Meeting Minutes

May 24, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements:  Dan Sakaki is a new member and Jeevana is submitting her application this week.

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Dan, Jean, Kelly, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Meera, Nancy, Nguyet, Robert, Warren

Guests: Jeevana Tunuguntia, Atul Goyal, both returning from last week

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

Opening Comments were presented by our President, Lynn C. 

The word of the day was “Treasure,” meaning a quantity of precious metals, gems, or other valuable objects.

Our Toastmaster was Lynne D, who explained the history of yard sales (formerly called rummage sales.  Lynne also told us about low-cost “finds” at garage sales that made thousands, even millions of dollars for the people who bought them.  Very interesting and memorable.

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Mara          

Ah Counter – Meera.

Timer – Robert 

General Evaluator – Jean

Speaker #1 was Amy, with her speech, “A Symbol of Hope,” 5-7 minutes.  Amy told us that the unicorn has been a myth, a symbol of hope, a mystery, a treasure, a brand, one of the most popular mythical beasts, a muse, delight of children and many others.  Amy gave us wonderful descriptions at the beginning, followed by a detailed history of how unicorns were viewed in various eras of Western civilization. 

Table Topics

Kelly asked us to do an active listening exercise.  The first speaker would start a story about yard sales for one to two minutes.  The speaker would end by saying, “And then..” The next speaker would pick up from there and add to the speech, finishing with “And then…”

Jean said that they had a garage sale at her mother’s house, and her son learned about sales, by picking up each item and talking to a customer about it.  Her son made a lot of money and the garage sale was very successful, due to her son’s “magic touch.  And then…

Dan said that Jean came to his door and talked with Dan about her son’s magic touch. Dan followed his example, developed his own magic touch business, expanded it, and was able to quit his regular job, making more money doing garage sales all year.  And then...

Jeevana did not have much success with this approach at first, but developed success by converting the magic touch to online.  And then…

Warren decided that he wasn’t making enough money with yard sales, so he approached his neighbors.  They had a very large yard sale and Warren would get 20% of proceeds. And then…

Atul thought people were trying to sell too quickly and cheaply.  He would price the items higher and be willing to hold them for longer, therefore achieving higher profit margins. He would scale the business and take a higher percentage for himself. And then…

Mara’s husband used to be an antique dealer, and he has a “nose”.  One time he bought a surveyor’s tripod that Mara thought was too expensive.  Her husband made a lamp out of it and sold it for $2,000. Now Mara always trusts his “nose.”  And then…

Lynn brought her husband, who also had a “nose” to a yard sale with her.  He smelled and touched everything, and then picked out one thing that he was sure that he could sell for $5,000 – a $5 pair of socks.  Big laughs and a perfect ending to our story.

Evaluator, Maria, commented on the descriptions in the beginning of the speech, which coordinated well with her virtual background, but background interfered with Amy’s gestures.  Maria said that the speech was very well organized and focused, with purpose.

General Evaluator, Jean, pointed out that several people had welcomed Dan and Jeevana.  She complimented the agenda and theme. Jean said that Table Topics had been very fun and acknowledged our guest Atul for participating.  Jean complimented the evaluator Maria for her kind and generous evaluation and for making good suggestions.

Humorist Nancy made us laugh with more of her riddle jokes, related to the theme.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

May 10, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements: Next week: Nancy will do a 30-40-minute speech on worms at a Master Gardner’s gathering.  Her title will be “Earthworms Are So Cool.”

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jean, Jim, Kelly, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Meera, Nancy, Robert, Warren

Guests: Dan Sakaki, Michelle Stewart, Jeevana Tunuguntia (All three guests are thinking about joining our club.)

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

Opening Comments were presented by our president pro temp Nancy

The meeting theme was: “Jokes”

The word of the day was “Facetious,” meaning funny. 

Our Toastmaster was Nancy, who kept us entertained throughout the meeting with her delightful riddle jokes.

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Amy            

Ah Counter – Jean.

Timer – Maria

General Evaluator – Barb

Speaker #1 was Mara, with her speech, “Spring in NYC,” 5-7 minutes.  Mara shared with us her recent short trip to New York. Her speech and slides featured pictures of spring flowers, museums, Little Park and Central Park, subways where she always felt safe, and the play “Moulin Rouge.” Most of all, her speech focused on the people of New York who were kind and sensitive to each other.

Table Topics

Jim asked questions both serious and facetious.

Maria was asked what painting she would like to walk into, and talked about the painting, “Starry Night,” by Van Gogh and also the song “Starry Starry Night.”

Kelly was asked what shape the door to her house would be, anything but rectangle.  Kelly chose a heart-shaped door, as a symbol of peace. She likes to have people experience her home, with its many living things (hundreds of plants and three cats). She concluded with, “Live out loud and enjoy.”

Robert, talked about selling ice cream at Brighton Beach, carrying a heavy load of containers with ice cream and dry ice, and lightening his load by selling and eating the products.  After that experience he decided not to do jobs that involved physical labor.  His next job was working in a public library.

Jeevana was asked to describe the headline of a newspaper dated January 2100.  She talked about machine learning and automating labor (washing machines, for example).  Jeevana concluded with the headline: “Machines Are Running Us.”

Meera was asked which daily activity she did with the greatest care.  Her answer was, “My job.”  She discussed the importance of being on schedule to build customers’ trust. 

Dan, when asked what pinnacle he would like to stand on, explained that as a kid of six he thought it would be cool to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Today, his fear of heights has grown, and he prefers the safety of low altitudes.

Lynne was asked what animal she would like to have pop out of her clock if not a coo-coo bird.  She chose a pig, because they are so cute. She wanted a “bushel of oinks,” the different tones of real pigs.  It sounded like she wanted to negotiate a contract with the pigs.

Barb was offered a stained glass ornament for her window.  She would like it to be a multi-colored tree or a big, bright, golden sun – two things that she treasures.

Nancy: One of Nancy’s fondest childhood memories was the joy of going to the general store, not with her mother, but with a friend and the friend’s mother.  She could pick out the penny candy that she liked best, bazooka bubble gum and tootsie rolls. 

Amy was asked what she would like to lug around in a pickup truck:  She chose a tiger and fantasized, facetiously, about being at a gas station, people admiring and being eaten by the tiger, saving on the cost of food.

Evaluator, Warren, offered a triple-decker sandwich, talking about what he saw, heard and felt in Mara’s speech.  He complimented the vocal variety, word pictures, and the emotion shown in her speech.

General Evaluator, Barb, said that she had fully enjoyed the meeting.  Lots of laughter with Nancy’s jokes.  Table Topics had some fun and unusual questions.  Warren did an excellent job of evaluating.

The guests enjoyed the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

Meeting Minutes

April 26, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements: Our next in-person meeting will be next week, in Room A at Country Inn.

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jean, Jim, Kate, Kelly, Lynn C, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Meera, Nancy, Robert, Warren

Guests: No guests

Our Sergeant at Arms, Lynne D, opened the meeting at 12:06 p.m.

Opening Comments were presented by our president Lynn C.

The meeting theme was: “Washington State Place Names.”

The word of the day was “Originate,” meaning start.

Our Toastmaster was Lynne D, who provided much information about place names in Washington State.  She said that most place names fall into the following four categories:  Native American names (words ending in “mish,” meaning people, or “chuck,” meaning water), Euro-based names, names of influential people (Bothell, Redmond), names reminiscent of former home.

Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian – Meera        

Ah Counter – Amy.

Timer – Kate

General Evaluator – Mara

Speaker #1 was Maria, with her speech, “The Red Conundrum,” 5-7 minutes.  In her speech she explained the five P’s of growing tomatoes: Planning, planting, patience, picking, and processing. Maria’s smile, enthusiasm and colorful slides made it very entertaining.

Speaker #2 was Robert with his speech, “What else can you do with 81 squares?”  6-8 minutes.  Robert showed some of the cartoons that he had drawn, demonstrating the many different ways to play Sudoku.  Go to the website: www.erasable games.com for more cartoons in the Blog there.

