Chamber Club 540

Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, and Leadership

With the theme “The Fall Classic,” Toastmaster Dave led a fun filled evening based on the World Series (which starts tonight btw) weaving various anecdotes and historical facts about the championship series of major league baseball throughout the evenings meeting.

Our speakers covered a variety of topics in their presentations. Gazelle talked about “living the dream” and what that means to herself and the people in her life, Eden revealed her very personal struggle with rheumatory arthritis and Michelle telling us how we can all have “forever friends” by adopting a pet and attempting to sell her cats in the process, Sampson and Lola for $22,000 (not really).

A lively debate regarding the merits of tax-payer supported sports stadiums was led by JC while Devon offered a varied table topics session involving questions on candy, pranks, blimps and other topics.

Maria served as our General Evaluator, stepping in at the last minute to help out and led our evaluation team as they provided critical feedback to our speakers.

Two guests joined us for the festivities last night and got to witness the presentation to Gazelle of her CC badge from club President Michelle as Gazelle gave speech #10 (congratulations Gazelle).

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,

On Tuesday, 16 Toastmasters and two guests took a ride into the mythic
and the poetic with John at the helm. “Logos and the
Poetic” focused on the poetic side of the division between the
analytic method of viewing things and the poetic, the latter depending
on metaphors, symbols and allegory. Connections were explored between
myth, worldview, and meaning, going from epic poetry to zombies and
back again to the power of symbolism. Sprinkled throughout the night
were references to and ideas about how all of this works and connects
to the real world.

Acting club President Rachel started off the evening with the
Question of the Day: would folks rather read an article in Scientific
American or analyze a poem?

Bob read our mission statement,
Ryan presnted the Toastmasters’ Moment.
Devon was our Word of the Day/Grammarian, and introduced the word
of the day: Propaganda

Next up was Bob, filling in for Eden as General
Evaluator, who introduced the evaluation team.

Gabe the Timer, Richard was assistant Timer
Alli Coffin was  Ah Counter

Michael was the evaluator for J.C.,
Russ evaluated Eddie
Rachel was the evaluator for Peter

Dave was our Competent Leader Evaluator

The speaking part of the evening started out with J.C., who
gave  speech #6 from the CC Manual: “This Too Shall Pass” and Other
Reminders
Starting off with a discussion of a bracelet inscribed with custom
symbols centered around the phrase “This too shall pass”, J.C. talked
about the transitory nature of man in the universe, about the
smallness of humanity, that we’re all really just descended from star
stuff, as well as explaining how sometimes small issues are as
irrelevant as an invisible tea pot orbiting the moon. J.C. ended with
observations about keeping going on with life despite temporary
conflicts, knowing that “This too shall pass”.

Next up, Eddie presented speech #5 from the CC manual. “Bad Stats”
Eddie talked about a fellow worker who shares apocalyptic e-mails
about studies done that show that the world is swiftly going down the
toilet because of overpopulation, resource scarcity, and other issues,
always presenting the most dire interpretation of events, and how the
way out presented appears to be for things to get so bad that people
in general won’t be able to mess things up, because there won’t be
many people in general left .

Gazelle presented our table topics, focusing on poetry,
people’s favorite poems, and spontaneous answers given in rhyme.

Next up was our business meeting, presided over by Rachel

Gazelle won the area contest for best humorous speaker! Yay
Gazelle! She next competes in the Division B contest, which has yet to
be scheduled but is going to be on a Thursday in October, possibly
either the 13th or 20th..

And dues are really, really, due. Please pay them.

Next up was Peter with “Dr. Wigand”, Speech #2 from the Special
Occasions Advanced Manual. Peter told us about one of his heroes, Dr.
Wigand, a scientist for Brown & Williamson Tobacco who blew the
whistle on outright perjury committed by the company’s executives in
testimony before Congress. This lead to a massive settlement agreement
between Brown & Williamson and all fifty states. Dr. Wigand continues
to promote smoking awareness as well as lobbies for the money from the
settlements to go to the smoking related programs that they were
intended for.

Next up was Maria with our Debate. The Debate question was
whether or not popular magazines like Vogue and Cosmo should be taught
alongside Shakespeare as literature in order to engage more folks.

During the evaluation session, Bob as General Evaluator gave his
evaluation of the meeting in rhyme. Bob, if you’re out there, consider
sending the poem to the list.

