Past_Mtgs_2006

PAST MEETINGS JULY 2006 - CURRENT

The November 13th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 "Family Reunion" meeting was a giant success except for one one small detail. The club had hoped that a number of it's past members would attend but that was not to be. None of our hoped for "past family" was able to attend but... On the other hand, Club #28 had plenty of its current members present and was able to produce an exceptional meeting which included Dennis Gola ACS, CL as the Toastmaster. Dennis regaled us with past stories of family reunions and also some Club #28 Toastmasters lore. Helping the cause was our Table Topics Master Ed Dimayuga who came up with wonderful questions about Family Reunions. Ken Blake, ACS, CC answered the question of "How has Toastmasters effected your life?" Ken remembered Club member Sam Ryan who had passed away two weeks before. Ken was asked to speak at his memorial service and was able to do so on the spur of the moment thank to Toastmasters. Deepti Dhiman was asked to tell us about her family. It turns out that Deepti's large family is planning a reunion of their own soon. Our guest, Carol Paul-Werty spoke on the "most interesting person in her family". Barbara Cusack, CC was given the task of answering what she had left behind in her life that she would like to re-discover. Her answer was "Tennis!" Paul Hagge when asked what music group should re-unite surprisingly said that the Rick Springfield Band should have a reunion tour. For the first time in a while we had three speakers! All of them came through with three excellent speeches. The highlight of the night was was Michael Machata's Ice Breaker speech, "A Life Untitled" . His speech was in three parts that covered his family, his experience in the Marines and meeting his wife. His speech hinted at more very interesting speeches to come. Jose Lopez, well on his way to his CC, introduced us to the marshal arts of Jiu Jitsu in a speech titled "The Art of Softness". Jesus was our third speaker for the evening and he made a eloquent impact by delivering a further one of his highly polished speeches, this gem titled "A Right Earned". Three brilliant speeches called for three excellent Evaluations. Dennis Gola, ACS, CC doubled as our General Evaluator and introduced Paul Hagge, CC; Deepti Dhiman and Ken Walley ACG, CL who all gave very expert evaluations. Dennis commented that Deepti's 1st evaluation ever, was even "contest worthy". Ken Blake, ACS, CL was the Grammarian, Ken Walley ACG, CL was the Timer and Barbara Cusack, CC held both jobs as AH Counter and Vote Counter to complete our panel of facilitators. Although we did not have any past members show up tonight, both of our guests, Devin Lessne and Carol Paul-Werty agreed that the Club was "like family" and said that we put on a great meeting. They both looked forward to returning next week.

The results are in! The November 6th 2008 Orlando Toastmaster Club #28 "U.S. Presidential Elections" themed meeting was a big winner! Jesus Serrano manned the lectern for the first time as a meeting Toastmaster and he scored a landslide victory. Jesus gave us some very impressive information on how the great campaigns of the past were won and lost. He also delivered a lot of truly fun trivia facts about presidential politics and he kept the meeting as fascinating and inspiring as a Barack Obama speech. Also doing a great job was Table Topics Master Paul Hagge, CC who came at the ready with some very vote-worthy questions such as "What is great about America?" which was handled by Barbara Cusack, CC. Another club "insider", Ken Walley ACG, CL was asked how the recent presidential election compared to others that he had witnessed in his life. Ken said the 2008 election was by far the most historic and dramatic. When asked what issues she would use to start a political party Deepti Dhiman answered "environmental issues" and she suggested naming it the "Green Party". She was pleased to find out that there already is such a political party! Michael Vance, one of the two new members who joined Club #28 on this very evening, was asked about the long lines at the polls. "When you are in a long line, what do you do to pass the time?" He usually brings a book to read. Monica Walley was asked about what celebrity endorsements might sway her vote. She said she pays attention to the issues more than the personalities. Our other newest club member, Michael Machata, was asked to tell us about a promise that he couldn't keep. Our two speakers tonight gave speeches worthy of any great politician, even the likes of William Jennings Bryant or Daniel Webster! Speaking first was Ed Dimayuga who kept his audience entranced with a remarkable speech titled "There Ought to be a Law!" about the need to purge the books of some of the over 4000 federal criminal laws. Ed told us of some really crazy laws still on the books and how they came to be. This was a insightful speech that made the law exciting, which even for a lawyer is something very hard to do! Jose Lopez gave a speech titled "Can He Do It?" that was a warning about the upcoming Obama administration. Using the words of President-elect Obama himself, Jose painted a picture of what could happen if the worst fears of the new presidential order came to pass. It was a well presented political speech. Ken Blake, ACS, CL served as our General Evaluator and challenged his evaluators, Dennis Gola ACS, CL and Ken Walley ACG, CL to "give a little something extra" in their evaluations for our speakers. Both gave excellent evaluations but Ken's "a little extra" put him over the time limit! The Grammarian and AH Counter reports were both exceptional on this night. They were given, respectively, by Jamie Waters and Deepti Dhiman. The other functionaries were Barbara Cusack, CC as the timer and Monica Walley as the Vote Counter. The club was awarded the Smedly Award for Club Membership by Toastmasters International and Ken Walley ACG, CL presented the ribbon to be added to the club banner. Noting the many ribbons, Ken quipped that "Our banner is starting to look like a Wooly Mammoth.". This was another meeting worthy of a landslide election for a great Toastmasters meeting!

The only thing scary about the special Wednesday October 29th 2009 edition of the Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 "Halloween!" themed meeting was just how good that the meeting was! Starting off the meeting and giving the Invocation and Pledge as well as acting as President was our acting Vice President of Education, Ken Walley, ACG, CL. Ken had the pleasure of introducing the Toastmaster for this spooky night, Paul Hagge, CC. Paul had our hair standing on edge with a "true" story about of Natalie Russ, a librarian, who although long since having past away... still haunts parts of the library. Paul added facts on the history of Halloween, memories of personal Halloweens past and a look at what this festival has become today! Paul did a great job of making this meeting interesting, fun and a little frightening as well! Barbara Cusack, CC although a Toastmaster for over two years had never tried the role of Table Topics Master until this night. Barbara did her usual excellent job with some tricks and treats for her fellow Toastmasters. Her first question was about Halloween costumes to Jamie Waters. "Did you ever dress up as a famous TV Character?" Favorite candy was the subject of her question to Ebony Langston. Toastmaster Ken Walley ACG, CL was asked about collecting for UNICEF when trick or treating. Ed Dimayuga remembered making costumes by himself but thought the store made one were a lot better. The final question brought a chilling answer from Paul Hagge, CC about an experience at a haunted house! The Table Topics session was like finding a favorite piece of candy in the treat bag! Another "Treat" for our Toastmasters was the speeches given on this night. Deepti Dhiman gave a very memorable speech (titled "It's Festival Time!") about another kind of festival, "Dhivally" or 'The Festival of Lights" held in India at this time of year. The celebration heralded the triumph of good over evil from within and whole villages were festooned in lights. Deepti's descriptions brought the festival to life. Our next speaker, Barbara Cusack, CC wanted to prepare for a testimony to be given at another Toastmasters Club based upon a speech she gave at our club's International Speech Contest titled "Positively Beautiful". The speech is a powerful call to action to help AIDS awareness in our community. Paul Hagge, CC served as our General Evaluator as well as being our Toastmaster and introducing both Jamie Waters and Ken Walley ACG, CL who both departed some valuable wisdom to our speakers. filling the functionary positions were Ed Dimayuga as our Grammarian and Vote Counter, Ebony Langston working as our Timer and Ken Walley, ACG, CL ringing the bell as the AH Counter. Even though it was only a small turnout for this Wednesday meeting the Halloween meeting this year turned out to be all treat and no tricks.

There was a lot of trivial things about the October 23rd 2008 "Trivial Pursuit" themed meeting but Club #28 Toastmasters being sharp with some excellent speeches, evaluations and table topics answers were certainly not any of them. Ed Dimayuga started off the meeting with a meaningful Invocation and Pledge and returned the lectern to Ken Walley ACG, CL who serving as the acting President and Toastmaster due to a last minute cancellation by Dennis Gola ACS, CL. Ken managed to come up with a number of unimportant facts and meaningless information throughout the meeting (Oldest housecat, Name the Seven dwarfs, etc...) that kept meeting, to quote a 60's comedian "Ve-e-e-ry Interesting" (answer: Artie Johnson). Also joining the fun was Table Topics Master Deepti Dhiman who was trying the Table Topics role for her first time. She had some great questions for our members such as the first one she asked of Monica Walley: "What is you favorite board game?" Monica said the "Game of Life because "it mirrors real life in a lot of ways." Ken Blake ACS, CL was given the next question: tell us something trivial, but interesting you would like to share. His answer had to do with a 1998 Toyota Maxium he saw in the parking garage. Ken Walley, ACG,.CL was asked to tell us about some Club #28 trivia. Louis Cainfrogna when asked about his favorite holiday named St. Patrick's Day because it also falls on his birthday. Ed Dimayuga was asked what was the oldest city that he had ever visited.. He's been to a few but Bejing was probably the oldest. Ebony Langston brought her husband Laman Langston as a guest on this evening and she could not have picked a better night to do so because she presented to the club an exceptional speech. Titled "Stress and Your Health" Ebony told us about the implications of stress in our lives and how to make it manageable. Ebony's speech was informative as well as meaningful. Following Ebony's speech was speaker Jesus Serrano who gave a very memorable speech about a very memorable night. His speech titled "A Super Bowl Night Like No Other" was really not about the Super Bowl but about the night that his daughter was born. It has many colorful word pictures that included the comparing of parts of a football game to that of becoming a new father! It was brilliant! We had two very good evaluations which were introduced by General Evaluator Monica Walley. Monica introduced Jamie Waters and Barbara Cusack, CC who both gave insightful and helpful advice. Monica praised the meeting highly in her meeting critique. Our Technical table included Ken Blake ACS, CL as the Grammarian, Ed Dimayuga as the Timer, Louis Cianfrogna as the AH Counter as well as being our Vote Counter.The club was honored to have past member Dr. Princess Anita visit the club tonight. She was delighted to have been able to have joined us on this evening! Even with the "curve balls" that were thrown at the club tonight everything went well and there was nothing trivial about this excellent meeting!

A very important subject was selected as the theme for the October 16th 2008 "Protecting Yourself from Cancer and Other Diseases!" themed Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting. The Toastmaster for the evening, Louis Cianfrogina covered a massive amount of information including histories, common sense prevention, new scientific breakthroughs and technologies that could help to protect us from a number of major health threats. Louis did a fantastic job covering this very important subject. Opening up the forum to our fellow Club #28 members was our Table Topics Master, Ken Blake, ACS, CL who asked some very appropriate and timely questions. The first question was asked of Ken Walley ACG, CL : "What habit or habits would you break to make your lifestyle a more healthy one?" Ken told about how he was able to quit smoking after 25 years. "What is your least favorite vegetable that you would eat anyway?" was asked of Jesus Serrano who was not very fond of asparagus. Visiting Area 32 Governor Richard Arden, ACS, CL was asked what simple things could everyone do to protect us from illness? Louis Cianfrogina was asked about Skin Cancer prevention. Louis pointed out that skin cancer was the #1 most prevalent cancer in the United States. Deepti Dhiman spoke on alterative forms of treatment, including was is known in India as "Rikki" also known as Faith Healing in the United States and Acupuncture. Visiting us on this night was a group of 10 students, including some who are going into the health profession from Southern Technological College who brought to the meeting by Professor Jules Jacobs. Prof. Jacobs was asked to comment on the Ben Franklin quote of "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." The last question was also asked of a guest to Caroline DeLeon, about if preventive medicine was a good idea. She agreed that some preventive medicine could help stop disease before they have an ability to develop. We had two excellent speeches on this evening. Starting with Ebony Langston who was delivering her 2nd speech which fit in with the theme of the meeting very well. Her speech was titled "The Mysteries of Medicare". Ebony did a wonderful job of unraveling the intricate rules and regulations surrounding Medicare and making it easy to understand as well as making the subject informative and interesting. Our second speaker was club President Dennis Gola, ACS, CL who gave a speech from the "Speaking to Inform" Advanced Manual. Dennis's speech titled "Mind Your Own Business" covered techniques in meditation and breathing that helps us to not only revitalize, beat stress but also helps to prevent illness! As usual, Dennis gave a 1st rate performance. The General Evaluator for the night was Jamie Waters who introduced two of Club #28 's premiere evaluators, Ken Walley ACS, CL and Barbara Cusack, CC. Both of them excelled with remarkable reviews of the speeches. Jamie also gave a very astute and highly positive evaluation of the meeting. The technical table was composed of Grammarian Deepti Dhiman, Timer Monica Walley, AH Counter Jesus Serrano and our Vote Counter was none other than Area Gov. Arden! Even though time was running short, all of our guests gave warm praise for the meeting. Steve Nichols from Brevard Community College, Prof. Jules Jacobs and a few of his students as well as Caroline DeLeon all had very positive feedback. We hope they all return soon!! This meeting showed that Club #28 has the ability to lead the community in important and relevant subjects and all who took part in this program are to be congratulated.

