September 29, 2026 Meeting Minutes

September 29, 2026

Nancy Carpenter, VP Education, was President Pro Tem today. She opened the meeting and welcomed members and guests.

Announcements:

• Congratulations to Kelly Fallucca, DTM, VPPR, for completing the Engagement Humor Pathway!
• Next week is an in-person meeting at Brightwater Center!
• Membership dues s are due this Wed, 9/30/26.
• Speech competition November 10^th

Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms, led us through the Club Mission statement and Flag Salute.

Nancy shared the following article for the education minute: The Ins and Outs of Dynamic Speaking – Vocal Foundation is the Cake & Vocal Variety is the Icing.
https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2023/nov/dynamic-speaking

Our Toastmaster was Maria Cubacha, with the theme “Turning Over a New Leaf”.

Gate team:

Our grammarian was Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms, with the WORD of the Day “pivot” 

Our Ah Counter was Kelly Fallucca, DTM, VPPR

Our Timer was Katie Munoz

General Evaluator: Chirag Patni

Our first speaker was Raxit Jani, with the speech “The Deep End: Trading Comfort for Growth” from the Persuasive Influence, Writing a Speech with Purpose

Our Evaluator for Raxit’s speech was Maria Shneerson, Secretary.

Our second speaker was Dhwani Maheshwari with the speech “Personal statement” from the Presentation Mastery, Ice Breaker (4-6 minutes)

Our Evaluator for Dhwani's speech was Deanna Schroeder, Treasurer.

Our Table Topics Master was Nancy Carpenter, VP Education

Table Topics participants – Theresa, Jeff, Sarah, Sherri

Members in attendance were Chirag, Deanna, Dhwani, Jeff, Katie, Kelly, Maria C, Maria S, Nancy. Raxit, Theresa

Guests: Sherri Liston, Sarah Guo

September 22, 2026 Meeting Minutes

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Meeting Minutes

September 22, 2026

Bill Hinrichs, President, opened the meeting and welcomed members. We had no guests today.

Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms, led us through the Club Mission statement and Flag Salute.

Bill replaced Nancy Carpenter today. He filled roles for the next meeting and shared the following information during the education minute: check out the newly redesigned website https://publicspeakingnorthwest.com/ , which has plenty of useful information.

Our Toastmaster was Bill Hinrichs, with the theme “The Y Athletics and More”.

Gate team:

Our grammarian was Theresa Haynes with the WORD of the Day “strength” 

Our Ah Counter was  Raxit Jani 

Our Timer was Jeff Makita

General Evaluator: roundtable evaluation

Our first speaker was Maria Shneerson, with the speech “Still No Speech” from the Level2: Presentation Mastery (5-7 min)

Our Evaluator for Maria’s speech was Maria Cubacha, VPM.

Our second speaker was TK Kasnick with the speech “Who, What, Where, When and Why.” For the level 3 completion, Successful Club Series (8-10 min)

Our Evaluator for TK’s speech was Katie Munoz.

Our Table Topics Master was Theresa Haynes

Table Topics participants – Raxit, Jeff, Bill

Members in attendance were Bill, Jeff, Katie, Maria C, Maria S, Raxit, Theresa, TK.

No Guests today.

Motion to Adjourn: Theresa, seconded by Katie.

September 15, 2026 Meeting Minutes

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Meeting Minutes

September 15, 2026

Bill Hinrichs, President, opened the meeting and welcomed members. We had no guests today.

Bill replaced Nancy Carpenter today. He filled roles and shared the following article during the education minute:

 Joel Schwartzberg: Most Contentious Contentions.

https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2026/september/my-most-contentious-contentions

Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms, led us through the Club Mission statement and Flag Salute.

Our Toastmaster was Katie Munoz, with the theme “Popcorn”.

Gate team:

Our grammarian was Dhwani Maheshwari with the WORD of the Day “Kernel” 

Our Ah Counter was Theresa Haynes

Our Timer was Maria Shneerson

Our General Evaluator was Alex Konicke

Our first speaker was TK Kasnick with the speech “Where’s The Prompt” from the Better Speaking Series Project, Level 4.

