Latin Leaders - Toastmasters Club #583774

A big congratulations to both Ernie Aguilar and Pablo Gomez. In less than one year as a Toastmaster, they have not only completed all 10 speech projects of the Competent Communication manual, but have also dared to compete at an Area contest. In fact, Ernie has competed twice. Completing the CC manual is a monumental task that many new members never do complete. But to complete that in less than a year is a very rare accomplishment for first time members.

These two accomplishments are a significant achievement for the club as it reaches it’s ninth goal towards the club’s plan to be a President’s Distinguished Club this year. We are On Our Way!

As this is contest season, there are some important dates coming up that you should put on your calendar now. The next area contest in our division is March 23 at the Irvine Ranch Water District, registration starting at 5:30 PM. See the flyer for more details. The final Area contest will be on March 30 also at the Irvine Ranch Water District, registration starting at 5:30 PM. See their flyer for more details on that contest.

All of the Area winners will then compete at the Division A contest to be held April 21 at the Tustin Senior Center, registration begins at 5:30 PM. Pre-register early to get a discount on the ticket price. See the Division Flyer for more details.

And finally this year, the District contest will be on May 5 at the two day District Conference to be held at the Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel in Buena Park. The best speakers in the district will be there competing for the number one spot in the District who will then go on to compete at the International stage in Orlando, Florida. Get the early-bird registration rate by registering online at www.foundersdistrict.org/conference-information.

The Latin Leaders International Speech and Table Topics contest will be held on February 28 instead of our regular meeting.  We will have contestants in both contests competing.  The winners of our club contest will go on to represent Latin Leaders and compete at the area contest which will be March 9 at the URS building on First Street.  More details will be coming soon.  Please join us for this contest and cheer on your favorite competitor.  Food and drink will be provided.

PLEASE NOTE: Our next meeting will be on February 13 instead of February 14, even though the Duty Roster says February 14. The program doesn’t allow me to change the date to a non-Tuesday. Please spend Valentines Day with your loved ones, but spend February 13 with us.

Wow, what a meeting. We packed five speeches in and still had a very fun meeting. Maybe it was the chocolate, or maybe it was just that we’ve spent so much time together working hard and getting it done. We even had three guests today to make the meeting even more enjoyable. It’s always nice to share our time with guests.

Click on the “Progress Chart” menu to see how everyone is doing. Ernie has one last speech to go to complete his CC award and is planning to do this on February 13, so don’t miss this. Be there to see this milestone speech and give him your support.

Don’t forget our club speech contest will be on February 28. You won’t want to miss this exciting event.

Now I have wireless access at the club, I can post this blog during our meeting. Today is our Spanish only meeting so I do not have much participation except to start and finish the meeting. Today is Lourdes’ first time as a Toastmaster and it appears she has been well coached because she is doing great for her first time. We have three speakers scheduled so this will be a full meeting.   We have a new member and a few guests. This is great. I announced that our annual Christmas party will be on December 20 this month at the El Ranchito Restaurant. Our committee is still planning that party so there will be more details to follow.