9/24/2013 Go Hawks!

The theme for today's meeting was "Go Hawks".  Jerry our Toastmaster shared many interesting facts about the Seahawks.  We learned that several of us are proud to be on the "12th Man" team. Jerry challenged us with many questions about our beloved Hawks. Lynne, our Sargent At Arms knew 99% of the answers. We had several absentees and a few last minute cancellations, but Jerry ran the meeting with skill and grace.



Our first speaker cancelled at the last minute due to illness, so Jerry asked Robert to fill in.  Robert shared with us the humorous presentation he will make at tonight's Area Contest. Robert did a fantastic job! The presentation highlighted Robert's wonderful sense of humor and his love for his daughters. We did a "round robin" for Robert's evaluation.  Seeing the improvement Robert. has made with this presentation, makes us confident he will do well tonight.  Good luck Robert!

Matt was our second speaker. His talk was tittled "The Conversation Stack Up." This was speech #2 from the Competent Communication's Manual. Matt immediately engaged the audience when he asked if we have ever been in a situation where we are trying to get to know someone and the conversation just stalls?  Matt gave us eight simple things to learn to keep a conversation flowing.  They include:
1. Learning the person's name and how to pronounce it correctly
2. Learning where they live
3. Learning about their family
4. Learning about their work
5. Learning about their travels and vacations
6. Learning about their hobbies and favorite forms of entertainment
7. Learning about their dreams and aspirations.
8. Conclude every new conversation with thanking the person for sharing with you.
Thank you Matt for this wonderful presentation.  We all learned ways to engage others in conversations.

Come join our conversation at next week's meeting. You'll be surprised by what you can learn! Guests are always welcome.

 

 

September 17, 2013

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Today's theme was Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.  Kate was our Toastmaster today. Kate reminded us that the goal of Toastmasters was two-fold. To create competent public speakers which therefore creates leaders.  We are all called to be leaders. Some are out front such as Abraham and some are behind the scenes such as Mary Todd. Kate shared some uncommon quotes and antidotes about the Lincolns.

Today's first speaker was Karen. She gave talk #5 from the Competent Communications Manual. The tittle of her presentation was: Change your Questions, Change your Life.  Karen spoke on how to adapt a positve view when faced with challenges. There are two paths we can take. We can choose the "judger path" which is often a knee jerk negative reaction or we can choose a "learner path" which creates a win-win situation. Karen gave an example from last week's meeting. Pat was all set do his presentation using power point, but his computer failed. Pat could have chosen not to present because his equipment failed. However he rose to the challenge and made his presentation without his planned aids and it was very successful. Karen gave us a simple formula to remember:
Event + responsibility = outcome. Choosing the learner path over the judger path creates a positive outcome.

Kathy was our second speaker today. Her tittle was Evaluate to Motivate. Kathy spoke of the importance of evaluations. They are a learning tool, improve our speaking, boost our confidence and build self esteem. Kathy gave us several suggestions for being a good evaluator. They include taking good notes, giving personal antedotes on how the presetation affected you, choosing effective words and putting yourself in the speakers postion. Being a good evaluator benefits the speaker as well as the entire club. We are successful when we learn and grow together.

"I will prepare and some day my chance will come."  Abraham Lincoln

September 10, 2013   Theme:  A Cup of Coffee

Toastmaster Elaine explained that our club meetings are like a cup of coffee: they give us a little boost! When our confidence is increased it's like a little shot, it can give us energy to do things we might not otherwise be able to do. Sometimes just the smell of coffee can be so enticing and motivating. Just participating in Toastmasters in little tasks gives a taste of what we are truly capable of achieving.

 

Kate was our first speaker today. She entertained us on our coffee break by sharing a story by Max Lucado tittled: You Are Special.  Kate used a few props and showed great skill in jittering around the cord that was plugged in the middle of the speaking area. 

Pat was our second speaker.  He didn't let the jitters get to him when at the last minute his visual aides failed to work. Pat gave us great flavor of his professional expertise as a financial planner. Pat encouraged us to seek a rate of return of 10%. He talked about the financial challenges of babyboomers and gave us strategy for dealing with them.

 

Several guests joined us today which enriched the aroma of our cup of coffee. Pat Sultan, our area governor joined us to promote the upcoming contest.
Guests Alex, Radhika, Nanda came to learn what our club is about. We hope they will return. We can't promise a cup of coffee, but we will give your day a boost.

Public Speakers Northwest September 3, 2013 Theme: Contest Party!

Today instead of our usual structured meeting we had contests for Best Humorous Speech and Best Table Topics.  It was a fantastic event!  Jean Tracy, our club founder and current president ran the program.

We have a very talented club so we decided to celebrate along with having the contests.  Barb did a wonderful job with decorations.  She even made sure everyone had a little trophy.  There was tasty food including pasta, sandwiches and yummy cookies.  What made the party extra special were our guests and returning members. Maria, Ash and Maureen were guests today.  After being away for awhile, members Juliette and Lynne returned.

Jerry and Robert were set to compete in the Humorous Contest, however at the last minute Jerry was called away on business.  Robert though was the true winner with his hilarious stories of raising and connecting with his 2 daughters. Robert truly was a laugh a minute with seven funny points in a seven minute talk!



Pierce, Barb and Kate participated in the Table Topics Contest.  Each responded to the question:
If you had to attend a costume party tonight who would you dress up as and why?
Kate said she would dress up as the Good Witch from the East because when she did this 21 years ago she met her husband. Pierce said he would dress up as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean,  However Pierce mentioned if he could get out of going to a costume party, he would do so at almost all cost. Barb said she would dress up as Queen Elisabeth the 1st, her favorite historical figure.  Barb admires Queen Elisabeth for her power and her love of those she ruled.  Barb became royalty herself as she won the Table Topics contest.

Both Barb and Robert will represent our club in the Area Contest September 24th 5:30 PM in our location, The Seattle Times Building  19200 120th Ave. NE. Bothell WA 98011.  Join us and cheer on our winners.

August 27, 2013 Theme: Exercise

Elaine was our Toastmaster today.  Exercise is near and dear to heart, because professionally she puts on body building workshops.  Throughout the meeting she shared the benefits of exercise, the least of which is losing weight. Besides being Toastmaster, Elaine received 3 awards today.  She earned her Nickel award for completing her 5th speech last week. She received the Meetup Star award for consistently using Meetup to post about our club.



 Pierce was our first speaker today.  He gave his own introduction which focused on how he went from despair to renewed hope and faith. The body of his talk explained his conviction that he believes everyone can achieve greatness through service.  He had a very powerful conclusion in which stated: "Surrender yourself to service and greatness will surrender to you."

Karen was our second speaker today. She completed project 1 from the Specialty Speeches Manual which was an Impromptu Speech-Chosen by You.  Karen gave us a very inspirational talk about committing to walking 60 miles a month. This was no easy task, but she literally did it one step at a time.  Today was her one year anniversary of walking 60 miles a month. The benefits Karen gained from walking included: improved health, increased personal confidence and many new friends.



Today's meeting was special because we had several guests.  Members from Karen's walking group came to show support. Two guests accepted an invitation from our member Pat and one guest found us via our Meetup post. Guests are always welcome, so weather you are personally invited or just come across this blog, don't hesitate to join us.

8/20/2013 Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters Club 9406

 

 

Todays' theme was Beginninings and Endings.  Toastmaser Barb spoke about the importance of beginnings and endings throughout life. Beginnings and endings represent change which is a natural occurence in life. Being able to embrace beginnings and endings enables us to gain the most from the changes.  Barb spoke from her Toastmasters experience where she has seen average presentations become winning presentations because of their strong beginning and strong ending. On the flip side,she has witnessed great talks not do as well because of their weak beginning and ending.



Our first speaker today was Robert.  He completed speech #3 from the Competent Communication Manual. The title of his talk was KenKen Puzzles.  Robert used his professional expertise as a math professor to teach us to do KenKen puzzles.  Robert  made the presentation very clear to everyone by demonstrating using a white board and giving everyone hand outs so we could easily  follow along.  The speech was special because he used his own gifts to enrich all of us.







Elaine earned her "Nickel Award" by giving her 5th speech titled Taking Action on a Serious Commitment.  Elaine spoke about how her profession as a fitness trainer did not represent a strong presence as a public speaker.  Elaine used humor as she described giving up gym clothes and foregoing her ponytail in favor of a new haircut to fully commit to giving her best in Toastmasters.  As with many changes Elaine dealt with her fears and then reaped the benefits of making a serious commitment.

Public Speaking Northwest "Trivia" 8/13/2013

Today's meeting theme was "trivia".  Toastmaster Elaine shared a variety of random  and amusing trivia with the group.

Sravanthi gave her Icebreaker: her first  talk in the Competent Communication Manual.  Her speech title was: The Story of an Alien. She talked about  transitioning from academic world to career world; from living in India to living to living in the United States. She did a great job and earned The Best Speaker ribbon for today's meeting.

Randall Davey was our second speaker. He was a guest who accepted member Pat's invitation to join the meeting today.  Randall gave a very passionate speech titled Qualified Retirement Plans. Randall spoke about why his career choice meant so much to him.

Our meeting also included Table Topics and a humorist tale presented by Jerry.
As always, the meeting started promptly at noon and ended promptly at 1:00 PM.
For more information contact: Kate Grosvenor PEKAJAJU@msn.com or (425) 814-2981.