Public Speaking Northwest Promotes the Words of Bill Gates

Public speaking and leadership training are the goals of toastmasters. That’s why we agree with Bill Gates who said, 

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”

At Public Speaking Northwest we empower each member to be a good leader and speaker. They, in turn, empower others.

Barb, our President, opened the meeting with Jan S., Barbara, Yanhong, Ken, Kate, Juliet, John, Tammy (Our Area Governor) Jean, Kyle, and Casey. 

Our two guests were Tracy and Sam.

 

Jan, as the toastmaster of the meeting, set the theme: “Life Is Bountiful.” Jan presented a fine agenda and interspersed inspiring comments throughout meeting about the theme.

Our first speaker, Yanhong, entitled her presentation: “Joys in Summer.” Yanhong described wonderful trips in Alaska, Canada, and on the Oregon coast with her family and her parents-in-law from China. Thanks, Yanhong, for reminding us of the beauty surrounding us.

Our second speaker, Ken, gave his talk, “Luck Favors the Prepared.” His formula, “If you have an intention, you need a method to get results. He used the acronym, SMART, meaning your method must be Specific, Measurable,Attainable,Relevant, and Timed. Thanks for this great leadership presentation, Ken.

Jean, as Table Topics Master, gave members quotes from famous toastmasters like the founder of Mrs. Field’s Cookies and the founder of Coors Brewing Company. Juliet, Casey, and Pierce took the challenge.

 

Pierce also evaluated Yanhong’s speech with specific praise and a few suggestions.

Ana evaluated Ken’s talk and marveled at all we learned from him.  She offered a few pointers too.

Jean evaluated the meeting as a whole. She had very little suggestions for improvement because this dynamic meeting was filled with positive energy.

The Blue Ribbon Winners:

Best Speaker ~ Ken

Best Table Topics ~ Pierce

Best Evaluator ~ Ana

Congratulations to all!

News You Can Use:

1. Our Division E Contest will be on Thursday, October 18^th at the Redmond Library. Kate, our Area Contest winner will represent our club for Table Topics. Let’s be there to support her.

 2. Our District 2 Fall Conference will be on Saturday, November 10^th at the Lynnwood Convention Center. District conferences are always exciting, fun, and educational.

3. Our guests, Sam and Tracy became members today. Welcome Sam and Tracy!

*****Today's photographer was Mihaela. Thank you Mihaela!  

 

 Picture of the day ~ Yanhong.

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

 We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

 To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356 

Respectfully submitted,

       

     Jean Tracy, DTM

    Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest Promotes Friendships

Our toastmaster theme, friendship, agrees with the words of Albert Camus ~

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

Barb, our president, opened the meeting with John, Jan Z., Jan S., Yanhong, Barbara, Cindy, Jamie, Juliet, Cary, Ana, Ken, Emery, Kate, Mihaela, Prema, Lynne, and Jean in attendance.

As the toastmaster of the day, Barb announced that “Friendship” would be our theme. She proceeded to share beautiful stories of unlikely friendships in the animal kingdom, like the story of the leopard and the cow.

Barb praised both Cary and Kate for participating in the Area Toastmaster Contest. Both improved significantly. Kate won the Table Topics Contest. Congratulations, Kate!

Jamie, our first speaker, entitled his talk Quarters from Heaven. To the surprise of his wife, Cindy, his presentation was about how she approaches life with playfulness. “While Cindy enjoyed a double shot skinny latte,” said Jamie, “she overheard a bored little 8-year-old with his dad and a friend.” His dad said “No!” to the boys demand for a quarter.

The boy said, “Okay, I’m gonna ask somebody here in the mall for a quarter.” His dad warned,

“You don’t want people to think you are some beggar do you?”

This is when Cindy began rolling quarters on the ground toward the boy while she pretended to be on her cell phone. The boy didn’t suspect Cindy as he exclaimed, “Dad, this place is magic! It’s raining quarters here!”

Jamie encouraged us to approach our days with playfulness. We just might make someone’s difficult day magical.

Thanks Jamie, even though you just had surgery and you were hopping around on crutches, you thoroughly entertained us. What a great example you are!

Cary evaluated Jamie with praise. He told Jamie that he and his wife are very much like his own mother and father. No wonder Cary is such a great guy!

Juliet, our second speaker, entitled her talk, Just Say No! She reminded us of first lady, Nancy Reagan's slogan for the War on Drugs. Juliet said she had a problem to solve. Just saying no was difficult for her. 

As a nurse in a county hospital she’d just finish her shift only to be asked to fill in for another nurse. Double shifts and exhaustion became her life.

Juliet knew she had to say no or she’d burn out. She knew Nancy Reagan would be disappointed in her. Juliet started reading a book called, Boundaries. She learned that she felt responsible for others and that she needed only to be responsible to others by being kind and fulfilling her commitments to them.

