Mary, Steve, and Sonja laugh at a joke during the meeting

9 members showed up for the October 20th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. Our theme was “Murphy’s Law Never Quits”, and our meeting was led by our club treasurer, Sonja.

Sonja kicked-off the meeting by making a number of musing comments about “Murphy’s Law”.  Dick humorously quipped, “Murphy was an optimist”.

Our first speaker of the morning was Nicole.  Nicole introduced the Toastmasters Competent Leadership (CL) manual to members.  She pointed out that members are here to improve more than their public speaking and the CL manual can help guide their progress.  Nicole encouraged all members to bring their CL manuals to every meeting.

Dillibe was our second speaker of the day.  He delivered project 4 from the Competent Communicator (CC) manual; the focus was using vivid words.  In his speech, Dillibe spoke about the power of living in the moment and enjoying what you have today compared to what was or could be.  He shared a number of examples from his personal life to help illustrate his ideas.

Nagisa led our table topics session.  She asked members to imagine waking up in an undesirable location.  Participants were to convince the club that the location was the best place on earth!  Nicole was voted “best table topics speaker” where she convinced the club that a frat house isn’t really that bad of a place to live.

Dick serves as the General Evaluator

Our evaluators were Mary, and Steve.  Dick served as our general evaluator and observed, “this meeting started 1 minute early.”  Mary won as best evaluator for the feedback she provided Nicole.  Steve mused that he needs to attend more meetings because they’re fun!

Our next meeting is scheduled for 11/3.

Members enjoy Table topics

6 members and 4 guests attended the October 6th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. Nicole led the meeting as Toastmaster.

Our first speaker was Sally. Sally gave a hilarious speech titled A Mixed Marriage. It was about how she and her husband work through the cultural divide that separates their marriage. Sally says you haven’t experienced frustration until you’ve had to argue with your spouse in a second language. “Everything I say sounds too polite!” she says.

Sandy evaluates Scott’s speech

Nagisa was our second speaker presenting her speech titled So How Was Zambia?. She shared stories from her recent trip to Zambia and some of the interviews she conducted with locals about the tourism industry during her trip. Specifically, she told us about Zambia’s challenge with elephants. It turns out, elephants are considered an annoyance in Zambia. They can storm a residence and eat peoples food, but  tourists love them. What’s a country to do!

Scott was our third speaker. His speech was titled High Performance Leadership Project.  He gave a summary of work he had completed earlier in the year for his High Performance Leadership Project (HPLP). The project was to organize a leadership workshop for club officers and members. He shared what he learned from the experience.

Will lead our table topics session. He asked members to share their favorite genre of movie for their table topics response. Colin and Norma tied for best table topics participant.

Norma gives feedback on members’ use of the English language

Our evaluators were Mary, Sonja, and Sandy . Our general evaluator was Colin who proclaimed that he loved the meeting and the energy, but he did find the room a little cold! Mary was voted best evaluator for the feedback she provided Sally.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 10/20.

Club President Scott opened the meeting and introduced first-time emcee (“Toastmaster”) Sally. Sally told us a bit about her view of the Summer Olympics and introduced the timer, Sonja and Grammarian/Ah Counter Scott. Then it was time to introduce the prepared speeches.
Speeches:

1. Benefits of Owning A Dog. Nagisa told us how she gained unexpected blessings from owning her first dog: positive vibes at the end of a hard day of work & school, increased opportunities to meet folks and overcome shyness when walking the dog and entertainment value as her pooch gets into one escapade after another! Competent Communication manual, Project 4 (How to Say It).
2. A Wedding Toast. Nicole practiced a toast she plans to give at her sister’s wedding. Tongue firmly in cheek, she advised the groom on some funny traits he should expect when married to her sister. . . Special Occasion Speeches advanced manual, Project 1 (Mastering the Toast).
3. Swimming. Johan shared her love of swimming, some benefits of swimming and suggestions for better swimming technique, then followed up with a call for audience members to try swimming for aerobic conditioning. CC manual, Project 2 (Organize Your Speech).

Impromptu speaking: Dick regaled us with questions on the Olympics — what events would you add to or eliminate from the Olympics? What rule changes would you make, etc.?

Evaluations. Dillibe, Mineko and Ray gave feedback and suggestions to the speakers, Scott and Sonja reported on language and speakers’ elapsed times, and Madeleine gave an overall review of the meeting and suggestions for better evaluations.

Next Meeting: August 25, 2012. Theme: Memorable Meals: The Good and the Bad!

“Achievement” was our theme this week as this summer’s Speechcraft program drew toward conclusion. Treasurer Sonja presided over the meeting for her first time.
Dave, the program chair, emceed the meeting.
Prepared speeches:

Mineko gave her final Speechcraft talk on “Ideas for Gift Shopping.” Her main idea: avoid “hedonistic adaptation” — our innate tendency to appreciate a gift less as its novelty wears off — by giving either an experience instead of a material good or an item that provides enjoyable but variable experiences (such as a camera). Speechcraft Project 3, Get to the Point.

Sharon shared on the essential summertime skill of “How to Make Smores.” Sharon demonstrated with great verve how to make a smore without falling into the common pitfalls of flaming dessert syndrome. She had the audience rolling in the aisles with her depiction of Do’s and Don’ts of Smoredom. Speechcraft Project 3, Get to the Point.

Sally, a regular Toastmasters member, shared useful tips on how to control worries based on her own experience dealing with anxiety. Her prescription: imagine the worse that can happen; prepare to accept that result; work on concrete steps to deal with the situation. Sally supported her points with hilarious stories from her daily life. Competent Communication Project 3, Get to the Point.

Dave led the spontaneous speaking session, Table Topics, on the theme of achievements. Questions included “name an outstanding achievement” and “must I attain an outstanding achievement in order to stand out as an individual?” Ray took Best Table Topics with his answer to the latter (even though it wasn’t the question he was asked to answer. . .).
Evaluations: Sharon and Mineko evaluated each other’s speeches (their debut evaluations!) and Ray gave feedback to Sally. Dick stepped up as Timer. General Evaluator Madeleine reviewed the meeting as a whole.

Sonja and Dave closed with a graduation ceremony for Speechrafters Mineko and Sharon.
Comments on Speechcraft:

• Mineko: This program has been incredible! The biggest takeaway is learning from feedback.
• Sharon: This was way more fun than I thought it was going to be!