Impatient for Spring – Meeting of February 25, 2017

Posted by Paula L.

Our theme for this last meeting of the month was “ Impatient for Spring”. With more snow on this week-end’s weather forecast, Brett S., our Toastmaster, expressed a shared longing for less rain and more spring weather . The word of the day,” Boisterous” was introduced by Jon K.

Yanyan B was the first speaker with her speech titled : Good Fortune or Misfortune?”. For her CC project # 6 (Vocal Variety), Yanyan chose to tell a Daioist tale illustrating how life changes from one moment to the next, from fortune to misfortune and vice versa. The story of the farmer whose horse runs off, then comes back with more horses, whose son becomes lame as a result of a riding accident only to be exempt from conscription was punctuated with exclamations of “ Such bad luck! “ and “ What good fortune!” , Yanyan concluded her speech by summarizing the teachings of this fable. She pointed out that the farmer had been detached and tranquil in the face of change. “ We cannot control what happens, but we can control how we react.” Wise and appropriate words for our time.

Julie S was our second speaker. For her CC project #4 ( How to say it), Julie took us back in time when she lived in Washington, DC. In her speech titled “ Life in Washington, DC”, Julie, a native of Alexandria,North Virginia, shared the highlights and drawbacks of living in the Capital. Julie shared fond memories of free week-end visits to the many museums in DC and fun culinary expeditions for the best “ hole in the wall “ food joint. The only downsides of living in the Capital, according to Julie, are the weather -either hot and humid in summer or rife with ice storms in winter – and the four hour traffic jams. What’s a girl to do when she’s stuck in traffic with nary a good hair day? Move to the Pacific Northwest! We’re so happy you joined Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters, Julie!

In her CC project #5 (Your body speaks) speech, “ From Dublin to London” our third speaker,Cara S. shared lessons learnt from a whirlwind backpack tour across Europe. Using descriptive, lively and humoristic language, Cara and her two sisters took us across seven European countries. Despite Cara’s admissions that the cadence was exhausting, the general feeling was that a memorable time was had by all and life long lessons learnt during their European adventures; one of which involves clapping in self cleaning bathroom in France!. Looking back, Cara’s advice to the audience was to listen to the advice of friends and family and ask for help because so that you do not have to clap unnecessarily.

Our last speaker of the day was Kathy M, presenting CC project #3(Get to the point) . Her speech titled “ Be Smart and Lose your New Year’s Resolutions” described a journey which started with last year’s failed New Year’s resolution to go to Macchu Pichu. Lessons learnt and a strategy to tackle resolutions successfully. Kathy made an effective and convincing presentation of how to use SMART effectively. By being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely in our resolutions, we can achieve our goals more effectively. We know that Kathy will make it to Macchu Pichu the next time around!

Aleli M. led our table topics session.

Our evaluators were Paula L, Marti M, Kikki N and Sanjiv K. Tom B. served as our general evaluator. Marti was voted as “ best evaluator”.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 3/ 11.

International Speech Contest– Meeting of February 18, 2017

This morning was the first round of the International Speech Contest. We had three contestants who competed for the title.

Andy was our first contestant. He gave a speech titled “The Story of His Life.” His speech was about his love for biographies. He discovered while writing biographies professionally that sometimes authors will sometimes embellish the truth for the sake of a better story. An example of this is how George Washington cut down a cherry tree. He went on to describe to us how the truth trumps the exaggerated. I think that’s a great point.

Ken was the second contestant. Ken’s speech was titled “The Creative Mind.” He told us about a car accident he was in when he was a teenager. He discovered through this life changing event that he sometimes felt like a victim in life. He then shared with us how to change your state of mind. An example of this is by asking yourself new questions in life. Instead of “why am I always failing?” you should ask yourself “what’s my purpose of me being here?” This new type of questioning can instantly transform your state of view of yourself.

Marti was the third speaker for the speech contest. Marti’s speech was titled “How to Change.” Marti told us she began smoking in high school to look more sophisticated. After the passing of her father she decided it was time to quit. She tried everything to kick the habit, but nothing worked. Finally, she did it on her own by saying to herself “I’m a non-smoker”. By repeating that phrase to herself she changed her perspective on smoking and kicked the habit. It was so successful that she used the same technique with other areas in her life such as weight loss and stage fright.

After all the judges, casted their votes, it was decided that Marti was the winner of the International Speech Contest. Marti will be advancing to the next round. Good luck, Marti!

Our next meeting is scheduled for 2/25.

Love and Hate– Meeting of February 11, 2017

16 members and one guest were present for the February, 11th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. Nicole S. stepped in as acting President of the club to help get things started. Yanyan was this morning’s Toastmaster. This was Yanyan’s first time as Toastmaster and she did a wonderful job!

Our first speaker was Andrew. Andrew gave his seventh speech from the competent communicator manual. His speech was titled “Resolution vs. Revolution”. He gave a wonderful speech on the difference of resolutions and revolutions. A great takeaway from Andrew’s speech is that we must consider the costs and benefits of making revolutions.

Paula was our second speaker of the day. She gave her eighth speech from the Competent Communicator manual. Paula used a PowerPoint to help deliver her speech. She spoke about how difficult and complex it is for private and public entities to join together and construct and deliver public buildings.

Tom was the third speaker of the day. He shared with us the four areas of conversation. They are chit chat, fact disclosure, opinion or view points, and personal feelings. He included a role-playing piece to demonstrate what chit chatting looks like. A key takeaway is to ask open ended questions when making small talk.

Aleli was our fourth speaker of the day. She also gave her forth speech from the Storytelling Manual. Aleli shared with us a story of when she moved her business office from one location to another. It was a very stressful five day move but she and her team persevered and made it happen. She discovered that finding dedicated and hardworking people are essential when you’re a small business owner.

Kiki led our table topics session. She asked members to share their love and hate relationships with restaurants. Bill won the best Table Topics with a great response of how he would start a scone restaurant because of his passion of scones.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 2/18.

Media – Meeting of January 28, 2017

16 members and three guests were present for the January, 28th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. Nicole S. stepped in as acting President of the club to help get things started. Paula L. was this morning’s Toastmaster. Paula did a wonderful job reminding us of the key things we learn in Toastmasters, which includes observing, listening, and speaking up, all of which can be applied in today’s media.

Our first speaker was Yanyan B. Yanyan gave her fifth speech from the Competent Communicator manual. Her speech was about the Chinese New Year. She gave us interesting facts and details including the history, common foods, and traditions of the Chinese New Year. Her speech was very informative.

Sanjiv K. was our second speaker of the day. He gave his second speech from the Competent Communicator manual as well. In Sanjiv’s speech, he shared with us an experience of when he first came to the United States and realized when communicating with others your words really do matter. He went on to tell us that how we communicate may actually be more important than the actual words we use to communicate.

Cara S. was the third speaker of the day. Cara gave her fourth speech today. She shared with us a story of a recent trip to the San Juan Islands and about what a relaxing time she had with her sister and coworker’s family. The highlight of her trip was catching and filleting the fish she had caught. It reminded her of an episode of Survivor.

Julie S. was our fourth speaker of the day. She gave her forth speech from the CC manual. Julie encouraged us to be pro-active to make your life better. She shared with us three key points to think about daily. The key points are, 1) Believe in yourself, 2) Do what makes you happy, and 3) Continue to challenge yourself. Julie had specific examples how she’s implemented these three key points with her day-to-day living and the positive experiences she’s had from thinking about these points. Great topic and speech, Julie!

Nicole S. led our table topics session. She asked members what they thought of Yogi Berra Quotes. Our guest, Gabrielle won the best Table Topics, with a short reminder of to read the book 1984 and to think about how it relates to the world today. Awesome job, Gabrielle!

Andrew H. was our general evaluator who gave great feedback to the evaluators, speakers, and those with specific roles during the meeting. The greatest takeaway was the more specific evaluators feedback can get, the better outcome for the speakers.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 2/11.