Public Speaking Northwest Believes the Words of Helen Keller

Our toastmaster club is not blind to the meaning of Christmas. Helen Keller expressed it beautifully, “The only blind person at Christmas time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.”

Ken, our VP of Education, opened the meeting in place of Barb who couldn’t be with us. Cindy, Ana, Kyle, Jan, Abe, Yanhong, Kate, Jamie, Lynne, and Jean were present.

Ken

Ken expressed our heartfelt feelings for the children of Newtown, Connecticut. We all felt pain and sorrow for their families and especially this time of year. We bowed our heads in prayerful silence.

Ken is holding Christmas cards with $15 cards to Starbucks for those at the Seattle Times Building who open their facility for our meetings. To them we are grateful.

Jamie

Jamie, our Toastmaster for the day, announced that “Christmas” was our theme. Jamie ran an exceptionally smooth meeting with an easy to follow agenda. 

Yanhong

Yanhong, our Grammarian, came up with Lagn iappe, (sounds like lan yap) which means small gift, something given. None of us had heard it before and many used it in their talks anyway. Thanks for expanding our vocabulary, Yanhong.

Cindy

Cindy, our Time Keeper, kept all our speakers on time. She did some teasing by lifting up our light buttons to prove she could do a good job. Cindy's presence always increases the fun.

Kate

Our first speaker, Kate, gave her third talk entitled, Make Every Day a Good Day. We’ve often wondered why Kate is always smiling and is such a positive person. She advised us to do what she does. Kate writes 5 things she is grateful for at the end of each day. Her advice, “When you look for the good, you find the good.” Kate has been writing in her gratitude journal since 1997.

One more thing, she related a story in which she almost drowned and was ready to meet her Maker with a little humor. Kate lives gratitude!

Jamie

Jamie evaluated Kate’s speech for her spiritual outlook, storytelling gifts, and genuine enthusiasm.

Kyle

Our second speaker, Kyle, entitled his speech, Giving a Toast in English and Spanish.

In 10 days Kyle will be traveling to Columbia and will be speaking in front of 300 Spanish speaking and 12 English speaking guests. Kyle will be giving the wedding toast for his good friend, Rico.

Jean

Jean listened attentively and evaluated Kyle’s talk with the help of Abe and Ana, who speak fluent Spanish. Abe praised Kyle’s pronunciation and gave helpful suggestions. Ana encouraged Kyle to use his broad smile as he spoke. Other toastmasters added their good ideas too.

This was Kyle’s 4^th or 5^th talk and is a testament to how Toastmasters helps us with public speaking. We congratulate you, Kyle, for your courage and we are excited to hear the results.

Abe

Jan

Jan, our Table Topic Master, used the Christmas theme to ask her questions. She asked Abe for his best Christmas ever. With deep feelings he said the year 2000 because it was the first time as husband and father he was able to experience the joy of giving. You needed to be there to hear how deeply he meant it.

Ken

Ken was asked to pretend he was snowed in at an airport and couldn’t get home for Christmas. Ken used humor as he related a real life story and found the perfect gift for his wife at one of the many airport shops. I can’t relate the exact story because it is a little risque and very funny.

 

Yanhong said her favorite part of Christmas is waking her 9-year-old Jenny, brushing her hair, and watching her rush downstairs to see if Santa drank his milk and ate his cookies. She believes in Santa because, “Who else would eat the snacks for him?”

Ken, as General Evaluator, made good suggestions for improvement and encouraged each and every one of us with his generous remarks.

All in all, this special meeting was filled with warm feelings, awesome friendships, popcorn, and Christmas candy. Jan brought the treats.

The Blue Ribbon Winners Were:

Best Speaker: Kate

Best Evaluator: Jean

Best Table Topics: Abe

Today's photographer was Ana. Thank you Ana! 

Ana

Pictures of the Day! 

Good Listeners!

Jan Passing Her Treats!

News You Can Use:

1. Our Open House White Elephant Gift Exchange will be on January 15^th. Members are asked to bring a wrapped gift worth $5 or less. Each member will explain, in table topic format, why the gift they chose is just what they wanted. Jerry will create a team for decorating the room and bringing tasty snacks.

2. The officers for the New Year are requested to attend a fun half-day of learning and training at the Carl Gipson Senior Center on January 5^th in Everett. All members are invited. For more information, contact Barb or Jean.

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: Jean Tracy, JeanTracy@KidsDiscuss.com, 425.745.0022.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean

Public Speaking Northwest Honors the Words of Abraham Lincoln

Our Club Banner

“Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated.” – Abraham Lincoln

Toastmaster’s Path to Speaking Success

At Public Speaking Northwest, each member develops and rehearses their presentation. Then they give their talks to their fellow toastmasters. The participants support each presenter with effective evaluations. This is our path to success.

The Toastmaster Meeting

 

Ken

Ken, our education vice-president, opened the meeting because our president, Barb, was ill. Toastmasters Lynne, Barbara, Yanhong, John, Ken, Kyle, Casey, Mihaela, Tracy, Pierce, Abe, Kathy, Kate, and Jean were present.

Lynne and Yanhong

Lynne, our toastmaster, conducted the meeting and spoke about the meaning of “Family,” which was her theme. She described how our toastmaster club is a special kind of family.

Casey informed the group, as the Ah Counter, that he’d be checking the group for ‘ahs, ums, unnecessary pauses, and other distractions when they spoke. Each slip-of-the- tongue would cost the member a nickel. In this way, we clean up our speech.

