E-Newsletter - August 2008

In this issue:

• Letter from the President
• News and Notes
• New Member Profile
• Officer Meeting Notes
• Upcoming Events

Letter from the President

The Gannett Fleming Toastmasters Club enjoys a long track record of success.  The dedication of its members, the efforts of the previous leadership, and the support of GF management have contributed to this record.

The Executive Committee for 2008-2009 wants to build upon this winning tradition.  We identified a theme to guide our efforts over the course of this year – connection.   Specifically, we want to encourage greater awareness and support among past, present, and future club members as well as among fellow Toastmasters throughout our Area, District, Division, and Region.

This connection may take the form of knowing each other’s progress towards our goals and encouraging/supporting us along the way.  It may also take the form of supporting contest winners at the next level by attending conferences and cheering our heads off. 

Another great way to increase the connection we have throughout the Toastmasters community is to help Dee McArthur in her role as Lt. Governor of Marketing for our District and Susan Howell as our Area Governor.  The more we can help them be successful in their roles, the healthier Toastmasters will be in our community and the more valuable our memberships will be.

I encourage you to take this opportunity to think about your Toastmasters goals.  Where do you want to be by this time next year?  CC and CL?  ATM-B or higher?  Being a contest winner?  Whatever they are, write them down.  Share them with us.  Together, we will go further, faster than we can on our own.

Tom Dardick, CC
GF Club President
August 2008

News and Notes:

Deb Flagg, our Division A Governor, informed Tom Dardick at the International Conference, our district was recognized as #23 in the world.  Pretty impressive stat! Way to go!

New Member Profile - Haibo Liang

Haibo is originally from Southern China.

Haibo and his family live in Hershey, PA, the sweetest place on Earth. Haibo's wife, Aiping Liu, is a chemist currently working part-time for Accutest Laboratories.  Their son, Richard, is going to be a 10th grader late this August at Hershey High School. Their daughter is 15 months old, and she has the lovely name of Sophie.

He is a P.E. and a geotechnical engineer at Gannett Fleming's Camp Hill office. He is currently working on the Gilboa Dam Reconstruction project in the state of New York.

He joined Toastmasters because he wants to improve his communication skills in English and enhance his leadership skills.

Haibo likes traveling very much, and especially likes to visit places with interesting history and culture.  He also likes to play ping-pong, badminton and tennis.

Officer Meeting Notes:

Our Club Vision for 2008-2009

1. Grow the club by eight new members.
2. Obtain Distinguished Club recognition.
3. Encourage member participation in meetings through the use of the Leadership manual.
4. In line with the Leadership series of speeches we’ve just completed, we will be pursuing the Better Speaker series this year.
5. Connecting at the club level and beyond
6. Give support to Dee McArthur - District 38 Lieutenant Governor of Marketing and Susan Howell - Area 28 Governor, in their roles.
7. Make sure that mentors are available to new members.
8. Encourage more convention attendance.
9. Club members are encouraged to attend the Executive Committee meetings. Future committee meetings will be held the first Thursday of the month, starting in September from 4:30-5:15 p.m. at Gannett Fleming.
10. A monthly newsletter will be distributed that will contain Executive Committee minutes, a new member spotlight, and news on upcoming events.  

Upcoming events:

• September 8, Gannett Fleming Club, Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest, Camp Hill, PA
• September 9, Officer Training @ Gannett Fleming
• October 4, Area Contest, location to be announced
• October 18, Division A Contest, location to be announced
• November 21-22, District 38 Fall Conference, Desmond in Malvern, PA
• November 22, District 38 Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest, Desmond in Malvern, PA