Present at the meeting were: Samya Boxberger-Oberoi, Randy Lee, Suzanne Mulcahy, David Nazzaro, Emily Panos, Venkat Senapati, and Eric Yan. Emily was the Toastmaster. Eric Y. was the General Evaluator. David was the Grammarian. Eric Y. was the Ah Counter. David was the Vote Counter. Randy was the Timer.
Speaker: Venkat
Manual: Speech #1
“Ice Breaker”: “Following Your Dreams”
Venkat gave his first speech, “The Ice Breaker”. He did an excellent job of expressing his life’s journey. Venkat began with his life in a village in India. He came from a poor family and “had to work hard for his education”. Venkat was accepted into an engineering college and did very well. He read a book entitled, Tell Me Your Dreams and found a new love for reading.
Venkat next began watching U.S. movies and dreamed of coming to America. This dream also came true and he came to California to complete his education as he continued with his work ethic. He stated that, “This life would be totally unimaginable in my village.”
Venkat ended his speech by saying, “Dream big, work hard, and you can do something to help society.” He wants “to be consumed by a bigger idea.” Venkat, “wants a greater idea where he could lose his identity.”
Speech Evaluator: Suzanne
Suzanne gave the evaluation of Venkat’s speech. She said that his speech enabled the audience to truly get to know him. Venkat was well organized and said his speech was given in chronological order. He used notes sparingly, had a good body to his speech and an excellent conclusion. It was suggested that Venkat create a stronger opening to his speech that tells us what to expect and his purpose. He could also slow down his speaking and pause for a few seconds after making a powerful statement. Venkat spoke from his heart and allowed us to experience his life’s journey.
Samya was the Table Topics Master. The theme of the meeting was: Baseball; The word of the day was: Curve Ball.