Nicole, as today’s Toastmaster, introduced the meeting’s theme, “Siblings.” Fifteen members were in attendance.
The first speaker of the day was Mary, who presented project #5 from the competent communicator manual. In her speech, entitled “Do As I Say, Not As I Did: Friendly Advice from Mother,” Mary described her colorful “misadventures” in Europe and her cherished hope that her daughter, now heading to college, will make better choices.
Andrea then presented project #3 from the competent communicator manual. She researched her speech, entitled “Arguing Children Can Be Healthy,” mostly by bicycling to parks in the city over the summer and observing children’s interactions there. She told us how she had observed in her own life that children learn problem-solving skills, respect for different perspectives, and confidence, all through arguing with each other.
Dick takes a question from the audience about the dangers of commuter planes.
Our last speaker, Dick, drew on decades of experience in the airline regulation field to present “Three Airline Secrets Your Travel Agent Won’t Tell You,” from the “Speaking to Inform” advanced manual. Though recognizing that flying today is mostly safe, he taught us about three “safety gaps” to avoid in order to increase our chances of arriving safely at our destinations.
Janell describes her childhood antics for Table Topics.
As Topicsmaster for the meeting, Michelle posed questions about siblings to Dave, Junlei, Angie, and Janell. Janell, who recounted an anecdote of when her brother kindly took the blame for her mischief with her mother’s expensive perfume, won as best Table Topics speaker.
Patrick, Scott, and Rich presented evaluations of the speeches. Madeleine gave a general evaluation of the meeting. Scott won best evaluator for the meeting.
Johan presents Dave with his Competent Leader Award.
Club president, Johan, inducted our two new members, Angie and Mark. Johan also presented Dave with a competent leader award. Nicole ended the meeting by announcing the club’s upcoming contest on September 14 and making a call for contestants; all contestants in the humorous speech contest will receive an advanced manual on making humorous speeches.
Our next meeting is August 24.
