Chamber Speakers Circle
Toastmasters
June 8, 2015
Attendees: Aditi, Annamarie, David,
Lara, Lefteris, Martin, Randy Lee, Samya and Suzanne
Guests: Marina, journalist and author
Theme of the day: Secrets
Word of the day: paranoid
Samya and
Annemarie shared new items they purchased for the club:
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Table Talk cards
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Name tags
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Officer tags
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Word of the day
cards
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Speech and Project
ribbons
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Best Table Topics
ribbons
Samya also
reminded the group there will be an officer’s meeting following this meeting.
Suzanne was
the Toastmaster, Samya was the General Evaluator, Lara was the Ah Counter,
Suzanne was the Grammarian, Aditi was the Timer and David N. Vote Counter
Speaker: Lefteris
Speech: The power of empathy, the need for
empathy Project #4 How to say it
Lefteris
started the speech with a leg injury then asked the audience what they thought
or would think if they saw someone on the street experience a leg injury. He went on to describe mirror neurons in the
brain. Lefteris spoke of “my pain versus
your pain”. He went into detail about
how empathy is a function of the brain and that all of us have this function in
our brain.
Lefteris asked how a person can relate to a newborn as a parent, and that most people would try to figure out how the newborn feels to treat them appropriately. He says that empathy can be a choice and that parenthood demonstrates that. Lefteris says empathy can help a speaker relate to their audience, which would improve the delivery of information. He encouraged the audience to be more empathetic.
Lefteris asked how a person can relate to a newborn as a parent, and that most people would try to figure out how the newborn feels to treat them appropriately. He says that empathy can be a choice and that parenthood demonstrates that. Lefteris says empathy can help a speaker relate to their audience, which would improve the delivery of information. He encouraged the audience to be more empathetic.
Speaker: Annamarie
Speech: Failure and taking exams Project:
Research your topic
Aditi
introduced the speech’s objectives.
Annamarie
spoke about taking a standardized assessment test. She noted how the standardized tests measure
the school, not the students.
Annamarie
shared the story of an experience of taking a test to get into a private
school. She shared how she prepared and
some tips and tricks. Annemarie spoke
about how hard she worked on an essay about Mark Twain. She said the results were that she would be placed into a
“Remedial” class.
Annamarie
practiced writing essays, because she continued to get feedback that she needed
improvement. She chose to
attend another school and spoke with another teacher who encouraged her to
write what she felt and not worry about diagrams and structure.
Annamarie said the new teacher’s feedback was more encouraging and she continued to write and had the opportunity to write for her parents’ magazine. Annamarie concluded that standardized tests aren’t assessing skills accurately and if a person receives a poor rating, they shouldn’t let it hold them back from developing skills and pursuing interests.
Annamarie said the new teacher’s feedback was more encouraging and she continued to write and had the opportunity to write for her parents’ magazine. Annamarie concluded that standardized tests aren’t assessing skills accurately and if a person receives a poor rating, they shouldn’t let it hold them back from developing skills and pursuing interests.
Martin led
Table Topics about keeping secrets.
Marina, David, Lefteris, Annamarie, Randy Lee, Lara, Samya, Suzanne and
Aditi participated. Randy won the ribbon.
Evaluator #1: Randy Lee evaluated Lefteris’ speech. Randy said Lefteris scored 99 out of
100. Randy spoke about the questions
Lefteris raised and appreciated the speech.
He commented that the pronunciation of empathetic at times sounded like
“pathetic”, because he said it very fast.
Randy Lee liked how Lefteris tied empathy to “know your audience” when
giving a speech.
Evaluator #2: Aditi evaluated
Annamarie’s speech
Aditi said
Annemarie’s speech was fantastic. She
thought the topic was relate-able, as everyone has encountered standardized
tests. Aditi said the part about how a
person who said something encouraging was really wonderful. She said the anecdotes were supportive. Aditi thought that due to the project
criteria, some statistics could have been added, facts and references to back
up the concept of her speech. Annamarie
used some wonderful phrases “bubble tests”, and “label you” when giving her
speech. She had a great ending, “Don’t
let your test results define you.”
Co-Toastmasters:
Lefteris and David Theme:
General
Evaluator: Lara
Speaker
1: Randy Lee
Evaluator
1: Annamarie
Speaker
2: Trey
Evaluator
#2: Suzanne
Table
Topics: Samya
Grammarian:
OPEN Word of the day:
Timer: Aditi
Ah
Counter: OPEN
Vote
Counter: OPEN