2021 Annual Conference
| Seriously Funny, Using Humor to Breathe More Life into Your Life | Treasure Hunt – Dr. Clue | Storytelling | Podcasting |
| Winning Evaluations | Hybrid meetings | TedX Presenter |
Seriously Funny, Using Humor to Breathe More Life into Your Life
Jeff Rodgers: Event Host / Presentation Coach / Playmaker |
Jeff Rogers helps people overcome freezing up by teaching them how to think fast using improvisation.
After going from being a kid with a speech impediment and drinking a bottle of Pepto Bismol just to get up in front of an audience to performing on stage at The Second City with Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and many more. Jeff uses his experience to help others leverage improvisation to instantly adapt and succeed in any situation. Jeff can be seen on national television commercials for Crestor, BP, McDonald’s, Miller Lite, & Ford, as well as roles on Empire, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, and Proven Innocent. He is an Executive Producer, creator and host of the cable TV show Homemade Game Show. Jeff has won Telly, Communicator, W3, and Hermes Creative Awards. He is also the founder of The Factory Theater in Chicago. He is the owner of Players Workshop, the original, independent school of improvisation in the country, and the author of The Playmaker Mindset coming out in spring 2021. Learn how to change your culture, create a psychologically safe and inclusive environment while innovating at the speed of thought. |
Ray Engan: Speaker | Coach | Storyteller |
Ray went on from being a shy little boy to a career in stand-up comedy, performing with and writing for some of America’s best comedians. He began using the skill of connecting through comedy in the business world and became the sales manager of America’s most award-winning small business.
Ray works at the intersection of Leadership, Laughter, and Influence, giving Inspiration and Hope through Humor to leaders across America. He has testified before a presidential task force, and appeared on MSNBC, as a Voice of small business in America. Ray Engan is an award-winning motivational speaker, coach, and storyteller. He is the current President and Chief Charisma Officer of Leadership Through Laughter |
Cody Cotulla: Professional Speaker | Standup Comedy |
Cody Cotulla works at the intersection of comedy, communication, and confidence. He helps people develop their comedy skills to communicate more effectively and build stronger more meaningful relationships both personally and professionally.
Cody started building his own comedy skills in elementary school, making people laugh on purpose using jokes from books, retelling jokes from the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and poking fun at himself. Forty-plus years later he still regularly makes people laugh in the workplace, at home, at public speaking events, on comedy stages, and now on Zoom. Cody has been an active member of Toastmasters for years, studied improv and performed as part of a two-person improv team, and worked as a full-time professional standup comic. He’s worked for over twenty years in the tech industry, as a technical writer, software developer, and manager. He got his first tech job because he sent a video of himself performing standup to the hiring manager. He’s also a long-time husband and parent, who believes his daughter will one day appreciate all the jokes and stories she’s had to listen to over the years. |
Treasure Hunt – It’s time to get a clue about Toastmasters!
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Former G31 Area Director Dave Blum is a proud member of Santa Rosa Club 182, where he has served as President and VPE. His alter egos include: 1) Founder of Memorize Your Speech (www.memorizeyourspeech.com), a coaching service for people struggling with speech memorization, and 2) Founder of Dr. Clue Treasure Hunts (www.drclue.com and www.birthdaytreasurehuntsandmore.com), specializing in treasure hunt events for individuals and organizations. Over the past 26 years, Dave has created more than 150 teambuilding treasure hunts (worldwide and virtual), for clients including Oracle, Cisco, T-Mobile and Uber. A few of Dr. Clue’s hunt locations include San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Paris, Tel Aviv and Geneva. |
TEDx 101:
Don Franceschi: Speaker | Consultant |
Don Franceschi is the author of the Amazon Best Seller, FROM AWFUL TO AWESOME: 9 ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE PRESENTATIONS.
Before becoming an independent speaker and consultant, Don spent 29 years with the State of California, with his last position as Regional Loss Prevention Manager for all of Northern California. He is an active member of Toastmasters and is the current President of his advanced club, Next Level. Don is a Santa Rosa Junior College Community Education instructor, a frequent guest speaker for the Sonoma State University Hybrid Saturday BA Program, and a TEDx Sonoma County Organizing Committee member. |
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Marie O’Neill, MBA, is the founder of PadmaLife Coaching located in Santa Rosa, California. Marie has many years of experience as a life coach, astrologer, speaker, coach, past-life regression facilitator, and lecturer.
