October 6, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

October 6, 2014

Attendees: Trey, Randy, Brenda, Eric, Fernando, Belinda, Samya, Aditi, David K., Suzanne, Ruth, Jim, Vishal, and Kira

Guests: Annamarie

Theme of the day:  Halloween

Vishal was the Toastmaster; Aditi was the General Evaluator; Annamarie was the Grammarian, Trey was the Ah Counter, and Fernando was the Timer.

Samya opened the meeting and introduced the guest.  She also mentioned the Division Contest.

Speaker #1:  Brenda:  Manuel Project #3, (Get to the Point) - “My Biggest Enemy”

Brenda began her speech talking about “filler words”, which are conjunctive words that fill spaces instead of pauses.  The following are some examples:

1.    Dramatic filler words are used for exaggerations.

2.    Runaway fillers, e.g. so, actually, etc.

Filler words are often used when the speaker is nervous.  It is very distracting and the listeners will stop listening.  It also can destroy the credibility of the speaker and lose the influence you could have on others.  There are five steps to remove fillers.

1.     Video your speeches and see how frequently you use these words.

2.    Try to determine why you are using these words, nervousness, forgot your speech, etc.

3.    Increase your preparation time.

4.    Slow down your speech and use pauses.

5.    Take a step back and review your speeches as you give them.

Speaker #2:  Belinda:  Manuel Project #4, -  “The Eyesore”  

Belinda began her speech by describing a beautiful mahogany grand piano.  It took up most of the room.  Belinda was required to take piano lessons from the time she was 6 to 16 years of age and had to practice every day.  She was also tested every year. 

Belinda studied classical music that she didn't like, but she was heavily invested in pleasing her parents.    During her last test, musical recital, she “chocked”, flunked, which really disappointed her parents.  The piano had finally become an "eyesore".

The family moved to the U.S. and Brenda finally was able to put her musical gifts to work.  She played the piano for her church.  Then she left her church and did not think she would ever play again.  Brenda asked herself if it was okay to toss out her classical music things;  was it okay to let go of her dream?  She finally said “yes” because it was not her dream anyway.  “You are the one to give value to what you want.” “It is never too late to make a choice for happiness.”

Table Topics was not presented because of time constraints.

Aditi called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Randy evaluated Brenda.   Randy began by stating that Brenda gave an excellent speech and did not use any notes.  “It was a very good topic.”  He honed in on the subject of our credibility and he especially liked the ending quote.  Brenda walked the room and had good eye contact.  Some of the movements, back and forth, were a bit distracting; however, the quote, “Best way to work on something is to teach it”, made it powerful.  Brenda stepped up to speak with confidence and had a well-organized speech.  She had a good visual presence.

Evaluator #2:  David K. evaluated Belinda.  David was impressed by Belinda’s speaking ability.  She had good use of a story that made it easy for us to visualize, especially the description of the piano.  Belinda demonstrated a good use of words throughout the speech, e.g., “heavily invested”.  The story had a solid beginning, middle, and ending.  She spoke from her heart.  It was like reading a novel.  He suggested that she put more into her ending.  He wanted to hear that she was now “jamming on her piano”.  Brenda is a wonderful motivational speaker and he loved the message.  “It brought tears to my eyes”. 

Samya asked for the guests remarks and then closed the meeting.