Public Speaking Northwest Shares the View of Henry Ford

Public Speaking Northwest lives the words of Henry Ford, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” 

The members of our Toastmaster Club care about each other. They help each other through mentoring, evaluations, and encouragement.   

No one seems to want to leave when the meetings are over. Why? We bring out the best in each other.

Our President, Barb, welcomed Prema, Yanhong, Ana, Mihaela, Emery, Cary, Ken, Juliet, Lynne, Jan, John, and Jean

Jan’s clever inspirational story concerned dirty laundry, dirty windows, and the glasses we wear when we view life.

Prema, our toastmaster, kept us laughing throughout the meeting as she told us one joke after another.

Yanhong, our timer, kept the meeting running as scheduled.

Mihaela, our first speaker, entitled her ice breaker presentation, Everything Happens for a Reason.

We learned that Mihaela was born in Romania when her country was under the communist regime. Mihaela spoke of her fear, the lack of freedom, and how the communists controlled everything.

Mihaela is the oldest of three children. She learned to bake bread, sew clothes, paint, plant gardens, and even make wine. She grew up feeling the power within her because her family believed in her.

We learned that Mihaela is a practical person, is fearless in trying new things, and doesn’t worry about failing.

In 1989, when Mihaela neared the end of high school, the people revolted against the communist government. Step-by-step the Romanian people explored both democracy and technology. This motivated her to pursue a bachelor and master degree in mechanical engineering. As a student she took a proofreading job at an important newspaper. After graduation she worked as an engineer during the day and as an art director in the media at night.

Currently, Mihaela is going for a Masters at the University of Washington and will soon start an internship at University of WA Medicine as a User Experience Designer.

Mihaela joined us to improve her presentation skills.

Welcome, Mihaela!

Ken, Mihaela’s evaluator, noted that Mihaela is practical, unafraid, adventurous, and never gives up. He praised her for taking a solid position behind the lectern; used gestures well, rarely looked at her notes, paused well, and gave a very interesting presentation.

Our second speaker, Juliet, entitled her talk “Change.”

Juliet, born into a traveling military family, lived in 10 houses, 8 cities, and attended 7 different schools as a child. She’s lived in Europe, Hawaii, and Alaska. As a married adult, Juliet has lived in 19 houses and 15 cities.

Juliet shared some truths she’s learned from all these changes:

1. Home is not a house. Home is your family.

2. Material possessions are disposable. Due to all the moves in her life she looks at things and asks, “Do I really need this?” She picked up some scotch tape as an example saying, “Is it worth it to me to pack this trinket?” She reminded us that curtains in one house don’t fit in the next one. As a result, she avoids clutter

3. People are important in life. People are precious.

4. Change can be good.

5. Change helps her be more flexible.

At present, Juliet is dedicating herself to being closer to God, self-improvement, and over-coming fears. She ended saying, “Your life does not get better by chance but by change.”

Welcome, Juliet!

Emery, Juliet’s evaluator, spoke of her speaking skills, her stage presence, shared lessons from life’s changes. He appreciated her ending quote and looked forward to learning the “mystery of Juliet.”

 

Lynne, our Table Topics Master asked for pet stories.

Cary told about his 14-year-old dog, Rocky who’ll bark at a single rock and tear up the grass around it.

Mihaela told getting her dog a toy mouse. It inspired her dog to catch a mouse and bring it inside with its legs up. It took Mihaela some time to figure out it wasn’t the toy.

Jean talked about her son’s dog, Chum, from Alaska.

Ana spoke about how her husband loves “Ice Cube,” the neighbor’s cat. He even gets on the floor to play ‘peek-a-boo’ with it.

Prema offered a fish story about jumping like her fish when removing them from the fish tank to clean the tank.

 

Ana, our General Evaluator,  evaluated the meeting as a whole with heaps of praise.

John ended the meeting with a joke we’re not likely to forget.

The Blue Ribbon Winners were:

 Best Speaker: Tie between Mihaela and Juliet

Best Evaluator: Emery

Best Table Topics: Tie between Ana and Jean

Congratulations to all!

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

 
We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

 
To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Jean Tracy, DTM ~ Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest Honors the Word of Confucius!

Public Speaking Northwest honors the words of Confucius, “When a gentleman has spoken, a team of four horses cannot overtake his words.”

Today two gentlewomen spoke and the same applies to them. They presented with passion and wisdom. Keep reading to find out who they were.

Barb welcomed John, Ana, Prema, Mihaela, Pierce, Jamie, Juliet, Yanhong, Lynne, Emery, Jean, and guests, Jessica (Ana’s daughter) Cindy (Jamie’s wife) and Roger from Early Opinions Toastmaster Club.

Barb announced that our club is 3^rd in our huge district for receiving educational awards. These awards are the milestones each member achieved to better their speaking and leading skills. Our dynamic club is filled members who improve themselves and support each other's improvement too.

We Had Our Open House Toastmaster Party!

Emery, our toastmaster, passed out an agenda with this question, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” (Author Unknown) It made us think and encouraged us to move forward without fear.

We all piled our party plates with tasty snacks and sat down to enjoy Emery’s program.

Our first speaker, Yanhong, gave her 5^th presentation. She entitled her talk, “The Great Wall of China.” She told us China is a beautiful country with 1.7 billion people. We learned that 20 dynasties built the Great Wall over a period of 2,000 years.  It is one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Yanhong shared a quote, “Whoever has not climbed the Great Wall cannot be deemed a true man.”

We learned that the Great Wall was mostly built on mountains and its purpose was for military use and protection. It is 5,500 miles long.  She shared that one man could prevent 10,000 enemies. Today millions come to see this beautiful world wonder.

Yanhong is from the Northern province of China. She advised us to avoid one day tours because we’d end up shopping. Rather she hoped we would go to China and really climb the Great Wall to become true men and women.

Since this was Yanhong’s 5^th presentation, she received a well-deserved “Nickel Certificate Award.”  Congratulations Yanhong!

Barb evaluated Yanhong’s speech. She stressed Yanhong’s good organization. She praised Yanhong for speaking slowly and clearly. Barb noted that Yanhong stood free of the lectern and noted her use technology.

Our second speaker, Prema, gave her presentation entitled, “Reflection of My Time As a Toastmaster.”  She opened her talk with the question, “Why are you here?” Then she offered 3 reasons why she is a toastmaster:

1. Communicate purposely, confidently, and effectively.

2. Learn to receive and give encouraging feedback

3. Learn from our club members.

Prema told us when she first came to toastmasters; she was terrified with the thought of writing a speech. The thought of presenting a talk also overwhelmed her. But she faced her fears and joined anyway.

Prema said toastmasters gave her a more rounded view of people. For example, she mentioned the talk Barb gave about the Pentagon and how it inspired her to want to visit it. She said she learns about our members from their presentations. This helps her with her children’s homework too. Instead of looking at the mark on their papers she looks at the paper as a whole.

Prema mentioned a gathering where members were giving their opinions. Her friend, who is articulate one-on-one, couldn’t put her thoughts together. Before toastmasters Prema said she’d have had the same experience. But due to toastmasters she was able to talk clearly and confidently and speak from her heart. To her surprise, everyone clapped.

Prema concluded with the question she started with, “Why are YOU here?”

Pierce evaluated Prema’s talk. He praised her speech structure and her pauses. He liked her information and told her she definitely avoided taking us on unnecessary “bunny trails.” Pierce noted Prema’s effective use of beginning and ending with the same question.

Jean presented Table Topics. The members were to use gestures without words and act out 3 different actions each. Playing chess, riding a rollercoaster, and walking through deep snow were some of the challenges.

Great news!

Cindy joined our club today. Welcome Cindy!

The Blue Ribbon Winners were:

 Best Speaker: Tie between Prema and Yanhong

Best Evaluator: Tie between Pierce and Barb

Best Table Topics: Cindy, our newest member

Congratulations to all!

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

 
We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

 
To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356

Respectfully Submitted,

Jean Tracy, DTM ~ Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest Expresses the Wisdom of Winston Churchill!

Public Speaking Northwest Expresses the Wisdom of Winston Churchill!

 “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” 

Our members learn how to do both.

Our President, Barb, welcomed Lynne, Jan, Yanhong, Jamie, Tim, Cary, Juliet, Pierce, Prema, Jean, John, and our guests, Skye, Tim, Hudson, Cindy, and Mihaela.

Pierce, our Toastmaster, opened with the theme, “dreams” and recited from memory the “I Have a Dream Speech of Dr. Martin Luther King. His rich voice inspired us and increased our gratitude for belonging to such a diverse group of toastmasters. We live that dream!

