Saying Goodbye

I think it was a shock to all the members of Twin City Toastmasters when we opened our emails one Tuesday to learn that Deanna, one of our members, had suddenly passed away from a heart attack. With heavy hearts many of us came to that week's meeting to mourn Deanna and support each other. We spent time remembering Deanna. Yvette read us a lovely poem. Niti and Maggie both gave us tips on how to identify when you or someone else may be having a heart attack. Many of us just spoke about our fond memories of Deanna. Many of us remember how distinct and infectious her laugh had been.

We have all been touched by the outpouring of support from many people. The club members decided to honor the families request to donate to the Red Cross and to send a sympathy card from all of us.

Please feel free to leave messages for Deanna's family in the guestbooks provided by the funeral home or the newspaper. Feel free to use the comments section of this post to leave your own memories of Deanna.

RIP Deanna, everyone at Twin City Toastmasters will miss you.

Do you want to contribute to this blog?

All members of Twin City Toastmasters can submit posts to this blog. Even those who don't feel comfortable using the blog can submit something! How? Follow these directions:

1. Pick something you want to write about
2. Write about 300- 500 words
3. Make sure you check the spelling (or ask Sara to check it for you)
4. Copy and paste your article into an email
5. Email it to Sara (toastmasters@librarygirl.org)
6. Sara posts it to the blog

Here are a few topic ideas if you need them:

• Your experience with the club
• Something you have learned in Toastmasters
• A recent Toastmasters event (conference, training, another club meeting)
• A speaking, communicating or leadership tip you want to share with other members
• A speech you are working on
• An article you read about public speaking (include a link if it was online)

What do you get out of it? This is our club newsletter. You are helping create our club newsletter by submitting an article. You can get Competent Leader credit (the CL manual for meeting roles) when you help with the newsletter.

Still have questions? Just ask Sara for more information!

Picking A Place To Eat

Our poll for the dinner meeting has ended and January 12th got the most votes. That means we will be having a dinner meeting rather than a regular meeting.

Next we have to pick a location for our dinner. We got five suggestions for you to pick from:

• Il Forno in Fitchburg (Airport Rd and Bemis)
• Chopsticks (by mall in Leominster)
• Slattery's (Rt 2A in Fitchburg)
• Olive Garden (by Target in Leominster)
• Sammy's (Rt 12 at the Leominster/Fitchburg line)

The poll is on the right side of the page. Select the place you want to eat by Dec. 19th. We will announce the winner once the poll is over.

Dinner Meeting Poll

At the last meeting we discussed having a dinner meeting. Sara agreed to put a poll together to help us pick a date we all liked. On the right you will see a poll with four dates on it:
December 22
December 29
January 5
January 12

Pick the date that you think is the best for our dinner meeting. Post a comment to this entry if you think another date would be better or have a comment related to the poll.

Have You Ever Been to a District Conference?

Have you ever considered going to a district conference?

Why not?

This year our very own Sara is the educational co-chair. This means she has helped pick the sessions you can go to through the day. There will be sessions on building better teams, how to use Toastmasters to advance your career, improving external communications, or finding your true passion.

This year the Keynote Speaker is Mary Cheyne. Mary won second place in Augusts World Champion of Public Speaking competition. She represented District 31 and started out at her club's International Speech Contest last Spring. Learn how she did it!

This year we are trying an Evaluation-a-thon. For one hour there will be nothing but other members (and maybe you) giving speeches. Verbal evaluations will be given by members of the district's advanced clubs. These are more indepth evaluations and are fantastic ways to help you set goals.

What about all the people you can meet! Participants will be members from all over Rhode Island and Eastern/Central Massachusetts. This is a great way to see other speakers and make connections. There is always time to network at these events.

Find out more about the conference at http://www.district31.org/conference_2009Fall_home.html including registration information, an agenda and more. Still want to learn more about it? Ask Sara, Rene, Peter, Yvette or Maggie about their experiences at conferences!

Funny People

Try not to laugh, but some Toastmasters have a sense of humor. I've known one or two to crack a joke. If don't believe it, then you probably weren't at the division speech contest. On October 6, 2009, three division clubs convened in a basement conference room at Fidelity Bank to vote on the funniest among them. Yevette Moquin, division governor, mastered the ceremoies and ushered us through the battle of wits. Four contestants competed and one will go on to compete at higher levels and maybe even participate in the international contest. Our contestants were, in order of appearance, Ernest Schreiber, Mike Kornik, Todd Chapman, and Rene Roy.

Ernie coaxed from each of us our latent genius, that apple chomping, over perspiring little savant that we all know has been yearning for freedom. Mike wanted to introduce us to the language of the British, and how it will get you in trouble if you try to us it in America. Todd's story of a winged nocturnal invader evoked the spirit of Halloween and Rene recalled his days as an eager young navy man. The judges voted and awarded Todd Chapman the golden first place ticket. Congratulations Todd!

I'd like to invite you to the next level of competition, the Division A and Division B humorous speech contest. It will be held on October 14, 2009 from 6:30-9 PM at the Raytheon facility in Tewksbury MA. Email for more details.

It's time to pay dues!

It's time to pay dues again! Two times a year all of our members pay dues. Here is a quick guide on how to pay and what we use the money for:

How to pay your dues:

• Due is $42.00 ($27.00 goes to Toastmasters International and $15.00 goes to the club)
• Make checks out to Twin City Toastmasters
• Give checks to Maggie or another club officer
• We can take cash, but not credit cards
• Receipts available if requested
• Dues is due on September 30th!
  

What do we do with your dues? What do you get out of paying?

• Toastmasters International sends you a monthly edition of the Toastmasters magazine.
• The club uses it to pay for supplies like photocopies, ribbons, trophies, name tags, clocks, etc.
  
• Being a current member (or a member in good standing) allows you to participate in speech contests
• When you complete your manuals you get certificates and more from Toastmasters International