An award for the Best Toastmasters Meeting on a Thursday Night Anywhere should be given to Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 for the October 9th 2008 "Awards, Medals and Prizes!" themed meeting. Toastmaster Ken Walley ACG, CL announced the winners of almost every kind of award imaginable, and some that many members had never heard of. There was an award for everything from the Nobel Prizes to the Best Bed & Breakfasts in the USA. There were awards from websites to campsites. Taking the blue ribbon for the best Table Topics Master was a very welcomed returning toastmaster Louis Cianfronga who really had some excellent questions for our members. Louis asked Jose Lopez the first question "What award do you hold most dear?" Jose told how he earned the purple heart in Iraq. Another returning toastmaster Ebony Langston, remembered a time that she did not win an award that she should have won. It was when she just missed being her class valedictorian by a single grade. Our guest, Mike Machata was asked "What is an award that you would like to have won?" His answer was the Medal of Honor! Returning from over a month in India and Italy was Paul Hagge, CC. Louis asked him "What is the worst prize that you have ever won?" Jesus Serrano was given the question of "If you had the task of awarding yourself a medal what would it be for?" Jesus had the courage to leave a job to try something different. We had two speeches tonight and the first one really was an award winning speech! Barbara Cusack, CC gave her Competent Communicator graduation speech! Her speech was titled "A Loving Memory" and it was an inspiring and heartrending speech about donating organs after death. Congratulations Barbara! Jesse Baker presented his 2nd speech titled "IBM: A History of Change!" Jesse's speech told the amazing story of the IBM Corp. from it's start in 1896 to its current place as a technological giant. Jesse cover over 100 years of history in 7 minutes! Monica Walley who seems to be trying a new role almost every week, was our General Evaluator for her 1st time. She got to introduce two excellent evaluators: Ken Blake, ACS, CL and Paul Hagge, CC. Both evaluations were rich in advice and enthusiastic support. Monica's own meeting evaluation was one of the most upbeat that any club could receive! "This was incredible!' said Monica "I loved every minute of this meeting!" Rounding out command performaces as our functionaries tonight were: Dennis Gola, ACS, CL as the Grammarian, Jesus Serrano as our Timer, Jose Lopez as AH Counter and Ebony Langston as the Vote Counter. Ebony had the best job as she got to give out the ribbons for our winner. Tonight however... everyone who came to this meeting was a winner.

"Right On!" and "Groovy" were the perfectly acceptable expressions for the October 2nd, 2008 "The 1970's" themed Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting. Monica Walley served as our tour guide of the strange world of the 70's, a time long before she was born. For the second week in a row we had a 1st time Toastmaster. Monica did a smashing job remembering disco, pet rocks, mood rings, Watergate and many of the other things that have endeared us to a very wild decade. Also trying a position for the first time was Ed Dimayuga who was our Table Topics Master. Ed asked some questions that brought back the glow of the black light and the smell of incense. (What did you think I was going to say?) Of Deepti Dhiman, Ed asked "What Blockbuster Movie from the 70's era do you remember best?" Deepti remembered the classic Jaws (1975) and Speilberg's ET (1982). "What self-help book has had an effect on your life?" was asked of Ken Blake, ACS, CL. "How did women roles evolve in the 1970's?" was asked of Ken Walley ACG, CL. "What was your favorite music of the 1970's?" was asked of returning guest Michael Vance. His surprising answer was the oft-maligned disco music of the time! Monica Walley was asked about fashion in the 70's. She did not care for the incredibly loud polyester suits that men were forced to wear! We had two remarkable speeches on this evening. Our first speech was a jaw-dropping Ice Breaker titled "The Nurturing of a Serrano" from Jesus Serrano who told a passionate and a compassionate tale about his young life. Raised by his parents, 4 sisters and a brother, his siblings averaging 20 years older than him, he had no lack of guidance, wisdom or advice. Overcoming obstacles and developing a love of the sea, he now sees himself coming full circle with his own family. It was a powerful and entertaining speech. The speech by Jose Lopez was a knockout! Jose put on a true performance, a contest caliber speech titled "Muhammad Ali" that literally brought the boxing ring to the lectern. With body movement, hand gestures and vocal variety, Jose jabbed, bobbed and ducked his way to an exciting and entertaining success! "I AM THE GREATEST!" could have been said of Jose tonight as well as Muhammad Ali. Ken Walley ACG, CL was our General Evaluator and he was honored to be able to introduce a visiting Toastmaster, Kevin Adams, CC who had bravely volunteered to evaluate Jesus's Ice Breaker Speech. Jesus was rewarded with an evaluation that was worthy of his excellent speech. Ken Blake, ACS, CL also shined as the evaluator for Jose's speech. The functionaries for tonight were: Deepti Dhiman as the Grammarian and she is fast becoming one of this club's best at that position by the way. Dennis Gola, ACS, CL in a limited vocal role, due to a bad throat, was the AH Counter, Ken and Monica Walley traded off and on as timers and our guest Ritesh Rahate, served well as our Vote Counter. Amy Reed, Kevin Adams, CC; Michael Vance, James Lee and Ritesh Rahate all had very positive things to say about the meeting. Like Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd... this 70's show really rocked.

The "Going Green" themed September 25th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was like a breath of fresh air underneath clear, blue skies. Deepti Dhiman was our Toastmaster for this evening. Deepti was a bit "green" herself, this being her first time at the job but Deepti handled the position with the skill of a pro, as if she had done it many times before. She gave us great ideas for not only saving our planet but also saving our money as well! She entertained us and educated us all the way through the meeting. Spending a lot of time behind the lectern tonight was Ken Walley, ACG, CL who had to cover for some Toastmasters who were unable to attend at the last moment. His first role was as acting President because of a car breakdown on the way to the meeting held up both Dennis Gola, ACS, CL and Ken Blake, ACS, CL. Ken also was our Table Topics Master and he got into the "green of things" with some excellent questions. His first question was to Toastmaster Bob Blaydes, CC, CL, "If you were President, what would you think would be the most pressing issues environmentally?" The next question was asked of Deepti Dhiman: "What are some of the things that everyone could do to help the environment?" Jesus Serrano was asked "Is it too late to solve the problems facing us?" One of our guests took up the challenge of answering a table topics question. Lisa March answered the question "What are you looking for in a candidate who is running for office in regards to environmental issues?" Many of tonight's answers brought great ideas and good solutions to a number of pressing problems. Also dealing the the theme of "Going Green" were both of our speeches tonight. Giving his second speech in two weeks, Ed Dimayuga, who gave his Ice Breaker speech last week, gave a speech titled "Good Choices" which used the country of China as a powerful warning of what is to come if we do not halt pollution and the destruction to our natural habitats. Ken Walley, ACG, CL gave a speech titled "Going Green!" about the "little things" we can all do to make our world a better place to live in. He mentioned among many other things: changing light bulbs, using canvas bags when shopping and rediscovering the library. Ken B. and Dennis took a bus from where the car had broke down to arrive at the meeting just in time to hear the speeches and in time for Ken Blake ACS, CL to be the General Evaluator! Ken had the pleasure to introduce two evaluators who have been away for a few weeks: Bob Blaydes, CC and Susan Diechen! Welcome Back! Both delivered with excellent evaluations of our speeches. Susan also filled in as Grammarian and led a strong group of functionaries tonight: Dennis Gola, ACS, CL as the AH Counter, Jesus Serrano as the Timer and also as our Vote Counter. At one time our guests, Merlinda Eugene, Lisa March, Lisa Huynh and Michael Vance, almost outnumbered our members, we still produced a very exciting, interesting and fun meeting! It turned out to be a great evening!

Someday when they write the book of great Orlando Toastmasters Club#28 meetings, the "Books and Reading" themed meeting of September 18, 2008 will be a bright chapter. Jose Lopez served as our Toastmaster and again transcended the role of Toastmaster and delivered a sterling performance that was laced with humor, wit, interesting facts and drama. Like in a great novel, Jose brought to life the wisdom, fun and enjoyment of books and reading. Also bringing the written word to life was our Table Topics Master Ken Blake, ACS, CL who was able to read his audience like a book when asking them the questions we all wanted to hear, such as : (Asked of Barbara Cusack) "What is your favorite place to read?"; "What is your favorite character from a novel?" (To Dennis Gola, ACS, CL , who answered CIA crackerjack agent Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy's fiction series); "What book, banned from your High School library, did you enjoy the most?" (Ken Walley ACG, CL recommended "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote.); "What book was better than the movie" (Guest Ken Holder said the Harry Potter book series was far better than the movies!); "What fiction book do you wish was truly real?" (Asked of Jose Lopez, he noted a book titled "Behold the Pale White Horse" that he wished parts of were not real); the last question asked by Ken B. was of our guest Sid Sivasilam which was "Who is your favorite author?" Sid enjoys reading the tangled mysteries of Dan Brown such as his book "Angels and Demons". The speeches tonight could have been the basis of a couple of "best seller list" books starting with our first speech Ed Dimayuga's Ice Breaker Speech titled "Why and How". Ed took us on a journey of his life that showed an incredible ability to adapt to many challenges. Ed also displayed remarkable talent as a dynamic speaker! Congratulations Ed! Giving her second speech tonight was Deepti Dhiman who gave a speech titled "Culture Shock" about the differences of the American culture and her native India. Like her Ice Breaker speech, this presentation was rich in astute observations and warm humor. She won over her audience at the very start and never let go of our attention. With two excellent speeches, two worthy evaluators were needed to do them justice. Ken Walley ACG, CL who was also acting as the General Evaluator, was up to the task of reviewing Ed's Ice Breaker speech. Barbara Cusack also proved to be just as proficient giving the evaluation of Deepti's speech. Because the speeches were so good, they provided a real challenge for these two learned toastmasters. Excellent support for the meeting was provided by our guest Sid Sivasilam who served as the Vote Counter, Timer Jamie Waters, AH Counter Jesus Serrano and Grammarian Dennis Gola ACS, CL This meeting was like a true classic, from the first words to the last, like a great book it was entertaining all the way through!

If you were smart you would have taken a train, plane or automobile (most likely) to the September 11th 2008 "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" themed meeting because it was yet another brilliant Club #28 meeting. The meeting started out with a poignant Invocation and Pledge by Toastmaster Jose Lopez who remembered our troops on this day that many Americans devote to patriotism. Dennis Gola ACS, CL was our Toastmaster and he brought plenty of interesting facts about Planes (A Boeing 747 has six million parts!), Trains (The first commercial train traveled at 8 mph!) and Automobiles (Henry Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line!) Dennis used imagination and skill to create a fascinating evening. Also coming through was Stephen Bentley our Table Topics Master who had some excellent questions for our members. Club #28's newest member, Jesus Serrano was asked the first question: "What was the most memorable road trip you have ever taken?" Of the three choices of transportation, Deepti Dhiman chose to travel by train when asked her preference by Stephen. Ed Dimayuga got the question of what places he would like to see on a trip from Florida to Alaska. Barbara Cusack was asked where she would like to g with her own private jet. Part of her answer included California, China, France and Key West, Florida! Dennis Gola ACS, CL was asked to sell us on the "Bullet Train". Our guest, Peggy Fliess answered the question of what she would do if given an army personnel carrier. We were blessed with two Ice Breaker speeches on this night! The first was a remarkable speech titled "The Artist Formerly Known as " given by Ebony Langston. Ebony traced her history through many impressive challenges including earning a degree in Psychology from Duke, working as a child protective officer and as an insurance adjuster. Just to name a few things that she has done. We really look forward to hearing more about Ebony! Equally impressive was the first speech of Jesse Baker who titled his speech "I'm Glad to Be Here!" . Jesse told of how he worked his way through college and earned his MBA from Georgia Tech. He now has a family in Orlando as he is working for the IBM Corp. Both the Ice Breakers were exceptionally well delivered for 1st speeches and both speakers have a wealth of talents to explore as they go through the Toastmasters program. Monica Walley was our third speaker giving a speech she titled "Where I Was and Where I Am" about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. What was different about Monica's speech was it was an account of a 12 year old girl at a Middle School in Orlando and how that day's events effected her life then and how that day in September of 2001 applies to her life now. It was a remarkable speech. Three exciting speeches deserved three good evaluations and General Evaluator Ken Walley ACG, CL had the pleasure of introducing Barbara Cusack, Jamie Waters and Ken Blake, ACS, CL, all tremendous evaluators. They did not disappoint. All three gave riveting and helpful reviews of the speeches. Other highlights of this meeting including skilled job by first time AH Counter Jesus Serrano, in addition to which Stephen Bentley excelled with a tremendous Grammarian report and very adept work as our Timer by Deepti Dhiman. Another guest, Chris Markee served as our Vote Counter and handed out the ribbon with a dynamic flair. This was a meeting that brought out the best of Orlando Toastmaster's Club #28... A Rolls Royce of a meeting so to speak.

The August 27th 2008 "Back to School!" themed meeting turned out to both a remarkable and informative meeting that was unafraid to examine the accomplishments and the flaws of the American educational system. Stephen Bentley, the Toastmaster for this night's discussion, led an astounding dialog that was both inspiring and revealing. Also adding weight to the subject was first time Table Topic Master Ebony Langston. She did a remarkable job of asking preterit questions that brought out exceptional answers covering a wide range of subjects about today's school systems. For example, her first question to Jose Lopez was "How important is it for a parent to take a role in their child's education?" Another question, asked of Ken Walley ACG, CL was "How can we level the community playing field so that all children receive a quality education?" Visiting Orange County Club #129 member Luvenia Hart, CC, was given the question "How has education effected your life?" Luvenia explained that both of her parents were educators and that her education has helped to define almost every career decision she would make later. The last question was asked of Ken Blake ACS, CL "How fair is it to ask an 18 year old to pick a major that might effect them for the rest of their life?" Ken made the point that it is one thing to pick a major at eighteen but where you end up in life maybe someplace completely different. Also on this evening, Club #28 celebrated a very special event. The first address tonight was an Ice Breaker speech from one of the club's newest members: Deepti Dhiman! Deepti's speech aptly titled "Across 7 Oceans", told of a life that started in India and set out to conquer the world architectural design in America. The real power of this speech came from Deepti's uncompromising will to succeed, in life and behind the lectern. It was simply an excellent first speech. Deepti received a standing ovation for her effort. With the Humorous Speech contest coming up next week, Toastmaster Barbara Cusack wisely practiced her speech titled "Queen of Clean". She gave a hilarious comical performance that had everyone laughing as she told about the "different stages" of chaotic disorganization. Barbara's speech has a good chance of winning next week! Ken Blake CS, CL led the evaluation element of the assembly as the General Evaluator. He introduced two evaluators, Ken Walley ACG, CL and Luvenia Hart, CC who both responded with meaningful and insightful evaluations. Ken B. as well gave a superlative evaluation of the meeting. A meeting this first-rate would not have been possible if it was not for the supporting functionaries: Timer Jamie Waters, Grammarian Jose Lopez, AH Counter Ken Blake ACS, CL and Vote Counter Ken Walley, ACG, CL. Indeed on this evening Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 put on a class on how to deliver a splendid Toastmasters meeting!

The August 20th 2008 "The Olympics!" themed Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting should win a gold metal among Toastmasters meetings! Our Toastmaster Jose Lopez trained hard and brought his very best game to the Toastmaster role. He succeed like Michael Phelps did at the 2008 Beijing games. Jose entertained and delighted all of those present at the meeting with a dazzling array of Olympics stories, facts and up-close- and- personal profiles of the game's sports heroes of past and present. Table Topics Master Ken Walley ACG, CL also came through with a number of challenging questions that had even the most competitive Table Topics athlete sweating hard! Jesse Baker responded to the question: "What do you consider your 'Gold Medal' moment in your life?" Jesse referred to the recent birth of his son. Deepti Dhiman answered a question about how to deal with disappointment when given the recent example of China's most popular Track and Field star, Liu Xiang who was forced to withdraw from his races because of injury. Ken Blake ACS, CL answered the question of how some players, like the USA Beach Volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh dominate their sport. Ken said simply that it was "heart and desire". Jose Lopez answered a question of what the limits will be on the world records. New member Ebony Langston gave a world record answer to the question of : "Can we solve our nation's problems through sports competition instead of through mass destruction?" Our two speeches tonight were also of Olympic quality. Our first speaker, Stephen Bentley gave his best speech yet titled "What is PODETR?" Stephen, using humor, enthusiasm and visual props, explained about changes in the way temporary tags are printed, and traced, to protect the public. His speech was informative but remarkably entertaining as well. Our second speaker Dennis Gola ACS, CL was simply at the top of his game with a speech titled "You Write The Speech" .Dennis weaved a coherent speech from 7 different subjects and using 7 random words, eight if you count the Word of the Day, provided to him by the club members only a minute before he started the speech. Some of the topics were: "If I had the Time"; "Goal Setting", "Football", "Tropical Storm Fay", "Terrorism", "Inflation" and the "Secret to Happiness". It was an impressive effort and a lot of fun to watch. Ken Walley ACG, CL also doubled as the General Evaluator and evaluator for Dennis. Also evaluating was Ken Blake, ACS, CL who had some brilliant insight to Stephen's speech. Ken W. in his "meeting review" pointed out that his meeting was a tremendous success partly because of our newer members Jesse Baker, Ebony Langston and Deepti Dhiman willingness to become involved. Deepti did a very competent job as our Grammarian, Ebony served as Vote Counter and Jesse was a very good AH Counter. It was the first time for all three of them at those positions. The club longest standing club veteran, Ken Blake, ACS, CL was the Timer . The entire meeting was like a world record winning relay race. Each club member passing the baton to the next, never a drop, not a falter in footstep with blazing speed and intense purpose... all the way to the finish line. This meeting was pure gold.

The August 14th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 "Leadership" themed meeting was unlike any meeting of the past. Club #28 invited our Division 'C' Governor Bruce Gould DTM and our Area 32 Governor Richard Arden, ACB, CL to present a special presentation on officer training which fulfilled the club's requirement for the President's Distinguished Award goal. This meeting was exceptional not only because of the large amount of information presented, but also because of the sharpening of our club's focus on leadership. The meeting started as Sgt. at Arms Jose Lopez called the meeting to order and led the club in the Invocation and Pledge. Club President Dennis Gola ACS, CL covered the club business which included the announcement that Club #28 would try to stay at the Orlando Public Library and that the cost of the meeting room would be defrayed by a $2.00 fee from those who attend. Ken Walley ACG, CL acted as our Toastmaster for the evening and introduced the theme of Leadership. He only had to introduce one functionary tonight as there was no AH Counter or Grammarian positions tonight.. The lone functionary was Monica Walley who did her usual superb job as the evening's Timer. We were very fortunate to have a featured speaker tonight, Jose Lopez who gave a speech that directly related to the theme of the evening. Titled "Lead from the Front" the speech borrowed from the principles of leadership that Jose had acquired from serving in the Army and applied to everyday life. This was a compelling and inspiring speech that motivated everyone who heard it even had they not served in the military. Dennis Gola, ACS, CL was introduced next as our General Evaluator. He introduced Susan Deichen as our evaluator for Jose's speech. Susan gave a evaluation worthy of an evaluation contest. She gave examples of Jose's strong speaking points, insightful opportunities for improvement and highly supportive encouragement. Area 32 Governor Richard Arden, ACB, CL and Division 'C' Governor Bruce Gould, DTM gave a 45 minute special Presentation titled "Leadership Roles and Officer Training" that gave a strong overview of the Toastmaster Club officer positions and what was involved in managing a successful Toastmasters Club. Bruce noted that it was good that we had young members and new members here to listen to the presentation because maybe they would be inspired to be future club leaders. Dennis Gola ACS, CL returned to the lectern as the General Evaluator to give a very positive and upbeat review of the meeting. He also returned as the club president to close the meeting. Before the gavel went down he called upon the Vice President of Education Dr. Mike Deichen CC, CL to report on the next week's schedule (we are meeting on Wednesday next week!) and also to congratulate Deepti Dhiman on becoming our newest member of the club. She joined right before the meeting started! It was also noted that the Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests sign up sheet was being passed around for the September the 4th contest date. When the gavel went down everyone was in agreement that this was a truly remarkable and productive meeting! That is, after all, what leadership is all about!

Everyone at the Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 got blown away with the August 7th 2008 "Hurricanes: Don't get Blown Away!" themed meeting because our Toastmaster Dr. Michael Deichen, CC CL did such a Category 5 job. Dr. Mike was on top of things with enough facts and stories about the most dangerous storms on earth to inspire anyone to prepare for when the next one might visit. Let's hope that's not for another 50 years. Adding to the discussion on hurricanes was a thorough effort by our Table Topics Master Stephen Bentley Stephen started with an interesting question of our club President Dennis Gola ACS, CL, he asked "Why do people try to stay at home during a hurricane when it would be safer to evacuate?' Dennis brought out some very good points. One of our two newest member Jesse Baker, who joined on this night, was asked what he would name all hurricanes if they all could only have one name. Jessie choose "Bob" to make them sound a little less dangerous. Toastmaster Ken Blake, ACS, CL remembered working for FEMA when asked about a time in his life when he had to rebuild. Jamie Waters spoke about being surrounded by Chaos and staying calm. One of our guests, Ebony Langston, took on the question of what would have to be biggest challenge taking on a Hurricane, a Gator, a Knight or a Seminole! Our speeches were a force to be reckoned with as well! Ken Walley ACG, CL started as our first prepared speaker with a speech titled "Who We Are and Why You Should Join Us!" This was a speech that Ken would give if he had to tell about Club #28 to an organization that was interested in Toastmasters. It was a perfect speech to give on a night that we had 6 guests! Ken told about what we do at our meetings and how Toastmasters has helped him in his job and everyday life. Speaking next for the second week in a row was Susan Deichen. Susan did a tremendous presentation about handwriting analysis titled "The Real You Revealed!" This speech combined education with a lot of Susan's trademark sharp wit and humor. Both of these speeches were excellent. Ken Walley ACG, CL also covered as our General Evaluator and had the pleasure of introducing two polished evaluators. Dennis Gola ACS, CL who gave Ken's evaluation and returning Club #28 Toastmaster Joe Cannazzaro who gave a sparking review of Susan's speech. The functionaries tonight were Monica Walley who served as our Timer, Jamie Waters who gave a very good report as our Grammarian and Ken Blake ACS, CL who also excelled as our AH Counter. Ed Dimayuga, who also joined tonight was our Vote Counter. Unfourtunely, with time running out we did not get to hear comments from our guest tonight who were Deepti Dhimond, Teresa . Macleod, Herman Chahal, Tai Cocchia, Ebony Langston and Cheryle Robinson-Hayes. Many of our guests however approached our Treasurer Ken Walley after the meeting and said they looked forward to joining the club! I guess you could say Club #28 took them by storm!

