by JILL MORRISON, DTM #clubreporter
Spending Labor Day with the Roanoke Texas Toastmasters was a labor of love. This healthy Toastmasters club embodies a small-town welcome that allows all to hone and enhance their skills in a safe and supportive environment.
We had the opportunity to learn from two prepared speeches during this meeting. The first was given by Keith Clay, a relatively new toastmaster, who shared with us how to develop a growth mindset regaling us with tip highlighted by personal examples. The second was given by a more experienced toastmaster, Michele Harris-Hall, who entertained us with an ice breaker speech explaining why her name is spelled with only one L and how toastmasters has helped her express herself. She reminded us that we are only as good as our last speech.
A unique feature of this meeting was the 2–4-minute educational spotlight, which provided us a quick overview of a path’s anatomy. Each level is a building block of skills leading to mastery and expertise of the path’s goals.
The table topics section was full of dramatic expression with Tim Smith stating his career of choice is anything that puts him in front of people (a former professional actor from NY) and Michael Hall explaining that the ideal workweek depends on the job.
The evaluations provided were encouraging, giving each speaker positive reinforcement as well as feedback to grow on. This 18-year-old club has the stamina of a great club providing education and support to all levels of the toastmaster program.
