri-County Toastmasters meeting.
The Tri-County Toastmasters club met on Thursday 4-16-09 at the Virden Area Community Center. Club members present at Thursday’s meeting were: Les Apps, Dr. Todd Austin, Jim Blankenship from New Berlin, Bill Fulstick, Liz Mollett from Auburn and Casey Tom. One guest was also present.
Jim Blankenship served as the evening’s Toastmaster (or master of ceremonies). Todd Austin served as Tabletopicmaster. Thus Austin coordinated the impromptu speaking portion of the program, during which each participant gave a 1 to 2 minute impromptu response to his or her question on the topic of pirates of history and legends (inspired by the modern day pirates off Somalia’s coast that have been in the news lately).
The evening’s prepared speaker was a guest from Springfield who is currently taking the Speechcraft ‘Public Speaking 101’ course in Springfield that Austin and a handful of other Area 1 Toastmasters are conducting. The special guest (who did not want his picture or name mentioned in the newspaper due to security concerns, as he is involved in military intelligence) recently ended a 4-year oversees tour of duty as a soldier in the active U.S. Army (including a stint in Iraq). He is now a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve. This gentleman’s second Speechcraft speech project was to present a 5-minute talk on a subject that he was passionate about. The title of his presentation was “Staying in Iraq”. He informed the Toastmasters audience about the many good things happening in Iraq that the mainstream media refuses to share with us. Austin evaluated the speech.
The Tri-County Toastmasters club will next meet on Thursday May 7, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at the Virden Area Community Center. Liz Mollett from Auburn will be the prepared speaker. For more information about the Toastmasters program, or about scheduling a Speechcraft workshop for your organization, please call (217) 965-3100 or send e-mail to draustin@royell.net.
Jim Blankenship served as the evening’s Toastmaster (or master of ceremonies). Todd Austin served as Tabletopicmaster. Thus Austin coordinated the impromptu speaking portion of the program, during which each participant gave a 1 to 2 minute impromptu response to his or her question on the topic of pirates of history and legends (inspired by the modern day pirates off Somalia’s coast that have been in the news lately).
The evening’s prepared speaker was a guest from Springfield who is currently taking the Speechcraft ‘Public Speaking 101’ course in Springfield that Austin and a handful of other Area 1 Toastmasters are conducting. The special guest (who did not want his picture or name mentioned in the newspaper due to security concerns, as he is involved in military intelligence) recently ended a 4-year oversees tour of duty as a soldier in the active U.S. Army (including a stint in Iraq). He is now a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve. This gentleman’s second Speechcraft speech project was to present a 5-minute talk on a subject that he was passionate about. The title of his presentation was “Staying in Iraq”. He informed the Toastmasters audience about the many good things happening in Iraq that the mainstream media refuses to share with us. Austin evaluated the speech.
The Tri-County Toastmasters club will next meet on Thursday May 7, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at the Virden Area Community Center. Liz Mollett from Auburn will be the prepared speaker. For more information about the Toastmasters program, or about scheduling a Speechcraft workshop for your organization, please call (217) 965-3100 or send e-mail to draustin@royell.net.
// posted by Jim @ 7:35 PM
