Aug 4th 2015 Theme: The Achievement Habit

“Obstacles are the raw materials of great achievement.”~~ Tommy Newberry

Welcome to the first meeting in August blog. Today, we had 4 guests attend our meeting. 

Naser was our toastmaster of the day. The theme of the day was based on a book called "The Achievement Habit"

The GAT(e) team was: Grammarian – Jean, Grace as the Ah Counter, Diana as the Timer and Kathy as the evaluator.

Amritha was our first speaker today.  She gave her 7^th Speech from the Competent Communication Manual – Research your topic. The title of her speech was “On my way to Goodness”. She completed her speech within 8 minutes. The speech sheds light on the practice of gratitude.

As a newlywed, Amritha wondered why her husband’s grandmother always served her husband first. Only later did she realize that this gesture was to express her gratitude to the breadwinner of the family. Years later, after being involved in a major car accident, she was healed from within through the practice of gratitude – acknowledging the good life and the blessings that she had around her. Few of the many benefits that it brought along were more friends, opportunity to connect and contribute to the community.

She mentioned the physical, social and psychological benefits of practicing gratitude. Saying thanks in the morning, writing cards, giving simple yet meaningful gifts on special occasions and sharing her practice with her kids during bedtime are some ways she suggests to practice gratitude.

Amritha was voted the best speaker.

 

Jean was her evaluator. She appreciated Amritha on the use of stories, research and suggestions that helped her achieve her speech’s objective. As suggestions, Jean offered Amritha to adjust her pacing and establish eye contact with the audience for a few seconds.

Jean was voted the best evaluator.

Our second speaker was Linda. She offered her Speech from the manual Successful Club series – How to make a Great Club. The title of her speech was: “Meeting Roles and Responsibilities”. She completed her speech within 8 minutes.

Through her speech, Linda shared with us the various roles and responsibilities of members in a Toastmasters club. She mentioned briefly about each meeting role – the toastmaster who wears multiple hats to facilitate the meeting along with the GAT(e) team, the speakers who come forward to present their prepared speeches, the evaluators who provide valuable suggestions for improvement. She pointed out that the club officers’ support and contribution is vital to the success of any Toastmasters club.

Towards the end of her speech, she encouraged us to challenge ourselves by taking part in the upcoming table topics and humorous speech contests.

Alice was her evaluator. She appreciated Linda on choosing a topic relevant to our club at a time when we have many new members signing up and also for keeping the speech entertaining. Alice pointed out that the use of visual aids was helpful. As a suggestion, she offered Linda to emphasize more on the conclusion.

 

Dan was our Table Topics Master today. The question he chose was “What was the bravest thing you did for the first time?”

Hadaya shared with us his first experience hiking on a trail with friends. He realized though it seemed simple to hike on a trail, the actual process involved lot of effort. His friends and himself were completely exhausted towards the end.

Anisha shared with us an experience when she went diving with her husband and friends. Being a beginner swimmer, she had never done anything like this before. She bravely went into water to see life inside the ocean for a short while.

Dan Dan shared with us how her love for dance as a child led her to a Zumba class. Having never danced before, she had to pick up the courage to do it for the first time. With ample encouragement from her husband, she has improved greatly in 3 weeks of attending classes.

Devi spoke about her first time experience with gardening. Though she assumed it was a simple task, only after she took up a gardening project did she realize the effort and time  needed to care for the plants.

Dan Dan was voted the best table topics speaker.

Kathy was our general evaluator today. She appreciated the well preparedness of the meeting. 

Our members attending numbered 18 and were:  Alice, Amritha, Anisha, Barb, Dan, Diana, Grace, Jean, Jessica, Jim, Julie, Jung, Kathy, Linda, Liz, Naser, Nicki, and Pauline along with 4 guests:  Dan Dan, Devi, Hadaya and Quien.

Our active membership total currently is at 34.

Respectfully Submitted,

Amritha Imandi, Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest #9406

July 28th 2015 Theme: Moonwalk

“That's one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.”~~ Neil Armstrong

Welcome to the fourth and final meeting in July blog. Today, we had 5 guests attend our meeting. 

Alice was our toastmaster of the day.

The GAT(e) team was: Grammarian – Jung, Jackie as the Ah Counter and Diana as the Timer.

Naser was our first speaker today.  He gave his 4^th

Speech from the Storyteller Manual. The title of his speech was “Prince Eklavya”. He completed his speech within 10 minutes.

Naser shared with us the story of a prince named Eklavya who was born to a tribal chief in Indian subcontinent. As Eklavya grew up, he developed a desire to be the world’s greatest archer. In the absence of a master teacher in his small tribal community, he approached Dhrona (the best teacher in the kingdom who taught the royal princes). Even though Dhrona refused to teach Eklavya, Eklavya made a mud statue of Dhrona, considered Dhrona as his guru, and practiced archery in front of the statue. In few years, Eklavya became a master archer.

One day, Dhrona found an animal completely trapped in a cage of arrows without a single wound. When he discovered that it was Eklavya who mastered this level of archery regarding Dhrona as his guru, Dhrona demanded Eklavya’s right thumb as the guru dakshina (repaying the teacher after studies). Without hesitation, Eklavya cut his right thumb and offered to his guru. Dhrona made such a shrewd demand to keep the reputation of the royal princes.

Barb was his evaluator. She very much appreciated the story that Naser chose from his cultural background to share with us. She liked the descriptive opening, the body gestures and the moral of the story. As a suggestion, she offered him to include more vocal variety.

Barb was voted the best evaluator.

Our second speaker was Andrew. He offered his 2^nd Speech from the Competent Communicator Manual, Project #2 – Organize Your Speech. The title of his speech was: “Three Practical Steps to Protect Yourself Online.” He completed his speech within 7 minutes.

Through his speech Andrew showed us the risks involved in the world of internet. He shed light on the fact that there are people on the web who disguise themselves as ISP vendors, or antivirus companies. They try to persuade you to run their code on your computer. This allows them to plant some of their data in your computer and access information thus compromising its security. When such a thing happens, the only solution to be safe is to wipe off all the data.

He also suggested an effective way of choosing passwords. Instead of all the crazy letters and special character passwords, he advises us to use a sentence which is easy to remember.

Andrew was voted the best speaker.

Amritha was his evaluator. She admired the topic that Andrew chose which is very relevant to the present day.

She appreciated the well-organized flow of the speech. As a suggestion, she offered him to have a firm stand on the stage instead of the casual to and fro movements that he had. 

Liz was our Table Topics Master today. The question that she chose was “If you could be any age from 1 week, what age would you choose?”

 

Julie chose to be 2 years old. She would then have the freedom and energy to run around, throw tantrums and then act as if nothing happened the very next minute. 

Jessica chose to be 7 years old. At 7, she was dressed as a tomboy following her dad in his warehouse and enjoyed every moment of life.

Amritha chose to go back to 12. At 12, she lived with her family in a beautiful neighborhood, amazing friends and teachers who supported and challenged her.

Robert very cleverly chose to be 104. Since he has seen all the years from his childhood till date, he is curious to know how life would be when he is 104. How would the world look?

Hadaya chose to be 20. He shared with us that life during his University life was joyful with his friends. He misses them now and hopes to bring the vibrancy of those years back to his life now.

Liz chose to be 12. At 12, she was a fearless free spirited girl riding horses. She described a risky horse riding experience she chose which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Julie was voted the best table topics speaker.

Towards the end of the meeting, Andrew and Jackie were awarded the Certificate of Achievement for completing their Ice Breaker Speech.

Our members attending numbered 16 and were:  Alice, Amritha, Andrew, Barb, Dan, Diana, Grace, Jackie, Jessica, Julie, Jung, Liz, Naser, Pauline, Robert and Sep along with 5 guests:  Fran D., Hadaya, Marlon K., Shreya K., and Yash K.

Our active membership total currently is at 32.

Respectfully Submitted,

Amritha Imandi, Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest #9406

                                                

July 21st 2015 Theme: Annual Awards Party

“Americans are always mortified when I tell them this, but in England, it's a tradition to put your plaques and photographs and awards and gold records and stuff in your bathroom. I don't know why.” ~~ Adele

Welcome to the third meeting in July blog. Today, we had 12 guests attend our meeting. 

Jim was our toastmaster today who conducted a full-fledged meeting. To allow time for the award ceremony and table topics section, the speakers were not evaluated formally, but in written comments.

