Meeting Minutes

December 21, 2021

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

·      Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 4, 2022.

·      Our Area Director, David Koch, announced that it is time to prepare for our speech contest in February. We will need to choose a contest chair and set a date.

·      He also reminded officers to get trained.

 

Members in Attendance (in alphabetical order): Barb, Kelly, Lynn C., Lynne D, Mara, Nancy, Nevin, Robert

 

Guests in Attendance: David Koch, Area Director

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by our President, Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was: Winter Solstice Party

 

The word of the day was “scintillating,” an adjective that means sparkling, like the snow under a full moon. It also means brilliantly and excitingly clever or skillful.

 

Our Toastmaster was Mara who talked about the Solstice Party that her family used to have at their old house and which they are re-instituting again this year at their new house.

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Barb

Ah Counter – Barb

Timer – Nevin

General Evaluator – Nancy

 

Our Speaker #1 was Robert with his speech, “It’s Time,” 6-8 minutes, Engaging Humor Path, Level 2, Connect with an audience. Robert mused on time and its many aspects.  He used many quotes and introduced each quote with the sound of a clock ticking. His speech was philosophical, humorous, and poetic with many interesting and unusual turns of phrase.

 

Our Speaker #2 was Lynn C with her speech, “What Language Do You Speak,” 5-7 minutes, Presentation Mastery Path, Level 1, Evaluation and Feedback. This was her revised speech on this topic, incorporating the feedback that she had received the last time that she delivered the speech.

 

Our Evaluator #1 was David who praised Robert’s constant use of interesting language and humor.  He commented on Robert’s “professorial” voice and suggested more vocal variety. David said that he was entertained throughout the speech.

Our Evaluator #2 was Lynne D. who praised Lynn C’s re-write of the speech, with her excellent slides, good pace, comfortable demeanor and organization. She also commented on Lynn’s explanation of the credentials of the man that wrote the book that Lynn had based her speech on.

 

Our Table Topics Master was Kelly who picked an unusual and uplifting theme for her questions.  She asked us to “pay it forward with kindness” by commenting on one person that we admired in the club.

 

Nancy picked Robert, saying that she adored his brain, his humor, his kindness and his ability to weave things together.

 

Nevin picked Kelly, commenting about what a good speaker she is and how much she brings to our meetings.

 

Barb picked Lynne D, acknowledging her long service to the club as our sergeant at arms, Lynne’s kindness, and Barb’s belief that she could share anything with Lynne.

 

Mara picked Lynn C, recognizing Lynn’s contributions as our president, her heart of gold, and how much Lynn gives to our meetings.

 

Our General Evaluator, Nancy, had high praise for the meeting and appreciated our Area Director David for stepping into the role of Evaluator.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

December 14, 2021

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

Our Vice President of Education (VPE), Nancy, announced that Mara has completed Level 4 of the Engaging Humor Path.

 

The meeting on December 21 will be our last meeting in December.

 

All officers have agreed to continue in their roles until June, 30, 2022, so there was no need for a vote.

 

Members in Attendance (in alphabetical order): Barb, Jessica, Jim, Kate, Kelly, Lynn C., Lynne D., Nancy, Nevin, Nguyet, Robert, Warren

 

Guests in Attendance: n/a

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by our President, Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was: Songs of the Season

 

The word of the day was “Molligrubs,” a noun that means grumpiness, as in, “The old man had the molligrubs.

 

Our Toastmaster was Lynne D, who had illustrated the agenda with pictures representing 5 songs: Jingle Bells, Silent Night, 12 Days of Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and White Christmas.  Throughout the meeting she asked questions about the history of each song.

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Kelly

Ah Counter – Lynn C.

Timer – Warren

General Evaluator – Barb

 

Our Speaker was Mara with her speech, “The NYC Streets and Me,” 8-10 minutes, Presentation Mastery Path, Level 1, Researching and Presenting. Mara talked about her recent trip to New York with a friend, to visit Mara’s youngest son who lives there now. She organized the speech around the methods of travel that she had experienced in exploring the city – Uber, double-decker bus, subway, and walking.  Her speech was enhanced with many photographs and descriptions.

 

Our Evaluator was Jim who praised Mara for making a potentially boring research speech into a very-well organized and entertaining story.  Jim suggested that Mara include more emotion in her speech.

 

Our Table Topics Master was Nguyet who asked questions about some Christmas songs and how they had been performed by certain musicians.

 

Jessica said that “all she wanted for Christmas” was that her kids could enjoy Christmas and family.

