Here’s to another great Seattle Sunrise Toastmaster meeting. Mark was the Toastmaster and he embraced the theme: Gratitude. June 25 was the last day for 2015’s Sunrise Toastmaster officers. Many members were inspired by the officers as testimonials revealed.
The officers continue the tradition of being welcoming, encouraging, and sustaining when its comes to members. Certain officers and members had nods at the podium during the last meeting. Scott, a strong supporter for VP the of Education, provided an influential hand behind the scenes with web support and just happens to be a great speaker routinely providing great feedback. Marti, former VP of Public Relations, provided strong direction for new and existing members. Nicole S, often the first to welcome new members, did/does so always with a smile. She’s the initial impression and strong reason why members join. Aanya, took on the challenge to collecting dues and made it easy to contribute financially to Sunrise. She was a very competent Treasurer. She made it look easy. Then there is Andy, wonderful write-ups and always the hard worker behind the scene. Mark said it best when explaining why member continue to go to meetings: it’s Sunrise’s culture. While we pride ourselves on organizational structure, its the character of our officers and innovative members that make it worth coming back on a Saturday morning. For a closer look, all testimonials are available on Seattle Sunrise’s Toastmaster’s website.
As the meeting continue, Mark introduce the regular occurring Toastmaster roles. As the Grammarian, Paula explained: how she would look for creative uses of language, count filler phrases like “ummm” and “so,” and discuss the Word of the Day. Last week’s word was “Jaunt.” Jaunt means a short journey.
The next role was the Timer. This time, Kiki, fulfilled the role expressing how each speaker has a set time to meet. When certain milestones are reached within speeches and short speaking opportunities, various colored sheets with become apparent. A green sheet means you are near finishing. A yellow sheet means your are getting closer to the end; start finishing. A red sheet means you should finish. Kiki explained with brevity and confidence.
As the Toastmaster, Mark introduces the speakers for the day. The first speech was Tom, the newly elected Seattle Sunrise President. Tom was working on the Competent Communicator “CC” Manual project #6, Vocal Variety. Tom made use of vocal variety by role playing a typical phone call his received at his firm. He then transition the phone call role play into an explanation as to how he works with people on a regular basis. As a lawyer, he deals with a variety of emotions. He continued to use the phone call as an analogy to demonstrated tactics for handling different emotions. For instance, he demonstrated deflection of anger. Listening is key. Singling out the most important of issues, then handling each issue one at a time. He discuss how to handling complaining: let it occur, listen for key points, then do what is within your capability. It was an very informative speech, well done Tom.
Mark introduced the next speaker, Katey. She spoke of her time at Seattle Sunrise. She started a few years ago with a goal of become a better speaker. She followed the advise of many others that came before her; she consulted mentors. Her drive was apparent as she continued to commit to an early Saturday meeting routine regularly. She now speaks with ease in front of crowd for in small setting. Many see her as a go-to person for speaking advise. She had key points to share:
1. Receive and Accept feedback
2. Trusting your natural abilities
3. Tell unique stories,
4. Set aside preconceived notions
These points were a culmination of her journey from where she was and where she is now with speaking. Thank you for sharing this journey with us at Sunrise.
The next speech introduced by Mark was Andrew’s CC Project 2 – Organize your Speech, a Tough Love story. Andrew’s goal was to use a method of organize a speech with an introduction, body, and conclusion. He introduced with speech with a explanation of good experiences with tough love. He developed the speech’s body focusing the speech about teachers. In particular, he reminiscence about the tough, challenging, envelope-pushing teachers. One particular teacher he was not terribly fond on at the time but now reveres. His teacher utilized an interrogation approach to capturing the attention of the wondering focus of an adolescent. He closed with discussing how those lessons are well worth the tribulations. Always a good lesson, Andrew.
Mark then concluded the speaking roles with Mary, the fourth and final speech of the day. Mary is a seasoned speaker and is redoing the CC Manual. She was working on CC Project #3 – Get to the Point. Her speech, “Some Kind of Old” was presented with excellence. She opened and closed singing “Old Gray Mare.” She reflected the inevitable with beautiful creativity. She also infused a rather structured CC manual #3 Project, Getting to the Point, with ease. She tells stories, which might suggest that mentioning points could be too blunt. However her story melded these points. She mentions about accessorize and as the speech progressed, different accessories were adorned. She mentions to compare with abandonment and saying never-mind to the naysayers. You are your own best friend; be encouraging to yourself. She mentions accepting gratitude and grace. It’s clever and subtle incorporation of the day’s theme. She spoke of this lesson captured from an experience caring for a 90 year old woman that was… just a few years ago. She ended her story with her reminders of her students and discussed the logic from a clean mind of a child. Always a great story told from Mary.
Mark introduced the next phase of the meeting, Table Topics. Alexa was assigned this role. The role is an extemporaneous speaking challenge primarily for those who don’t have speaking roles. We go to Toastmasters to become better speakers, on-the-spot speaking is a great way to hone those speaking speaks. Alexa, in keeping with a Sunrise challenge, made the Table Topic unique. She used a box of props her father gave her to make her feel better during tough times. She shared this box with members in the crowd. Participants use those props to discuss how they felt. Props happened to be associated with scenes. Andy had a raccoon tail and spoke of touch. Kara had capture candle wax and spoke of smell. Kathy, a new member to Sunrise and a veteran of other Toastmaster groups, had a mechanical chime and spoke of sound. Sanjiv, a repeat guest that recently became a member, had a picture of food and talk of taste. Bryan, another repeat guest who hails from Bremerton, had a picture of a bridge, and talked of sights. It was another great show of fitting stories from all.
The next phase of the meeting are the evaluations. Each Toastmaster meeting maintains this exercise. We speak to be critiqued and as Katey mentioned earlier, accepting the feedback in key. Seattle Sunrise maintains a positive culture, which Mark reflected earlier, as the intangible value brought every
Saturday morning. The evaluators all mention praise for there speakers. A key point mentioned were incorporating pauses for drama to enable speakers to gather themselves without demonstrating vulnerability. During the General Evaluation, an evaluation of the whole meeting, Steve (another seasoned speaker) mentions of the background chaos resulting in excellence execution of meeting and incorporation the theme of the day into speeches.
Another great meeting as always. I leave you with quotes and a book recommendation. Everyone, good luck this Saturday…
“There’s nothing we need to do, be, have, get, change, practice, or learn in order to be happy loving and whole.” Micheal Neill
“Culture eats Strategy for lunch [everyday].” Peter Drucker
Book Recommendations:
“Inside out Revolution” by Micheal Neill
