June 23, 2014 Club Meeting

The following is a summary of the minutes from our June 23rd meeting.

Meeting Location:   San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo, CA     6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Attendees:  Randy, David, Aditi, Ruth, Fernando, Samya, Brenda, Barbara, Suzanne, Leif, Vishal, Martin and Glenn.

There were three guests: John, Shashi, and Jack

Samya started the meeting with a warm welcome to all of the guests and asked each one to speak about what brought them to Toastmasters.

The new officers were voted into office by a unanimous vote by the members:
Martin Quan: Vice President of Membership
Fernando Albayeros:  Sgt. of Arms
Lara Miller: Secretary Assistant

Samya was the Toastmaster; David was the General Evaluator; Shashi was the Grammarian; Randy was the Ah Counter; Martin was the Table Topics Master; Glenn was the Vote Counter; and Brenda was the Timer.

The theme of the meeting was: “Vacation”; The word of the day was: “Holiday”.

Speaker #1:  Barbara:  “Ice Breaker”

Competent Communication Project 1:  

Barbara spoke about how to be “on track” with your purpose; “What am I passionate about?”.  She then told us about meeting a woman from “Women for Women International” and how she became inspired to begin a fund raising effort on their behalf.  This organization helps women from war torn countries rebuild their lives.

Barbara spoke about her 10 years in New York City where she taught meditation.  She helped her students discover that their happiness “comes from within”.  

Barbara then moved to California where she wanted to find a “new vision”.   She acquired a new career and soon became aware of her true calling, which was to assist others in regaining their self-esteem.  She helped them by giving step by step guidance.  Barbara discovered her passion in allowing others to live successful lives.

Evaluation:    Aditi evaluated Barbara’s speech.  Aditi said that Barbara “did a fantastic job”.  There were so many things she liked.  Barbara’s body language was good as was her tonality.  She conveyed her message with such passion and had great eye contact. 

Aditi gave the suggestion that Barbara make her transitions a little clearer and pause to allow the audience to catch up with her.  Overall, it was an inspiring message that was vocally very clear.

Speaker #2:  Vishal:  “Ice Breaker”

Competent Communication Project 1:  

Vishal gave an inspiring speech about his philosophy of life.  He began with the powerful quote: “80% of life is just showing up”.  Vishal then gave us two significant examples of this by relating it to his life experiences. 

The first example was when he chose to fill a last minute vacancy in a race.  Vishal had not trained as the rest of the runners had but he ended up winning the race anyway.  His second example was when he needed to find a job and found one at Mac Donalds.  

Vishal was new to this country and was not familiar with the menu, but he still managed to be promoted in just three months to the manager of the drive through.  Vishal enjoys “just showing up and putting himself out there”.    

Evaluation: Suzanne evaluated Vishal’s speech.  He appeared relaxed, confident, and outgoing in front of the audience.  Vishal introduced his topic with a strong quote that immediately got the audience engaged.  He gave two excellent examples to illustrate this point.  These examples were from personal stories that also gave us a chance to know him better. 

The suggestion given was to spend a little more time in summarizing his speech and have an equally strong ending, since the beginning was so powerful.  Overall, Vishal gave a great ice breaker speech.  It was well organized and on point.  He also used good eye contact. 

Table Topics:  Martin was the Table Topics Master.  Almost everyone had a chance to respond to the table topic questions.    

Samya asked the guests to give their impressions of the meeting and then closed the meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:30

June 16, 2014 Club Meeeting

The following is a summary of the minutes from our June 16th meeting.

Meeting Location:   San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo, CA     6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Attendees: David, Suzanne, Lara, Samya, Trey, Randy, Martin, Aditi, Brenda

Guests: Shashi, Michelle, Vishal, Barbara

Samya was the Toastmaster; Randy was the General Evaluator; Martin was the Timer.

Samya did not have printed agendas available, so she outlined the meeting’s agenda: a speech by Brenda and evaluations from last week’s meeting. 

Speaker:  Brenda: The Speaker Role

Brenda asked the audience for recollections from the previous meeting.  Brenda also gave feedback to presenters whose slides she saw in the final draft of last week’s PowerPoint presentation, noting Martin’s clever use of images.

