Area I3 Governor, Ms. Kristi Robinson (Intersections Toastmasters), and TASC Toastmasters VP-Education, Ms. Wendy Daunheimer, have teamed up to coordinate our first Area I3 Open House.  The event will start at 5:00pm on 22 October 2009 and will be held at 4801 Stonecroft Blvd, Chantilly, Virginia in the Northrop Grumman/TASC Westfields Cafeteria.  Attendees are asked to use the side entrance (flyers will be posted at the main lobby). The agenda includes experienced speakers, a … [Read more...]

TASC Toastmasters Executive Committee (ExComm) will meet on Monday, 5 October 2009, 11:30 - 12:30, Independence Center, Room W1211. All members are welcome to attend! Agenda will include current club activities, Distinguished Club Program/Club Success Plan, status of dues, reports from ExComm officers, and other club business. (Officers, please confirm attendance with Frank prior to the meeting (leave comments here if desired!)) … [Read more...]

The Fall 2009 Area I-3 Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests were held Thursday night, 24 Sep 09, at the TASC Cafe in the TASC Westfields I building. Many thanks to Wendy Daunheimer, Kathy Craft, Phyllise King, Tanya Masiello, Barbara Owens, and Foster Stolte who came and supported the event and our contestant in both contests, Wendy Daunheimer. Please congratulate Wendy Daunheimer. She placed first in the Table Topics Contest and second in the Humorous Speech Contest! Wendy will … [Read more...]

So it's finally happened.  You joined your Toastmasters Club 13 months ago and are giving your 10th and final speech for your Competent Communicator award today.  It's a day of celebration and congratulations are perfectly in order.  In a few minutes you will actually get up and deliver your speech.  You are feeling pretty good about yourself and rightfully so.  You accomplished your goal.  Then the long term schedule comes around and a look of shock comes over you.  "Why is my name down … [Read more...]

Your Toastmasters International (TI) club's Vice President (VP) of Membership just said something that you hadn't realized when you first joined: YOU play a critical role in finding new members for your Toastmasters club. You knew that the Toastmasters program worked for you, and you have casually mentioned something about Toastmasters to a few folks you know, but you assumed what many new TI members assume: the VP of Membership is solely responsible for recruiting new members into the … [Read more...]

Are you planning any trips this summer? Are you escaping the area for a vacation at the beach, to the woods, to see friends and family or to see new sights? If so, will you be utilizing any free online resources? This message is in support of a speech project that I am presenting at our 17 June 2009 TASC Toastmasters meeting. The project is titled 'Enhancing a Technical Talk with the Internet' and is from the Technical Presentation advanced manual. My speech topic will highlight Internet tools … [Read more...]

Does your grammarian in your Toastmasters meeting call you out for ending sentences with a preposition (e.g. what we're here for), splitting infinitives (e.g. to confidently speak), or beginning your sentences with conjunctions (e.g. And, if that wasn't enough...)?  Some members might not be on the lookout for grammatical errors such as the above when filling the role of grammarian, but some delight in catching such common patterns of speech.  Should you ignore the callout, or strive to … [Read more...]

We had a terrific meeting today!  Though the "how do you do that" theme from this month wasn't overtly mentioned, everyone learned something they could take away with them.  Rich Scanlon delivered an entertaining and information speech on Body Language, based on project 5 from the Basic Communication manual, Your Body Speaks.  The next time a visitor arrives, take a look around the room and notice which members have their eyebrows raised as they say Hello - those were the members who applied … [Read more...]

Today's meeting was so much fun!  In honor of April Fool's Day, our TOTD Diana Crandall announced that our meeting would be a "backwards meeting".  In case you don't know what that is, it means that all events are held in backwards order - the reports are given at the beginning of the meeting, the evaluations are given before the speeches, the opening announcements are given at the end, etc.  I hadn't experienced a backwards meeting before, though I had heard of them, and was surprised to … [Read more...]