Peter incorporates gestures into his speaking
Turning to a fashion designer, comedian, the famous “author” Anonymous, and Confucius for inspiration, Toastmaster Marti MacEwan evoked a sense of “balance,” the meeting’s theme, throughout her duties.
Mark White opened the speeches with the help of some books, a Kindle, and an iPhone as props, as he discussed the differences between the business models of Amazon.com and independent bookstores.
Scott Champion‘s speech, “A Bridge to Brooklyn,” brought us to New York City, 1866. As Manhattan was growing, a proposal to build a bridge to Brooklyn was put forth as a way to relieve the population pressure. The proposal languished until one winter when New York City harbor froze and no one could travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. That spring officials quickly agreed to build the bridge, but soon thereafter skyscrapers rose in Manhattan, ironically reducing reducing the need for the bridge.
Seva Kumar, in “Early to Bed, Early to Rise,” took us on a journey through his history of alarm clocks. When his new boss forced him to wake up early for 9 am meetings, he was challenged to make the meetings on time. So he experimented with various alarm clock configurations to rise early, but nothing worked until he learned to wake to an exercise regime and maintain a vow to go to bed early, as his mother had long since advised.
In “Why an MBA Now?,” Shen Yang discussed how the devastation of China’s landscape brought on by economic growth and natural catastrophes pushed him to apply for an MBA program so he can start an engineering firm that will help to rebuild the landscapes of his native China.
Shane provides feedback to Mark
In table topics, Katey Noonan asked for advice in how she can balance her own increasingly out-of-balance life. Michelle Delappe took home the ribbon for best evaluator, and Peter Feysa provided the denouement of the meeting with both the word of the day (“denouement”) and the winning Table Topics presentation.
Peter wins the award for best table topic response
Bea is inducted as the newest member of Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters!