Table Topics

Warren asked questions related to the theme. 

Nancy talked about how the pronunciation of place names reveals people who are native to the area and those who are newcomers, using her city’s name, Llano, as an example.

Meera said that she would like to see the empire state building in New York.

Amy said she would like the roof of the Space Needle to be painted like a unicorn.

Evaluator #1, Barb, was profuse in her compliments of Maria’s speech, saying that it was very enjoyable and organized.

Evaluator #2, Kelly, complimented Robert on the subtle humor of his speech and the technical depth that he exhibited.

General Evaluator, Mara, mentioned that a toastmasters meeting is a safe place for technical problems and complimented our ability to adapt.

Despite the many technical difficulties, the meeting ended on time.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

Officer Meeting Minutes

PUBLIC SPEAKING NORTHWEST

April 19, 2022

 

Meeting started approximately 1:10 p.m.

 

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

 

Minutes from the March meeting were approved.

 

OFFICER REPORTS

 

Report from VPE Nancy: 

·      Excellent news: Meera became our 20^th member. We only need one more Level 2 to be perfect, with 10 points!  Every member renewed! 

·      Sending out roster ahead of time worked well.

 

Report from VPM Kate:

·      EVERYONE renewed, including Nevin & Jessica who we expected to drop because of their busy schedules

·      At the in-person meeting, Giri said the he would like a meeting to be in-person and streaming at the same time.

Report from VPPR Mara:

·      The focus on the in-person meeting was tremendous, good turnout.

·      Ongoing promotion is good,

·      We got $50 for the open house.  Mara would not suggest having Open House and In-Person meeting so close together again.

·      Giri, Randy, Tobias, Julie were guests at the in-person meeting, invited by Mara. She had personally called some former members.

 

Discussion regarding in-person meetings:

·      Mara reported that she had personally recruited roles in advance of the meeting.

·      Warren wants to speak at an in-person meeting

·      Lynn C expressed kudos to Mara as Toastmaster of the meeting, providing guidance and making everyone feel safe.

·      Toastmaster for the May in-person meeting is not decided yet.

·      Diana (guest) liked the meeting a LOT, but may not join, even though Lynn C offered to pay her expenses to join.

·      In the future, the toastmaster should explain the amount of time that guests have for feedback. We were not able to get feedback from all guests because one guest took too long at the meeting

·      Mara posted photos of in person meeting in Facebook.

·      We may be able to have the in-person meeting in June at ISO.

 Report from SSA Lynne:

·      Lynne came early, did all the set-up, and solved problems with the room.

·      We got a larger room than expected.

·      There is a new contact at Country Inn and Suites and Lynne has established a relationship with the new person.

·      Next in-person meeting will be in the Country Inn conference room, with a large table, but not a lot of room to move around.

·      Being SSA at the meeting had been a large time commitment

·      It had been fun working with Mara, great input, reliable

 

Report from Secretary Barb: Nothing to report.

 

Report from Treasurer Jinxin.

·      We have $1402 in our bank account

·      Country Inn hasn’t charged us yet.

·      We will get money from D2 to offset Zoom costs

·      Trouble with PayPal – Jim is still the only one who can change things; makes Jinxin nervous.  Despite many attempts, we have not been able to solve this problem.

 

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS

 

Kate agreed to check out the size of the table in the conference room of Country Inn, how many it seats.

 

Discussion of officers for the next term:

·      Maria would be good for some role

·      Kelly would be good for PR, and probably would accept it

·      Amy or Kristin could do the Zoom recording

·      Barb will replace Lynne as SAA, with Robert’s help

·      Nancy is willing to stay on as VPE

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary

 

 

 

Meeting Minutes

April 19, 2022

Public Speaking Northwest Toastmasters

Announcements: Our next in-person meeting will be in two weeks, in Room A at Country Inn.

