Rich, we’re proud of your well deserved accomplishment of making it to District after only six months of membership! We will be proud to cheer you on in future contests!

I hadn’t given much thought to the use of these patterns within my speeches, though I do make an effort to eliminate them in my written communication.  Somehow, during a speech I concentrate more on the message I intend to give and wether it was received than if I split an infinitive in my choice of words.  I read an article this morning on Copyblogger, one of my favorite websites for giving solid advice to and providing inspiration for those of us who strive to communicate better.

The article pointed out several reasons why the grammatical errors listed above might actually be rules that SHOULD be broken on occassion.  How often have you paused in your speech in order to add drama, then started off with a “But” or an “And” to add emphasis?  Do you find yourself crafting expressions during your speech such as “to completely immerse yourself” to grab the interest of your audience?  And how awkward would you find it, as an audience member, if you listened to a Storytelling speech and heard ”into which we all walked” rather than “that we all walked into”?  (And yes, I purposefully did just break a rule in this paragraph, just to try it out – did you notice?).

While all of us ought to be aware of the rules of grammar in order to appear polished when we speak, it is the mark of an expert to be able to discern when to follow a rule and when to break it on purpose.  A good photographer knows the rule of thirds and also knows when breaking that rule will add more dramatic interest to a photo (see this article on http://sixminutes.dlugan.com for fantastic tips on breaking this rule).  A good project manager knows when to follow the initiation to closure methodology during a project and when to break the rules by fast-tracking an effort in order to make quick progress.  And a good speaker ought to know the rules of grammer and when it is adventageous to defy them in order to make an impact.

As far as the question of ignoring your grammarian, my opinion is this: If a speaker already knows they have broken the rule, they should have no problem with having attention called to it.  However, if they are surprised that they unintentionally made a grammer mistake or, worse, are surprised that the rule exists at all … well, that is why we appreciate the role of grammarian in our Toastmasters meetings!

Several members in today’s meeting asked for a copy of the PPT file that Frank used to illustrate his points, and here is a link to the file:  areyoulistless.  I don’t know if you need to be a registered member to access that link or not, so if any of you try it out and discover that you can’t get to it please let me know.

We didn’t have a chance to do table topics today since two of the speeches were advanced speeches and took more time than normal, but we’ll make up for it (hopefully!) next week.  Come join us!  Oh, and we had two new guests visiting us today – Roland and Kimberly.  I can’t remember their last names, but they did sign the guest log and we hope they will return and join!

Have a terrific week!

I hadn’t experienced a backwards meeting before, though I had heard of them, and was surprised to find it so much fun … and challenging!  Those of us who thought we knew our meetings backwards and forwards were surprised, I think, at how getting out of the routine threw us off. 

We also had a guest in our midst, Rich Rosenthal, who is thinking of joining us to earn PMP credit.  Who knows what he thought of all the chaos, but I did invite him to visit us again during one of our regular meetings before he makes his decision. 

We often describe our meetings as a “learning laboratory” environment, and today’s meeting was strong evidence of that!  Sonya and Steve worked on building their evaluation skills, and Phyllise entertained us as General Evaluator by playing the
name game (inside joke for those who attended).

Date: March 24
Registration: 5:30
Contest: 6-8pm
Address: 15000 Conference Center Drive in Chantilly.  Drive around the back; it is where we had the fall contest.

This dues period will cover April 1 through Sep 30 of 2009.  For those who prefer the executive summary, the total is $39 for the next six months.  For those who want details, that includes the $4.50 per month Toastmasters International dues and $2 per month club dues.  The club dues cover material costs for Open Houses and other marketing activities, as well as club maintenance materials (equipment for running the meetings, extra manuals, etc). 

I’m asking for your help in achieving the Distinguished Club status for this Toastmasters year.  If at all possible, please bring a check to us during next week’s meeting so that we are able to have all dues into Toastmasters International by April 1 (this is by no means a plug in order to achieve a full meeting next week … however, if that happens I won’t complain).  If you can’t attend the meeting next week, please contact Phylisse as soon as possible.  

Thank you for helping us continue to succeed as a club!

I will ask one more thing of you – if you know Dorothy, please join me in wishing her well on her new job assignment in MA through December.  Dorothy will not be joining us in meetings anymore (unless she has some spare time before she leaves), but hopes to continue on our mailing list and we hope she will rejoin when she returns in the New Year.