4 Amazing New Members
Original speech date: May 1, 2017
Project: Special Occasion Speeches #4 (Presenting an Award)
Upon David's advice, I came up with the Amazing New Member (ANM) award to engage our new members and recognize the effort that they made over the last 4 months.
On May 1, we bestowed the ANM award to 4 members: David, Newton, Beia, and Winry. We hope to continue to recognize each other in the future!
Welcome to our Amazing New Member awards ceremony. Tonight, we celebrate the valiant effort that our new members made over the last 4 months.
The ANM award was created for two reasons. First, we get to recognize the effort that our members made. In Toastmasters, rather than looking at success versus failure, we can examine a person's effort—how they tried to achieve their goals. Second, we get to encourage everyone to take steps in achieving their goals in Toastmasters.
The recipients of the ANM award were selected based on three criteria. First, they joined Central Austin in 2017 and is currently a member. Second, for every meeting that they attended, they received a point. Finally, for every role that they completed—toastmaster, invocator, speaker, topicsmaster, general evaluator, evaluator, timer, grammarian, and even contestant at our club contest—they received an additional point. We chose these criteria because we can objectively measure them. These criteria are also commendable, as they fulfill the Toastmaster's Promise that we had made when we joined Toastmasters.
Tonight, we honor 4 members who achieved the highest point. Here are our nominees and their points for attending the meetings and completing their roles. Our ANM award goes to David, Newton, Beia, and Winry! Please help me welcome to the stage!
I made these trinkets for you and hope you will like them. Each of them has a wheel. The wheel shows that you are integral to our club—you help us move forward. Let me recognize some of your effort and ask a follow-up question.
David, you did Toastmasters in Gainesville, FL. You were happy to share your knowledge with us and motivate me to come up with this award. In 30 seconds or less, tell us: What made you continue Toastmasters when you moved to Austin?
Newton, you entered our Table Topics contest just 2 weeks after joining our club. That takes tremendous guts! You also helped with our Open House by talking to our guests. One of your goals is to do stand-up comedy. Tell us what you like about stand-up.
Beia, you gave a powerful speech at our International contest. You also created our Brag Board poster, thanks to which we will the District contest. As a senior among our new members—a senpai—what advice would you give them?
Lastly, Winry, time and again, you delivered speeches, Table Topics answers, and evaluations with great enthusiasm and clear voice. You are a musician. If there is one song that can describe your Toastmasters experience so far, what would it be?
Please give them a round of applause! Once again, congratulations to David, Newton, Beia, and Winry! I also want to thank all the new members who did not receive our ANM award today. I thank you for the effort that you made over the last 4 months, and encourage you to continue your amazing work. Thanks, everyone. Have a great night!