Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

March 1, 2022

 

Meeting started approximately 1:10 p.m.

 

Officers in Attendance: Lynn C., Barb, Nancy, Lynne D., Kate, Mara

 

Minutes from the January meeting were approved.

 

OFFICER REPORTS

 

Report from VPE Nancy: 

·      With Jutta’s speech today giving us another Level 1 award, we have completed 8 goals in the Distinguished Club Program (DCP). If we get one more Level 2 and we get 1 more new member, we will have a perfect 10.

·      All officers have been trained. This earns us $50 from District 2 which we can use to offset our Zoom costs.

·      We need more people to give speeches.

 

Report from VPM Kate:

·      We have 2 new members (Amy and Maria).  

·      Divya and Meera both seem very interested in joining.

·      Our guest, Holly from last week, seemed interested, but she has work restraints which may prevent her from joining.

·      We have had three other inquiries this month, including one from Randy Barber, a former member.

·      Kate has been updating her VPM materials in preparation for training a new VPM.

Report from VPPR Mara:

·      Mara is continuing with promoting our club on social media.

·      Mara has set up our club meeting on Recurring Events in Facebook.

·      For our initial in-person meeting in April, Mara will be the Toastmaster and Lynne will give a speech.

 

Report from SSA Lynne:

·      Contracts have been signed and payment arrangements made with Country Inn and Suites.

·      Jim Tracy has volunteered to bring his projector, if needed.

·      The cost of the room is $100 plus 10.1% sales cost.  Country Inn has dropped the additional gratuity charge.

·       Lynne led a discussion on whether or not to participate in the Zoom class action suit.  The officers agreed that there is no need to participate.

 

Report from Secretary Barb: Nothing to report.

Report from Treasurer Jinxin. No report received.

 

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS

 

·      We discussed having a Zoom Open House meeting in March, to take advantage of $50 incentive from District 2. We set the date as March 29.  Possible themes: a FUN story-telling theme or an In-Person Protocol meeting.  Kate agreed to be the Toastmaster. Amy may be giving her Ice Breaker speech.

·      We discussed other incentives that D2 and Toastmasters are offering.  Mara agreed to make a short video promoting the club in the next two weeks, in order to take advantage of one of the incentives, $50.

 

·      We discussed ways to promote the in-person meeting and Open House.  Nancy suggested an article in Starburst.  Mara will be promoting both events in social media.  In addition, Kate will send out email to former members, guests, and people who inquired about the club, promoting both the Open House and the In-Person Meeting.

 

·      In-person meetings will be held on April 5, May 3, and June 7.  We will not have in-person meetings in the summer.

 

·      Once we start in-person meetings, the officer meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of every month.  Therefore, the next officer meeting will be on April 12.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 because business was complete.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

March 1, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

We will resume having in-person meetings on the first Tuesdays of April, May, and June. The first in-person meeting will be April 5, 2022. More information will be provided at future meetings.

 

With his speech today, Jutta completes his Level 1 in Pathways

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jim, Jutta, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert

 

Guests in Attendance: Meera Basnet, Divya Arisetty

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by President Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was:  “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”

 

The word of the day was “Imbue”

 

Our Toastmaster was Barb.  She explained the meaning of the meeting theme, read the poem of that name, and talked about a Japanese manga TV series and film called “Comes in Like a Lion.”

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Lynne D    

Ah Counter – Lynne D

Timer – Amy

General Evaluator – Nancy

 

Speaker #1 was Jutta, who gave his ice breaker speech, describing his Masters in Computer Science, his family, and his entertainment with them. We really felt like we know Jutta much better after his speech.  (By the way, his name is pronounced “Yutta.”)

 

Evaluator #1 was Robert .  Robert started by congratulating Jutta on his upcoming marriage anniversary, March 3.  He complimented Jutta’s in-depth description of his history, family, and especially his children. Robert also acknowledged Jutta’s effective use of head movements and eye contact.  His suggestions included more vocal variety and centering himself top-to-bottom in the camera frame.

 

Table Topics Master was Mara

Mara asked us to deliver our table topics using the lion and lamb metaphor, loud and soft.

