My Toastmaster's Speech

Here's the outline draft I used to give my speech on Friday to introduce myself to the group and serve as Word Master for the meeting. This outline/draft included typos and some bad grammar. I used it as a guide for my speech Enjoy and please do not plagiarize it. Thank you!

Word of the Day: Compendium April 13, 2007

Thank you Mr. Toastmaster, fellow members and honored guests.


In presenting to you today's word, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a collector and just a little bit of a pack-rat. I assure you that I know where everything is. Compendiums of fantasy, science fiction, music, computer science and movies adorn my bookshelves. My Titanic movie compendium includes but is not limited to: film cells, the illustrated screenplay and a biography of James Cameron. The Star Wars Trilogy is perhaps the most beloved and famous science fiction compendium of all time. I admit to owning three versions of the Star Wars Trilogy: two of which reside on VHS, and one on DVD, of course, in addition to the recent prequel trilogy. I am pretty sure I still have the ticket stubs from when I first saw Star Wars in my collection.


When it comes music, Vanessa Carlton is my favorite artist. My iPod contains many compendia of her piano laced heart-felt tunes. Someday I will have to present to you the compendium of the time I met her after a concert; or the time I went to a Firefly convention that was canceled and then revived by other Joss Whedon fans. At this convention, that wasn't I met the friend who encouraged me to join the Toastmasters.


A summary of my Firefly Convention experience resides on my blog. This compendium of my experiences allows me to look back and remember my adventure fondly. The Serenity Visual Companion is a compendium of Whedon's short-lived Television series called Firefly. Now, I can provide you will a quick, but far from sufficient compendium of this television series: It is a Western in space with interesting and deep characters. I encourage you to check it out on DVD!


My predisposition to maintaining compendiums spills over into my career. As a software developer at a systems integration firm, I keep compendiums of programming and project specific references at my desk. These stacks of resources help me to execute my tasks and keep me organized. Microsoft Outlook organizes my compendia of meetings, tasks and communications.


Upon arriving home from work, I enjoy scanning through my shelves for a good movie, a sweet tune or perhaps an excerpt from Tolkein's compendium of stories.


Today's word is compendium. Merriam Webster itemized two definitions. The first, describes compendium as a brief summary of a larger work or of a field of knowledge. While, the second defines compendium as a list of a number of items.


I look forward to hearing about your compendia, whether they be summaries of your adventures or a collection of prized possessions