“People that hate cats will come back as mice in their next life…” ~~ Faith Resnick
Welcome to the fourth meeting in April.
Pauline was the toastmaster of the day.
The GAT(e) team comprised of Grammarian – Pratap (surreal), Ah-Counter – Tobias and Timer – Chizuko.
Anisha was the first speaker of the day. She completed Project #8 from the CC Manual – Using Visual Aids. Title of her talk - “The Hidden Enemy in our Lives” which she completed within 7 minutes.
Anisha shared with us a story of how she felt irritated during one of her camp trips when she was awakened from restful sleep by the barking of a dog. With no idea of how to stop the dog from barking incessantly, she woke up tired and angry. She points out how we in this generation, leading a contemporary lifestyle get irritated, angry and stressed out very soon. A book that helped her understand the mechanics of stress is Super Genes by Deepak Chopra.
While different strategies like time management, compassionate communication, avoiding multitasking, joining a Toastmasters club etc are available to combat stress, one solution that has radically enhanced her ability to be less stressful is – meditation. Anisha shares that through meditation we are able to connect to the stillness in our body. We become our own creators and embrace all possibilities willingly.
Anisha was voted the best speaker.
Lynne was her evaluator. Lynne appreciated Anisha on her well-prepared and presented talk. She started off with a story that immediately captured audience’s attention. The visual aids added positively to the message of her talk. As a suggestion, Lynne offered Anisha to perhaps use few more slides emphasizing couple more crucial points of her talk and work on a stronger conclusion.
Lynne was voted the best evaluator.
Nancy was our second speaker. She completed Project #1
Through her speech, Nancy walked us through a series of events from her life that led her to discover the purpose of her life. Her career started years ago in the biotech field. Though she had a good pay with lots of benefits, her inner desire to find her true passion led her to be a volunteer in “Stand Up for Kids” – an organization that devotes itself to working with homeless kids. There she worked one-on-one with homeless kids supporting and encouraging them.
Her growing discontent being in the biotech industry led her to quit her job. At that time, since coaching seemed right to her, she got trained as a coach and earned job in a coaching company. After a series of ups and downs as an employee in the coaching firm, she decided to set up her own company. Today, Nancy is a Life on Purpose Coach and with her own company “Reclaim Courage”. She and her company works with Cocoon House, an organization that helps young people navigate through tough situations in life.
Warren was her evaluator. He greatly appreciated Nancy for all the speaking skills that she already has. With great confidence, body gestures and by including stories from her life, Nancy delivered a fabulous Ice Breaker. As a suggestion, Warren offered Nancy not to walk into the audience space, instead stay back in the speaker space so that her voice and facial expressions are projected throughout the room.
Jean, our table topics master had some quotes for the speakers to talk on.
Madhuri, our first table topics speaker spoke about how she overcame the English language barrier and taught herself to communicate in English when she joined College. Prior to her college years, her entire schooling was in her local language. Her mother played a pivotal role by encouraging Madhuri to keep moving forward and to Never Give Up.
Emery, our return guest spoke about the mask of procrastination that he has been wearing. He asks himself – When is the right time to remove that mask? By believing that he can achieve the tasks he anticipates to do, he knows he is half way there.
Jan shared her view of life – it is all about trying, taking chances, and stretching oneself. While there is one voice within us which always doubts the decisions and risks we are willing to take, there is another voice that pushes us to keep moving forward. She persuades us to take new chances and venture into new adventures.
Tobias spoke about how unique Michael Jackson and Prince were. With a demonstration of some of their dance moves, Tobias set the audience in laughter. Both of the musicians did things that no one else did, they stuck their neck out and the joy of trying set them free.
Julie spoke about how destructive fear can become. When people get afraid, many times they hurt others. She suggests to overcome fear in the world, get all the politicians in a TM meeting with the theme – Friends Helping Friends.
Jung shared with us how she learned English as a non-native English speaker. She took tiny steps after arriving here from South Korea. They included attending ESL classes, followed by attending writing classes and now she is learning Public Speaking by being a part of our club.
Tobias was voted the best table topics speaker.
We had 1 return guest (Emery) and 15 members in attendance.
Member attendees were: Amritha, Anisha, Chizuko, Jan, Jean, Jim, Julie, Jung, Lynne, Madhuri, Nancy, Pratap, Pauline, Tobias and Warren.
Respectfully Submitted,
Amritha Imandi, Secretary
Public Speaking Northwest #9406.
Even though I attended this meeting, it was a joy to read about it here. Again, I like how clear the pictures are. Thank you, Amritha.
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