Chamber Club 540

Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, and Leadership

Last weekend, some members of our very own Chamber Club 540 participated in the Pasado’s Safe Haven dog walk! Under the banner of Team Beanie, they collectively raised $720, which will go to Pasado’s to support their mission of animal rescue. Go Pasado’s! Go Team Beanie!

Seriously this is pretty cool. Pasado’s has made quite a name for themselves as rescuers of animals in trouble. I’m happy that they’re able to do this – I personally am only able to rescue dogs that I am not allergic to, which is about half of them. I love all animals, I just have to love some of them from further away than others. Cats, for example, I can’t really get close enough to do anything like love them. So I’m very grateful that Pasado’s members are, and that Chamber Club 540 was able to support them in their work! Hurray!

- Russ

Congratulations to our newly elected officers for the 2011-2012 term!

Michelle Mazur, President; Rachel Herbert, VP Education; Kathy Marier, VP Membership; Russ Garwood, VP Public Relations; John Madziarczyk, Secretary; Ryan Painter, Treasurer; Peter Jones, Sergeant-at-Arms.

Thank you to all of our 2010-2011 officers for leading us through a year of continued success and growth!

As we wind down the Toastmaster’s year, member achievements are heating up!

Congratulations to Lani Dearmin who completed her triple crown by earning 3 awards in less than one year. Lani completed her Competent Leader, Advanced Leader Bronze and Advanced Communicator Silver. Way to go Lani!

A hearty round of applause to Michelle Mazur & Lee Brettin for achieving their Competent Communicator award.

Finally, a big shout out to Kathryn Marier for completing her Competent Leader award!

Congratulations to all of our members and their hard work over the past year!

Brenda Fezler and Michelle Mazur represented Chamber Club for the Area International Speech & Evaluation contest. Brenda earned 2nd place in the International Speech Contest which was an amazing achievement for this first time contestant. Michelle showcased her insightful Evaluation skills and placed 1st in the Evaluation contest. Excellent work, Ladies!

It is Spring contest season! It begins at club level, and Chamber Club has a fun filled contest this year!

We had five contestants in our International Speech Contest. Dave talked about decision making in the ever interconnected world of social media. Scott discussed how sometimes the best experiences come from NOT following the rules. Lani reminded us to dream big and that we can overcome great obstacles to achiever our goals and go to Disneyland. Peter paid tribute to his friend, Michael, who was an advocate for kidney disease. Brenda challenged us to live outside our comfort zone. It was an amazing competition with Brenda’s speech winning the competition. Peter and Lani were runners-up.

We had 3 members (Dave, Michelle and Rachel) compete in the evaluation contest. Brandon from Toast of the Town Toastmasters served as the target speaker. All 3 contestants offered excellent feedback on Brandon’s speech, but it was Michelle’s evaluation that reigned supreme.

Chamber Club got into the holiday spirit with our annual potluck and white elephant gift exchange. There was plenty of good food and glad tidings sprinkled with CC540′s sense of humor. Below, Area Governor Eden explained to us why dark chocolate is the perfect gift for her.

Chamber Club celebrated its 63rd birthday with an open house! We were joined by our District 2 Governor, Eric Vaughn, other area officials, former members and our current members. Our toastmaster, Eden, reminded us about the benefits of membership in Toastmasters and what makes Chamber Club such a supportive environment to work on communication and leadership skills. Below Chamber Club members past and present celebrate the clubs 63rd birthday in style. Left to right are Dave, Ardi, Kateri, Peter, Bettelinn and Noel.

Laura and Brian went on to compete at the Division B contest. Laura placed 1st in the humorous speaking contest and Brian placed 1st in the table topics competition. Laura and Brian went on to represent Chamber Club at the District 2 conference. Congratulations Laura and Brian on your success!

A strong field competed this year in the club’s Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests. Seven(!) members prepared Very Funny Stuff, with topics going full-circle from (I kid you not) burning cars and school bus tours to pre-parental angst and ‘Twilight’ teen angst to burning chicken coops. But Laura came out on top with her ‘worst-case scenario’ guide to daily life, with Scott placing second with a story of the TSA vs. his Peace Corps flatware.

The four contestants in the Table Topics impromptu speaking contest revealed their ‘Poltergeist’-induced nightmares and concerns about Mini-stuffing in response to the simple question “Clowns – hilarious or terrifying?” posed by the hardly-terrifying Toastmaster, Lani. Though JP Patches was also remembered fondly, it was Brian’s combination of horror and humor that earned him top marks, with Alli’s claustrophobic/coulrophobic response coming in second.

Just how good did the winners have to be to lead this strong field? Laura’s and Brian’s skills were evident at the Area 25 contest, where they again placed first! Congrats to them and to all of the other club contestants (Peter, Michelle, Dave, Scott, Michael, Alli, and Maria)! Go Chamber Club!

Summer in Seattle was recently celebrated at Chamber Club, with a meeting theme dedicated to “grilling” led by the evening’s Toastmaster Alli. Also in the spirit of the evening was General Evaluator Peter who was fully prepared for grilling with cooking utensils, apron, and of course a chef’s hat!