Chika Nwoko and Harvey Hyman, winners of the Rockridge Toastmasters Speech and Table Topics contest(held March 16th), respectively will advance to the Division 3 Area Speech Contest on March, 30th 2010.

Congratulations to both of them, and we wish them luck at the Area Speech Contest.

On December 22nd, 2009 by a motion from the current President, Siobhan Southwick, with a second from Treasurer, Rubette Cowans, a unanimous slate of Officers were elected for the January through June, 2010 term. Officers will be installed January 5th, 2010!

President
Chika Nwoko

VP of Education
Ash Aneja

VP of Membership
Bakht Kahn

VP of Public Relations
Peter Dosanjh

Secretary
Rachel Asa

Treasurer
Rubette Cowan

Sergeant at Arms
Kathryn Strong

June 2nd, 2009 by a motion from the current Secretary, Kathy Hraster, with a second from Member, Doug Coe, a unanimous slate of Officers was elected for the July through December term. Officers will be installed June 30th, 2009!
President- Siobhan Southwick
VP of Ed- Steve Forney
VP of Membership- Jeffrey Koubek
VP of PR- Chika Nwoko
Sgt at Arms: Chris Pinckley
Treasurer- Rubette Cowan
Secretary- Rohini

The 2009 Rockridge Toastmasters presidential election went off without a hitch. An unopposed slate of officers was voted in unanimously. The new team is underway and committed to the growth and success of its club and its members! Officer slate: Beatrice Stonebanks, President; Kemberlee Bonnet, VP of Education; Lee Staub, VP of Membership; Ben Kocs-Meyers, VP of PR; Erica Dong, Treasurer; Kathy Hraster, Secretary; Jeffrey Koubek, Sgt at Arms.

The 2008 Rockridge Toastmasters presidential election went off without a hitch. An unopposed slate of officers was voted in unanimously on June 10, 2008. The new team will be sworn in at a special ceremony on June 24.

Taking over on July 1 and holding office through December 31 are:

President: Steve Forney

VP Education: Chris Pufpaf

VP Public Relations: Beatrice Stonebanks

VP Membership: Rita Schnaidt

Secretary: Phanda Jones

Treasurer: Rubette Cowan

Sergeant at Arms: Peter Gaposchkin

Onward and Upward!

Our "Welcome to Spring" lunchtime bash at Casa "newest Competent Communicator" Sonia Quintero on Sunday was a delicious and delightful affair. Club members, as per usual, excelled in the food department. Good devilled eggs, Kathy Hraster; yummie Thai and Indian chicken, Steve Fornay; gorgeous cupcakes, Beatrice Stonebanks; which is not to say everything else wasn't equally good. Steve Forney won the JokeMeister contest and with the popularity of the idea of telling a joke as an option for the closing thought, as suggested by Ash Aneja, this will now be permanent on the agenda. Ash and Rita Schnaidt were runners-up in the joke contest and Mary Sullivan and Wanda Hennig tied for fourth place. Onward and upward!

Congratulations to Dorian Cougias, a Rockridge Toastmasters newbie but a longtime Toastmaster and veteran speaker, for his International Speech Contest win. Dorian represented our club on 03/17/08 at the area contest held at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. He goes on to represent Rockridge Toastmasters in the district contest. Congratulations also go to Mary Sullivan who was runner-up the same night, in the Table Topics contest. Advice she would give to anyone competing in Table Topics? Read your question and then walk away from the podium, she says. She didn't do it, but next time she will!

Congratulations to the new officers-elect who will be serving Rockridge Toastmasters from January 1 to June 30, 2008. They were elected by a unanimous vote of a majority of club members at the December 4, 2007 meeting.

President – Wanda Hennig
VP of Education – Steve Forney
VP of Membership – Rita Schnaidt
VP of PR – Ash Aneja
Secretary – Laura Prives
Treasurer – Sonia Quintero
Sergeant at Arms – Peter Gaposchkin

These new officers will be installed at the December 18th meeting.

Congratulations to Rita Schnaidt, Humorous Speech Contest winner and to Kent Lewandowski, Evaluation Contest winner in Rockridge Toastmasters' club speech contest. Rita and Kent each went on to the Area D3 contest on October 1st, and each took home second place awards!

Toastmasters International ran a special membership program from May 1 to June 30, 2007.  Rockridge Toastmasters took in five new members during that time. We received another ribbon to add to our club banner and can choose a gift item from the Toastmasters Store.  Our special thanks to new members, Chris P., DeWeena C., Laura N., Laura P., and Rhett P. who joined during that time to help us achieve this award!

