I’m a member of the San Rafael Dominican University Toastmasters group. I’m actually the VP of Public Relations.

I joined Toastmasters because I realized I was losing the art of verbal communication. I was spending so much time on my computer networking online with others that I was starting to lose my voice, literally. You know the saying, ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’.

I joined Toastmasters because I wanted to get more comfortable with public speaking but I’ve learned there is so much more you can get out of Toastmasters. Since joining a year ago I’m more confident negotiating deals, I’m a better listener and I’m comfortable taking charge in group situations. I’m also quicker to think on my feet.

In the past while at dinner parties I’d often freeze up during interesting conversations. My mind would just go blank and I’d have nothing to contribute, until later that night after the party was over I’d think of all sorts of interesting and intelligent things to say. Since joining Toastmasters and regularly taking part in the activity called Table Topics I’ve found that I’m now able to “think on my feet” and participate in these conversations.

Our group meets every Tuesday from 12-1. We meet at Dominican University but the group is open to the public. Our members consist of students, teachers, faculty, staff and community members (like me). We are a very relaxed and fun group.  Our number one focus is on having fun. We welcome guests and new members! If you’d like to visit our group please stop by any Tuesday at 12.  Currently we are meeting in Guzman Hall, Room 201. Check our Website to confirm location, we occasionally change room locations.

For more information visit: Dominican Toastmasters
We’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

To find out about Toastmasters in your area visit the Toastmasters International Site.

PS. If you are thinking about joining Toastmasters but feeling a little intimidated… just do it! If you want to talk more about our group feel free to contact me directly. And if you are worried about the cost, it is very affordable. There is a one time $20 new-member fee, then $27 dues every six months. (pro-rated if you join in mid-term).

Not sure what to call our group that is forming. The Twitter Ladies, The Women of Twitter, The Marin Mafia Mom’s & Co, Twitter Lunch Ladies and Occasional Man, People who Tweet & Like to Eat <– oh I like this one!

We had a new guest man today: Mike Wolpert. We met Mike thanks to FourSquare. Peggy & Hannah have been competing to be Mayor of Café Gratitude and for quite some time have been stealing the mayorship back and forth from each other and then out of nowhere last week this guy named Mike Wolpert steps in and takes over mayorship. The Marin Ladies of Twitter Who Tweet & Like to Eat while checking in at FourSquare were up in arms that their mayorship had been taken by this stranger! So we did what we do best and stalked him on Twitter.

So today the People Who Tweet & Like to Eat met at Thai Smile again but it was a semi-different crowd this time. We had @PoButler, @Fun_Master, @MomnTwins, @Sally_K, @WorkFromWithin, @DianeFischler, @WhatsCooking, @MikeWolpert and a non-Tweeting friend of Hannah & Peggy named Becky who @momntwins (Hannah) tricked in to coming (I think she is trying to convert her in to being a Twitter addict).  Becky was nice enough to take this photo of us!

The People Who Tweet & Like to Eat are planning to go to Pacific Catch in Corte Madera next Wednesday, 5/12 at 1:00pm. I heard the Pacific Catch in Corte Madera was the best location out of all the Pacific Catch’s around. If you are in the neighborhood please feel free to join us for lunch!

This was a lunch full of Marin’s Powerful Women! I was honored to be sitting with all these fun and inspirational women! Look who came out to have lunch with us: Nancy of @ATOMsanRafel, Diane of @dianefischler, Lissa of @LissaRankin, Tara of @TaraFirmaFarms, Lisa of @LisaKiftTherapy, Peggy of @PoButler, Hannah of @momntwins, Cathy of @CurtisFinancial (who came all the way from the East Bay to join us), Marilyn of @Fun_Master, Michelle of @DrMichelleXO, if I forgot someone please shoot me now.

@SFDoug heard us talking about our plans on Twitter and asked if lunch was for women only. We said of course not and invited him. So Doug was the lucky guy who won the Player badge on FourSquare for checking in with 3 or more people of the opposite sex at the same time. Doug you owe us a drink for or something. Maybe at Rick’s Wine Cellar…

It was great fun! Thanks everyone for coming out! The food was delicious and affordable.

Here are some of our Thai smiles.

Where's Doug?

Next Friday, April 16th Pacific Catch in San Francisco is having a FourSquare Swarm Party!

A bunch of people who work at Pacific Catch tweet under various names: @pacificcatch, @PacCatchCOO, @PacCatchChef, @PabloEscolar, @Rob_Villa_PC, and I’m sure there are more.

This shout out is not because they are on Twitter, although I do send them kudos for being on Twitter but it is because they GET Twitter. They understand what it is about. They understand it is not just about shouting and broadcasting to the world. Pacific Catch understands Twitter is about building relationships, it’s about their community. Pacific Catch participates in the conversation. They connect with their community.

