October 20, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

October 20, 2014

Attendees: David N., Samya, Aditi, David K., Suzanne, Randy, Fernando, Belinda, Lucy, Annamarie, and Kira

Guests: Joe

Theme of the day:  Impromptu

Word of the day:  “Improvise”

David K. was the Toastmaster; Randy was the General Evaluator; David N. was the Grammarian, Fernando was the Ah Counter, Kira was the Vote Counter, and Suzanne was the Timer.

Samya started the meeting by introducing the guest and making announcements.

Speaker #1:  Joe:  Project #1, “Ice Breaker”        

Joe began his speech by stating that he was born in El Paso, Texas.  He briefly went through his early years and received his B.A. in business.  He worked in mass transit by driving buses for 15 years and then went into management for several years, as a rail safety officer.  During this time, he was actively involved with safety training in environmental compliance.

It took Joe eight years to achieve his final job of “Proactive Training for Safety, Transportation Safety Institute”.   He is now happily working in this capacity for California Transportation.

Speaker #2:  Lucy:  Project #1, “Ice Breaker”        

Lucy described herself as an “introverted personality”.  She was a quiet introspective kid and an artist.  Lucy told the story of when she was a maid of honor at a wedding and when giving the wedding toast, used the wrong name for the groom.  She now knows the value of good communication and becoming a confident speaker.   Lucy’s new job requires more communication skills and she is now looking forward to progressing through the Toastmaster skill development series.

Table Topics:  Kira was the Table Topics Master. Questions were asked around of the theme of “Impromptu”.

Randy called on his team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Annamarie. Evaluated Joe.   Annamarie opened that Joe’s speech “blue her away”.  Joe made excellent eye contact, and communicated well with the audience.  He made us interested in the subject by his passion for what he does.  This was an impromptu speech and Joe did not use any notes.  Annamarie suggested that he put in a personal story to help illustrate some of his main points and to move about the room more.  It was an overall very good speech. 

Evaluator #2:  Belinda evaluated Lucy.  Belinda said that Lucy smiled openly and used good gradation.  She loved the maid of honor story and she wrote Josh into her story very effectively.  Her suggestion was that she could have evolved the story a little more so the audience could get even more involved.  Belinda had a final suggestion that Lucy describe introversion, not as a weakness, but rather how she turned it into a strength.  Belinda gave her an example of how to do this. 

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

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. 

September 22, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

September 22, 2014

Attendees: David N., Samya, Aditi, David K., Suzanne, Ruth, Jim, Vishal, and Kira

Guests: Gustalvo, Luis, Lucy, and Belinda

Theme of the day:  Autumn

Word of the day:  Harvest

Jim was the Toastmaster; Vishal was the General Evaluator; Belinda was the Grammarian, Gustalvo was the Ah Counter, Kira was the Vote Counter, and Suzanne was the Timer.

Samya started the meeting, by saying that our club was well represented at the area speech contest.  Ruth was in third place in the Humorous Speech Contest, and Aditi was in third place as an evaluator.

Speaker #1:  David N.: Advanced Manual:  Entertaining Speech, Project # 4;          “Sam, Somebody Wants a Second Chance”

David gave a very powerful speech about “Sam’s life”.  David described how Sam had a difficult beginning getting 3 DUI’s.  He then began to turn his life around.  Sam worked as a janitor for Heald College and won the “Employee of the Month” award three times.  He became the Director of Safety and Security and in four years did not have any negative incidences.  Heald College shut down and now Sam is searching for a new job.  His three felonies have made this a daunting task and his future does not appear hopeful.  Sam desperately wants to get these felonies expunged. 

David showed an impressive ability to share this story with us.  We could truly feel Sam’s pain and frustration.

