Wednesday, August 10, 2016

August 9,2016 Theme - Demagogues

“Better the rule of One, whom all obey, than to let clamorous demagogues betray our freedom with the kiss of anarchy.”~~ Oscar Wilde

Welcome to our second meeting in August!

Barb was the toastmaster of the day. Her GAT(e) team comprised of the Grammarian – Robert (pithy); Ah-Counter - Pauline; and Timer - Diana.
 
 Jung was the first speaker of the day, speaking from the CC Manual – Your Body Speaks. The title of her talk was “Perspective” which she completed within 7 minutes.


Through her talk, Jung shed light on the fact that a person's perspective makes a huge difference in his/her life. While one may view a circumstance as disempowering or feel that they are being taken advantage of, another with a positive perspective views the bright side of the same situation. Jung reinforced her point by enacting 2 stories in a very engaging manner. For her inspiring talk, Jung was voted the best speaker!

Evaluating Jung's speech was Tobias. He was especially impressed by Jung's speech delivery style and the ease with which she presented herself being a non-native English speaker. With excellent body gestures teamed up with humor and props, Tobias felt inspired by Jung's speech and her message. 




Our second speaker of the day was Jim. He spoke from the Advanced Communication Manual "Humorously Speaking" Project 1 - Warm up the Audience. Through his talk entitled "Aging is Funny", Jim walked us through the 3 different dictionary meanings of the word funny and how it relates to aging in his opinion. His talk was continuously woven with humor also taking into account how the world views aging today.

Evaluating Jim's speech was Warren. With effective organization, Warren thought Jim’s speech was humorous and entertaining throughout. His great body gestures and especially excellent facial expressions added an additional pizzaz to the speech. Warren was voted the best evaluator.




Our Table Topics master was our Linda. This was her last meeting before she moves to California where she will be taking up her new job. OUR BEST WISHES TO YOU LINDA!

As the topics master, she brought some items very dear to her in a box. She had the topics speaker pick up one item and sell it to the audience. Speakers included Tobias, Warren, Dan and Jean. Each of them had a unique way of selling which filled the room with laughter. For his funny and interactive selling campaign, Tobias was voted the best in this category.


As the humorist, Diana shared with us few humorous 
instances from her life revolving around her family.

After the meeting was officially dismissed, members and guests sat down to listen to Amritha’s 9-year-old daughter, Shreya present her prepared speech. She was given this opportunity since she was inspired by members of our club and expressed interest to speak. Since technically she cannot be a member (due to age restrictions), the club officers came up with a work-around – they listened to her talk after the meeting concluded.

Shreya spoke for about 3 minutes about all the fun she has been having this summer vacation. From her narration, we could make out that the neighborhood she lives in is a really fun place to be with lots of kids to play. In addition, all families come together to celebrate Independence Day and have special movie nights every once in a while. It was a delight to hear her speak!

If you are looking for a safe and supportive place to allow your children to explore the world of public speaking, please know that there are Gavel clubs. They are a part of Toastmasters Youth program. These clubs follow a similar structure as Toastmaster club and is specifically for young children below 17 years of age. For those of you interested, you can find more details here: http://d2.toastmastersdistricts.org/Youth_Programs___Gavel_Clubs_.html. Shreya has plans to visit one with her mom soon!

There were ­­14 members in attendance, including Amritha, Barb, Dan, Diana, Jean, Jim, Julie, Jung, Kathy, Linda, Pauline, Robert, Tobias and Warren.
Our 4 guests of the day were: Elijah, Frances Ann, Shreya K. and Yash K.

Respectfully Submitted,
Amritha Imandi, Acting Secretary
Public Speaking Northwest #9406
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August 9,2016 Theme - Demagogues

“Better the rule of One, whom all obey, than to let clamorous demagogues betray our freedom with the kiss of anarchy.”~~ Oscar Wilde

Welcome to our second meeting in August!

Barb was the toastmaster of the day. Her GAT(e) team comprised of the Grammarian – Robert (pithy); Ah-Counter - Pauline; and Timer - Diana.
 
 Jung was the first speaker of the day, speaking from the CC Manual – Your Body Speaks. The title of her talk was “Perspective” which she completed within 7 minutes.


Through her talk, Jung shed light on the fact that a person's perspective makes a huge difference in his/her life. While one may view a circumstance as disempowering or feel that they are being taken advantage of, another with a positive perspective views the bright side of the same situation. Jung reinforced her point by enacting 2 stories in a very engaging manner. For her inspiring talk, Jung was voted the best speaker!

Evaluating Jung's speech was Tobias. He was especially impressed by Jung's speech delivery style and the ease with which she presented herself being a non-native English speaker. With excellent body gestures teamed up with humor and props, Tobias felt inspired by Jung's speech and her message. 




Our second speaker of the day was Jim. He spoke from the Advanced Communication Manual "Humorously Speaking" Project 1 - Warm up the Audience. Through his talk entitled "Aging is Funny", Jim walked us through the 3 different dictionary meanings of the word funny and how it relates to aging in his opinion. His talk was continuously woven with humor also taking into account how the world views aging today.

Evaluating Jim's speech was Warren. With effective organization, Warren thought Jim’s speech was humorous and entertaining throughout. His great body gestures and especially excellent facial expressions added an additional pizzaz to the speech. Warren was voted the best evaluator.




Our Table Topics master was our Linda. This was her last meeting before she moves to California where she will be taking up her new job. OUR BEST WISHES TO YOU LINDA!

As the topics master, she brought some items very dear to her in a box. She had the topics speaker pick up one item and sell it to the audience. Speakers included Tobias, Warren, Dan and Jean. Each of them had a unique way of selling which filled the room with laughter. For his funny and interactive selling campaign, Tobias was voted the best in this category.


As the humorist, Diana shared with us few humorous 
instances from her life revolving around her family.

After the meeting was officially dismissed, members and guests sat down to listen to Amritha’s 9-year-old daughter, Shreya present her prepared speech. She was given this opportunity since she was inspired by members of our club and expressed interest to speak. Since technically she cannot be a member (due to age restrictions), the club officers came up with a work-around – they listened to her talk after the meeting concluded.

Shreya spoke for about 3 minutes about all the fun she has been having this summer vacation. From her narration, we could make out that the neighborhood she lives in is a really fun place to be with lots of kids to play. In addition, all families come together to celebrate Independence Day and have special movie nights every once in a while. It was a delight to hear her speak!

If you are looking for a safe and supportive place to allow your children to explore the world of public speaking, please know that there are Gavel clubs. They are a part of Toastmasters Youth program. These clubs follow a similar structure as Toastmaster club and is specifically for young children below 17 years of age. For those of you interested, you can find more details here: http://d2.toastmastersdistricts.org/Youth_Programs___Gavel_Clubs_.html. Shreya has plans to visit one with her mom soon!

There were ­­14 members in attendance, including Amritha, Barb, Dan, Diana, Jean, Jim, Julie, Jung, Kathy, Linda, Pauline, Robert, Tobias and Warren.
Our 4 guests of the day were: Elijah, Frances Ann, Shreya K. and Yash K.

Respectfully Submitted,
Amritha Imandi, Acting Secretary
Public Speaking Northwest #9406
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Thursday, August 4, 2016

August 2, 2016 - Theme: The Great Debate!

"You know what 'DOUBT' stands for?  It stands for 'Debate On Understanding Bewildersome Thoughts.'" - Gary Busey

Welcome to Public Speaking Northwest’s first meeting in August! Jessica was the Toastmaster of the day, introducing the theme of “The Great Debate” by telling stories of famous debates throughout American History. 



Her GATE team was comprised of the Grammarian, Pauline (Insidious); Ah-Counter, Julie; and Timer, Jung.


 

Nancy was the first speaker of the day, speaking from the Competent Communicator manual, project #4 – How To Say It. The title of her talk was “Adventures in Activism,” which she completed within 7 minutes. Nancy gave us a riveting speech about how she helped champion a movement to turn a dangerous highway into a safer place for drivers. Her passion during her speech and her campaign to help transform the road, convinced us that we are each capable of making a difference. For her emotional speech, Nancy was awarded Best Speaker!

Evaluating Nancy’s speech was Linda. As Linda had missed the first part of her speech, she had the great idea of turning to the audience to do a round robin, where all Toastmasters and guests alike were available to give Nancy feedback – all of which was positive!

 

Amritha was the second speaker of the day, speaking from the Storytelling manual, project #3 – The Moral of The Story. The title of her talk was “Dangers of Instantaneous Reaction,” which she completed within 7 minutes. Amritha told us a folktale about a couple who trusted their baby with a mongoose. The mongoose protected the baby in a dangerous altercation, but was mistakenly believed to have been the perpetrator and immediately kicked out, never to return. The moral of the story is that making a snap judgment could shut someone out who was only trying to help, and that we should all take a minute to stop and think before having an instantaneous reaction.

Barb evaluated Amritha’s speech. She commended Amritha on a job well done, especially with her dramatic pauses, tone, and inflection. She did suggest that more preparation, and a bit more clarity in translation between Indian and English jargon would help to elucidate the story.

 

The third speaker of the day was Randy, speaking from the Competent Communicator manual, project #2 – Organize Your Speech. Randy gave a speech entitled “Diffuse to Develop – Three Steps to Develop Solutions to Client Complaints,” which he completed within 7 minutes. He supplied us with three solid steps for how to appease upset customers: Acknowledge, Align, and Assure. Randy showed us how using these three simple steps is a way that many companies promote healthy customer service. In his presentation, he provided both a handout and a visual aid to assist in his speech.

Evaluating Randy’s speech was Jean. Jean commended Randy on a job well done, and encouraged him to keep going! One suggestion she had was to use the floor space with purpose.

    

Jim was the Table Topics host for the day. He made various expressions and gestures for speakers to elaborate upon. Participants were Linda, Uliana, and Grace. Linda took home the Best Table Topics speaker award!

Finally, our meeting concluded with a general evaluation by Warren and a humorous joke from Robert. There were 15 Members in attendance, including Amritha, Barb, Diana, Grace, Jean, Jessica, Jim, Julie, Jung, Linda, Nancy, Pauline, Randy, Robert, and Warren, as well as 4 guests: John, Uliana, Yash, and Shreya. Hope you join us again next week!


Respectfully Submitted,
Jessica DiPietro, Secretary
Public Speaking Northwest #9406