For Jovica, the Toastmaster of the day, the theme has special significance. When he lost his mother to suicide at the age of four, he thought it was the end of the world. However, this tragic loss marked a series of beginnings for him where his grandparents and later, his step mother, would shower him with love.

Lara, our Grammarian,  introduced the word of the day : Culminate.

Landon acquitted himself of the duties of Timekeeper very efficiently.

Thank you to our speakers today for four outstanding speeches:

Bill presented his Persuade with Power CC Project #9,Mindfulness, and boy, were we persuaded! Did you know that 47% of our time is LOST in thought? Mindfulness, which is the state of paying attention on purpose, in the moment has been proven to have many benefits: improved concentration and productivity, strengthened immune systems, enhanced short term memory and better sleep. No wonder big corporations are investing on mindfulness training for their employees! Bill gave the audience simple instructions on how to meditate and concluded his speech with a challenge to the audience: Meditate for 5 minutes for the next three days or shell $5 at the next meeting.  There were quite a few takers!

Be Mindful or pay $5!

Jimmy presented Pathways Project #2- Receiving Feedback in his speech titled: Pride 101.  In 5-7 minutes, Jimmy gave the audience an overview of the history of Pride, form the first parade in 1974 to the 44th parade this year. It took courage, persistence, suffering and many decades to get LGBTQ rights defined and established.

Pride 101

Steve presented CC project #7- Research your topic in a very original and entertaining way. In his speech titled ” Bye Bye Bonsai“, he took the position of a tree hater making a case for more logging because of the high incidence of tree related deaths , an estimated 3.8 billion of them since the dawn of times. According to Steve, there are 3 trillion trees that are alive and well and that mankind has to cut more trees to save humanity and ” stem the tide of the Murderous Maples” . Cut, pulp, and make paper- damn those paper cuts!

Beware of Murderous Maples!

Lidia presented CC project #5- Your body speaks. In her speech titled ” Unhealthy Fixation“, Lidia educated the audience about the various chemicals used in organic foods and enjoined the listeners to approach food labels with skepticism. Buyer Beware!

Paula led the table topics portion of the meeting.

Lidia was voted Best Table Topic and Justin Best Evaluator.

Thanks to Scott for taking our club picture today!

Our next meeting is July 14, 2018

Marti gallantly filled in for President Bill today. Thank you!

Aswini, our Toastmaster, led the meeting expertly with the assistance of Lara and Vamsi officiating as Grammarian and Timer respectively.

The Word of the Day was ” Flummoxed”.

Justin presented project #4 from the CC manual titled ” Bug Out Bags 101″.  What are BO Bags?  Essentially emergency preparedness in a backpack. Justin’s bag contained flash lights, first aid kit, beef jerky…even a flint fire starter!  If you don’t have a BO bag, you should make your own… or know someone who does not mind sharing with you!

Brett presented Pathways Project #2. This assignment calls for presenting the same speech twice, and being evaluated by the same evaluator. The goal is to demonstrate how feedback provided the first round around is successfully applied to improve the same speech. Brett’s speech titled ” Locked Out ” is a cautionary tale of forgotten travel lock combination and the desperate ingenuity that can stem from desperate circumstances.

Isabella presented project #10  from the CC manual . In her speech titled ” Why Isabella will be a great PR Officer”, Isabella pitched the audience on why she should be elected as the VP of Public Relations for the upcoming term.

Saher presented project #6 from the CC manual. In her speech titled ” Difficult Discussions”, she regaled the audience with the joys of being a parent of two young children …especially when they ask certain questions like ” Where do babies come from?”

Marti was our Table Topics master.

Kathy, Scott, Lidia and Jovica delivered thoughtful speech evaluations.

Paula evaluated the meeting.

Our next meeting is May 19.

What a treat to have Dave E. host as our Toastmaster today!

The word of the day was ” Flummoxed”, which means ” to be confused”.

Lest there be any confusion, Seattle Sunrisers were far from flummoxed on this bright Saturday morning.

Some highlights

Kathy M. presented ” Deal me in” project #9 from the CC manual.

Landon presented his icebreaker speech titled ” Call me a skeptic.”

Isabella Z., making excellent progress on her CC manual, presented ” Ready, Player 1″

Rachel H. led a round of thoughtful table topics.

Our evaluators; Jovica, Mike , Lara and Marti offered helpful suggestions to Kathy, Landon, Isabella and the general audience.

Marti was voted Best Table Topic.

Marti, Lara and Mike tied for best Evaluator, a first in the history of Seattle Sunrise!

Our next meeting is May 12th.

Toastmaster Jovica S. opened the floor by taking us to faraway Swaziland where a certain monarch changed the name of the country on his 50th birthday and has – according to Jovica- sixty wives, which was, on all accounts, downsizing from the hundred plus wives said monarch’s father had in the past!

Unforgettable Jovica!

Jovica, who will be celebrating his birthday in a few days( Happy Birthday, Jovica!) reflected- for a fleeting moment- whether he would change the name of our club to Seattle Sunset Toastmasters to celebrate this momentous occasion. No need to say that the club forgot what he said instantly. We also forgave him!

The word of the day, presented by Grammarian Lidia S. was “ Cogitate”.
Kathy M. was our Timer.

Isabella Z. presented project #8 from the CC manual. In her speech titled “ How to play Monopoly”, Isabella shared her passion for this promotional campaign held by a national food chain. She explained the rules of the games and provided a wealth of very useful information about how to stay organized and win prizes. Isabella’s enthusiasm for this game” on paper, not computer” was irresistible!

A new way to play…

Brett S., leading the way in Pathways, presented Pathways project #2 titled: “ The Zen of Lockpicking” about a vacation almost gone wrong . It all started when Brett absent mindedly locked his combi travel lock without being aware of the combination he’d used. From all appearances, Brett was going to be locked out of his suitcase unless… he lockpicked his own lock.Thanks for a highly entertaining speech, Brett!

What’s the code, Brett?

In the absence of a scheduled speaker, Dilip and Aswini tag teamed to present two mini impromptu speeches about interesting experiences about air travel.

Saher presented CC project #5 titled “ Our parents and our identity” in which she shared a story of how musical preferences can be transferred from one generation to another. Growing up, Saher felt that her father and her had very different musical tastes- that is until an impromptu stint DJ-ing to her crying babes while stuck in a traffic jam taught her otherwise… Musical tastes maybe part of your DNA after all. They  may skip a generation, but they will always come back to haunt- or save you!

Jam session in a jam saves the day!

Lara G. led the audience in a thoughtful round of table topics.
Bill S. and Lara G were voted best Table Topic and Evaluator respectively.
Our next meeting is April 28.