Meeting Minutes

March 22, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

1.    We will have an Open House meeting on March 29.  This is an IMPORTANT MEETING. BRING GUESTS.

2.    First in-person meeting on April 5.

3.    Dues are due by March 31. See emails from Jinxin and Nancy.

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jean, Jim, Jutta, Kate, Kelly, Kristin, Lynne D, Maria, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert

 

Guests in Attendance: Meera

 

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

 

Opening Comments by president pro temp, Nancy.

 

The meeting theme was:  “Welcome Spring”

 

The word of the day was “Revive,” meaning come back to life

 

Our Toastmaster was Mara. She suggested that we “embrace the energy of spring,” prune our Pathways, and sign up for meeting roles in advance, so that our endeavors bear fruit.

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Nancy        

Ah Counter – Nancy

Timer – Kate

General Evaluator – Kelly

 

Speaker #1 was Barb, with her speech “A Special Place,” 6-8 minutes.  Barb told us about a daytrip that she had taken about ten years ago, during which she discovered a special place called Toastmasters.  This was a reminder to pay our dues.

 

Evaluator #1 was Maria, who said that she loved Barb’s story, the props, gestures, and sound of pennies dropping. Maria suggested that Barb watch the cursor position when she is sharing a screen and explain in the beginning that this is a fable. She also suggested asking a rhetorical question to involve the audience more.

 

Table Topics

Amy lead table topics, based on the Greek goddess of Persephone who returns to the earth from Hades in the spring.

 

Kristin talked about what is needed to tend her rose garden.

Kate planned a party to celebrate Persephone’s return, including flowers, music, and dance.

Meera talked about spring in Nepal, with bananas, pomegranates, grapes, pears and jack fruit.

Nguyet talked about taking Servus, Persephone’s huge 3-headed dog, on a walk.

Jim explained that Persephone should not change a goat back into the farmer that he was previously because of his “underlying pathology.”

Lynne suggested that someone be turned into basil, so that he could return to the “basics” rather than “peripheral ideas.”

 

General Evaluator was Kelly, who complimented many of the people in the meeting, including Barb, Amy, Nguyet, and Kristin.  Kelly also had several helpful suggestions for members, including getting free photos from Creative Commons for our presentations, and putting wax paper over a light bulb to create diffused light.

 

Humorists were Nancy and Robert.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

March 15, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

1.    We will have an Open House meeting on March 29.  This is an IMPORTANT MEETING. BRING GUESTS.

2.    First in-person meeting on April 5.

3.    Dues are due by March 31. See email from Jinxin.

4.    We have a new member: Divya!

 

For our Area Contest on March 11, Jim wrote a new speech in two days.  He didn’t win, but he gave an excellent speech.

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Divya ,Jean, Jim, Kate, Kelly, Kristin, Lynne D, Maria, Nancy, Robert

 

Guests in Attendance: Meera

 

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

 

Opening Comments by president pro temp, Nancy.

 

The meeting theme was:  “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

 

The word of the day was “Galore,” meaning “in abundance.”

 

Our Toastmaster was Kelly. She produced a colorful agenda and celebrated St. Patrick’s day with us. She also held a raffle and people who wore green had two chances to win.  The winner was Kristin.  Kelly said that she would send the prize by email to Kristin.

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Amy

Ah Counter – Amy

Timer – Lynne D

General Evaluator – Maria

 

Speaker #1 was Nancy, with her speech “Wrapping It Up,” 6-8 minutes.  She told us that she had finished two Paths, and focused on the second Path, the Better Speaker Series.  Nancy described all the elements in the series, Controlling Fear, Selecting a Topic, Organizing the Speech, Creating an Introduction, Using Body Language, Charisma, Know Your Audience, Preparation, and Practice Ideas, Not Words.

 

Speaker # 2 was Barb, with her speech, “Wives in History,” 6-8 minutes. Because today is the Ides of March, Barb told us a lot about Julius Caesar by making it a story and focusing on his wives to a certain extent.  She changed the names and challenged the audience to guess who the main figure was (Julius Caesar).

