Not that we'd ever mistake Ben for a leprechaun, but since St. Patrick's Day was his theme last week, I just wanted to avoid any confusion.  Despite barely having his voice from the very start of the meeting, Ben showed up, bowed up and came through like the pro he is as Toastmaster of the evening.  Nice job, Ben.

It was another full house with plenty of regular members, three (I think) new guests, and best of all 2 ice breakers from a couple of new members who clearly have an "A" game, Annette and Brandon.

Our Big "D" Pres showed he's become toughened to the task of running a business session when Steve refused to accept Cliff's motion to end the business session since the allotted time had expired.  Noting that there was still a full 60 seconds left, he would have none of it and continued the session just a tad longer  ha!   It seems there's something to this "leadership skills" training notion after all.   

We then moved into an entertaining table topics round led by Victoria (first time as Table Topics Master??) ..... then it really got good.   As I mentioned, we had 2 ice breakers (first speech by a new toastmaster) by Annette and Brandon, and both were very good.  Regular speeches were then rounded out by a good speech by Chris Emerson and battling clean up and hitting one out of the park was John Lawson with "Leaders and MisLeaders".   Sorry for the baseball metaphors - it is spring training now, you know.  

Chase Miller brought things home as General Evaluator, and by the time we were done it was another lively, entertaining and informative meeting that was enjoyed by all.

On a sad note though, at the end of the meeting we learned we are losing our current Secretary, Gracie Amaya.   Gracie made a tough but understandable decision for her own values, but we do hate to lose her.  Sometimes it just ain't fair.

Up front for this week, we have Vanna, er, no wait ... Linda Martin as your Toastmaster of the evening.  I have no idea what her theme will be, but I'd bet it will be a fun night, good speeches and maybe a laugh or two.  Hope to see you there.

* Of course, visitors are always welcome!