June 8, 2015 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

June 8, 2015

Attendees: Aditi, Annamarie, David, Lara, Lefteris, Martin, Randy Lee, Samya and Suzanne

Guests: Marina, journalist and author

Theme of the day: Secrets

Word of the day:  paranoid

Samya and Annemarie shared new items they purchased for the club:

●     Table Talk cards

●     Name tags

●     Officer tags

●     Word of the day cards

●     Speech and Project ribbons

●     Best Table Topics ribbons

Samya also reminded the group there will be an officer’s meeting following this meeting.

Suzanne was the Toastmaster, Samya was the General Evaluator, Lara was the Ah Counter, Suzanne was the Grammarian,  Aditi was the Timer and David N. Vote Counter

Speaker:  Lefteris

Speech:     The power of empathy, the need for empathy   Project #4 How to say it

Lefteris started the speech with a leg injury then asked the audience what they thought or would think if they saw someone on the street experience a leg injury.  He went on to describe mirror neurons in the brain.  Lefteris spoke of “my pain versus your pain”.   He went into detail about how empathy is a function of the brain and that all of us have this function in our brain.

Lefteris asked how a person can relate to a newborn as a parent, and that most people would try to figure out how the newborn feels to treat them appropriately.  He says that empathy can be a choice and that parenthood demonstrates that.  Lefteris says empathy can help a speaker relate to their audience, which would improve the delivery of information.  He encouraged the audience to be more empathetic. 

Speaker:  Annamarie

Speech: Failure and taking exams   Project: Research your topic

Aditi introduced the speech’s objectives.

Annamarie spoke about taking a standardized assessment test.  She noted how the standardized tests measure the school, not the students.

Annamarie shared the story of an experience of taking a test to get into a private school.  She shared how she prepared and some tips and tricks.  Annemarie spoke about how hard she worked on an essay about Mark Twain.  She said the results were that she would be placed into a “Remedial” class.

Annamarie practiced writing essays, because she continued to get feedback that she needed improvement.  She chose to attend another school and spoke with another teacher who encouraged her to write what she felt and not worry about diagrams and structure.

Annamarie said the new teacher’s feedback was more encouraging and she continued to write and had the opportunity to write for her parents’ magazine.  Annamarie concluded that standardized tests aren’t assessing skills accurately and if a person receives a poor rating, they shouldn’t let it hold them back from developing skills and pursuing interests.

Martin led Table Topics about keeping secrets.  Marina, David, Lefteris, Annamarie, Randy Lee, Lara, Samya, Suzanne and Aditi participated.  Randy won the ribbon.

Evaluator #1:  Randy Lee evaluated Lefteris’ speech.  Randy said Lefteris scored 99 out of 100.  Randy spoke about the questions Lefteris raised and appreciated the speech.  He commented that the pronunciation of empathetic at times sounded like “pathetic”, because he said it very fast.  Randy Lee liked how Lefteris tied empathy to “know your audience” when giving a speech.

Evaluator #2: Aditi evaluated Annamarie’s speech

Aditi said Annemarie’s speech was fantastic.  She thought the topic was relate-able, as everyone has encountered standardized tests.  Aditi said the part about how a person who said something encouraging was really wonderful.  She said the anecdotes were supportive.  Aditi thought that due to the project criteria, some statistics could have been added, facts and references to back up the concept of her speech.  Annamarie used some wonderful phrases “bubble tests”, and “label you” when giving her speech.  She had a great ending, “Don’t let your test results define you.”

The meeting ended at 7:15

Toastmaster Roles for the next meeting:  6/15/15

Co-Toastmasters: Lefteris and David Theme:   

General Evaluator:   Lara

Speaker 1:   Randy Lee

Evaluator 1:  Annamarie

Speaker 2:  Trey

Evaluator #2: Suzanne

Table Topics:  Samya

Grammarian: OPEN   Word of the day: 

Timer: Aditi

Ah Counter:  OPEN

Vote Counter:  OPEN