Page 33 - july 2019

It was an arduous struggle. When a club is the Facilitating Discussion advanced manual,

suspended, it loses access to Club Central. We Kevin proposed that we change our name Feather
pleaded with Toastmasters International for Tongues to Feather Communicators. His proposal
former members contact information so we could was unanimously adopted. In March, we moved
reach out to them. Finally, World HQ acquiesced from the Seven Feathers Casino to the Myrtle

and sent the membership directory dating back Creek Public Library.
to club charter in 2005! That helped bring back The FUN Factor is huge in our meetings.
a few members. The club needed to have at least Sometimes, we get carried away. Like when a new
eight members before it would be reinstated. We member chose “flatulent” as Word-of-the-Day.

hit that number by July 2018 and we were finally Although Merriam-Webster also defines this
back in good standing. word as “pompously or portentously overblown”
The next hurdle was assigning coaches for we laughed so hard throughout the meeting that
a club in a remote rural area like Canyonville. we were all at risk of the common definition!

We invited Arlynn McMahon to coach from We are big on spontaneity. Some weeks ago,
Lexington (Kentucky). Club Growth Director as Tiger Mcandie and I were driving down to
Cate Arnold understood the power of online Myrtle Creek, Facebook reminded that it was
attendance so eventually Arlynn and I were Kevin’s birthday. Without a moment’s hesitation,

official coaches. In addition to adding a charming we swung by Ray’s Food Market, bought a cake,
southern flavor to our meetings, Arlynn served as and surprised Kevin. Karen Chen from Canada
club webmaster. Using FreeToastHost, she created and Arlynn McMahon from Kentucky joined us
an upbeat and informative website. She made in singing “Happy birthday!” Laughter erupted

sure that we had unusual meeting themes that when the cake flew off the plate https://youtu.
lent themselves to thought-provoking, yet fun, be/wddK7rteqN8.
Table Topics. Some examples: Time Travel, A After we adjourned, we had an impromptu
Bud Wiser, and Three Guys Walk Into a Bar and... picnic in the park.

We decided to meet weekly (instead of
alternate weeks). We changed the meeting day
from Friday to Monday. Using a project from

VOICES! | JULY 2019 33