Dawn Yawn Toastmasters

Wow! What a fun and educational time we had at Dawn Yawn Toastmasters this week. Great speeches! And a wild time during the Table Topics portion, when members were called on to spontaneously answer questions and tell stories about....SOUP! We had a chance to practice speaking in response to questions we didn't have in advance, and to be humorous. Things got funny as speakers talked about childhood soups...or soups that were fantastical.

Our winners, Left to right --

Kudos to Beth as Best Speaker for her winning speech (in the serious portion of the program) about "One Key to Motivating Others." Beth made excellent points about how to engage people in effective effort.

Jean for Best Table Topics, with her winning speech about a "big reveal" soup that produced a quacking duck. What?!

Nancy as Best Evaluator for Beth's speech -- which was not an easy speech to evaluate since Beth is such an accomplished public speaker. Nancy gave observations and pointers we all benefited from.

John as Most Improved for his speech about "Being Single" after the sudden passing of his wife of more than 50 years.

What a rich and diverse group of talent there is in this bunch.

Come join us on Wednesday mornings, in-person or on-line.

Sometimes our club gets asked, "What's the Lemon Award?" We have a long-standing, light-hearted tradition of giving this award to the person who um...ah...well... uses the most filler words in their speech. We point this out all in fun so that all of us are aware of using words that can be discarded to make a clearer presentation.

On January 14 --
Lemon Award - Yuanting
Table Topics - Beth
Best Evaluator- Chris
Most Improved Speaker- John Paul
Best Speaker - Aaron

Come join us in person or on Zoom! We're a fun bunch and, in more than 60 years, we've helped countless people improve their speaking skills.

We meet every Wednesday at 7 a.m. at Sunrise Sunset Restaurant in Lakewood, Colorado. Participants from other states and even other countries also join us online!

We're off and running! Happy New Year Dawn Yawn!

Mary Wang, online from Texas, won both the Most Improved and Best Speaker Awards at our first meeting of the new year. Club President Aaron Cure is holding up the awards in front of Mary on the screen.

Chris Anderson was honored for Best Table Topics speech, and
Beth Boaz won the award for Best Evaluator.

Welcome to Rouven Krauer who visited in person but will usually be joining us online from Steamboat.

We have many people participating online.

Guests are welcome!

Come improve your speaking skills and enjoy the companionship and encouragement of our club members.

Do you need to improve your public speaking? Begin the new year with a fun group of people to help you do that! We meet every week online or in person, and you'll still have time to get to work. 7 a.m. mountain time each Wednesday in Lakewood, Colorado. Email me for the details: [email protected] or check out an earlier post.

The Toastmasters International Competition has begun! The first round is at the club level. Pictured here were the Dawn Yawn Club's participants. Left to right: Aaron Cure, Diane Gansauer, Chris Anderson, and Terry Ploski. Chris won the #1 spot with a speech titled, "Chickens, Squirrels, and Deer...oh my!" It turns out that being a "chicken" was a better choice than being a squirrel or a deer when it comes to getting across a road. To find out more, come hear Chris at the next level of competition, the Area contest -- to be held at the Belmar Library in Lakewood on February 7 beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Here are bios of just two of our members....more to follow in later posts.

Come visit us -- in person or online. Dawn Yawn Toastmasters meets every Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. in Lakewood Colorado. Sunrise Sunset Restaurant on S. Wadsworth.

We have a highly supportive environment for improving speaking and presentation skills, and we have a lot of fun getting together each week.

Here are two of our very talented members:

Alex Benko has been a member of Toastmasters for 25+ years starting in Dallas and then in Denver. He is ESL as Hungarian is his first language. He has a passion for volunteering and believes in paying it forward. He joined Dawn Yawn in 2022, the fourth club in his speaking journey. He is in the real estate business and works for Your Castle Real Estate.

Beth Boaz has been a Toastmaster for over 40 years, is currently a member of 4 Clubs., and has earned Toastmasters' highest designation, Distinguished Toastmaster. She has enjoyed serving a 2-year term on Toastmaster's International Board of Directors, and has won contests in Speech Evaluation, Impromptu Speaking, Humorous Speaking, and Inspirational Speaking. Outside of Toastmasters, she is retired from the US Bureau of Reclamation after a nearly 40-year career as a Civil Engineer and Project Manager.