For awards,

The pro side won for the Debate
J.C. and Eddie shared the chocolate for Word of the Day
Guest Laura won for Best Table Topics
Russ won for Best Evaluator
Peter won for Best Speaker

Eddie also received the half CC award for completing Speech #5,

There was a touching ceremony conducted by Rachel where in the
tradition of little fun toys given out as awards to Chamber Club
members the Secretary was given a plastic magnifying glass for
attention to detail, with thanks for being club secretary.  I, not
using the royal we or speaking the third person, am going to be absent
from the club for about six months to pursue education in writing.

Being a member of Chamber Club has been a great experience, and
writing these summaries of the meetings has been fun. I hope to see
folks again. Eddie is taking over the role of Secretary, andI’m
sure he’ll do a great job.

—John M.

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,?

Toastmaster Veronica led the October 4th, 2011 meeting of 22 members on the theme of Work. Covering topics ranging from the differences/similarities between work and prison to the salary inequalities between men and women, Veronica seeded the meeting with work related tidbits and provided effortless and inventive transitions between all our speakers.

After Peter read the Toastmaster’s Mission, Gazelle described her ‘month’ of Toastmaster Moments, from serving as General Evaluator in Australia to winning the Area 25 Humorous Speech Contest.

Our General Evaluator Michelle introduced Grammarian Alli who selected “strive” as the word of the day. Eddie Fox was the Ah Counter; Lisa and J.C. served as Timer and Assistant Timer, respectively; Bob was Competent Leader Evaluator.

Speakers!
In keeping with our theme, Richard, giving CC Manual Speech #3 – Get to the Point, told us all about his job as a real estate development manager (“What I do for a living”). Richard explained that the three chief attributes of a real estate development manager were financial acumen, design expertise and good construction sense. When asked what he does for a living, Richard usually replies that he works for people who don’t have any money (i.e. real estate developers) but who are charming enough to get other people to part with theirs.

For Project #1 from the Interpretative Reading Manual – Read a Story, Rachel gave us the wolf’s side of the three little pigs story. In the exposé “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” Rachel recounted how Mr. Alexander T. Wolfe’s simple wish to make a birthday cake for his grandmother lead to an unfortunate series of events, resulting in the death and consumption of two of his pig-neighbors and the travesty of his own incarceration. The media stitched him up.

Giving CC Manual Speech #9, Persuade with Power, Austin urged us all to consider “Living a Healthy Lifestyle”. He explained how his father’s tragic death at 47 from heart disease lead him and his family to re-examine their lifestyle and particularly their diet.  By adopting a more heart-friendly lifestyle, Austin explained how we can all hopefully avoid being part of the alarming heart disease statistics.

Best Speaker Ribbon to Rachel!

Maria led Table Topics covering Bob’s dream job as a Clive Davis-esque record producer, why Michael closed Disney Land, Gabe’s style for giving feedback and Peter’s favorite Halloween party (he went as a gangster). The Best Table Topic Ribbon went to Michael.

Business Meeting:
1- New Member Niko and returning Member Lisa were inducted into Chamber Club. Welcome to you both.
2- Dues are due (for anyone still outstanding).
3- Gazelle will represent the Club in the District B Humorous Speech Contest on Wednesday the 26th October at 6.30pm (Faith Community Church, 10220 238th St SW, Edmonds, WA 98020). All available are encouraged to support her.
4- Michelle will be representing “another” club in the District C Table Topics Contest, Saturday 29th October at 1pm (PEMCO Building, 325 Eastlake Ave E, Seattle). Again all available are encouraged to support her.
5- Reminder: Alli is having a house party on October 15th, starting around 5pm.
6- The Club has received its 2010-2011 President’s Distinguished Ribbon and Rachel her newly rebranded CC name badge.

Devon led the Debate on whether costumes on pets should be banned. The ‘pro’ side argued that pet costumes were difficult to get on cats, unkind, undignified and stupid. The ‘con’ side thought that dressing up your accessories (i.e. your pets) was good for the economy and helped keep them warm in Seattle’s cold climate. Michael’s ‘Pug’-oween ultimately put the ‘con’ side over the top.

Evaluators!

Dave evaluated Richard, Kathryn evaluated Rachel and Russ evaluated Austin.
Best Evaluator Ribbon to Kathryn!

Our Toastmaster Veronica finished the meeting channeling Confucius:
“Choose a job you like and you will never work a day in your life!’

–
Eddie

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,

This week’s meeting, headed by J.C. was on the theme of the
Placebo Effect and it’s manifestations, along with the Nocebo Effect,
it’s opposite and evil twin. J.C. took us through facts and figures
having to do with how the body is stimulated into having temporarily
positive effects due to folks being told that the procedure or pill
they’ve has good effects, listing pacemakers being effective before
they’re turned on and saline injections being more effective than
sugar pills because it feels more painful and serious. Conversely,
when people are told that a pill may have negative effects, the
telling can provoke the negative effects themselves to occur. Fourteen
members and two guests were in attendance

The meeting started off with Rachel, temporarily acting as
President in Michelle’s absence, asking the Placebo effect connected
question of the day: “What makes you happy on a rainy day?”

Ryan read the Mission Statement and John gave the
Toastmasters’ Moment.

Eddie served as Word of the Day/Grammarian, and provided the Word
of the Day: Fallacy.

Alli served as General Evaluator, and on the team was Rachel
Herbert as Timer, Joanna as Assistant Timer, Scott
as Ah Counter, Allison as Competent Leader Evaluator, and Eden,
Austin, and Dave as our Evaluators.

The evening’s speeches started out with Russ giving Speech #5
from from the Competent Communicator’s Handbook, “Just Feel the
Music–Really Bad Advice” Russ talked about how he didn’t have
experience in dancing, and wanted to change it. However, the advice he
was getting was “Just Feel the Music”. Not only was this frustrating,
but it was ultimately not successful . Russ told us how he eventually
found out how dancing instruction is divided into ballet, swing
dancing, and salsa, and how he decided to pursue Swing Dancing. In the
process of pursuing classes, he found out that the one thing that
wasn’t mentioned in previous advice was the importance of having fun,
as well as feeling the music.

Gazelle was up next with a reprise of her speech “When you
see what you see”, from the humorous speech competition. Gazelle told
us about the rat she encountered while house sitting for a friend, how
its presence wasn’t believed, and what followed afterwards.

Peter lead Table Topics, calling on a large number of
participants. The question included “What’s your ideal job?”, “Who’s
your favorite Mariner of all time?”, and “Why did you wear your
pajamas to work?”

Next up was the business meeting, headed by Rachel.

Dues are really due,

The next phase of the humorous speech and table topics competition is
happening at the Ballard Baptist Church tomorrow at 11:00.

Next up was Kathryn with “Motivating People” from the
Toastmasters Leadership Excellence Series. Kathryn gave a presentation
on how to motivate people, talking about the ned to meet people’s
individual motivations and what the range of those individual
motivations is, illustrating the points with members of the club as
examples. Also included was the need for positive reinforcement as an
aid to help motivate people and negative reinforcement as a way to
show folks that they’re not on the right track.

Our debate was lead by Richard, and the topic was whether in the
midst of an economic downturn it’s better to spend, if there’s the
possibility that this may help the situation, while temporarily
ignoring what’s around you, or if it’s better to be in line with
reality through moderating one’s spending.

Eden evaluated Russ
Austin evaluated Gazelle,
Dave evaluated Kathryn

Devon gave the Toast.

The con side won the debate,
Ryan won for best table topics,
Russ won for best speaker
Eden won for best evaluator
Devon won for Word of the Day

—John

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,

This week’s meeting was led by the capable Eden and centered around the astrological sign Virgo and the personalities of Virgo folks. Eden explained that her birthday was happening next week, and that working Virgo into the theme was an interesting way to combine her birthday excitement with a shout out to fellow Virgos in the club.
Nineteen members and three guests were in attendance.

President Michelle started the meeting by asking the question of the day “Hey baby, what’s your sign?”. The question yielded a high number of responses by practical Capricorns, Virgos, and Taurus’.

Eden our theme by outlining some of the pros and cons associated with Virgos, pointing out that not everyone with the sign necessarily shares all the traits. She also specified that before each speech, the evaluators would read the goals associated with it.

Lani then read the Mission Statement, and John served as Word of the Day/Grammarian, supplying “Zenith” as the Word of the Day.

Next, General Evaluator Alli introduced the evaluation team, consisting of Dave as Timer, Bob as Assistant Timer, Kathryn as Competent Leader Evaluator, and our speech evaluators: Maria, Joanna, Scott, and Allison.
The first speaker of the evening was Eddie giving speech #4 from the Competent Communicator Manual, “The Green of Home”.

Talking about how the economic crisis and the housing bubble effected Ireland, Eddie began by painting a picture of a small town in the west of Ireland that he used to visit as a boy that while picturesque, also had serious poverty lying behind the quaint exterior. He described Ireland’s economic resurgence in the ’90s, leading to a reduction of unemployment, and then gave some insight into what caused the subsequent crisis, how it developed, and what the response of the Irish people was.

Next was Michelle with Project #2 from the Advanced Storytelling Manual, titled “Cabo’s Cunning Creatures”. Michelle took us on a journey through the dark world of time share sales hard sells that she encountered on a trip to a resort in Cabo Mexico. After introducing us to the creatures in question, she recounted how the resort offered a series of discounts if, as it turned out, the guest was willing to sit through a high pressure sales presentation and tour. Vividly describing being pitted against an enthusiastic salesman reminiscent of Louis Black, Michelle navigated through the situation and emerged victorious.

The Business Meeting followed.

Dues are due for the next half year and can be paid via paypal through the club website, http://www.chamberclub540.com , or through checks given to Michelle or other officers. There is a club incentive offered by Toastmasters if dues are paid early.

Our Humorous Speech/Table Topics competition is coming up the second week of September, in two weeks. There are still opportunities to help out, and folks who want to help out, or to compete, are encouraged to contact Michelle.

Notable Northgaters is having their speech contest on Wednesday September 14th, and is in need of a visiting judge. The competition is happening at 5:15 at Olympic View Church.

We Can Speak noon day club is having their speech competition Thursday September 8th, and is also in need of help. Contact Allison or Michelle for more details.

We have found our replacement for Club Secretary! Congratulations to Eddie. Eddie will be taking over in early October.

A reminder about the e-mail list: if you know that you’re going to be unable to fulfill a role, please look on the club schedule/roster and e-mail potential replacements before sending a request to the list.

After the Business Meeting, Rachel started off the second half of our meeting with Project #1 (The Folk Tale) from the Storytelling Advanced Manual, entitled “Tikki Tikki Tembo”.

Rachel told the story of Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo and his brother Cheng, recounting in a heartwarming way how the two boys climbed too close to their well. First Cheng fell in, and Tikki tikki tembo had to run to get help from his mother and from an old man in the village, then Tikki tikki tembo fell in, but because of his long name it was much harder for Cheng to get fast help, although Tikki tikki tembo survived to see another day.

Next, Veronica, completing Project #3 in the Speaking to Inform Advanced Manual, showed us how to make Spring Rolls in less than five minutes. In a live demonstration at Chamber Club 540, Veronica told us a little about the origin of the name spring roll, showed us how to prepare rice paper, gave us some tips on what vegetables and meat to use, and how to arrange them. Then, after demonstrating how to complete the roll, Veronica presented a quick recipe for one minute peanut sauce.

Following Veronica was J.C. with Table Topics. Asking astrologically themed questions, J.C. quizzed guests and members about who their favorite Virgo was, what they thought about the “new” 13^th sign of the zodiac, and connected the innocence of Virgo with the tendencies of certain video game players, asking what folks’ favorite video games were.

Evaluations followed. Maria evaluated Eddie, Joanna evaluated Michelle, Scott evaluated Rachel, and Allison evaluated Veronica.
Eden won for Word of the Day,
Guest Lynn won for best Table Topic speech,
Rachel won best Speaker,
Joanna won for best Evaluator.

—John

Greetings, fellow Toastmasters….

This week’s meeting theme was “Home Towns”, headed up by Toastmaster Scott.

After a harrowing beginning featuring an absence of electricity, the meeting proceeded as planned.

Vice President of Education Rachel filled in for President Michelle, opening and closing the meeting as a whole and running the business meeting.

The meeting started off with the opening question “Where is your hometown?”

Scott recounted his experiences going back to his home town of Blaine, WA, after a long absence, telling us about how the trip came to be, and recounting the feelings, similarities and differences in the town that the trip brought to the surface.

John read the mission statement, Lani gave the Toastmasters Moment.

Maria headed up the evaluation team, consisting of Dave as Word of the Day/Grammarian, Lani and Eddie as timer and assistant timer, respectively, Bob as Ah Counter, and Peter, Bob, and Russ as Evaluators. Joanne was the Competent Leader Evaluator for the evening.

The word of the day, woven into the theme of home towns, was “Nostalgia”.

Starting off the evening was Devon with her Ice Breaker speech “Seattle through Norwegian eyes”. Devon recounted the visit of her cousin Stina from Norway to Seattle. Taking us from the Arctic Circle through Minnesota and to Seattle, Devon outlined the context of the visit as well as the unique personality of the cousin. The speech then focused on things that Seattle has to offer that people here take as being normal that visitors from elsewhere may not.

The next speaker was Gazelle, with “Heroes?” Gazelle outlined why she is her own hero, recounting struggles that happened in the past that were very hard, that she made it through. Gazelle suggested that being willing to take on life in the face of very bad times with courage can make a person a hero.

Filling in for Cynthia, John served as Table Topicsmaster. Cynthia left very detailed instructions for the Table Topics session, that John read. The instructions involved having participants pick a piece of paper out of a stack, each having a map with an unusually named town marked on it. Then, participants were required to present their town, tell the audience how it got it’s name, and make a pitch about why you should go and visit. Joanne won for best Table Topics.

During our Business Meeting there was a reminder that dues are going up, as well as an invitation for folks to consider participating in our humorous speech/table topics contest on September 13th, and if interested to get in touch with Michelle soon to tell her you want to participate. For members participating, the follow up is being held at the Ballard Baptist Church Saturday September 24th from 11:00 to 3:00.

Next, in our regular meeting, Allison gave her speech “Observation Sampling Manual Presentation”, from the Advanced Presentations by Management Manual. The speech was a professional
dealt with Allison’s work in the National Marine Fisheries Service, outlining the process and progress of compiling a manual on how to properly conduct sampling used by employees on ships in the seas around Alaska. Allison presented the work of manual team, at all stages, from explaining what the manual is, to incorporating suggestions given for previous editions of the manual, to how the manual is edited via computer, as well as insights into the tradeoffs between clarity and convenience.

Eddie lead the debate, with the question of the day being is a rural environment better than an urban environment as a place to have one’s home town? The pro side won.

Peter evaluated Devon.
Russ evaluated Gazelle.
Bob evaluated Allison.

Devon won for Word of the Day,
Peter won for best evaluation,
Gazelle won for best speaker.
Devon also received a ribbon for her icebreaker speech.

–John

Greetings fellow Toastmasters!

This week’s meeting, “That’s so random” was headed up by Toastmaster
Allison. Allison shared with us the ways that the concept of
randomness is used in her scientific work, contrasting it with how the
word “random” is used in a conventional context, then suggested common
ground between strict randomness and colloquial randomness. Seventeen
Toastmasters and one guest were in attendance.

Rachel filled in for President Michelle, opening and
closing the meeting and running the business meeting.

After the opening remarks, Richard read the Toastmaster Mission
Statement, followed by Eden, who gave an unscheduled
Toastmasters’ moment. The Toastmasters’ moment dealt with criticism at
work and how Toastmasters can help a person when dealing with it.

Our evaluation team was headed up by Dave, and included Russ as Word of the Day Grammarian. The Word of the Day was
“Consequence”. Devon was Ah Counter and Peter served as
Timer with Moshe as Assistant Timer. Maria was
Competent Leader Evaluator.

First up was John with Speech #5 from the Competent
Communicator Manual “To have a brush with history”. The speech dealt
with his experience being in Austin Texas during the start of the Iraq
War and participating in a protest against the war there.

Next up was J.C. with Speech #5 from the Competent
Communicator Manual, “Courthouses, Golf Courses and Movie Theaters: A
Brief Analysis of Sacred Space in Modern America”. J.C. talked about
how common areas like Theaters and Courthouses have rituals and
traditions that can help set them apart from normal space, making them
place with different rules and expectations, building on the root of
the word “Sacred”, meaning to set apart.

Table Topics was lead by Michael, and included such randomness
as having member Peter member to pick a number from one to one
hundred and then tell the group why that number is important,
prompting Moshe for a replacement for the phrase “That’s so
random”, and asking Gabe who he was named after. Peter,
Moshe, Richard, guest Mohan, and Gabe participated. Moshe won, coining the phrase “That’s not
random”.

The business meeting followed.

A noontime club in Northgate needs help for their September 8th speech
contest, and any help given would be appreciated. The contest is being
held Thursday September 8th at 12:00, contact Allison for
details. A reminder was put out that dues are going up slightly.

Following the business meeting, Cynthia gave the speech “A
Bedtime Tale”, from the Interpretive Reading Advanced Communication
Manual. The speech was an entertaining rendition of the recent
goodnight book for adults entitled “Go the F***k to Sleep”. Cynthia
read the tale with the aid of a party favor used to blot out offensive
words.

Next was the debate headed up by Gabe. The topic for the debate
was whether there should be public chastisement for texting in movie
theaters. The pro side won.

Lani evaluated John, Rachel evaluated J.C., and Eden evaluated Cynthia.

John won Word of the Day by default in a three way tie, Cynthia and
J.C. deferring.
Eden won for best evaluation
J.C. won for best speech,
John and J.C. both received “Half to CC” ribbons for completing speech #5

–John

8/9/11

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,

Headed up by Alli, this week’s theme was Summer Sports and
Recreation, as well as persistence in your sport and non-sport
activities in order to improve and become accomplished in them. We had
a stellar lineup that hit the ball out of the park.

The meeting started off with the question of the day, “What is your
favorite sport or favorite activity?”.

Devon read the Mission Statement, followed by President Michelle, who presented the Toastmaster Moment, dealing with how getting
used to giving and getting criticism in Toastmasters turn out to be a
rare thing.

Richard served as our Grammarian and supplied “Canicular” as our
Word of The Day.

Peter, as General Evaluator, served as our evaluation team’s coach.
Allison was our timer, and pinch hitter Lisa served as
assistant timer. Dave served as Ah Counter, and
Kathryn was Compteent Leader Evaluator.

The first player up to bat was Eden, who gave speech #2 from
the Storytelling Advanced Manual, “My Instruction Manual for Throwing
a Dinner Party Would be Three Words Long -Don’t Do It”. Eden told us
about her experience throwing a dinner party where when she was out of
the room for a few moments, her guests rearranged many of her knick
knacks and kitchen supplies, leading to much unexpected discovery and
merriment.

Next up to bat was Maria presenting speech number 6 from the
Competent Communicator Manual, “Bad Date 101″. Maria shared her
experiences with some very interesting characters she’s run across,
from a slightly confused outlaw to people who lay blessings on
wildlife.

Austin threw out the pitch for our debate, with the question
“Should we have mandatory Friday’s off?” Many diverse arguments were
advanced, and the con side won.

Ryan was first up to bat in the second half of the meeting
with speech #5 from the CC Manual entitled “#72″. Ryan talked about an
escape attempt with a friend that was ultimately unsuccessful but that
was presented with great humor, as well as having a serious point.

Rachel headed up our Table Topics match and Kyoko, Dave, guest
Lisa and guest Braillio competing. Kyoko won for best Table Topic

Maria won for best speaker,

Russ won for best evaluator.

Ryan received the Half CC Ribbon for completing speech #5
from the Competent Communicator manual.

****

John M.

Greetings fellow Toastmasters

Under the leadership of Toastmaster Rachel Herbert, the meeting on
8/2/11 explored the world of Déjà Vu. Fifteen Toastmasters and five
guests attended, including Omar giving a practice run of a
speech for the upcoming International Speech Competition in Las Vegas.

Peter read the Mission Statement.
Gabe served as Grammarian introduced our Word of the Day: Recollection.

Michelle lead the evaluation team, consisting of Austin as
Timer, Devon as Assistant Timer, Allison as Ah Counter,
Dave, Alli, and J.C. as evaluators, and Peter
as Competent Leader Evaluator.

Our first speaker was Kyoko, giving her Icebreaker Speech
“Home: Finding the familiar in the unfamiliar”. Asking the question
‘where is home?’ Kyoko looked at four possible answers to that
question: where a person was born, grew up, live the longest, or felt
most at home, giving us her experiences in Connecticut, Japan, New
York City, and Barcelona.

Next up was Richard speech #2 from the CC Manual “The Stages of
business development”. In this speech Richard recounted his experience
of branching out and starting a new business, its ups and downs, its
excitement and potential. The speech was presented through the medium
of the stages for business growth and development.

For Table Topics Moshe asked Maria about Déjà Vu in
general, guest about Déjà Vu in general as well as thoughts on
the possible origins of it, Ryan about what he would do if he
was driving past a casino and had an intuition that he would win a lot
of money if he had Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama were in the car
with him, and guest Irene about intuitions experienced in childhood
relating to one’s future. Ryan was the winner.

Next, in our business meeting, President Michelle gave an update
on member names and passwords for the newly revised website, that will
be e-mailed to members soon, and Area Governor Allison presented a reminder in the form of cards about the upcoming
Toastmasters Fall Conference, as well as a ribbon designating Chamber
Club as the home club of an Area Governor (for the second year).

Russ gave his fourth speech from the CC Manual “Everything in
Excess”, about his experience with the colorful world of Vietnamese
wedding parties. The speech recounted the costumes, traditions,
ambience and warmth of a recent wedding party.

Following our club speakers, Omar gave his speech “Why you
are?”. Omar recounted being in a grocery store while a fellow customer
made an insulting comment about a mentally disabled checker. This was
followed by expletives and being escorted out of the store by
security. From there, Omar told about the feelings churned up by the
experience, both initially and in conjunction with finding talking to
and finding out about the history of the checker himself, who was not
mad at the individual. ‘Why you are?’ was the phrase the checker
would always say to customers. The speech ended with a prompt for
folks in the audience to really discover for themselves ‘Why you are?’
in relation to the world.

In the evaluation session, Dave evaluated Kyoko, Alli evaluated Richard, and J.C. evaluated Russ. There was a Round
Robin evaluation session for Omar.

Kyoko won for best speaker as well as for word of the day,

Alli won for best evaluator.

—–John

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,

Tuesday’s meeting was headed off by Michelle and was built
around the theme of Astronauts and Outer Space. The U.S. Space Shuttle
program has been retired and our meeting featured space-centric
information and reflections dealing the idealism of the space program,
science fiction programs (as well as how they do or don’t include
strong female roles), and rockers who have their own personal
connections to outer space. Seventeen members and four guests ventured
out together on the mission.

After the introduction and the initial question, where members and
guests were invited to pick which sci-fi movie or show, Star Wars,
Star Trek, or Battlestar Galactica, was their favorite , Gazelle
read the Mission Statement. Cynthia gave us the
Toastmaster’s moment drawing on her experience as part of an interview
team at work. New member Kyoko served as Grammarian/WOTD,
supplying the exploratory word “Ramble” .

Our first speaker was Brian, giving speech #7 from the CC
manual entitled “Wildflower Meadow”. The speech dealt with the issues
involved in figuring out how to actually create a real wildflower
meadow, after another party has seriously underestimated what is
involved and has not succeeded at it.

Next up was Eddie with speech #3 from the CC manual, “The Cancer
Race”. Eddie explained to us how compared to the success of the
campaign to reduce heart disease over the past decades, the war on
cancer has been much less successful. The speech examined reasons why
that may be the case, and looked at the use of the metaphor of ‘war’
in this context, suggesting some pitfalls of the use as well as things
might be done in if cancer was actually treated like that.

Our Table Topics leader was Eden, who asked participants to
put themselves in the shoes of various characters in films dealing
with space and decide what they’d do in their respective situations.
The films included Apollo 13, Toy Story, and Contact. Participants
were Lani, guest Lisa, guest Ashlee, and Russ. Lani
won with a scenario dealing with rocks that literally rocked
on a planet thought to be uninhabited.

In our Business Meeting, new member Kyoko was formally
inducted. Yay! Members are invited to look at the new club website,
http://www.chamberclub540.com , and send president Michelle
their username so that new passwords can be generated. Team Beanie is
walking Sunday at Marrymoor park to raise money for Pasado Safe Haven.

Speaker #3 was Michael, giving speech #2 from the Entertaining
Speaker Advanced Manual , entitled “Interplanetary Interactions”.
Going off the theme of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”,
Michael presented us with thoughts about misunderstanding in
communication between men and women using the words of people who have
often been unsung chroniclers of social life throughout the ages:
humorists and comedians. Authors whose works were woven through the
loom of relationships were Aristophanes, Dave Barry, Tim Allen, and
Erma Bombeck.

For our debate, Russ probed the question of what to do with
the Space Shuttles now that the program has ended: keep them while
finding some other use for the vehicles or put them on sale. The con
side won.

In the evaluation session, Ryan evaluated Brian,
Kathyrn evaluated Eddie, and Scott evaluated
Michael.

Eddie won for Best Speaker and Kathryn won for Best Evaluator

Peter  ended the evening with the Toast.

—-John M.