Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

May 24, 2022

 

Meeting started approximately 1:10 p.m.

 

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

 

Minutes from the April meeting were approved.

 

OFFICER REPORTS

 

Report from VPE Nancy:

·       TI Website is down so she wasn’t able to get the most recent DCP report

·       We have 21 members now

 

Report from VPM Mara:

·       Lynne D will be taking over the membership role for the July 2022 officer list.

·       Mara will be the temporary VPM starting effective today (to take over for Kate who is going on medical leave) and until Lynne gets back from her summer travels in September.

·       Lynne D & Mara met with Kate yesterday (5/23/22) and got her templates, lists and instructions for membership. 

·       Mara will request help from Nancy to learn how to onboard a new member on the PNW website and with Jinxin to execute a smooth handoff for new applicants. 

·       Mara sent the Zoom link and agenda to new member Dan and guests Jeevana, Atul, Michelle and Sravya this morning and also gave her contact information for future questions. 

 

Report from VPPR Mara:

·       Mara continues to update our Facebook page regularly and field questions via messenger from potential guests (Jeevana recently came via Messenger).

·       The in-person events also have their own "event" set up on our public page. Additional email reminders are sent from Mara for in-person events to remind members & guests.

·       We continue to rank high (first) in the Google search of "toastmasters Bothell". We have two 5-star reviews.

·       Can one or two officers please go in and give another 5-star review. The goal is to keep adding reviews (not everyone at once). Here is the link to add a review: https://g.page/r/CUWIx_wIsvMYEB0/review

 

Report from SSA Lynne:

·       We have a new Zoom link for the next 50 weeks. Lynne will notify members of the new link.

·       Next week, at the in-person meeting, Barb will arrive at 11:00 to do the set up with Lynne (to learn the SSA job)

·       Barb and Lynne will meet via Zoom so that Barb can learn how to be a Zoom host

·       Lynne is arranging for new mentors for Kate’s proteges

 

Report from Secretary Barb: Nothing to report.

 

Report from Treasurer Jinxin. Out of town; will send report later.

 

Report from Mara on future meeting space:

·       We have tentatively secured a meeting room at McMenamins in Bothell for the July 2022 meeting. Lynn Connell, as a Bothell resident was able to request & secure it however she will not be in town that day and they require the person who signs the contract to be onsite.

·       We are looking for another Bothell resident who can sign the contract and be present at the meeting. This room is free and we plan to secure it for August once the McMenamins calendar opens (60 days out).

·       Lynn agreed to reach out to other members who live in Bothell.

 

·       We are looking for a permanent spot starting Sept 2022 for the first Tuesday of each month. We have been working on two specific locations:

 

1.      ISO - our former location. We were told by our contact Karl that the room remodel is finished and to contact Shannon. Upon contacting Shannon we were told that the room is not available for community use now or in the future.

 

2.     Bristol Meyers Squib (BMS) - our member Maria works at this location which is just north of Canyon Park. They have a 25+ meeting room space, U-shaped tables, plenty of parking and technology built into the room for PowerPoint presentations. They are just opening up and lifting some mask restrictions so by September it would be masks optional for vaccinated people with masks required for unvaccinated people. There is word that this room may go under construction at the end of the year so Maria is finding out more information.

The address is Bristol Myers Squibb

22026 20^th Ave SE | Suite 102 | Bothell, WA 98021

 

Officers for next year:

·       Mara president

·       Nancy, VPE

·       Mara, VPM (July-August) until Lynne returns from her summer travels

·       Lynne, VPM when she returns

·       Kelly VPPR

·       Barb SSA

·       TBD: Secretary  Maria? Amy?

                .    Treasurer Nguyet?

 

It’s a good idea to notify Mara when we have invited a guest to the meeting, but not absolutely necessary.

 

Meeting ended at 1:35 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barb Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

May 24, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements:  Dan Sakaki is a new member and Jeevana is submitting her application this week.

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Dan, Jean, Kelly, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Meera, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert, Warren

Guests: Jeevana Tunuguntia, Atul Goyal, both returning from last week

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

Opening Comments were presented by our President, Lynn C. 

The word of the day was “Treasure,” meaning a quantity of precious metals, gems, or other valuable objects.

Our Toastmaster was Lynne D, who explained the history of yard sales (formerly called rummage sales.  Lynne also told us about low-cost “finds” at garage sales that made thousands, even millions of dollars for the people who bought them.  Very interesting and memorable.

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Mara          

Ah Counter – Meera.

Timer – Robert 

General Evaluator – Jean

Speaker #1 was Amy, with her speech, “A Symbol of Hope,” 5-7 minutes.  Amy told us that the unicorn has been a myth, a symbol of hope, a mystery, a treasure, a brand, one of the most popular mythical beasts, a muse, delight of children and many others.  Amy gave us wonderful descriptions at the beginning, followed by a detailed history of how unicorns were viewed in various eras of Western civilization. 

Table Topics

Kelly asked us to do an active listening exercise.  The first speaker would start a story about yard sales for one to two minutes.  The speaker would end by saying, “And then..” The next speaker would pick up from there and add to the speech, finishing with “And then…”

Jean said that they had a garage sale at her mother’s house, and her son learned about sales, by picking up each item and talking to a customer about it.  Her son made a lot of money and the garage sale was very successful, due to her son’s “magic touch.  And then…

Dan said that Jean came to his door and talked with Dan about her son’s magic touch. Dan followed his example, developed his own magic touch business, expanded it, and was able to quit his regular job, making more money doing garage sales all year.  And then...

