Timer: Open
Ah Counter: Open
Grammarian: Open
Word of the Day: Open
Humorist/Thought of the Day: Open
Speaker #1: Ryan Hoover, TM
Speaker #2: Open
Speaker #3: Open
Table Topics Master: Open

General Evaluator: Ryan Hoover, TM

Evaluator #1: Open
Evaluator #2: Open
Evaluator #3: Open

Listener: Open

Timer: Open
Ah Counter: Open
Grammarian: Ryan Hoover, TM
Word of the Day: Open
Humorist/Thought of the Day: Open
Speaker #1: Ryan Hoover, TM
Speaker #2: Open
Speaker #3: Open
Table Topics Master: Open

General Evaluator: Open

Evaluator #1: Open
Evaluator #2: Open
Evaluator #3: Open

Listener: Open

Timer: Open
Ah Counter: Ryan Hoover, TM
Grammarian: Open
Word of the Day: Open
Humorist/Thought of the Day: Open
Speaker #1: Ryan Hoover, TM
Speaker #2: Open
Speaker #3: Open
Table Topics Master: Open

General Evaluator: Open

Evaluator #1: Open
Evaluator #2: Open
Evaluator #3: Open

Listener: Open

Timer: Hoover
Ah Counter: Open
Grammarian: Open
Word of the Day: Open
Humorist/Thought of the Day: Open
Speaker #1: Ryan Hoover, TM
Speaker #2: Open
Speaker #3: Open
Table Topics Master: Open

General Evaluator: Open

Evaluator #1: Open
Evaluator #2: Open
Evaluator #3: Open

Listener: Open

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 @ 11:30 AM

Fall is here so let’s fall in with our “A” game!

TASC Toastmasters will host the 2011 Humorous Speech and Table Topics Speaker Contests at the Independence Center Building, Chantilly, VA.

Join us to be inspired and entertained by some of the best speakers right here in your hometown!

Come out to support your friends and colleagues.  See how much fun we all have and how much we have benefited from the public speaking and leadership lessons offered by our Toastmasters club.

Compete…and Grow
Participating in contests is an exciting way to challenge yourself. While it’s always great to deliver a speech in front of your club, there’s something a little more electric about doing it in a competition. The stakes are higher and the audience knows it, so they’re particularly interested and engaged.

Chairing or competing in a contest is a way for Toastmasters to stretch themselves.

They inspire everyone, including the audience, and compel us to be better leaders and speakers.

We are here every Wednesday from 11:30 – 12:30 at the Independence Center Building, 15036 Conference Center Drive, Rm W1213, Chantilly, VA.

www.tasctoastmasters.org

Contact Us

We welcome your questions about our club and the Toastmasters program in general!  For more information, please contact one of our officers listed below:

• Ryan Hoover,VP Membership – 703.653.5960 or rkhoover@gmail.com
• Dorion Baker, VP Public Relations – 703.449.3258 or dorion.baker@tasc.com

Timer: Open
Ah Counter: Open
Grammarian: Open
Word of the Day: Open
Humorist/Thought of the Day: Open
Speaker #1: Ryan Hoover
Speaker #2: Open
Speaker #3: Open
Table Topics Master: Ryan Hoover, TM

General Evaluator: Dorion Baker, CC

Evaluator #1: Lisa Beatty, CC
Evaluator #2: Open
Evaluator #3: Open

Listener: Open

Timer: Tom Boggess, ACB CL
Ah Counter: Rachel Ayers, CC
Grammarian: Rachel Ayers, CC
Word of the Day: Kim Nussbaum, TM
Humorist/Thought of the Day: Dwight Dopilka, ACB, CL
Speaker #1: Stefanie Wall, TM
Speaker #2: Open
Speaker #3: Open
Table Topics Master: Kim Nussbaum, TM

General Evaluator: Wendy Daunheimer, ACS, CL

Evaluator #1: Dwight Dopilka, ACB, CL
Evaluator #2: Open
Evaluator #3: Open

Listener: Rachel Ayers, CC

Photo by jnn1776 on Flickr

Other than the fact that Labor Day falls on the first Monday in September, what do you know about this holiday?  For me, this is one of the only holidays where I’m not obligated to visit family across state, purchase expensive gifts or dress for an uncomfortable photo session.  Yes, Labor Day is the ultimate chillax day.

The holiday is often regarded as a day of rest and parties.  Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer recess.  I’m pumped about this time of year because NFL and College football has returned to its rightful place, on my television!  In fashion circles, Labor Day is considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable for women to wear white.  Ladies, this sounds like a good excuse to go shopping.

Sources gathered in Wikipedia inform us that ”The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York.  It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.”

Well Congress, you certainly came together with one accord to do some good things. Labor Day, my chillax day, is a great thing!  Today’s news is filled with bad economic news, high unemployment and high cost of living expenses.  Let’s use this day as an opportunity to reflect on why we labor.  We should work hard for the legacy we are building and the people who matter the most in our lives.  Find rest in the people who love and support you.  Use this Labor Day to form a deeper connection with the people whom you continue to work so hard for. Let not your labor be in vain.

But be careful! We can fall into the trap of the “important things” being for only others.  Doing “important things” for others is an essential part of our lives.  However, doing “important things” for ourselves is just as important.  There is time in your life for doing “important things” for yourself?  You will do more for others by doing “important things” for yourself, whether you are a mother, father, teacher, or fill in the blank.

Whenever we give our time to something there is always a little return on investment (ROI) conversation going on in our minds.  Will the action, which I am about to perform, bring me closer to something I want? For instance, attending my son’s first start on his high school basketball team says something to him.  It says, “I care about you and I want you to know that I have confidence in you.”  It is important for parents to instill confidence in their children, so you take the “redeye” back from California to make the game.  Denis Waitley of the Psychology of Winning fame says, “Our kids don’t need loot and things, they need roots and wings.”

Speaking of doing “important things” for yourself, learning to speak well in public may be one of them.  Now I have no way of knowing whether you are a Toastmaster, an accomplished public speaker in your own right, or someone that just knows in her or his heart that she or he has something to say from which other people can benefit.  But, I think it is fair guess since you are reading this article that you are interested in improving your public speaking no matter what level you are now.

Toastmasters is a wonderful, fun, and inexpensive way to improve your public speaking ability.  In a one-hour a week format, you will hear some really great speeches, get to practice your impromptu speaking, and glean valuable information through speech evaluations you can apply to your public speaking immediately.  Contact one of the TASC Toastmasters for more information at this link – http://www.tasctoastmasters.org/about/more-about-our-club/ .

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

Whether it is public speaking, starting a new business, or asking for that job you have been wanting for two years, “begin it.”  Yours and those you love’s happiness depends on it!