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
No comments:
Post a Comment