Nov 17th 2015 Theme: What Sports, Politics and War Have in Common

“Sports is like a war, but without the killing.” ~~ Ted Turner

Welcome to the third meeting in November blog.

         Jim was our toastmaster of the day.

The GAT(e) team comprised of: Grammarian – Anisha, Ah Counter – Jessica, Timer – Grace.

Jan was the first speaker of the day. She completed her Project #1 from the CC Manual – The Ice Breaker. Her speech was titled “The Twin Peeks.” Duration of her speech: 4-6 mins.

Through her Ice Breaker, Jan introduced us to her identical twin sister (Jean). Jan and Jean joined their family of 2 brothers and a sister when their parents were in their 40’s. Being identical twins, the question was how could anyone tell them apart? Their dad would get confused sometimes, but fooling mom was never possible.

Jan and Jean grew up together as best friends – sharing secrets and being loyal to each other. Along with it came conflict and competition. Jan got married to Bill in her mid-20’s followed by Jean 5 years later. After marriage, Jean moved 75 miles away. This allowed Jan to have her own independent identity without her twin sister.

Towards the end of her talk, Jan shared with us a funny confusing incident that occurred as a result of Jan and her husband showing up in a church to meet some nuns in place of Jean and her husband.

Linda was her evaluator. She appreciated Jan on the strong opening of her Ice Breaker, her ability to connect with the audience, and the poise with which she introduced us to her twin sister. With a well-structured talk, and the use of rhythmic language, Jan’s Ice Breaker was just perfect. As a suggestion, Linda offered her to move around a little bit.

Linda was voted the best evaluator.

Our second speaker was Amritha. She completed her Speech #9 from the CC Manual – Persuade with Power. The title of her speech was “A Super Stress Buster” Duration of her speech –  6 to 8 mins.

After sharing a personal story from her life where taking a series of continuous rhythmic deep breaths helped Amritha deal with a stressful situation, she spoke about how everyone could use the same technique to combat stress. Her talk was backed by data from the American Institute of stress, which states that deep relaxed breathing for 20 to 30 mins helps reduce stress and anxiety.

While on a physical level, deep breaths energize our body by providing oxygen to all the vital organs, on a deeper level they help to bring our body and mind together, letting our awareness focus on the present moment rather than the worries in our mind.

She strongly believes that in today’s fast paced society it is essential more than ever before to bring in practices which relieve stress from our lives – deep breathing is one such simple practice which can be done anywhere anytime and is totally free of cost.

Amritha was voted the best speaker.

Robert was her evaluator. As per him, in addition to meeting the speech objectives, Amritha’s hand gestures and body movement were excellent. As a suggestion, he offered her to add more vocal variety.

Jean was our table topics master of the day. She picked up few members from the meeting and asked random questions.

In response to the question, “What is it that most people are looking for?”, Warren said he finds most people don’t even know what they are looking for. Sometimes people look toward education or spiritual organizations in an effort to find answers to their questions, whereas the real answer lies within each individual.

Linda was given the question “What makes you safe and secure?”. For her, going back home after a busy year of schooling and other activities makes her feel grounded. Though she is a fairly positive person, the stress of life sometimes takes over. In such situations, going back home to visit her family gives her a sense of safety.

Jessica D. answered the question “How important is honesty in friendship?”. She considers honesty is important not only for friendship, but in all relationships. She spoke about how by being 100% honest, she has built a strong friendship with one of her childhood friend who is her best friend. She emphasizes being honest with all her relationships now.

Jessica was voted the best table topics speaker.

Barb was our general evaluator. She gave kudos to the organizing team and the participants for a well done meeting on time even though we had to start late.

Members who attended the meeting numbered to 12 and were:  Amritha, Anisha, Barb, Grace, Jan, Jean, Jessica D., Jim, Linda, Lynne, Robert, and Warren.

Our active membership total currently is at 30.

Respectfully Submitted,

Amritha Imandi, Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest #9406