Mike Schoenberg and James Hogan set the room up prior to the meeting. Frank Mayers manned the front doors to greet both Toastmasters and guests.

James Hogan, Acting as Sergeant-at-Arms, convened our meeting at 6:35 p. m.

The meeting theme was Dentists.

Word of the Day was dubious.

Members in attendance: Frank Mayers, Mike Schoenberg, James Hogan, Carmen Simonet, Lynda Bennett, George Leiter and Sharon Hanson.

Two guests were in attendance: Pete Madland (from Vikings) and Rick Heller.

Meeting Roles

1. Toastmaster/Exhortation: George Leiter
2. General Evaluator: Mike Schoenberg
3. Word of the Day: George Leiter
4. Timer/Vote Counter: Carmen Simonet
5. Ah counter None
6. Grammarian: George Leiter
7. Joke Master: None
8. Table Topics Master: Sharon Hanson
9. Speaker 1: Pete Madland
10. Evaluator 1: Frank Mayers
11. Speaker 2: Lynda Bennett
12. Evaluator 2: James Hogan
13. Speaker 3: Kirby Johnson
14. Evaluator 3: Sharon Hanson
15. Harkmaster: None

Role adjustments for the meeting were were made at the beginning of the meeting. After the Acting Sargent-At-Arms opened the meeting, he called on George Leiter as the Toastmaster. Who introduced the General Evaluator, Mike Schoenberg. The General Evaluator called on all role takers to introduce themselves and explained their roles. Control of the meeting was passed back to the Toastmaster (George Leiter), who introduced the day’s first speaker (Pete Madland).

Pete’s presentation, his icebreaker, was called My Calling. The time for the speech was 6:15 min:sec for the requested 4 to 6 minutes.

Pete indicated that he had a desire/duty to protect and serve others from a young age: four to be exact, when he stood between that demon and his mother. He noted that the demon rode on a red fire truck in a parade. In 2006 he pursued an armed robber through the woods before tasering him. For reasons he did not relate to us, he left law enforcement to become a sheet metal worker. An incident in Canada on a bus led him to talk to his co-workers. This conversation has led him to commit to being a cop again.

Next George called on Lynda Bennett. She presented a speech called Does Dong Good Pay? The speech took 8:13 min:sec of the asked for 5 to 7 minutes.

Lynda called herself a social investor. Her speech concerned the return-on-investment (ROI) for supplying “supportive” housing for single adults, families, and (especially) unaccompanied youth.

The money for this service comes from three sources: taxes, other non-profits, and direct contributions. And the cost is high: about $10,000 per year for a single adult and $15,000 for an unaccompanied youth. There are also auxiliary costs for mental health services, income support, and food support.

But the ROI is almost immediate. Where “supportive” housing is available, crime conviction rate have been shown to drop to 14 percent from 48 percent, saving $16,000 in the first year. Also, those using this service can earn increased wages. When all is said and done, the ROIs for single adults are $1.10 for $1.00 invested, for families $1.41 for $1.00 invested, and for unaccompanied youths up to $7.10 for $1.00 invested.

(Or as the Midas Man says, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.”)

Lastly (but not least), George called on Kirby Johnson. His speech, Celebrating Diversity, You Betcha, was from the Competent Communicator Manual, Project 9 – Persuade with Power. He requested 5-7 minutes and took 9:59 min:sec.

Kirby started by discussing Marlin Luther King and his life long quest to rid the world of prejudice and celebrate diversity. Kirby reminded us that prejudice was the result of baseless reasons and preconceived notions. He invited us to take advantage of relieving ourselves of the shackles of our prejudices.

His speech was an effort to persuade us to partake in one of the bounties of the briny deep – lutefisk. He even promised to escort us to a properly prepared lutefisk dinner, with lutefisk that had firm and flakey flesh.

To reduce our prejudices about this uniquely prepared treat, Kirby described the life cycle (or pathway) of lutefisk preparation: air dying, rehydration through soaking in cold water, luting (soaking in a lye solution to break down the protien), and more soakings to remove the lye solution.

He then proceeded to answer our objections to particular characteristics of lutefisk. Finally, he announced that he was heading to the White Castle on Rice Street to do further research for his next speech.

Sharon Hanson led the Table Topics session. Three people answered questions.

1. James Hogan was asked why a chicken would be a better dentistry mascot that a beaver. (2:10 min:sec) James had the winning table topics response.
2. Sharon pointed out that ashes and honey were used as a dentifrice in the Middle Ages. George Leiter was asked what advances in dental hygiene would be made by 2212. (1:12 min:sec).
3. Mike Schoenberg was asked about dentistry lingo – the word indentulous. He took 1 min coming up with the wrong answer. Whereas he said in means making an indent, it means no teeth.

Mike Schoenberg, as General Evaluator, then conducted the evaluation portion of the meeting.

1. Frank Mayers evaluated Pete Madland’s speech. (4:00)
2. James Hogan evaluated Lynda Bennett’s presentation. (2:36)
3. Sharon Hanson evaluated Kirby Johnson’s speech (3:35)
4. George Leiter indicated thateverybody who spoke used the word of the day.
5. The Timer (Carmen Simonet) reported time usage as indicated in the report above.
6. Mike Schoenberg summed up the meeting as the general evaluator.

The meeting was closed at 7:35 p. m. and a short business meeting ensued.
Submitted by Mike Schoenberg, Club Secretary, February 10, 2012.

James Hogan with Pastor Nirmala Reinschmidt at Zion Lutheran Church

At Metropolitan Toastmasters, we think we have a great thing going, and we’re eager to share it with others — the more the merrier! To that end, our club president James Hogan recently spoke at Zion Lutheran Church. You can seem him above with Pastor Nirmala Reinschmidt while fellow churchgoers enjoy lutefisk in the background. (I kid.) You don’t have to wait for us to come to you, though. Please feel free to join us for our open house next Thursday, October 13th at 6:30 PM. It is encouraged but not mandatory to register here or contact us directly so that we can plan for the appropriate number of people. Hope to see you there!

Sergeant-at-Arms Robin Veal convened our meeting at 6:31 p. m.

The meeting theme was Equality.

Words of the Day were slander and libel.

Members in attendance: Kirby Johnson, , Mike Schoenberg, James Hogan, Kirby Johnson, Craig Ostrom, George Leiter, Sharon Hanson,, Robin Veal, Harvey Johnson, Brock Tice, and Frank Mayers.

Guest: Angela Schnaubelt (former member).

Meeting Roles
Toastmaster: George Leiter
General Evaluator: Robin Veal
Word of the Day: George Leiter
Timer/Vote Counter: Craig Ostrom
Ah counter/Grammarian: Sharon Hanson
Joke Master: Mike Schoenberg
Table Topics Master: Brock Tice
Speaker 1: Frank Mayers
Speaker 2: Harvey Johnson
Evaluator for Speaker 1: James Hogan
Evaluator for Speaker 2: Mike Schoenberg

After the agenda was modified so that all unfilled roles were filled, the General Evaluator called on all role takers (except for the Joke Master and Table Topics Master) to introduced themselves and talk about their roles. Control of the meeting was passed back to the Toastmaster, George Leiter, who introduced the speakers.

First, the Toastmaster called on Frank Mayers to speak.

The presentation was called Retirement: Is it still a viable solution?. The time for the speech was 10:04 min:sec for the requested 5 to 7 minutes.

Frank talked about retirement requiring a multi-faceted process that involves knowledge, planning action steps, time to implement, and (possibly) more than a modicum of effort. He also indicated that no plan is final because of changing economic conditions. These mandate that one keeps planning and periodically revising the plan. He then went through questions for a successful retirement. His conclusion is that retirement is possible as long as you plan. At the end of his speech, Frank passed out a handout that covered the complexity of the issue of retirement.

