Don't miss out on important group discussions! Yahoo! Groups is a free service that allows West Austin Toastmasters to come together through a website and email group. Join us in an easy-to-use, privacy-protected, and spam-protected environment. You can use the Yahoo! Groups service at the Yahoo! website or through any email program.

It's easy to become a member of our online Yahoo! Group, "westaustintm"—just enter your email address and click the button to the right. You will automatically be included in all email conversations.

Jason tries to determine who has the bigger
belly--Beth or Buddha!

What an excellent holiday party we had thanks to Virgil and Jody opening up their lovely home to us! We had a great turnout, and there was so much food--melt-in- your-mouth brisket, a spicy Chinese dish, and plenty of sweets.

We had lots of fun participating in the White Elephant gift exchange. Ryan found himself the proud owner of an orange and white marching band jacket while Vickie took home a real zippered frog purse--you can bet we'll see that gift again in 2006!

We warmed ourselves by sipping Sarah's incredible homemade eggnog and chatting around the backyard fire pit. We all hated to see the party come to an end.

To see more photos, click here.

Susan O'Connor Writing Studio

Susan Speaks!

 Congratulations to our newest members:

Rick Taylor is currently an Information Studies graduate student at U.T. He comes to Austin via his home state of Maine where he had previously participated in Toastmasters.

Melissa Hallman: It's not enough that Melissa gets up at the crack of dawn to come to West Austin meetings. Prior to arriving at Toastmasters on Friday mornings, Melissa participates in a "boot camp" workout!

Rong Luo is a native of China who came to Austin to study engineering at U.T. Be sure to try the Chinese dish Rong is preparing for our December 10 Christmas party.

Susan O'Connor is a scriptwriter for computer games. She joined Toastmasters to prepare herself for the role of Chair of the October Game Writers Conference.

Susan Baughman is a Toastmasters force to be reckoned with—a professional speaker, trainer, and entertainer as well as owner of "Susan Speaks!" If you have the opportunity to hear one of her presentations, you'll soon realize that Susan is no Toastmasters greenhorn.

Welcome to all! Be sure and introduce yourselves if you haven't already....

West Austin Toastmasters is looking for a member in good standing who would like to participate in the leadership track. The office of Vice President Public Relations. Duties include publicizing the club and taking responsibility for new member recruitment strategies.

Anyone interested in holding the PR office should speak to Patrick Hansen or any club member. Click here for more information about the other officers' duties.