Congratulations to our new slate of officers, elected for the term from July to December 2007

On February the 13th, we will host our club building event, "Bring a Friend Night." First and foremost, the occasion is to promote our toastmasters club to keep it as a viable, desirable club to be a member. Moreover, this event will help raise local awareness of Toastmasters and what it is, in concept and in practice.

Please come and participate- bring a friend, some food and/or drinks, and tell a few others about our planned evening. As always, this will be a fun time to be had by all.

Congratulations to our new slate of officers, elected for the term January - June 2007

President - Suk-King Yiu

VP-Education - Sue Garces

VP-Membership - Carol Moretti

VP-Public Relations - Cepeda Carson

Treasurer - Anna Schooley

Sergeant-at-Arms - B.W. Leicester

Secretary - Chris Fuller

December 19 is our last meeting of 2006 as well as the transfer of "power" among the officers. This installation ceremony is an important tradition that honors the role our officers play in the leadership of the club.

Please plan to attend the meeting & ceremony. Additionally, we will have a potluck that night to celebrate. 

VP Education, Doug Coe, congratulated Kevin Hearne for a job well done on his Icebreaker!

Congratulations to our new slate of officers, elected for the term July - December 2006:
President - Cepeda Carson
VP-Education - Doug Coe
VP-Membership - Heather Webster
VP-Public Relations - E.M. Ginger
Treasurer - Gordon Williams
Sergeant-at-Arms - Kevin Ly
Secretary - Kent Lewandowski

As promised, a second educational forum was put in place for early May. This one focused on Table Topics - the subject of much interest, as evidenced by the number of people who participated. Kent Lewandowski did an excellent job of moderating the forum. He asked pertinent questions and kept the discussion running smoothly and on topic. Assisting him in his efforts were the panelists - Tiffany Torlakson, Russ Singer, Wanda Hennig, and Carl Close - all of whom offered pearls of wisdom on how to approach and execute a good Table Topics presentation. The audience was active with comments and questions, and in the end we all learned a lot from the discussion. Rubette Cowan coordinated all the refreshments which are always a crowd favorite. Extra points to Kent for his awesome homemade, vegetarian crostinis which were an especially big hit. We all look forward to another forum next term.

There are changes ahead in the Toastmaster Communication and Leadership Tracks. Most of us are familiar with the basic Communication and Leadership manual and its ten project speeches. Those ten project speeches are the first leg of the communication track to achieve Competent Toastmaster (CTM).

Not as well known is that each member can also achieve Competent Leader standing (CL) by the following:
* Achieved Competent Toastmaster award
* Served at least six months as a Club officer and participated in the preparation of a Club Success Plan while serving in this office
* While a Club officer, participated in a District-sponsored Club officer training program
* Conducted any two programs from The Successful Club Series and/or The Leadership Excellence Series

But the requirements above are about to change -- starting in July 2006, newly joined Toastmaster members will receive two manuals, a communication manual with ten speeches and a second manual titled "Competent Leadership" with ten projects to complete.

Though many join Toastmasters for the "communication track" with its exercises in public speaking, the "leadership track" has always been available and has now been given more prominence with it's own manual, and detailed projects to complete and be evaluated on.

The existing leadership track has three levels: Competent Leader (CL), Advanced Leader (AL) and Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).

The new leadership track will still have the Competent Leader (CL) achievement level but you will have to complete the ten projects in the Competent Leadership Manual to receive this. After this you can go on to achieve Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB), Advanced Leader Silver (ALS) and then the familiar "Distinguished Toastmaster" (DTM). Check out the new leadership track and the project details to get even more out of Toastmasters!

The results are in: Claire Pillsbury (your faithful RTM News Scribe) and Kent Lewandowski are the winners and the official Rockridge club speaker and Table Topic talker respectively, who will go on to represent RTM at the Area contest on March 23. In the event that either is unable to participate on that date, the next runner-up will be asked to compete.

Congratulations also to our second place speech contest winner, Suk-King Yiu, as well as our second and third place Table Topics winners, Alex Black and Ash Aneja, respectively. Honorable mentions go to all other contestants: Sue Garces, Carl Close, Rita Schnaidt, and Peter Gaposchkin.

For those who didn't attend, a Speech Contest meeting is a *very* different animal than our usual agenda and process. There is no opening or closing thought, no speaker introductions, no clicking and 'uh' tally reports, and no oral evaluation report. Club members in the audience do not fill out the familiar evaluation forms for speakers but they do fill out a rather complicated numerical ballot for speakers and for table topic contestants.