Our Evaluator for TK’s speech was Bill Hinrichs, President

Our second speaker was Kelly Fallucca, VPPR, with the speech “Three Things I Did Not Expect to Learn About Humor” from the Engaging Humor Path, Level 5 Elective

 Our Evaluator for Kelly’s speech was Deanna Schroeder, Treasurer

Our Table Topics Master was Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms

Table Topics participants – Jessica, Deanna

Members in attendance were Alex, Bill, Deanna, Dhwani, Jeff, Jessica, Katie, Kelly, Maria S, Raxit, Theresa, TK.

No Guests today.

Motion to Adjourn: Katie, seconded by TK.

September 8th, 2026 Meeting Minutes

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Meeting Minutes

September 8, 2026

Bill Hinrichs, President, opened the meeting and welcomed members and guests. Our special guest today was Anu Jokinen, Immediate Past District Director

Nancy Carpenter, VP Education, continued with the education minute, where she shared how to find the meeting roles document in the revised website (last link under Pages and Links):

Also, Nancy shared the following awards and recognitions:

• Theresa Haynes completed Level 1 Presentation Mastery
• Katie Munoz completed Level 3 Engaging Humor
• Marcus Birchercompleted Level 2 Innovative Planning
• Bill Hinrichs completed Level 4 Presentation Mastery
• TK Kasnick completed Levels 1 & 2 in Persuasive Influence
• Nancy Carpenter completed Levels 1 and 2 in Presentation Mastery
• Maria Cubacha completed Level 4 Motivational Strategies, and Levels 1 and 2 in Engaging Humor
• Deanna Schroeder completed Levels 4 & 5 and Path Completion- Leadership Development
• Kelly Fallucca completed Level 1 and 2 - Engaging Humor Levels 1 – 5 and Path Completion- Persuasive Influence
• Kelly Fallucca has been awarded DTM Distinguished Toastmaster!

Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms, led us through the Club Mission statement and Flag Salute.

Our Toastmaster was Kelly Fallucca, VPPR, with the theme “Sparkle & Shine Celebration Party #2 ”

Gate team:

Our grammarian was Deanna Schroeder, Treasurer, with the WORD of the Day “Victory” 

Our Ah Counter was Katie Munoz

Our Timer was Dhwani Maheshwari

Our General Evaluator was Theresa Haynes

Our speaker was Jeff Makita with a speech titled“Never Stop Being a Beginner”

Our Evaluator for Jeff’s speech was Maria Cubacha, VPM

Our Table Topics Master was Nancy Carpenter, VPE

Table Topics participants – Bill Hinrichs, Deanna Schroeder, Deepa Sondagar, Sherri Liston, Anu Jokinen, Theresa Haynes

Our raffle winner today was Chirag!

Members in attendance were Bill, Jeff, Deanna, Dhwani, Chirag, Katie, Kelly, Maria C, Maria S, Nancy, Theresa

Guests in Attendance: Deepa Sondagar, Sherri Liston, Anu Jokinen

Motion to Adjourn - Deanna, Second: Katie

September 8th, 2026 Officers' Meeting Minutes - Pending Final Approval

Public Speaking Northwest

Officer’s Meeting Notes

September 8th, 2026

 Decisions made:

• Meeting Minutes for August 11, 2026, have been approved
• Holiday Party Budget: Approved a budget of $150 for meeting refreshments and potential entertainment. (Deanna made a motion; approved unanimously)
• Holiday Party Format: The event will be a potluck with the club funding beverages.
• Halloween Party: Scheduled for October 27th and will be held virtually.
• Speech Competition: Confirmed for November 10th as a virtual meeting.

Notes:

• Mentor Reassignment: Bill volunteered to be the mentor for Kerry following Lynn's leave of absence.
• Dues Status: Approximately 8 or 9 members had paid early bird registration as of last month; notifications for remaining dues will be sent by September 10^th.

Action Items

• Bill: Draft a letter to Area 35 Director Mary Redmond letting her choose the day she prefers and mentioning the November 10th competition.
• Bill: Follow up with Kerry regarding mentorship, if she would like Bill to be her mentor.
• Deanna: Send out membership dues notifications on September 10^th.

I Opening:

• Approve August 11, 2026, Meeting Minutes – approved.
• September Anniversary: Theresa Haynes, 2 years
• Kelly to fill in for me as president 9/29; need someone to fill in for Nancy on 9/22 and 9/29 (Bill to cover for her on 9/15). Update: Kelly volunteered to fill in.
• Congrats again, Kelly, DTM/ video/Web jiggering and World Series of Public Speaking video share, good for club contest

1. Ongoing/Old Business

• Holiday Party. Entertainment/ Budget Dec. 1 Kelly
•  Halloween party online: confirm date. October 27^th.
• Speech Competition. Confirm date Nov. 10 and let the members know. (e-mail). Invite Area 35 director Mary Redman DTM Bill

III. New Business:

•  Mentors: Lynne is taking a break, so Kerry Needs support. Bill
• Bank Balance 1203.61, members renewal reminders to go out on 9/10. Deanna
• FTH Who has used it? Finding things, especially the meeting role schedule Bill/Nancy

IV Officers' Reports: Any additional information?

1. Adjourn Motion to adjourn made by Nancy. Second – Maria S.

Officers' reports compiled:

Kelly Falluca, VPPR

All is good in VPPR land.

A BIG thank you to Bill for putting the in-person celebration party together and to Nancy for providing all the education highlights. Well, done. Afte our second party I will put together a highlight video.

 Social Media

• Facebook: 556 followers • 2 following
• YouTube: 61 subscribers•508 videos

Website

• I started updating the website. Nancy is leaving for vacation so there will be more updates over the next month or two.

December Holiday Party

• I know…if feels too early but the end of the year is flying by and I would like to secure some type of entertainment.
• Katie, will you please confirm the time we have the room.
• Budget.
• Entertainment. Since we are in the big room, I would like to try to get someone to call line dancing or maybe a DJ. Theresa’s son may or may not be interested in the line dancing. I will look into if anyone knows a local DJ that would give us a discount. And we need to tip the day of the event.
• Food. If we have access funds the club can cover the food or we can make it a potluck and focus on entertainment and prize drawings. Thoughts?

Nancy Carpenter, VPE

I will be traveling from Sept 10 to Sept 30th or so, missing the last 3 meetings of September. 

Maria Cubacha will take over my portion of onboarding new members (welcoming/mentoring, mentor matchmaking, pledge creation and distribution). Thank you, Maria!

I asked our membership if anyone would be interested in recruiting for roles and doing an Ed Min at the 3 meetings. I had no takers from members, but Maria Cubacha inquired. Would you officers like to perform these tasks on either Sept 15, 22, or 29? 

I appreciate your support.

Webmaster:

Updated website is up. Everyone's logins/passwords are the same, except the admin one. 

I love what Kelly did with your front page. There are other pages to populate, but I will not be much help, being gone so soon and for so long.

You ask, who has access to what. Without signing in as an admin, the following officers have access to the following below. Deanna and Maria C, please test this to make sure it works for you before Thursday.

VPE:

We are a Distinguished club for the 2026/27 Toastmaster year. Education Awards needed: 1 level 1 and 2 level 2s. Other goals: 2 new members, then 4 new members, and 4 officers trained in January/Feb 2027. 

Deanna Schroeder, Treasurer

Renewal dues notice will go out to current members on 9/10

Bank balance is $1203.61 as of 9/7/2

Maria Cubacha, VPM

September Club Anniversaries: Theresa @ 2 years 

August stats: 

New Members	0
Inquiries Jedabelle, Rebecca, Sherri	3*
Mtg Visitors Jedabelle, Rebecca, Nadine (former member), Tatiana (1 time visitor)	4
Member removals	0

*Linda did inquiry for 9/1 mtg invite only and not included in count

Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms

Nothing to report

Maria Shneerson, Secretary

Nothing to report 

September 1, 2026 Meeting Notes

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Meeting Minutes

September 1, 2026

Bill Hinrichs, President, started our meeting and welcomed our members and guests. Our special guests included today

• Jean Tracy, DTM, Founder of Public Speaking Northwest
• Joanna Tavera, DTM, Program Quality Director
•  Roxanne Spring, DTM, Distinguished Club Chair

Jeff Makita, Sergeant at Arms, led us through the Club Mission statement and Flag Salute.

Our Toastmaster was Bill Hinrichs, President, with the theme “Champions”

Gate team:

Our grammarian was Theresa Haynes with the WORD of the Day “Invest” 

Our Ah Counter was Jeff Makita

Our Timer was Maria Shneerson

Our General Evaluator was Joanna Tavera

Our speaker was Alex Konicke, with a speech titled“Say It Anyway”

Presentation Mastery Path, level 4.

Our Evaluator for Raxit’s speech was Katie Munoz

Awards:

Jean Tracy, club founder received an award for 30 years of being a Toastmaster.

Katie Munoz also received an award for 30 years of being a Toastmaster

Alex Konicke completed Level 1 and Level 2 of the Presentation Mastery Pathway

Chirag Patni completed Level 1 of the Presentation Mastery Pathway

Maria Shneerson completed Level 1 of the Presentation Mastery Pathway

KellyFalluca, VPPR, completed Level 3 of the Engaging Humor Pathway.

Alex Konicke received the Triple Crown Award for completing three Pathways certifications of level completion within a single Toastmasters year. 

Joanna Tavera, DTM, Program Quality Director, presented Kelly Fallucca, VPPR, with the DTM plaque. Bill Hinrichs, President, presented Kelly Falluca, VPPR, with the DTM pin.

We had a party with a cake and a raffle! Theresa Haynes and Alex Konicke were the winners!

Our Table Topics Master was Deanna Schroeder, Treasurer,

Table Topics participants – Lynn, Jean Tracy, Kelly Fallucca, Roxanne Spring

Members in attendance were Alex, Bill, Jeff, Deanna, Katie, Kelly, Maria S, Theresa

Guests in Attendance: Jean Tracy, DTM, Joanna Tavera, DTM, Lynne Dauenhauer, Tyrona Schroeder, Roxanne Spring, DTM, Jane Gissi.

Motion to Adjourn - Deanna, Second: Katie

August 25th, 2026 Meeting Minutes

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Meeting Minutes

August 25, 2026

Bill Hinrichs, President kicked off our meeting with the following announcements:

• Please attend our party at the next in-person meeting on September 1^st.
• Please watch the videos of past Toastmasters International competition winners shared by Kelly and consider participating in this year's competition.

Bill Hinrichs, President, led us through the Club Mission statement and Flag Salute.

Nancy Carpenter, VP of Education, shared a new article https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2026/august/before-you-write-a-word

Our Toastmaster was Alex Konicke with the theme “Entrepreneurial”

Gate team:

Our grammarian was Maria Shneerson with the WORD of the Day “Pivot” 

Our Ah Counter was Katie Muniz

Our Timer was Chirag Patni

Our General Evaluator was TK Kasnick

Our first speaker was Raxit Jani, with a speech titled“The Distance between Two Chairs”

Persuasive Influence Path, level 1.

Our Evaluator for Raxit’s speech was Maria Chubacha, VPM

Our second speaker was Kelly Fallucca, VPPR with a speech titled Dominique the Delivery Diva Presents “The Art of the Entrance” from Engaging Humor Pathway.

Our Evaluator for Kelly’s speech was Nancy Carpenter, VP Education

Our Table Topics Master was Kelly Fallucca, VPPR

Table Topics participants – Maria S, TK, Katie

Members in attendance were Alex, Bill, Chirag, Deanna, Katie, Kelly, Maria C, Maria S, Nancy, Raxit, Theresa, TK

Guests in Attendance: Tatiana Khabibulina

Jedabelle Cortez

Motion to Adjourn: TK Kasnick, Second: Alex Konicke