The GAT(e) team was: Grammarian - None, Sep as the Ah Counter and Kathy as the Timer.

Andrew was our first speaker today.  He offered his 1^st Speech from the Competent Communicator Manual, Project #1 – Ice Breaker. The title of his speech was “Women, Mentors and Cats”. He completed his speech within 6 minutes.

Andrew shared with us his story and experiences of growing up as the only male child among females – mother and sisters. The only male companion in his house was his cat. As a grownup, he worked in various fields including concrete, iron work, as a Marine and in the IT sector. He found his mentor who helped him get through the thick and thin of life – Jesus.

He got married to a wonderful Mexican lady and is the father of their 3 girls. After the birth of their 3^rd daughter, being the only male in the family, he got himself a male cat.

Our second speaker was Jackie.  She offered her 1^st

Speech from the Competent Communicator Manual, Project #1 – Ice Breaker. The title of her speech was: “What’s far more precious than life?” She completed her speech within 6 minutes.

In her Ice Breaker, Jackie shared with us the core values of her family- the foundations that were laid down for her as a child – honor, courtesy, honesty and gratitude. She was born in San Diego, CA and as a child, lived in Manila, Philippines.

As an adult, her travel to Japan for business purposes further reinforced the values that had been embedded in her. At present, she and her husband are entrepreneurs working from home which allows them to spend time with their children.

Jackie is the author of 2 books titled “Customer Loyalty 101” and “How to Stop Losing Patients NOW”.

Barb – our Division E Director distributed badges to our award recipients. She recognized the effort each of them put towards their achievement, thus helping our club become recognized as “President’s Distinguished.”

Our award recipients were as follows:

Jean - DTM

Naser - CC

Jim – CC, ALB

Linda – CC, CL

Robert – ACB, CL

Lynne – CC

Naser was our Table Topics Master today. The theme chosen was “Stories from around the world”. As an example, he narrated a short story about a fox and a crow, the moral being “Beware of cunning foxes around you who try to attack where you are weakest.”

Pat S shared with us the story of a king who sent his most beloved daughter away from the kingdom when she announced that she loved the king as much as she loved salt. After she left, the king missed the delicious meals that she used to cook for him. He realized his mistake and when she sneaked back in disguise and was revealed, brought her into the kingdom and lived happily ever after.

Amritha shared a story that she heard from her dad as a kid. It was about a bird’s efforts in building a nest for his family. The bird collects one twig at a time, starts building his nest, and continues the process till he is finally successful. She observes that success in life comes by taking tiny steps with patience – one step at a time – just like the bird.

Alice shared the story of 2 frogs who fell into a bucket of cream. After trying to jump out by paddling their feet for a little while, one frog gives up and drowns; while the other keeps paddling and paddling, in the process the cream turns to butter and then cheese and he is able to jump out. Through this story, Alice encourages us to persevere  – paddling like the frog - no matter how difficult the circumstances look.

Sep – Talked about an advisor to the King of Persia, who, each day, got up early, walked to the palace and worked diligently. The King had him followed one day and the Advisor got mugged. The sardonic moral to this story is: “The early bird catches the worm.”   

Gregory shared a real life event from his father’s life. He told of how his grandfather (after his death) communicated to his dad about a future danger that was about to befall his grandmother. This involved lightning striking a tree next to his grandmother’s house. Gregory’s granddad advised his dad to take appropriate actions to ensure the safety of his grandmother. And so the tree was chopped down and the disaster prevented. By sharing this event, he conveys to us that our ancestors are around watching out for us.

We had 2 winners of the CL Manual drawing. They were: Robert and Jung.  Each of them received $15 Starbucks gift card.

Few pictures of audience from the meeting are posted below:

Our members attending numbered 20 and were:  Alice, Amritha, Andrew, Barb, Dan, Diana, Jackie, Jean, Jerry, Jessica, Jim, Julie, Jung, Kathy, Linda, Liz, Naser, Pauline, Robert, Sep along with 12 guests:  DanDan, Gregory G., JC M., Jessica D., Koko, Mike R., Natalia M., Pat S., Shreya K., William W., Yan, Yash K.

Our active membership total currently is at 32. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Amritha Imandi, Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest #9406