Our Education Officer, Cepeda Carson had to work hard to recruit 3 to 4 club members to compete in a speech category and 5 or 6 to compete in a table topics category. Speakers must have completed at least the first six speeches in the basic manual to be eligible.

An ear-splitting fire alarm and building evacuation started the Speech Contest meeting on an intrepid note, and chocolates were served outside to various toastmasters and other individuals from concurrent Veterans Bldg activities. A false alarm was verified and the RTM meeting restarted with only a slight delay.

The three speeches took up the first half hour or so and then the Table Topics consumed most of the second half hour. For the contest, there was an interesting twist on our usual Table Topic procedure. All contestants were asked the same question so every contestant other than the current TT speaker or those who had already spoken, had to wait outside the room. Despite this isolation hardship, all performed very well and delivered interesting cogent responses to the topic: "What is the hardest job they ever had, and why was it important to you?" Ironically, Kent Lewandowski's articulate and winning response was how he tried to avoid working hard whenever possible!

Rockridge Toastmasters' own Kathy Hrastar is the author of the interesting and inspiring article on speaking for classes learning English as a second language. Look in the February 2006 issue of Toastmaster magazine to find her excellent essay about her experiences. As Kathy points out, she learned a lot and the audience of English language learners also benefits, in hearing a different voice than their teachers,and in valuable listening and comprehension practice. Congratulations Kathy on your article and thank you for sharing your story to inspire the rest of us.

President: Patricia deSa
VP Education: Cepeda Carson
VP Membership: Ash Aneja
VP Public Relations: Claire Pillsbury
Treasurer: Doug Coe
Sergeant at Arms: Kent Lewandowski
Secretary: Cathy Curtis
Immediate Past President: Rubette Cowan

Rockridge Toastmasters held its first Educational Forum on November 29, 2005. The topic was “How to Give a Great Evaluation,” and the panel consisted of Craig Wood (moderator), Ash Aneja, Kathy Hrastar, and Russ Singer, all stellar evaluators. Refreshments and sweets were served, and it was very well attended. All in all, it was a great success, with everyone getting lots of ideas on how to improve their own evaluating skills. In fact, it was so successful, we will definitely do this again, probably two or three times a year. So, if you weren't able to make it to this first forum, there will be other opportunities.

There were a number of speech contests held throughout District 57 this fall. We were very pleased to have such a good showing at all levels—from club, to area, to division, and finally, to the district level.

Our club contests were held on September 6th. The contestants for the Humorous Speech Contest were Patricia deSa, Darrell Smith, and Brian Ward, and the contestants for the Evaluation Contest were Ash Aneja, Cathy Curtis, and Tiffany Torlakson.

The Fall District 57 Conference was on November 5th, where Patricia deSa placed third in the Humorous Speech Contest, after taking first place in the club, area, and division contests. She was in a field of seven very experienced, excellent speakers, so coming in third was no small feat! Hearty congratulations to you Pat. We’re all very proud of you!

Craig Wood organized the annual picnic again. Our "summer" picnic was held a little late this year, but it didn’t take anything away from the fun. This year it was held at Lake Temescal. The food was yummy, and a good time was had by all.

We did it again! Rubette Cowan and Craig Wood organized a great night at the Oakland Coliseum to catch an A’s game, and to watch the spectacular fireworks. We all had so much fun going to two A’s fireworks games last summer, we couldn’t resist the temptation to do it again. It was a very enjoyable (albeit a little chilly) night. By the way, the A’s lost to Minnesota, 0-1. But that won’t stop us from going again next year.

President: Rubette Cowan
VP Education: Patricia deSa
VP Membership: Doug Coe
VP Public Relations: Bakht Khan
Treasurer: Cathy Curtis
Sergeant at Arms: Cepeda Carson
Secretary: Peter Gaposchkin

Club Level Contest – March 8, 2005

Table Topics Contestants: Diane Beeson, Cathy Curtis, Patricia deSa, Rita Schnaidt, Sara Weisman

International Speech Contestants: Ash Aneja, Sue Garces

President: Mary Sullivan
VP Education: Rubette Cowan
VP Membership: JD Margulici
VP Public Relations: Darrell Smith
Treasurer: Suk-King Yiu
Sergeant at Arms: Patricia deSa
Secretary: Michael Chao

Thanks to Craig Wood for organizing our annual picnic in Tilden Park in Berkeley. The overcast day and the chill in the air couldn’t put a damper on the enthusiasm of those who attended. We had tons of fun, from playing bocce ball, to learning how to hula hoop, to playing a very competitive -- but still friendly -- game of Scrabble. It was a wonderful day, especially if you happened to be on the winning team! We’re already looking forward to next year’s picnic.