Juliet, our newer member, provided the word for the day. Ecstatic! Many of us used it during the meeting. Now our challenge is to keep using it. Great word Juliet!

Barb, our first speaker, followed up on her talk on values from last week. This time she discussed goals.

We learned goals have 5 elements:

1. Goals are specific.

2. Goals are measurable.

3. Goals are action oriented.

4. Goals are time bounded.

5. Goals are realistic.

Barb organized her speech with power point and spoke with interest as she asked members for their toastmaster club goals. 

Here are a few of our club goals:

·      1. Post 10 + flyers per person throughout the year announcing our presence in the local community.

·      2. Become a distinguished club. (We only need 3 more members to attain this goal.)

·      3. Provide more training and a special mentor for each member.

·       4. Increase the number of our fun outside social activities together to at least 3.

·       5. Keep striving for individual achievement by completing our speaking and leadership manuals.

·       6. Continue to have fun together as we each strive to become good speakers and leaders.

Barb and our officers will review our progress in achieving these goals in the coming months. Thanks, Barb, for another great presentation.

Jamie, our second speaker, practiced a speech he will use to inspire volunteers, referrals, and contributions to a cause he and his wife, Cindy, are developing. His goal is to help the influx of people from other countries learn English. Jamie spoke of the fear, frustration, and loneliness parents feel when their children learn English in school and they can’t help.

Jamie plans to train volunteers to go to our immigrants in their apartments, businesses, and wherever they are. He hopes to have his Institute up and running by next January. We look forward to learning more and perhaps get involved in this worthy program. Thanks for sharing your vision, Jamie.

Jean evaluated Barb’s speech with the acronym, GOAL. Barb’s grammar, organization, attitude, and leadership inspired the audience to share their toastmaster goals.

Prema spoke with grace and enthusiasm as she explored the excellent points in Jamie’s speech. She especially admired the smooth flow with which Jamie speaks.

Emery, our table topic master, asked us about our dreams. John our new member spoke of a dream that helped him grow into a mature man. Jan talked about a dream that predicted her experience while visiting Russia during the coup that brought down President Gorbachev.

Guests were asked for their feedback. They described the meeting as:

Passionate

Supportive

Engaging

Ecstatic

Values-oriented

Great News: 

John joined last week and Mihaela joined this week. Welcome to you both. We are so pleased support  and help you grow in your speaking and leading skills. We look forward to growing from your good ideas too.

The Blue Ribbon Winners were:

Best Speaker: Jamie

Best Evaluator: Prema

Best Table Topics Speaker: Jan

Congratulations to all!

Open House Next Tuesday!

To increase our membership, we will celebrate with an Open House and invite guests on Tuesday, June 19^th at Noon. If you know of someone who’d like to learn public speaking and leadership skills in a self-paced fun environment, please invite them.

We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE.

 
To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Tracy, DTM

Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest Supports the Words of John Quincy Adams

Public Speaking Northwest supports the words of John Quincy Adams, the 6^th President of the United States. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”

Barb, our president, led our toastmaster meeting with Emery, Yanhong, Prema, Cary, Jamie, Lynne, Ken, Jean, and our guests, Mihaela and John, in attendance.

Jean, our toastmaster for the day, had to adjust our schedule due to a longer talk by Barb. Because we are toastmasters, we know how to adjust. It’s easy.

Barb, our first speaker, entitled her talk, “Values and Leadership.” She told us values affect business, behavior, and decisions. One of Barb’s strengths is getting the audience involved.

With white board and markers she wrote down our responses to her question. “What are the values we see in our toastmaster club, Public Speaking Northwest?” We answered with over 25 values like - learning is fun, clear communication, and unity.

Barb then asked each member to pick their top two values. She tallied the results. Members chose these values the most often:

1. Relationships we form with each other

2. Diversity in our membership

3. Friendships

4. Learning by doing

5. Supportive environment

With this information at hand, Barb’s next presentation will discuss our club goals.

Cary, our second speaker, entitled his third talk, “The Laughter in My Life.” Cary revealed that when he gets very nervous or very upset, he laughs. Sometimes his laughter is quite inappropriate.

Cary told us of a time when he worked in a mattress store hauling mattresses. He had worked there 2 weeks when he dropped a mattress. It was ruined. His boss threw a tantrum and started yelling at Cary.