 

Meera was asked about the birds she sees returning in your yard in the spring. We were entertained with her description of the birds in her native Nepal, and also the live lion that she saw once.

Maria was asked about her favorite season. She started by saying that Seattle has only two seasons – rain and summer. Then she discussed the beauty of fall here.

Jim was asked about his spring cleaning. He responded that he would never be interested in spring cleaning.  In then went on to discuss the considerable clutter on his desk and in his garage.

Lynn C talked about her spring eating habits: Ice cream, berries, and celery juice.

Divya focused on flowers, especially her favorite, roses.

Nguyet talked about her and her husband’s reaction to the time change in March. Her husband refused to change the time in his car and doesn’t like the time change. Nguyet changes the clocks in her house and has mixed feelings about “springing ahead.”

Lynne D talked about how much she likes rainbows, and she was very eloquent describing different types of rainbows and the situations in which they appear.

 

General Evaluator was Nancy.  She complimented all roles on the excellent job that they did.  Nancy talked about feeling happy and pleased with the meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m. exactly.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

February 22, 2022

Meeting started approximately 1:10 p.m.

Officers in Attendance: Lynn C., Barb, Nancy, Lynne D., Kate, Mara

After the regular toastmaster meeting today, officers were asked to meet for a short time regarding the proposal on in-person meetings.

Lynne polled the officers again, and all agreed to have in-person meetings for a trial period on the first Tuesday of April, May, and June at the Country Inn and Suites.

There is no projector at Country Inn and Suites.

Lynne reported that she is staying in touch with ISO, so that we may still have the possibility of meeting there.

There was a question regarding indoor masking rules.  It looks likely that the state indoor-masking guidelines will be suspended before April, but Lynne will find out what guidelines Country Inn and Suites will have in place in April. 

Barb reported that when she attended in-person meetings a few months ago, the audience was masked and speakers took off their masks while speaking, because there was extensive social distancing between the audience and speakers.

We agreed that once indoor-masking mandates are removed, people could wear their masks or not, based on their own discretion.

The meeting adjourned at 1:20 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

February 22, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements:  We will resume having in-person meetings one Tuesday a month, on the first Tuesdays of April, May, and June. The first in-person meeting will be April 5, 2022. More information will be provided at future meetings.

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jessica, Jutta, Kate, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Nancy, Robert, Warren

Guests in Attendance: Holly Smith, Meera Basnet

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

Opening Comments by President Lynn C.

The meeting theme was:  Twosday

The word of the day was “Entrance” (a homograph: a word that is spelled the same and can be pronounced two ways with two different meanings)

Our Toastmaster was Maria.  In her first time as a toastmaster in our club, Maria entertained us with many instances of “twos.” Maria told us that she herself is the second twin of the second set of twins in her family.  An ambigram is a number that can be flipped upside down and still reads the same; for example, today’s date  (2 22 22).  Today’s date is the birthday of George Washington as well as Ralph Smedley, who founded toastmasters, on October 22.

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Amy 

Ah Counter – Jutta

Timer – Lynne

General Evaluator – Warren

Speaker #1 was Kate with her speech, “A Call to Lead: Public Speaking NW Needs You” 5-7 minutes, Presentation Mastery Pathway, Level 5. Kate began by telling us how unique our club is: our club is almost 20 years old, a charter member still belongs to the club, and we have been President’s Distinguished for 9 out of the last 10 years.  Then she described the value of club leadership and how she will be preparing the next VPM to take on the role.

Speaker #2 was Nancy with her speech, “Connect with Storytelling,” 8-10 minutes, from her Presentation Mastery Pathway.  Nancy described how powerful storytelling can be in connecting the speaker with the audience, and in driving home the message of a speech. In the process, she told several stories herself which drove the point home.

Evaluator #1 was Mara.  Mara complimented Kate for “speaking to the heart of this club,” a strong call to action, and her easy-to-follow pacing.  She suggested that a speaker never apologize to the audience and that the speaker be very clear and specific about calls to action.  Mara ended with praise for Kate’s well managed speech.