Pacific Catch also knows how to throw a party! They hosted 2 TweetUps this week: one in Marin and one in San Francisco. I was one of the lucky people to attend the Pacific Catch Marin TweetUp on Monday night. Pacific Catch was so generous with us, they kept bringing out tasty appetizers and I’m not talking about chips and salsa, they brought out things like Hawaiian Poke, Ceviche and Thai Coconut Shrimp!

I just wanted to say Thank You to Pacific Catch. You guys are awesome and I think I speak for all the Marin TweetUp crowd – we’d be happy to have a TweetUp at your business any day!

It’s not just Twitter Pacific Catch gets, they get the whole social networking thing. They even have a blog!

We are a silly group but we do appreciate businesses that get social media and we will support you!

Thank you Pacific Catch!

A special shout out to Chamin for all your support and always making us feel so welcome and to Amanda (aka @sexythinker) who I have a feeling has a lot to do with all of this.

A TweetUp is a gathering of local Twitter users. It’s an opportunity to meet all your local virtual friends in person. Our TweetUps are fun, casual and totally relaxed. We meet at different restaurants throughout Marin. Anyone who is on Twitter is invited. If you have never come before I invite you to join us at one of the upcoming TweetUps. They’re lots of fun and a great networking opportunity.

It doesn’t matter if you Tweet every 5 minutes, once a day, once a month or just opened your account we’d still love to meet you. If you are not on Twitter but are curious about it, you are welcome to stop by the TweetUp and learn more about Twitter and why we all love it so much.

Anyone or any business can organize a TweetUp! All you do is decide you want to have one, pick a place and start inviting your friends. If you want me to tell all my friends just send me a message and I’ll probably announce it here on my blog.

When you arrive to the restaurant tell the hostess you are there for the TweetUp (if it is not obvious where we are). Grab a name tag and be sure to put your Twitter ID (handle, whatever you want to call it) and your real name on it. Some of us only know you by your Twitter name. For instance the other day everybody was talking to me about this fabulous woman named Suzanna and telling me they thought I knew her. I’m thinking, I don’t know Suzanna then when they started talking more about her I said, “Oh! Are you talking about @BrainMaker from Twitter?”. LOL I knew her by her Twitter name better than her real name.

Once you’ve got your name tag, order a drink if you want and then start introducing yourself to people or look for familiar Twitter names. It’s fun to meet the people behind the tweets.

I hope you can join us at the upcoming TweetUps!

PS. Restaurants: a TweetUp is a great way to get lots of exposure to your restaurant. Not only do you get 20-30 new customers you get those 20-30 people talking about your restaurant on Twitter to their thousands of friends! If you are a restaurant and would like us to consider organizing the next TweetUp at your place of business, please contact me. If you are a restaurant that knows you probably should be on Twitter but don’t have the time or are not sure how to get started, this is also something I can help you with.

Here are some of the places owner and artist Hila buzzes around the bay to when she is not working:

Where is your favorite place to hike or bike in the Bay Area?
Terra Linda/Southern Novato Hills – different trails, mostly the “shortcut” from Terra Linda to Sleepy Hollow (San Anselmo).

What do you love most about the Bay Area?
The weather, the air, the view, the people. I’m coming from a relatively hot and humid climate (Tel Aviv) so the weather here is just perfect. I only wish the beach and the water were warmer. The people here are much more relaxed and patient. Above all we love San Francisco- one of my favorite cities if not “the” favorite. gracious and gorgeous. I love it especially when it’s gray (which is most of the time) it gives it just the perfect bittersweet taste of melancholy.

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
The Slanted Door in SF love the the food the scene and view.
(I think Hila and I have similar taste. I love this restaurant!)

Favorite Coffee/Tea shop?
Cafe Gratitude especially the one in Berkeley. I’m grateful for a great food- especially the sweets… and you know you are safe there- it’s all vegan! (Another one of my favorites.)

Favorite park? Bon Tempe Lake (From Fairfax)

Favorite place to shop?
Crossroad Trading. Favorite location is Irving st in SF. I like the idea of recycling and exchanging. AND what  great finds! (I’m telling you, I think Hila is my long lost sister.)

Read more about BZhive in the MarinIJ.

Be sure to follow BZhive on Twitter to keep up with the latest happenings at the hive.

The social interaction and possible collaboration that comes when people get out of the home office can also make people more productive, according to a 2008 study by Stephen Humphrey, formerly a management professor at Florida State University’s business school.

“People who work interdependently with others have better performance ratings, lower stress, lower turnover intentions, and greater work and organizational satisfaction,” the study found. – Jim Welte, MarinIJ 2/7/10

Stay tuned you just might see me working out of BZhive one of these days.

Yesterday, I woke up with a neck spasm and a headache. I just felt out of whack so I called my chiropractor and made an appointment. Wow, I really needed that adjustment. I’m happy to report that I am feeling 100 times better today!

