It was a meeting of smiles, guffaws, and off-the-cuff reflections as Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters held its annual Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest on Saturday, September 13. This year the contest could have just as well been called, “The Day Andy Koopmans Won It All,” as the the erstwhile comedian, writer and magician walked away with both awards.

For the humorous speech contest, Andy contributed “Snipped: A PG-13 Story of My Vasectomy.” I’ll let the reader imagine the snippets that strung that speech together.

Rich J raised his share of smiles and laughs with his tale of highway deer, beach-bumming skunks, and two of his best friends growing up, in his speech “Eddie and Chester.” (Not to ruin the punchline, but Chester was his family dog.) And Katey N offered executive-wannabes valuable insight into how to survive the dog-eat-dog world of the corporate world with “Survival Skills in the Modern Office Environment.” According to Katey, one’s ability to succeed in today’s office setting is directly related to how one manages morning coffee breaks, noontime lunches, and afternoon Happy Hours.

Janell H, Andy K, and Peter F took up the call of competition in the Table Topics portion of the contest. Toastmaster Jun Lei ‘s question for the contestants — “If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?” — brought a tone of deep reflection to the meeting, with Andy’s response getting the winning nod from the judges.

The next Seattle Sunrise meeting will a Speechathon on Saturday September 20. Guests are always welcome, so please join us.

Peter incorporates gestures into his speaking

Turning to a fashion designer, comedian, the famous “author” Anonymous, and Confucius for inspiration, Toastmaster Marti MacEwan evoked a sense of “balance,” the meeting’s theme, throughout her duties.

Mark White opened the speeches with the help of some books, a Kindle, and an iPhone as props, as he discussed the differences between the business models of Amazon.com and independent bookstores.

Scott Champion‘s speech, “A Bridge to Brooklyn,” brought us to New York City, 1866. As Manhattan was growing, a proposal to build a bridge to Brooklyn was put forth as a way to relieve the population pressure. The proposal languished until one winter when New York City harbor froze and no one could travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. That spring officials quickly agreed to build the bridge, but soon thereafter skyscrapers rose in Manhattan, ironically reducing reducing the need for the bridge.

Seva Kumar, in “Early to Bed, Early to Rise,” took us on a journey through his history of alarm clocks. When his new boss forced him to wake up early for 9 am meetings, he was challenged to make the meetings on time. So he experimented with various alarm clock configurations to rise early, but nothing worked until he learned to wake to an exercise regime and maintain a vow to go to bed early, as his mother had long since advised.

In “Why an MBA Now?,” Shen Yang discussed how the devastation of China’s landscape brought on by economic growth and natural catastrophes pushed him to apply for an MBA program so he can start an engineering firm that will help to rebuild the landscapes of his native China.

Shane provides feedback to Mark

In table topics, Katey Noonan asked for advice in how she can balance her own increasingly out-of-balance life. Michelle Delappe took home the ribbon for best evaluator, and Peter Feysa provided the denouement of the meeting with both the word of the day (“denouement”) and the winning Table Topics presentation.

Peter wins the award for best table topic response

Bea is inducted as the newest member of Seattle Sunrise Toastmasters!

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It was another beautiful Seattle summer morning as club President Shen Yang called the July 26 meeting to order. Under such beautiful conditions, it was clear that we’d all be challenged to use Grammarian Brian Hudnall’s word of the day, “cantankerous,” as our collective mood clearly was anything but.

As Toastmaster, Michelle DeLappe opened her thoughts by evoking a bit of LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) history as a way to introduce the meeting’s theme of “pride.”

Michelle offered examples of how many cultures have historically viewed pride pejoratively. Buddhism, for instance, considers pride a “delusion.” But in the years following the Stonewall Riots, the LGBT community has helped to recast the emotion in a more affirming, humanistic light. Michelle tied the word’s history to the pride that Seattle Sunrise members feel as we progress to meet our personal goals and improve our speaking and leadership skills.

New Sunrise member Andy Koopmans opened up the speaking portion of the morning with his Icebreaker speech, “An Experimental Career Path.” A writer by profession, Andy recounted in humorous detail the wide range of jobs he has had over the years. Whether as a magician, carpenter, or sheriff’s deputy, Andy has taken pride in the many experiences he has compiled that continue to inform his ongoing literary career.

Donning a fake nose and mustache, Marti MacEwan evoked the spirit of Grouch Marx as she offered advice on how to overcome stage fright. Marti’s speech brought together a lighthearted but deeply informed elixir of humor, personal history and professional advice on the tools we have at our disposal to gain the confidence we need take center stage.

The spirit of another cultural icon was evoked with the speech “The Day Bruce Springsteen Changed My Life,” by yours truly.

And Mary Lentz completed the speaking portion of the meeting with the first of a promised two-part speech entitled “Procrastination Nation.” In it she introduced several theories of why we all procrastinate and recounted her own life-long struggle with the issue.

Andrea, Porscha, Avilio, Seva, and Shen each offered evaluations, with Porscha taking home the “Best Evaluator” ribbon. For “Table Topics,” which was won by Peter Feysa, Jun Lei shook things up a bit by playing a version of “Mad Libs” with the club’s mission statement.

Following the meeting, club officers met to begin preparations for the club’s forthcoming Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest, which has tentatively been scheduled for the third Saturday in September. Keep an eye out for those details and get your funny bones in shape, as you’ll definitely not want to miss out on that fun.

Whether you’re a Seattle Sunrise member or a virtual passerby exploring the idea of joining Toastmasters, unplug your devises and head out to the mountains, beaches, parks, or wherever else Seattle’s summer spirit calls you. But make sure to return by Saturday, August 9, the date of our next Seattle Sunrise meeting. See you there!