July 28, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

July 28, 2014

Attendees: Ruth, Glenn, Suzanne, David N., Leif, and David K.

Guest(s):  Kira

David was the Toastmaster, Ruth was the General Evaluator, and the Timer.

Suzanne started the meeting, as Samya was out of town.  She welcomed the guest and asked her to tell us why she came to Toastmasters. 

Speaker #1: David K.:  “Crutches”,  Project #1, “Ice Breaker”

Leif listed the objectives of David’s speech project.

David began his speech by giving us an overview of “crutches” and how they are used both physically and psychologically.  He then described himself as a shy and introverted young student who began using the camera as his “crutch”.  He was able to get out of his shell by taking pictures of others when he joined the “Year Book Club” in high school.  He continued taking photos and in college, created albums for people. 

David described his next crutch, which was using emails.  It was a way of communicating that did not involve personal interaction.  He also used email instead of phone calls and it was a way of remembering what was said.  David used his i-phone as a way of remembering names and numbers through his contact list. 

David concluded his speech with the question, "What is your crutch?"

Evaluator #1:  Leif evaluated David K.’s speech.

Leif began by commenting on the interesting use of the prompts.  They were quite effective.  David made a very good comparison on his use of crutches.  He spoke clearly and slow enough for us to follow along.  David had a good beginning and ending to his speech.  He used his notes at the beginning and became a little lost on the time line of his past, but overall a great ice breaker speech.  David also "owned the stage".

Speaker #2:  Glenn: “Lessons From the GMAT”, Project #4

Suzanne listed the objectives of Glenn’s speech project. 

Glenn began by describing the graduate exam, GMAT, that needs to be passed for entry into a graduate admissions program.  He then went into the lessons that can be learned from the English portion of this exam.

• Sentence Corrections  
• Reading Comprehension
• Critical Reasoning - What is being argued?  

Glenn used a very good visual that assisted in the understanding of his presentation.  This paper gave examples of sentence correction questions and how to analyze them to find the correct response.  The second page referred to an extract from the Competent Communication Manual pp.24.  Glenn effectively brought a Toastmasters training manual into the educational process of getting through the GMAT exam.  

Evaluator #2:  Suzanne evaluated Genn’s speech.

Suzanne began the evaluation by stating that Glenn gave us a good reminder of the value of being in Toastmasters and how the education that we are receiving can effect a wide variety of tasks that we face in everyday life.  Glenn is getting more confident and becoming a better speaker.  He looked like he felt comfortable in front of an audience.  He was well prepared and offered good information.
  

A suggestion for Glenn would be to slow the pace a little.  He was a little fast at 
the beginning of his speech.  Glenn slowed down after he gained confidence. The information was valuable and it is important to give the audience time absorb the facts.  Overall, it was an excellent speech.


Table Topics:  Since we did not have a Table Topics Master, the Toastmaster, David N., challenged the members and guest to each give a spontaneous ice breaker speech.  He put the format on the board and began by giving his own ice breaker speech.  Then each one gave a speech and called the next one to speak.

This was an exiting surprise for the members and a great way to have us learn to think on our feet.  Our first time guest, Kira, also participated and did a wonderful speech. 

Suzanne asked for feedback from the guest and then closed the meeting at 7:15 p.m.