Next the Toastmaster introduced Harvey Johnson, who presented a speech entitled Mindless Deference to Authority. It took 10:07 min:sec out of an asked for 7 to 9 minutes. It fulfilled the project Research your topic from the Competent Communicator manual.

Harvey pointed out in his introduction that there are a lot of people who spend their time trying to get us to say yes to new products, old products, and politicians. He talked about the social jujitsu that these persons, the Compliance Professionals, use to manipulate us. He said, “We underestimate the effect they have on us.” This is especially true with the effects of perceived or real authority.

Harvey used three examples to make his point. (1) People often, though denying it in pre-test questionnaire, defer to people in luxury automobiles as opposed to those in economy cars. (2) The perceived height of a guest in a classroom increases with the visitors perceived academic status. (3) Medication errors can occur because of nurses’ deference to physicians’ orders.

He gave us three questions to ask: (1) Is the ‘authority’ really an expert? (2) Does their expertise apply to the situation at hand? (3) What does the ‘expert’ stand to benefit from by our compliance? His conclusion were two cautions: (1) Be careful when an expert backs off their statement. (2) Don’t let the automatic triggers of feeling deferential shoot you.

The Toastmaster next called on Brock Tice to conduct the Table Topics session. He called on five people.
(1) Craig: What does the equal sign mean to you? His answer basically came down to who juggles the books.
(2) Angela: Do you discriminate between the pink, blue, white, and brown packets you find on your table at restaurants? She answered about racial discrimination she found in the year or so of living in Tennessee.
(3) James: Do you believe that illegal immigrants deserve equal treatment under the law? He answered yes and then turned to the equal treatment that his friend, who just came out, deserves.
(4) Kirby: Are Godzilla versus King Kong equal in your eyes? He thinks, after much consideration and toing-and-froing, that King Kong comes out on top as a gentlebeing.
(5) Sharon: Should something be done about the income equality in the U. S. [because of its corrosive effect on our society]? Her answer was, in a detailed fashion, yes.

James Hogan next started the club business meeting at 7:30 pm, and adjourned the meeting at 8 pm

Submitted by Mike Schoenberg, Club Secretary, August 26, 2011.

“There’s a very fine line between pushing and encouraging,” quipped Connie Betz, a caring Toastmaster leader in Indiana. She was my first mentor in Toastmasters and she was the one who encouraged me and sometimes pushed me (when I needed it) into leadership opportunities. Encouraging, pushing, and holding each other accountable are all part of raising up new members.

Momentum, Mentoring and Awards are three main components of raising up new members. What is raising up? It is acclimating, orienting, motivating, encouraging, and generally being steadfast in the club mission to each member. This is especially important when the member is new.

Momentum

Member retention is critical for every club. Capitalize on the new member’s excitement! The new member’s natural enthusiasm is contagious. We let it help deepen the commitment of the new member and enhance all the club members’ Toastmaster experience. If the new member is painfully shy, don’t push. Just provide a comfortable environment where he/she can move at their own pace.

Here are two examples:

One new member is enthusiastic to progress through the manual. She is shy, but when asked, you’ll see a twinkle in her eye as she gladly commits to preparing a speech for the next meeting. In our club, we ride the momentum of enthusiasm with this type of member until about the fourth speech. As one Club Mentor, Clarence Albers, tactfully reminds, “to have a well-rounded Toastmaster experience, it is important to encourage the participation of other meeting roles. Toastmasters is about speaking in different capacities. Prepared speeches are only one aspect of the experience.”