Evaluator #1:  David on Martin’s speech: The Toastmaster Role

David noted that Martin made good use of visuals and bullets.  Martin had clear delivery and made effective use of pauses.  David noted Martin needs more voice intonation as his voice was too low.  David said the presentation was well-prepared and had good humor.

Evaluator #2:  Vishal on Fernando’s speech: The General Evaluator Role

Vishal noted Fernando’s calm demeanor and positive speech.  Vishal noted the speech ended on time.  Vishal said there were moments of uncertainty because of the questions in Fernando’s voice and it made Fernando look less prepared.  Vishal said Fernando should show more confidence next time.  Vishal said Fernando’s speech was positive.

Roundtable evaluation: Trey’s speech: The Speaker Role

·         Vishal noted Trey’s confidence and that he appeared less prepared. 

·         Samya noted Trey had filled in at the last minute with less time to prepare than the other speakers.

·         David noted that Trey had said he hadn’t prepared in his speech introduction and that he shouldn’t include that in the future. 

·         Lara noted Trey spoke about the role’s pre-meeting responsibilities which include letting your Evaluator know the things you want them to watch out for. 

·         Randy reminded everyone about the sandwich evaluation technique.

Evaluator #3: Trey on Randy’s speech: The Role of the Grammarian

Trey noted Randy’s walking, gestures and body movement.  Randy used notes once. Randy’s tone got too low and his pauses sometimes were too long.  Randy shared past experiences and personal stories to illustrate examples of bad and good grammar and an example of a movie legitimizing the use of bad grammar.  Overall, it was a wonderful presentation with a nice closing.

Evaluator #4: Martin on Suzanne’s role as Toastmaster

Martin noted that Suzanne did an excellent job as Toastmaster which was a busy role in the last meeting.

Roundtable evaluation: David’s speech: The Role of the Evaluator

David reminded everyone of his speech from last week: The Evaluator’s role is to “Evaluate to Motivate”, outlining the sandwich evaluation technique and to avoid white-washing or being hypercritical.

·         Shashi noted the sandwich model is good to use in the office and helps people give feedback as well as receive feedback. 

·         Aditi agreed the sandwich technique is useful.

·         Martin thought the four-part breakdown is useful.

·         Trey noted David’s confidence and delivery are the best in the group, indicating a combination of lecture and life experience.

·         Randy reminded everyone to breathe.

·         Lara liked David’s improvisational use of the previous speaker’s crayons and paper.

·         Suzanne thought the strategy of having the audience draw the diagram was very useful and memorable.

·         Vishal noted David’s confidence and that David should smile more.  Vishal said David’s speech was inspiring and wonderful.

·         Samya said David put all of the tips from the ten projects together: hear it, say it, reiterate.  Samya also noticed that asking the audience to participate by draw the diagram helped to make it more memorable.

·         Barbara noted David’s confidence and humor and encouraged him to foster it.

·         Michelle thought the four-art diagram is a great technique for memory.

·         Brenda also thinks David should be more humorous.

Evaluator #5: Randy on Samya’s speech: The Role of the Table Topics Master

Randy really liked Samya’s calm and natural presentation.  Randy compared his nervousness to Samya’s experience and comfort.  Randy noted his appreciation of all of Samya’s help in making the club grow with her go-getter participation.

Evaluator #6: Suzanne on Lara’s speech: The Vote Counter Role

Suzanne noted Lara’s inclusion of the role’s pre-meeting responsibilities to create atmosphere.  Suzanne said Lara’s presentation was well-organized with slides but the delay in getting started was too long. (It should be noted, however, that we are all just becoming familiar with the power point equipment within the room.)  Suzanne noted Lara researched a low-profile role, reminding that the Vote Counter should repeat the criteria for voting when outlining the Vote Counter role during the meeting.

Martin gave the Timer’s report. 

Samya took advantage of the absence of printed agendas to run a Table Topics session quizzing the audience on meeting roles.

Randy, as General Evaluator, briefly outlined the responsibilities of the General Evaluator’s role.