I scheduled my chiropractic appointment right before the open house at BZhive (they’re located within a half a mile of each other in San Rafael) where Patrick Schwerdtfeger was going to be speaking about Social Media. It worked out great. I had my adjustment and was feeling fantastic, ready to meet new people.

BZhive is the new coworking space in Marin County. I was curious about coworking and wanted to check it out. I’d read about the coworking idea in the book, The Whuffie Factor and have been intrigued by it since then.

BZhive is cool! I want to work there. It’s an open office space environment where you can have your own work-desk in an area shared with other entrepreneurs.  The owners Hila and Dan seem to be really friendly and fun people.

The BZhive open house was catered by Sonoma Latina Grill in Novato. I learned their food is local, organic and delicious! The tortillas were homemade. The light and crispy chips were served with a Hominy Hummus, guacamole and super fresh salsa. They serve good, clean, nutritious whole food.  I spent most of my time next to the food table.

<—Here I am (eating) while talking with @fun_master and @quepol (the co-owner of Citizen Space in San Francisco).

After we finished eating the amazingly delicious Sonoma Latina Grill spread we moved in to the open office space area to hear Patrick Schwerdtfeger talk. I was impressed. He knows his stuff and he was a great speaker. (He’s cute too). I learned some new useful tips for social networking that I hadn’t tried before and came home inspired to implement them. Patrick is the author of Webify Your Business. I bought the book and have already read through chapter 12 since I got home last night. If you get a chance to hear Patrick speak don’t miss out on it. It was well worth my time. I stayed after and chatted with Patrick for a bit. He’s real. It was so refreshing to meet someone working in the social media field who is genuine and authentic. He tells it like it is and doesn’t try to put out there that he is better or more knowledgeable than you.

I really enjoyed meeting and listening to Patrick Swerdtfeger. After his talk I went up and asked him if public speaking just came natural to him or if he was in Toastmasters or something. Turns out he is the president of his Toastmaster’s club. I’m the VP of Public Relations for mine. Patrick was a wonderful public speaker. I told him I wanted to be just like him when I grow up (we happen to be the same age).

PS. Thank you to @LeighShev for telling me about this event. And thank you to @fun_master who is always willing to sally around the bay with me and try new things. I don’t know if I would have gone last night if it weren’t for Marilyn agreeing to go with me.

Edited to add Patrick’s mini video from his talk at BZhive:

Wipe Out has always attracted me because it reminds me of Southern California where I grew up. From the outside it looks like a fun kind of restaurant you would see on a white sandy beach. The kind you would want to sit down at and stay for awhile. Besides I love supporting business that get the importance of social media and appreciate the Twitter community.

I’m looking forward to seeing my favorite Twitter friends and to meeting new ones.

If you happen to be nearby today between 4-6pm please stop by to say hi.

Wipe Out Marin will donate 20% of all TweetUp proceeds to Haiti relief today.

Click here to view directions to Wipe Out in Marin.

Wipe Out Marin is located at Bon Air Center off of Sir Francis Drake (just off Hwy 101)

TweetUp is from 4-6pm today, 2/2/10.

Special thanks to @PoButler for coordinating this TweetUp with @WipeOutMarin.

Photo of studly surfer dude borrowed from the Wipe Out Marin Website.

Chamin from Pacific Catch did a drawing for the TweetUp participants for $50 gift cards to Pacific Catch. @dianefischler and I both won! I think we will be going on a double date. I look forward to going back to this social networking friendly restaurant with great service and terrific food.

Thank you Pacific Catch and the Corte Madera Town Center. Be sure to become a fan of the Town Center’s Facebook fan page. They’ve been giving away a lot of great prizes and gifts to fans.

Thanks to everyone who came out for this TweetUp. I created the following list from memory so if I forgot anyone please let me know and I will add you to the list. I look forward to seeing you all at future Marin TweetUps!

@PacificCatch
@ShopTownCenter
@pobutler
@DrMichelleXO
@DianeFischler
@ken_homer
@AtomSanRafael
@MamaMtnBike
@MarinBroker
@MomnTwins
@LeighShev
@Sally_K
@Living_in_Marin
@Charleegee
@BrainMaker
@MaryMcnamara
and I heard a rumor @Cellodoc was there but I didn’t actually meet him.

I’ve had a request to organize one in Novato. I’m looking for a Novato restaurant interested in hosting our next TweetUp. If you are interested please contact me.

Read about past TweetUps:
Mill Valley TweetUp #2 (10.28.09)
Mill Valley TweetUp #1 (6.10.09)

Photos from past TweetUps

PS. For the record, I did not organize the Pacific Catch TweetUp. I just saw the invite on Twitter and passed on the info. But thank you to everyone who thought I organized it.