 

Nevin talked about his most bizarre Christmas, playing piano at a Christmas service at age 14.

 

Nancy gave us a story about her most comical Christmas.

 

Barb described the wacky ways that she had prevented Christmas trees from being knocked down by cats and little children.

 

In response to a question on the song, “Grandma Got Run Over with a Reindeer,” Lynne D described how when she was a girl in Seattle, Santa always arrived in a pick up truck.

 

In response to the song “Feliz Navidad,” Robert talked about a trip that he and his wife had made to Merida, Mexico at Christmas one year.

 

Kelly discussed the most memorable event that happened at her last Christmas – a woman falling in the airport and no one willing to help her, and another man yelling at the woman for lowering her face mask to say thank you.

 

Our General Evaluator, Barb, expressed what a wonderful meeting it had been, well-organized and filled with laughter and warmth.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

December 7, 2021

 

Meeting started approximately 1:00 p.m.

 

Officers in Attendance: Lynn C., Barb, Nancy, Lynne D., Kate

Written reports: Mara and Jinxin

 

Announcement:  Elections for new officers will be held next week.  All current offices have agreed to continue in their current roles.

 

Minutes from the November meeting were not available.

 

Officer Reports

Report from VPE Nancy: 

·      We have 6 goals completed for the DCP, because many members are completing levels.  We have a good chance of being President’s Distinguished this year if we have 20 members on June 30,2022.

·      Nancy reminded us to sign up for officer training.

·      Nancy has published a new club calendar and reminded us of upcoming events, including officer training (December and January), our traditional White Elephant party in January, and the club’s speech contest in February.

 

Report from VPM Kate:

·      We have had 4 inquiries about the club this month, and 2 of those people have been guests.  We have had 5 guests in the last month, and we currently have 16 paid members.  Kate is aware that one member (Nevin) may drop out when he starts classes.

·      Kate will not continue as VPM beyond June 30, 2022.  She will do a “Succession Plan” to ensure a smooth handover and to fulfill one of the requirements for Level 5 of her Path.

 

Report from VPPR Mara:

·      We now have an active “Google My Business” account.  Mara requested that we all review the site.

 

Report from SSA Lynne D:

·      Lynne requested that Toastmasters add a step in the agenda, reminding the Zoom meeting host to start recording speeches and evaluations.  That step will provide a smoother transition for everyone.

·      Lynne and Mara continue looking for a location for us to have on-site meetings.  No luck so far.

 

Report from Treasurer Jinxin:

·      Jinxin is willing to continue as Treasurer, but she has had difficulty dealing with PayPal. After discussion, we decided to rename our PayPal account to Treasurer@gmail.com and Barb agreed to let PayPal use her email and social security number, because they already have this information for her personal PayPal account.

 

Report from President, Lynn C

·      Lynn’s new job presents challenges for attending every meeting.  We agreed that she can use a substitute to run the meeting if necessary.  Ordinarily, the substitute would be Nancy.  If Nancy is not available, another officer can substitute.

 

·      We will have officer elections next week.

 

The meeting adjourned at approximately 1:50 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

December 7, 2021

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

Our Vice President of Education (VPE), Nancy, announced that Mara has completed Level 4 of the Engaging Humor Path.

 

Members in Attendance (in alphabetical order): Barb, Jessica, Jim, Jinxin, Kate, Kelly, Lynn C., Lynne D., Nancy, Nguyet, Robert, Warren

 

Guest in Attendance: Maria Cubacha (former toastmaster, some years ago)

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by our President, Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was: December Special Days

The word of the day was “merriment”

 

Our Toastmaster was Nancy, who mentioned the commonly known holiday celebrations in December.  Then she kept us entertained naming some of the national  special days in December including, for example:

December 3 – National Socks Day

December 7 – National Cotton Candy Day and National Dog Manicurists Day

December 15 – National Wear Your Pearls Day

December 17 – National Ugly Sweater Day and National Maple Syrup Day

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Jessica.

Ah Counter – Nguyet

Timer – Robert

General Evaluator – Warren

 

Our Speaker was Jinxin with her speech, “Shaking Up Your Diet,” 5-7minutes. Jinxin was doing a Persuasive Speech, Level 3, Presentation Mastery, and she was very successful persuading us to take personal responsibility for limiting the salt in our diets.  She started by telling us that frozen meals (TV dinners) have an excessively large amount of salt in them.  The recommended amount of salt that we should have each day is 200-300 mg.  Americans eat 60% more than that.  Salt is a slow killer; 3 million American deaths are attributed each year to salt intake.  She suggested eating home-cooked meals made of unprocessed ingredients.  Jinxin pointed out that some foods have a lot of salt in them, but the salt is masked by other ingredients.  Bread is a good example of that.  One slice of bread has 172 mg of salt.

