This week’s summary was provided by Vince.
Once again Sunrisers woke to attend a great early Saturday morning meeting. Off with a intrepid start was Brett, the Toastmaster. This was Brett’s first time assuming the Toastmaster role. Brett held meeting together and we look forward to see Brett take on roles like this in the future.
The word of the day, and the theme of the meeting, was “Sui Generis” (pronouced: Sue-ee Generous).
Our Grammarian of the day, Michelle, introduced the term, meaning “one-of-a-kind.” The term easily weaved within the duration of the meeting. Michelle picked another valuable term and hope it finds its way into personal conversations, workplace discussions, and speeches in the future.
Neva took on the Timer role. She followed through with precision during the meeting. Always speaking with a big smile, she presented three small speaking roles when called upon for various timing reports. She continues to expand her public speaking abilities one small speaking role at a time. She exemplifies her membership by speaking in some way at every meeting she attends.
Jung, one of the newness members of Sunrise, had her Icebreaker speech. She spoke of food, travel, and exploration while comparing her affinity for food with the Disney character Ratatouille. It’s amazing to peer into the experiences of others and discovering great things about them. Travelling to Afghanistan, Bogatá Columbia, Chicago, and now settling in Seattle; we hope to hear more about her travels, experiences and food reviews. Great Icebreaker, Jung!
Aleli, always an exciting speaker, educated the crowd about fighting while employing Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). She impressed the audience with her Visual Aids, a CC Manual project with the intent of maximizing such tools to enhance a speech. With a video splashed against a boring painted white wall, it came alive with a professionally informed discussion of a different form of self defense, FMA. The video demonstrated the beauty of the movements as a melding of mind and body, which Aleli used to launch her convincing, powerful speech as to why the female portion of the audience should incorporate FMA into their lives.
Steve, demonstrating a Toastmasters advance manual project of “Warming the Audience Up” with a talk about… Undies. He showed boxers. He showed briefs. Then, he showed something that was orange colored, too. Yes, Steve introduce a perhaps taboo discussion of underwear with subtly and comedy. It was humorous, informative, and broke boundaries of comfort zones. Steve wants to expand his speech, so if you have any suggestions for him, send him an email.
Marti, redoing CC Manual #4’s How to Say it, tamed a chaotic situation with her own story of breaking out of the comfort zone. She discussed her learning curve with marketing. She mentions that her style is not to hard sell. If the product is worth it and people want it, they’ll buy it. With a handout, the audience was engaged while being educated on a method of capturing a clientele for a particular product. Marti is the one of Sunrise’s quintessential speakers and it’s always great to hear her speak.
Tina, leading the extemporaneous speaking exercise Table Topics and also capitalizing on breaking boundaries and incorporating the theme of sui generis, she presented an innovated game of “Advance/Expand.” The way the game is played: two individual are picked and roles are assigned, one is a “director” and the other is the the speaker. The director listens to the speaker tell his/her story. While the speaker mentions something in his/her story that’s interesting, the director could say “expand” and the speaker must divulge more information of the interesting moment. If the speaker is mentioning something not interesting, the director will request the speaker the move on by mentioning “advance.” Tina and Pete, Steve and Preston, Aanya and Holly, and Mark and Tom all participated in this fun game. Aanya and Holly were voted the best Table Topic participants.
Evaluations followed, with Nicole, Paula, Johnny and Vince giving their critiques to the speakers of the day. Nicole had a unique critique structure of “Heard/Felt/Saw” which resonated with the General Evaluator, Mark, among others. Sunrisers continue to fulfill this important aspect of the club’s mission of giving positive, professional feedback so to enable speakers, members, and guests a great look into the value of the club.
Next week is looking to be another good meeting. It’s currently scheduled as a Speech-a-thon. Remember, please pay your Sunrise Toastmasters club dues. Otherwise, everyone have a great rest of your weekend and productive next week.
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