Speaker #2:  Samya:  Advanced Communicator, Speech Project #5,  Speaking to Inform Manual:  “Why is Toastmasters Relevant to our Success”

Samya gave a very strong opening when she made the statement, Toastmasters is not an organization about “Public Speaking” but rather one that teaches its members about “Speaking in Public”.  Toastmasters provides training in the following areas that add skills for all occupations and overall life skills:

   1.         Provides a place to practice our speaking skills.

   2.         Learn to prepare to deliver a speech with a beginning, body, and conclusion;

           to use visual tools, and aides; to use voice tonality; how to select a goal; and how to              do multiple projects.

   3.       Doing evaluations helps in many areas of your career.

   4.       Samya went over achieving our Competent Communicator book and our Competent             Leadership skills.

Samya then went into a question and answer session.

Table Topics:  Suzanne was the Table Topics Master. Questions were asked around of the theme of “Harvest”.

Vishal called on his team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  David K. evaluated David N.   David N. gave an excellent speech on a very important matter.  His speech was well organized and easy to follow.  The audience was captivated and could experience Sam’s life as David told his story.  David demonstrated his expert knowledge of the law in simple enough terms for us to follow. 

David K. said that it was hard to find any suggestions to improve David’s speech; however, maybe he could slow down and pause at times to emphasize his significant points.  The story of Sam was powerful and told very well.    

Evaluator #2:  Suzanne evaluated Samya.  She said that Samya gave a good presentation on an important topic.  She was well organized and laid out the steps for members to follow and the skills that we can all develop.  Samya explained how Toastmasters can be used to develop skills in many aspects of our lives.  Suzanne gave the suggestion that Samya could pause for emphasis at important points in her speech, and allow us to take in the information.  Overall Samya’s speech was excellent and informative.  The question and answer period was well done.  

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

September 8, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

September 8, 2014

Attendees: David N., Lara, Brenda, Samya, Aditi, David K., Suzanne, Terri, Glenn, and Jim

Guests: Brian, and Belinda

Theme of the day: Vacation

Word of the day: Awesome

Terri was the Toastmaster; Lara was the General Evaluator; Glenn was the Grammarian, Jim was the Ah Counter, and David K. was the Timer.

Samya started the meeting, reminding everyone to attend the speech contest next week on 9/15/14.  She encouraged everyone to attend.

Speaker #1:  Samya: Advanced Manual:  Speaking to Inform

Samya spoke about the benefits of utilizing the Competent Communicator Manual and the Competent Leadership Manual.  She described the goals and objectives and the qualities that you can develop when using these manuals.  Samya went over the main 10 objectives and gave us a hand out that clarified these.  She also demonstrated a tracking sheet for our specific leadership roles that were achieved during the meetings.

Samya followed with a question and answer session. 

Speaker #2:  Brenda: Speech Project #2,  “Chinese Thanksgiving”

Brenda described the way they celebrate the autumn festival in China.  In ancient times, they celebrated so that their next summer would be fruitful.  Brenda gave a colorful presentation that gave us a glimpse into the Chinese culture.  She described the “mom cakes”, fireworks, and dragon dances that are also a part of the festivities. 

Table Topics:  Suzanne was the Table Topics Master. Questions were asked around the theme of “Vacation”.

Lara called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  David evaluated Samya.  He said that Samya gave a good presentation on an important topic.  She was well organized and laid out the steps for members to follow and the skills that we can all develop.  David gave the suggestion that Samya could slow down her speaking a little and it would be easier to follow.  He further stated that in her Q. and A., it was more of a discussion than actual questions from the audience.  Overall Samya’s speech was excellent and informative.

Evaluator #2:  Aditi evaluated Brenda.  She said that Brenda was very well organized and answered the why, when, who, and what of her topic.  She also held true to the structure of her speech.  Brenda had good visuals but was unable to use the power point projector.  It was recommended that she become more familiar with the technology.  Overall her speech was done well and Brenda met her project goals.