Instead of expressing his deep upset, Cary couldn’t stop laughing. So he excused himself and came back when he felt more under control. His boss wondered if he was OK. Fortunately, Cary didn’t lose his job.

Emery evaluated Barb’s speech with the “Sandwich Method.” He likened her opening and closing with excellent quotes to 2 slices of bread. The meat inside focused on the outstanding body of her talk. He noted her use of props, like the computer, pull-down screen, and white board. He praised the value of her presentation.

Prema evaluated Cary’s talk. She said his speech sounded like he was inside his story at the time it happened. She also noted Cary's honesty in sharing personal information.

Prema praised his ability to make his stories flow. She admired Cary’s caring about other people. (This became clear in his second story.) Prema felt that Cary’s natural speaking style keeps improving with each talk.

New Member!

Welcome John! We are thrilled to have you and believe you will enhance our club and we will support your growth.

Mihaela promises to join next week!

Great News!

We have all 10 points for being a President’s Distinguished Club! One thing is holding us back. We need at least 20 members. With a few more members we’ll be over the top.

Open House!

To increase our membership, we will celebrate with an Open House and invite guests on Tuesday, June 19^th at Noon. If you know of someone who’d like to learn public speaking and leadership skills while having fun, please invite them.

The Blue Ribbon Winners were:

 Best Speaker: Cary

Best Evaluator: Prema

Congratulations to both!

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

 
We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

 
To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356

Respectfully Submitted,

Jean Tracy, DTM ~ Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest Agrees with Mark Twain

Public Speaking Northwest Agrees with Mark Twain ~ “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”

That’s why our toastmaster club has an “ah” counter. The “ah” counter encourages pauses instead of saying “ah” or “um", or filler words. A quiet pause gives the speaker time to think. It gives the listener relief from hearing too many distracting “ahs", "ums,” and “ands.”

Ana our “ah counter” charged a nickel for each filler word to help our members use Mark Twain’s important pause.

Ken presided over the meeting today with Lynne, Jamie, Emery, Prema, Yanhong, Ana, Pierce, Cary, Jean, and, guests, Juliet and 8-year-old Jenny. (It was so good to see Pierce back.)

Emery, our toastmaster, led the meeting. His theme, “vacation,” created fun and laughter.

Jamie, our grammarian, chose “exacerbate” as the word we each needed to weave into our speaking moments. Six of us used it when we had the chance to speak. Now our challenge is to add it to our vocabulary during the week.

 

Lynne, our timer, is becoming a pro at explaining her job to keep us on time with our special lighting system.

Yanhong, our speaker for today, entitled her presentation, “Interactive Teaching, Learning, and Thinking.” Inspired by Andrew Clements kids’ book, Frindle, Yanhong told us the story of a boy named Nick Allen. Whenever Nick learned an interesting tidbit, he’d create a new word for it. For example, Nick named the word, pen, “Frindle.”

Yanhong’s point was that teaching kids to be creative thinkers is important. She asked us, “Would you rather raise a smart kid who, as an adult, settles into a routine job or a creative child with lots of ideas who grows up to make a difference in the world?”

Yanhong believes that interactive teaching is the answer. She demonstrated a clever math game with her 8-year-old daughter, Jenny. It looked like so much fun that Jean decided to use it with her 8-year-old grandson.

Pierce evaluated Yanhong’s talk. He noted that English is her second language and praised her for speaking so well. He pointed out her graceful smile, how she stood free of the lectern, and used (Mark Twain’s) pauses well. “You are setting a positive example for your daughter,” he said.

Little Jenny beamed. She seemed happy to be a part of her mother’s presentation.

Jean, our table topics master, decided to follow in Yanhong’s steps with a game and use Emery’s theme, vacations. She introduced the game, “Truth or Lie.” Each person was to tell us about one of their vacations. It could be the truth or a lie. The members were to decide. If any of the speakers fooled all of the members, that speaker would be given a standing ovation.

Ken told us a bear story. Cary, a fish story, Emery, a traveling nightmare, and Juliet told a deep sea diving story. Oddly all their stories were true. Only Ana received a standing ovation because everyone believed her vacation story. It was a lie.

The Blue Ribbon Winners were:

Best Speaker: Yanhong

Best Evaluator: Pierce

Best Table Topics Speaker: Emery

Congratulations to all!

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356

Respectfully Submitted,

Jean Tracy, DTM ~ Secretary