The Orlando Toastmaster Club #28 returned to its regular meeting room for the July 31st 2008 "Opposites: Apples and Oranges!" themed meeting. Again filling in for our President was VPE Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL; who got the meeting going with a professional flair. He was delighted to see so many guests attending. They were in luck because this would turn out to be a fantastic meeting and one of the major reasons was the incredible performance by the Toastmaster for the evening, Stephen Bentley! It was amazing that this brilliant job was Stephen's first time in the Toastmaster role. Throughout the evening Stephen gave examples of opposite including the introductions of the functionaries and speakers. For example he introduced "the opposite of tongue-tied is our Table Topics Master the articulate Ken Walley, ACG, CL!" Ken came ready with some of the most challenging questions ever put before any toastmaster club. He asked Dr. Deichen to "define the words 'good' and 'bad'" Toastmaster Paul Hagge, CC was asked to describe eating an Apple and an Orange and telling us the difference between the two. Jose Lopez had the task of picking an historic figure that he was the opposite of. Ken Blake, ACS, CL was given the choice between a Rolls Royce and and gas saving Toyota Prius. Visiting Toastmaster from England, David Sherwood was asked what makes for a good marriage. Our second time visitor Ed Dimyauga had an excellent answer for the question "What has been the hottest you have ever been and the coldest?" Ed said getting in a car on a summer afternoon in Florida was the hottest that he has ever been! The opposite of boring was our speeches on this night. Our first speaker, Monica Walley delivered her Ice Breaker speech titled "In My Life" and impressed her audience with a well written speech that was presented was was thought of as beyond the ability of her experience and years. Monica stated that she was not sure of what she really wanted to do with her life just yet but that the amount effort she put into her future would define its success. Congratulations Monica! Speaking next was the opposite of oratory failure: Susan Deichen! Every time Susan has given a speech she has been a complete success and tonight was no different. "Go fish: Omega 3 for You and Me" was the title of her speech and she told us how to stay healthy and improve our eating habits through seafood. She gave us great nutritional ideas as well as some yummy recipes. Ken Blake ACS, CL was unable to speak at our last meeting but made up of it at this meeting as our General Evaluator. Ken introduced our two evaluators, Jamie Waters (for Monica) and Ken Walley, ACG, CL (for Susan) giving Ken one of the most memorable introductions ever. Both of the evaluations were truly helpful and well accomplished. Ken B. also gave a highly detailed meeting evaluation that could have counted as a speech had he delivered it for credit. Credit should also be given to a great technical table which was served by Jose Lopez as our Timer, Dr. Mike Deichen, CC, CL as our Grammarian, Paul Hagge, CC who did a wonderful job as AH Counter and visitor Dionne Sherwood who served as our Vote Counter. We had brilliant comments from our guests about the meeting. Dionne and David from "across the pond" said they were delighted by the meeting as well as great comments by Deepti Dhiman, Ed Dimayuga and Herman ______. Best yet is that Deepti and Ed both have made plans to join our club! With meeting like this the opposite of not joining would be taking advantage of a great opportunity.

The Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 July 24th 2008 meeting theme of "That's Entertainment!" was the perfect theme for this evening. Double booked in our regular conference room, the library moved our meeting to the 1st floor library main stage area! Club #28 was lucky to have a Toastmaster this evening who was comfortable on a stage, Ken Walley ACG, CL. Ken did his best to entertain the club and any library patrons who wandered into the meeting as well. Ken covered entertainment in the movies, music, and of course, on the stage with facts and lists about current and past legendary films, records and hit Broadway shows. Ken had some help from toastmaster Monica Walley as well who appeared as the Table Topics Master. Monica asked some great questions about what keeps us amused. Jose Lopez was asked what his favorite form of entertainment was. John Bonowitz-Coffey was asked who his favorite comedienne was. Dr. Mike Deichen, CC, CL was asked what music group most influenced him while growing up. Ken Walley ACG, CC was asked what his most beloved and most despised TV shows were. Monica also inquired of Susan Deichen what was her all-time favorite movie. It was also a favorite of millions around the world: Mary Poppins! Our speeches stole the show tonight starting with Paul Hagge's 10th speech, earning his Competent Communicator Award. Titled "The Finish Line!" The speech reviewed his Toastmasters journey and inspired us to never give up on reaching our goals. Congratulations Paul! Our next speaker, Stephen Bentley gave his 2nd speech titled "A Coin Flip" which was an overview of controversial concerns about Globalization. Stephen's speech was very well thought out and informative. Thanks to the quick work of auto mechanic Ken Blake, ACS, CL who got a broken car started just in time to get our General Evaluator Dennis Gola ACS, CL to the meeting, we had another excellent evaluations session! Dennis introduced two very good evaluators, Barbara Cusack and Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL. Both of them were up to the task and delivered some remarkable insight to the speeches this evening. Dennis commented in his meeting review that he had been trying to get the library to let us have a meeting on the main stage for some time and he hopes now that they will be able to let us do this again! Jamie Waters did an enthusiastic job as our Vote Counter, Susan Deichen had a brilliant Grammarian report, Jose Lopez was the club AH Counter (it was nice to hear that bell ring again!) and doing fine work as our timer was John Bonowitz-Coffey. All three of our guests, Adam Bewter, Ed Dimyuga and Bryan Akins all gave raving reviews of our "show"! For sheer entertainment, this was the place to be Thursday night!

The July 17th 2008 "Vacations" themed Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was like being on a wonderful holiday. Great entertainment, no worries and some exotic food, well food for thought anyway. Susan Deichen outdid herself with a brilliant offering as our Toastmaster this evening. She told us many things about vacations that this club had never known before. For example, Orlando is the #1 tourist destination in the world and that most people stay at the home of a relative while on vacation. Also did you know that the #1 favorite activity while on vacation is shopping? Susan kept us entertained throughout the meeting. So did our Table Topics Master Stephen Bentley. It was Stephen's first time as Table Topics Master and he made the best of it. Here are some of the excellent questions he asked during the session: 1.) (To Jose Lopez) What is the most memorable meal that you have ever eaten on vacation? 2.) (To Ken Walley ACG, CL) When you are on vacation, are you an adventurer or a person who relaxes? Ken likes to relax.3.) (To Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL) Tell us about an exciting vacation? 4.) (To Susan Deichen) How would you spend a vacation in Las Vegas? 5.) (To Monica Walley) What is your fondest vacation memory? All of the answers were extraordinary and they took us to many places around the globe. You did not have to go far however to find some great speeches! We had two amazing efforts on this night starting with Barbara Cusack's 9th basic manual speech titled "10/10/80". It was a speech about how to plan for your future by tithing, savings and investments. Barbara's speech had some deep wisdom that was especially helpful during today's rocky economic times. The second speech of the evening was just as dynamic. Jose Lopez gave his third speech to the club titled "A Life Distilled" Jose was right on point when he inspired us to follow the formula of "Thoughts to Actions to Results" and then use your results to create more thoughts. "Results are our feedback!" said Jose. Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL; was a very busy man this meeting. Not only did he fill in for our President on this evening, but he also served as our General Evaluator and the Evaluator for Barbara's speech. It must be noted that he led a skilled mission in all of the roles. Barbara Cusack also juggled positions giving Dr. Diechen's wife, Susan her evaluation. Both Mike and Barbara proffered highly successful reviews of the speeches. It was not a large turnout even though most Toastmaster clubs would have given away their best gavel for such a great meeting. Everyone had to pitch in to make it work. Monica Walley handled two functionary roles that of AH Counter (her first time) and also as Vote Counter. Her father, Ken Walley ACG, CL was the Timer and serving well as our Grammarian was Stephen Bentley. Like a good vacation, everyone left wanting more. Thank goodness that there is another Club #28 meeting next week!

The theme for the July 10th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was "Getting Your House in Order!" and Club #28 certainly did that by coming up with one of its best meetings in recent history! There was an excellent turnout but that was to be expected because our Toastmaster for the evening was Barbara Cusack. Barbara, who knows a few things about cleaning, being in the housekeeping business for over 20 years, went beyond just the helpful tips and domestic science to share many insightful perceptions about having a life in order and in balance. Appearing for the first time as an official Toastmaster, young Monica Walley did a remarkable job as the Table Topics Master. Her first question was asked of Barbara "What was the biggest mess that you have ever had to clean up?" Barbara told of some harrowing tasks left to her by some of her clients. Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL, was asked how the chores were divided up at his house. Ken Blake, ACS, CL was asked "If you owned a maid service, what would you call it and how much would you pay the maids?" Monica's father, Ken Walley, ACG, CL was asked "What was the biggest mess made by one of your kids?" Ken took Monica off the hook and told about how her brother and former Club #28 Toastmaster, Robin Knight, CC, was in a different league from her when making a disaster area out of their bedrooms. Dennis Gola ACS, CL also got a great question being asked "What do you like and what do you hate, about housework?" Dennis liked "doing as little as possible." We were blessed with two wonderful speakers and two truly auspicious presentations tonight. Going first was a delightful speech (titled "Lemons") delivered by Paul Hagge that was on the surface about a summons to jury duty but in reality about viewing the world in a positive perspective. He brought a new viewpoint to the old adage "When given lemons, make lemonade." His speech was more like expensive champagne however than lemonade. Our next speech was one of the most ingenious and inventive speeches ever performed before our club. Susan Deichen's speech titled "CPR for Club #28: Breathing New Life into an Old Club" used props from the kindergarten class that she teaches in order to give us ideas on how to increase club membership. Some of her ideas were simply brilliant. If we had speeches like this speech every meeting, the only membership problem we would have is not being able to find enough chairs to seat everyone. Barbara's husband, Dr. Michael Deichen, filled two positions that as the Master Evaluator and the first evaluator for Paul's speech. The Deichen's were on fire tonight as Mike gave a exquisite evaluation. Not to be outdone, Ken Blake, ACS, CC also came through with a very good review for Barbara's speech. Even the Grammarian and AH Counter reports were 1st class this evening. The functionaries were AH Counter Ken Walley, ACG, CL; Grammarian Dennis Gola ACS, CL; Timer Jose Lopez, and Vote Counter Stephen Bentley. Besides two very positive comments by our guests Tim Gale and Jesse Baker, toastmaster John Bonowitz-Coffey also spoke some encouraging words about the meeting. This was a night that Club #28 not only had it "house in order" but it's "act in order" as well.

Each Summer Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 Celebrates the past six months and looks towards the future with the club's "Summer Celebration and the Installation of Officers". On June 26th 2008 The club once again gathered for this special meeting. The evening started with a Call to Order by our new Sergeant at Arms Jose Lopez. An excellent Invocation and Pledge was led by Toastmaster Susan Deichen and the meeting was given over to a master at being a Master of Ceremonies: Ken Blake, ACS, CL. Ken was just one of the many highlights of this evening. Given a night of many "political" and lengthy, speeches, Mr. Blake was at his best! Injecting humor and inspiration, he somehow kept the meeting fresh and exciting from gavel to gavel. Even more amazing was that Ken kept the meeting on time!. Our featured speaker on this evening was Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL who gave his Competent Leader graduation speech "The Art of Evaluation" Michael handled this speech very well and even though it was a longer speech, it was packed so full of excellent advice and presented so well that the speech did not seem long enough! Ken Walley ACG, CL was pressed into an evaluator's role shortly before the meeting but he was able to give a very good evaluation of Dr. Mike's speech. President Walley did not have to wait long to return to the lectern as the next item on the Agenda was his "Farewell Address #3" to the club. Ken gave a speech that brought out some of the accomplishments of Club #28, including an impressive International Speech and Table Topics Contest as well as members earning awards and the club overcoming some very strong challenges. Ken also looked to the future saying that Membership needs to be "job #1" for the next administration. He thanked his fellow officers who he praised highly. "Do not let anyone tell you that Club #28 is not a great club." said Ken. "This is the best club on Earth!" Next, Area 49 Governor Bruce Gould, ACG, CL addressed the club. He announced the many changes due to the splitting of District 47 into District 47 and 84. Orlando Club #28 will now be a part of Area 32 of District 84 and Bruce will be taking over as our District Governor! Bruce noted that Club #28 would have achieved a Select Distinguished Club status had it been able to keep 20 members and he challenged the club to achieve President's Distinguished status in the coming year. Governor Gould also presided over the "Passing of the Gavel Ceremony" For the first time in years ALL of the incoming officers were on hand to be inducted! Sgt-at-Arms Jose Lopez was followed by incoming Treasurer Ken Walley ACG, CL. The new Secretary, Susan Deichen was sworn in next and then Vice President of Public Relations-elect Paul Hagge. After Paul , the very important job of Vice President of Membership was literally, and symbolically with the gavel, placed in the hands of Barbara Cusack and then came the Vice President of Education Dr. Michael Deichen, CC, CL;. The last officer, of course, to be inducted was the incoming President Dennis Gola, ACS, CL. Dennis had a lot to say when he approached the lectern to give his Inaugural Address. Dennis spoke for over 20 minutes on many, different subjects. He painted a vision of a stronger club and how he would have to rely on his officers in order to restore the glory of our club's past. Membership and club growth was once again brought into the main focus as well as a call to dedication from our members and a hope that we can bring back some of the members that have left the club over the past years. It was a powerful speech. At end of the meeting guest Jessie Baker gave a very positive impression of the meeting in his comments. He said that he wants to return to experience a "more normal" meeting. The true highlight of this night's special celebration happened when guest Monica Walley a visitor to many, many different meetings over the past decade, stated that she looked forward to joining our club now that she had turned 18 years old recently and can do so legally! The room erupted into applause. This is a hopeful time for Club #28 and it's future could not be in better hands.

