In the meeting’s opening remarks, incoming President Kerstin Haase, welcomed and reminded the current and new members to continue to enforce the Club’s mission to supporting its members to becoming confident and competent speakers.
Kerstin acknowledged the club’s ongoing efforts in identifying and acknowledging the racial discrimination and its impact on people of color, and invited the members to use the bias flag signage to identify and acknowledge any bias we hear during speeches. Kerstin also highlighted the spirit of celebration surrounding the July 4th holiday and the suffering by the enslaved and its undeniable implications for the generations to come. She emphasized the right for everyone, regardless of their background, to be independent and free to live their lives.
In a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, the group observed a minute of silence by muting the microphones and turning off cameras to honor all victims of racial injustice.
The meeting was then turned over to the Toastmaster of the day, Stiles Burr. Stiles introduced the “Word of the Day” (WOD), “Independent,” meaning free from outside control; not depending on another’s authority.
Toastmaster Anu Parvathaneni introduced the first speaker, outgoing President & Toastmaster Summer Murphy, to deliver her speech titled, Never That Far Away. Summer presented her speech on the process to writing a travel blog and the lessons she learned from creating and writing her own travel blog titled, Never That Far Away. She delivered a compelling and a well-constructed speech with personal anecdotes and humor to reflect her thought process to writing an inspiring blog that tells a story, offers humor, accounts for privacy concerns, and incorporates visuals to showcase the building blocks of a travel blog.
Anu evaluated Summer’s speech, showcasing the strengths of the speech and Summer’s ability to weave her personal stories and humor, and summarize her key ideas as she transitioned to her next idea. Anu also provided constructive feedback by encouraging use of more visuals to support her story, and commended Summer on a flawless delivery.
Toastmaster Dave Burr introduced the second speaker, Toastmaster Abdulrahman Ahmed Albazie, to deliver his speech titled, Part of the Solution!” Abdul explained how our innovations and technologies can have a significant impact on a wider scale. Using his project, “Design of a Concentrated Solar Tower System,” Abdul explained how technology can help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and provide a more sustainable energy solution, embrace change, and empower innovators identify solutions to everyday problems.
Dave evaluated Abdul’s speech, acknowledging the dedication and simplicity to creating a complex technical project, and the humility with which Abdul presented a well-organized and free of technical jargons speech. Dave commended Abdul for his clear explanations of complex terms and appropriate use of visuals and gestures to support his speech ideas. Dave also offered constructive feedback by emphasizing the need for brevity in conclusions.
Toastmaster Tina Joe served as the General Evaluator, providing the group with comprehensive feedback, and commending the exceptional performance of participants.
Toastmaster Savannah Murphy led the table topics session, incorporating the word of the day with insightful quotes to foster quick thinking, elicit thoughtful and effective response from attendees to showcase their confidence and competence.
President Kerstin shared the Timer report, ensuring each segment adhered to the allocated time. Toastmaster John Doggett, the Grammarian, offered valuable feedback the appropriate linguistic usage, and shared resonating quotes. The diverse evaluations provided insights to help strengthen the Toastmasters’ communication and leadership abilities.
Toastmaster Stiles transitioned the meeting over to President Kerstin. Kerstin wrapped up the discussion, and officially adjourned the session.
The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 a.m. on July 12, EST. If you would like to join our meeting as a guest, contact us for the meeting link.
The roles for the next meeting are as follows:
Toastmaster: John
Speaker 1: Savannah
Speaker 2: Savannah
Table Topics: Dave
General Evaluator: Stiles
Evaluator 1: Anu
Evaluator 2: Anu
Timer: Norris
Grammarian: Hema