President: Ash Aneja
VP Education: Jennifer Reed
VP Membership: Rubette Cowan
VP Public Relations: Rita Schnaidt
Treasurer: Teri Buford
Sergeant at Arms: Doug Coe
Secretary: Peter Gaposchkin

Come "clap and applaud" for Rockridge Toastmasters' Jennifer Reed at the upcoming Toastmasters International Division D Speech Contest.

Date: Thurs., April 15, 2004 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Location: Kaiser Permanente Regional Bldg.
1950 Franklin St., 2nd Floor
Conference Dining Room
Downtown Oakland

Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Please come and cheer Jen on to another Win!!

Hearty congratulations to our own Jennifer Reed and Troy Christmas for bringing home prizes from the Toastmasters International Area D3 Speech contest. Jen took first place in the International Speech Category, and Troy, a brand new Toastmaster, won 2nd place in Table Topics. Jen is moving on to the Division D Speech Contest on April 15, 2004. Please come cheer her on.

This evening's meeting of Rockridge Toastmasters was our Spring 2004 International Speech contest. Please congratulate the First Place winners, Jennifer Reed in the Speech category, and Troy Christmas, the Table Topics winner!

Jennifer and Troy will represent Rockridge Toastmasters at the Area D3 Speech Contest on Monday, March 29, 2004. The Area contest will be held from 7 to 9pm in the Joseph Bort Building at Lawrence Dharms Auditorium, 101 8th Street, Oakland, CA. Members are encouraged to attend the Area contest and support our club's winning speakers!

The new 2004 edition of the Communication and Leadership Program Manual is now being delivered to new members of Toastmaster International. The organization has changed the order and some titles of the 10 speeches in this "basic manual". For members who have the 1999 edition, you can compare the sequence and titles of speeches in the new manual by using this chart:

Speech #	New 2004 Manual Titles	Old 1999 Manual Titles
1	The Ice Breaker (unchanged)	The Ice Breaker
2	Organize Your Speech	Speak with Sincerity
3	Get to the Point	Organize Your Speech
4	How to Say it	Show What You Mean
5	Your Body Speaks	Vocal Variety
6	Vocal Variety	Work with Words
7	Research Your Topic	Apply Your Skills
8	Get Comfortable with Visual Aids	Add Impact to Your Speech
9	Persuade with Power (unchanged)	Persuade with Power
10	Inspire Your Audience (unchanged)	Inspire Your Audience

Rockridge Toastmasters has received a Smedley Award for Membership. The award recognizes our success in club growth for the two-month period of August and September 2003, when we added 5 new members. The award ribbon will be added to the numerous award ribbons on the Rockridge Toastmasters banner.

Rockridge Toastmasters will hold its International Speech and Table Topics contests on Tuesday, March 23. The winners of this contest will represent the club at the Area Contest on Monday, March 29. Members who are interested in participating, please contact our VP of Education, Jen Reed, at kangaboo@yahoo.com. Everyone is welcome to come, listen and vote.

On Feb 28th, six of us brave RTM'ers warmed up our arms and polished our shoes and went bowling at Albany Bowl. We played a few games, drank a few beers, and had a great time. Yes, there were several gutter balls, but there were also lots of strikes. Did we have a "ringer" among us? It seems Craig Wood may have been a Pro Bowler in another life. (No need to mention here who didn't break 100!)

President: Russ Singer
VP Education: Jennifer Reed
VP Membership: Rita Schnaidt
VP Public Relations: Mary Sullivan
Treasurer: Rubette Cowan
Seargent at Arms: Cynthia Shartzer
Secretary: Peter Gaposchkin

The goal for the new term, says new President Russ, is for everyone to "have fun". And that's attainable. Rockridge Toastmasters knows how to do that!

Have you ever considered the structure of Rockridge Toastmasters meetings? Wondered where and how that weekly outline originates? Well, think no more!

It is the duty of the evening's Toastmaster to create a theme, plan the agenda, and contact all members with roles. Traditionally, the Toastmaster follows a routine agenda because it includes the necessary speakers, flows well, and generally ends within the allotted hour's time. However, it must be noted that the Toastmaster has free reign with the meetings! As long as the scheduled speaking roles are included, the meeting can be formatted any way the Toastmaster wishes.

