Toastmasters Verbal Expressions

10/10/2026

🍁🎤 Fall Into Transformation with Toastmasters! 🎤🍁

What a great meeting! We had 12 people in attendance as we explored our theme, “The Fall Season,” and our Word of the Day, “Transformation.” 🍂

A big shout-out to everyone who stepped up, participated, and helped make our meeting a success!

👏 Here's what made our meeting special:

🎙️ Toastmaster of the Day: Ron Williams
💭 Thought of the Day: Jonathan Blakey
🗣️ New Member Icebreaker: Mo Aina
🎤 Speaker #2: Amber Hyland
📝 Evaluators: Kimberly Bass and Bryan Flores
💡 Table Topics Master: Kay Jones

🏆 Congratulations to Our Winners! 🥇 Speaker: Mo Aina
🥇 Evaluator: Kimberly Bass
🥇 Table Topics: Sydney McGee

👏 Special thanks to our Table Topics participants, Anthony Hanson, Bryan Flores, and Sydney McGee, for jumping in and sharing their thoughts!

We started a little late, but our amazing members came together, volunteered for roles, and made sure we covered the entire agenda. That's teamwork in action! 💪

🍂 Just as the seasons change, we continue to grow, learn, and transform into stronger communicators and leaders—one meeting at a time.

❤️ Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed. We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting!

Keep growing. Keep speaking. Keep transforming! 🌟

10/03/2026

🎤🔥 Verbal Expressions Toastmasters was on fire!

Our theme: 🍂 “Autumn: The Season for Sports”
Our Word of the Day: 🏆 CHAMPION

👏 August Award Winners
🏆 ARM Awards: Marc Donnelly & Kay Jones
🌟 Perfect Attendance: Ron Williams
🥇 First Place Winner on Area 65 Speech Contest: Kimberly Bass
🎉 New Member Induction: Nash Wadud & Drew Fischer

🥇 Meeting Winners
🎤 Speaker: Nash Wadud
📝 Evaluator: Melissa Richards
💬 Table Topics: Renny Oyelahan

Thank you to everyone who stepped up — especially Melissa Richards, Kimberly Bass, Tommy Kenyon & Drew Fischer — for jumping into different roles!

👥 16 attendees, including guest Juan Estrada! We hope you come back again and join us!

Want to become a more confident speaker, stronger leader, and better communicator?

✨ Come visit Verbal Expressions Toastmasters!
🎤 Step up. Speak up. Grow!

09/28/2026

🏆🎉 AREA 65 SPEECH CONTEST WINNER! 🎉🏆

Congratulations to Kimberly Bass, DTM, representing Verbal Expressions Toastmasters, for winning 1st Place at the Toastmasters District 50 Fall Speech Contest – Area 65 on September 26, 2026!

🎤 Kimberly's winning speech was “Wait. We’re What?”

Her message gives us a great reminder about effective communication:

💬 Ask one more question.

That extra question can help us communicate better, avoid misunderstandings, and make sure everyone is on the same page.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make the Area 65 contest a success!

👏 Tommy Kenyon, SR5 — Sergeant at Arms
👏 Nancy S. Bateman, DTM — Ballot Counter
👏 All of the Area 65 Toastmasters who supported the contest!

And now… on to the next level! 🚀

Kimberly will advance to the Town North Division Contest on:

📅 Saturday, November 7, 2026
🕒 3:00 PM Central Time

Congratulations, Kimberly! 🎉 We are proud of you and excited to cheer you on at the Division Contest!

Keep asking questions. Keep communicating. Keep growing! 💙🎤

09/26/2026

🐻🍯 FAT BEAR WEEK at Toastmasters! 🐻🍯

We had a fun and engaging meeting with Nancy Bateman as our Toastmaster of the Day! Nancy brought back her Fat Bear Week theme from last year and shared short talks before each section, including how bears prepare for winter hibernation. 🐻❄️

🍽️ Word of the Day: Gastronomic

🎤 Kimberly Bass presented her speech, “Wait. We’re what?”, about how we can over-communicate to avoid misunderstandings. Kimberly will be competing in the Toastmasters Fall Speech Contest with this speech this Saturday, September 26! 🏆

🐻 Mo Aina kept the theme going with Fat Bear Week-inspired Table Topics featuring Jonathan Blakey, Sydney McGee, Yetunde, Melissa Richards, and Becky Casey.

🏆 Congratulations to our winners!
🎤 Speaker — Kimberly Bass
📝 Evaluator — Michael Noll
🐻 Table Topics — Yetunde

We had 13 attendees, including 1 guest. Yetunde - thank you so much for joining us! Big paws 👏🐻 to everyone who participated!

09/16/2026

🌟 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Kimberly Bass, DTM 🌟

🎉 10 Years. One Incredible Journey.

This year, we’re celebrating Kimberly Bass’s 10th anniversary with Toastmasters! Since joining Verbal Expression in 2016, Kimberly has discovered that Toastmasters is about so much more than becoming a better speaker.

She found a community, lifelong friendships, and people who genuinely show up for one another. ❤️

🎤 Her growth? Kimberly has become more intentional about how she communicates, especially recognizing and eliminating those “crutch words” that can weaken a message.

🚀 Her goal? To become a full-time professional speaker and eventually make speaking her sole source of income.

💬 Her favorite role? Evaluator. She loves listening closely, identifying opportunities for growth, and offering feedback that helps fellow members become stronger speakers.

🏆 A proud milestone: Earning her Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) designation. With the support of her Verbal Expression family, Kimberly completed the remaining requirements on a fast track and reached a goal she was proud to achieve.

🍳 Fun fact: Kimberly loves to cook—and says she’s actually pretty good at it! 😊

❤️ Favorite pastime: Spending time with her grandchildren.

And Kimberly’s Toastmasters philosophy?

“Be willing to be uncomfortable, because growth is on the other side.”

Join us in celebrating Kimberly Bass—10 years of growth, leadership, friendship, and finding her voice! 👏🎤

09/12/2026

🎤 Toastmasters Labor Day Holiday Meeting! 🎤

We had a great time celebrating the Labor Day Holiday at our latest Toastmasters meeting!

With 12 attendees, including 1 guest, Bryan Flores, we enjoyed an evening filled with speeches, evaluations, Table Topics, learning, and plenty of opportunities to connect.

📖 Word of the Day: GREGARIOUS
Meaning: Fond of the company of others; sociable.

A perfect word for a group that enjoys coming together, learning from one another, and growing our communication skills! 😊

👏 Meeting Team

Toastmaster of the Day: Ron Williams
Thought of the Day: Nancy Bateman
Speakers: Drew Fischer & Sydney McGee
Evaluators: Amber Hyland & Mo Aina
Table Topics: Becky Casey
Table Topics Speaker: Anthony Hanson, Bryan Flores, Tr

🏆 Congratulations to our winners!
🥇 Best Speaker: Drew Fischer
🥇 Best Evaluator: Mo Aina
🥇 Best Table Topics: Trevor Combs

Thank you to everyone who helped make the meeting a success, and a special welcome to our guest Bryan Flores again!

Let's keep connecting, communicating, and being gregarious! 🗣️👏

09/05/2026

🗺️✨ Choose Your Own Adventure! 🎲🎤

What an incredible Toastmasters meeting! This week, we stepped into a world of choices, challenges, and new adventures as we embraced our theme: “Choose Your Own Adventure.”

Every role helped make the journey memorable:

🧭 Tour Guide (Toastmaster of the Day): Amber Hyland
📖 Word of the Day: Obstinate — stubbornly refusing to change your opinion, behavior, or plans, even when others try to persuade you or show you that you may be wrong.

💡 Wisdom Wayfinder (Thought of the Day): Becky Casey

🎤 Quest Masters (Speakers):

Jonathan Blakey — “It’s Just a Game, Right?”
Becky Casey — “Being Mentoring Without Realizing It!”
📝 Journey Reviewers (Evaluators):

Tommy Kenyon
Nancy Bateman
❓ Question Quest Master (Table Topics): Sydney McGee

🎯 Table Topics Speakers:

Nash Wadud
Bryan Flores
Mo Aina
🏆 And our adventure winners are…
🥇 Best Speaker: Jonathan Blakey
🥇 Best Evaluator: Nancy Bateman
🥇 Best Table Topics Speaker: Nash Wadud

🌟 16 amazing attendees joined us, including 3 guests and 2 new members!

A warm welcome to our guests:

Suman Podila
Bryan Flores
Macey Rollins
🎉 And congratulations to our new members, Trevor Combs and Nash Wadud! We’re excited to have you on this journey with us.

👏 A special THANK YOU to Trevor, Nash, Bryan, Andrew, and Ron for stepping up and filling roles at the last minute. Your willingness to jump in helped make the meeting a success!

And THANK YOU for providing a picture, Nancy!

Every Toastmasters meeting is a new adventure — a chance to speak, learn, lead, encourage, and grow.

So, what adventure will you choose next? 🚀

08/29/2026

🎤✨ What a GREAT Toastmasters Meeting! ✨🎤

This week’s theme was “Just Because” — and just because we could, we learned, laughed, spoke, and celebrated! 🙌

👏 Meeting Highlights
🎙️ Toastmaster: Becky Casey
💡 Thought of the Day: Drew Fischer
🗣️ Word of the Day: Whim
⭐ Speaker: Marc Donnelly — “Interesting Things” about ants, eagles & stars! 🐜🦅⭐
🎯 Evaluator: Ron Williams
💬 Table Topics: Amber Hyland

🏆 Congratulations to our winners!
🥇 Speaker — Marc Donnelly
🥇 Evaluator — Ron Williams
🥇 Table Topics — Sydney McGee

🌟 July Spirit Award: Ron Williams, Jose Salazar & Drew Fischer
👏 July Perfect Attendance: Amber Hyland, Nancy Bateman, Ron Williams, Sydney McGee & Tommy Kenyon!

We had 12 attendees, including our guest, Bryan Flores! 👋 Thanks for joining us, Bryan!

🎉 Great energy, great conversations, and great growth!

Want to build confidence, improve your speaking skills, and have some fun along the way?

Come visit us at our next Toastmasters meeting! 🎤💪

08/21/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7496410008088158209

🏆✨ This Week at Verbal Expressions Toastmasters ✨🏆 Our theme was Small Wins, and Toastmaster of the Day, Tommy, led us through a meeting that celebrated the little victories that add up to meaningful growth. Whether it's volunteering for a role, speaking up during Table Topics, or simply t...

08/19/2026

🏆 Congratulations to Anthony Hanson — Outstanding Officer Award! 🏆

We are thrilled to recognize Anthony Hanson as the recipient of the Outstanding Officer Award for Sergeant at Arms from Toastmasters District 50!

Awardees are selected from nominated and qualified officers each term from more than 100 clubs across District 50. The nominations are reviewed by a committee based on each officer’s defined responsibilities and their outstanding service during the term.

And Anthony certainly earned this recognition!
Every club needs an ANTHONY! He is dependable, resourceful, engaging, capable, and fun!

Anthony was new to Toastmasters when he initially stepped up to take on this role. He was always there before meetings to get the Zoom room set up and make sure everything was ready to go. He took care of the many details that happen behind the scenes — club equipment and materials, meeting logistics, the meeting space, and making sure our members and guests had what they needed.

Because of Anthony’s dependability, all of our other officers and members were liberated to focus on their own roles and meeting activities. And because of all this good work, our club ended the Toastmasters term as Distinguished by December! 🎉
The Sergeant at Arms role requires organization, problem-solving, physical logistics, hospitality, networking, relationship-building, and plenty of follow-through. Anthony demonstrated all of these skills — and did it with a great attitude along the way.

Anthony, thank you for stepping up, being someone we could always count on, and making such a positive contribution to our club.
Congratulations on this well-deserved award! We are so proud of you! 👏🏆
And we'll say it one more time:
Every club needs an ANTHONY! 😊