Members present: Joyce Feustel, Allen Fujimoto, Andrew Heltzel, Nik Nikkel, Rachel Saphir, Gordon Savage, Ron Wachenheim, and Troy Wilkens.

Guests: Becky Niemeyer and Sharee Dieringer.

Sgt. At Arms Allen Fujimoto called the meeting to order and introduced Angelita Sims as President. She welcomed the guests and members and introduced Troy Wilkens who served as the toastmaster. Grammarian Andrew Heltzel presented "voluble" as the word of the day. Allen Fujimoto served provided both the inspiration and the joke.

The first speaker was Ron Wachenheim doing the "How to Say It" project from the Competent Communication Manual. In his talk "My Second Trip to the Twilight Zone," he related the curious happenings one night back in New York. He and his girlfriend were to spend a weekend in upstate New York, but due to a variety of eerie circumstances ended up coming back to the New York City area where they both lived.

The second speaker was Gordon Savage doing his contest speech "Daddy, I Hard Knew You," which was a tribute to his father and his commitment to his family.

The third speaker was Angelita Sims doing her contest speech "Angelita Will Be an Average Student and Never a Leader." In this speech she shares how these words in a "recommendation" from a high school guidance counselor ended up being an inspiration for her to succeed in college, along with the efforts of the Little Rock Nine and the fact that her grandfather never learned to read.

Joyce Feustel served as the topics master. Speakers and their responses were:

• Andrew Heltzel shared how, when he would lose a skiing competition, he would drink afterwards but then ask his skiing colleagues for tips on how he could improve so that he would be more competitive the next time.
• Rachel Saphir spoke about the pros and cons of being a competitive person, and said that though she doesn't consider herself to be competitive, she does want to do a good job as a speaker.
• Allen Fujimoto believes in cheering for the underdog.

• Nik Nikkel really likes women's basketball more than any other sport, and he noted that they pass the ball more than do the players in a men's basketball game.
• Troy Wilkens reflected on what it was like to win an event in track and field when he was in high school, remembering that mostly he just felt exhausted at the end, but also happy. When his college team did well in a bowl game, he was exhilarated, but when they did poorly, he was practically despondent.

Nik Nikkel as chief evaluator first led the round robin evaluations for both Gordon and Angelita to give them some ideas regarding their respective contest speeches.

He then introduced Joyce to evaluate Ron's speech. She noted that Ron is an engaging storyteller and kept us all wondering where he was going with the story. The climax of finding himself at Sleepy Hollow and not being able to sleep for the next 24 hours was especially well done. He did have one grammatical error, but otherwise, he had excellent use of language.

Nik called for the reports. Angelita as timer reported that everyone was within time. Andrew provided a very detailed ah counter's report, along with the grammarian's report. In his review of the meeting Nik noted that we started on time and that Troy as toastmaster did a good job of moving us along briskly. He believes that members are showing a better understanding of their roles evidenced by how well they are carrying them out.

Troy turned control of the meeting back to Angelita. She asked for comments from the guests, both of whom were very impressed with the meeting.

She then acknowledged Rachel for joining our club and said she would be inducted soon as a new member.

Ron reported that we have $372.90 in our club's checking account.

Angelita encouraged everyone to come to the Denver Division contest this coming Saturday morning.

The meeting was adjourned by SAA Allen Fujimoto at 8:30 p.m.