Jeevana did not have much success with this approach at first, but developed success by converting the magic touch to online.  And then…

Warren decided that he wasn’t making enough money with yard sales, so he approached his neighbors.  They had a very large yard sale and Warren would get 20% of proceeds. And then…

Atul thought people were trying to sell too quickly and cheaply.  He would price the items higher and be willing to hold them for longer, therefore achieving higher profit margins. He would scale the business and take a higher percentage for himself. And then…

Mara’s husband used to be an antique dealer, and he has a “nose”.  One time he bought a surveyor’s tripod that Mara thought was too expensive.  Her husband made a lamp out of it and sold it for $2,000. Now Mara always trusts his “nose.”  And then…

Lynn brought her husband, who also had a “nose” to a yard sale with her.  He smelled and touched everything, and then picked out one thing that he was sure that he could sell for $5,000 – a $5 pair of socks.  Big laughs and a perfect ending to our story.

Evaluator, Maria, commented on the descriptions in the beginning of the speech, which coordinated well with her virtual background, but background interfered with Amy’s gestures.  Maria said that the speech was very well organized and focused, with purpose.

General Evaluator, Jean, pointed out that several people had welcomed Dan and Jeevana.  She complimented the agenda and theme. Jean said that Table Topics had been very fun and acknowledged our guest Atul for participating.  Jean complimented the evaluator Maria for her kind and generous evaluation and for making good suggestions.

Humorist Nancy made us laugh with more of her riddle jokes, related to the theme.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

May 10, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements: Next week: Nancy will do a 30-40-minute speech on worms at a Master Gardner’s gathering.  Her title will be “Earthworms Are So Cool.”

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jean, Jim, Kelly, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Meera, Nancy, Robert, Warren

Guests: Dan Sakaki, Michelle Stewart, Jeevana Tunuguntia (All three guests are thinking about joining our club.)

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

Opening Comments were presented by our president pro temp Nancy

The meeting theme was: “Jokes”

The word of the day was “Facetious,” meaning funny. 

Our Toastmaster was Nancy, who kept us entertained throughout the meeting with her delightful riddle jokes.

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Amy            

Ah Counter – Jean.

Timer – Maria

General Evaluator – Barb

Speaker #1 was Mara, with her speech, “Spring in NYC,” 5-7 minutes.  Mara shared with us her recent short trip to New York. Her speech and slides featured pictures of spring flowers, museums, Little Park and Central Park, subways where she always felt safe, and the play “Moulin Rouge.” Most of all, her speech focused on the people of New York who were kind and sensitive to each other.

Table Topics

Jim asked questions both serious and facetious.

Maria was asked what painting she would like to walk into, and talked about the painting, “Starry Night,” by Van Gogh and also the song “Starry Starry Night.”

Kelly was asked what shape the door to her house would be, anything but rectangle.  Kelly chose a heart-shaped door, as a symbol of peace. She likes to have people experience her home, with its many living things (hundreds of plants and three cats). She concluded with, “Live out loud and enjoy.”

Robert, talked about selling ice cream at Brighton Beach, carrying a heavy load of containers with ice cream and dry ice, and lightening his load by selling and eating the products.  After that experience he decided not to do jobs that involved physical labor.  His next job was working in a public library.

Jeevana was asked to describe the headline of a newspaper dated January 2100.  She talked about machine learning and automating labor (washing machines, for example).  Jeevana concluded with the headline: “Machines Are Running Us.”

Meera was asked which daily activity she did with the greatest care.  Her answer was, “My job.”  She discussed the importance of being on schedule to build customers’ trust. 

Dan, when asked what pinnacle he would like to stand on, explained that as a kid of six he thought it would be cool to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Today, his fear of heights has grown, and he prefers the safety of low altitudes.

Lynne was asked what animal she would like to have pop out of her clock if not a coo-coo bird.  She chose a pig, because they are so cute. She wanted a “bushel of oinks,” the different tones of real pigs.  It sounded like she wanted to negotiate a contract with the pigs.

Barb was offered a stained glass ornament for her window.  She would like it to be a multi-colored tree or a big, bright, golden sun – two things that she treasures.

Nancy: One of Nancy’s fondest childhood memories was the joy of going to the general store, not with her mother, but with a friend and the friend’s mother.  She could pick out the penny candy that she liked best, bazooka bubble gum and tootsie rolls. 

Amy was asked what she would like to lug around in a pickup truck:  She chose a tiger and fantasized, facetiously, about being at a gas station, people admiring and being eaten by the tiger, saving on the cost of food.

Evaluator, Warren, offered a triple-decker sandwich, talking about what he saw, heard and felt in Mara’s speech.  He complimented the vocal variety, word pictures, and the emotion shown in her speech.

General Evaluator, Barb, said that she had fully enjoyed the meeting.  Lots of laughter with Nancy’s jokes.  Table Topics had some fun and unusual questions.  Warren did an excellent job of evaluating.

The guests enjoyed the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary