Scott leads the applause at the start of the meeting

Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters tacked-on another excellent meeting this weekend.  We had 13 members and 4(!) guests attend.  Mary took the reigns as our Toastmaster.  This was her first time in the role and she did a fantastic job!

Our speakers were Rich and Madeleine.  Rich spoke about the benefits of juggling and shared a short explanation of how he learned the skill.  He then gave a demonstration and warned, “In my next speech, I plan to juggle chainsaws and I’m selling tickets for the front row.”  Scott took him up on the offer.

Rich shows-off his juggling skills

Madeleine piqued the interest of many with her speech titled, “Ms. Manners’ guide to impeccably correct Toastmasters’ Behavior”.  Seriously, who wouldn’t want to hear the content of that speech?!  Toastmasters meetings require lots of coordination.  Good-mannered Toastmasters contact the meeting leader early and often.  Our Toastmaster Mary agreed, communication is helpful.

Members watch as Dave responds to table topics

Guest Eric participates in Table Topics

Steve led our table topics session.  He prompted members with an obscure word and then asked them to provide a definition.  Our guest, Omar won table topics by defining a word whose definition is more memorable than its pronunciation.  Omar’s winning response? “I’ll define that word by saying, you wouldn’t want to get caught with any in your pocket on the streets of New York.”

Our evaluators were Scott and Dick.  Scott asked Rich to consider incorporating sources for the facts he referenced in his speech.  Dick asked Madeleine to present a “part II” of her speech to elaborate on her key points and to reinforce her message.  Nicole presented the general evaluation of the meeting.  Patrick and Jun Lei filled the roles of Grammarian and Timer.

Members enjoy Omar’s humorous Table Topics response

Mary closes the meeting

At the end of the meeting Madeleine volunteered a “Toastmasters Moment” by commenting that Toastmasters has made her much more comfortable providing constructive feedback to others.

Our next meeting is scheduled for April 27th.  Rich will be our Toastmaster and the theme will be “dealbreakers” and we’ll meet in the back conference room.

Madeleine makes opening comments at the meeting

12 members and 2 guests attended today’s meting.  Our theme was “Don’t try this at home,” Madeleine was our Toastmaster.  Madeleine opened the meeting by questioning the value of home improvement parties stating, “no good can come from inviting friends over and giving them beer & power tools.”

Our first speaker was Scott.  Scott spoke about the upcoming club officer elections on May 11th and encouraged all members to consider giving back to the club by trying something new — serving as a club officer.

Steve and Michelle smile at Andrea’s humorous speech

Our second speaker was Andrea.  Andrea compared and contrasted living in Philadelphia vs. Seattle.  Food, weather, and sports fans were her main themes.  She also revealed that Philly sports fans are so fervent that the stadiums have their own courtroom used to settle disputes that arise during the game.  Who knew?!

Johan presented project 6 from the Competent Communicator manual on the subject of home buying.  As a Realtor, she sees the struggles of home buyers in Seattle.  The problem? Not enough houses available for purchase!

Johan presents on the Real Estate market

Our table topics master was Nagisa.  Nagisa asked a broad range of humorous questions.  One example was, “what would you do if you woke up looking like your boss?”  Our table topics winner was Janelle who revealed that she would choose to be a durian fruit as the polarizing attitudes thrust on upon her as a durian would lead to an interesting personality.

Janelle wins best table topics ribbon

Patrick participates in Table Topics

Our evaluators were Jun Lei, Dick, and Nicole.  Our general evaluator was Sonja.  Sonja praised all of the evaluators and specifically recognized Petra as having selected an excellent word of the day.  Nearly everyone incorporated it into their speech, which is always a good sign.  Nicole was voted the best evaluator.

At the conclusion of the meeting, our guests Subhabarata and Michelle both commended the club how much fun the meetings were.  Michelle submitted her membership application!  All right!

At the closing of the meeting, Patrick, Dick, and Andrea shared a “toastmasters moment” — an out-of-club experience where Toastmasters has helped them.  Patrick spoke about how Toastmasters has given him more confidence in presenting mood boards at work.  Andrea pointed out that she listens to speakers at work conferences differently than she had before.  Dick pointed out that Toastmasters has taught him that intelligence is not always correlated with good speaking skills.

Steve signals that time is up!

Our next meeting is April 13th.  Our Toastmaster will be Mary!

Petra introduces a guest to the club

Toastmasters learn by pushing the boundaries of their comfort-zone in a safe & positive learning environment.  Nothing exemplifies this more than when members present their first speech at the club.  Today we had two!

10 members and 3 guests(!) made their way to Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters this morning to see our first meeting of March.  Our Toastmaster was Steve.

