People Of The Year...

WELCOME TO JOELVERLIN.COM! | home

joelverlin.com salutes these people who have made a difference in my life...

April shuffling papers and preparing for her July 2001 Roast as outgoining Area Govenor

Person Of The Year. Joelverlin.com

Toastmasters District 47 Area Governor Of The Year, 2000-2001

Some meetings in life appear to be accidental, yet they are by design. Such

was the case that day in January 2000 when I went to a Toastmasters Area

Officer Make Up Training session. Twice a year, the District holds a formal

training session for officers and if you miss that, then as an Club Officer,

it’s your duty to attend a make up session.

When I walked into the session held at Ryan’s Steak House with my club

president, I wasn’t exactly thinking about Toastmasters or training. I was

right along with a good percentage of the rest of the male population…I was

depressed about not hearing from a female out of town friend of mine. If a

guy is depressed, it (usually) has to do with the female portion of our

The training session done and over with I happen to notice this rather

strikingly attractive blonde dressed very professionally. I’m at a loss for

words. My club president puts my thoughts into one sentence. “She’s pretty

hot.” I had to agree, no argument there at all.

The rather attractive professionally dressed blonde came over to both of us

and introduced herself as April Genter, current president of Jose Gaspar.

April wanted to take to us about the public access special that Dinah

Arnette had helped my chapter put on two years ago as April was interested

in doing that for Jose Gaspar. We continue to talk and break the ice, my

club president wanders off and before I know it April and I are out in the

parking lot with another member of Jose Gaspar, Brian Marenilli. We talked

up a storm. As I pulled out after having said goodbye, I had a feeling that

I had met someone out of the ordinary.

The next time April and I ran into each other was at another Toastmaster Area’s contest.

John Ratcliff had asked me if I could be emcee of the Area 48 contest in

March of that year and I agreed. I was in the frame of mind to look for new

challenges…to expand my comfort zone…to grow as a person. As I dashed into

the contest late (no worry, they hadn’t started yet) I saw April in the

audience and we waved. Again after the contest we found ourselves talking by

her car and she still wanted to see the videotape. I managed to weasel my

way out of lending the tape to her and wound up watching it with Freschetta

Pizza (which I brought) and her homemade vegetable soup. I knew that I was

interested in finding out more about this lady when I actually ate veggie

soup and didn’t mind. For those that don’t know, I hate 95 percent of the

veggies out there. I also found it interesting that I brought a frozen pizza

to a gourmet cook. Go figure, she liked the pizza.

Following that, we wound up getting together for a bunch of computer lessons

then before April knew it she wound up agreeing to chair the

Toastmasters District 47 Tampa Spring Conference hospitality

committee (translation: provide the spread for everyone to pig out on after

the Saturday speech contest). Besides that, April, Brian and I filled (well,

more April and Brian) filled the goodie bags for each person coming to the

conference. April got quite a lot of support from local businesses for

sponsoring the goodie bags and her excellence in leadership began to shine

through. How well did her efforts with getting food from local folks in

Tampa for the 2000 Spring District Conference pay off? Well, Saturday Night The current

District Governor Elect Paul Meuiner had the WHOLE suite lead a traditional

Toastmasters ‘hip, hip, hooray’ cheer for April – we learned why later as

Paul’s administration’s additional motto of ‘Food Rules’ was the unofficial

addendum to his primary motto ‘Care To Commit, Dare To Deliver.’

Area Governor. April Genter, by a lot of chances, had been thrust into the

role of leadership. Even in Jose Gaspar, before finishing her basic

communications manual to qualify for the first Toastmasters award level of

Competent Toastmaster had wound up elected as Educational Vice President for

her club, then when the president had to step down, she filled BOTH offices.

Where most people would run, hide or simply resign and give up…she stuck to

it. So April accepted the position of Area Governor in July of 2000. By then

we had developed a strong plutonic friendship and she was overwhelmed at

first with all of the duties that an Area Governor was supposed to fulfill.

Suddenly, our Area was doing a lot of things that I had never been exposed

to before. The first one was a Youth Leadership project where experienced

Toastmasters take high school students through a crash course in

Toastmasters. I learned from that that I had become old. Then we had our

first EVER Area Council meeting, first ever Speakers Bureau meeting and the

first late night (April, Paul Rauch and I) Area Newsletter creation and

editing (MASSIVE EDITING) session before the 2000 Area Humor And Evaluations

This was also the first year that our Area contests were video taped. After

the Humor Contest, a couple people from Area 6 attended the Fall 2000 Cocoa

Beach District Conference and enjoyed all of the speeches. We headed into

the holiday season relaxing and enjoying friendships, as we were unaware of

the Demo Demon rush that was about to ensue.

