The Evaluation Contest Results

The Evaluation Contest featured Peter Pincetl with his speech "The Bus is Leaving" and three contestants: Kerry Dugan, Jason Kent and Steve Wilcox. Three different styles of presentation and one great speech, as Jeff Brooks stated. Kerry was upbeat and specific, Jason analytical and clear, Steve positive and courageous - it was only his second evaluation! Thank you for stepping in on the fly, Steve, and thank you to all the contestants for a real evaluation treat, thank you to judges, contest chairs and leaders.

Second place was granted to Jason Kent - congrats! The winner of our club contest is Kerry Dugan and he will be participating in the next level of the Evaluation Contest. Asked why is it worth it to participate, Kerry said he loves competing and it's like being a horse waiting and itching for its race. You practice and improve during meetings and every contest is a test of what you've gained, learned and practiced so far.

We will keep you posted as soon as we know any set dates for the next level and will continue to keep our fingers crossed for Kerry. I want to join Jeff in encouraging everyone to look out for those dates and come with spouses, partners, family and friends to support our club's winner and hear the winners from other clubs. It's an incredible experience not only for us, Toastmasters, but anyone really, which allows us to take away a few things for our speaking, business and life experiences.

By Ania Osińska-Bulloff, VP Public Relations

Our New Member, Jackie Scherer, says hi!

Hello, my name is Jackie Scherer, and I am a User Experience Designer for Viewpoint Construction Software.  I work to design software and other digital environments for optimal performance and experience.  My professional background includes user interface design and development, graphic design, marketing, and project management. 

User Experience Design is a new field with its own set of language.  Sometimes the concepts in UX Design can be difficult to explain, but it has become increasingly relevant in our lives in the Smartphone Era.  I need to be able to convey the importance of good design in simple terms to a variety of audiences – from engineers to business people.  I hope Toastmasters can better prepare me to quickly gather and deliver my thoughts in a impactful and compelling way.

My main creative outlet outside of work is singing and songwriting.  (I would describe my style as “Soulful Nu Jazz”).  My athletic side enjoys skiing, yoga, and running.  I have spent most of my life in the Portland area.  I got my Bachelors’ Degree in Graphic Design at Western State College in a small town called Gunnison, Colorado.  I ended up there because of my competitive skiing background.  Gunnison is nearby Crested Butte, a world class ski resort where I skied up to four days a week, and I was crazy enough to compete in the US Extreme Freeskiing Championships.  I’m still an adrenaline junkie, but I’ve mellowed out since then!

By Jackie Scherer

Tip of the Week: Why we time...

For many people, time seems to “get away” from us while we’re speaking.  Toastmasters can help that from happening!  Since Ralph C. Smedley founded Toastmasters in 1924, meeting segments and roles have been timed.  Smedley’s reasoning was that speakers needed to be held accountable to stay on time.  That sentiment was eventually put to use for all speaking roles in a Toastmaster’s meeting.  It helps us get all of our crowded agenda in to that short hour between 12 Noon and 1 PM!  Before a meeting starts, the Timer should get together with the General Evaluator to confirm the times of the speeches – most are 5-7 minutes long, but there are several exceptions (the Ice Breaker speech is 4-6 minutes, and most of the Advanced Communication Manuals include speeches with vastly differing lengths).  And the Timer’s Report should include the target time for each speaker as well as the actual time.

By Jason Kent, VP Education

Tip of the week: A speech in your hip pocket??

One of the unintended consequences of having a strong club with 20+ members is that the prepared speaker rotation is such that several weeks or months may pass between your scheduled speeches.  If you would like to speak more often than that, try preparing a “hip pocket speech.”  This is a speech that you have written and rehearsed a few times, but haven’t delivered to the Electric Toasters yet.  It ideally is on a topic with which you are very familiar.  Carry a copy of the speech – maybe not in your hip pocket (!), but in a folder or notebook that you bring each week to Toastmasters.  Then when a speaker needs to give up their role for the week, you already have a speech ready to go.  This will help you meet your educational goals faster, and will help our meetings run more smoothly.  Recently, one of our members used “hip pocket speeches” to deliver three speeches in three consecutive weeks – only one of which he was scheduled for!

By Jason Kent, VP Education

February Recap

Electric Toasters kept us on the edge of our seats throughout February. Here's a recap of all the speeches we had a chance to enjoy:

On February 2nd Aliza Scott  took us on a colorful trip to the German wine country, while Craig Jones delivered an impromptu speech on a successful Toastmasters Club.

During our "Lessons I never learned" meeting on February 9th, Ashley Wilson was convincing us to become disciplined and motivated to save and think about our retirement: short term pleasures vs. long term pay offs. In the spirit of the financial theme, Craig Jones shared a theory from the "Cashflow Quadrant" book, and presented an employee, a self employed individual, a business owner and an investor on the quadrants of security and cash-flow.

The King of Impromptu speeches, Craig Jones, also did not disappoint us on February 16th when he took us on a search for the Wizard of Evaluations. Ania Osińska-Bulloff had us board a plane to go around the World (of Valentine's chocolates and roses) in 7 minutes.

The last February meeting was a full house of club members and guests. That did not scare away Karen Groth with her speech on effective research tricks, nor did it scare Steve Connor with his "Irish Icebreaker" a story of a perfect blend of Irish virtues (hearts), magically turning into a clover.

What other excitement will March bring? Stay tuned!

A full house of Electric Toasters Members and Guests on February 23rd. Not captured: the second row of members and guests.

By Ania Osińska-Bulloff, VP Public Relations

Electric Toasters Social Event on Tuesday!

By Ania Osińska-Bulloff, VP Public Relations

Table Topics tip of the week!

Table Topics is an exercise for us to work on our extemporaneous, last-minute, “fly by the seat of your pants” speaking skills, because that is how most of our communications occur on a day-to-day basis!

When you are a Table Topic Master: there are any number of ways to select people to field the table topics.  Which way is the best?  While there may be no best way, there are a couple of guidelines to follow.  First, the Table Topics Master should ask any guests before the meeting if they would like to field a table topic.  You can ask at the beginning of the Table Topics session, but its best not to put them on the spot.  Second, select people who don’t have a speaking role that day to field a table topic. Our goal is to have everyone speak at every meeting.  Occasionally it might be OK to do a “jump ball” – i.e. to ask for volunteers to field a table topic.  But in general it is best for the Table Topics Master to pick someone and direct the table topic question to them.  

By Jason Kent, VP Public Education