Public Speaking Northwest #9406

 

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