Club President Scott opened the meeting and introduced first-time emcee (“Toastmaster”) Sally. Sally told us a bit about her view of the Summer Olympics and introduced the timer, Sonja and Grammarian/Ah Counter Scott. Then it was time to introduce the prepared speeches.
Speeches:

1. Benefits of Owning A Dog. Nagisa told us how she gained unexpected blessings from owning her first dog: positive vibes at the end of a hard day of work & school, increased opportunities to meet folks and overcome shyness when walking the dog and entertainment value as her pooch gets into one escapade after another! Competent Communication manual, Project 4 (How to Say It).
2. A Wedding Toast. Nicole practiced a toast she plans to give at her sister’s wedding. Tongue firmly in cheek, she advised the groom on some funny traits he should expect when married to her sister. . . Special Occasion Speeches advanced manual, Project 1 (Mastering the Toast).
3. Swimming. Johan shared her love of swimming, some benefits of swimming and suggestions for better swimming technique, then followed up with a call for audience members to try swimming for aerobic conditioning. CC manual, Project 2 (Organize Your Speech).

Impromptu speaking: Dick regaled us with questions on the Olympics — what events would you add to or eliminate from the Olympics? What rule changes would you make, etc.?

Evaluations. Dillibe, Mineko and Ray gave feedback and suggestions to the speakers, Scott and Sonja reported on language and speakers’ elapsed times, and Madeleine gave an overall review of the meeting and suggestions for better evaluations.

Next Meeting: August 25, 2012. Theme: Memorable Meals: The Good and the Bad!

“Achievement” was our theme this week as this summer’s Speechcraft program drew toward conclusion. Treasurer Sonja presided over the meeting for her first time.
Dave, the program chair, emceed the meeting.
Prepared speeches:

Mineko gave her final Speechcraft talk on “Ideas for Gift Shopping.” Her main idea: avoid “hedonistic adaptation” — our innate tendency to appreciate a gift less as its novelty wears off — by giving either an experience instead of a material good or an item that provides enjoyable but variable experiences (such as a camera). Speechcraft Project 3, Get to the Point.

Sharon shared on the essential summertime skill of “How to Make Smores.” Sharon demonstrated with great verve how to make a smore without falling into the common pitfalls of flaming dessert syndrome. She had the audience rolling in the aisles with her depiction of Do’s and Don’ts of Smoredom. Speechcraft Project 3, Get to the Point.

Sally, a regular Toastmasters member, shared useful tips on how to control worries based on her own experience dealing with anxiety. Her prescription: imagine the worse that can happen; prepare to accept that result; work on concrete steps to deal with the situation. Sally supported her points with hilarious stories from her daily life. Competent Communication Project 3, Get to the Point.

Dave led the spontaneous speaking session, Table Topics, on the theme of achievements. Questions included “name an outstanding achievement” and “must I attain an outstanding achievement in order to stand out as an individual?” Ray took Best Table Topics with his answer to the latter (even though it wasn’t the question he was asked to answer. . .).
Evaluations: Sharon and Mineko evaluated each other’s speeches (their debut evaluations!) and Ray gave feedback to Sally. Dick stepped up as Timer. General Evaluator Madeleine reviewed the meeting as a whole.

Sonja and Dave closed with a graduation ceremony for Speechrafters Mineko and Sharon.
Comments on Speechcraft:

• Mineko: This program has been incredible! The biggest takeaway is learning from feedback.
• Sharon: This was way more fun than I thought it was going to be!

Club President Scott opened the meeting, welcoming guest Dick and members Dave, Sharon, Amara, Scott, Ray, Sally and Madeleine.
Meeting emcee and Speechcraft Chair Dave introduced the day’s speakers.

• Sally spoke from the Organize Your Speech project of the Speechcraft manual. The topic was her childhood in rural China — the lessons she learned as well as the fun she had growing up in an environment of food scarcity. Sally learned not to waste food, not to overeat and to appreciate nature.
• Sharon also spoke from the Organize Your Speech project. Speaking on finding balance in work life, Sharon suggested several pointers for having a less harried work life: write tasks down so you can get them out of your head, take time to relax each day, and practice the skill of saying “no” to requests.
• Dick spoke from the Organize Your Speech project of the Competent Communication manual. He delivered an impromptu description of the working life of a test pilot. Dick took pains to dispel any Hollywood-inspired notions of test pilots as wizards of derring-do. In fact, test pilots are mainly geeks with wings — data hounds above the clouds.

Impromptu speaking (“Table Topics”) followed. Amara peppered the audience with questions about taking action (“Which role would you like to play in film or on TV,” “What book motivated you to action,” etc.). Scott won Best Table Topics with his answer on how he would love to play Agent 007 (“Bond, James Bond”) — the cars, the gadgets, the exotic locales. . .
Evaluations: Dick, Dave and Scott gave feedback and helpful suggestions to our speakers.

Business: Speechcraft will be extended one meeting to allow more Speechcrafters to finish their speaking programs. The next meeting will be a Speechcraft meeting and all Speechcrafters, members and guests are invited to take part.

Our next meeting will be 7/28 at 7:45 a.m.

Ray, Nagisa, Dave, Dillibe, Sally, Johan, Scott, Nicole, Mineko and Madeleine were joined by guest Dick for round three of Speechcraft on the theme of Summer Sports.
President Scott welcomed founding member Madeleine and her friend Dick back from their 2-year stay on the E. Coast. After having all introduce themselves, Scott ushered in  meeting emcee Dave to lead the Speechcraft session. Dave in turn announced the presenters of today’s prepared speeches:

• Scott told us how to give “An Organized Speech” — one that has an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Using handouts, he demonstrated how supporting material can be grouped to convey our ideas and explained how to write an introduction and conclusion.
• Speechcrafter Mineko gave her second speech, “Stage Fright.” She described the symptoms of fear of public speaking and offered suggestions on overcoming this paralysis. These included not only the tried-and-true technique of deep breathing, but consciously expanding our peripheral vision as a way to banish panic.
• Speechcrafter Johan shared in her Ice Breaker (self-introduction) speech her path from childhood in Taiwan to getting a green card, to working in a medical laboratory, to selling real estate!

Spontaneous speaking. Table Topicsmaster Dillibe plied the audience with questions on the theme of Summer Sports for our impromptu speaking practice. Dick took the Best Table Topic award.
Feedback. Ray, Nicole and Sally provided supportive comments and suggestions for improvement to the speakers.

Instruction.  Dave explained the importance of speech evaluation and set out some techniques for effective evaluation, which speechcrafters will try next time.
Adviser/Speechcrafter discussions. Speechcrafters were briefed on next week’s speaking assignments and had Q&A time with advisers.
Program chair Dave wrapped up and returned control to Scott, who closed the meeting.
Business item: The club is purchasing two official signs from Toastmasters to help guests find us on campus.
Next meeting: Next Saturday, July 21 at 7:45.