May 6, 2013 Club Meeting

Present at the meeting were: Samya Boxberger-Oberoi, Eric Jones, Randy Lee, Lara Miller, Suzanne Mulcahy, David Nazzaro, Emily Panos, Sharon Pappos, Venkat Senapati, Ruth Wadsworth, and Eric Yan.  There were three guests.  

Eric Y. was the Toastmaster; Lara was the General Evaluator; Suzanne was the Grammarian; Randy was the Ah Counter; Suzanne was the Vote Counter: and Ruth was the Timer.

Speaker: Kannappan Singram

Speech:  Winner of Division H International Speech Contest

Title:  “Yes We Can”

Kannappan told the story of a young man, living in India.  He was out dancing and received a phone call from his father, who wanted him to come home the next morning.  His grandmother wanted to see him.  He rushed home only to find out that he was to be married.  He had 15 minutes to get to know his new bride.  With 250 guests arriving, they got married and had two children, without the benefit of falling in love.  

Then they went to the movies to see “Titanic”.  Watching the scene of the lovers, they held hands and discovered the love that they truly felt for each other.  They left the theater holding hands and realized, “Yes We Can” find love.

Speech Evaluator #1:    Emily gave the evaluation of Kannappan’s speech.  She stated that his speech was amazing.  Kannappan paused before he began his speech, had a great opening, and clear objectives.  The story was fantastic, “straight out of a movie”.  Emily loved the dancing, used excellent intonation and different characters.  She suggested that he might want to use a different title.  “Yes You Can” is associated with a different message.   Kannappan gave a clear conclusion and made us want more.

Speech:  Venkat:  Manuel # 2:  “Why and How I Postponed Procrastinating”

Venkat’s speech focused on how understanding the motives beyond procrastinating helped Venkat postpone procrastination.  Procrastination feeds into the animal brain and the desire to seek instant gratification, “the urge that I felt when I was waiting for the last minute to accomplish a task or study”.  Procrastination also feeds into the fear of failure.  It is easy to justify my poor grade due to lack of studying.

Ultimately, Venkat explained that he no longer either the urge to wait until the last minute or the fear of failure determine his behavior.  He now acknowledges his fears and breaks his tasks into smaller pieces.  “I am prepared, and this is how I postpone procrastinating.”

Speech Evaluator #2:  David gave the evaluation of Venkat’s speech.  He stated that Venkat made a big leap forward in his ability to speak.  He was more confident and calm in his delivery.  His subject was very relatable and he used no notes.  Venkat used good examples and descriptions, using tricks on the brain.

Venkat  was the Table Topics Master. The theme of the meeting was: “Cinco de Mayo”; The word of the day was: “Mariachi”. 

Samya asked for the guests remarks and then closed the meeting.  Kannappan liked our agenda and will take it to his own toastmaster meetings.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:17