Another new member is extremely reserved. It is a great accomplishment for him to talk to a cashier in public, or to another person at the gas station. It is the club’s responsibility to ensure that he is not pressured into club meeting roles that he is not ready for. Participation in Table Topics and other minor meeting roles is a good beginning for him. One member like this, after eight months of membership, had still not given his Icebreaker! Connie Betz, as VP Education, suspected he would still decline to commit to an Icebreaker Speech if asked again. Her creative solution to this was to do an impromptu, extended interview of him in the guise of Table Topics. Connie kept him talking for four minutes. He was given an evaluation of his “Icebreaker” and was relieved and pleased. He then had the option of doing the Icebreaker again on his own, or moving on to the second speech in the manual. Thus Connie’s maxim: “to push or to encourage? That is the question.”

Mentoring

Often, long-standing, seasoned members can serve as unofficial club mentors. They can advise us on fine-tuning the meeting, official rules and procedures for contests, and other general tips on how to maximize our experience in Toastmasters.

Individual mentoring is critical in helping the new member through his/her first few speeches. Mentoring involves just being available on the phone or by e-mail to answer questions or offer advice to the new member. Personally, in addition to the regular evaluator, I like to give encouraging comments about their speeches or about their participation in meeting roles. Often, I’ve given suggestions on speech topics, tips on how to control nervousness, and ideas on how to prepare for and perform major meeting roles.

Mentoring is about developing friendships and providing a more one-on-one manifestation of the Club Mission. And, as both friendships and the Club Mission suggest, mentoring is a two-way street. We all get back valuable support and encouragement in addition to much learning from the process of mentoring.

Let us realize that mentoring is not just for the new member. Toastmasters at all levels can learn from personal instruction. All speech contest winners at the higher levels we find, have had mentors all along to make them the best they can be. Professional speakers always have people assigned to critique all parts of their presentation. How much more can you benefit from personal feedback?

Toastmasters International has many “tools for success” available to us, and the Club Mentor Program Kit is one of them. It is a kit for 20 people and includes Instructions, Mentor Interest Surveys, Mentee and Mentor Assignment Notices, and a sample Mentor certificate. You can find this kit online as catalog No. 1163.

Another tool available from TI is one of the modules from the Successful Club Series: item catalog No. 296, Mentoring. This module is a 10-15 minute presentation, includes a script and overhead, and will give the presenter credit towards the ALB (Advanced Leader Bronze) or ACS (Advanced Communicator Silver) award.

Awards

Usually, we think that only polished speakers and contest winners get awards. However, everyone likes to be recognized and Toastmasters International makes it easy. The Supply Catalog has nine pages of certificates, ribbons, pins, trophies, and plaques. A certificate for completing an Icebreaker speech might be just what it takes to keep going. A more experienced member might really enjoy taking home a ribbon for making the most effective Table Topics contribution. Every participant in a speech contest should be recognized with a certificate. Passing out “at-a-boys” might be the most important thing we do in our club meetings.

Let us not lose sight of raising up our members through mutual support. By building each member’s personalized momentum, assigning a mentor, and recognizing their achievements, you provide value to members. It takes an entire club to raise up members to be effective communicators and leaders.

Why do people join Toastmasters? Think back to your own personal reasons when you first joined. Why are you still a member now? Some join for professional reasons, while other join for social reasons. I, personally, joined for both.

For a club to thrive, we do not need to make things more complex than they need to be—just remember that it’s all about the member. As Toastmasters has been around for over 75 years, we do not need to “re-invent the wheel” when it comes to maintaining a healthy club. Provide the individual members with value and the club will flourish.

The Club Mission can be used as a tool to help us continually evaluate whether the club is on the right track for maintaining and growing to best serve its members. The Club Mission focuses on providing members with value. Let’s examine the Club Mission piece by piece.

Our mission as a club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

…mutually supportive…is your club mutually supportive? Or is it cliquish? “Mutual” means that the support is a two-way street. “Supportive” means to assist, to help, to uphold, and to encourage.