Evaluator #2 was Lynn C, giving her first evaluation ever.  Lynn complimented Nancy on her facial expressions, vocal variety, and hand motions.  Lynn said that she would have liked to have been told the purpose of the stories before Nancy told them, and Lynn said that it was an honor to hear Nancy’s speech.

Table Topics Master was Robert

Robert told toastmasters that they could answer each question, or the opposite of the question.

Meera was asked about her most learned or least learned computer application. She responded by talking about things that she had learned on YouTube.

Amy was asked what was the funniest or most serious advice that her mother had given her. She explained that her Mexican mother scolded her in Spanish, which Amy never understood until she took a Spanish class years later.

Jutta was asked about the strangest or most addictive food that he had ever eaten. Jutta spoke about different fish dishes that he had eaten and that his kids enjoy now.

General Evaluator was Warren.  He complimented Maria, the toastmaster, for the research that she had done on the theme. He mentioned the excellent evaluations, and said that he had enjoyed the overall meeting very much.

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

February 15, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

Winner of the Speech Contest today will go on to compete in the Area Speech Contest in March.

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Jessica, Jim, Jutta, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert

 

Guests in Attendance: Divya Arisetty

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by President Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was:  Speech Competition

 

Our Toastmaster and Speech Contest Master was Nancy.

Our Timer was Mara

 

Speaker #1 was Jim with his speech, “Engaging Your Aging,” 5-7 minutes. Jim mentioned that aging is a natural process, a new horizon, so to speak. We should embrace it as a time to learn new skills; for example, he mentioned a 100-year-old blogger.

 

Table Topics Master was Kate

Kate’s theme for table topics was Acceptance Speeches.

 

Robert accepted the hair and beard award.

Jutta had won the award for a prize winning vegetable, an eggplant

Amy won the Air Guitar Competition”, for her secret song on YouTube video training.

Lynn C’s award was for skipping thin, flat stones over water

Maria won the “National Rock, Paper, Scissors Award,” after practicing (and winning) with her kids.

Nguyet won the “Pancake Flipping Race,” practicing until excellent.

Divya’s award was for Birdsong Imitation; her favorite birds are those that sing arias

Lynnne D won in the Tuna Toss Festival with her 37-meter record. She had gone to the Pike Place Market to practice “Tuna Sings Better than Salmon.”

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted based on notes from Robert Katz,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

February 8, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

 

Announcements 

VPE Nancy inducted Amy into the club, being mentored by Mara.

 

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jessica, Jutta, Kristin, Kate, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert

 

Guest in Attendance: None

 

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened our meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

Opening Comments by President Lynn C.

 

The meeting theme was:  Food for Thought!!

 

The word of the day was “Nourish”

 

Our Toastmaster was Lynne D.  Throughout the meeting, Lynne entertained us with the historic origins of many common foods, cottage cheese, ketchup, pizza and many others. She also explained how the term “toastmaster” came about.

 

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Nancy        

Ah Counter – Amy

Timer – Robert

General Evaluator – Mara

 

Speaker #1 was Maria with her speech, “Home is Where Your Honey Is” 4-6 minutes, Dynamic Leadership Pathway, Level 1, Ice Breaker.  Maria introduced herself by describing the bee-keeping project that her family had taken on during the pandemic, with lots of information, humor, and pictures.

 

Evaluator #1 was Kate.  Kate asked us to un-mute our microphones and give Maria a round of applause for her ice breaker. Kate said that Maria had met her objectives of getting started and keeping the audience engaged.  She praised the organization and humor in Maria’s speech, as well as how well Maria had wrapped her family experience into the topic. Kate complimented Maria’s warm speaking style and fascinating information.

 

Table Topics Master was Lynn C

As she had done before, Lynn asked the table topics speakers to apply for certain jobs, this time as the Food Director of Spicy Carnival Food.

 

Ngyuet  said that she would develop tamale sauce, increasing in hotness to a level ten, then challenge people to eat the spiciest level they could.

Kristin was supposed to have won a tomato paste award. She talked about the spicy tomatoes from the Southern Hemisphere, and discussed the health benefits of eating spicy food.

