Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Public Speaking Northwest Wows Its Members with 2 Great Speeches


Public Speaking Quote: “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. ~ Mark Twain.

Barb, Ken, Jan, Emery, Prema, Cary, Jean, and honored guest, Lynne, cheered our 2 speakers today.

President Barb began the meeting and Emery, as the toastmaster of the day, prepared the agenda and ran the meeting with ease and confidence. Emery provided us with facts about, his theme, “The Ides of March.”

Public Speaking Northwest Encourages You As You Practice Your Presentations!

Ken’s Presentation:
Ken entitled his talk, “Mom.” He spoke from the Storytelling Manual and chose the folk tale, “Goldilocks.” He related how his mother told dramatic bedtime stories and he enchanted us with one of his favorites. Like the Mark Twain’s quote above, Ken used effective pauses to emphasize his points.
Ken kept us in awe as he told a very different version of Goldilocks. He used his large 6’3” frame to move across the front of the room with big gestures as he acted out each character.

If you weren’t there, you missed out on the amazing improvement in Ken’s speaking abilities. (Such an improvement takes place in all our members after completing just one manual of ten talks.) Ken has consistently taken every opportunity to speak and we are witnessing his growth.



Emery evaluated Ken’s talk.

Barb’s Presentation:
Because Barb will be competing in the Area Contest on the 21st, she practiced her contest talk one more time. It inspired us with its theme of failure, guilt, and forgiveness. Her gestures showed us exactly what she meant. Her voice rose and fell with the drama of her true story.

We can’t give too much detail because this is a contest speech and there has to be some surprises. We can say we are proud of Barb’s courage, her drive to perfect her talk, and the inspiration she shares within the talk itself. If you’d like to hear it and experience a toastmaster contest, come to the Redmond Library on the evening of March 21st.

Jean evaluated Barb’s talk.


Prema ~ Today’s Table Topics Master
Prema prepared our table topics and got all of us thinking with her on the spot questions. (One thing about Prema is her grace and gentle manner. She effectively uses her leadership skills within the community. She attributes this to the confidence she’s gained in Toastmasters.) 


Her question to Cary was, “Describe your perfect day.” Of course fishing was one of his responses as he took us through his fun day.





The trophies and blue ribbons went to:
Best speaker ~ Barb

Best evaluator ~ Jean
Best table topics speaker ~ Cary.

The meeting ended on time. Many members stayed around to chat. Our guest, Lynne, kept remarking on how warm and welcoming the members treated her.

******
Your Invitation to Join Public Speaking Northwest
Members of Public Speaking Northwest invite you to visit us.  Perhaps you’d like to  increase your leading and public speaking skills too.

When: Every Tuesday from Noon to 1:00 PM
Where: Seattle Times Building

            19200 120th Avenue NE
             Bothell, WA 98011

For more information contact:
             Emery Jordan
             206-235-1356

             Gejordan9@comcast.net

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Tracy, DTM
Secretary     

3 comments:

  1. I'm always impressed on how supportive members are whether the speaker is brand new or experienced.

    Each member is given the opportunity to choose a mentor within the group.

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  2. A Toastmasters Club for public speakers is like learning to drive with training wheels in an empty parking lot of a shopping mall. The chances of hurting something, someone, or yourself are highly remote. Once you learn to control the car and end where you intended, you begin to have fun. Soon after you become bored driving in the parking lot. Your courage bolstered by your friends in Toastmasters gives you the confidence to enter the city streets and eventually the freeway. Somewhere along the way you realize that many of the drivers went through the same process albeit without the help of Toastmasters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love to hear Prema talk, so full of kindness and grace!

    ReplyDelete