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If there was ever any doubt that Toastmasters is a great forum for building great speakers, thinkers, and leaders, the final Seattle Sunrise meeting of 2014 dispelled that notion. The meeting featured five outstanding speeches were followed by five spot-on evaluations and a handful of emotional “Toastmaster Moments.”

Michelle started things off with, “Time to Make a Plan,” her CC Project #8 “Get Comfortable with Visual Aids.” In the speech Michelle reached into her legal briefs to discuss the importance of making a will. The speech moved at least one Toastmaster in the group (yep, that would be me) to make sure all the proverbial “I’s” and “T’s” were dotted and crossed on his will.

“Own Your Awesomeness” was Porscha’s CC Project #6, “Your Body Speaks.” Porscha took her turn at the podium to counsel us all on how to accept a compliment, a seemingly small everyday act that can have great consequences, both for the giver and the receiver.

In a creative and dramatic Icebreaker, new Toastmaster Aanya recounted the story of her family in “An Original Korean Drama.” Aanya’s speach took the form of a dramatic narrative, with all the pitches and turns that great stories convey.

Rich took a chapter out of the Christmas storybook and demonstrated his natural storytelling abilities with “The Sparrow,” which came out of the Storytelling Manual project, “The Moral of the Story.”

Also echoing the sentiment of the holiday season, Katey Noonan closed out the speeches with a persuasive “Give Within Your Means,” in which she offered many suggestions on how even small gestures of gift-giving can have great meaning and change lives.

Steve Wangen walked away with the Best Evaluator Award for his evaluation of Rich’s story.

As we enter into the New Year, let’s all give the many Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters who have appeared in these meeting summaries a virtual round of applause for a great year of hard work, moving speeches, and tremendous growth!

It’s that time a year again. No, I’m not referring to reindeer or elves ormaxed-out credit cards. I’m referring to the colds and flus that little ones drag into our (my!) house, and end-of-year reports that bosses force us (me!) to produce.

So Sunrise Toastmaster Nation, I apologize for this very late, and very brief posting. While the words that follow do a disservice to everyone who brought their A-game to last Saturday’s meeting, I hope that the additional photos taken by Scott help to balance things out.

With Peter at the Toastmaster helm, and “Eyes Wide Open” as the meeting theme, Seattle Sunrise members and guests were privileged to hear three outstanding speeches.

Nicole’s retelling of O Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” – her Storytelling Manual #3 project – started the speeches off. Marti  closed out her Competent Communicator manual with “A Few of My Favorite Memes” — Project #8, “Get Comfortable with Visual Aids.” And closing out the speeches was Andy’s  “Partners in Crime,” his Project #4 – Say it Right — from the Competent Communicator Manual.

Mary, Seva, and Scott evaluated the speech, while yours truly took on the role of General Evaluator. Scott walked away with another Best Evaluator ribbon.

Steve offered up several questions for Table Topics, which was won by Daniel for his sloth response.

December 20, which is slated to be a Speechathon is our last meeting of the year. Please join us and see where all the excitement is at 7:30 in the morning.