Jessica, explained how she had developed her chocolate pizza: a crust of cookie dough, topped with frosting, and then covered with chocolate from a chocolate fountain.

Barb talked about putting pureed peas or fruit in water balloons

Jutta suggested eating spicy French fries and spicy butter

Kate said that she would cure a lion of his fear of the sight and smell of red meat using gradual immersion therapy.

Amy suggested adding salt to cotton candy to make it more tasty.

Nancy invented a huge roller coaster with many twists and some dark tunnels that she would name the Bernice Bomber in honor of her mother who loved roller coasters.

 

General Evaluator was Mara.  She complimented Lynne D for the lovely theme and agenda. Mara complimented Amy for her role as the Ah-Counter for the first time. Mara called Lynn C “the ringmaster of carnival interviewing.”

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

February 1, 2022

 

Meeting started approximately 1:10 p.m.

 

Officers in Attendance: Lynn C., Barb, Nancy, Lynne D., Kate, Mara

 

Minutes from the January meeting were approved.

 

OFFICER REPORTS

 

Report from VPE Nancy: 

·      We only need one more point to become President’s Distinguished, and 2 points to complete all 10 goals (one Level 1 Award and one Level 2 Award.)  If we have twenty members on June 30, 2022 we will be President’s Distinguished.

·      Nancy will be our speech contest chair and Toastmaster on 2/15/22.

·      Contestants so far are Barb & Jim.

·      [Secretary comments: the holiday gift exchange was very innovative and meaningful, thanks to Mara.]

 

Report from VPM Kate:

·      We have 2 new members (Amy and Maria).  A former member, Jutta, has signed up again.

·       We currently have 20 paid members, but may lose Kelly (new job) and Nevin (med school).

 

Report from VPPR Mara:

·      Mara is continuing with social media.

·      Mara and Lynne have continued to work on finding a venue for in-person meetings. (See DISCUSSION: VENUE later in the minutes.)

 

Report from SSA Lynne:

·      We have a good supply of mentors for the new people

·      (See DISCUSSION: VENUE later in the minutes.)

 

Report from Secretary Barb: Nothing to report

 

Report from Treasurer Jinxin (received after the meeting): Our checking account balance is $1,190.28.  The “major” expense is the Zoom monthly charge.  New members have boosted our balance, thanks to Kate’s work.

 

DISCUSSION: VENUE

Lynne and Mara have explored many venues, but low-cost rooms, for example in churches, are not available yet because of the pandemic.

 

ISO is still interested in having us return, but they have no budget for it at this time.

 

Mara recently attended a weekly networking meeting that has one meeting each month in person, a “hybrid arrangement.”  Mara said that this is working very well for them and she and Lynne recommended it to our club.

 

They have also explored renting one room a month from Country Inn and Suites for our in-person meeting.  It would cost approximately $140 for the room each time.  Mara and Lynne will view the room and decide if it is suitable for us, and they will email their findings ASAP.

 

After discussion we decided:

 

1.    We have committed to having three in-person meetings, the first Tuesdays of April, May, and June, at the Country Inn and Suites if that room is suitable, or at another paid venue.

2.    We will pay for these three meetings out of our checking account, but we won’t be able to continue paying this much for a venue.

3.    The date for our first in-person meeting is April 5.

4.    The time for our officer meetings will have to change during these months. We may want to continue having officer meetings online.

5.    After the three-month trial period, we will decide whether or not to continue in-person meetings during the summer months when attendance is typically low.

6.    Some officers expressed the belief that venues may be opening up soon.

7.    We would like to start promoting the in-person meetings as soon as possible.

8.    At our next officer meeting, we can plan the agenda and attractions (guest speakers?) for the “Grand Re-Opening” meeting in April.

 

DISCUSSION:  SPEECH CONTEST

So far we have two contestants, Jim and Barb

We may not have Table Topics at the contest meeting, 2/15/22.  Instead we will have Round Robin evaluations for both speakers, and members can give feedback to the speakers in Chat.

 

The meeting adjourned at approximately 2:05 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary