Sept 8th 2015: Theme: Humor

"Humor is, by far, the most significant activity of the brain."  ~~ Edward de Bono

Welcome to the second meeting in September blog.

 

Our toastmaster of the day was Amritha.

The GAT(e) team was:  Devi (sanative) as Grammarian , Chizuko as Ah- Counter, and Andrew as Timer.

Dan was our first speaker today. He completed his Speech #1 from the Competent Communicator Manual – Ice Breaker. The duration of his speech was 4-6 mins.

Through his speech, Dan told us how his past experiences have shaped his goals and ambitions.

Dan spent his childhood with his family in Spokane, WA.

While in college, he was awarded scholarship to play football pursuing a degree in extra sciences. This led him to become a physical fitness trainer giving him opportunities to work in the corporate world of physical fitness industry for a short duration. From there, he moved on to work for couple of years in a small business firm of the fitness industry. There he learnt to do a little bit of everything and the experience opened his eyes to how a small business operated.

With this experience in hand, he took the decision to start a gym teaming up with his brother to create a space where people feel welcomed and everyone is working comfortably towards a common goal of better health and fitness. Today Dan is the co-owner of Kutting Edge Fitness in Kirkland.

By joining our club, Dan wishes to improve his speaking skills which would one day enable him to share his stories with others as well as coach and mentor new coaches.

 

Jim was his evaluator. He was impressed with Dan’s well- structured Ice breaker that progressed steadily from his childhood to present. As a suggestion, Jim offered Dan to add variety in gestures in future speeches.

Jim was voted the best evaluator.

Our second speaker was Jessica. She completed her Speech #2 from the Competent Communicator Manual – Organize Your Speech. Her speech was titled "What we can learn from Chinese Environmentalism." The duration of her speech was 5-7 mins.

Having spent last summer in China studying, Jessica witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of environmental pollution on China’s land, air and water bodies. She gave us statistics on how pollution damages the health of the Chinese population.

In an effort to make China a better place to live, the Chinese people have embraced few life changes that conserve the use of energy. Jessica shared with us 4 of these and encouraged each one of us to embrace these changes in our personal lives to make the earth a better place to live –

   1.  Use toilet paper efficiently.

   2.  Hang clothes on a clothes line and air dry them rather        than use the clothes dryer.

   3.  Eat more plant based foods and less meats thus reducing    deforestation and greenhouse gases.

   4.  Trade in and reuse electronics.

Jessica was voted the best speaker.

Naser was her evaluator. He congratulated Jessica on her strong start, giving us numbers and facts that reflected the reality of the situation strongly articulating her message. He gave kudos to her organizational skills and the call to action at the end. As a suggestion, he offered her to give out handouts to members putting in her research details.

Robert was our Table Topics Master. He led a fun and interactive table topics session bringing into use both visual and verbal communication. For the visual part, he requested 4 volunteers to make a sketch of the topics he had picked. Once the sketches were ready, members other than the artists could give the table topics speech.

The members who volunteered to make the sketch were Dave, Jean, Linda and Liz. The table topics speakers were Barb, Naser, Jennifer and Leroy.

Barb described the following picture that Jean sketched. She described a thin person riding through a long trail in a forest. The actual question was: A boy riding a bicycle in a park.

Naser spoke about the following picture that Liz sketched. To him, the sketch looked like a dog walking among a group of buildings. The actual question was: Walking a large dog on a city street.

Jennifer spoke about the picture that Dave drew. She thought it was a hot plate of spaghetti and meatballs along with an invisible person ready to eat. The actual question was: Bowl of hot spaghetti on a table.

Leroy described the picture that Linda drew. To him, the picture looked like a competition between uber and taxi – a person standing to get hold of one of the 2 cars. The actual question was: A woman hailing a taxi cab.

Naser was voted the best table topics speaker.

We had 22 members and 2 guests at our meeting.

Our members who attended were: Amritha, Andrew, Anisha, Barb, Chizuko, Dan, Dave, Devi, Diana, Jean, Jessica D., Jessica K., Jim, Julie, Jung, Linda, Liz, Lynne, Naser, Rance, Robert, Woo Yun.

Guests of the day were: Leroy C., Jennifer O'N.

Our active membership total currently is at 37.

Respectfully Submitted,

Amritha Imandi, Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest #9406