Samya adjourned the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

June 9, 2014 Club Meeting

The following is a summary of the minutes from our June 9th meeting.

Meeting Location:   San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo, CA     6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Attendees:

David, Suzanne, Lara, Samya, Fernando, Randy, Martin, Eric

Guests: Shashi, Leif, Vishal

Suzanne was the Toastmaster; Samya was the Timer.

Samya held a vote for new officer roles:

·         Sergeant of Arms: Fernando

·         VP of Membership: Martin

·         Secretary back-up: Lara

Everyone passed/was accepted.

Suzanne gave the introduction that this is an educational session, so that the guests would know the meeting is not normally like this one.  Suzanne explained that each speaker would present on a meeting role, which is a great introduction to the roles in each meeting for new members.

Speaker #1:  Martin: The Toastmaster Role

Martin gave a PowerPoint presentation outlining the pre-meeting responsibilities of the Toastmaster, indicating that Toastmasters should always plan to arrive early.

The Toastmaster makes sure we keep to the schedule, introduces the General Evaluator and speakers.  At the closing, the Toastmaster presents ribbons to the meeting speakers.  The Toastmaster has to keep everyone happy.  Martin’s presentation included key responsibilities and witty images.

Speaker #2:  Fernando: The General Evaluator Role

Fernando gave a PowerPoint presentation.  He began with a definition that also outlined the beginning, middle and end stages of responsibilities of the General Evaluator.  Pre-meeting responsibilities include communication with the evaluators and the Toastmaster.

Fernando emphasized positive feedback should always be included in the evaluation.

Speaker #3: Trey: The Speaker Role

Trey opened with an inspirational quote about preparation and its importance to this role.  Trey also mentioned that the Speaker should arrive early.  He emphasized the importance of welcoming the audience when speaking.  Trey reviewed the role’s pre-meeting responsibilities which include letting your Evaluator know the things you want them to watch out for.

Speaker #4: Randy: The Role of the Grammarian

Randy explained the Grammarian’s purpose is to listen as people speak and pick up on both good and bad use of grammar.  Randy’s speech was filled with colorful descriptions to illustrate examples of what the Grammarian should pay attention to.  Randy mentioned that the Grammarian should work with the Table Topics Master regarding the word of the day to make sure the word will work with the theme.  

Randy said the Grammarian should always write the word big enough to read from the back of the room.  Sample sentences to show use should also be included. Randy shared a personal story relating his experience with bad grammar in movies that legitimized the use of bad grammar. 

In Aditi’s absence, Suzanne shared some insight about the role of the Ah Counter, who counts filler words.  Suzanne, being the Treasurer, mentions that fees are charged to members (up to $1) for the use of filler words.

Speaker #5: Eric: The Role of the Timer

Eric brought crayons and directed the audience (all verbally) on drawing a tic-tac-toe grid. 

Eric creatively directed the group to create a grid with columns for the timer’s color cards and rows for roles, filling in each box with the minutes for minimum, middle and maximum speaking times.

	GREEN	YELLOW	RED
TABLE TOPICS	1 MINUTE	1.5 MINUTES	2 MINUTES
SPEAKER	5 MINUTES	6 MINUTES	7 MINUTES
EVALUATOR	2 MINUTES	2.5 MINUTES	3 MINUTES

Eric encouraged people to think of the Timer as their back-up holding cue cards, not the enemy.

Speaker #6: David: The Role of the Evaluator

David explained the Evaluator’s role is to “Evaluate to Motivate”, mentioning that this can be applied to your personal life.  David outlined pre-meeting work: to meet with the speaker you are evaluating, get the speech criteria.  David instructed the audience to keep using Eric’s crayons and use the flip side of the paper to draw another grid, 2x2 with: Saw, Heard, Suggestions, Liked.

SAW	HEARD
SUGGESTIONS	LIKED

David detailed the sandwich evaluation technique:

·         Positive(s): saw, heard

·         Suggestion(s): suggestions

·         Positive(s):liked

David mentioned that too many people white-wash, and says that isn’t as helpful.  David said using the sandwich technique is more helpful.  David advised that the Evaluator should avoid being hypercritical, and says evaluations of Ice Breakers should be gentler, since it is the first speech project.  The purpose is to evaluate to motivate.

Speaker #7: Samya: The Role of the Table Topics Master

Samya improvised the speech, as she was substituting for Glenn, who was originally signed up for the role.  She mentioned the role of the Table Topics Master is to state the question, then call on the responder, which encourages people to pay attention.

Samya emphasized it is important to answer questions when asked, so participants can  improve and also know what it feels like to give an answer to an unexpected question.  Samya also encouraged people to ask the audience questions randomly.

Speaker #9: Lara: The Vote Counter Role

Lara gave a presentation on the Vote Counter role, explaining pre-meeting responsibilities and detailing that the Vote Counter should repeat the criteria for voting when outlining the Vote Counter role during the meeting.

Samya gave the Timer’s report.  Samya assigned roles for the next meeting, another Educational session that will include evaluations of all the speeches from this session.

Special meeting roles for next week 6/16:

Toastmaster: Samya

Educational session: Practice the evaluation

·         Martin will be evaluated by David

·         Fernando will be evaluated by Vishal

·         Trey will be evaluated by Eric

·         Eric will be evaluated by Lara

·         Randy will be evaluated by Trey

·         Suzanne (as toastmaster) will be evaluated by Martin

·         David will be evaluated by Leif

·         Samya will be evaluated by Randy

·         Lara will be evaluated by Suzanne

Martin will be the timer for the whole meeting.

Brenda will do her speech on being the speaker.

June 2, 2014 Club Meeting;

The following is a summary of the minutes from our June 2nd meeting.

Meeting Location:   San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo, CA     6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Attendees:

Present at the meeting were: Randy, David, Lara, Fernando, Eric, Samya, Brenda, Martin, Suzanne and Glenn.
There were five guests: Chris, Leif, Vishal, Alyn, and Shushi.

Samya started the meeting with a warm welcome to all of the guests.  Samya also spoke with the club about the upcoming meeting on 6/9 where the members will be giving a speech on a meeting role as they get credit for one of their speeches. Roles (as speech topics) will be presented next week and evaluations of the Role speeches will take place on 6/16.

Lara was the Toastmaster; Eric was the General Evaluator; Samya was the Grammarian; Glenn was the Ah Counter; Randy was the Vote Counter; and Fernando was the Timer.

The theme of the meeting was: “Test Preparation”; The word of the day was: “Success”.

Speaker #1:  David:  “Napallo and His Pogo Stick”

Advanced Manuel:  “The Entertainment Speakers Series”

David gave a very entertaining speech, which ended up as a “Tall Tale”.  He started by describing a member of his Toastmaster Club that was “going to go over the Toastmaster meeting members” at the next meeting.  David kept us on the edge of our seats as he described in detail this man’s process of using a pogo stick to going home to another planet.  He gave a vivid and startling ending to his story which was well received by the audience.

Evaluation:    Brenda evaluated David’s speech.   She enjoyed the change in David’s speaking style.  In the past, he gave more formal speeches and this one was very humorous.  He was energetic and his voice changed a lot. 

Brenda gave the suggestion that David could describe what a pogo stick was for those people in the audience that were unfamiliar with this term.  She also wasn’t clear how the song fit into the story.  Overall, Brenda loved David’s speech and said that he truly reached his goal to entertain his audience.

Speaker #2:  Suzanne:  “Bullying Behavior Among Our Youth # 4”

Competent Communication Project 10:  “Inspire”

Suzanne gave the final speech in her series on bullying behavior.  She opened with a reminder of what bullying was and a description of the four aspects of the human being.  Suzanne then went into the thinking and reasoning process and how judgments are formed.  This led to the conclusion that the most powerful way to avoid bullying behavior is to always listen to your heart.  “When the heart speaks, bullying cannot exist.”

Evaluation:  Eric conducted a group evaluation on Suzanne’s speech.  The comments were that she looked very natural and relaxed during the speech.  Suzanne had a good closing quote, the context was good, and used good examples and pictures.  She had excellent eye contact and good use of the power point.

