January 28,2014 Theme: Protecting Your Private Data

Kathy was our Toastmaster today.  The theme was Protecting Your Private Data.  Kathy shared her expertise on how we can safeguard our personal information.  Keeping our data secure prevents fraud and identity theft.  Kathy’s knowledge was beneficial to all of us.

Robert was our first speaker today.  He completed project 7 in the CC manual.  The title of Robert’s presentation was: Go Forth and Multiply.  Being a Mathematician, Robert shared with us 3 unique ways to do multiplication when we don’t have a calculator.  The first was called Japanese Line method.  This technique uses visual counting and adding.   The second method was called Lattice.  The Lattice technique uses single digit multiplying and adding.  The third method was the Ethiopian Peasant technique.  This used multiplying, dividing by 2 and then selectively adding.  Robert demonstrated these procedures by solving 25x45.  Most importantly Robert showed us that Math can be interesting and fun.

Ash was our second presenter.   She completed project 5 in the CC manual.  Ash spoke of how she coped with a serious car accident and an invasive burglary by her involvement with United States Junior Chamber.  Due to her dedication to raising scholarships and her vast community service Ash was named Outstanding North Carolinian 2012.  Ash didn’t just survive, she thrived! 

 Today table topics were included in our meeting.  Linda was our Topicmaster.  Carrying over last week’s theme of Chinese New Year, Linda selected 3 members to speak about items related to the celebration.  Linda is our youngest member but her skills are very advanced.  All her presentations are thoroughly prepared and presented in fun, interesting ways.

 Our meeting was enhanced today by our guests Scott and Tommy.   Tommy quietly observed while Scott jumped right in and participated in table topics.  Guests are always welcome whether they just want to observe or are comfortable participating.  Please join us.

 

 

 

January 21,2014 Theme: Chinese New Year Festival

Yanhong was our Toastmaster today. She chose Chinese New Year celebration as the theme. This is the longest and most important  Chinese celebration. The dates change every year but they are always the first 15 days of the year of the Chinese calendar. This year it will be January 31st to February 18th. It is clebrated with family feasts and fireworks. People wear red clothing because red symbolizes fire which according to ledgend can drive away bad luck.

Linda was our fisrt speaker.  She completed project 4 in the CC manual.  The title of her speech was: Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dance.  There are 55 ethnic minorities in China.  Their dances reflect emotion and tradition. Using her computer, Linda showed us vivid pictures of Chinese ethnic minorities life and dance traditions. Linda also thrilled us by demonstrating herself some of the beautiful dance movements.

Kate was our 2nd speaker.  She completed project 10 in the CC manual. The title of her speech was Footprints. Kate shared that by overcoming a physical challenge, it mentally prepared her to achieve any goal she wanted.  Kate couldn't swim more than a lap in a pool, had never ridden a bike with gears and had done very little jogging. However in 2003 she completed a triathalon. This accomplishment changed her thoughts from "I can't" to "I can if I really want to."

Jean our VP of Education shared with us what judges are looking for in the upcoming international speech and evaluators contest. So far Ash and Kate will compete in the speech contest, but we need volunteers for the evaluation contest. If interested sign up on our duty roster.

Jim Dosh was our guest today.  He liked us so much he decided to join our club.  Welcome Jim!  Whether they join our club or not, guests are always welcome.  Hope to see you at our next meeting.

January 14,2014 Theme: Gift Game Happiness

Today we veered away from our standard meeting format to have a white elephant party.  This is where everyone brings a wrapped gift (white elephant) that they already received, but no longer wanted. The gifts are put in the middle of the table and numbers are randomly handed out. When a person's number is called they can choose an unopened gift or steal one from somebody else who has something they want. The goal is to go home with a better gift than the one you brought.

Robert was the Toastmaster/host of the party. Instead of talks everyone participated in Table Topics.  Each person took 1-2 minutes to explain why they had the best present ever.  Every good party needs food so we had a pot luck as well.

Pat Sultan our Area Governor was our special guest today. She inducted the 2014 officers and participated in all the festivities.  Guests are encouraged to join us because they always enrich our meetings.  Hope you will be joining us next week.

January 7, 2014 Theme: Inspirational Quotes

Kate was the Toastmaster. She chose inspirational quotes as the theme to motivate us in our new year's resolutions or any new endeavor. She shared quotes from politicians, professional athletes and celebrities. A quote by Arthur Ashe stated: "Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can." Kate related this to Toastmasters.  Some our best speeches come from knowledge we already have.  Toastmasters is about developing and fine tuning our leadership and speaking skills.

Our first speaker was Linda. She completed speech #3 in the CC manual. Linda spoke about the college entrance exam in China called Gaokao.  It is a very harsh exam that can determine a student's future. She shared information on its history, structure and benefits.

