Steve demonstrates his independence
Johan called our meeting to order as her first time as club president. The meeting’s Toastmaster, Steve was specially attired for the meeting theme, “Independence.” Fifteen members and one guest were in attendance.
Violetta, as the first speaker, presented the first speech from the competent communicator manual, entitled ”Following My River.” Starting with the River Volga from her childhood, in which she swam and tried to conquer the current but ended up following the flow, Violetta found a metaphor for later adventures in her life. These included her studies in choir conducting (and even singing a bit of “Moon River” for us!) and her eventual move to the Pacific Northwest.
Members laugh at a humorous comment
Our second speaker, Nagisa, presented the tenth speech from the competent communicator manual, entitled “The new OCD: Obsessive Comparison Disorder.” She taught us about this darker side of social media in which she found herself focusing on others and their “My Amazing Life” albums on Facebook instead of on herself. Taking affirmative steps to evaluate what is important to her, not others, has helped her move beyond OCD. Nagisa gave tips to help other sufferers of this common malady, such as writing daily checklists and getting outdoors with others.
Dick uses gestures in his speech
As our third speaker, Dick gave us a rendition of “The Tar Baby,” a classic American folktale by Uncle Remus that draws on Native American and African American cultures. His speech was from the Story Teller manual. Dick started out the story about Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit by helpfully explaining that “brer” means “brother.”
Then Dave led us in table topics by asking attendees to pick an object out of a bag and describe how it figured into independence—with objects ranging from a toy “Godzilla” to a tea bag. Rich won the “best table topics” ribbon with his entertaining antidote of how a box of raisins helped George Washington win the war of independence.
A guest participates in table topics
Our evaluators were Johan, Mary, and Junlei, with Nicole as the general evaluator. Mary won as best evaluator.
Michelle announces the times of each speech
Johan ended the meeting with special recognition for Madeleine’s many years in Toastmasters and as a good example of the Toastmaster mission: “to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.”
The next meeting will take place on July 27.