As I mentioned earlier, I was ready to embrace new experiences. April

informed me of a Demonstration meeting that was going on for a new chapter

of Toastmasters forming in Land O’ Lakes, specifically at Paradise Lakes,

the clothing optional resort. While I was initially unsure of how I would

handle myself in a totally alien (to me anyway) environment, I still was up

for the challenge. As it turned out, the new friends I met at Paradise where

actually more relaxed and seemed to enjoy life more then anyone I had ever

met before. Slowly but surely as the forming of the 1st ever nudist Florida

Toastmaster club came to fruition, I found myself growing as well, becoming

more comfortable with myself and in the process, gaining newfound

confidence. And now that Naturally Speaking is a chartered club, I find

myself looking forward to attending the meetings of the club as they

recharge me. I also never have to worry about what the attire standard is

(sorry, couldn’t resist! Hopefully the current club president of Naturally

won’t want to kick me for that…she’s a black belt.)

By this time our Area was up TWO new clubs. Dick Cooper from my club of

Suncoast had founded a club at his workplace in Pineallas. One of the

missions of a Toastmasters Area is to form new clubs either on leads that

they create or on leads from Toastmasters International. The third club to

show interest was the Tampa Corporate office of Capitol One. April led the

charge of the Demo demons there as well, along with Paul Rauch and Ralph

Wells. And just as that club chugged along, The Tampa Lear Corporation (the

automotive Lear, not the aviation Lear) was interested in getting their club

off the ground. More Demo meetings but Lear’s beginning was handed to me

after the first three demo meetings. April had convinced me to take on the

duty of Club Mentor and head up that effort. After a great start, then a

rocky crash on my part, a great recovery, another crash on my part and

finally stabilizing out April was always there encouraging me all the way.

Even when I wanted to quit, she was willing to take me off of the job…but I

am sure she was glad that I recovered, got ahold of myself and plunged on

ahead. I did have a good role model, after all.

While all of this was going on, in March, April had again helped me with one

of my Toastmaster goals without knowing it. Back last year in 2000, April

was encouraging me to join up with Jose Gaspar. Then I wound up helping some

of the new clubs by taking on extra speeches and major roles in the

meetings. The extra experience paved the way for the 2001 International

Speech and Table Topics contest. Had I limited myself to one club, my home

club of Suncoast and not joined up with Jose Gaspar, I would not have

enjoyed the growth that was to follow. Though I took 2nd place at Suncoast

in just the International speech contest ( a 5 to 7 original speech with a

message of some sort) I had my best night at Jose Gaspar, winning both the

prepared speech contest and the extemporaneous one to two minute contest. I

would not have experienced that if not for April’s suggestion to join a

second club. Then, with newfound confidence, I won at the Area level and was

awarded with the chance to compete in my first ever Division contest in

front of about a hundred people. Though I did not place (that’s a whole

other story) I knew that I had grown as a Toastmaster. That is the bottom

Then May and June were CRUNCH months. I found myself carting Jose Gaspar’s

portable lectern all over Tampa and beyond. Paul Rauch was doing the same

thing with his clubs timing lights. It was like a traveling circus. But June

was RESULT month. In May, Naturally Speaking chartered. In June, Both Capitol

One and Lear chartered. Lear chartering was special to me since I was

learning that I could teach people (by showing them what N O T to do in some

cases) and by building friendships and offering encouragement. At times

being a club mentor made me want to toss in the towel and give up, other

times it was a great feeling to know that you made a difference with

someone, somewhere, sometime in a world that has way too many shades of gray

and way too much confusion and apathy.

But JULY was CELEBRATION time. April Genter, after trailing a lot of other

Area Governors throughout the year wound up being the NUMBER ONE AREA

GOVERNOR of some 45 plus Areas that make up District 47. Our Area won the highest

level of award that Toastmasters can give to an Area. More important, April

made me apart of a winning team and I can never again call myself a loser.

