Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Public Speaking Northwest believes the words of Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other." Abraham Lincoln

Honest Abe knew of which he spoke. Nearly two centuries later, members are motivated to join Toastmasters by their own resolutions to succeed.

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." Albert Einstein

Today's meeting, on President Lincoln's birthday, had a love and romance theme in honor of Valentine's Day.

Jean
Jean, our President, opened the meeting with Lynne, Elaine, Mihaela, Cindy, John, Barb, Ken, Eugene, Joanne, Jan, Pierce, Jamie, Kyle, Pashmeena, Depanjali, and three guests: Ryan, Pat, and Karen present.





After Jean turned the meeting over to Jamie, the day's Toastmaster, he read The Valentine's Day Ten Commandments to launch his selected theme of love and romance.

Jamie
The first commandment reads . . .

I am thy Main Squeeze; thou shalt have no other squeeze before me.

The remaining nine were equally funny and a delightful opening act before Jamie introduced his GATE team:



Jean has good timing.





Elaine: Toughest Ah-counter ever!







Grammarian . . . . . . . . .Joanne/Word: MELLIFLUOUS 
Ah Counter . . . . . . . . . .Elaine                   
Timer . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .Jean
Evaluator (General) . . . Ken
 
GATE Team members use listening skills to keep us on task, alert us to correct grammar usage, help us reduce dependence on fillers (ah & um), track our speech times, and provide complete meeting feedback.
 
Ken: 5-star Evaluator General
 
Joanne's word stumped a few.
 
 












Mihaela with tablet

Mihaela, as first speaker, gave a timely talk on how technology is changing not only our communications, but the way we walk, as well. She also shared with us a few of the less easily recognized texting acronyms.
 
 
 
 

Jan
 
 
Jan evaluated Mihaela's speech with praise for her organized coverage of such a current topic, her use of mobile devices as visual aids, and her request for audience participation in guessing the meanings of those more obscure texting acronyms.


    
 


Kyle with skillet

Kyle gave today's second speech; his topic, coffee, was a crowd pleaser. Kyle shared with us coffee culture, history, and even enlightened us on the roasting process, complete with sound effects. He also showed his own at-home roasting gear and demonstrated his technique.




Barb

Barb evaluated Kyle's coffee talk, with kudos for his confidence in his topic, his visual aids, his ability to imitate roasting sounds, and the way he demystified the roasting process. Indeed, Kyle's comparison of coffee beans to popcorn, along with his white-board illustration, gave us all an upgrade to our coffee knowledge.



For Table Topics, Jamie distributed candy Valentine hearts with messages. Volunteers spoke on whatever their heart inspired in them. Abe, Pierce, and Karen participated. Karen, a guest at her first ever Toastmasters meeting, was especially courageous in taking the plunge. Way to go, Karen!

Another of our guests, Pat, joined us at the end of the meeting; we'll be seeing (and hearing from) Pat a lot in the future. What a guy! Welcome, Pat!

Several of us remained after the traditional one-hour meeting time in order to see and hear the talks of two recent members, Deepanjali and Pashmeena. They are work colleagues making a professional presentation later this week. Jean facilitated a round-robin style, in which we critiqued their practice presentations on designing the user experience. Great job, ladies and cheers for the big day!

Deepanjali

Pashmeena & Deepanjali

Pashmeena












Our Blue Ribbon Winners:

Best Speaker ~ Kyle

Best Evaluator ~ Barb

Best Table Topics ~ Pierce



Photographer of the Day: Joanne









 



   






News You Can Use:

Our club inspirational and evaluation contests will be held on February 26.


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,

Joanne, Secretary/Treasurer
 
 
 
 
 

8 comments:

  1. Great summary! Thanks for writing this! ~Elaine~

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  2. Great job, Joanne!! The speeches today were interesting and timely.

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  3. I really appreciate the work that Joanne puts into these minutes! And best of all, the warm, supportive spirit of our club.

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  4. I continue to be impressed with the attendance of so many members. One of the consequences of new great new members is the excitment of their contribution to the club. Best wishes for continued successes.

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  5. So glad the blog is enjoyed. Returning a day or so later and reading the lovely comments makes it worthwhile.

    Emery is so right. Having a diverse group of members, all with varied interests and backgrounds makes every meeting a pleasure to attend. Toastmasters fulfills the old advice to never stop learning. Every week I learn something new from my fellow members.

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  6. You captured the joy, fun, and learning of the meeting, Joanne. I loved reading your minutes. Your writing skills are superb.

    Jean

    www.KidsDiscuss.com

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  7. Diversity can be the life blood of learning...our club is rich in diversity, alive with fun and encouragement.

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  8. What a great club we have. Each meeting has it's own "personality" but we keep hitting the basics so we can be better communicators and leaders--Jamie

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