Steve kicked-off the meeting by reading a poem from his daughter’s children’s book.  He then reasoned that a toastmaster should a least have a toast-maker at the meeting.  He held a toaster for all to see, demonstrating that he came prepared.

Andrea introduces the word of the day

All three of our speakers presented their first speech at the club.  Patrick described what it was like growing up with a father who was in the Navy.  He further cited his move to Washington as the reason he couldn’t get a skateboard.  The reason?  A lack of sidewalks in Oak Harbor, Washington.

Jun Lei incorporates visual aids in her speech

Our second speaker, Petra, described how a series of lucky events brought her from Prague to Seattle.  Petra revealed that she is less shy than she once was and credits her daughter’s curiosity for the change.  Her daughter is five and repeatedly approaches strangers asking them questions.  Petra joins the conversation as a responsible parent.

Our final speaker was Jun Lei.  Jun Lei joined Seattle Sunrise after leaving another Toastmasters club and presented speech 8 from the Competent Communicator manual.  Her focus was on effective use of visual aids and she spoke on the topic of home foreclosure.  Jun Lei impressed us all when she revealed midway through her speech that her visual aids were more than met the eye!  The element of surprise amused everyone.

Guest, Michelle, wins “best table topics”

Our table topics master was Mary who stepped in to the role at the last-minute.  She crafted questions around the theme of being “caught off-guard”  and did a masterful job of eliciting a battery of interesting replies.  Our table topics winner was our guest Michelle who revealed that she elected to leave an all-girls high school in favor of a mixed-gender alternative.  She was caught off-guard when the principal of the all-girls school later called her at home (yikes!) to ask if she’d consider coming back!

Our evaluators were Janell, Nicole, and Johan.  Each gave constructive feedback to the speakers.  Janell was a first-time evaluator and surprised many members with her well-considered feedback for Patrick.  She included feedback that included  deep breathing and relaxation techniques that will help minimize the “fight-or-flight” instinct.  At the end of the meeting, Janell won best evaluator.

Johan illustrates why Jun Lei’s visual aids worked

At the conclusion of the meeting, two members shared a “Toastmasters moment” with the club.  Nicole revealed Toastmasters gave her confidence to deliver constructive feedback to her coworkers recently.  Janell revealed that she used eye-contact to “lasso” her audience with  an open line of communication.

Our next meeting will be held on March 23.  Our Toastmaster will be Madeleine!

First-time evaluator, Janell, wins “best evaluator”

Dick congratulates Madeleine

If there were ever a meeting designed to showcase how Toastmasters leads to confidence and personal growth, today’s meeting would be it!  We held our club’s first ever evaluation contest.  We then watched Mary deliver a humorous speech that demonstrated tremendous improvement in her public speaking career.  Woot!

11 members and 4 guests attended our meeting today.  Our Toastmaster was Dave Eberhardt.  Dave immediately turned control of the meeting to Dick, our contest Toastmaster.  Dick explained the details of the contest then introduced the demonstration speaker, Reanna.  Reanna gave a speech about the history of the Chiropractic industry.  An interesting side note: the entire audience was sitting a little straighter in their chair at the conclusion of her speech.

Nicole evaluates Reanna

Our evaluation contestants were Nicole and Madeleine.  Both gave Reanna constructive feedback on her speech.  After the ballots had been counted, the judges decided Madeleine’s feedback was superior.  Madeleine will go on to compete at the Area 23 contest on March 2nd.  Go Madeleine!

Mary delivers a humorous speech

Our Toastmaster, Dave, resumed control of the meeting and welcomed Mary to lectern.  Mary delivered project 4 from the competent communicator manual.  Her speech was a humorous one about how she’s on the fast track to get her incompetent communicator award in Toastmasters by following the “3-P” method.  She described how this method involves copious amounts of Procrastination, Perfectionism, and…well, you had to be there! 🙂  By the end of her speech, everyone was laughing!

Janelle answers a Table Topics question

Nicole led our table topics session asking members questions that required them to reflect on the winter and the snow.  Our new member, Junlei, won table topics by revealing that her favorite comfort food during the winter is fried chicken wing delivery.  How specific…and odd!

Sonja evaluated Mary‘s speech and admitted that she had tears because she was laughing so hard.  Members agreed.  It was hilarious!

Sonja celebrates Mary’s speech

At the conclusion of the meeting, we inducted 2 new members: Patrick and Junlei.  Welcome!  We’re excited to have you!  Our guests Mike, Jessica, Reanna, and Sandy all agreed the meeting was FUN.  Mike said, “I didn’t think learning could be so much fun!” and Reanna revealed that she thought the meeting space was beautiful.

Patrick and Junlei join Seattle Sunrise

Dues are due!  The amount is $42 and pays through September.  If we get them in early, we’ll be eligible for an award.  Our next meeting is March 9th.  Don’t miss it!