190th meeting

Our Toastmaster Marcel set the right tone for this meeting's potentially delicate but broadly interesting theme of "National Stereotypes." Many speakers later fielded Table Topicsmaster Jag's questions with candor, tact, and humor. Everyone present seemed to enjoy the meeting with the exception the excitable Mrs. Bennet, who was vividly portrayed by Maryam in her reading of the first two chapters of Pride and Prejudice. Alex, our other prepared speaker, presented his research-your-topic project with a talk entitled "Copyright in the  Information Age."  Many members of the evaluation team complimented him on his articulate presentation of several relevant and verifiable facts.

189th Meeting

You didn't need to be a numerologist to expect something special to happen on May 18 at our eighteenth meeting of this year. And you would have been right in about eight ways! Our Toastmaster Xiang led us through an adventurous meeting. We had our Table Topics segment first, in which Kalen challenged many of us to demonstrate our rhetorical wizardry by answering questions more or less related to wizards. (Our theme was Harry Potter versus The Lord of the Rings.) In place of one prepared speech, Maryam and Jag delved further into the relative merits of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings series in a panel discussion moderated by Jordi.  That discussion came after a brief trip back to reality, in which Area Governor Mick Normington delivered a speech on the difficult job market for those with advanced degrees outside of STEM. A few other guests were present and also enriched the meeting with their words and ears. In sum, this meeting was another fine addition to the UT Sciences Toastmasters genre←(Word of the Day).

Update your maps!

UT Sciences Toastmasters is moving to a new location!

Starting on June 1, 2012, we will meet in the Student Activities Center (SAC room 1.106) at 5:55 pm every Friday.

This lovely room on the first floor of the SAC will be our new home all Summer and Fall. Come join us on the first Friday of June.

Click here for a map and pictures.

As always, parking is free on Dean Keeton Road after 5 pm, and paid visitor parking is available at the University garages.

186th Meeting

Arrr! An onomatopeia for the pirate's native language. That word was uttered many times at our meeting today, led by Toastmaster Kalen, because our theme was piracy. What do you think of when you think of piracy? Economical downloading? Swords and cannons? Young boys with guns? The wide blue sea? Cruise ships? All were discussed today during our table topics session, led by Maryam Ali.

In addition, we had two guests, Sultan and Thomas, who added a brand new perspective to our crew. Marcel also gave his second speech, "Say Yes, and Invest," which I personally found very useful as I still have money sitting around, collecting dust.

See you next week!

185th meeting

Today Maryam was our Toastmaster of the Day, and Alex was the Table Topics Master. Alex turned our theme of "Diplomacy and Tact" into a respond-and-react type of experience, in which members were thrown into delicate situations and had to talk (or more often lie) their way out. In a mysterious way the chicken dance was involved--but you had to be there.

Our prepared speaker today was Jordi, giving us several practical tips on how to choose a speech topic. Good job everyone!

184th Meeting

This week Xiang was Toastmaster for the first time and led the meeting with style and warmth!  Our speakers were Maryam, giving us an uplifting speech concerning how to live life to a fuller extent, and Marcel, giving his first speech, the Icebreaker, which everyone enjoyed very much!

The theme was "You have the right to remain silent" and I as topic master held an informal court in which Jordi was pronounced not guilty (though everyone really thinks he stole the pig).

Finally, I hope everyone endeavors to keep using the word of the day: defenestrate! "Tonight at Wendys, he defenestrated his boot. It was hilarious."

Open House: 182nd Meeting

Thanks to everyone for a great Open House!

For our spring semester Open House, we had 12 guests including our area governor, Mick Normington. We had excellent speeches given by Jag and Jordi on their fears, fitting our theme of the evening: Snakes, Clowns, and Public Speaking.

Kalen served as both meeting coordinator and Toastmaster, while the Table Topics master was Justin who peppered us with excellent and hilarious questions concerning all of our fears.

Victor and Maryam made the decorations and food a hit:

Thank you to all the guests for being open minded in participation and attendance, and we hope to see you all again!