Sandy Springs June 29 Toastmaster Meeting Recap

Our faithful Sergeant-At-Arms, Bud Otto, after opening the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, turned the meeting over to Alan Magee in his last role as President! With a little encouragement from Steve Bragg, Alan shared with us his proudest accomplishments. They were hosting a speech contest and having Andrea Miranda move on to a speech competition at regionals. Moving forward he would like to see a little more improv and encourages members to change things up a bit. Alan passed the torch to our newly (almost) appointed President, Anastasia Pass. She has already thrown down the gauntlet and is challenging all members to bring in at least one new guest to a meeting in the hopes of doubling our members over this next year. Here's to bittersweet endings and new beginnings.

Table Topics Master, Jim Owen, wanted to bring simplicity back. After a few impressive trivia facts about the 4th of July, he gave all members a simple question involving the holiday. There were some creative responses especially from Bud Otto who found a way to work the movie Deliverance into a question about our founding fathers. Alex Brinkman was the winner of  Best Table Topics for his response to "What is your favorite 4th of July tradition?"  Alex's response was drinking games including beer pong and keg stands. Let's hear it for the liquid traditions! 

Andrea Miranda kicked the speeches off with the first of her Cooking Corner Series. A self-professed lover of baking, or more precisely, decorating baked goods, she showed us just how easy it can be to become bakers ourselves. She's even turned this passion into a business and reminded us that if we are not up for the challenge, she is. Melinda Schmitt evaluated Andrea and loved the creativity of using her speech as a cooking show. She would have loved to see some of Andrea's decorating skills in action. She cautioned Andrea to keep her voice at a higher volume especially when the air conditioner kicked in. The second speech was given by Bud Otto. His speech was titled, Being There: Chance or Destiny. He used his speech as an opportunity to let us all know it was his 75th birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday Bud! He then proceeded to share how he ended up in Georgia and with his current wife of almost 50 years. He encouraged everyone to watch Being There with Peter Sellers for a little more insight on the topic of chance versus destiny. Anastasia Pass evaluated Bud and felt he did an excellent job with the speech overall. She noted that he locked on to one side of the room more than the other and encouraged him to find a new signature move for the placements of his hands as they often lock into the same gesture with each speech.

Andrea Miranda was the Ah counter and noted we had the usual um's and so's. She also recommended that we all be a bit more careful about extending our and's and not draw out our words. The speeches would sound more succinct if we cut off our words and used pauses instead.


David did an excellent job for his first time as Toastmaster. He credited our meetings for putting himself at ease when he presented the first time at work. His meeting went so well he got approved for the investments he was requesting. Our guest, Jamie Nance joined us after living in Burkina Faso in West Africa for 2 years and 8 months with the Peace Corps . He felt Toastmasters would be a great opportunity to improve upon his speaking skills as he is job hunting. He enjoyed the meeting and we hope he joins us again.