Karen Caldwell sends word of an open mic this weekend:

Inspirational Poetry Open Mic
Saturday, August 23, 2008
7:00-9:00 p.m.

Daily Grind Coffee House and Café
9000 Lorton Station Blvd.
Lorton, VA 22079

Next to Lorton Station VRE
Parking Available
Please call 703-371-3431 for Pick up, 6:00 p.m.
at Franconia/Springfield Metro Station (Blue Line)

For More Information Contact Karen:
kmrpoetry@gmail.com
703-371-3431

Not  only do these events provide a chance to hear and meet some local poets, they also give Toastmasters working in the Interpretive Reading manual an appreciative audience.

Here’s a last look at District 27 members in Calgary:

District 27 members at the 2008 Convention.

LaShunda Rundles of Region 3 is the 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking. K. Loghandran of Malaysia placed second, and Region VII’s Katherine Morrison placed third. Check out the blog Six Minutes for pictures and profiles of all the finalists.

I just wandered over to the TI web site looking for the results of the International Speech Contest. I was disappointed not to find them, but I did discover that many of the speakers have made their session notes available on the web. It’s a great way for those of us who couldn’t make it to Calgary to benefit from the presentations made at the convention.

Also learned from John about the Hall of Fame.

… District 27 was honored in the Hall of Fame several times. We were awarded the Distinguished District Award (#27 in the world), an Excellence in Leadership Award (4th year in a row as a Distinguished District), Excellence on Education and Training Award, and an Excellence in Marketing Award.

… Accepting these awards were Heath Suddleson, Lillian Cooke, and John Lesko. All members of the district in attendance were invited on stage with the D27 Banner.

… Another distinguished year the result of a true team effort.

Seems like there should have been some individual awards and maybe Presidential Citations. Stay tuned for results of the International Speech Contest and any interesting announcements from the Region VII breakfast.

John Lesko sent the business meeting results after I had shut down for the day. Michael Notaro carried the race for Third Vice President; Annelie Weber is the new International Director in Region VII. The complete results:

President: Jana Barnhill
Senior VP: Gary Schmidt
2nd VP: Pat Johnson
3rd VP: Michael Notaro
R1 ID: Earleen Norris
R2 ID: Mary Russell
R3 ID: Tim Swearinger
R4 ID: Lyle Appleyard
R5 ID: Michael Rafferty
R6 ID: Kristal DiCarlo
R7 ID: Annelie Weber
R8 ID: Sal Asad
DNAR: Poh Kim Siong

… Distinguished Toastmasters all!

LGET John Lesko has written from the International Convention with news that the candidates for third vice president were separated by only four votes. He’ll let us know the winner when the recount is finished.

Lillian Cooke

News of Lillian Cooke’s election as District Governor (and success as a Toastmaster) was featured prominently in the current issue of Chem-Bio Defense Quarterly Magazine. Don’t forget that your Toastmaster news can atract members to your club when published in your workplace journals and community newspapers.

The August Newsletter has been released. Enjoy, and please share widely in your clubs and with your Toastmaster friends.

The staff over at Mastering Business Communications has posted it latest program, a discussion of speaking to entertain in a business environment. I missed an earlier program that featured this year’s District Governor and Lieutenant Governors.