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