Kyle, Timer and Casey "Ah Counter"

Kyle manned the timing lights to help speakers keep within their time limits.

Tracy

Tracy chose the word of the day, ‘Dynasty.’ The members had to use it when they spoke or pay a quarter.

Speakers and Evaluators

Yanhong, our first speaker, entitled her talk, “Dumplings.” Her power point presentation included beautiful pictures of Chinese dumplings designed and arranged with delicious beauty. Since it was the noon hour, our taste buds were highly tempted.

Jean

Jean evaluated Yanhong’s presentation with praise and a few suggestions. One of which was, “Please, bring on the dumplings!”

Kathy

Kathy, a seasoned toastmaster, gave her first speech in our club entitled, “Escape from Sudan.” She used the story of a family escaping from terrorists in Sudan to Ethiopia. After many years of internment in camps the family was separated. The son was sponsored by a Church and came to the US. After 17 years his family was united by phone. This story became the movie, “The Lost Boys.”

Pierce

Pierce evaluated Kathy’s talk with praise for her awesome storytelling skills. He gave her some suggestions and then complimented her for her beautiful heart and inner goodness which was reflected in her presentation.

Mihaela, our third speaker, entitled her talk, “Living the Magic of Christmas.” She spoke of living the joy of Christmas and how the songs, decorations, and gifts melt our hearts as the sun melts the snow. She shared two songs from her native Rumania.

Ken

Ken evaluated Mihaela’s presentation with compliments for sharing the gift of her culture and her professional dress. He noted how her songs matched our songs in the US.

Our Blue Ribbons Winners:

Best Speaker – Yanhong

Best Evaluator – Jean

News You Can Use:

1. Our Open House White Elephant Gift Exchange will be on January 15^th. Members are asked to bring a wrapped gift worth $5 or less. Each member will explain, in table topic format, why the gift they chose is just what they wanted. Jerry will create a team for decorating the room and bringing tasty snacks.

2. The officers for the New Year are requested to attend a fun day of learning and training at the Carl Gipson Senior Center on January 5^th in Everett. All members are invited. For more information, contact Barb or Jean.

Our Photographer for the Day! 

Thank you, John

 

Here Are Our Dumpling Photos of the Day!

Rabbit Dumplings

Pot Stickers

Dumpling Animal Shapes

New Years - Good Luck Dumplings for the Family

 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: Jean Tracy, JeanTracy@KidsDiscuss.com, 425.745.0022.

Respectfully submitted,

Secretary, Jean

Public Speaking Northwest Teaches General Colin Powell's Leadership Quote!

“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.”

At Public Speaking Northwest, we teach members to speak clearly, make their ideas easy to understand, and offer a call to action at the end. These skills help them become leaders in their own fields.

Barb

Our President, Barb, welcomed John, Lynne, Tracy, Ken, Jerry, Joanne, Abe, Casey, and Jean.

Jean

Barb introduced our Toastmaster for the meeting, Jean. Her theme was leadership.

Jerry

Our first speaker, Jerry, entitled his talk, “Kick Start My Heart.” Jerry, a 26-year-career fireman, shared how our world class first responders save the lives of those who experience “sudden cardiac arrest.” Jerry diagramed what happens to the heart and what the first responders do to save lives. We learned with awe and appreciation for Jerry and feel safer with him in our midst. Thank you, Jerry.

Ken

Ken complimented Jerry for his excellent diagram. He praised Jerry as a natural born teacher and appreciated how Jerry used the floor space and good eye contact.

Joanne

Joanne, our second speaker, is a terrific writer and entitled her talk, “Drinking Coffee on the Journey.” She shared her distaste of coffee until she added lots of milk, mocha, and whipped cream. Coffee took her from coffee house to coffee house where she met new friends and joined their organizations. When she met our Jan at Starbucks, they became friends. Jan invited Joanne to our Toastmaster Club. We are thankful to coffee and, especially, to Jan for bringing Joanne to us.

Ken

Ken evaluated Joanne’s speech with compliments on how she used her facial expressions, smiles, gestures, and organization. He noted that her voice was strong and audible.

Barb

Barb, our third speaker, opened her talk with a startling statistic, “All 50 states signed a petition to withdraw from the Union after the election.” She asked us what we felt.  Some of the petitions included, upset about government spending, genetically modified food, human rights, and immigration. She summarized by telling us the number of people who signed those petitions equaled 3/10 of 1%. Her call to action advised us to be skeptical of sound bites, get more information, and listen respectfully to both sides.

Lynne

Lynne evaluated Barb’s talk with praise for opening with such a startling fact and walking us through her speech step by step. She liked how Barb got the audience involved with questions and complimented her for showing us how our perspective can change with more information. This was Lynne’s first evaluation and she was awesome.

The Blue Ribbon Winners Are:

Best Speaker: Jerry

Best Evaluator: Ken and Lynne tied.

***** 

Today's photographer was Abe. Thank you Abe!

Abe

 

Picture of the Day!

Friends Helping Friends Succeed!

 Lynne is Showing John the Timing System.

  

News You Can Use:

1. We will have an Open House White Elephant Party on January 15^th. Jerry will organize it. Thank you, Jerry. We will help you.

2. Joanne will be both our Treasurer and Secretary. Joanne we love your enthusiasm. You are a real trooper! 

 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: Jean Tracy, JeanTracy@KidsDiscuss.com, 425.745.0022.

Respectfully submitted,

  

Secretary,

Jean Tracy, DTM