The June 19th, 2008 "Weather" themed meeting was so good it that it produced a torrent of praise and a flood of toastmaster talent! As shocking as lightening was our Toastmaster Ken Walley ACG, CL who did not let a lack of club attendance rain on the parade. Indeed, most of those who made it to the meeting had to brave a thunderstorm but they were rewarded with an excellent shower of Table Topics, Speeches and Evaluations. Ken started the meeting with a 5 day weather forecast for the Orlando Area. He also brought along a number of interesting weather facts and records. Our Table Topics Master, Jose Lopez came prepared with some fabulous questions about weather. His first question directed to Dennis Gola, ACS, CL was "How could have the Hurricane Katrina disaster been handled better?" Ken Blake ACS, CL was asked "Have you ever been happy that the weather sabotaged your plans?" Jose asked Ken Walley ACG, CL "What was the coolest place that he had ever been?" Ken said in the deep freezer at his job at Disney! Stephen Bentley was asked to describe a "perfect afternoon" He said it would be a day watching the Atlanta Braves play at Turner Field. Our guest, Kim Anderson gave a fantastic answer about visiting Indonesia when asked "Where is the best weather you've ever seen?" Our speeches were as bright as the sun on a Florida summer afternoon. Stephen Bentley gave his first speech before Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 and his first speech as a Toastmaster as well! Stephen's Ice Breaker speech titled "The American Dream", wondered where had our hopes and dreams for our country gone? In the speech Stephen told of a vision of a non-profit organization to help bring back the values and living standards of the past. His speech painted a picture of an idealistic and compassionate person and showed us a dynamic speaker as well.. Ken Walley ACG, CL filled in as our second speaker. Ken gave a speech titled "Toastmasters Sells" which was based on an article written for the club website. Ken brought out many reasons how Toastmasters can help future sales representatives become successful. In the process he "sold" Toastmasters as well! Jose Lopez after giving Table Topics Master a try for the first time, also decided to see if he could be our General Evaluator. He handled that job as if he had been doing it for years. He had the pleasure of re-introducing Ken Walley ACG, CL to review Stephen's Ice Breaker. Ken called for a standing ovation in honor of Stephen's first speech. Dennis Gola ACS, CL had honor of giving the evaluation of Ken W.'s speech. In the evaluation Dennis called the speech "masterful". Ken Blake ACS, CL. filled all of the positions of our technical table: AH Counter, Grammarian and Timer and he did a remarkable job in every department! Guest Kim Anderson was one of our best ever Vote Counters. Kim, along with fellow guest Patricia Garcia both gave resounding and encouraging comments about the meeting. I sure hope they both join so we could have a few more people to experience upbeat, positive meetings like this one was. All this meeting needed was for a rainbow to form over the library to make it perfect.

The June 12th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters #28 2008 meeting had a very interesting theme of "Living Life Without Limits!" that seemed to bring out the philosophers in our members. From the moment our new Sgt. at Arms Jose Lopez brought the gavel down to start the meeting our toastmasters were engaged in enlighten thinking. Barbara Cusack our Toastmaster for the night brought up the many different ways that we can go beyond the limitations that we set on ourselves. Ken Walley ACG, CL served as Table Topics Master and he found many jewels of wisdom when asking questions based on the book by T.D. Jake titled "Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits" Ken's first question asked of new member Stephen Bentley was "What is the importance of facing your own indifference?" Jose Lopez was asked an equally searching question of "How have you learned from your past mistakes?" Guest John Bonowitz-Coffey expounded upon how to overcome the fact that "life is not fair!" Dennis Gola ACS, CL spoke on when "Tradition should be changed and why change is often for the good." "Tradition" said Dennis, "Is a bad thing when it hurts people." Ken Blake ACS, CL spoke on why you should "Dream Big and take chances". Another of our guests Ivan ______ gave an inspirational answer to the question of when it is "Best to go beyond limits and when it best to set boundaries". We had two excellent speeches again this week. First, Paul Hagge explained what he would like to see changed when his company sends him back to India for a business trip. In his speech titled "Cheeseburger with Extra Onions" Paul told us of India's erratic driving habits, suspect food and water and a really bad beer named King Fisher Beer. We will have that cheeseburger waiting when you get back Paul. Another brilliant speech but with a completely different topic was delivered by Jamie Waters. Jamie's speech was just what it's title promised: "An Update on the Commuter Rail Project" Jamie went into the reasons why the project was voted down and, using passion and reason, he explained how these reasons where politically motivated and poorly supported by fact. He ended his speech with a call for action and a demand for Gov. Charlie Crist to live up to his promises. Our General Evaluator was Dennis Gola ACS, CL and he also had the pleasure of reviewing Jamie's speech. Another Advanced Silver Award winner, Ken Blake, ACS, CL had the honor of giving Paul's evaluation. Both speakers had excellent advice to improve with and a vast pool of knowledge to draw from. Dennis was very impressed with our meeting in his "meeting evaluation" which he delivers as the General Evaluator. Supporting the meeting was timer Ken Blake, ACS, CL; Grammarian Jose Lopez and AH Counter Stephen Bentley. John Bonowitz-Coffey also helped out as our Vote Counter. This turned out to be another wonderful meeting in the Club #28 tradition. It is a toastmaster tradition of learning without limits.

For the first time in a month, the June 5th, 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was well attended! Maybe it had to do with the theme, "Get Rich Quick!" which was picked by our Toastmaster Ben Jackson. While Ben was unable to give us the "golden ticket" to prosperity, he was able to warn us of hustlers, cheats, scams and rackets that would gladly take our hard earned money. Ben was not the only one watching our wallets. Table Topics Master Paul Hagge, a financial advisor and accountant himself, offered a reward of $1 to the best answer to his questions. Ken Blake, ACS, CL gave it a good try with an answer to the question of "Have you ever been cheated or swindled?" Barbara Cusack had an excellent answer to what her "greatest hindrance to making money was." She, like many of us, replied that it was a "lack of focus." "Other than money what makes us feel rich?" was the question directed at Dennis Gola, ACS, CL. Dennis told of "almost" winning the lottery. Bob Blaydes, CC remembered the worst thing that he ever did for the sake of money. Ken Walley ACG, CL told us what he would do with a humongous lottery prize. Our newest member, transferring from an Atlanta, Ga. club, Stephen Bentley, answered the question "What jobs are the most underpaid?" He mentioned Teachers and Nurses. We were rich in the speeches department this evening having two sensational presenters. Jose Lopez, giving only his second speech, produced an effort worthy of a much more polished orator. Titled "Live the American Dream" the speech pointed to how we can improve our living standards by plugging the "holes in the pool of prosperity." He covered the lack of financial education, taxes and inflation as some of the main culprits keeping us from real wealth. Speaking next was Louis Cianfrogna, who returned to the club after being away for awhile. We were reminded of why we missed him so much by his tremendous speech titled "The Next Time You are on the Highway." Louis brought up some great ideas for America's transportation systems that he learned while driving on Germany's autobahn. He also brought the thrill of "no speed limit" driving right into our meeting room! Ken Blake, ACS, CL served as our General Evaluator and introduced Ken Walley ACG, CL and Jamie Waters as our evaluators for our speakers. Both gave helpful and creative evaluations that were on par in quality with the speeches themselves! Bob Blaydes, CC served as our AH Counter and Vote Counter, Barbara Cusack did a solid job in the role of Timer and Dennis Gola ACS, CL delivered yet another elegant report as our Grammarian. Our Sgt. at Arms, Ben Jackson announced that he was leaving us to live in Korea for a time and he hoped that he would someday return to Club #28 again. He will be greatly missed and he was given a standing ovation. Our three guests, Stephen Bentley, Mayra DeJesus and Owen Gregory were very enthusiastic about our meeting. In many ways this meeting lived up to its theme. Every one that attended this meeting got a little bit richer before they left.

The Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 May 29th 2008 "Amazing Feats and Extreme Phenomenon" themed meeting was as amazing as it's own theme. It featured only five Toastmasters present but produced a meeting that belongs in a Ripley's "Believe or Not!" book. The Toastmaster, Ken Walley, ACG, CL not only told of such interesting facts like: "The world's fastest shopping cart was fitted with a jet engine and reached speeds over 50 miles an hour" but Ken also juggled the positions of President, Toastmaster, Timer, and being an Evaluator as well. Ken Blake ACS, CL was every bit as remarkable as the Table Topics Master. He investigated the bizarre and strange as well. Ken B. asked Ken W. "What was the the most amazing place that you have ever been?" Ken said parts of Yellowstone National Park were like "walking on another planet." Ben Jackson was asked what his "most incredible feat" was. Ben said that he had gone from not even being the best clarinet player in his High School Band to becoming the #1 rated clarinet player in the State... all within one year due to hard work and perseverance. Dennis Gola, ACG, CL was asked what would be the topic if he had to break the world record for "length of a speech" (120 hours). Dennis said he would be willing to talk on the subject of Baseball. Our guest, Krishna Akumalla handled the question of what his favorite reality show was. He loved it when Donald Trump announced "You're Fired!" on "The Apprentice". The last question was asked of Barbara Cusack. It was about past very large meals that she had eaten. She remember a "10,000 calorie Thanksgiving dinner" that she had when she was younger. We had three speeches, in other words... over half of the club members who showed up on this night were speaking! Dennis Gola, ACS CL gave a TV project speech from the Communicating on Television Advanced Manual titled: "A Focus on Contemporary History" which turned our meeting room into a TV studio. Next was Barbara Cusack's speech titled "Magnets" which paid homage to those little refrigerator magnets that can be collected almost everywhere. I never realized that you could tell so much about someone by looking at their refrigerator. Our third speaker was Ben Jackson who gave a very non-boring speech about statistics titled "100% of Statistics Kill 100% of Speeches" Ben explained to us how he kept his stat-laden speech to his boss interesting. Not only was his speech entertaining, but it was educational as well. We had excellent evaluations by Ken Blake, ACS, CL, Ben Jackson and Ken Walley, ACG, CL. Our Grammarian for this evening was Ken Blake, ACS, CL and our AH Counter was Barbara Cusack who also was able to count the votes as well. Earlier in the evening the new slate of officers was approved for the next term and we had two extraordinarily positive comments from our two guests Krishna Akumalla and Gerilyn Capps. The meeting was in a sense an "Amazing Feat" itself because the club able to produce such a great meeting with so few members!

One of the most successful meetings that Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 has ever had was the May 22nd 2008 "Success" themed meeting hosted by Toastmaster Ken Walley, ACG, CL. Among the advice and wisdom given throughout the evening from many wise thinkers and entrepreneurs was this quote on the subject of success by Mark Twain: "You only need two things to be successful: ignorance and confidence." Also joining the brainstorming session was Table Topics Master Dr. Mike Deichen, CC. Dr. Deichen started out the meeting by asking Barbara Cusack what her definition of success was. Ken Walley, ACG, CL was asked what it was that make a song or music successful. "Becoming successful has often been referred to in terms of 'playing a game'." said Dr. Deichen. He asked Dennis Gola, ACS, CL what his favorite games were. Another question dwelt with a boat named the "SS. Success" which led to a question to Bob Blaydes, CC about "Where would you go if you could sail off on a ship?" Bob, of course answered that he would "go fishing!" The last question asked of Jose Lopez was "What title would you give a book about yourself? His title was would be "Drive On!" and from his answer, I would love to read it. Again for the second week we only had one speaker but it was another amazing effort. Dennis Gola ACS, CL attempted a reading project titled "He Did What?" with a unique insight on our theme of success. The speech, featuring Ernest L. Thayer's famous poem "Casey at the Bat" and Grantland Rice's equally brilliant "Casey's Return". Dennis's speech was fun, interesting and inspiring! Ken Blake, ACS, CL did a tremendous job as our General Evaluator while also having the pleasure of introducing back to the lectern Bob Blaydes, CC who has been away for over a month. Bob showed that he had lost none of his abilities in giving excellent evaluations. More success was found in our team of functionaries: Jose Lopez manned the clock as our timer, Barbara Cusack served as our Grammarian and Ken Blake ACS, CL covered three positions: Invocation & Pledge, General Evaluator and AH Counter. Our guest Joe Dywer was pressed into duty as a vote counter and did an outstanding job. Joe also had some very nice things to say about our meeting as did returning guest Christie Cohen and a friend that she had brought with her, Jacob Tapia.The results of this meeting were personal growth, self confidence and a rewarding feeling of accomplishment. THAT is what a successful Toastmasters meeting is all about!

