Homemade birthday cards was the topic chosen by our Toastmaster Kathy as she shared the story of how she was recently invited to a birthday party, with the request to not bring gifts or cards. The exception to this proclamation was that all homemade birthday cards would gladly be accepted. Her main point included the history of greeting cards, and why homemade cards are better than store bought ones. Dave was the Table Topics master for impromptu speaking and invited people to select a card with a picture on it and share who they would give the card to and tell a short story about the meaning behind the card. Dave shared that members and guests alike are welcome to participate, and anyone can pass if they prefer not to speak at that time. We heard powerful speeches about Space Junk, Nature Conservation, and Thoughts on Reparation. We learn about evaluating speeches and how to give feedback at every meeting. Don’t miss out! Join the fun.

Hunting for Easter eggs, was the theme chosen by our ToastMaster Isabella. As the emcee of the meeting for the day, Isabella engaged and intrigued her audience by posing questions surrounding this practice to warm up the crowd and kick off our meeting. The role of the Toastmaster is to keep the meeting moving forward and on time, introduce speakers, and ensure smooth transitions. Our Table Topics master for the day was Jimmy, and he referenced the Easter egg theme by describing how volunteering to speak during the impromptu portion of our meeting for one minute is similar to finding hidden Easter eggs as you never know what you’ll find inside the egg, nor what question you will be asked to respond to during a conversation. At Toastmasters you will learn that there are many techniques to answer, depending on if you want to tell a story, inspire, or persuade your audience. Speakers sign up ahead of time to speak and normally have 5-7 minutes to present their speeches. There is opportunity for everyone to practice speaking, running meetings, and to feel comfortable speaking in a crowd. Hope to see you at our next meeting!

Monkey, Penguin, Orca Whale, Raccoon, dog, Coyote, and more – “Animal Spirits”, was the theme of the meeting selected by our extraordinary Toastmaster Jimmy. From Elephant, as described by Lidia in her 5 minute speech, to our Impromptu Speaking opportunity for all that gave us each a chance to speak on our feet, we learned about what makes these kindred spirits so special, and how and why we think their traits and behaviors relate to our lives. For a friendly and welcoming atmosphere please join us for our next meeting to practice your public speaking.

“Everything you do it right day” was the theme chosen by our Toastmaster Landon. It was unbelievably “infallible”, which means error-free, faultless, incapable of making mistakes – and was our word for the day. Toastmaster moments touch our lives daily, as recounted by Traci in her speech for her reason why she gladly came back to such a supportive environment. Kathy shared how to give a wedding toast and was able to practice parts of it in front of a friendly crowd. Steven rehearsed the speech of his life as he prepared his vows to be spoken later in the day. Lara stepped up to fill a *role at the last minute, and gave an impromptu speech about the value of a sales pitch to best serve your customers. An impromptu speech is one where you only have a short amount of time to pull it together. In Lara’s case she only had less than a day, and merely a few hours for developing a speech -and in accordance with today’s theme, she gave an amazing speech! We welcomed many guests today and extend our welcome offer to you to come back as often as you like and when you are ready we’d love to have you join Seattle Sunrisers. *Most roles are self -selected by you and preassigned a few weeks or more in advance; except for our Table Topics speaking, which is optional but encouraged to give everyone a chance to practice speaking.