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.