This was Bill S’s first meeting as the new President of Seattle Sunrise: Welcome Bill!

Toastmaster Mission : a good one!

The word of the day, presented by Dilip  G.  was “ Copacetic” which means very satisfactory. Bill S. was the Timer.

Copacetic?

On this first post July 4th meeting, Brett S, our Toastmaster,  spoke about his home country, Australia, a which is independent, yet still part of the British Commonwealth.

Speaker #1 Lidia S., presented her ice breaker titled : Learn, Read, Ski. Lidia who  was born and raised in Russia has a strong passion for learning, reading and skiing. Good students are respected and rewarded by  peers and teachers in Russia. Being a good student was also a skill that Lidia traded to get out of doing house chores.  Lidia’s love of  exercise and studying brings her to Sunrise Toastmaster where she will get plenty of opportunity to exercise her public speaking skills.

Learn, Read and Ski!

Speaker #2, Lara G., presented her ice breaker titled “ I’ve come full circle”. Lara’s passion, early on, was acting. Although life took her along a different career path, professional photography, Lara has decided to return to her life’s passion. Joining Sunrise Toastmasters is one of the steps she’s taking to return to the stage.

Heading back to the stage.

Our next speaker, Justin K. presented  the third ice breaker of the day titled “ Independence, there and back again”.  Justin, a native of New Jersey, showed a very strong independent streak: leaving home to study computer science at Virginia Tech and starting his own web design company as a student. With each passing phase, being independent meant going further, bigger and taking more risks. Justin ended up moving to New York where he met his future wife and moved to Seattle to be close to her family. For Justin, this next phase of his life marks a new phase in his life where he feels comfortable not being as independent anymore and settling down close to family.

Independence is part of growing up.

Our last speaker, Tom B, presented a three part speech titled: “ The successful negotiator” In part one, Tom shared the story of  the Louisiana Purchase in 1802 where James Madison successfully negotiated a budget increase to take advantage of a much better offer than was expected.

Tom shared and demonstrated successful negotiation tips using Daniel B. to act the part of a car salesman.  Tom walked away with a really good deal!
The third part of the speech would have consisted of a Q & A .

Table topics were led by Neva.

Kiki N. was voted best table topic and Zhou B, best evaluator.

This was Tom B’s  last meeting as our club President. Thank you for your service, Tom!

Kiki N.  was Toastmaster,  Michael R. , Grammarian, and Tom B., Timer
Speaker #1, Traci M. brought a storyboard and shared her ice –breaker, “The One –Mile Me”. She shared how she made her life efficient, fulfilling, and sustainable in her work, family, faith, and daily activities all within a one mile walking radius from her home. Her next goal is to be efficient at writing her speeches to share at Toastmasters.

Speaker #2, Brett S. gave a powerful speech, “Surfing on the Waves of Change”, an appropriate title as he urged us to let go of trying to control change, and instead try to understand our reaction to it, and embrace it. After all, change is essential to our survival. Be flexible and know that we are all resilient to change.

Speaker #3, Aanya L described the phenomenon of “Hangry”- a combination of hunger and emotional chaos, and how to recognize it in yourself and the people around you. Hangry can control your life and make you crazy, irritable, and irrational. Aanya’s advice was to plan on tasty and nutritious snacks such as monkey balls which can be made with 5 simple ingredients

Speaker #4,  Yanyan B presented  “Bitcoin”, which , according to Robert Mundell 1999 Economic Nobel Prize winner Robert Mundell, was poised to be the world’s most  reliable  e-cash system. Nine years later, Mr. Nakamoto started Bitcoin.   Bitcoin has since taken off and is having an impact on financial institutions and stocks. When you deal in bitcoins, , you do not need a third party such as a bank.  You become your own bank. Yan yan has resolved to test it out and buy three shares.

Julie S. led the table topics.

Big thanks to Kathy M. for subbing for me!

Our Toastmaster ,Kathy M, opened the meeting with a simple but powerful thought “ Simplicity is the zen of sophistication”. To illustrate her point, she shared how she and her family chose to celebrate her son’s college graduation with a simple backyard barbecue filled with friends and family. The ultimate sophistication, in my opinion, was when she chose to took her family for a lovely walk at the rose garden at the Woodland Park zoo instead of filling her house with roses. Simplicity is a blend of creativity and confidence and truly the ultimate sophistication.

Scott C, grammarian, introduced the word of the day: Ambiguity. Speakers used the word of the day without ambiguity during the meeting. Good choice, Mr Grammarian!

Dilip G officiated his Timer duties with diligence and precision.

At the Seattle Sunrise Toastmaster, you not only learn the art of public speaker, you also learn. Period.

Here’s what we learnt this week:

1. Gender Inequality is real. Speaker #1, Aswini H, presenting “ Gender Inequality: How to bridge the gap”

According to the United Nations Development Program Gender Inequality Index ( GII) which measures the gender inequalities in three important aspects of human development: reproductive health, empowerment and labor force participation, women trail behind men  by as much as 90% in developing countries and 60% in the developed countries. Women are underpaid support positions and underrepresented in the highest paid STEM and technical occupations. This has to change. Fathers and mothers, encourage your daughters to follow STEM and technical career tracks. Kudos to Aswini’s dad who encouraged both of his daughters to study engineering,

Aswini presented CC project #3 . Thanks for a persuasive, entertaining and inspiring speech, Aswini.

