Sept 29th 2015 Theme: Pets

“Scratch a dog and you will find a permanent job” ~~Franklin. P. Jones.

Welcome to the fifth meeting in September blog.

   Barb was our toastmaster of the day.

The GAT(e) team comprised of: Grammarian – Amritha, Ah Counter – Devi, Timer – Naser.

Grace was our first speaker of the day. She completed her Speech #3 from the Competent Communicator Manual – Get to the Point titled “Be Ready to Cross”.

She started her speech with a story relating her life to a person walking a long journey with a heavy cross on his back. With time, the person chose to cut the cross little at a time until he was left with none. This greatly lightened the burden on his shoulders and he got ahead of all his fellow companions. After a while, when he reached a river, while his fellow companions used their cross to form a bridge and go across the river, he was left with none and thus could not go to the other side of the river.

As a child, Grace grew up as a happy optimistic easy going kid just like the man in the story. When she grew up, she realized she had not learnt many of the essential skills and was left alone on the lonely side of the river. With her mother’s encouragement, she pursued all that she wanted to achieve one by one, formed a bridge with her newly acquired skills which then helped her go across to the other side of the river. Through her story, Grace encouraged us to take action and keep going towards whatever we want to change in our life one step at a time.

Grace was voted the best speaker.

Dave was her evaluator. He congratulated her on a well delivered speech with great story, descriptive narration, great presence on stage and a message that reached out to all members.

Our second speaker was Tobias. He completed his Speech #2 from the Competent Communicator Manual. The title of his speech “Face to Face Communication – there is no technology that can replace it.” 

Through his speech, Tobias emphasized the positive aspects of face to face communication. As an example, he mentioned few points from the stories he had heard from 2 of our members – Amritha and Robert, which were part of their earlier speeches. He mentioned every time a speaker stands in front of the stage connecting with the audience visually and vocally; he connects with their stories effectively. Whereas, watching anything online seldom has the same effect.

Tobias considers himself fortunate enough to coach his children and their teammates. He shared with us a touching story of how a relatively new member of their team, Brandon, made a request to be the goli of a match which was crucial for their team. Tobias agreed for the deal and the game went well. The next time, while the team was together, the little boy walked up to his coach (Tobias), looked straight in his coach’s eye and thanked wholeheartedly for giving him the opportunity. Through his story, Tobias proved that the power of one on one communication is brilliant.

Lynne was his evaluator. She mentioned how well he had weaved stories with the theme of his talk making sure his message was received well by the audience.

Jean was our third speaker. She gave her 1^st speech from the CC Manual - Ice Breaker. Her speech was titled “Join the Little Rockers”. Duration – 4 to 6 mins.

She started her talk with a detailed enactment of the effect that a morning cocktail of medicines had on her. Though only half aware of her surroundings, she knew she was being prepped up for a stent surgery and was directed into a well-equipped room for the same. She described how the procedure was successfully performed to remove few blocks from her arteries.

Once she was taken out from the operating room, she meets Jim in the recovery room where he shows her the pictures of her heart before and after the surgery. The placement of the stent had removed all the blockages and now there was blood flowing freely through all the arteries. Through her speech, Jean made the process of putting a stent seem so simple.

Kathy was her evaluator. She pointed out that Jean executed the speech very well with vivid descriptions and clear speaking.

Kathy was voted the best evaluator.

Our table topics master was Robert – table topics with a twist. He played snippets of songs and the table topics speakers had to share what they were reminded about from those pieces.

Jessica was our first table topics speaker. After listening to the beat of the music, she was reminded of Regina Spektor – a Russian pianist – who started from humble beginnings and reached all the way to the top. The music took her back to her childhood memories when records of 60’s and 70’s were played at her home.

Amritha was our second table topics speaker. She could relate the music she heard with the Bollywood (Indian film industry) music which emerged in the late 70’s, a very non-conventional and non-traditional kind of music.

Jessica was voted the best table topics speaker.

We had 19 members attend the meeting.

Members:  Amritha, Andrew, Anisha, Barb, Dave, Devi, Grace, Jean, Jessica, Jim, Julie, Jung, Kathy, Lynne, Naser, Rance, Robert, Tobias, WooYun

Our active membership total currently is at 38.

Respectfully Submitted,

Amritha Imandi, Secretary

Public Speaking Northwest #9406