Dunwoody, GA: Dream Talkers

Dream Talkers
Dunwoody, GA
Meets 2 PM Sundays Eastern Daylight Time
Attendance: 9 members and 3 guests

One thing you learn if you stay in Toastmasters very long is adaptability. That was evident in my visit to Dream Talkers Toastmasters on June 14. Usually the club has three speakers and Table Topics (the impromptu speaking segment of the program). But on this date, they had four speakers and no Table Topics. They even allowed me to do a speech, which I appreciate.

I've always said that one of the attractive things about Toastmasters is that I have the opportunity to hear speeches about topics that I normally wouldn't hear. That was true at this meeting. Yolande gave a speech about the COVID-19 crisis that was full of information that was new to me. According to Yolande, some experts are saying that mass gatherings won't be safe until at least 2022 and some say as late as 2024. She also pointed out that Starbucks is planning to close 400 stores in the next three months and open 300 pickup-only stores. 

Yolande also said it was time for the club to purchase its own Zoom account and stop using the free version of Zoom. As was mentioned later in the meeting, that was the elephant in the room. Since the meeting went 1.5 hours, all the attendees had to exit Zoom twice and reenter to continue with the meeting. That definitely affected the flow of the meeting and we had one guest who did not return to the meeting after the first technology interruption.

The good thing is that the club voted at the end of the meeting to purchase a Zoom Pro account so that will no longer be an issue. They may also partner with another club or two to share the cost of the Zoom account, upon advice from my wife, Cynthia. Great idea!!!

One of the things that this club does differently than ours is that after each speech, all members send their feedback to the evaluator of the speech. Then that evaluator includes comments from other members in his or her evaluation. They also have the Invocator role, which adds a little inspiration or spiritual element to the meeting. 

Members of this club are very welcoming and I would encourage you to check them out. This was our second time visiting this club.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rochester, NY: Toastitarians

Image
Toastitarians Rochester, NY Meets 12:45 PM Eastern Time on 2nd and 4th Sundays Attendance: 5 members and 3 guests Murphy's Law -- if something can go wrong, it will -- was in full force at the Toastitarians meeting on June 28 and one of the speech evaluators pointed that out.  The listed start time for this meeting is 12:45 PM, so Cynthia and I logged into the Zoom room around 12:35. Samir greeted us when we arrived and then told us that the meeting really didn't start until 1 PM, because people didn't show up until then. Because of that, Toastitarians and I didn't start out on the right foot.  Then when the meeting started, none of the speakers were there. Two of the speakers had canceled because of family emergencies and the third was a guest that no one had heard from. So I volunteered to speak, because I had a speech ready to go. They eventually were able to contact the third speaker and she was able to join the meeting and do her speech. The club did display adapta...
Read more

Rolla, MO: Ozark Orators

Image
Ozark Orators Rolla, Missouri Meets 8 PM Eastern Time on Fridays Attendance: (7 members and 4 guests) One thing I've learned along the way is that there's no one right way to do Toastamasters. The Ozark Orators club in Rolla Missouri chooses to do Table Topics, the impromptu speaking segment of the meeting, first and then the prepared speakers. At my club, Midway Toastmasters in Midway, Kentucky, we do the reverse. At Midway, we feel that gives the evaluators more time to work on their evaluations of the speakers. But that's just our opinion at Midway. At Ozark Orators, everyone participates in Table Topics. That's what is ingrained into the club culture. Doing it this way is a great way to get every person at the meeting involved. It does take more time, though. At many clubs, including Midway, they limit Table Topics to three or four respondents. One thing I truly appreciated about this club is the diversity of its membership. And there were several younger people in ...
Read more

Fargo, ND: Bold & Blue Toastmasters

Image
Bold & Blue Toastmasters Fargo, ND Meets 6:15 PM Thursdays Eastern Time Attendance: 16 members and 3 guests If you want to see Toastmasters done right, RUN -- don't walk -- to Bold & Blue Toastmasters in Fargo, ND. This club was hitting on all cylinders when my wife, Cynthia, and I visited on June 18.  When we arrived at the Zoom session about 15 minutes before the meeting, six members were already there. They greeted us warmly and took time to get to know us a little bit before the meeting. As a visitor, that felt really good to me. After the meeting started, they asked us and other guests to introduce ourselves. They made us feel very welcome. That doesn't always happen when we visit clubs online. I felt really at home at this club because they do things similarly to how we do them in my home club. One example is the communication or leadership Tip of the Day. They're also having an end-of-the-year celebration next week. We're having ours in July. Their meetin...
Read more