For instance, it's not essential to include Opening and Closing thoughts; perhaps there could be a mid-meeting Roundtable. Or, as shown in an experiment at a recent meeting, there could be a Tabletopics Evaluator. Maybe the Tabletopics participants could be called upon intermittently throughout the meeting. Whatever the Toastmaster plans for the agenda is fair, as long as s/he contacts the appropriate members to let them know what is expected of them. Likewise, if a member is ever confused about his/her role for the evening, the Toastmaster is the one to contact.

Additionally, the roles for each week are assigned by the Vice President of Education, approximately one month in advance. Therefore, if the Toastmaster wishes to structure a meeting with slightly different roles, s/he should contact the participants in advance to arrange any changes and avoid confusion.

So remember, change is good! Creativity is allowed! As Toastmaster for the meeting, it is okay to experiment. It is also okay to fall back on the routine agenda, which seems to serve Rockridge Toastmasters well.

President: Dan Psomas
VP Education: Ash Aneja
VP Membership: Rita Schnaidt
VP Public Relations: Kathy Hrastar
Treasurer: Brian Collins
Seargent at Arms: Peter Gaposchkin
Secretary: Sue Garces

Prodigious congratulations to all members of Rockridge Toastmasters for their Herculean efforts in helping the club achieve its educational goals! For the first time in our club's illustrious six-year history, Rockridge Toastmasters has earned "President's Distinguished Club" status in the Toastmasters International "Distinguished Club Program" (DCP). This is the highest level of achievement in the DCP, with a very select group of clubs achieving that honor each year.

To wit, among 126 clubs in District 57, only four clubs (i.e., 3%) have thus far achieved President's Distinguished Club status in the current year, which ends June 30th. (Scroll down for more information about the Distinguished Club Program.) 2002-3 has been a monster year for Rockridge Toastmasters and we're in great shape to continue the momentum for many years to come!

Tax day is right around the corner! For those of you who have yet to submit your 1040 forms, you may be wondering whether your Toastmasters dues are tax deductible. As with so many tax-related issues, the answer depends on your situation.

If Toastmasters helps you maintain or improve skills required to perform the duties of your present employment, then your Toastmasters dues may be tax deductible. Individuals for whom this may apply include salespeople, teachers, managers, lawyers, trainers and others who need to be effective communicators and leaders in order to do their jobs.

You'll need to itemize your deductions in order to deduct your Toastmasters dues from your taxes. In addition, these dues payments, like other educational/business expenses, are deductible only to the extent that they exceed 2% of adjusted gross income.

For more information on tax deductions for Toastmasters, refer to the following document posted on the Toastmasters International website. Good luck with your taxes. And we'll see you on Tuesday night!

Russ Singer and Sue Garces competed at the Area D3 International Speech and Table Topics contest on Thursday, March 20. Both Russ and Sue did a great job representing Rockridge Toastmasters. Russ finished first in the International Speech contest. And Sue was runner-up in the Table Topics contest. Five contestants participated in each contest, so Russ and Sue's strong performance is certainly a testament to their skills in public speaking.

Russ will next compete in the Division D contest at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 21st at the Joseph P. Bort Metro Center, 101 8th St., in Oakland. Sue will serve as a backup in the event that the Area D3 winner, Wendy Kupsaw of Lakeview Toastmasters, is unable to participate. Congratulations to Russ and Sue!

Rockridge Toastmasters held its annual International Speech and Table Topics contests on Tuesday, March 18. The winner of the International Speech contest was Russ Singer, who told a riveting story entitled "The Smell of a Rose." Matthew Rampton was runner-up with a speech called "The Future of Communications" and Peter Gaposchkin finished third with "Reducing Pollution."

Sue Garces won the Table Topics contest, delivering a thoughtful impromptu speech on a challenging topic: "What superpower would you like to possess?". Dan Psomas was runner-up.

Russ and Sue will represent the club at the Area D3 contest on Thursday, March 20, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kaiser building, 1950 Franklin St., Oakland. Matthew and Dan will serve as back-ups in the event that Russ or Sue is unable to participate. Congratulations to all contestants and best of luck at the area contest on Thursday night!

President: Dawn Tso
VP Education: Dan Psomas
VP Membership: Craig Wood
VP Public Relations: Rita Schnaidt
Treasurer: Paul Friedlander
Seargent at Arms: Ash Aneja
Secretary: Peter Gaposchkin