This week’s meeting kicked off with a warm welcome from our President, Tina Joe. This was followed by the One World, Many Voices segment led by Toastmaster Adnan, who shared a powerful message about the importance of being present. He opened by asking members when they had last shared a meal with family or friends where everyone was truly engaged and present. Adnan reflected on how we live in a highly connected world, yet often struggle to connect with the person sitting across the table. As a result, relationships can begin to feel transactional rather than meaningful. He concluded with a memorable reminder: being connected is not simply the ability to reach someone, but making them feel valued, heard, and understood.
Following this, Tina Joe briefly introduced the Bias Flag and explained its purpose. The Bias Flag is a tool our club uses to encourage inclusive and mindful language throughout our meetings.
The meeting was then turned over to our Toastmaster of the Day, Kenny, who reviewed the agenda and confirmed that all role holders were present. Noticing an open speaking slot, Kenny asked for a volunteer, and Toastmaster Danielle stepped forward to deliver a pocket speech. Kenny then introduced the Word of the Day, gratitude, defined as “the feeling of being thankful and appreciative for the people, experiences, opportunities, and blessings in our lives.” Members were invited to share something they were grateful for before Kenny guided us through a well-organized and engaging meeting.
We had two speakers this week. Toastmaster Danielle delivered a pocket speech titled “Gratitude as a Cure for Depression.” In her speech, she explored how gratitude can be found in everyday life by focusing on simple pleasures such as birds singing or enjoying a good cup of coffee in the morning. She emphasized that practicing gratitude can help crowd out negative thoughts and that starting each day with gratitude can set a positive tone for what lies ahead.
Our second speaker, Toastmaster Matthew, presented a speech titled “Monster or Manager.” In this speech, he reflected on lessons learned from a now-retired manager and the impact those experiences had on his leadership journey. He highlighted that mentorship is not always a heroic story and that when a mentor’s principles conflict with your own, you are faced with a choice: adopt a toxic culture or allow those experiences to strengthen and refine your own standards of leadership.
Table Topics were led by Toastmaster Norris, who centered the session around the theme of gratitude. Participants responded to thought-provoking questions such as:
- Who are the people you are most grateful for, and why?
- What future goal are you grateful to have, and why?
- If you created a gratitude list, what would be your top three items?
- If you could thank someone for something they’ve done for you, who would it be and what would you say?
- Have you ever been grateful for a failure? How did it help you grow?
- What is one way you can express gratitude more often in your daily life?
- What small, everyday thing are you grateful for right now?
- If you could be grateful for one thing you do not yet have, what would it be?
Next, we moved into our Breakfast of Champions segment for those on the East Coast of the United States, also known as Lunch or Dinner of Champions depending on your location. This portion of the meeting marks our evaluation and feedback session.
Toastmaster Lisa led the evaluation team and commented on the positive energy throughout the meeting, noting that gratitude was a fitting theme on which to end the week. She highlighted the important reminder shared during One World, Many Voices about staying present and commended the Table Topics session for building thoughtfully on the theme of gratitude.
Speaker evaluations were delivered by Toastmasters Tina Joe and Diana, who praised the speakers for capturing the audience’s attention, using pauses effectively in place of filler words, and delivering well-organized presentations. Toastmasters Yuko and Danielle helped keep the meeting running smoothly by serving as Timer and Grammarian, respectively, monitoring speech timing and tracking filler words throughout the meeting. Their efforts, along with those of all meeting participants, contributed to another engaging and successful Toastmasters gathering.
The meeting adjourned right at 8:00 AM EST, and we are already looking forward to next week’s meeting.
The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 a.m. on October 30, 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: Gulnara
One World, Many Voices: Matthew
Speaker 1: Yuko
Speaker 2: Kenny
Table Topics: Kerstine
General Evaluator: Syed
Evaluator 1: Sophie
Evaluator 2: Abdulrahman
Timer: Diana
Grammarian: Adnan
