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It was another beautiful Seattle summer morning as club President Shen Yang called the July 26 meeting to order. Under such beautiful conditions, it was clear that we’d all be challenged to use Grammarian Brian Hudnall’s word of the day, “cantankerous,” as our collective mood clearly was anything but.

As Toastmaster, Michelle DeLappe opened her thoughts by evoking a bit of LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) history as a way to introduce the meeting’s theme of “pride.”

Michelle offered examples of how many cultures have historically viewed pride pejoratively. Buddhism, for instance, considers pride a “delusion.” But in the years following the Stonewall Riots, the LGBT community has helped to recast the emotion in a more affirming, humanistic light. Michelle tied the word’s history to the pride that Seattle Sunrise members feel as we progress to meet our personal goals and improve our speaking and leadership skills.

New Sunrise member Andy Koopmans opened up the speaking portion of the morning with his Icebreaker speech, “An Experimental Career Path.” A writer by profession, Andy recounted in humorous detail the wide range of jobs he has had over the years. Whether as a magician, carpenter, or sheriff’s deputy, Andy has taken pride in the many experiences he has compiled that continue to inform his ongoing literary career.

Donning a fake nose and mustache, Marti MacEwan evoked the spirit of Grouch Marx as she offered advice on how to overcome stage fright. Marti’s speech brought together a lighthearted but deeply informed elixir of humor, personal history and professional advice on the tools we have at our disposal to gain the confidence we need take center stage.

The spirit of another cultural icon was evoked with the speech “The Day Bruce Springsteen Changed My Life,” by yours truly.

And Mary Lentz completed the speaking portion of the meeting with the first of a promised two-part speech entitled “Procrastination Nation.” In it she introduced several theories of why we all procrastinate and recounted her own life-long struggle with the issue.

Andrea, Porscha, Avilio, Seva, and Shen each offered evaluations, with Porscha taking home the “Best Evaluator” ribbon. For “Table Topics,” which was won by Peter Feysa, Jun Lei shook things up a bit by playing a version of “Mad Libs” with the club’s mission statement.

Following the meeting, club officers met to begin preparations for the club’s forthcoming Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest, which has tentatively been scheduled for the third Saturday in September. Keep an eye out for those details and get your funny bones in shape, as you’ll definitely not want to miss out on that fun.

Whether you’re a Seattle Sunrise member or a virtual passerby exploring the idea of joining Toastmasters, unplug your devises and head out to the mountains, beaches, parks, or wherever else Seattle’s summer spirit calls you. But make sure to return by Saturday, August 9, the date of our next Seattle Sunrise meeting. See you there!

Thanks to Seattle Sunrise’s grammarian of the day, Seva Kumar, “cerulean” was the word of the day, a serendipitous choice given the cloudless skies that greeted Sunrise members as they made their ways to the July 12 meeting.

Opening the meeting was newly installed president Shen Yang, who took his first gavel to honor the achievements of the previous officers.

Janell Hartman and Steve Wangen share Best Evaluator award.

Greeting 15 members and guest Don Luby, the Area Governor for Toastmasters, Shen turned the meeting over to Toastmaster Nicole Champion.

The first speaker, Peter Feysa, conveyed a passionate and personal story about a life transformation he experienced recently that led him to understand the true nature of “courage,” which was the title of his speech.

Katey Noonan followed with another personal speech entitled “A Few Minutes with Tom,”

in which she discussed her relationship with her mentor who recently lost his life in a motorcycle accident.

Continuing the personal theme, Shane Baguyo shared his suggestions for navigating job interviews with “Be Yourself!” Shane advised his audience that the best strategy for entering into a job interview is to know yourself, show yourself, and believe in yourself.

For Competent Communicator Project #7 (“Research your Topic”), yours truly offered an introductory overview on the benefits of GMOs in our world’s challenge to fight climate change and population growth.

Don Luby won the award for Best Table Topic and Janell Hartman and Stephen Wangen shared the Best Evaluator award.

The next Seattle Sunrise meeting will be July 26. Guests are always welcome, so please join us.

It was a time to celebrate a year of incredible growth and great accomplishments for the Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters members. With the theme of “Celebration” in mind, outgoing President Johan Tong called her last meeting to order and introduced outgoing VP of Education Scott Champion as the Toastmaster of the Day.

Twenty members and three guests were inspired by Johan’s account of her development as a Toastmaster. Her speech, “Toastmaster, Look! What Have you Done to Me,” recounted how Toastmasters has contributed “subtle but precious changes” in her life as a public speaker and leader.

Longtime Sunrise member Dave Eberhardt brought the group’s history to life in his speech, “Seattle Sunrise: Five Years and Growing Strong.” His personal history of the Seattle Sunrise chapter recalled the early days when the group would meet Saturday mornings in a Northgate Maria Callender’s bar.

Junlei closed off the speaking portion of the meeting with a hilarious roast of several officers and members. Thankfully she only had seven minutes for the roast, as there is no doubt that if time would have permitted, she would have spared no one even remotely affiliated with the group. But it was all in great fun and the perfect way to end a year of Sunrise speeches.

Mark (yours truly) led the Table Topics, which led to Mary’s receipt of the Best Table Topics award.

The meeting did not include speech evaluations as it normally does. Instead, special guest Richard Ripley led a PowerPoint presentation on his approach to giving great evaluations.

Scott turned the meeting back over to Johan who offered some closing remarks and invited members to share personal Toastmaster moments. Katey shared how Toastmasters had helped her grow into a new sales position with her company, and I described my family’s reunion and how I benefited greatly from Toastmaster’s tips on how to offer personal toasts.

All in all, it was an ideal end to a great Seattle Sunrise year. Out with the old and in with the new, as they say. And once again, congratulation to all the outgoing officers for a job well done. Thanks to your hard work, we continue to grow in numbers, and more importantly, we each continue to benefit from the examples you provided as leaders.