Junlei launches the orange-themed meeting.

As the meeting’s Toastmaster, Junlei, who had previously encouraged everyone to wear or bring something orange to the meeting, got our “speech-a-thon” off to an energetic start.

The first speaker, Adrian, presented his “Icebreaker” speech, the first project from the competent communicator manual. He used the words variety, orderly, and green to describe the characteristics of Indonesia, Singapore, and Seattle, respectively, as the three places where he has spent most of his life.

Adrian delivers his Icebreaker speech.

Petra delivered her fourth speech from the competent communicator manual, entitled “Get Lost with GPS.” She shared her experience of driving in a new city and the reasons why, even with GPS, she still manages to get lost. We all hope this will not be the case in Petra’s new home in California—and we hope that she will come back to visit us when she can!

Petra describes getting lost with GPS.

Taylor, the third speaker, delivered her “Icebreaker” in a speech entitled “Focus Factor,” named after a medicine to which she humorously alluded due to her challenges in focusing when she was younger. She recounted two occasions in which she surmounted that challenge: one involved unwrapping and fixing a lawnmower and another was about her winning a pie contest in Wyoming.

Taylor recounts winning a pie contest.

Mark gave the fourth speech, “Why You Are Hardwired to Make Bad Decisions and What You Can Do about It,” the second project from the competent communicator manual. His advice on how to make better decisions invited us to think twice before making our next spontaneous decisions.

Shen, the fifth speaker, focused on using body language to make his first skydiving experience vivid for us in “My First Tandem Jump,” his fifth project from the competent communicator manual. This was certainly a memorable way of celebrating his graduation from his master’s degree from MIT—especially because he was afraid of heights!

Shen, Mary, Dave, Rich, and Katey presented helpful evaluations of each of the speeches. Janell gave a general evaluation of the meeting.

Dave evaluates Taylor’s speech.

Our next meeting is Saturday, December 14, at 7:30 a.m. See you there!

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Shen explains his role as timer for the meeting.

Patrick introduces the word of the day.

Madeleine opened our meeting as the day’s Toastmaster. Six guests and 15 members attended the meeting.

Angie gave the first speech of the meeting, entitled “What’s Better Than a Letter?”—her second project from the competent communicator manual. Through three poignant vignettes from her own life, she effectively persuaded all of us that writing a letter is like giving a precious gift.

Angie recounts an event from work.

Petra, our second speaker, presenting a reprise of her humorous speech contest entry: “A Driving Lesson,” project eight from the competent communicator manual. She vividly explained to us how to drive a car with a manual transmission.

Everyone takes a moment to write feedback for Petra on her speech.

Nicole delivered the third speech, “An Urban Legend,” the first project from the storytelling manual. She had us all on the edges of our seats with a scary story about a babysitting job gone far awry.

Dick, the Topicsmaster, asked questions based on the meeting theme, “Temptations.” Scott, Johan, and Michelle provided extemporaneous responses. Michelle’s response about the temptation she feels to buy more bicycling gear was voted best Table Topics.

Madeleine presents a ribbon to Michelle.

Michelle, Andrea, and Mark presented evaluations of the speeches. Johan gave a general evaluation of the meeting. Michelle won best evaluator for the meeting.

Our next meeting is November 9, 2013 and will start at 7:30 a.m. (We have changed our start time to accommodate our growing membership!)