…positive learning environment…is there an environment of learning in your club? Is there positive feedback, which promotes growth and learning? Or are some negatives dragging you down? Is there a physical environment of learning and encouragement? What emotional factors contribute to making the members have a positive experience?

…every member has the opportunity…is every member getting the opportunity to work through the manual? Are the meeting roles rotated fairly? OR are the speakers always the same few people?

…develop communication…are the speakers working out of their manuals? Are members learning how to listen as well as expressing ideas effectively? Are table topics varied?

…leadership skills…leadership opportunities abound in Toastmasters. Are the members aware of the leadership tracks available to them? Are they encouraged and empowered to follow them?

…foster self-confidence…is your club sensitive to each member’s self-esteem level? Does the club empower its members and make them feel good about their speaking abilities and therefore about themselves?

…personal growth…growth is a change for the better. Is each member being evaluated effectively so that he/she can grow to be a better speaker?

We can now execute the mission cohesively in our clubs! Challenge yourself to answer these questions honestly and with specific examples. These questions are derived from objectives in the Club Mission:

1. Name two specific ways in which members of your club mutually support each other. (e.g. Mentor Program)

2. What tools create an atmosphere of positive learning in your club? (i.e. charts that show manual speech completion progress, trophies, awards, certificates, etc.)

3. Are members given fair opportunities to work through their manual? Do you know which club officer is in charge of keeping track of manual progress and rotating meeting roles? (hint: it is not the Club President)

4. Is every member speaking in some capacity during every meeting? They should be!

5. Are all members fully aware of the two advanced tracks available to them after the CTM is achieved? Do you have a Nominating Committee for each club officer term?

6. Name two ways that your club boosts its members’ self-confidence.

7. How does your club encourage growth for its members? What exactly do you do to recognize individual growth (i.e. mention in the club newsletter, awards, etc.)?

Another, more detailed evaluation which the whole club can participate is the Moments of Truth questionnaire provided by TI. The Membership Growth handbook, catalog No. 1159, has the entire survey and describes it as such: “The Moments of Truth evaluation is an objective look at Club operations and programs to determine how these can be improved for obtaining and retaining members.” Members are asked to be honest about every single aspect of the Toastmasters experience that the club provides. Included are 5-7 questions about each of the following subjects: First Impressions; New Member Orientation; Fellowship, Variety, and Communication; Program Planning and Meeting Organization; Membership Strength; and Recognizing Accomplishments.

The entire Moments of Truth program can be ordered from TI. It is catalog No. 290 and includes visual aids and handouts.

Getting back to the basics means remembering that the club is made up with individual members with individual needs. Give the members value! Provide them with the maximum, best experience that Toastmasters can possibly offer!

Healthy clubs focus on the basics, which are outlined in the Club Mission, and expanded in detail in the Moments of Truth questionnaire. I encourage you to use both these tools so that your members—and therefore your club—can grow and prosper.

October is Toastmasters Month! If you’ve ever thought of improving
your speaking and leadership skills, now is the time to
try. Metropolitan Toastmasters, one of the oldest and most lively
clubs in the Twin Cities, is holding an open house on Thursday,
October 13th at 6:15 PM.

We will have a larger number of guests than usual, as well as
refreshments. We meet at the Goodwill/Easter Seals building at 553
Fairview Ave N, just north of University Ave. For more information,
please contact us. In addition to the open house, guests are welcome at any time, so please don’t hesitate to come by any Thursday night!

Acting  Sergeant-at-Arms Mike Schoenberg convened our meeting at about 6:30 P.M.

The meeting theme was Friendship.

Word of the Day was poignant.

Members in attendance: Kirby Johnson, Mike Schoenberg, James Hogan, Luke McGregor, George Leiter, Dana Hays, Harvey Johnson, Brock Tice, and Frank Mayers.