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

August 18, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

August 18, 2014

Attendees: David Nazzaro, Kira, Lara, Fernando, Brenda, Sharon, Samya, Aditi, Terri, Suzanne

Guests: Gabriel from Brazil, Gustavo (TM from Switzerland), Manthan Kothari (TM from LA), Shiyu Tan (TM from LA), Yanira, Caroline (San Mateo Toastmasters Club)

Theme of the day: Automobiles

Word of the day: elegant

Glenn was the Toastmaster; Brenda was the General Evaluator; David K. was the Grammarian, Samya was the Ah Counter, and Lara was the Timer.

Samya started the meeting, announcing that we are now a Selected Distinguished Club 2013 - 2014.  Samya congratulated all the officers on attending/completing trainings.  All the officers Stood up and spoke about their roles.

Aditi told everyone about the upcoming Evaluation and Humor Speech Contests.  The club’s contest will be held next week.  The winners of the contests will represent the club in the Area contest.  The Area contest will be on 9/15 at the College of San Mateo at 6:30 p.m.  Samya moved to have the club hold its Monday meeting on 9/15 at the contest so we be able to  support our club representatives.

Suzanne reminded everyone dues $46 are coming up in September.

Speaker:  Aditi: Speech Lessons from a Speech Coach, Project #4, How to Say it

David N. gave the objectives of Aditi’s’s speech project and Glenn gave an introduction. 

Aditi shared her experience hearing Patricia Fripp’s speech about being a good speaker.  She shared the Fripp Speech Model diagram with the group.  Three important ingredients to a good speech:

·         Content: The content should be interesting to the audience.  If it isn’t, how do you make people care about the content?  One way is to give stories.  Aditi says stories help the audience relate when a story is shared.  Aditi said people should build a repertoire of stories.

·         Structure: Determines how the audience perceives what you have to say.  The premise should be one sentence.  Strong closings are important.

·         Delivery: How do you present what you have to say?  Speeches are better when you are conversational.  “Specificity builds credibility.”  Being concise helps people understand better.

Aditi emphasized practice makes permanent.  Aditi encouraged everyone to speak more here at Toastmasters.

Speaker:  Terri: Speech Project #1, Icebreaker

Suzanne listed the objectives of Terri’s speech project.

Terri spoke about running.  Terri shared experiences from PE class in school and how her sinuses impacted her respiration.  In 2011 Terri had an impulse to run.  She recalled being exhausted and sore, but delighted at the same time, enjoying the colors of Autumn.   She set a goal to go farther for the next day, and continued to set more goals to move farther each day, crossing streets and increasing her distance.  

Terri fell in love with running.  Terri thought she was incapable of running but now she realizes it is all possible.  Terri encourages everyone to run or to do what they love to be happy.  Running also inspired Terri to join Toastmasters, to overcome another obstacle.  Terri reminded us in both cases, to “breathe and go forth”.

Table Topics:  Fernando was the Table Topics Master.  Fernando asked questions about quick change, an improv game inspired by “Whose Line is it Anyway”.

Fernando selected a High School scenario:

·         Girls night Out: Samya, Aditi and Sharon

Brenda called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  David N. on Aditi’s speech: Speech Lessons from a Speech Coach

David N.  liked Aditi’s speech, he thought Aditi had great eye contact, voice projection and  noted how much Aditi has improved.  David N. commented on Aditi’s handout stating that the content on the handout could be a source for multiple speeches.  David liked the wise quotes Aditi used and how Aditi reminded everyone to use this club as a resource for practice..

Evaluator #2: Suzanne on Terri’s speech: Breathe and Go Forth

Suzanne enjoyed Terri’s speech about running and how small journeys can help people reach a larger goal.   Suzanne said it was a wonderful speech about perseverance.  Terri’s story ended with inspiration on how to do what we love.  Suzanne thinks as Terri becomes more comfortable, that she will use more of the space.

Due to the format of the Table Topics, there was no winner.