 

Our Evaluator was Kate who explained the objectives for Jinxin’s speech and complimented her on hitting every single objective.  She also commented on the great title and very effective conclusion.

Our Table Topics Master was Lynn C who asked us to act like we were interviewing for jobs related to the National Days of theme of the meeting.

 

Kate was asked to apply for a hair stylist job for monkeys, building on her award-winning experience as a hair stylist for lions.

 

When asked to be a foot model for socks, Jim extolled funny socks, saying that funny socks demonstrated a person’s personality and helped develop spontaneity and creativity.

 

Barb was interviewed for a job inventing new flavors for cotton candy.  She suggested using the flavors of vaping products, including fruit, mint, nuts and marijuana.

 

For dog manicurist day, Lynne D suggested calling it “dog-acurist” day.  She recommended adding nail polish in different colors to match the doggy outfits, along with designs such as pictures of cats.  This led her to propose National “Cat-acurist” Day.

 

Jessica was hired for the position of bubble bath consultant, suggesting new scents for bubble bath for National Bubble Bath Party Day.  She thought champagne would be a good scent, because it is also known as “bubbly.”

 

Maria explained how she would make an interesting short film about grass growing, using flowers blooming, butterflies dancing over the grass, and other creatures to create color and interest.

 

Nguyet explained how she used exclusively food products for her painting, and she mentioned many food products including maple syrup.

 

Warren gave a detailed plan for acquiring ugly sweaters, including where to buy them (Goodwill) and at what time of the year (the week between Christmas and New Years.  This was in reference to National Ugly Sweater Day.

 

Jinxin applied for a job as a diver for pearls, in response to the question about National Wear Your Pearls Day.

 

Our General Evaluator, Warren, commented on the “insanity and preposterousness” of the meeting, referring to the laughter created by the wonderful table topics and other humor.  Warren complimented the efforts of the toastmaster, the GATE team, the evaluator, and especially the Table Topics Master.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

November 30, 2021

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

Our Vice President of Education (VPE), Nancy, announced:

·      Kelly has completed Level 1 of the Presentation Mastery Path

·      Jinxin has completed Level 2 of the Presentation Mastery Path

 

Members in Attendance (in alphabetical order): Barb, Jessica, Jim, Jinxin, Kate, Kelly, Lynn C., Lynne D., Mara, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert, Warren

 

Guests in Attendance: None

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by our President, Lynn C.

 

Our Toastmaster was Kate, who shared information about original movie inventors (Thomas Edison, Mayer, etc.) and how they invented movie practices, for example, special effects.

 

The meeting theme was: Let’s Go to the Movies!

 

The word of the day was “adaptation”

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Lynne D.

Ah Counter – Lynne D.

Timer – Jessica

General Evaluator – Robert

 

Our Speaker was Nguyet with her speech, “What’s For Dinner.” This was her Ice Breaker, 4-6 minutes.  In her speech, Nguyet talked about how dinners had become bonding experiences, celebrating family occasions and meeting new friends from many different countries.  She also talked about Thrive, the start-up company for which she is the User Experience Designer.

 

Our Evaluator was Warren who recognized Nguyet’s success with the two goals of the ice breaker, introducing herself to the club and learning how to organize a speech.  He complimented her on her use of humor, made a few gentle suggestions, and concluded by saying that she had accomplished a fantastic start to her career as a toastmaster.

 

Our Table Topics Master was Jinxin with questions about famous movies. 

Nancy talked about the Harry Potter movie and books.  Kelly explained her admiration of the actor Sean Connery.  Robert discussed his first experience seeing Gone with the Wind.  Jim said that the movie Home Alone was his favorite Christmas movie of all time. Jessica shared her enjoyment of the Godfather movies and Scarface.  Lynne D told us about the first horror movie she saw as a young child.  She also mentioned that Davy Crockett was in the movie, and at the time she believed that Davy Crockett was married to Betty Crocker.

Our General Evaluator was Robert who presented a very humorous evaluation.  In the beginning he commented on the Zoom names of a few toastmasters and appreciated the new tradition of clapping out loud for ice breaker speeches.

Meeting adjourned at 12:59 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary