The morning meeting started with Petar, as a first-time Toastmaster, reviewing the agenda and the theme of the day “Open Mind”.  

We had four speakers.  Isabella started her new Pathway track Strategic Relationships and she spoke of why she chose this path.  Lara shared with us her plan for Intentional Social Media and building up her presence in Facebook. Bill assisted us in the practice of Open Minded Presence by having us walk through our breathing with eyes closed and transferring our attention to our eyes.  Guest speaker, Randy, spoke about the Up Down Sideway of choosing humor in your speeches.  

Steven was the Table Topics Toastmaster. He created a humorous section for members and guests to practice impromptu speaking, giving instructions to share about the new hobby and why you were passionate about it.  Each answers brought laughter and fun to the meeting. Matt, Petar, Lara, Bill, Hannah, and Randy volunteered. Bill won the Best Table Topics.  

Young as a first-time evaluator, critiquing Isabella’s speech, gave substantial suggestions to improve for choosing and using words in context, slowing down phrasing, and recording your speech for practice. Jovica evaluated Lara with positivity and encouraging words. Paula evaluated Bill giving him tips on organization on content and admiring his voice during the eyes close exercise.  Steven evaluated the guest speaker’s Randy’s speech, noticing the pacing and the effectiveness of the homour for such a series topic. 

What makes a good meeting?  General Evaluator, Aleli, asked for a round-robin of the audience, engaging members and guest alike.  The meeting ended with Scott’s grammarian report, and Jovica timer report, before Petar transferred the meeting back to President Lara, who closed out the morning by asking the four guests for their feedback about the meeting. 

Happy birthday to Oleg, Happy birthday to him, Happy birthday dear Oleg, we hope you join us next time.  Yes that was today’s theme for our Toastmaster meeting. But the birthday-boy was absent from the meeting; and Bill joked that he was hiding in the eating area just outside the meeting windows.  We had giggles and laughters today with the help of Isabella and Jovica, who bridged our meeting with the birthday theme.  We had some people sing happy birthday rendition that were surprising. During the table topics, people share their birth anniversary memories. We learned how to say happy birthday in multiple languages from Young, who won the best Table Topics award.  

We had two icebreaker speeches.  Young shared his goal for joining toastmaster to advance his communication and leadership skills as a STEM professor.  Hannah gave her icebreaker Getting Comfortable being uncomfortable, with a goal of becoming a better communicate as an engineer.  Petar repeated and refined his speech with Crashing American Dream of a Car at 16.  Jimmy delighted us with  a eulogy of the infamous internet personality Grumpy Cat. 

The technique of evaluating and delivering an effective criticism is something we practice at Toastmaster.  The evaluators today were Scott, Aleli, Bill, and Jovica.   Each delivered against a 2-3 minute time box and all stayed within their time, with Scott winning the Best Evaluator award.  
The general evaluator, Paula, provided general meeting observation and added to the speakers evaluations.  Ana, our grammarian gave her report on how many times the word of the day “optimistic” was used.  Samantha was a first-time timer at our Club and she kept our speakers on track.  

Isabella finished up her toastmaster duties handing the meeting to former Club President, Bill, who closed out the meeting with soliciting for feedback from Zayden, a former member, visited us again and his guest and friend Gabby.  Jarred was also a returning said that the meeting was “cool”. 

Some business topics were brought up by Jimmy and Aleli at the end of the meeting.  Jimmy reminded the club about new 6-months renewal Club fee are due at the end of March, asking the members to renew as early as possible.  Aleli asked for volunteers for the Division G Contest in 2020, as she is chairing the event on April 11th. 

Happy birthday to Oleg!  Where is Oleg?  

The highlights:  member induction, gym stuff, jock strap, green eggs and ham, Peru, Thai restaurant, and the super plunger, and first time.

We inducted our first two new members to Seattle Sunrise for year 2020.  Oleg inducted Samatha and Young, welcoming them to the club as members, and asking them four questions: 1.Will you prepare for your assignments to the best of your ability? 2.    Will you cheerfully accept the roles assigned to you? 3.    Will you support and encourage others in their speaking goals? 4.    Will you attend regularly?  Then Oleg reminded the club members of their commitment asking them “As club members, do you agree to support Samatha and Young in their growth as a speaker,  leader and club member?”  Toastmaster club provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth. 

Gym instructor was the theme, which tied to a Mr. Jeffreys, to the word of the day “equipment”, to physical props of dumb bells and jock strap, the meeting was full of interesting stories and transition.  The speakers were Jovica, Ana, Samatha, and Steven.  Jovica refined his speech about green eggs and ham, using repetition and a photo of green eggs and ham, getting to the point of great nutrition.  Ana had a slide show of her trip to Peru.  Samatha gave an award speech to her favorite Thai restaurant, while also including some icebreaker personal facts.  Steven with enthusiasm and custom, told us of his fundraising efforts for the Super Plunger efforts in 2019, a physical and cold way to to support the local Special Olympics.   Bill won the table topics speech, with his rendition of using the jock strap not only for its original purpose, but as a helmet.

To summarize, we had first time visitor of Thomas, Lisa, and Hannah.  Young had his first role as timer.  Samatha gave her first speech as a member.  And of course we had our induction of new members.  Jimmy as toastmaster of the day, not only facilitated the meeting, but also was the general evaluator. The meeting ended on time.  The officers stayed for an extra 20 minutes to conduct a business officer meeting immediately following the regular session.