December 12, 2020 – Online Learning

Our first meeting of the month was led by our VP of Education, Youngjun. Today’s meeting theme was Online Schooling. He was supported by our Timer – Scott, Grammarian – Petar, and Table Topics Master – Mari. The word of the day synched with our theme: Curriculum. Although this was Young’s 2nd time as Toastmaster, he led the meeting masterfully, navigating the last minute changes skillfully and even incorporating the word of the day!

We had three speakers present to advance their skills in the curriculum of public speaking. Polina was our first speaker and presented What would kill us? for the second time with much improvement. Club president, Paula, gave us a skilled slide-show presentation for Project PR 2020. Much praise to Paula, Lara, and Steven for their contribution to Project PR. Our last speech for today’s meeting was given by WeiHu on what he’s learned about SpaceX. 

Just like online schooling, we have adapted to meet online. During our Saturday online meeting, Polina taught us that humanity’s extinction rate is quite high. However we shouldn’t fear, WeiHu has us convinced that SpaceX will be our Hail Mary. Mars, here we come!

Congratulations to Sarah D. who was voted Best Table Topic! Special thanks to Sarah and Matt for joining this week! Remember: the early bird catches the worm. We’re online again next Saturday, December 19, 2020, at 7:30 AM. Happy learning!

Zoom Schedule

Posted in Meeting Summary

November 2020

And we’re back! Well, we technically never left – just a momentary pause in our posts. November 2020 went by quickly and there was a lot to be thankful for! We were especially thankful to Marti MacEwan of Stage Freight. Marti helped us bust the myths of how to conquer impromptu conversation during our first November meeting. Let’s be honest, thinking on the spot during meetings or interviews can be difficult if not frightening. We aren’t born impromptu speakers and those good at it had to work at it. There’s a strategy to consider as it can’t all be talent and yes, we all have fumbled and know how embarrassing it is. However, the Sunrisers are a supportive group when it comes to taking on the challenge of Table Topics. 

We had a great group during our 2nd November meeting – a special shout out to Robert for joining us. Even better, he was a former Toastmaster! Sarah gave us a powerful and truthful ice-breaker about dyslexia. We’re glad to have you onboard Sarah and can’t wait for more speeches! Weihu also provided a second shot on his speech – Managing Unconcious Bias. It was a helpful reminder that we are all human but it’s recognizing our actions and how we move forward. Our last speech was from one of our newest members Polina on What Could Kill Us All? 2020 is doing some damage, but there is a brighter future. Luckily for us, members like Polina have dedicated their careers to the medical field and research!

Our last meeting of the month of November was indeed an attention-getter – ask our Toastmaster Steven. You know something else that’s an attention-getter, boba. I love boba and so does Hannah as she let us know the history of boba. Goes to show that trying something different can be revolutionary. Our VP of Education – Youngjun hooked us with an informative speech about initiating conversations. From networking to gaining other’s perspective,  the more we’re talking the better! Lastly, our Sargent of Arms, Judy, closed out our November meeting with updates on how we can improve the Seattle Sunrisers. I can promise you we’ve heard your request and making strives to push forward. Thanks to all our Toastmasters this month, we are one month away from the new year and it’s going to be a strong close!

Posted in Meeting Summary

September 26, 2020 Meeting Work-Life Balance

Last meeting of the month already. Meeting was led by Toastmaster and Multi-tasker Extraordinaire, Traci.

Word of the day appropriately selected by Grammarian Wei Hu was ” Magnificent” as in : Oh you, Magnificent Strivers and Achievers of Work-Life Balance! Scott W. was our Time Keeper.

As we work from home, the line between work and life can get blurry and that is precisely why it is key to build imaginary walls around our living room desk, put a door that we walk through in the morning and out of after work. Oh, and lock that door after work.

I admit, it’s pretty hard to do but someone said ” No pain, no gain”. It’s true most times, so keep trying!

We had three speakers presenting diverse topics. In her speech titled ” California Sreamin’ ” Hannah gave us an insight on how she got hooked on engineering while riding a roller coaster, Paula presented a proposal for an anti racism initiative and Jovica proudly shared his latest construction project in his speech titled ” Building the Outdoor Gym”. Roller coasters, initiatives and outdoor gyms all illustrate the components of work and life.
Table topics were led by Young.

Welcome to our new members Polina and Jong! Thanks to our guests: Nicole, Sarah and Linxuan for their visit this morning.

Our next meeting will be on October 10th, 2020

Posted in Meeting Summary

September 19, 2020 – Creativity

There are so many ways for us to tap into our creativity – especially during a pandemic!! But what does that do for us? How about alleviating boredom? Or lowering stress? Or unlocking some hidden potential? Or developing new skills? Or solving difficult problems? Honing our creativity can help us do all these things and more!!

As Traci elicited during our Table Topics session, we all have different media through which we draw inspiration to fuel our creativity – whether that be through food, travel or even work. There’s really no limit to where you can draw inspiration!!

We had some incredibly creative speeches from three of our newest members – Weihu, Judy and Mari. Weihu helped us identify, understand and overcome our unconscious biases, Judy took us on a tour of her career path and how she eventually discovered UX Design, and Mari’s Ice Breaker was a very introspective glimpse into her personal journey of self-discovery.

We hope you’ll join us on 9/26/2020 at 7:30am for our next meeting – here’s the link: https://www.seattlesunrisetoastmasters.com/meeting-schedule/

See you there!!

Posted in Meeting Summary