 

Evaluator #1 was Kate, who praised Nancy’s speech, the organization, and the amount of information included.  Kate congratulated Nancy on her “speeches galore,” and how well the speech fit in with her role as VPE. Kate said that Nancy’s eye contact was great.

 

Evaluator #2 was Kristin, who gave Barb high marks for delivery and the story format. She appreciated the introduction and the hand gestures. The speech kept everyone interested and the audience felt included. She said that the title misled her somewhat, because she expected to hear about many wives, not just the wives of one person.  She suggested more focus on the wives, not just the famous man.

 

Table Topics

Jim lead table topics, with a series of questions related to the color green.

 

Meera talked about how the color green means peace in her country.

Amy talked about the green traffic light being on the bottom.

Robert said that Grumpy was the greenest dwarf in the story of Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.

 

General Evaluator was Maria.  She gave a thorough evaluation of the meeting, commenting on all of the roles.  She noted that this was the first time that Kelly had been Toastmaster, and she had done an excellent job.  Maria had a few suggestions: 1) People could schedule their roles in advance, so that we don’t have to spend so much time in the meeting doing that. 2) Maria suggested that Jim give more information with his questions, so that speakers would understand the questions a little better.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

March 8, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

We will have an Open House meeting on March 29.  This is an IMPORTANT MEETING. BRING GUESTS.

 

Jim will be our representative at our Area Contest, Saturday March 12, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Use this link to register to attend the contest: https://d2tm.org/event/areas-51-52-53-54-55-contest/

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jean, Jim, Jutta, Kate, Lynn C, Lynne D, Maria, , Nancy, Nguyet, Warren

 

Guests in Attendance: Meera Basnet

 

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

 

Opening Comments by president pro temp, Nancy.

 

The meeting theme was:  “Spring Forward”

 

The word of the day was “polyhistor,” meaning “a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.”

 

Our Toastmaster was Lynne D. She talked about the history of Daylight Savings Time (DST) , and the reasons for it. In the 1700’s, Benjamin Franklin suggested it to the French court, to save on candles.  In 1907 it was suggested to prevent “waste of daylight.”  In WW 1, Germany ordered it to save on fuel. The U.S. has been through different stages in adopting DST.  At present, there is a bill in Congress to change permanently to DST, but it is held up.  Lynne also talked about standardizing “time.” It wasn’t until 1918, in the administration of Teddy Roosevelt, that standard time and time zones were created.  Before that, time was based on the clock of each town, individually.

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Jutta           

Ah Counter – Amy

Timer – Nguyet

General Evaluator – Nancy

 

Speaker #1 was Maria, with her speech “Unlock Your Potential,” 5-7 minutes.  She described the work of psychiatrist Donald Clifton, focused on people’s strengths, and teaching them how to build on them, rather than focusing on mental disease and distress.  Maria gave us a reference to explore further, Clifton Strengths 2.0.

 

Evaluator #1 was Barb, who praised Maria’s speech very strongly, and suggested adding humor where possible, and providing more info on the primary strengths.

 

Table Topics

Instead of Table Topics, we had a round robin for Jim and his speech. There was much praise and a few helpful suggestions.

 

General Evaluator was Kate.  She complimented all roles on the excellent job that they did.  Nancy closed by urging us to attend the Speech Competion.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m. exactly.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

March 1, 2022

 

Meeting started approximately 1:10 p.m.

 

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

 

Minutes from the January meeting were approved.

 

OFFICER REPORTS

 

Report from VPE Nancy: 

·      With Jutta’s speech today giving us another Level 1 award, we have completed 8 goals in the Distinguished Club Program (DCP). If we get one more Level 2 and we get 1 more new member, we will have a perfect 10.

·      All officers have been trained. This earns us $50 from District 2 which we can use to offset our Zoom costs.

·      We need more people to give speeches.

 

Report from VPM Kate:

·      We have 2 new members (Amy and Maria).  

·      Divya and Meera both seem very interested in joining.

·      Our guest, Holly from last week, seemed interested, but she has work restraints which may prevent her from joining.

·      We have had three other inquiries this month, including one from Randy Barber, a former member.

·      Kate has been updating her VPM materials in preparation for training a new VPM.

Report from VPPR Mara:

·      Mara is continuing with promoting our club on social media.

·      Mara has set up our club meeting on Recurring Events in Facebook.

·      For our initial in-person meeting in April, Mara will be the Toastmaster and Lynne will give a speech.

 

Report from SSA Lynne:

·      Contracts have been signed and payment arrangements made with Country Inn and Suites.

·      Jim Tracy has volunteered to bring his projector, if needed.

·      The cost of the room is $100 plus 10.1% sales cost.  Country Inn has dropped the additional gratuity charge.

·       Lynne led a discussion on whether or not to participate in the Zoom class action suit.  The officers agreed that there is no need to participate.

 

Report from Secretary Barb: Nothing to report.

Report from Treasurer Jinxin. No report received.

 

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS

 

·      We discussed having a Zoom Open House meeting in March, to take advantage of $50 incentive from District 2. We set the date as March 29.  Possible themes: a FUN story-telling theme or an In-Person Protocol meeting.  Kate agreed to be the Toastmaster. Amy may be giving her Ice Breaker speech.

·      We discussed other incentives that D2 and Toastmasters are offering.  Mara agreed to make a short video promoting the club in the next two weeks, in order to take advantage of one of the incentives, $50.

 

·      We discussed ways to promote the in-person meeting and Open House.  Nancy suggested an article in Starburst.  Mara will be promoting both events in social media.  In addition, Kate will send out email to former members, guests, and people who inquired about the club, promoting both the Open House and the In-Person Meeting.

 

·      In-person meetings will be held on April 5, May 3, and June 7.  We will not have in-person meetings in the summer.

 

·      Once we start in-person meetings, the officer meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of every month.  Therefore, the next officer meeting will be on April 12.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 because business was complete.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

March 1, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

We will resume having in-person meetings on the first Tuesdays of April, May, and June. The first in-person meeting will be April 5, 2022. More information will be provided at future meetings.

 

With his speech today, Jutta completes his Level 1 in Pathways

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jim, Jutta, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert

 

Guests in Attendance: Meera Basnet, Divya Arisetty

 

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

 

Opening Comments by President Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was:  “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”

 

The word of the day was “Imbue”

 

Our Toastmaster was Barb.  She explained the meaning of the meeting theme, read the poem of that name, and talked about a Japanese manga TV series and film called “Comes in Like a Lion.”

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Lynne D    

Ah Counter – Lynne D

Timer – Amy

General Evaluator – Nancy

 

Speaker #1 was Jutta, who gave his ice breaker speech, describing his Masters in Computer Science, his family, and his entertainment with them. We really felt like we know Jutta much better after his speech.  (By the way, his name is pronounced “Yutta.”)

 

Evaluator #1 was Robert .  Robert started by congratulating Jutta on his upcoming marriage anniversary, March 3.  He complimented Jutta’s in-depth description of his history, family, and especially his children. Robert also acknowledged Jutta’s effective use of head movements and eye contact.  His suggestions included more vocal variety and centering himself top-to-bottom in the camera frame.

 

Table Topics Master was Mara

Mara asked us to deliver our table topics using the lion and lamb metaphor, loud and soft.

 

Meera was asked about the birds she sees returning in your yard in the spring. We were entertained with her description of the birds in her native Nepal, and also the live lion that she saw once.

Maria was asked about her favorite season. She started by saying that Seattle has only two seasons – rain and summer. Then she discussed the beauty of fall here.

Jim was asked about his spring cleaning. He responded that he would never be interested in spring cleaning.  In then went on to discuss the considerable clutter on his desk and in his garage.

Lynn C talked about her spring eating habits: Ice cream, berries, and celery juice.

Divya focused on flowers, especially her favorite, roses.

Nguyet talked about her and her husband’s reaction to the time change in March. Her husband refused to change the time in his car and doesn’t like the time change. Nguyet changes the clocks in her house and has mixed feelings about “springing ahead.”

Lynne D talked about how much she likes rainbows, and she was very eloquent describing different types of rainbows and the situations in which they appear.

 

General Evaluator was Nancy.  She complimented all roles on the excellent job that they did.  Nancy talked about feeling happy and pleased with the meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m. exactly.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary