One of our rising star members and President-Elect, Kelsey Long, shined in her first time with the role of Toastmaster. Her meeting approach, akin to her word-of-the-day, facet, was put together with multiple elements and a plethora of preparation. To open with, the members were each asked to contribute to the theme of the meeting of ‘ending 2020 on a high note’ – giving a few words appreciating those lovely facets of life that were unchanged during the year or those that changed for the better. With grateful and contemplative contributions from our team of fellow Toastmasters, this intriguing meeting was a fitting way to end out our calendar year 2020 with reflective appreciation and hope.
Our first speaker, Dave Burr, gave an appreciative speech honoring three amazing women in his life (Kay, Rosie, and Jean) who have enhanced his understanding of the world and the attributes of the people around him. This was the ice breaker speech from the Engaging Humor pathway, a fitting path for Dave, for content of his speeches almost always make me smile. Our second speaker, giving her second speech, was Amelya Black. Her speech, Justice for Juveniles, was from the Motivational Strategies pathway for evaluation and feedback. This powerful speech told us of Amelya’s efforts to learn about and interact with children detained in the 12 juvenile detention centers in Guilford County and her conversations with the center administrators. The eye opening explanation from administrators that most of the these children were there as a direct result of their basic needs not being met and introducing us to terms like structural violence primed everyone to wonder what could be done. That stone was not left unturned, as Amelya compelled us to take action, and provided these links for additional knowledge and outreach:
https://volunteerforgal.org/menus/district-18.html
https://blackchilddevelopment.org/
https://www.guilfordchilddev.org/
Table Topics was lead by Tim Murphy and explored members positive, as well as difficult, facets of Toastmasters. The positives were: Camaraderie, Challenge, Togetherness, Participation, Community, Learning, Friendship, Hearing diverse ideas, Platform to share my passions, Support, Motivation, Growth, Newbies, Frendships, Interesting, Relationships, Continuity, Creativity, Time Effective, Can see everyone at once, Connection, Upskilling, Education, Growth, and Health. The difficult aspects that members are addressing were: Fear!, Time!, Butterflies, Stress, Kids waking up, Earliness, and Life Organization. Members’ topic responses stressed how it is these many positives that keep them focused on overcoming the difficulties they face. Savannah Murphy lead the evaluation team of Norris, Bettina, Angela, and Anu as General Evaluator. As always, the meeting started precisely at 7am and ended right at 8am.
Please join us January 8th for our next meeting, and the first meeting of 2021! Guests are always welcome to join us to see if Sunrise Toastmasters is the right fit to achieve their goals on a positive and supportive team at their own pace. For members, the new schedule of meeting roles is posted here: https://greensborotoastmasters.org/speaker-schedule/ You’ll note that one of our returning guests, is now a member! Marlit Hayslett has signed up for membership and will be serving her first role ever as timer for the meeting.
See you all in 2021!