The meeting ended late: 7:23

August 11, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

August 11, 2014

Attendees: David N, Fernando, Lara, Leif, Brenda, David K., Suzanne, Glenn, Vishal, Aditi, Terri

Guest:  Donovan, Kira

Theme of the day: the dog days of summer

Word of the day: lexicon

Roles:

·         Toastmaster: David K.

·         Table Topics: Aditi

·         Speaker #1: Leif

·         Speaker #2: Glenn

·         Grammarian: Lara

·         Timer: Suzanne

·         Ah Counter: Fernando

·         Vote Counter: Brenda

·         Evaluator #1: David

·         Evaluator #2: Aditi

·         General Evaluator: Vishal

Speaker#1:  Leif: Global Navigation Best Practices and Recreations, Speech Project #2, Organize Your Speech

David N introduced the objectives.

Leif explained his presentation for work, based on research.  Leif showed the audience the hamburger line icon that helps people navigate on a site, sharing handouts on how the "cells" work, showing lists that lead to other lists, and how the carrot icon indicates another list, and darker cells at the top show the trail called "breadcrumbs".  Darker colors were used to indicate previous menus.  Test users found the darker colors for previous steps and lighter colors for the current step easy to understand.

Speaker#2:  Glenn: Story, Speech Project #5, How Your Body Speaks

Aditi introduced the objectives.

Glenn started his speech discussing using body language to tell a story and then decided to tell a story like telling a story to children.  Glenn read a short story called “The man and the dandelion”; Glenn walked around and gestured with his free hand, and also waved his hand when saying "I'm a weed!".  Glenn then shared a story about love and sacrifice, the "Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein.  Glenn ended the story with "and the tree was happy". 

Table Topics: Aditi led an impromptu Table Topics session, mentioning training's suggestion is to practice table topics.  David N. shared a story about his friend (guest) Donovan.  Lara, Ruth, Donovan, Suzanne and Brenda spoke.

Vishal called on David to evaluate Leif.

Evaluator #1:  David on Leif’s speech: Global Navigation Best Practices and Recreations

David acknowledged how well Leif has developed as a speaker, noting Leif's organization, not needing notes, and the handouts were nice.  Leif’s cough was distracting, maybe bring water next time.  Leif personalized his speech by acknowledging Glenn in the audience.

Evaluator #2:  Aditi evaluated Glenn.  Glenn was much more expressive, explained the purpose, and used the space and had more tonality.  Aditi recommended that Glenn tie experiences back to his life and indicate the relevance.  Tonality and body movement were good.

Round Table Evaluations: 

·        Lara thought Leif showed no fear, communicates well on subjects he's knowledgeable on.

·         Fernando appreciated the handouts.

·        Aditi mentioned Leif looked confident as well, he may want to add more relevance for the audience,

·         Donovan mentioned Leif could have brought up the "purpose “more, to add clarity.

·        Vishal appreciated the handouts (his plan B) and noted Leif could move around  more, improve body language.

·         David K thought Glenn's gestures were well done, it had good flow.

·         Terri really appreciated the Giving Tree story and thought it was touching, that  Glenn could have used a larger variety of words. 

·         Suzanne loved Glenn's expressions, and thought it was well-done.  Suzanne  suggested Glenn could have a prop book as a story teller. 

·         Brenda video-taped the speech. 

·         David N. appreciated that Glenn used his notes, and did his speech even though  he had a tough week.  David N. noted Glenn's pacing has improved and could  improve his eye contact.

·        Vishal thought Glenn looked professional and serious, but he could’ve taken a  risk.

 Vishal’s overall evaluation: David K. did a wonderful job as toastmaster,  appreciated Lara's lexicon, and thanked Donovan, the guest.

Donovan won the Table Topics contest.

Suzanne reminded people the dues are being collected $46 for all of the members, starting next week.

Adjourned early at 7:14

August 4, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

August 4, 2014

Attendees: Ruth, Vishal, Lara, Fernando, Glenn, Suzanne, Martin, David N., Aditi and David K.

Guest(s):  Kira

Theme of the day: Accomplishment

Word of the day: Preparation

Suzanne was the Toastmaster and Grammarian; Ruth was the General Evaluator and Vote Counter, Glenn was the Ah Counter, and David K. was the Timer.

Suzanne started the meeting, Samya will return 8/18 meeting.

Suzanne reminded everyone about upcoming contests, the qualifying speech contest in the club will be on 8/25.  Officer training at Genentech is on 8/9.

Speaker:  David: Causes of Childhood Obesity, Advanced Speech Project #4, A Fact-Finding Report

Lara listed the objectives of David’s speech project.

David started with some percentages of how many children are obese in America, a new generation may die younger than their parents

Causes:

·         Economic & Geographic

·         Energy Imbalance: Eating too much, exercising too little  

·         MSNBC – reports 49% of parents do not have time to cook a meal on a daily basis

§  They are going out to restaurants where meals are loaded with things that aren’t healthy

§  Fast food is loaded with saturated fat and low in nutrients

·         CBS New 1 out of 3 children is eating a meal from a fast food restaurant every day

·         On average they are 6 pounds heavier

·         Parents’ roles: Parents ask their children to clean their plates, even if the portions are oversized

·         Soda sizes are much higher and have unlimited refills

·         Children are exercising too little

§  They do not play outdoors

·         David does note there is a moderate decline in obesity of 19 sates – the broadest positive trend

Addressed in Q&A:

·         Geographical – areas of LA—only fast food restaurants – In lower income areas

·         Overfed and malnourished at the same time

·         Ruth asked if there is someone to make nutritious food that is tasty in schools (citing Michelle Obama’s program)

·         David said Berkeley introduced a program where one chef is producing healthy tasty food.

·         David noted that most schools don’t cook on site and having cheap food shipped and they are also unhealthy.

Speaker:  Aditi: GEOENGINEERING: A Solution to Climate Change, Project #3 Get to the Point

Martin listed the objectives of Adyta’s speech project. 

Aditi referenced her previous speech, reviewing global warming issues.  Aditi introduced her idea of manipulating the climate with some examples previously used:

1. Greenhouse gases absorbing radiation
2. Putting giant mirrors in orbit to reflect
3. Pumping iron into the ocean that will encourage algae to grow—but iron would cause fish to die
4. Planting trees, but they take too long to grow

Aditi then gave an overview of the Aerosol-based methods:

1. Volcanoes
2. Desert Dust
3. Anthropogenic Aerosols (black carbon)
4. Aditi noted clouds are good reflectors
5. Simulate Volcanoes
6. Artificial Clouds

Aditi reviewed pros:

·         Only a 3 % increase in cloud reflectivity would offset the human contribution to climate change.

Aditi reviewed cons: cost, time, international policy.

Aditi ended her presentation with an Oscar Wilde quote:

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

Table Topics:  Vishal was the Table Topics Master.  Vishal used quotes from Abraham Lincoln and William Shakespeare, two Chinese proverbs, and two Polish proverbs, to ask people what they thought each quote meant.  Lara, David K., Martin, Kira, Glenn and Suzanne provided responses.

Ruth called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Lara on David’s speech: Causes of Childhood Obesity

Lara noted how David outlined his speech and his indication of society’s role as a major contributor to obesity in the US.  Lara noted David handled the Question and Answer period very well, providing more information.  David was very well-informed on the topic.

Evaluator #2: Martin on Aditi

Martin liked how the introduction was provided and that the presentation was “non-engineer” friendly.  Martin said Aditi made her presentation very tangible, noting that having a definition of a Geo-engineering would be helpful.

Martin noted the images were very helpful as well.  Martin shared a story about a visit to China and how they pumped air into the clouds to help with the pollution issue.

Lara won the best speaker ribbon for her Table Topics story.

Meeting ended at 7:15