"A good friend will help you move; but only a very good friend will help you move a body." ~~ Author Unknown
Welcome to the second meeting in April.
GAT(e) team comprised of: Grammarian – Jean (distinguished), Ah-Counter – Jung and Timer – Nancy.
Chizuko was the first speaker of the day. She completed Project #8 from the CC Manual – Get Comfortable with Visual Aids. The title of her talk - “Be Aware of and Proud of Your Culture” which she completed within 7 minutes.
Through her talk, Chizuko shed light on the positive points of Japanese and American Culture. The strong point about the Japanese – they encourage students to clean their classrooms and school premises at the end of each school day. It is a practice that all students – right from elementary all the way till high school are required to do. In fact, Japanese schools don’t employ any janitors. This daily practice allows students to be more responsible and teaches them to keep their space clean.
The strong point about American culture is the opportunity available to volunteer which many people take for granted. It provides lots of experience for people in the non-profit sector. As for students, they can benefit from the hours volunteered towards their college hours. As a middle schooler, by being able to volunteer in elementary schools, her daughter is able to teach, share and connect with younger children.
Chizuko encourages all of us to think about our culture from a different perspective so that we are proud of it and not take it for granted.
Amritha was her evaluator. She gave kudos to Chizuko’s well-organized enlightening talk that she delivered with the use of just the right number of slides. By cleverly using stage space, Chizuko’s talk was well-paced. Her use of notes was perfect with no distraction to the audience. As a suggestion, she offered Chizuko to perhaps raise her volume while asking a question or look at one person while asking the question and then look at the entire audience.
Amritha was voted the best evaluator.
Sarah was our second speaker. She gave her Project #1 from CC Manual – The Ice Breaker. Title of her talk “How did I get here?” which she completed within 6 mins.
Born and raised in Washington, Sarah always dreamt of becoming an interior designer right from her school years. After a divorce in her twenties, she pursued a degree in interior designing. But soon she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After overcoming that life crisis, she took up a job at a lighting showroom. With her degree in interior designing, she was able to assist customers very well. She also got the opportunity to work on 2 of the 3 extreme home makeover projects at that time.
While the housing market crashed in 2008, Sarah lost her job, and eventually took up a job in the Energy Efficiency Dept. At age 37, she was again diagnosed with breast cancer which she successfully overcame. She soon met her now husband and they decided to drop everything and enjoy traveling the world in a sailboat. But that was not very practical and had its own ups and downs.
Hence, when a job opportunity in Puget Sound Energy came up, she readily took it. Today, Sarah and her husband have a property in Monroe where they grow their own organic vegetables and have many farm animals including chickens, turkeys and many more.
Sarah was voted the best speaker.
Julie was her evaluator. She commended Sarah on her stage presence, confidence and wonderful eye contact. By sharing deep personal stories about herself, Sarah gave a clear glimpse of her life to the audience. As a suggestion, Julie offered Sarah to step back a little bit on stage and present herself.
Our table topics master was Warren. His questions were based on the theme of the meeting “Friends helping Friends”.
Jean shared her views about this quote by Khalil Gibran Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. She shared how as a little girl she expected to make many friends and please everyone by bragging about herself. As she grew older, she learnt that was not the way to make friends. With this understanding, she made many good friends in college who happily shared their thoughts with each other.
Robert elaborated on the following quote by AlbertCamus: “Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow, Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead, Walk beside me…. Just be my friend.” Robert’s viewpoint - When I follow someone or am followed by someone, there is a status of hierarchy that gets established. While I follow, I might decide not to do so. While being followed, I might refuse to be a leader. The essence of the saying is to maintain peer relationship by walking together.
Amritha shared her thoughts on the quote by Aristotle “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” She shared about one of her family friends whom she first met as her first neighbor in Bellevue. As years passed by, their friendship grew stronger and stronger. Coincidentally, they live very closeby in the same neighborhood. Amritha recalled and shared a particular incident which in synchronous with the quote.
Colleen answered the question: “Who was/is your best friend other than another homo sapien?” She shared with us her passion towards dogs. Having grown up with dogs always, she currently owns a rescue dog named Boomer who is very affectionate and walks beside her.
Robert was voted the best table topics speaker.
We had 1 guest (Naomi) and 14 members in attendance.
Member attendees were: Amritha, Anisha, Chizuko, Colleen, Grace, Jean, Jim, Julie, Jung, Lynne, Nancy, Robert, Sarah, and Warren.
Respectfully Submitted,
Amritha Imandi, Secretary
Public Speaking Northwest #9406.
Amritha, party of your competent leadership manual was to put on this club membership party. As manager, you and all of those who helped you created a huge success. The talks and the table topics were terrific. So was the food!
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