December 1, 2005

Our theme today was “Gifts,” and we were immediately “gifted” (for the second meeting in a row!) with a full room, including our two newest members—Eleanor Roosevelt and Ulysses Grant—and Calvin Coolidge, a first-time guest who found us on the Internet. Welcome, Calvin; we hope to see you again! Our club business was brief but memorable: our President, Thomas Jefferson, reminded us that our January meetings will be on the fifth and nineteenth. We then held a special induction ceremony for Eleanor and Ulysses, officially welcoming them to our club!

Martha Washington, whose presence at our meeting on her day off was a real gift, handled Toastmaster duties today, giving us her thoughts on gifts and then introducing other club members with roles today: Paul Revere, making his debut as Table Topics Master and graciously giving us the Word of the Day, “gracious”; Martin King as Timer; Patrick Henry as Grammarian; John Hancock as General Evaluator; and Thomas as Jokemaster.

Betsy Ross continued her progress toward her Competent Toastmaster award today, giving us Speech #6 from the Communication and Leadership Manual (“Working With Words”). Betsy’s speech was called “Music In My Life.” Her speech was full of words and phrases that painted vivid pictures in our minds as she described how music has always been a part of her life, and the many ways that music is a part of our lives as well.

It was then time for Paul’s debut as Table Topics Master. Our now third-newest member was up to the challenge, posing questions about tangible and intangible gifts, gifts of our time, and the special gifts inside each of us—questions that resulted in a series of humorous and thought-provoking responses. The Best Table Topics award went to Martin, who told us of his “gift of gab,” which he used when he was younger to try to attract women, and which he uses now for other types of persuasion. Martin finished with a very heartfelt and meaningful quote about the importance of giving.

John led the Evaluation portion of our meeting, beginning with George Washington’s thorough, if overlong, evaluation of Betsy’s speech. This was followed by reports from our Timer and Grammarian, Martin and Patrick, and an overall evaluation of the meeting by John.

Paul’s Table Topics debut became a memorable one, as he was named Outstanding Participant for today’s meeting. Thomas then reviewed the roles for our next meeting (we have all roles except Thought of the Day filled!), and then we heard Dolly’s closing thoughts on giving.

Our next meeting is December 15. See you then!

By George Washington and Barbara Leeds, last update 6/15/2006

Sunset Toastmasters

Meeting Reports

December 1, 2005