Our second speaker completed speech #4 in the CC manual. She spoke of courage. She spoke of challenges she courageously dealt with as a child, college student and young adult. She shared that sometimes courage doesn't roar. Sometimes courage is just getting out the door.

Both our speakers taught us something new.  Our diverse group enriches all of us with their knowledge and life experiences.  We start where we are, share what we have and move forward together.  Come join us next week. Guests are always welcome.

December 17, 2013 Theme: Winter

Lynne was our Toastmaster today. She chose "Winter" as the theme. She encouraged us to share our favorite aspects of Winter. Lynne also shared many quotes about winter. Some were profound and others were humorous. My favorite quote was: "To shorten Winter, borrow money due in Spring."

 

Kate was our first speaker today.

She completed project 9 in the CC manual. The title of her presentation was: Recycle A Way to Life. Kate encouraged us to donate blood, bone marrow and our organs. She explained how to do it and the benefits of blood, tissue and organ donation. Kate noted that when we recycle paper we save a tree. When we recycle ourselves we save lives.

Linda was our second speaker. She completed project 2 in the CC manual. The title of her talk was: Shen Yun Performing Arts. Linda explained the costumes, dance and music of Shen Yun. She also discussed the technical skill, form and bearing involved. Linda’s passion for Shen Yun was very evident in her beautiful presentation.

Our meeting was made extra special today because Karen’s daughter Judy joined us. Guests are always welcome and encouraged to attend. We hope you will join us. Please note that our next meeting will be January 7^th. Happy Holidays!

December 10, 2013 Theme: Unusual Recipes and Remedies

 Robert was our Toastmaster today.  He chose bazaar recipes and remedies as the theme. We learned the recipes for Unboiled (but not raw) Chicken, Drunken Cornish Game Hens and Gracie Allen’s Classic Roast Beef.  Robert also shared remedies for Yogurt Hair care and Odor Be Gone pet urine remover. Since we are in the middle of holiday season, we often find ourselves immersed in materialism.  These humorous albeit simple recipes remind us of the basics that matter.  Bigger is not necessarily better and we will do better if we don’t take things so seriously.

Sophia was our first speaker today.  She completed her second presentation from the CC manual.  The title of her talk was Memory Photography.  Sophia shared with us ways to improve our personal photo taking skills. She discussed basic equipment needed, techniques and post image processing.  Sophia made her presentation easy to follow by organizing it well and putting her outline on the white board for us to follow.

Linda was our second speaker today.  She gave her icebreaker titled: Birthday Wish.  Linda is having a big week this week by earning her Associates Art degree and turning 18 years old.  We learned many wonderful things about Linda from her sharing of wishes about her past, present and future.  We are so grateful we are a part of Linda’s “present”.  She is a talented young lady, capable of making all her wishes come true.

Though we had no guests today our meeting was enriched by everyone who attended. Whether we had a leadership role or just listened attentively we all contributed to our mutual goal of becoming competent and confident leaders.  Come join us in our endeavors. Guests are always welcome.

 

December 3, 2013 Theme: Consumerism

Kathy was our Toastmaster today. She gave us a little history of consumerism which was our theme.  Consumerism started in 1800s with mass production. Mass production promoted mass consumption which was the start of consumerism.

Sophia was our first speaker today.  She gave her icebreaker titled: Mother Daughter Relationship.  Sophia spoke of her early childhood being raised by her grandparents. Then when she started grade school she lived with her parents.  Though she worked hard and earned good grades she was not able to please her mother. Hence she didn't feel close to her mother. When Sophia married and had children of her own she looked forward to being close to them. She noticed her son did not have her same work ethic. She realized she became her mother when her son asked her why she was so negative. She then understood that her mother had loved her all along, but simply wanted the best for her. Just as importantly she learned that neither she nor her children had to be perfect to be accepted.

Karen was our second speaker. She completed presentation seven from the CL manual. The title of her talk was A New Light on Chronic Pain. Karen tied this presentation into her last talk on living well with chronic pain. Karen dug deeper into new developments in chronic pain and how they can help millions of people reclaim their lives. Karen's partner Maureen gave an enthusiastic introduction to Karen's speech. Research shows that chronic pain is connected with the central nervous system. Basically pain is a tool that tells you your body needs healing. Once it is healed pain goes away. However with chronic pain the the central nervous system needs to be retrained so it stops when the healing is done. Support groups, workshops and workbooks teach tools for retraining the central nervous system so people can live well with chronic pain.

Both speakers were so informative. We were so glad Maureen was a guest today. We hope you will join us next week.  Pictures will be posted at a later date.