When you give your all to a mission, work your brains out and focus…anything

is possible. I learned that this year because back in September, April had

this vision of achieving a high level of success. She named it and lead her

team to believe it and finally achieve it. April Genter did this while dealing with

the normal daily ups and downs that we face as human beings. The Area 6 team

supported each other. And we learned one thing in the good times and in the

trying times. When it all comes down to it, the one thing that counts the

most…is relationships. I am very fortunate to have a great relationship with

April Genter, joelverlin.com.s 2001 PERSON OF THE YEAR.

Paul D. Meunier...

Immediate Past District 47 Governor Paul Meuiner Does His General Patton Impression At A Toastmasters Officer Training Session...

Joelverlin.com's Person Of The Quarter for Spring 2001

The person of the month for the whole Spring 2001 is Paul Meinuer. For those who don't know who Paul is, he is the

Immediate Past District Governor for Toastmasters District 47 which encompasses all of the Toastmaster clubs in the Florida and the Bahamas. Paul's job is to be the person that sets the tone as well as motivate every single club (there are 250 plus) in the District. I first saw Paul when he was elected last year and wound up giving his inaugural address, in which he picked on his profession of law. Right away, that was a good sign.

I somehow got up the gumption to include Paul on my club meeting weekly emails and didn't think anything of it. At the Fall Conference of 2000 however, I found out different. After me and my Area Governor, April Genter, arrived at the Fall Conference, Paul was walking by us and stopped and greeted me first and shook my hand and April second. Again, I was impressed inside but didn't mention anything. April was impressed also and she told me that I should feel proud that Paul remembered me. It says a lot about someone who deals with a lot of people and they make an effort to remember names and faces.

Paul really started to impress me when I became a part of the Tampa Area 6 Toastmaster Demonstration Meeting team. When either businesses or communities want to start a Toastmaster club, experienced Toastmasters are called in to do mini versions of a full meeting. The first group of demo meetings was for private club in Land O' Lakes. I saw Paul perform many functions. While some leaders might sit back and say `I'm just here to be impressive' or `I'm just here to do my pitch and leave' Paul did nothing of the sort. Paul did many of the jobs for the meeting that Toastmasters normally do. Paul did prepared speeches, served as evaluator for prepared speakers and even was a grammarian (a toastmaster selected to watch usage of the mother tounge during the meeting). Paul was pumped and ignited excitement every meeting as well, he was always the loudest cheerleader.

Every time Paul spoke, he always spoke volumes. Two of the most memorable things he said at the Land O' Lakes club really hit home. In one talk, Paul talked about comparing Toastmasters to working for someone else in a corporate environment. In the corporate environment, Paul mentioned how the years and decades would tick away and you wouldn't even notice, while in Toastmasters…you made a difference every day. The other comment he made was about imagining a world in the future without communication and that is one of the many reasons that he continues to promote new clubs all the time. Granted, I'm probably paraphrasing what he said exactly but that is the gist of what I heard.

Then as the Land O' Lakes club was beginning to gain speed, two new possibilities for clubs opened up. It was an honor to have Paul introduce me as a speaker for a Lear Corp. Demo meeting. Then at the week after at the 3rd Lear meeting, I served as Toastmaster and Paul complimented me on my ability to move things along, since we had a constrained time frame to work with. If you think people don't notice when you edify them, you're wrong. Edification can make someone smile all day.

But Paul not only edifies, he is also very gracious. At a Demo meeting for another company interested in starting a club, Capitol One, I decided to try a different approach to introduce Paul. Everyone always built him up to be the King of Florida and whatnot, so I decided to try a lighthearted introduction instead. It bombed as far as the audience went and no one laughed. Even the April was surprised that I didn't build Paul up as much as I should. She mentioned that my introduction made it sound like Paul didn't want to be there. But, if I did manage to upset

Paul with the lighthearted introduction, he never let me know. After the meeting he slapped me on the back to let me know that I did a good job.

Paul even took out the Demo meeting team twice for dinner, again something that he did not HAVE to do but CHOSE to do. He even joked about it the first time, mentioning that dinner was on him after we all ordered and then asked if that would change what our order was. I quipped about ordering expensive champagne and he joked back that his credit limit wasn't that high…I counterquipped that he must not have the platinum and was only able to get the copper card.

Also all of my involvement with the demo meetings led to District level recognition as Paul included me in one of his skits at Planet Toastmasters (where he was dressed up like a General and a few of us in the audience were his 'colonels' talking about success in Toastmasters) and then at District Officer training where I was a part of the New Club Panel. When you edify one of your team members in that way, their respect and loyalty for you grows.

There is an old saying, people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And now that I know how much about Toastmasters and those involved that Paul does care about, I'm glad to be learning all that he had learned and is willing to teach. Congratulations Paul Meiuner, joelverlin.com's Spring 2001 Person Of The Quarter.

Joelverlin.com's Summer 2001 Person Of The Quarter

Paul Rauch Talks About Starting New Toastmaster Clubs At The District 47 District Officer Training In June Of 2001

Whereas April Genter's main strength is her enthusiasm and Paul Meuiner's is his oratorical eloquence my third honoree's strength is asking those questions that you don't want someone to ask you.

Paul Rauch did just that during a dinner that he, April and I shared one evening at her home. Paul had just been debating styles of leadership with April - Paul felt that people should either succeed or fail on their own and if its fail on their own, then so be it. Perhaps that comes from Paul's experience raising children. April clearly felt differently and then she had a call come through and Paul asked me a question. Paul Rauch asked me, `What do you want to do with your life?”

That's not exactly your typical social icebreaker question, yet the three of us were past that point in our collective friendships as we were in the beginnings of what was to be Area 6's high performance year.

`What do you want to do with your life?” That question hung out there for a while and yours truly, the motormouth, was actually speechless. I was so focused on Toastmasters, I had never thought much about that question. I was `sort of' involved in a business at the time but I was approaching it half-heartedly…rejections had caught up with me and I had deemed myself a failure. Not IT failing or even failing forward but a MYSELF being the failure.

And now this question at this time and I did not provide an answer before April's return from the phone call.

I had the privilege of getting to know Paul Rauch after he had been recruited by April to be apart of the Area 6 Area Council for 2000-2001. Paul Rauch was currently a three year chapter President of our Area's only corporate club (though THAT was soon to change) and when he was not Toastmastering or being a single parent, he was busy processing claims and putting out fires at USAA as a claims adjuster. I first met Paul when he competed in an Area Speech Contest and performed a truly marvelous speech entitled “Tools Of The Trade” that got my attention and caused me to ask, `who is the man behind this speech?'

Another hard question Paul Rauch asked me last year was, `Do you really want to be out there?' I wasn't sure that I did. Last year April had asked me to be her Assistant Area Governor but I was afraid. Growth is the whole reason I was in Toastmasters. I turned down the Assistant position but did accept the position of Area Educational Vice President. I WAS AFRAID TO BE OUT THERE…yet as Billy Joel sings in one of his songs, Big Man On Mulberry Street… `What if nobody finds out who I am?' One of my non-Toastmaster friends, Mike Bowen, mentioned to me that that was `my line.'

What if nobody finds out who I am? They won't if I'm afraid to be out there. Then all these new clubs started and I decided to be `OUT THERE'. I made mistakes, oh BOY did I ever. I came across somedays like a seasoned professional and other days like a prized ass. But I was `OUT THERE'. Sometimes a friend asks you the questions you don't want to be asked but need to be. I've also accepted more responsibility this year so I can `BE OUT THERE'

The other question this year that Paul asked was `Do you really need it?'

That question was in response to a self-realizing ego going out of control check.

One of the new clubs had taken the planning of meeting agendas and put it all on-line. When we entered our information into the database, we could choose the honorific that would be displayed at all of the meetings on the agenda whereever our name was.

I was looking at the agenda for the new club one day and realized that my honorific was “slightly” longer then everyone else's.

For example Paul Rauch's was `Treasurer' since he is in fact Treasurer of the club. April's was VP Education, since she is. Mine on the other hand was my name then my current Toastmasters rank followed by my position in the area. With how long it was, one might have suggested that I simply replace it with, Known Ruler Of The Universe Most High. After realizing that my ego had gone WAYYYYYY out of whack and I tried to stop the wind with no luck I asked Paul if my honorific was too big.

No lectures but all Paul asked was `do you really need it?'

Guess I did at the time. Ouch. Earth to Joel - your head is too big to get outside the door.

Questions. Many that needed to be asked. Rides. Lots of and lots and lots and lots of them. Conversations. Lots of and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of them. Understand and patience, lots of it to the infinite power.

Thanks, Paul Rauch, for being my friend and mentor and putting up with me asking the same questions about forty million times.