Members in Attendance: Amy, Barb, Jean, Jim, Kate, Kristin, Lynne D, Mara, Maria, Meera, Nancy, Robert, Warren

Guests: Dan Sakaki, from Richmond, Canada, Unicorn Tribe Toastmasters Club

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

Opening Comments were presented by our President pro temp, Nancy, who welcomed our guest and talked a little about “Toastmaster Tourism.” At the end of the meeting, Nancy offered Kudos to Lynne for handling the recordings and always starting our meetings on time.

The meeting theme was: “Earth Day”

The word of the day was “Verdant,” meaning green, as in a verdant forest. A second meaning is naïve or new, as in verdant college students.

Our Toastmaster was Mara, who provided thoughts, ideas, and history about Earth Day, which was created in 1970 by a U.S. Senator.  Ever since, Earth Day has inspired events by people around the world. Earth Day is always celebrated on April 22^nd.  

 Our Gate Team was:

Grammarian –Amy

Ah Counter – Warren.

Timer – Lynne D.

General Evaluator – Barb

 Speaker #1 was Kristin, with her speech, “Leadership and Personality Tests,” 5-7 minutes.  In her quest to increase her knowledge of leadership, Kristin recently took several personality tests and shared her results with us. She provided a chart which showed her strengths based on the Clifton tests, taken 8 years ago and recently. One of her strengths is WOO= Winning Others Over.  The Toastmaster leadership test said that she was bureaucratic, which surprised her at first.  In the Myers-Briggs test taken at work, she was revealed as ESFJ, (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) particularly good for “teaching and preaching.”

Table Topics

Maria showed Memes and asked questions regarding Earth Day.

Meera talked about the things from earth that she would like to introduce to another planet.  She said “animals,” and she also mentioned all the coffee grown in Nepal. The meme said, “Save the earth – it’s the only planet that has coffee.”

Amy was asked to talk about how she manages with the rotating differences in daylight between summer and winter. Both she and her fiancé suffer from the SADD syndrome in winter, so they create very light spaces in their house to counteract that. In the spring and summer, they go outdoors as often as possible.

Jim said that if he was colonizing another planet, he would bring vegetables to one of the outer rings of Saturn.  He thinks that the Fountain of Youth might be found there, and he would welcome the chance to be verdant again.

Robert, when asked about an event that hadn’t had enough preparation, said that he enjoys doing events spontaneously. He mentioned his 45^th birthday party as an example, in which none of his friends knew each other but still enjoyed themselves exploring their connections to him.

Warren was asked, “What would you want planted in your honor?” Warren’s immediate response was that he would like planted something that provided support and food, such as orange or apple trees.  He added, “Something with seeds, that continues to help society after I am gone.”

Dan responded to the meme, “Earth is the only planet that has cats,” and was asked which animal he would take to another planet.  He talked about his love/hate relationship with cats. He loves cats but they spark his allergies.  Dan concluded with his love/love relationship with dogs.

Jean was asked, “Do you remember your re-usable bags when you go shopping?” Jean responded that Jim remembers.  Jean forgets the bags, but not what goes into them. Because of her age, she doesn’t like talk about “old bags.”

Evaluator, Nancy, said that she loved the topic of Kristin’s speech.  Nancy said that Kristin is no longer a verdant speaker. She excelled at immersing herself in the topic, sharing joy, and leading with her heart.  Nancy commented on the good introduction and suggested using pauses as transitions between the tests.  Nancy said that using Power Point is challenging, and suggested minimizing use of words during set up. She called it a great speech with good delivery.

General Evaluator, Barb, commented on how enjoyable the meeting had been and suggested that members arrive 10-15 minutes early to join in the interesting discussions before the meeting.  Barb called out the great job done by Nancy in evaluating Kristin’s speech, including the sandwich method and specific suggestions.

Mara concluded her toastmaster duties by giving riddle jokes about Earth day.

Our guest Dan, said that he liked that we had presented the club Mission Statement, and he offered praise to Maria because she nodded and smiled to make Table Topics speakers feel comfortable, not intimidated.

Robert provided a great joke at the end of the meeting.

The meeting ended on time.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Katz, Secretary