It
was 5:30 and the doors opened. The Awards Banquet Committee was ready to meet
and greet the Toastmasters and guests. Hopefully we had all things covered. As
the Ashton Depot staff stated, you get them in the door and we will take care
of them.
Michael
Sheridan, Bill Erwin and Gary Chiu had worked most of the day. The stage was
ready, the stairs stabilized, signs up and had handled all of the “to do” items
we could think of.
Pat Quick and Brenda Daniels arrived with the
decorations. Brenda created some beautiful floral arrangements. Pat Quick had
beautiful center pieces at each table. Ivory candles reflected off a mirrored
center piece that made the table shine.
Cindy
Jones and Cristina Rodriguez were at the registration table ready to greet the
guests. Our ushers showed everyone to their seats. The candles were lit and we
were preparing to begin the program.
Mary
Walker, Awards Banquet Chair, opened the meeting and our Distinguished
Toastmaster, David Martin, was our emcee for the evening. He led us through the
program with member and club awards. We had stand ups, members to the stage for
pictures and lots of the guest were also taking pictures. Mark Novak, was busy
keeping up with all of our award presentations.
Steve
Bomar was there of Bomar Photography offering us an opportunity to have a professional
photo made. This was a great opportunity since we were all dressed up for the
evening. Take a look at Steve
Bomar's website to
view the pictures.
We can’t have an Awards Banquet without a Roast. David
Leake made a great presentation on Diana Patton’s history in Toastmasters. We
had a variety of pictures and styles of Diana as a Toastmaster. David gave us
an overview of telephone conversations with Diana. He was still talking and she
had hung up. Maybe you have experienced this also. Diana Patton, Bonne Stroman
and Dean Lampman were on the stage for the Special Recognition Awards. How
great it is to recognize our Toastmaster members at this event? How they have
grown in their leadership and speaking skills. One I might mention could not
even get out the one minute “Think on Your Feet" speech when that person
joined Toasmasters.
Dean
Lampman prepared a special video to recognize Diana. Some of us can look pretty
silly at times and of course someone always has a camera ready. It was all in
good fun.
Steve
Charters kept the screen shots going as we proceeded through the program.
Margaret Koprek kept us on track with the lectern book. The sound was provided
by Scott Shirley, and we all enjoyed a little dancing after the banquet was
adjourned.
In
closing, Bonne Stroman presented pins to Diana Patton, Dean Lampman and Marylee
Mims with the theme “Explore the Possibilities”. Bonne adjourned the meeting
thanking everyone for attending. Then the networking began. You know how
Toastmasters are when they get an opportunity to talk.
What
an evening. You all made it happen. See you at the next one.
MaryWalker
Awards Banquet Chair
Go here to see all the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/media/
http://www.facebook.com/media/