The suggestion was made to include a call to action in the conclusion of her speech.  Many enjoyed the personal interaction with the audience and it was a very inspirational speech.  

Table Topics:  Chris, one of our guests won the table topics ribbon for the evening. 

Samya asked the guests for comments on the meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:30

May 19, 2014 Club Meeting

The following is a summary of the minutes from our May 19th meeting.

Meeting Location:   San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo, CA     6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Attendees:

Present at the meeting were: Randy, David, Lara, Aditi, Trey, Eric, Samya, Brenda, Martin and Glenn.
There were six guests: Barbara, Fong, Nan, Nishal, Jorge and Felicia

Eric was the Toastmaster; Lara was the General Evaluator; Randy was the Grammarian; Brenda was the Ah Counter; Fernando was the Table Topics Master; Trey was the Vote Counter and the Timer.

Samya started the meeting with a warm welcome to all of the new guests.  Samya also spoke with the club about the upcoming meeting on 6/9 where all the members are encouraged to each give a speech on a meeting role and tailor it to a project from one of the communication manuals. Roles (as speech topics) will be assigned at the next meeting on 6/2, speeches will be presented on 6/9 and a meeting with evaluations of the Role speeches will take place on 6/16.

Samya also mentioned the following officer roles are becoming available: Sergeant of Arms and VP of Membership as well as helping Suzanne with the Secretary role.

The club members also received the terrific news that David passed the bar exam.  Three cheers for David!

Trey returned from his trip to China and promised to share photos and stories from his adventures.

The theme of the meeting was: “Heat wave”; The word of the day was: “Humidity”.

Samya, the first Evaluator, gave an introduction outlining the speech criteria for project #2, Organize Your Speech, including that the speaker should select an appropriate outline to allow listeners to easily follow and understand the speech, create a strong opening and conclusion.  Martin, the second Evaluator, gave an introduction to Glenn’s speech, outlining the speech criteria, also for project #2, Organize Your Speech, including that the speaker should make his message clear and use appropriate transitions when moving from one idea to another.

Speaker #1:  Aditi:  “Seven Degrees Fahrenheit”

Competent Communication Project 2:  “Organize Your Speech”

Aditi spoke on the topic of climate change, explaining why we should care and how climate change is different from global warming, to which it is frequently referred.
Aditi explained the three major causes of climate change:

·         Fossil fuels

·         Deforestation

·         Solar output
Aditi explained three major ways in which climate change would affect our lives:

·         Rise in sea level

·         Increase in mosquito population

·         Shortage of water
Aditi incorporated the theme of the day and acknowledged Samya’s speech on Aquaponics (from 4/7/2014 meeting).

Evaluation:    Samya evaluated Aditi’s speech.  Samya noted Aditi’s explanation of the difference between climate change and global warming was very helpful.  Aditi’s research showed and she is well-informed about the topic.  Samya noted Aditi should slow down in her presentation to make her message more powerful and noted Aditi should explain acronyms if she chooses to use them in her speech.  Samya detailed that Aditi’s definition of the greenhouse effect was helpful and how human behavior is effecting climate change more than the sun.  Aditi was well-organized, circling back to original question: “Why should we care about climate change?”.

Speaker #2:  Glenn:  “Kayak Polo”

Competent Communication Project 2:  “Organize Your Speech”

Glenn used PowerPoint for his presentation.  Glenn started off his speech with a question asking if anyone heard of kayak polo before.  Confirming that no one had, Glenn explained that kayak polo combines kayaking with the ball-handling skills of a contact game.  Glenn shared a brief history of kayak polo including an 1875 illustration depicting the sport.  Glenn’s PowerPoint presentation included an animation with a humorous depiction of gameplay in which the audience laughed.  Glenn distinguished legal moves (like pushing another person) and illegal moves (like steering a kayak onto another kayak during play), inciting more laughter from the audience.  Glenn’s presentation also included a video demonstrating a paddle-roll and ended his presentation by letting the audience know they could see Glenn’s group, Berkeley Kayak Polo by checking meetup online.