She advised us to be alert if we fail to say “No!” because of our:

• Fear of hurting other’s feelings
• Fear of abandonment
• Fear of being selfish or feeling guilty

Juliet ended by having specific members of the audience ask her to do things. Just like the advice in her talk, she just said, “No!”

Thanks Juliet. This was such a helpful talk for all of us.

Jamie evaluated Juliet’s talk by telling her the many things he liked about her presentation. He commended her for involving the audience in her speech.

 

Ana, our table topic master, presented a colorful bag filled with curious objects. She instructed us to pick out 2 objects at a time and show how they’re connected.

 

Cary chose a frog and a walnut. He talked about catching "nutty" bull frogs with his friend Cameron.

 

Lynne pick out a Hawaiian dancer and a hamburger.  The girl was hungry and just had to have a burger and milk shake.

Cindy selected a tiny bottle of seashells and a little pig. Seashells represented vacations in Cancun, while pigs show us how to get down and dirty and have fun.

Emery, our general evaluator, praised the good points about our meeting and gave us a few areas to improve. General evaluators are notorious for advancing our skills. Thank you, Emery.

The Blue Ribbon Winners Are:

Best Speaker: Juliet

Best Evaluator: Jamie

Best Table Topics: Cindy

Congratulations to all!

*****Today's photographer was Lynne. Thank you Lynne!

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

  

We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356 

 

 Respectfully submitted,

  Jean Tracy, DTM

Public Speaking Northwest Prepares for the Area Contest!

Public Speaking Northwest agrees with Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall."  

Our speakers today, Cary and Kate, practiced for the upcoming  Area Contest this Friday. Their words were carved and clear. Stay tuned.


Our President, Barb, welcomed Jan S. Juliet, Prema, Kate, Lynne, Kyle, Casey, Emery, Jan Z., Jean, and, our special guest...

Our Area Governor, Tammy!

Our first speaker, Kate, delivered her Ice Breaker. This was her very first talk in our toastmaster club. Her speech, "My Career in Volunteerism," was dedicated to her late mother, who ran the speech program at her elementary school. Due to her mother's influence Kate wants to become a proficient speaker.

Kate revealed that her volunteer roots began at age 14 when she delivered gifts and flowers at the local hospital. Kate has volunteered at 15 different agencies and believes that when you give you get back tenfold.

Kate shared how she had helped students from Belarus who had suffered from the Chernobyl disaster.

She taught them English, got prescription glasses for one, and an apartment for the other and her grandmother. (The latter girl and her grandmother had lived in a barn.)

Kate also shared how she learned leadership skills by heading an auction for her children's school. She said it was either be the chairman or pay higher tuition. The auction prospered and so did the school. The tuition remained the same for the students too.

Someday Kate hopes to become a hospice volunteer because the dying can profit by those who care.

We felt we got to know better Kate better and feel enriched by Kate's presence in our club. Thanks, Kate, you spoke well as you shared yourself with us. We look forward to knowing you even more.

Jean evaluated Kate's speech with praise for repeatedly using the set of 3 from her mother's advice. They included:

1. Smile
2. Use eye contact with the audience
3. Use effective gestures

Jean also complimented Kate for using stories which immediately caught our attention and drew us in.
 

Cary won our Humorous Speech Contest at our Club level last week and received his trophy today.

Cary also shared a new version of his contest speech. He used pauses to set up his humor, and told 3 fun stories about his cousin. Right now his presentation is a secret because he'll be giving it at the Area Contest for our District this Friday.
 
We gave Cary a round robin evaluation with praise and suggestions for improvement. It was clear that our members are enthused about his talk. We wish him the best.

Lynne was our club's Table Topic winner last week and received her engraved trophy today. Lynne won't be in town for the contest on Friday. Kate, as our first runner-up will replace her.

Lynne was also the table topic master today and had members pick an autumn poem and comment on it. Of course, she picked Kate to respond so that Kate would have more practice for the Area Contest.

Kate picked, "Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in the autumn." ~ Charles Hare. 

Kate did a fine job by talking about the need to prepare for our goals if we want to harvest good results. 

Kyle picked, "Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits." ~ Samuel Butler

He said, "Winter needs the seeds we plant we in the ease of spring and summer to reap the fruits of autumn."

Our Blue Ribbon Winners!

Best Speaker ~ Kate

Best Table Topics ~ Kate

Best Evaluator ~ Jean

News You Can Use!

Our Area Contest will be held this Friday at 5:30 PM. It will include Humorous and Table Topic contestants from our neighboring toastmaster clubs. The contest will be held here at our own Seattle Times Building. Everyone is invited.

*****Today's photographer was Kyle. Thank you Kyle!

If you'd like to join us for polishing your presentations, developing leadership skills, and making friends, we welcome you.

 
We meet every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 PM. You'll find us at the Seattle Times Building in Bothell, Washington ~ 19200 120th Avenue NE. Feel free to bring your lunch.

 
To find out more contact: Emery Jordan at: gejordan9@comcast.net (206) 235-1356

Respectfully submitted,

 

 





     Secretary,

     Jean Tracy, DTM