Oh No! I'm the Toastmaster!

Being the Toastmaster is a big responsibility. It takes some planning and forethought. Here are 10 steps to being a great Toastmaster in Burien Breakfast Toastmasters:

1. Contact all of the members with roles and make sure they will be in attendance. If not, find their replacements now.

2. Connect with evaluators and speakers early in the week. Get introductions from speakers. Remind evaluators to connect with their speakers.

3. Send your introduction as Toastmaster to the President.

4. Arrive at the meeting early to distribute agendas and make sure all your players are in attendance. If you need someone to fill in, arrange that as quickly as possible before the start of the meeting.

5. Make sure to introduce the players for the meeting and have them explain their role.

6. Use the meeting guideline to keep the meeting on time.

7. After each speaker, ask members to write comments for the speaker and then remain silent for a minute to allow members to complete their notes.

8. After the last speaker, remind members to vote for best speaker.

9. After the last Table Topics, remind members to vote.

10. After the last evaluator, remind members to vote.

There you have it! Follow these guidelines and you will do just fine. Remember you can ask any of the officers for help, especially if this is your first time as Toastmaster (or second, or even third). We are here to help!

More Than Just Public Speaking!

Toastmasters Clubs are far more than just public speaking. They build confidence, communication and leadership skills, says Bruce Bulloch, a member of Toastmasters and the author of this great article about Toastmasters in the West Seattle Herald. You can see a Toastmasters club meeting in action by watching this video (clips of course!).

You can hear all about what makes Toastmasters a great organization by listening to this podcast by Bruce Bulloch.

But what if you don't live in West Seattle?

Burien Breakfast Club is the answer! Burien Breakfast Club meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month from 7am to 8:15 am at at 15675 Ambaum Blvd. S.W. Burien, WA 98166. We get you to work on time!

Come join us for a fun morning including coffee, light breakfast goodies, and an opportunity to meet new people striving to improving their communication and leadership skills just like you.

Summer Time!

After a bit of confusion we got down to our new meeting format:

1 Introduce the Toastmaster

2 Pledge and inspiration

3 Word of the day

4 Speeches

5 Joke and Food

6 Topic session

7 Evaluations

8 Business Meeting

It's summer time and Bang used that as her theme for the day's meeting. Commencement is the transition of what follows and also the word of the day brought to us by Roger. During hurricane Katrina Darlene volunteered by sending supplies to New Orleans and she related those experience at the club. Jean worked from an advanced manual presenting a program on how to use the Toastmaster program in reaching your goals. As our topic master Theresa had the club giving ideas for improving the club and bringing new people.

Next week's schedule is posted on our Schedules and Roles page.

Getting to Twenty

The Advice we got from Table Topics today on building our membership was outstanding! Here is a list of things we could get started on:

• Have a BBQ with a competition in storytelling, joke telling or bring in some politicians

• Put fliers up at the library, in your apartment complex, at the market, coffee shops, at work (We have a great flier - attached - print it out and spread the news!)

• Have a guest speaker with some controversy (like FDR impersonator - Does anyone know a local controversial celebrity or such)

• Think of 3 guests you could invite and why - Jessica chose Jay, he is an early riser and a businessman - a good combination for our club

• Thinking ahead to our club Humorous Speech contest - let's publicize it in the B-Town blog, in the Highline Times, let's play up FREE food (maybe have a special breakfast for the event), everyone bring a guest, special invitations to past members

• Some other things to try that Xandria brought up - Open House, doing another community event (Mercado Latino on Sunday afternoon anyone?), talking to local businesses

Burien Breakfast at the Block Party

Burien Breakfast Club members Keith, Darlene, Jean and Theresa were out and about this weekend promoting our club at the Olde Burien Block Party. They talked to a number of people interested in hearing more about Toastmasters and a few interested in our early morning club.

Keith gave a Table Topic question to Tim Fahey - candidate for King County Council District 8. After Sunuppers Advanced Club Member Patricia counted his ums he said he better join us this Thursday morning before he has to do much more public speaking.

All five clubs from Area 41 were represented at this event. A drawing will be held to give away two free memberships. Many contacts were made - Area 41 hopes to gain some new Toastmaster members wanting to improve their speaking skills.

Let's Go On Vacation!

We got off to a great start of the new Toastmaster year with an installation performed by our Area Governor Steve Kennedy.

Getting right into Toastmasters, our newest member Keith took over the duties of Toastmaster. His theme was rejuvenation of spirit. July being the kick off of the vacation season Mike, our topic master, wanted the group to share some vacation ideas. Our word of the day was "consanguineous" an adjective meaning having a common ancestry.

In a speech using facial expressions and body language Roger talked about growing old. Theresa led a mini discussion about changing the meeting agenda. It was decided to have our business portion at the end of the meeting. Dennis Bauer a guest speaker, who will be giving a seminar on storytelling, spoke on enhancing your speeches with stories.

Summer Seems Intangible

It's official summer started on June 21st and Mike our toastmaster took the opportunity to tell the club about some of the traditions and history surrounding the celebration for the summer solstice. Our newest member Keith brought us the word of the day, "intangible". an adjective meaning that which can not be touched easily defined, formulated or grasped. Better speaking is an asset from being in Toastmasters but some of the advantages are "intangible". In a world that is becoming more diverse, out topic master Roger had us opining on cultural differences we encounter. The first speech in the manual, the icebreaker, affords us the chance to get to know new members better and in his first speech before the club we had a chance to meet Keith. In a speech emphasizing body language Jean entertained the club with the trials and tribulation on her recent trip to Italy.

A big thank you to Theresa for making our new name placards. As well as having our names on the front, they also have a chart of our manual progress on the back facing us urging us on to complete those manual projects.

July 17th is Olde Burien Days and Area 41 will have a booth touting Toastmasters. This will be a great opportunity to bring some new people to the club. Think about volunteering on that day.

July starts Bang's new term as President. By the enthusiasm from her new officers, Educational VP Jean, Membership VP Theresa, Secretary/Treasurer Mike and Sargent-arms Keith it looks like it should be a great year. Be sure and come as Area governor Steve Kennedy installs the new officers.

Burien Breakfast member is in the News!

Area 41 Has More Fun

Toastmaster and Burien resident Steve Kennedy attended the District 2 Changeover Meeting last Saturday, where he was officially granted the status of Area 41 Governor as the Toastmaster fiscal year begins July 1, 2010. Our own B-Town Blog Sales Whiz, Theresa Frasch is his trusty assistant in charge of Marketing and Public Relations.

Toastmasters International (as the name implies) is an international organization with more than 12,500 clubs in 106 countries. In order to help keep things moving along the clubs are divided into Regions, Districts, Divisions and Areas. Steve and Theresa’s Area 41 has five clubs in Burien and Des Moines.

Read the rest on the B-Town Blog!