Preston Persuaders

We had a full evening Monday night with four speeches. Stephanie educated us about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Max discussed the roots of terrorism and the division of countries. Hugh previewed his upcoming one-hour speech about success. The final speech was by Shiny about her favorite tale of the tortoise and the hare.

We could not have pulled off the contest without all of the wonderful helpers who came early and stayed late to ensure the contest ran smoothly. Many thanks to our illustrious Past International President, Pauline Shirley, who served as the contest master.

Our club contestants gave strong performances for their humorous speeches and evaluations. We are proud to send on our first place winners to the Area 24 Contest on October 5, at 7 p.m. Come cheer them on at the Frisco Chamber of Commerce building!

Last Monday's meeting was action packed! Club members voted to have our permanent meeting location at the Champions School of Real Estate. Our club now has a place to call home. Members also voted to include a $1 per month increase in dues. Be sure to give or send your check to the Treasurer Aaron M. Dues are now $54 and needed before the end of September.

We had two wonderful speakers. Competent communicator Lisa S. informed us about the antibiotics and growth hormones present in the food supply. Advanced communicator bronze Jeff W. had us reconsider reality with a theme from The Matrix.

Last Monday's meeting featured two speeches, tough table topics, and supportive evaluations. Competent Communicator Allison B. gave a toast to Preston Persuaders, to which members raised their drinks. Competent Communicator Alex E. spoke about tips to work with engineers.

The table topics master Max R. gave thought-provoking questions and a debate-style question with two members taking on opposite sides about healthcare. The evaluators rounded out the night giving helpful suggestions and approbation.

The theme for our meeting centered on limiting your intake of online and computer activity through a digital diet. The table topics brought out a range of technology preferences, as well as guilty pleasures such as playing the game Candy Crush. Our speakers broke the ice, completed a milestone tenth speech, and came prepared to step in at the last minute. 

Karen K. introduced herself to the club with a speech about her return to her hometown, McKinney. Mickey B. related his adventures mountain biking with friends to pursuing new goals. Max R. stepped up as a back-up speaker and discussed his trip to Australia and New Zealand with his family. The three speakers each did a wonderful job. 

Our next meeting will be on Monday, September 9. (The club voted previously not to host a meeting on Labor Day.) Our Toastmaster of the Evening will be Aaron M. with General Evaluator Ed M. 

Yesterday meeting's speech-a-thon was phenomenal. We had four fabulous speakers. Toastmaster Susan B. introduced herself to the club with an icebreaker describing the sweet struggles of her life. Toastmaster Mark R. taught us about the language learning website Duolingo and educational Khan Academy website. Toastmaster Patrick M. described a transformative time in his life and the power of thoughts. Our final speaker of the evening, Competent Communicator Brian T. role played asserting himself with a co-worker about turning off the lights.

During last Monday's meeting at Palio's Pizza, we voted to postpone the meeting and instead had a club social. We will have five prepared speeches for August 19, so be prepared for great presenters and information. We will have two icebreaker speeches, as icing on the cake. The club officers are actively looking for a new permanent meeting location, but we need your help as well. With a group effort, we can find a space that works for our club while minimizing the potential cost. Keep us updated on your search efforts. We appreciate them greatly. 

Our meeting at the Atmos Energy facility was an exciting change of place for last Monday! We had a great crowd out to hear from a fantastic line up of speakers. Toastmaster Melanie regaled us with a speech about discovering your ideal and going for it. Competent Toastmaster (CTM) Sanju explained what charity is: kindness given to other people, not necessarily a cash donation. The final speaker of the evening, Competent Communicator Brian taught us the fundamentals of coaching and performed a live role play guiding a troubled employee through a spreadsheet issue. The table topics master Toastmaster Aaron asked some striking questions in keeping with the theme of "Unions - Organized Labor." At the end of the evening awards were presented to the persons who best met their objectives and performed their roles.

Last night's meeting was a fantastic evening full of surprises, as the theme suggested! We heard a delightful tale from Shiny about the tortoise racing the hare. We learned how the clever tortoise outwitted the smart-aleck hare to win the race. Our club president, Rick, gave a speech about the need to break the taboo surrounding talking about sex. Rick told us how the talk can start at the dinner table. Our last speaker of the evening, Jyo, performed a reading about the process of aging and garnered good laughs with some fun jokes.

The Table Topics segment truly brought us to the metaphorical table. It was a fruitful evening of questions with fun facts about mulberries, the pungent smelling durian fruit, and other summer fruit. All in all, it was a fantastic meeting with great participation. We hope to have you join in next week!

We had a wonderful meeting last night! For those of you that were not able to make it, this is what you missed! Janak gave his ice breaker speech and it was fantastic! He took us from where he was first growing up, on a farm in India, to where he is working today, at his the tallest building in Dallas. Congratulations on this impressive speech, Janak! Wen gave his second speech as he walked us through his history of making long distance calls and reminded us all of how much technology has changed our lives in such a short time. A fantastic speech as well! Another fun, yet informative, meeting of the Preston Persuaders Toastmasters Club! We hope to welcome you next week!