"PLAY BALL!" Said Ken Walley, ACG. CL after he led Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 in the "Star Spangled Banner" before throwing out the first pitch for the May 15th, 2008 "Baseball" themed meeting. Paul Hagge hit a Grand Slam as our Toastmaster for the evening with a fact & fun filled presentation on the history, joy and love of America's pastime. This meeting had everything, even for those who did not follow the game and those people, after listening to Paul, might just be sitting in the bleachers this summer. Although the sparsely attended meeting made the Albertson Room look like a Tampa Bay Rays game in early September, the meeting turned out to be a Toastmaster Hall of Fame type gathering. Ken Walley ACG, CL., his singing finished for the night, next led the TM version of the "Gashouse Gang" in Table Topics! He asked guest Stranje Nelson if she thought that our ancestors were "tougher" than our current generations. Paul Hagge was challenged to support or reject the statement that "Barry Bonds is the Greatest Baseball player to have ever played the game" Paul was not in favor of that idea. LaQuanda Thompson was asked "What scenery could be so beautiful that it might bring tears to your eyes?" She said being at a ballpark on a perfect summer evening." Dr. Mike Diechen was asked why Baseball is called "Our National Pastime?" Eddie Selover was asked to tell a story about actually playing the game. The last question was for Patrice Nelson: "What are your thoughts on this game of Baseball?" All the answers made one want to grab a glove and head out to the diamond. Speaking of diamonds, the shining jewel of the evening was Dr. Mike Diechen's (CC) brilliant presentation of the Toastmaster International "Successful Club Series" "The Toastmasters International Educational System" Not only was Dr. Deichen's speech informative and expertly crafted, but Dr. Deichen also personally created the PowerPoint slideshow that added substantially to his presentation. Batting cleanup was Mr. Walley who was given the assignment of giving an evaluation of Dr. Deichen's speech while also serving as the General Evaluator. Almost everyone present was given an assignment. Guest Stranje Nelson served as our AH Counter and did very competent work. Another of our guests, Patrice Nelson served as our Vote Counter. Both of them said that they looked forward to becoming Toastmasters in the future when they turn 18! Eddie Selover did double duty as Timer and Grammarian to round out our functionary lineup card. This meeting truly "hit the ball out of the park" and we only need more people to come out and cheer on the team! Remember that having a great time at Toastmasters is as easy as "catching a can o' corn!"

With Mother's Day fast approaching, Toastmaster Ken Blake, ACS, CL chose the topic of "Mothers" for the Orlando Toastmaster Club #28 May 8th 2008 meeting. Mom would have been proud! Ken Walley ACG, CL started off the meeting with some famous quotes about motherhood for the Invocation and Ken B. was ready with all kinds of great tidbits about Mothers and Mother's Day, including some interesting facts on semi-related subjects such as "Mother of Pearl", Mother Theresa of Calcutta and the Frank Zappa inspired "Mothers of Invention". Ken had some help from Paul Hagge who was our Table Topics Master, with preparing for Mother's Day. Paul asked Joe Cannizzarro "What advice have you received that has help you for his entire life?" Another person who was given a tough question was Jose Lopez when asked what was the "perfect Mother's Day gift?" Jose told how he quit his job to be with his mom on the first Mother's Day after his father had died. Dr. Mike Deichen, CC answered the question of which he would prefer to live in, a small family or large family. The open ended question of "What would mom do?" and how does she still guide my adult life was put before Ken W. The last question featured a savory Jewish meal that was the answer to Ken B.'s query of "Do you have a favorite family recipe?" Ken Walley ACG, CL was also the first speaker who came up with a "Speech about speeches" titled "Great Speeches!" (Which later became this month's featured website article, see the "Current News" section) In the speech, Ken remembered some of the excellent speeches that have been given over the past six months at Club #28. "These speeches are some of the best that have EVER been presented before this club! This club is over 70 years old!" said Ken. He mentioned speeches by Ken Blake, ACS, CL; Susan Deichen, and even Jose Lopez's unforgettable Ice Breaker among many others. "This club is still very rich in talent!" Susan Deichen proved that with the second speech of the evening titled "Keep Dreaming, Baby!" about not conceding youth to aging. Susan quoted in her speech that "You grow old when your regrets replace your dreams." Ken Walley, ACG, CL also stepped in as the General Evaluator, an easy job because he had Joe Cannizzaro and Paul Hagge on hand to give excellent evaluations on the speeches. Jose Lopez helped out as our Grammarian and AH Counter and Dr. Mike Deichen, CC did a great job as our Timer along with our very able Vote Counter, guest Jennifer Finch. This meeting turned out to be a meeting anyone's mom would have been thrilled to see her children attend! I only wish that more smart adult kids could have enjoyed it along with those who came to this wonderful Club #28 evening!

The May 1st 2008 "Cats" meeting kept the string of excellent meetings going as our Toastmaster for the evening, Barbara Cusack was at her very best! She came ready with some really interesting facts about the role of cats throughout history and the amazing things that they can do. It was also interesting to see the differences between last week's "Dogs" themed meeting and this week's "Cats" meeting. Barbara kept this evening lively and on track...and fun for everyone who attended! Also helping to make this meeting the "cat's meow" was Susan Deichen who had a very different approach to Table Topics as our Table Topics Master. She based each question on the name of a fictional cat. For example the first question asked of Paul Hagge was based on Garfield the Cat: "What pranks have you played on a friend?" Her second question was about Morris the Cat to Ken Walley, ACG, CL. He was asked what charity of Morris's he would support. Next, Joe Cannizzaro told about the "strangest food that he has ever eaten" based on the Cat in the Hat. The Pink Panther came into play when she asked Barbara Cusack about the "luckiest experience of her life" Dr. Mike Deichen got to answer the question about his "longest unplanned trip" and, like a Cheshire Cat, he answer about a trip to Europe he took on the spur of the moment! Newest club member Jeff Garica, in the memory of the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz, was asked what he would ask the wizard for. All of the answers were excellent, it was a Prrrrrfect Table Topics session! The speeches were both exceptional as well! Eddie Selover gave his 6th basic manual speech titled "Edward Ho!" towards his Competent Toastmaster award. His presentation was a humorous speech that described the harsh realities of "being an Eddie". He pointed out that notable "Eddies" such as Eddie Haskle, Eddie Munster, Eddie Money and The Edsel Automobile, all achieved dubious fame. But our Eddie succeeded with great distinction: he had us laughing our heads off.!! Also rising to the occasion with a great success was our second speaker Jamie Waters who gave an off the cuff speech titled "Commuter Rail" about the Light Rail System that was being debated by state legislators at the same time Jamie was giving his speech. Jamie used a lot of data and statistics to back up his argument that this would be a good thing for Central Florida. For a hip pocket speech, it was very well prepared and delivered! Ken Walley ACG, CL served as our General Evaluator and was also the evaluator for Eddie's speech. Joe Cannizzaro turned in another very strong effort as evaluator for Jamie's speech. The functionaries for tonight were: Ken Walley, ACG, CL as the AH Counter, Dr. Mike Deichen as our Grammarian and Paul Hagge doing a wonderful job as our Timer. Jeff Garcia filled in as our Vote Counter and announced that he wanted to join our club as welll! We had three guests, Shanique Nelson, Stranje Nelson and LaQuanda Thompson all of which had very nice things say about our meeting. This was another example of Club #28 landing on it's feet with another great meeting!

The April 24th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was another example of our club making something special happen. The theme of "Dogs" was picked by our Toastmaster Ben Jackson and Ben made sure that this was no "dog" of a meeting. Ben told of the love for his dog Pez and also came prepared with some excellent canine facts such as: "The longest ears on a dog measured 14 inches for the right ear and 13.5 inches for the left ear on a dog named Tigger, an Illinois Bloodhound." Also bringing out some interesting dog facts was our Table Topics Master Dr. Mike Deichen, CC. Mike asked Ken Blake, ACS, CL. "What are the best traits that a dog possesses?" Ken used endearing examples of his Chihuahua Queenie to answer the question. When Ben Jackson was asked "What would you put about dogs on a bumper sticker?" Ben said he would just put a picture of his dog Pez. Ken Walley ACG, CL was asked what he would name a dog. Ken said his daughter Monica Walley, FTM named their dog Becky but Ken would have named her something more reflective of her personality: friendly, obedient and giving of unconditional love. Visiting Toastmaster Elliott Dennis, DTM handled Dr. Mike's next question: "What are the more annoying traits a dog might have?" The last Table Topic question was asked of Barbara Cusack "What can we learn from a dog?" Barbara relayed some great lessons that she had learned from her dog Maggie. Tonight was also a very special evening at Club #28. The club hosted the newly crowned Division C winner Andrew Greenstein who graciously came to deliver his award winning speech "The Magic Is..." Deliver he did!! The speech about the magic words that help cure his young daughter's "boo-boo's" that would eventfully end up curing his own fears and worries. This speech was worthy of a 1st place finish in any International Speech contest! Having the tough task of following Andrew's speech was Ken Walley ACG, CL who performed a contest worthy speech of his own titled "Is There Anyone Out There?" The speech was about the West Baptist Church of Beatrice, Nebraska that exploded right as choir practice was about to start. Ken's speech was an uplifting and inspiring story. Ken also served as the General Evaluator and had the good fortune to introduce to exceptional evaluator's. Club #28's own Ken Blake evaluated Andrew's speech and visiting Toastmaster Elliott Dennis, DTM from Princeton, N.J. Club #3954 who reviewed Ken's speech. Both were very enthusiastic in their praise of the speakers. Also enthusiastic was Susan Deichen who served as both our AH Counter and Grammarian. She gave two brilliant accounts of the meeting. Guest Ed Riordan covered as our Vote Counter and turned in a phenomenal effort as well. Club #28 had many guests this evening all of whom were delighted with the meeting. Jeff Garcia, Cindy Laberinto, Kristi Stevens and Christie Cohen all offered wonderful comments about the night's events! This meeting truly showed why Toastmaster's is a "Speaker's Best Friend!"

The theme for the April 17th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was "American History" and our Toastmaster for the evening, Ken Walley ACG, CL put together a list of the "10 Most Important Events in American History" as the evening went on Ken explained his selections which included The 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada; The July 4th, 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence; The 1952 publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin; The invention of the electric light bulb and Neil Armstrong's Landing on the Moon in 1969. Missing from his top 10 were such events as the 9/11 attacks, The Kennedy and Lincoln Assassinations and the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Japan in 1945! Also "making history" was Club #28 Table Topics Master Eddie Selover. Eddie asked some very historical questions of our members such as: "If we were having our own tax revolt today what would you throw overboard at the 'tea party'?" Ken Blake ACS, CL had to answer that one. Dr. Mike Deichen, CC was given the question of who he though was our greatest President. Ben Jackson was asked to comment on myths in American history. Susan Deichen was asked "if not Lincoln, who should be on the $5 dollar bill?" Susan went went with ex-Federal Finance Director Alan Greenspan! Which when you think about it, would not be a bad choice. Shawn Tran our guest, commented on where he would go if he could go back into history. He choose the gold rush of the 1870's. Out other guest, Meghan Yost, answered the question of "What will future historians will think about us?" Using global warming as an example, she pointed out that we could be viewed by historians as either great world villains or beloved world saviors. The speeches tonight were both unique and interesting! Jose Lopez gave a powerful speech that showed that we have some great speeches ahead from this young Toastmaster! Giving his Ice Beaker speech titled "Big Thinking!" Jose, a budding entrepreneur, plans to start a life that includes travel, investing and writing a book in the near future. "What does not kill us, make us stronger!" said Joe. He gave some inspiring examples of how the human spirit can overcome devastating events such as losing an eye to a car bomb while serving in Iraq and the death of his girl friend in a car accident. Jose's Ice Breaker speech touched everyone in the room. Dennis Gola ACS, CL spoke next and gave us a "tune up" to his Table Topics Contest coming up next week at the District 47 convention in Jacksonville. He answered four questions in a speech titled "4 Questions" from the floor. "How would you end the energy crisis?" "What is the biggest problem with organized religion?" "Who is your favorite Baseball player and why?' and "If you could be an animal what kind of animal would you be?" Four completely different questions and all of them were handled extremely well by our extemporaneous speaking master! Our Toastmaster Ken Walley ACG, CL also handled the job of Master Evaluator. Ken had some wonderful support from his evaluators Barbara Cusack and Ben Jackson. Barbara it must be noted has become an expert at evaluating Ice Breaker speeches and again tonight she delivered an exceptional effort for Jose's speech. Ben Jackson gave his first ever evaluation and did a superb job as well. Our functionaries tonight included Ben as our AH Counter, Susan Deichen as our Timer, and in a rare appearance as our Grammarian, Ken Blake, ACS, CL. Our guest, Shawn Tran covered as our Vote Counter as well. In the glorious history of Toastmasters Club #28, American History night will not be long forgotten, for it was truly a remarkable night!