Another great meeting of Dawn Yawn Toastmasters! Welcome to new member John Paul Hernandez who walked away with the Best Speaker award! Mary Ward Wang (in Texas, joining us online) won the coveted Lemon Award; Susan Eshelman won Most Improved; Clare Kennelly was the best speaker in the impromptu Table Topics; and Nancy Graves was the best Evaluator.

Guests are welcome to come to a meeting in person or online to check us out -- every Wednesday 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at Sunrise, Sunset Restaurant in Lakewood.

Congratulations awardees!
(left to right)
Linda Baird, Most Improved, for her speech "What is Yoga?"
Diane Gansauer, Best Speaker, for her speech "We Start by Feeling Helpless"
Chris Anderson, Best Evaluator
Shahed Arabani, Table Topics

Come join us for a rousing, very interactive meeting where we test and improve our speaking skills. Meaningful feedback guaranteed!

Diane

Dawn Yawn Toastmasters on September 24, 2025

Theme of the Day: Fall Festivals Word of the Day: Equinox

Presiding Officer: Alex Benko
Toastmaster: Yuanting Zhang

Esteemed Awards Winners

Best Evaluator - Beth Boaz

Best Table Topics Speech - Alex Benko

Lemon Award - Lina Zhou

Most Improved - Lina Zhou "The ACD/s Mid-Autumn Festival"

Best Speaker - Terry Ploski "Toastmaster's Choice"

Next Meeting: October 1. Come join us online or at Sunrise Sunset restaurant in Lakewood -- 7 a.m. on Wednesdays.

Dawn Yawn Toastmasters on September 17, 2025

Theme of the Day: Homecoming

Word of the Day: Reminiscence (or variations on this word)

Presiding Officer: Nancy Graves

Toastmaster: Alex Benko

Esteemed Awards Winners

Best Evaluator - Clare Kennelley

Best Table Topics Speech - Marty Kuhls

Lemon Award - Stan Farshtei

Most Improved - John Googins "It's All in the Numbers"

Best Speaker - Chris Anderson "Lemonade"

A grateful "shout out" went to new member Stan Farshtei for stepping into the roles of Grammarian AND Table Topics Master!

Thanks to Chris's speech, the meeting included a candid discussion of the history of our club's unique Lemon Award and how the role of the Ah-Counter should be used. This is the award given, in good humor, to the person who said the most filler words such as ah, um, you know, so.... There is wide discretion given to the Ah-Counter to give the award to people who might have used fewer filler words than someone else, but didn't express themselves clearly in other ways. It was agreed that we all benefit by having our awkward speaking habits brought to our attention so that we can improve.

Each speech is evaluated by someone from the club assigned to evaluate a particular speech, and then feedback is given to the speaker directly, as well as in writing or by email from everyone else attending. This honest, constructive feedback is the BEST way to improve speaking skills.

Next meeting: September 24, 7 a.m. at Sunrise Sunset Restaurant in Lakewood Colorado. The club invites visitors to attend. Come stop by or join us online. We have international and local members online at every meeting.

Dawn Yawn Toastmasters on September 10, 2025

Theme of the Day: TV Dinners

Word of the Day: Convenience (or variations)

Toastmaster: Chris Anderson

Esteemed Awards Winners

Best Evaluator - Linda Baird, Grammarian

Best Table Topics Speech - Aaron Cure

Lemon Award - Martin Kuhls

Most Improved - Diane Gansauer "The Focusing Power of Pain!"

Best Speaker - Terry Ploski "My Mount Flagstaff Adventure"

Kudos to all for a rousing meeting, including some great Table Topics banter on TV Dinners!

The Next Dawn Yawn Toastmasters will be on September 17 at Sunrise Sunset Restaurant in Lakewood. Get there a little before we begin at 7 a.m. Come join us for breakfast and great speeches! Or you can join us online!