April 2007 Newsletter

Dear Lexington Toastmasters,

We have officially moved into April today with a beautiful, warm day! If you missed it, last Thursday we had an unusual meeting; it was in fact a backwards meeting! The words of the day included: “Spontaneity – Flexibility – Humor”, this was of course taken to the limits!! Milip Dathur prepared Toble Tapics that were a bit on the edge. He chose three sets of Toastmasters to come up and propose to each other. The audience was to ‘egg’ them on; we basically forced Robert Isenberg to get down to his knees to propose to our newest member Fatemeh Mojtabai!! El Presidente had a very important announcement to make, which I will share with you here:

“It is my privilege as your president to announce this very exciting news! We have chosen our next Toastmasters President for our club. She has just accepted as of this morning. Her name is Dr. Frueschi Beerli, from South Africa and an expert in Women’s Leadership. I wanted to make sure we continue with the Women Power thing and find the best, possible woman, whether Toastmaster or not. She will fly into Boston in the next few weeks to meet you all”!

Pristine Kinney did an excellent job with the timer cards, showing red first to let you us know that there was no stopping now! Stuncan Dewart brought his very own wit to the meeting and explaining is not necessary. We adjourned the meeting with Bev Martin’s beginning as Sergeant at Arms. All in all, a left-handed handshake sort of meeting!

Happy Spring!!

Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz, ACB, ALB
President
Lexington Toastmasters Club

Now back to work and heads up to what’s ahead!! Please read carefully……

Dialogue Play "Plane Talk":
Friday, April 13, 2007
Our very own Robert Isenberg placed first with his play in the "slam" in Downtown Boston last year. It will be performed in Medford on Friday, April 13 at the "Bestsellers Book Store" at about 8:30 PM. No charge and all are welcome.
Editor’s note: I am told that is for adults only!!

Accolades:
Between December and March we had two Toastmasters receiving an award: Michael Tom for ACB (Advanced Communications Bronze) and Robert Isenberg for ACG (Advanced Communications Gold). Congratulations to both of you! We have some hopefuls coming up who are close and working on their next award. They have been contacted and encouraged to schedule their speeches now!

Educational Bits:
Sunday, April 19, 2007
A group has formed to create our own ‘Succession Plan’ with Toastmasters’ material. After you finish your first ten speeches, it can get difficult to choose a path to the next level. Carolyn Kingston, Ann Burgess, Steve Silva, Robert Isenberg and I are currently reviewing the booklets.
A review meeting for the sub-committee is scheduled for Sunday, April 16th at 4:30pm at my house, 23 Dewey Road, Lexington. Suggestions and ideas may be shared with any of us prior to the meeting.

International Speech Contest
Host: Lexington Toastmasters
Monday, April 23, 2007
This will be the third round at the district level. We are hosting this event at the Cary Memorial Library and Robert Isenberg is organizing the event with Ray Gatti, Division B Governor. We hope that many of you will attend and hear some good speeches. If you want to participate, please contact Robert Isenberg and let him know.

Open House:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007Guest Speaker: Bo Bennett
This event will be a little different from the past ones! We will have an “Open House” and publicize it in the local papers inviting the public to attend. Bo Bennett has already kindly accepted the invitation. He is truly an inspirational and professional speaker and you will enjoy listening to him and learn. You might want t o check him out at his two websites: http://www.yeartosuccess.com/ and http://www.bellado.org/ . The rest of the meeting will be a modified Toastmasters meeting with an educational twist. We will explain the purpose of each section of the meeting. Put this date on your calendar! You will not want to miss this exciting event!

Party, Party, Party:
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Another party is upon us, yeah! Kumiko Suzuki has been busy planning this next event. Please note the date change; it will be on Saturday, June 2 at Linda Coyne’s house at around 7pm. Invitations will be mailed with all the details. For the newcomers, this is an ideal time to get to know your fellow Toastmasters better and without the stress of speaking in public! For the oldcomers, start thinking of your favorite dish to make and share with your toasties! This is a time to have fun and bring your friends, spouses and partners.

Snow Day Policy (Last posting!):
The snow policy for the Lexington Toastmasters Club is that we will not meet on days when the Lexington Public Schools are closed due to snow. To find out if the Lexington Schools are closed, you may try one of three options:
Go to the Town of Lexington website and click on Public Schools in the left column. The resulting page should indicate whether schools are closed due to snow.

Call the Lexington Schools at 781-861-2580. This number should have recorded information about school closings.
Check your local TV station, 4, 5 or 7, which will announce school closings on snow days.

Calendar:
Friday, Apr 13 8:30pm Robert Isenberg’s Play
Sunday, Apr 19 4:30pm Sub-Committee Meeting @ Rudi’s
Monday, Apr 23 6:30pm International Speech Contest
Saturday, May 5 8am-5pm D 31 Spring Conference-see link
Tuesday, May 22 7pm – 9pm Open House, Cary Library
Saturday, June 2 Evening Toastmasters Party Social