President Kerstin Hasse opened the meeting with a warm welcome to the members. She discussed briefly on the devastation left by hurricane Helene and its impact on the underprivileged and their ability to access basic needs. Acknowledging the potential challenges faced by those in need, the members then observed a minute of silence to honor the victims affected by the floods, and the continued struggles endured by the less privileged.
Kerstin invited members to acknowledge any bias they might hear during speeches with a peace sign to help speakers become better and to avoid unintentionally alienating our audiences.
Toastmaster of the day, Savannah Murphy, introduced the word of the day (WOD), “Duende,” meaning, (1) A mischievous elf- or goblin-like creature from Spanish and Latin American folklore, and (2) Art that’s inspired by irrationality, earthiness, and darker themes. She also shared the roles for the day before transitioning to the speeches.
Evaluator Hema Kellett introduced the first speaker for the day, Abdulrahman Albazie, to present his speech titled, The Power of Letting Go: Embracing Freedom and Growth.’ In his talk, Abdul explored the transformative power of releasing burdens that hold us back and offered guidance on moving toward a brighter and more fulfilling future. Abdul alluded us to strategies such as awareness, acceptance, gratitude, mindfulness, and forgiveness as ways to identify and address our situations. He concluded his speech with a note that the process of letting go and embracing our freedom and growth is a journey and not a destination.
Hema complimented Abdul on successfully delivering a motivational and inspiring speech. The speech was structured well with appropriate content, adequate explanations, and decorated with appropriate metaphors to create a visual imagery of what he wanted the audience to experience. Using the imagery of hanging over a cliff in the opening as a reference to our burdens and challenges, to closing his speech with release of balloons as a way to let go of those burdens, he urged us to invite and embrace the beauty of life. His ability to maintain the appropriate tone, speed, and variations in his vocals was just right for the speech. She did recommend Abdul to use a personal example showing how to apply the strategies to a real challenge to help audience connect and relate to his speech.
Evaluator Stiles Burr introduced second speaker of the day, Tina Joe, to present her motivational speech titled, ‘Git Up, Git Out, and Git Something.’ She hooked the audiences’ attention from the start by singing the lyrics of the song by OutKast to entice and engage…
Don’t let the days of your life pass by
You need to git up, git out and git something
Don’t spend all your time trying to get high
You need git up, git out and git something.
Tina Joe urged us to not to dwell on things that bother us but rather engage and appreciate our present experiences and embrace positivity to reduce our stress, find balance, and enjoy the ride. In doing so, we avoid relying on external stimuli to motivate us and recognize our triggers. She urged us to challenge ourselves, engage in self-reflection, learn from our experiences, know our potentials, and progress consistently in our goals. She called us to live with intention and pursue our passion.
Stiles was impressed with Tina Joe’s opening of her speech title by singing the lyrics of the song as a hook and then revealing the name of the performer. She got us curious; he said! He commended on the wonderful message of the speech and call to action to become aware of our bad habits and doing the right thing. Weaving the lyrics of the song into each transition, she supported her key ideas with meaningful quotes, including “Don’t eat while thinking about sleeping. Don’t sleep while thinking about eating. Don’t work while thinking about sleep,” as a reminder to the audience to not go on an autopilot mode, or get high in overindulgence of technology or distractions, or daydreaming without the ‘sweaty equity.’ Use of new phrases and metaphors coupled with high energy, animated vocal variations and facial expressions added more color to her speech. As a suggestion, he recommended to present such speeches carrying more depth and substance to a longer time to expand on the topic. It was a fantastic speech that made the audience want to tackle their day!
Kendra Hiatt then led the table topics session covering favorite place, food, activity, game/sports, books, traditions, etc., to engage, share, and learn more about each other.
General Evaluator Tim Murphy thanked everyone for a great meeting and acknowledged the notion of inspiration, letting go, and get up as a theme spanning across both the speeches. He commended the speakers on their use of metaphors, unique phrases, smooth transitions, entertaining delivery, and engaging speech content.
Timer, Summer Murphy, highlighted speakers’ use of their speech times and noted on the extended speeches. Grammarian, Dave Burr, encouraged more practice to avoid use of fillers ‘ah,’ ‘ums,’ ‘and’ or slangs such as ‘kinda’ or ‘gotcha’ or stutter to be more effective.
Toastmaster Savannah thanked everyone for their mindful participation and reviewed the roles for next week before transitioning to President Kerstin for her closing remarks.
The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 a.m. EST on October 12, 2024. 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: Summer
Speaker 1: Kerstin
Speaker 2: John
Table topics: Tina Joe
Gen Evaluator: Savannah
Evaluator 1: Norris
Evaluator 2: Kendra
Timer: Abdulrahman
Grammarian: Hema