2. What happens when love ever after fizzles and turns into domestic violence?Speaker #2, Isabella Z presenting “ My friend Rose’s process of going through a divorce”  Isabella gave a faithful account of Rose’s ordeal and the steps she had to take to get a divorce and fight for the custody of her young child.  Thanks for the reminder that  marriage and  divorce are definitely not for the faint of heart, Isabella.

Isabella presented CC project #2 “ Organize your speech”.

3. How colorful your brain gets when it’s busy doing something.Speaker #3, Neva C presenting “ Multimodal visualization of the developing human brain”.

Neva, a neuroimaging professional, raised the scientific IQ of the audience with her presentation. She demonstrated how visualization is used to research the brain functions, structure and chemistry. New vocab words learned: magnetoencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Your speech made our brains very colorful Neva, thanks!

Neva presented CC project #8 and demonstrated an effective use of visual aids.

Glutamate and GABA

4.Walk on a bed of coals only to realize that you forgot to walk through your wall of fear. Speaker #4, Bill S presenting “ Firewalk”

Before he joined Seattle Sunrise, Bill’s  journey to conquer his fear of public speaking took him to a firewalk. The firewalk was part of an inspirational retreat where you learned the mechanics of acknowledging your fear and took a symbolic and heated approach to walking through that wall of fear. Bill’s captivating  account of how he found himself walking on the bed of coals in order to encourage the other participants only to realize, that he had forgotten to focus on his wall of fear was told with humor and effective supporting body language. Bill reminded the audience of the benefit – and savings- of being part of the Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters where  he symbolically walks on a bed of coals and through his wall of fear every time he makes a speech. We are on pins and needles and can’t wait for your next speech, Bill.

Bill presented CC project #5: Your body speaks.

” Stuck in the middle of a bed of hot coals….”

Table topics were led by Ken B and we learned about the “ Too far fairy”. Andy K won best Table Topic  with a story of too much green tequila.

” My Too Much Fairy said…”

Andy K and Marti M tied for Best Evaluator.

Officer nominations for 2017-18:

Bill S for President and Neva C for Treasurer.

Another 90 mins well spent! Well done Seattle Sunrise! Our next meeting is June 24th.

Meeting notes by Kathy M.

Andy K. stepped in as President for the day and did a nice job of opening our meeting and greeting members and guests.

Zhou B., our Toastmaster, kicked off this Memorial Day week-end meeting with an observation that in his China, his home country, they also have a day to honor military personnel.  This event is observed in August with marches and parades to celebrate the homeland.

Aleli M. brought history to life when she shared her story about Dr. Rizal. Dr Rizal, a Filipino writer and poet living under Spanish Colonial Rule, was executed due to the rebellious nature of his writing. He is known as the National Hero and is credited for shaping the independence of the Philippines. There are many monuments to Dr Rizal in this country of birth and around the world. There’s even one in Seattle where there’s a vibrant Filipino community. Aleli, who moved to the United States from the Philippines as an almost seven year old  shared that she’s been reconnecting with her roots through her Martial Arts community, and through her research for Toastmasters.

Kathy M grabbed the attention of the audience with her speech, “Open the door to communication”  by raising her hands and yelling, “STOP, What are YOU DOING?” as water poured out of the washing machine and her husband was trying to mop up a river of water with a few dry towels and throwing the wet towels out the door. Her speech was geared for gestures, and she did a few funny ones to pantomime the actions. She had attended a workshop a few weeks ago and recognized the need to have a crucial conversation after they spent 2 hours mopping up the water in silence. She learned that the best way to work with her  husband was not to yell at him but to ask him for a plan. She also realised that she needed to work on herself and that difficult conversations always help, they  clear the air and improve communication and connections.

Our third and final speech was from Bill S. titled “The art of good listening”. Using vivid color and descriptive words, Bill shared lessons learnt from the observation of a friend’s parenting style. This friend’s young daughter got into a scuffle with a young boy in the play area at the mall. Instead of coming to the rescue of his daugher and giving the young boy’s father a talking to, his friend opted to first check in with his daughter. Bending down so he could  talk to her  at eye level,  he asked her how she was doing.  She stated she was fine and Bill realized that, more than an intervention, all this little girl needed was for her dad to ask the right question and then listen to her. Fast forward to the present where we find Bill using these communication skills with his wife. Bill who likes to problem solve, realizes that  when his wife comes home after a challenging day at work, what she is looking for someone who will sit and listen quietly to her as she shares her emotions. Being an active listener, he concluded, this is the most beneficial action he, or anyone else can take to support someone.

Aswini H.  lead the table topics and Kiki N.was the timer and kept us all on track for the morning.

Brett S.was the overall evaluator and shared some positive and constructive points for improvement.

Isabella  Z. was the Grammarian, and her word for the day was script.