MarathonMasters

Trailside Center * 9901 Holmes Road * Kansas City, MO 64131

MarathonMasters, and Guests,

Officer training is coming up soon.  All officers are encouraged to attend to learn new tricks and sharpen their skills.  There is more to the training than just learning how to perform your officer duties; there will also be sessions on being a contest judge and contest master, as well as valuable information on sound systems.  This winter's training will be at Shawnee Mission North High School.  Here's the timeline for the training.

Shawnee Mission North High School, 7401 Johnson Drive

To celebrate our last meeting before the Christmas and New Year break, we are having a white elephant gift exchange.  A white elephant is defined as a valuable possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) exceeds its usefulness.  For our white elephant gift exchange, each member should bring a gift which is something he or she wants to get rid of.  It could be a gift you received but never used, or just something you no longer want.  It doesn't have to be expensive to purchase or to maintain.  Gifts should be wrapped prior to the meeting.

Join us this Thursday (November 20) at our new location, 1200 E 104th Street, for a potluck lunch.  In keeping with the theme of the upcoming holiday, our members will be bringing turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, pie, and other side dishes.  Come have lunch with us, hear some great speeches, and check out the new setting.  We look forward to seeing you there.

We will be voting on officers for the Jan - June 2009 terms at tomorrow's meeting (Nov 13).  Current nominations are as follows:

President: Helen Gebre-Amlak
VP Education: James Williams
VP Membership: Martha DeMond
VP Public Relations: Cheri Willard
Secretary/Treasurer: Rose Sanders-Likes
Sergeant at Arms: John Kelly
Immediate Past President: Eldon Miller

And while we're at it, we're also going to finally vote on our future meeting locations, whether we continue at St Joseph Hospital or move to Webster University.

Congratulations to Martha for being voted in as our new VP Membership, and to Cheri for being voted our new VP Public Relations.  Both of these members will serve in their new officer roles until the end of the year and possibly beyond if they choose to nominate themselves to continue in their respective roles next year.

MarathonMasters is contemplating moving to a new location.  The reasons for the change are as follows:

• Many consider our current room difficult to find.
• We are not always able to meet in the same room.  Additionally, when we meet in one of the rooms in the community center, we are charged a $10 fee.
• We are no longer able to borrow the LCD projector.  Instead we must rent it for $100 per use.
• The medical center has never allowed us to advertise on the campus.  This makes it difficult to attract the medical center's employees.

We've found a new location at Webster University just off I-435 and Holmes.  Because Webster is aimed at working adults, their rooms are generally available during the day.  They have offered us a consistent room at no charge, will allow us to advertise on their property and in their newsletters, and will provide us with unlimited use of a LCD projector for a one-time upfront fee.  However, the club needs to vote on whether we want to move or not.  Expect a vote to be held at the next meeting.

Below is a picture of our current room (Classroom B) and four pictures of the new room over at Webster's University.  Click the images for a larger view.

Due to the former VP PR and VP Membership leaving our club, we are in need of volunteers to fill these two roles at least until the end of the year.  Feel free to look up the duties of these two officer positions by clicking on the Officers link on the left sidebar.

The current plan is to vote on these two new officers at our next meeting on October 16, so be thinking about whether or not you would like to fill one of these rewarding opportunities.

Congratulations to James and David who both took first place at the area level humorous speech and evaluation contest.  As the winners of the area, both will be advancing to the division level contest which is to be held at the same location, YRC world headquarters at I-435 and Roe, in three weeks.  The specific details are:

Saturday, October 18, 2008
YRC Worldwide Facility
10990 Roe Ave, Overland Park, KS

Registration begins at 11:00am
Contest begins are 11:30am

There will also be a $3.00 fee to cover refreshments and other materials.

Mark your calendars for September 27 when Toastmasters area S75 will be conducting their annual fall humorous speech and evaluation contest.  MarathonMasters will be sending two of its own to represent the club in this contest:

• James Williams as a speaker
• David Robaska as an evaluator

The contest will be held at:

YRC Worldwide Corporate Headquarters
10990 Roe Ave
Overland Park, Kansas

Registration begins at 9:00am, and the contest begins at 9:30am.  Areas S71 and S72 will also be represented during the contest.  Come and help cheer on our members.