Meeting Roles

Toastmaster:                         Dana Hays

General Evaluator:                Frank Mayers

Word of the Day:                  Harvey Johnson

Timer/Vote Counter:            Brock Tice

Ah counter/Grammarian:    Luke McGregor

Harkmaster:                           Mike Schoenberg

Speaker 1:                              James Hogan

Evaluator for Speaker 1:      Kirby Johnson

After all role takers introduced themselves, Dana Hays started the meeting talking about true friendship, not the Facebook kind, by relating a story about her friend, Mary Kerr, when both were second graders. The Toastmaster then called on James Hogan to speak.

The presentation was called Job Creation: Leaning from our Bipolar Past. The time for the speech was 15:43 min:sec.

James used his research for a 35-page paper he wrote for a class as background material for this speech. His main conclusion is, that over the history of booms and busts in the U. S. from 1837 to the present, all the job creation tactics available to our current economic situation have been tried in the past. He then reviewed all af those various booms and busts.

Brock Tice delivered the joke of the day after James’ speech.

Next followed Table Topics, conducted by George Leiter. Participants were Harvey, Brock, Mike, Frank, and Luke. The secretary did not record the times of each.

Frank Mayers, as General Evaluator, then conducted the evaluation portion of the meeting.

1. Speech evaluation (3:34 min:sec) by Kirby Johnson– He was pleased with the speech and was amazed at how one could research such a broad topic. He especially liked the supporting data, vocal variety, and the inclusiveness of the speech. Around robin evaluation (with one or two comments from each member ) followed.

3. Brock Tice delivered the timer’s report and announced that Frank Mayers won the vote for best Table Topics presentation.

4. Luke McGregor reported on our ahs, ums, and grammar.

5. Mike Schoenberg asked 5 plus Harkmaster questions.

James Hogan next started the club business meeting at 7:30 p. m.

We adjourned to resume a club officer’s meeting at the Blue Door Café.

Various comments:

1. Frank Mayers: Key goal for club is to get more members. We should shoot for 8.
2. Craig and James will contact Ron S. about the club bank account and the transfer of Treasurer moneys to Luke.
3. Brock Tice: Membership – look for quality places to recruit; Use focused events.
4. This led to a discussion of an Open House. Based on Frank’s suggestion for October, Kirby moved for an October 13 date. Frank seconded and the motion passed.
5. It was suggested that when we have guests that we cut out business meetings except for announcing roles for the next meeting.
6. General discussion of a new venue with higher traffic possibilities was followed by a discussion of site requirements (availability, parking, lighting, cost, storage, etc.)
7. Brock will set up a WordPress blog into which we can post club minutes and other items.

In addition to Kirby’s awesome speech about Club Membership Using the 3R’s (with “twisted humor” as said best by Harvey), Frank gave an interesting speech about the importance of having a healthy heart.  He involved 2 moving stories of friends with heart disease, and gave good recommendations/advice on maintaining a healthy heart.  He concluded his speech by saying, “I want all of you to have a healthy heart, and be around for a long time…so you can pick on me!”

Anabel, our Area 11 governor, stopped by and gave an introduction speech.  Angela, a previous Metropolitan club member, also stopped by and partook in the table topics, hosted by yours truly.  The theme was “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs”, as Robin and Harvey also gave great impromptu speeches.  I related the theme of jobs with our late, great Senator Hubert H. Humphrey’s job creation bill, and the HHH Metrodome.  Harvey told us his favorite memories of the the Metrodome, one being a rock concert!  Robin, building off of Harvey’s speech pertaining to Hubert Humphrey, told us that if she were born a boy, her parents were going to name her “Hubert Horatio”.  None the less, Robin, aka Horatio, gave us all a few laughs!  Angela gave an interesting speech about her career endeavors.  In the end, Angela won the vote as having the best table topics speech.  We are going to get her back on board!

Meetings as always begin with a meet-and-greet at 6:15 PM, followed by calling the meeting to order at 6:30 PM. Guests are always welcome to come and watch a meeting — we hope to welcome you to our meeting soon!