“Be it healing or learning, leisure or adventure, inner peace or thrilling times, Kerala gives you infinite reasons to call it God’s Own Country.” ~~ Saumya Srivastava
Welcome to the first meeting in May.
Amritha was the toastmaster of the day.
The GAT(e) team comprised of: Grammarian – Jung (extraordinary), Ah-Counter – Chizuko and Timer – Pauline.
Warren was the first speaker of the day. He completed Project #8 from the CC Manual – Using Visual Aids. Title of his talk - “Puget Sound Staycation” which he completed within 7 minutes.
Warren suggested some ways to tackle the boredom that arises in children when summer vacation hits. He suggests to plan full day or 2 full day trips. Surprise the kids and get them so worn out that they will want to rest for a while once they are back home. Here are some places that are ideal to visit with kids –
1. Seattle Locks – best on Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon.
2. Cruise to Kingston – take a ferry Edmonds to reach Kingston, have lunch, watch the big transportation ships etc.
3. Museum of History and Arts (MOHAI) – located in the south end of lake Union, a visit to MOHAI can help people with the understanding of Seattle’s history.
4. Other places include Bremerton ferry, Pacific Science Center and Seattle Aquarium.
Nancy was his evaluator. Nancy greatly appreciated Warren’s presentation skills and use of visual aids combined with excellent humor. With great eye contact, body gestures, vocal variety and most importantly by using appropriate slides, Warren’s presentation was engaging and informative.
Tobias was our second speaker. Title of his talk “3 Safety
Through his talk, Tobias demonstrated to us some strategies that will keep us safe during certain situations. He brought in his 18 years of experience as a fire fighter to the forefront while giving us the speech. Here are his suggestions for a safe kitchen -
1. In case of a stove top fire, many people tend to put off using water. Before doing anything – remember to switch off the stove and tie loose clothing together.
Keep hands safe by using mittens.
2. Fire in the oven – Trying to take food out of the oven will only result in more danger – with the fire getting more oxygen to burn. Instead, keep the oven door shut. Just shut off the oven and let the fire burn out itself.
3. If ever your clothing catches fire, stop, drop and roll. Taking the clothing off gives it more oxygen and puts high flames.
Couple more points –
1. Smoke and CO detector - Making sure the smoke and CO detector is working – changing its batteries twice a year, while changing clocks to adjust the daylight savings time is ideal.
2. Wearing helmet while riding a bike – make sure the helmet fits your head properly, else it does not serve its purpose.
Anisha was his evaluator. She was impressed by the flawless speech delivery of Tobias. In her words, “free-style meets discipline.” He combined the essence of his talk - safety strategies with humor and props to convey the message effectively. As a suggestion, she offered Tobias to possibly smooth the transitions.
Jim was our third speaker. Jim completed Project #4 from the Story Telling Manual “The Touching Story”. Title of his talk “Resilience” which he completed within 8 mins.
Through his speech, Jim introduced us to an extraordinary man whose resilience always shined through. Jim showed us his role model – his father. In 1915, while still in his teens, an accident at a butcher shop resulted in the loss of 4 fingers of his right hand. Despite this limitation, he had developed beautiful penmanship with his thumb pressing the pen.
In 1929, even after losing $10,000, he never complained. Instead, he bounced right back. His resilience payed off. In 1962, when doctors diagnosed his dad with colon cancer, he got operated and was back in work within 6 weeks. He was resilient. One after another, Jim’s father bounced and recovered from few other cancer surgeries. He was persistently resilient. And through all those years, the entire duration Jim’s mother was right behind his dad – supporting her husband.
Jan 1977, doctors the discovery of an untreatable tumor in his head led to losing his memory, speech and he eventually got confined to bed. Since he did not want to be a burden on his wife, he refused to take water and food and went on for 41 days after which he passed away in the comfort of his home.
Barb was his evaluator. Barb greatly appreciated Jim’s description of his father’s resilience esp. in the first incident. Using series of examples to convey the message worked very well. The climax was excellently presented. As a suggestion, Barb offered Jim to work on his cadence.
Both Jim and Barb were voted best in their respective categories.
Jean was our general evaluator. She commened on Julie for an excellent start, the speakers for their speeches and evaluators for providing good evaluations with positive suggestions.
We had 2 guests (Julia L. and Victoria) and 14 members in attendance.
Member attendees were: Amritha, Anisha, Barb, Chizuko, Jean, Jim, Julie, Jung, Lynne, Nancy, Pauline, Robert, Tobias and Warren.
Respectfully Submitted,
Amritha Imandi, Secretary
Public Speaking Northwest #9406.
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