Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters October 8 Summary – Best Friends

Today’s Toastmaster was Andy and ‘Best Friends’ was the theme he chose. This theme was very close to Andy as it was his best friend (of 35 years!) birthday today! He did a great job of weaving the theme throughout today’s meeting.
Katherine gave her first speech from the CC manual titled “My Life at 13,000 Feet.” Her speech was an insight to her life and we were able to learn a lot about Katherine. Currently she is a nursing instructor at a local college and prior to teaching she was a cardiac nurse. During the week while she’s teaching, she remains very cool and calm. However, on the weekends she seeks adventures to get an adrenaline rush. A couple examples included skydiving with her sons and river rafting with her daughter and husband. Sounds like an adrenaline rush to me! This was a great ice breaker, Katherine. I look forward to hearing more speeches from you.

Marti went next and gave her 8th speech titled, “Toastmasters through a Different Lens” from the CC2 manual. Marti has been a member of Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters for 2 ½ years and a therapist for 35 years. While in Grad school she found three qualities that are beneficial in life. First is empathy, second is respect, and third is unconditional positive regard. Marti also brought to light that Toastmasters is a space that allows for a positive place to practice these intrinsic qualities. It was a well thought out speech and very insightful. Great job Marti!
Nicole gave an impromptu speech, “The Power of Two.” Have you ever been terrified? Often times, when you’re by yourself you only have the power of one. However, if you have another person you can partner with you then you have the power of two – giving you more confidence. Nicole gave the example of when she was a brand new kindergarten teacher for 60+ kids. At first she felt she wasn’t fully trained and didn’t have the resources to perform the task. Luckily she befriended another teacher, Betty, from across the hall. Betty shared her lesson plans and teaching materials that allowed Nicole to successfully and confidently teach her students! By entrusting Betty, Nicole became more confident and successful. Thank you for the impromptu speech Nicole!

Kiki gave her 8th speech from the CC manual titled, “History of Mac and Cheese in My Life and in American History.” Kiki spoke about how when she was a little girl she would go to Becky’s dining room and would have the best mac-n-cheese she’s ever had! Kiki has been trying to recreate Becky’s spectacular mac-n-cheese for years and still hasn’t found the right recipe… yet. She has searched many, many cook books including the Joy of Cooking (multiple editions!) and has found the most success with Simple Cooking. Even though this might be a simple comfort food, it connects Kiki to piece of her childhood she’s hoping to find. I think this brought us all down memory lane and can’t wait to hear more speeches from you!

Hello! Just a notice that although our blog has been inactive, our club is still active and meeting regularly. Stay tuned for more meeting write-ups in the near future.

Hello everyone, we’ve accomplished yet another Seattle Sunrise Toastmaster meeting on a beautiful sunny August Saturday Morning. Andy, Vice President of Education, opened the meeting today while our President, Tom, was on vacation. Andy customarily accomplished the reaffirmation of the club’s mission which includes providing a forum for publicly speak and receive friendly, informative feedback in order to improved or maintain great speaking skills. After that, we introduced guests. A long time member, Paul, returned with guests, Kristen and Lexie. More about them in during the Table Topic review.

Our Toastmaster of the Day was Mark. Mark introduced the theme of the day, Summer Reading. Mark creatively incorporated hiking and outdoor adventure into the theme, use hiking guides as his summer reading to talk to the beautiful landscape Seattle and the surrounding Puget Sound beckoning outdoor enthusiasts to explore it before the great weather fades back to the south. Perhaps some in the area feel that as the sun goes, so does their happiness and things fall apart, if only and hopefully briefly.

Read more ›

Welcome back everyone! We’ve reconvened from a weekend off. I hope all had a great break from toastmasters and were eager to return. 13 August’s Sunrise had willing members ready for Sunrise’s Humorous speech contest. Different than meetings as usual, the format shifted to allow for six contestants.

Andy was the Humorous Speech Contest chairperson, and curated the event. He organized the judges before the meeting to clarify some rules and procedures before the event. He briefed contestants on other procedure pertinent to them. Otherwise, other volunteers gathered and prepared for the contest. Andy introduced Nicole S. as the toastmaster of the Day.

Read more ›