August 5th, 2014 Theme: Summer Strolls- The HooDoos

Jean was our toastmaster today. She picked "Summer Strolls along the HooDoos" as her theme. She told us the formation of Bryce Canyon, according to scientists, is based on centuries of erosion.  According to an Indian legend, the god, Coyote, froze the selfish people into the tall circular rocks known as the "HooDoos."

Kathy was our first speaker. She finished her #4 speech in the Technical Advanced Manual. Her topic was about chemostat production of ALD403, which is very technical to her field of study. She pretended the audience was her coworkers and did a fine job reporting her result on chemostat research. 

Linda was our second speaker; she also brought her cousin Jinhao as our guest. Last week they went to Wild Waves Amusement Park and rode on the roller coaster. This gave her the idea for her speech describing how different the roller coaster is in China where Linda came from. She also spoke about the roller coaster as a metaphor for life with its ups and downs.

Like the word of the day, we hope everyone has a good time enjoying the green and freshness of these summer days.

July 29th, 2014 Theme: Ice

Barb was our toastmaster today. She picked "Ice" as the theme and compared winter ice, ice skating, and breaking the ice to our toastmaster term “The Ice Breaker". It is the first speech new toastmasters give in the Competent Communication Manual. We see it as a sign of accomplishment when a new member ‘breaks the ice’ by giving their “Ice Breaker.”

Sue was our first speaker. She accomplished her 1st project, “The Ice Breaker” which was to introduce herself to our club members. She shared stories of when she was 16 and made us laugh about her "adventure" of raising 36 chickens and getting a puppy with the money she earned. 

Robert was our second speaker. He finished his #2 speech in the Advanced Interpretive Reading Manual. His goal was to convey the emotions of 2 poems by recognizing their rhyme, cadence and rhythm. Robert used humor as he read about a strange case involving a family tree.

Today we had three guests join us and two of them were family members of our club members. We were very happy to see our club member, Linda, bring her dad who came to visit her from China. Our second guest was Alice’s son, Ivan. Our third guest, Linda, believes Toastmasters is a great place to improve her English. We hope she will become part of our toastmaster family.

July 15, 2014 Theme: Clever Ideas to Simplify Lives

Robert was our toastmaster today; he picked "Clever Ideas to Simplify Lives" as the theme. Throughout the meeting, Robert shared many smart ways to use items that are not fancy, but can be seen everywhere, such as "turning your toaster sideways and adding cheese to the bread to get grilled cheese.”  

Jim was our first speaker, he accomplished the #2 project "organize your speech" in the Competent Communication Manual and his title was "What Makes Frustration Frustrating". Jim demonstrated 4 types of frustrations, the elements that caused frustration, the definition of frustration and tips that help us cope with frustrating feelings. 

Kathy was our second speaker. Her topic was "resolving conflict" in the Successful Leadership Series. Kathy showed us step-by-step the types of conflict, methods to deal with conflicts, how to solve conflicts collaboratively and how to brainstorm solutions.  

Today we had a very powerful and positive meeting, and we had Gary join us as a guest. From the messages given throughout this meeting, we all learned how to live more smoothly with smarter "inventions" and better attitudes towards frustration and conflicts in life. 

July 8, 2014 Theme: Puzzles

Barb was our Toastmaster today. She picked puzzles as the theme. We had a full round of people attended the meeting and especially welcome 3 guests. Telly, Lynne were first time here and they found our club very friendly and persistent on time. Also Carrie, who came back the second time, officially joined our club. We look forward to their coming visit and growth at our club :)


Robert was our first speaker today. He has moved on to the advanced competence manual and brought us a really interesting book as he was to make the story alive through his speech. He showed us the adventure that the author Bill Bryson had in Australia and we could feel the peculiar experience and dangerous events the author had through Robert's interpretation.

Jean was our second speaker. Her goal was to show us the steps to effective public speaking. She used the quote from Lao Tsu "a long journey begins with a simple step"to start her speech and she did a good job demonstrating what and how simple the steps are.

Today we also had very fun table topics from Sue that we saw some antiques that no one hardly figured. Life sometimes is full of puzzles or perplexing things, at today's meeting, we learned to laugh about it and move on to a new chapter. Hope more people can come and feel this energy!

June 24, 2014 Theme: Picnics

Jean was our Toastmaster today.  She chose picnics as the theme. Picnics are a great summer pasttime. Jean shared fond memories about her father and picnics. Jean even shared watermelon and cookies; her favorite picnic treats with us.

Anna was our first speaker today. She completed her Icebreaker. Anna shared with us the passion she has for her job with the IRS and her professional goals. Anna presented her talk without notes and had great poise. Well done Anna!

Robert completed his tenth speech in the CC manual! The title of his speech was Humorously Speaking. Robert explained the many benefits of humor that go way beyond entertainment. Belly laughs reduce stress and help with physical ailments. To prove his point Robert had all of us participating in laughing exercises. Robert taught us that though humor is funny, it seriously improves our physical and mental well being.

Today was especially exciting because with our new members we now qualify for President's Distinguished Club honors. Honors or not, our club is a place where everyone is welcomed and valued. Please join us.

June 10, 2010 Theme: June

Robert was the Toastmaster today. He chose June as the theme. He shared with us the various holidays and celebrations that happen in June in the U.S. as well as around the world. He also noted June's flower, gemstones and astrological signs.

Barb was our first speaker. She completed project five in the Humorously Speaking manual. She gave a very funny speech about the excitement and fears she had when she became a Grandmother for the first time. By the time her talk was over, several of us were hoping Barb would be our adopted grandmother!

Kate was our second speaker today. She completed project two in the Entertaining Speaker manual. Kate told a sweet story about a little child playing baseball. She pointed out that we need to remember to act like a child sometimes. As children do we need to have fun, let ourselves dream and not over complicate things.

Unfortunately we did not have any guests join us today. Hopefully that will change next week. Know that guests are always welcome.

 

June 3,2014 Theme: Cheese

Kathy was our Toastmaster today.  She chose "cheese" as the theme. She shared many interesting facts about cheese. Kraft created Velveeta on June 2, 1918.  Americans eat thirtyone  pounds of cheese per person per year. Pizza Hut uses 300 million pounds of cheese each year to make pizza.

Robert was our first speaker today.  He completed project 9 in the CC manual.  The title of his speech was " Finite and Infinite Games." He based his talk on a book by the same name written by James P. Carse. Robert discussed the difference between finite and infinite games. Life is the only example of an infinite game. Play it well and it can be a game changer.

Jean was our second speaker.  She completed project 2 in the CC manual.  The title of her talk was "Shake It Off."  Jean used audience participation to show us how we can move on and not dwell on our mistakes. Women especially have challenges with confidence. What we think creates positive and negative connections.  Positive thoughts combined with physical movement takes the 'monster" out of our mistakes.

We had two guests join us today.  Gabriella and Sue learned about our club from Meetup.  Guests are always welcome.  We hope you will join us next week.