Evaluation: Martin evaluated Glenn’s speech.  Martin noted that Glenn was well-organized and connected to the audience.  Glenn’s graphics were easy to understand and Martin appreciated details like the dimensions of the field, the great animations (acknowledging they are very time-consuming to do) and Glenn’s examples and explanation of the rules.  Martin noted Glenn should also slow down when he speaks to make his presentation more powerful.  Martin also indicated Glenn did very well using PowerPoint without a remote.  Martin appreciated that Glenn provided additional resources for information at the end of the presentation, creating a strong conclusion.

Table Topics:  Fernando was kind enough to step up at the last minute to the role of Table Topics Master.  Fernando asked questions related to heat waves, the theme of the meeting.  Barbara spoke about her recent desert experience, where she experienced extremely high temperatures.  Eric shared tips on how to prepare for an impending heat wave.  Brenda spoke about cool activities she would plan to do if she knew a heat wave was coming.  Barbara won the ribbon for the best table topics speaker.

General Evaluation:  Lara applauded Fernando and Trey for stepping in at the last minute to fill additional roles.  Lara noted that if a remote for a presentation was missing for a future PowerPoint presentation, a meeting member could volunteer to advance slides for a presenter as a “human clicker”, allowing the speaker to move away from the laptop during the presentation.

Samya reminded the club that no meeting would be held on 5/26 due to the holiday. Samya also reminded people to think about the roles they would want to make a speech about on 6/9 and reminded people to email her if they are interested in an available officer position.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:30

May 12, 2014 Club Meeting

The following is a summary of the minutes from our May 12th meeting.

Meeting Location:   San Mateo City Hall, San Mateo, CA     6:00 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.

Attendees:

Present at the meeting were: Samya Boxberger Oberoi, Brenda Chung, Eric Jones, Randy Lee, Glenn Low, Lara Miller, Aditi Mishra, Suzanne Mulcahy, David Nazzaro, Martin Quan, , and Xin Tang.  There were no guests.

Martin was the Toastmaster; David was the General Evaluator; Brenda was the Timer, Glenn was the Grammarian, and Eric was the Ah Counter.

Speaker #1:  Lara – “How to Create an Effective Power Point”

Advanced Manuel #1:    “Speaking to Inform”.

Lara gave an excellent presentation about how to create an effective power point presentation.  She went over the specific details that we need to know to use the power point and how we can present better slides.  Lara showed us ways to present slides using graphs and other methods to make a better presentation.  She gave us the following key points:

1. ·        Use bullet points to present your message.
2. ·        Illustrate with visuals.
3. ·        Avoid paragraphs.
4. ·        Use “SMART” graphs like charts and graphs.
5. ·        Use photo editing.
6. ·        Use animation to reveal key points.
7. ·        Make text large and use color.
8. ·        Distribute hand outs.

Evaluation:  Aditi gave Lara’s speech evaluation.  The speech was very informative and her voice was very commanding.  Lara started with a question that got our attention immediately.  She presented a very relevant topic and gave good examples for us to take away and use. 

Lara was clear and concise, used no “fluff”, and got right to the point. 

Speaker #2:  Suzanne :  Project #9, “Persuade with Power” – “Bullying Behavior Among Our Youth - #3”

Suzanne gave the third speech in the series on bullying behavior and got into the ways of preventing bullying behavior.  She used the power point that we had learned in our club meeting presentations. 

Suzanne began with two approaches to preventing bullying behavior, and then went into teaching the alternative behaviors that are inconsistent with becoming a bully.  She described the four aspects of the human being and went into the primary aspect, the spiritual aspect, which she called the heart.  She ended the speech with a powerful example of how children can use their hearts.

Evaluation:  Samya gave Suzanne’s speech evaluation.  Samya said that Suzanne really knew the subject well and spoke from the heart.  She showed examples where she gave the life skills necessary to counteract this behavior. 

Samya gave the suggestion to bring back the powerful statistics of how much bullying behavior is occurring now in the high schools.  This would bring people back to the urgency of the problem in schools.      

The theme of the meeting was: “Spring” and the Word of the Day was “Blossom”.   Randy was the Table Topics Master.  

Samya closed the meeting. 

Meeting was adjourned at 7:15