I have been a Toastmaster for a long time and few meetings have left me with such a sense of sheer gratitude for just the opportunity of attending than the April 10th 2007 "Gratitude" themed meeting last week. First of all, We had a superb job of Toastmastering by this evening's Toastmaster, Barbara Cusack. She reminded us of many things that we should be thankful for, as well as keeping us entertained with some great stories. Table Topics Master Dennis Gola ACS, CL came up with another brilliant idea for Table Topics by using different derivatives of the word "Gratitude". Ken Walley ACG, CL answered a question about the "Grateful Dead" Rock group. Ken Blake ACS, CL was required to speak about what would cause him to leave a "Bad Gratuity" in a restaurant. Eddie Selover was given the word "Congratulate" and asked to speak on when the last time he greeted someone with pleasure. Answering the question of "Gratification" was our newest member, Jose Lopez who spoke on something he felt proud of in his life. Jose remembered his service to our Country in Iraq with great pride. Debbe Ryan ACG, CL told about her gratitude toward her parents for their love and support. Guest Ron Dixon did a wonderful job on his first Table Topic speaking about "Something that he deserved to be shown gratitude for." Rob remembered the hard work it took to achieve his goals on the football field. This was a really eye-opening and inspiring Table Topics session! I know I speak for everyone who attended when I say that we were grateful for the two awesome speeches that were delivered! First up was a very funny speech that is a sure win for a humorous speech contest by Jamie Waters titled "A Waste of Land". Jamie mused about the idea of Combining cemeteries with golf courses! "I have been told that the two biggest waste of land are cemeteries and golf courses!" said Jamie, "Why not combine them? With names like Forest Lawn, Pebble Beach, Maple Grove, Pinehurst...it's hard to tell the golf courses from the graveyards." Our second speaker Susan Deichen gave another masterful speech which was of a more inspirational nature. Her speech, titled "The Present" was a reminder of how we should not wait until we might not have a chance to show our appreciation and gratitude to those we love. Susan, a natural storyteller, remembered the last chance she had to tell her grandmother that she loved her. The speech was a poignant call to action as well as a call from the heart. Ken Walley ACG. CL returned to the club after a long hiatus to fill in the duties of the Master Evaluator. Ken had the good fortune of having two seasoned evaluators to help him out: Ken Blake ACS, CL and Debbe Ryan ACG, CL. Both of their evaluations were truly excellent, balancing wise advice with inspiration. Ken W. also doubled as the timer, the AH Counter was Jose Lopez, The Grammarian was Eddie Selover and filling in as our vote counter was Ron Dixon! It must be noted the marvelous work done by Joe, Ron and Eddie. Eddie's Grammarian report was worth coming to meeting for itself. Our guests, Ron, Dimari Castro, Aman Ra Reowen and his cousin Monica ______ all were very enthusiastic about the meeting. Jose Lopez also joined tonight making this a very special evening indeed! We are grateful.

[Editor's Note: A special "Thank You" to Barbara Cusack and Susan Deichen for this Meeting report!] Last Week, April 3rd, 2008 the theme for the Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting was "Brown Bag Meeting" and the Toastmaster Debbe Ryan, ACG, CL shared with us some of the history of Club #28! She told us that Club #28 is THE Florida Toastmasters club actually founded by the late Toastmasters founder Ralph Smedley, DTM. Small wonder that Club #28 enjoys one amazing meeting after another! This meeting was no exception! Ben Jackson returned as our Sgt. at Arms and Ken Blake ACS, CL got the meeting started with the Invocation and Pledge. Debbe introduced our Table Topics master Joe Cannazzaro who did a tremendous job asking some very intricate questions. Those who answered Joe's questions were Jamie Waters (What is your favorite color?), Dr. Mike Deichen, CC (Did you enjoy Science in High School?); Susan Deichen (How do you like going to the Beach?), Ken Blake ACS, CL (Do you have a favorite shirt?) and Ben Jackson (Talk to us about a Central American Government!). We also had two truly magnificent speeches. The first speech of the evening was by Barbara Cusack, her 7th speech in the basic manual was titled "Insidious Persistence". It was a very compelling speech about the important topic of HIV. She taught us many of the technical aspects of the AIDS disorder, and personalized some those with anecdotes that had us all on the edge of our seats! This meeting was extra special because Dr. Mike Deichen, CC gave his 10th Toastmaster's speech earning him his Competent Communicator Award!!! A heartfelt speech titled "A Ray of Sun" that was a moving story about a bad start of a morning and how an act of kindness makes the day better. He encouraged us to do the same and how the world would be a better place when we can learn from that example. We had two excellent evaluations from Ken Blake ACS, CL and Jamie Waters. Returning guest, Jose Lopez served as our vote counter, our timer was another guest Shawn ______ and Ben Jackson held court as our Grammarian. This was an incredible meeting!!!!.

Editor's Note: I was unable to get a report on the March 27th 2008 "Music" Themed meeting. Louis Cianfrogna led the meeting as Toastmaster and did an awesome job as we explored the world of Music. It was Louis's first time as a Toastmaster. We also had two excellent speeches by Jamie Waters and Dennis Gola Signing up to be the Table Topics Master was Joe Cannizzaro. Others who I know attended were Ken Blake, Sam Ryan and Debbe Ryan. If I receive any more information about this meeting I will update the information.

Editor's note: I was unable to get a report on the March 20th 2008 "Ways We Save" themed meeting. The lineup for the meeting's agenda was as follows :President: Dennis Gola, ACS, CL Toastmaster: Ken Blake. ACS, CL Table Topics Master: Susan Deichen; Invocation & Pledge:? Timer: Dr. Mike Deichen Grammarian:? AH Counter: Darrin Driver Speaker #1: Joe Cannizzaro. Speaker #2: Louis Cianfrogna, Speaker #3: Eddie Selover. Master Evaluator: ? Evaluator #1: Jamie Waters. Evaluator #2: ? Evaluator #3:? If I receive more information about this meeting I will update the information.

In what turned out to be a captivating March 13th, 2008 meeting with the theme of "luck", had nothing to do with luck...it had everything to do with a lot of talented Toastmasters and guests that attended that night. Although the meeting was small in numbers, as luck would have it some of Orlando Toastmasters Club #28's finest speaker were on hand to create Toastmaster bedazzlement. The meeting started with Ben Jackson holding two positions and doing both extremely well. Ben began the meeting as our Sergeant at Arms and then led the club in the Invocation and Pledge. Ken Walley, ACG, CL stepped back into his role as club President for the evening and he had the honor of introducing Jamie Waters who was serving as our Toastmaster. This was Jamie's first time at Club #28 as Toastmaster. Jamie was impressive with an array of tools that made our theme fascinating. He used wit, humor, personal experiences and anecdotes to bring enlightened us on the subject of luck. His audience were the lucky ones however. Ken Walley ACG, CL was our Table Topics Master and he let our members and guests do the "enlightening" with some excellent questions such as: "Do you believe in luck?" Joe Cannizzaro answered that one saying he believed that we "Make our own luck". The next question went to new member Darrin Driver who told us of the "luckiest thing that ever happen to him". Barbara Cusack was eloquent with her response to the question "Why are we "lucky to have been born in America?" Louis Cianfrogna answered Ken's question of "What was the unluckiest thing that ever happened to you?" Both of our guests tackled at Table Topics question Guest Dean Ritchey answered "Do you have a 'lucky charm' or superstition?" and Luis Salinas the question of "What would you do if you won $25 million dollars in the lottery?" Traveling was one of the things on Luis's list. We were lucky to have two excellent speakers this evening as well. Ben Jackson returned to the lectern to give a intriguing speech on how to capitalize on the "March Madness" NCAA basketball tournament. His speech titled "Everything You Wanted to Know About College Basketball" told the secret to winning big money by betting on individual games rather than on the whole of the 64 teams playing. Ben sounded like the expert as he guided our way through the complex world of "Bracketology". Ken W. also gave a speech, this time from the Toastmaster International's "Successful Club Series" titled "Building the Best Club Climate" In this speech, Ken pointed out ways that we could make our club a friendly and more inviting place for both our guests and members. Barbara Cusack served as our General Evaluator and again performed with excellence. She re-introduced both Ben and Ken who gave interestingly, evaluations of each other's speeches! Both evaluations were as good as the speeches that they had given earlier. Barbara called this meeting "A triumphant success!" during her review of the meeting. Our support staff was headed by our timer Louis Cianfrogna, with brilliant reports from Grammarian Joe Cannizzaro and Ah Counter (for his first time) Darrin Driver who also doubled as our Vote Counter. Our guests, Dean and Luis, had nothing but great praise for our meeting! As acting president, Ken Walley, ACG, CL explained that one of the reasons that we were low on attendance was because, "like in baseball's spring training, we were a Split-Squad tonight." Over at Rollins College this evening the Division 'C' International Speech Contest and the Table Topics Contests were being held! Toastmasters Bob Blaydes, CC and Dennis Gola, ACS, CL were representing Club #28 respectively. Dr. Michael Deichen, his wife Susan Deichen and Ken Blake, ACS, CL had attended the contests to cheer on our brave orators! Dennis won the Table Topics Contest and will go on to the District 47 Contest and Bob turned a commanding performance as well coming in 3rd place in the Speech contest! I have to admit that I feel lucky to be a part of Club #28!

The theme could not have been a better one for an Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 March 6th, 2008 meeting: "Random Acts of Kindness!" No Toastmaster could have been better qualified to lead on this subject than Barbara Cusack! Barbara did a spectacular job of giving examples, and telling stories of kindness and generosity that left a warm feeling in the hearts of everyone who attended. Another Toastmaster who has that effect on people was our President Dennis Gola, ACS, CL who served as our Table Topics Master. Dennis first asked a daring question for a Toastmaster meeting to Susan Deichen: "Is there kindness in religion?" Susan thought so, giving her faith as a Catholic for an example. Returning after an absence of a few meetings was our Sgt. at Arms Ben Jackson who was asked by Dennis: "What would be a good day for a 'National Random Act of Kindness Day' ?" Ben was thinking of making it a weekly thing and answered "Sunday!" Dr. Mike Deichen was given the task to "Pick someone and tell us why you think that person is a good example of kindness." Dr. Mike picked a number of people in the room to talk about. Jamie Waters was asked how "kindness connects us all". Ken Blake, ACS, CL was asked to explain the "ripple effect" of kindness and he brought to mind people paying for the people in back of them at a fast food take out lane. Ken Walley ACG, CL was asked to tell the difference between Kindness and Altruism. Our guest, Stan Penteck gave an excellent answer to the question of "an act of kindness that gets returned" Stan spoke of the love that his cat gives back when he is petted. Two impressive speeches happened this evening! The first was by Dr. Michael Deichen who's speech "A Special Script" told us how to BE FIT: 1. Be Prepared! .2. Everyone can exercise! 3.Fun is part of it! 4. Involve others! and 5. Train with someone who can help! By following Dr. Mike's advice you can live a long, healthy life! His speech started with the question "Do you want to live to be 100?" Dennis Gola, ACS, CL was speaker #2 and he gave a speech that was simply jaw dropping. Titled "Gola's Goulash" Dennis had everyone in the room write on a sheet of paper: (1.) A subject for him to speak about and (2.) a word that he must work into the speech. Dennis ended up with such diverse subjects as "Hillary Clinton", "Singing in the Shower" and "Hitting Curves and Fastballs" and words including "cornfed' and "tepid" among the offerings from the 15 or so present. Dennis then proceeded to give a speech, that told a story working in all of the subjects and words! He did such an extremely good job that one forgot that this speech was made up on the spot! It was Dennis at his best. The evaluations were delivered by Ken Walley ACG, CL (For Mike's speech) and Ken Blake ACS, CL (for Dennis's remarkable effort). Both were truly excellent reviews of the speeches. Ken B. also served as our General Evaluator. We had an impressive technical team as well tonight starting with our jack-of-all trades timer Ken Walley, ACG, CL. The AH Counter duties were handled by Susan Deichen, the Grammarian report was given by Jamie Waters and Barbara Cusack's mother, Yolanda Choser did another 1st class job as our vote counter! A random act of kindness on this night would have been to have brought a friend to this meeting!

