Love and Hate– Meeting of February 11, 2017

16 members and one guest were present for the February, 11th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. Nicole S. stepped in as acting President of the club to help get things started. Yanyan was this morning’s Toastmaster. This was Yanyan’s first time as Toastmaster and she did a wonderful job!

Our first speaker was Andrew. Andrew gave his seventh speech from the competent communicator manual. His speech was titled “Resolution vs. Revolution”. He gave a wonderful speech on the difference of resolutions and revolutions. A great takeaway from Andrew’s speech is that we must consider the costs and benefits of making revolutions.

Paula was our second speaker of the day. She gave her eighth speech from the Competent Communicator manual. Paula used a PowerPoint to help deliver her speech. She spoke about how difficult and complex it is for private and public entities to join together and construct and deliver public buildings.

Tom was the third speaker of the day. He shared with us the four areas of conversation. They are chit chat, fact disclosure, opinion or view points, and personal feelings. He included a role-playing piece to demonstrate what chit chatting looks like. A key takeaway is to ask open ended questions when making small talk.

Aleli was our fourth speaker of the day. She also gave her forth speech from the Storytelling Manual. Aleli shared with us a story of when she moved her business office from one location to another. It was a very stressful five day move but she and her team persevered and made it happen. She discovered that finding dedicated and hardworking people are essential when you’re a small business owner.

Kiki led our table topics session. She asked members to share their love and hate relationships with restaurants. Bill won the best Table Topics with a great response of how he would start a scone restaurant because of his passion of scones.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 2/18.

Media – Meeting of January 28, 2017

16 members and three guests were present for the January, 28th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. Nicole S. stepped in as acting President of the club to help get things started. Paula L. was this morning’s Toastmaster. Paula did a wonderful job reminding us of the key things we learn in Toastmasters, which includes observing, listening, and speaking up, all of which can be applied in today’s media.

Our first speaker was Yanyan B. Yanyan gave her fifth speech from the Competent Communicator manual. Her speech was about the Chinese New Year. She gave us interesting facts and details including the history, common foods, and traditions of the Chinese New Year. Her speech was very informative.

Sanjiv K. was our second speaker of the day. He gave his second speech from the Competent Communicator manual as well. In Sanjiv’s speech, he shared with us an experience of when he first came to the United States and realized when communicating with others your words really do matter. He went on to tell us that how we communicate may actually be more important than the actual words we use to communicate.

Cara S. was the third speaker of the day. Cara gave her fourth speech today. She shared with us a story of a recent trip to the San Juan Islands and about what a relaxing time she had with her sister and coworker’s family. The highlight of her trip was catching and filleting the fish she had caught. It reminded her of an episode of Survivor.

Julie S. was our fourth speaker of the day. She gave her forth speech from the CC manual. Julie encouraged us to be pro-active to make your life better. She shared with us three key points to think about daily. The key points are, 1) Believe in yourself, 2) Do what makes you happy, and 3) Continue to challenge yourself. Julie had specific examples how she’s implemented these three key points with her day-to-day living and the positive experiences she’s had from thinking about these points. Great topic and speech, Julie!

Nicole S. led our table topics session. She asked members what they thought of Yogi Berra Quotes. Our guest, Gabrielle won the best Table Topics, with a short reminder of to read the book 1984 and to think about how it relates to the world today. Awesome job, Gabrielle!

Andrew H. was our general evaluator who gave great feedback to the evaluators, speakers, and those with specific roles during the meeting. The greatest takeaway was the more specific evaluators feedback can get, the better outcome for the speakers.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 2/11.

Write-up by Paula L.

New World Order- Meeting of January 21, 2017

Our theme was “ New World Order” and our meeting was led by Preston. Preston kicked off the meeting by reminding us of the reality of the new world order under the newly sworn in President Trump.

The word of the day,” Capricious” introduced by Yanyan, was deemed very fitting for the times.

Our first speaker of the day, Brett, delivered project #8 form the Competent Communicator ( CC) manual. The focus was using visual aids. In his speech, Brett gave a brief explanation of how two different algorithms are used to sort information.

Jon was our second speaker with his icebreaker, CC manual project #1. Jon shared snippets of an itinerant childhood all across the country. Looking back, Jon reflected that, although it was hard to always be the new kid on the block growing up, he learned to be adaptable, resilient and willing to try new things. He concluded with words of encouragement and wisdom:“ Change is pretty much inevitable,(..) keep an open mind and positive attitude so that when change comes, you will see all the new and bright opportunities that come with it.”

Our third speaker of the day was Nicole, with project #9 from the CC manual. The focus was to persuade with power. Playing on the Seattle’ s culinary diversity. Nicole introduced “ The Best Sandwich of Them All” which is the Toastmaster’s sandwich evaluation method. Citing from her personal experience as a writer, daughter and teacher, Nicole gave examples of how wrapping your feedback between two layers of compliments, is a highly effective and positive way to deliver constructive criticism.

Ken was the last speaker of the day. Ken presented project #4 from the CC manual. The focus was to speak to inform. In his speech, Ken related an encounter with a rattlesnake on a hot summer day. He used this story to explain how the three levels of the human mind ( reptilian, mammalian and neo-cortex) work.

Marty led our table topics session. She asked members to tell a conspiracy theory of their choosing. Bill was voted ‘ best table topics speaker” for the true story behind the fire that consumed Mr Gyros in Greenwood: a conspiracy of jealous gyros restaurants!

Our evaluators were Kathy, Julie, Cara and Tom. Andrew served as our general evaluator. Tom and Andrew were both voted as “ best evaluators”.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 1/ 28.

Resolutions and Revolutions – Meeting of January 14, 2017

16 members were present for the January, 14th Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters meeting. This was our first meeting of the year, so we had a very fitting theme of “Resolutions and Revolutions.” Our meeting was led by Vice President Andy K.

Our first speaker was Preston K. Preston spoke about his new approach to his New Year’s Resolutions. Instead of having all-or-nothing goals, he’s approaching it from setting manageable and obtainable goals throughout the year. So far, so good!

Ken B. was our second speaker of the day. He gave his 3rd speech from the Competent Communicator manual. In Ken’s speech, he spoke about his experiences meeting individuals that had dangerous stereotypes, but in reality weren’t dangerous at all.

Zhou B. was the third speaker of the day. Zhou gave his Ice Breaker speech. The Ice Breaker speech is the first speech from the Competent Communicator manual. He shared with us two stories of how he’s overcame his fears. We’re looking forward to hearing more speeches from Zhou throughout his Toastmasters journey.

Makoto Y. was our fourth speaker of the day. He gave his 7th speech from the CC manual, with objectives that include to collect information from numerous sources and to support his points and opinions with specific facts and examples. Makoto did a great job of doing this with different examples of traveling around the world during the Roman Era, Industrial Revolution era, present time and what travel could look like in the future.

Yanyan B. led our table topics session. She asked members what they thought of New Year’s resolutions. Bill S. had the most votes for table topics with his impromptu speech on his goal of being healthier in 2017 which includes physical, mental and spiritual. Great job Bill S.

Andrew H. was our general evaluator who gave great feedback for evaluators, speakers, and those with specific roles during the meeting. The greatest takeaway was the more specific evaluators feedback can get, the better outcome for the speakers.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 1/21.