She is a Distinguished Toastmaster through Toastmasters International, is on the Board of Directors with TEDx Sonoma County, and is an astrology mentor with the Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology (FCEA). In addition, Marie lectures at numerous Astrology conferences and has added published authors to her list of achievements. Marie’s passion is helping others achieve their dreams, goals and to shine brightly in the world. |
Storytelling Tips & Tricks:
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Mathew Dicks: Author | Storyteller |
Matthew Dicks is an elementary school teacher, columnist, and internationally bestselling author of several novels including The Other Mother Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, and Twenty-one Truths About Love, as well as the nonfiction title Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling.
Matthew is a record 51-time Moth StorySLAM and 6-time GrandSLAM champion whose stories have been featured on This American Life. He’s the founder of Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization. He teaches public speaking and storytelling around the world to corporations, universities, politicians, advertising agencies, the clergy, and more. |
 Jackie Tweedie: Therapist | Life Coach | Storyteller |
A child stands on a beach in Wales, her back to the road, gazing intently out to sea. She’s been there all day. Her hair is matted, her skin reddened and crusty with salt. She feels alone in her world until her whole family, walking up the hill, calls her to come with them. She doesn’t want to leave her beloved sea, especially to climb that steep road home. That’s me, five-year-old me.
I stand there resolute until my mother bends low behind me, takes my hand in hers, and whispers “what if I tell you a ghost story?” Immediately the seaside spell is broken and a new excitement arises. “Yes, please!” I turn and raise my face to hers “Tell me all of it, especially the scary bits.” As the story unfolds, I don’t notice the steep hill or my tired limbs, but only the pictures in my mind and the thrill of the unexpected. The power of storytelling has never left me. Now, as a Therapist and Life Coach, I use storytelling every day. Not only does it empower my clients to find the clarity they seek, it also enriches my life with a compelling fascination, just as it did when I was five. |
Erin Barker: Writer| Editor | Storyteller |
Erin Barker is the artistic director of The Story Collider, an international storytelling organization that produces a popular podcast and more than 60 live events every year featuring true, personal stories about science, with the goal of showing that science is a vibrant part of all our lives.
As a storyteller, she is the first woman to win The Moth’s GrandSLAM storytelling competition twice. She has appeared on PRX’s The Moth Radio Hour, and one of her stories was included in the New York Times bestselling book The Moth: 50 True Stories. She has not been officially sorted, but she considers herself a Gryffindor. Follow her @ErinHBarker on Twitter and on Instagram. |
Winning Evaluations:
Watch Cynthia in Action!
Cynthia Stott: International Speaker Coach | Global visibility Influencer |
Cynthia Stott is an international speaker coach and Global Visibility Influencer with 30,000 followers in 140+ countries.
She was the winner of the 2015 District 57 Evaluation Contest. For the first time ever, she will share publicly her winning formula for evaluations. She has shared her formula privately with competitors around the world, but this is the first time she will share it publicly! |
Getting Ready for Hybrid Meetings:
Shyam Nath: DTM | Author |
Shyam V Nath, DTM is the current President of Oracle Pleasant Speakers Club and VPE of Tracy TM Club.
He is a published author of two books. Shyam has run hybrid meetings at Oracle, starting in 2019 to allow remote employees to participate in the Club meetings. Shyam is active on Twitter @ShyamVaran or you can connect on LinkedIn www.Linkedin.com/in/Shyamvaran |
Theo Pope: Area 91 Director | Zoom Master Division I |
Theo Pope is current President of Manteca Smooth Talkers, Area 91 Director, and Zoom Master for Division I.
He completed his High-Performance Leadership project on a test using the Zoom application to determine its effectiveness in creating a hybrid meeting between an in-person setting and online with virtual users. He is retired and believes in the lifelong learning that Toastmasters provides. |
Podcasting 101 – Getting Started TODAY:
Tony Navarra: Podcaster |
Exuberance, excitement, and enthusiasm are what Tony Navarra brings to the table.
Whether selling fireplaces to homeowners, speaking to large audiences at trade conventions, or managing multi-million-dollar railcar repair budgets, Tony gives it his all with zing and pizzazz! He has many years of success in working for corporations and small businesses, always increasing sales, and improving the internal workings of the organization. Also, a true entrepreneur, he has had several successful ventures of his own along the way. |
Sean Dustin: Podcaster |
Sean Dustin is a Bay Area Podcaster. Born and raised in Pinole, CA. Sean hosts a show called “Nowhere To Go But Up” and has been podcasting for 2 years with 128 episodes published. When Sean is not podcasting, he is working in commercial construction where he has been a Union tradesman for the last 15 years.
Sean got his start in content creation as a licensed drone pilot that would do aerial photography/videography for real estate listing agents 4 years ago. He also consults, teaches, and produces podcasts as well. |