A wide open theme like "Anything Goes!" was perfect for a wide open meeting like The February 28th 2008 Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting. Dennis Gola, ACS, CL would wear a number of different hats for this meeting. Before the meeting Dennis took over as the club President so that Ken Walley ACG, CL could deal with some unexpected challenging life-situations. Dennis was not only the President but also the Toastmaster, Table Topics Master and the first Speaker of the evening. Only Dennis could succeed so well in all of those positions. As a Toastmaster Dennis embraced a number of different topics that varies from the important (social/political issues) to the mundane (the Orlando bus system). Dennis managed to keep everything interesting. As a Table Topics Master he asked the following questions: "When was the last time you cleaned your room?" (To Ken Blake ACS, CL); "When was the last time you took a trip, what did you do and where did you go?" (To Barbara Cusack); "Describe the windows in your office or home." (To Dr. Mike Deichen); "How do you deal with a rude boss?" (To Bob Blaydes, CC) and to Ken W.: "Tell us about a pet you have or once had?" Dennis's speech was about finding peace ("The Place") in a hectic world. Dennis expounded upon the necessary balance of finding inner peace and seeing the beauty imbedded in the world that surround us. Ken Walley ACG, CL was the second speaker who gave a speech on preparing for and giving a speech to a big audience. Titled "Speaking Before A Large Group" Ken gave many wonderful tips and ideas on how to address a large group including mental preparation, stage gestures and power-point presentation. Ken also had another hat to wear: that of the General Evaluator. Ken had the pleasure of introducing two very good evaluators: Dr. Mike Deichen who evaluated Dennis's speech and our visiting Area 49 Governor, Bruce Gould, ACS, CL who evaluated Ken's Speech. Both gave helpful and constructive evaluations. Ken W. praised the meeting saying it had excellent Table Topics, Speeches and Evaluations. Ken and Dennis were not the only ones filling multiple roles. Bob Blaydes, CC did duty as both the AH Counter and Grammarian. Barbara Cusack was our timer on this evening and in a very rare occasion, Ken Blake, ACS, CL served as Vote Counter! "I think this is my first time as Vote Counter!" said Ken. We had a lot of very positive feedback from both of our guests Audrey Brown and Sasha Coleman. Well, that's to be expected when "anything goes"...

The theme for the February 21st 2008 meeting was perfect for a Toastmasters meeting: "Encouragement!" picked by our Toastmaster for tonight, Diana Walley ACG, CL. Diana brought along a lot of encouragement for the entire club throughout the evening. She was returning to the lectern for the first time in the Toastmaster role in well over a year. A man who is no stranger to the lectern is Dennis Gola ACS, CL who was our Table Topics Master. Dennis used the opportunity to show that we could inspire ourselves. He asked us such questions such as: "What does encouragement mean to you?" (to Ben Jackson ); "In what area of your life do you need the most encouragement?" (to Ken Blake, ACS, CL); "Who's encouragement do you prize the most?" was asked of our returning guest Walter Moryan. Jamie Waters was asked "What form of encouragement helps you the most?" and Ken Walley ACG, CL had the hard question of "How can you tell false praise from true encouragement?" The last question went to our guest Heiledo (?) was "Who would you most want encouragement from Randy, Paula or Simon?" Heiledo and Dennis chose Simon... as did everyone else in the room. We had two superb speeches Paul Hagge who gave a speech about a very special man, the remarkable Civil War hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain titled "An American Hero" and the just the opposite was covered by Joe Cannizzaro's speech titled "Che Guevara" about a man whom he painted as a socialist failure. Ken Blake, ACS, CL acted both as our General Evaluator as well as the evaluator for Joe's speech. Barbara Cusack did a stellar job with her review of Paul's speech. It must also be noted that the work of our functionaries Jamie Waters as AH Counter and Grammarian, Ben Jackson as Timer and Walter Moryan as our vote counter brought much encouragement to all who attended. This was an uplifting and exciting meeting which hopefully encouraged everyone to attend next week's meeting!

The Valentine's Day (February 14th 2008) Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 meeting theme was, of course: LOVE. The meeting started out with Ken Walley ACG, CL giving the Invocation and Pledge from the "Love verse" in the Bible 1COR. 13. Ben Jackson working as Toastmaster for his first time, did an extraordinary job using quotes about Love throughout the session. "Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle." was just one of the many gems of wisdom from Ben. Also bringing wisdom to the meeting was Table Topics Master Ken Blake, ACS, CL who asked some thought provoking questions on the most powerful force in the world: Love. Ken's first question was to Ken W.: "Can you prove that there is Love?" Ben Jackson's question dealt with finding a mate: "Would you use a dating service like E-Harmony?" Diana Walley ACG, CL was asked about opposites attracting. Dennis Gola ACS, CL was handed a marshmallow topics question being as he is a cruise salesman: "Why you haven't lived until you've gone on a cruise." Joe Cannizzaro told us about his best friend and Darrin Driver told us what makes him cry at the movies. We had three unforgettable speeches starting with Karolyn Oakley's Ice Breaker speech titled "Western Foundations, Eastern Ties". She weaved a number of stories in a beautiful mosaic of her early life in the west and how she came to Florida. Dennis Gola's (ACS, CL) speech was a practice for the upcoming Area 49 Table Topics contest Dennis spoke extemporaneously combining two separate topics, that of the recent Super Bowl and The 2008 Presidential Elections and came up with an impressive presentation! Jamie Waters gave a speech ("The View") about pretending to be a buyer for a high rise condo in Orlando but guessing just a little bit to low on the price. Jamie got a quick tour by a caretaker from the "bottom up" instead of a tour from the top down! Ken Walley, ACG, CL acted as our General Evaluator as well as giving an evaluation for Karolyn's speech. Two excellent evaluations were also delivered by Joe Cannizzatro and Ken Blake ACS, CL as well. Our functionaries for this "love fest" were timer Diana Walley ACG, CL , Joe Cannizzaro was our Grammarian and our AH Counter was Ken Walley, ACG, CL. Darrin Driver did a great job as our Vote Counter. This meeting once again proved that Club #28 could pull together and produce a great meeting. That is what happens when you put love into the mix.

When Club President Ken Walley, ACG, CL and Vice President of Education Susan Deichen announced the date for the Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 International Speech and Table Topics Contests for Thursday 7th 2008 neither one of them could have known that the contest would earn the highest marks for any club contest held anywhere. Even though the contest was held one month before the club had ever held our club spring contests, these turned out to be two of the best contests ever held in our entire history of the Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 which was founded in 1933! Area 49 Governor Bruce Gould ACS, CL called the evening performance one of the "Best club contests that I have ever seen anywhere!" Other members called the contest "remarkable" and "Amazing". Past Orlando Club #28 contests have often been lauded as some of the best club contests in the region. They are often compared with Area and even Division contests in terms of speaking talent. Even though the club had to work with such a short preparation time, these contests were two of the most impressive contests ever organized by Club #28! The club has a great wealth of talent both from established members and from the newer members who have recently joined the club. There was a large crowd on hand attending only only by many Club #28 Toastmasters but Toastmasters from other clubs as well and Dignitaries such as Area 49 Governor Bruce Gould, ACS, CL and Helen Joseph, DTM also graced the room. Club #28 was blessed with a number of guests attending to hear some of the speakers. Sgt. at Arms Ben Jackson called the meeting to order with a "Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The International Speech and Table Topics Contests Shall come to order! All gather 'round!" The Invocation and Pledge was delivered by Susan Deichen who also introduced our Contest Master and Club #28 President Ken Walley ACG, CL. Ken has held the Contest Master position many time before. Ken kept the contest on track with a quick pace, and even through it was a full agenda, we finished on time. Chief Judge Roxie Steadman, DTM was also fill a role that she has mastered extremely well over her years in Toastmasters. She got the festivities underway proclaiming "LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!" The sign up sheet for the International Speech Contestants was filled on the first night that it was posted.! The list included such impressive speakers as Bob Blaydes, CC; Dennis Gola, ACS, CL, ; Ken Blake, ACS, CL; Diana Walley ACS, CL; and newcomer Barbara Cusack. Diana was unable to take part in the contest but the other four brought their "A-game"! The first speaker was veteran Toastmaster Ken Blake, ACS, CL, who's speech titled "Please Don't be Offended!" was a speech about a bus driver who's foul language brought concern to Ken until he found out that he was going on a tour of the Hoover Dam. "Get on the dam bus please for the dam tour!" the bus driver said. Next up was Dennis Gola ACS, CL giving a speech titled "I've Changed my Mind" that weaved stories of his days as a baseball umpire along with his joy of discovering Buddhism... along with a good meal. Bob Blaydes, CC was the speaker with a quintessential International Speech titled "Connections" that told the story of how Bob faced certain death in an airplane free-fall that was saved only at the last moment by the pilot. The lessons that Bob learned in those 45 seconds changed his life. Barbara Cusack's speech was an emotionally charged performance titled "Positively Beautiful!" that told of her battles with the HIV virus that took the life of her husband. It was an inspiring and in the end, a positive call to action for all that heard her voice. With such verbal mastery any of the candidates could have taken home the trophy as our winner. Coming in 2nd place was Ken Blake ACS, CL and going on to the Area Contest as Club #28's representative was Bob Blaydes! His speech will be very difficult to beat at the Area Contest. The Table Topics Contest was every bit as impressive as the International Speech Contest. Serving as our contest Sgt. at Arms was Eddie Selover who was also by the way our Assistant Timer and Raffle Master as well. Eddie led all of the contestants out of the room except for the first contestant, Dennis Gola ACS, CL. He had the first shot at the question: "My idea of a Perfect Day is..." Dennis gave a humorous answer about being able to catch the Orlando Lynx Bus service on time at every stop since he does not own a car. Ben Jackson remembered his girlfriend in his answer and also a love of soccer too. Susan Deichen spoke about the love that she has received from her family, and the students that she teaches. Ken Blake ACS, CL spoke about his marriage and the time he spends with his lovely wife. Many of the answers were downright profound. Coming in 2nd was Ken Blake, ACS, CL and taking the top spot was Dennis Gola ACS, CL! Dennis and Bob will now go to the Area 49 contest later this month. Ken Walley ACG, CL handed out beautiful Certificates of Appreciation to all of those who made our contest possible. Area 49 Governor Bruce Gould, ACS, CL handed out the trophies and our guests were asked to comment on our special evening. All of our visitors Tim O'Mara, Teresa Beard, Darrin Driver and Kim Robinson were very impressed and had great things to say. Other dignitaries who visited our club were SarahLyndia Keihl and Luvenia Hart form our sister club Orange County Toastmasters Club #129. Here with a sincere Thank You" is a list of those who worked hard to make this historic evening possible: Contest organizer and Invocation & Pledge: Susan Deichen; Contest Master: Ken Walley, ACG, CL; Contest Sgt. at Arms, Raffle Master and Assistant Timer: Eddie Selover; Chief Timer: Paul Hagge; Vote Counter: Jamie Waters; International Speech Contest Sgt. at Arms: Ben Jackson; Chief Judge: Roxie Steadman, DTM and our Judges from the Let Talk Toastmasters Club and the OC Toastmasters Club #129.

The Orlando Toastmasters Club #28 had every reason to be optimistic about the January 31st 2008 "Optimism" meeting. With a jam-packed room of members a