Our insightful President Elect, Amelya Black, opened this week’s meeting by noting that there are over 7 billion people on planet Earth, each with their own internal and external struggles. Amelya then led us into a minute of silence, asking us to think about how all 7 billion of us are striving for the same things: to eat, sleep, feel safe, feel love, etc. Amelya then passed the meeting over to our Toastmaster of the day, Anu Parvathaneni.
Anu, wearing her UNC sweatshirt, chose fan as her word of the day, especially as it refers to being an enthusiastic devotee. We had 18 people in attendance, including seventeen members and one guest, Matthew Satterfield. Anu led the introductions, where attendees each talked about something of which they are a fan, and then turned the meeting over to the first speaker, Greg Sutton.
Greg gave a Level 1 speech from the Presentation Mastery pathway titled “The Temperamental Lemon Tree.” In his talk, Greg described the life lessons he has learned in trying to grow a lemon tree in the less-than-tropical environment of Greensboro, NC. As he reflected on how his lemon tree struggled and sometimes seemed it might not make it, Greg noted that there is growth in struggle and in the uncomfortable. Now that his tree is healthy and flourishing Greg feels that the journey he took with his tree and the lessons he learned from its struggle has added a sweetness to the lemons he grows. Greg’s evaluator, John Doggett, noted that Greg seemed very comfortable and enthusiastic about his topic. John also complimented Greg on his use of imagery to bring his audience in to his speech.
Kerstin Haase was the second speaker and gave a Level 2 speech on Communication Styles from the Presentation Mastery pathway. In her talk titled “Let Me Tell You a Story” Kerstin used a poem about someone who plans a trip to Italy but unexpectedly ends up in Holland, and how that poem mirrors events in her own life. Kerstin shared that her initiating style of communication has helped her to navigate the unexpected turns in her life and, like Greg, find growth in the struggle. Kerstin’s evaluator, Tim Murphy, cheered Kerstin’s decision to go ahead with presenting her speech even though she was on vacation. Tim also complimented Kerstin on her presentation, calling it “powerful and personal” and noting that she did a great job of tying her story to the project assignment.
Dave Burr served as Table Topics Master, and his topic questions allowed everyone to have fun with the word of the day, fan. Members talked about mission trips to Haiti, ceiling fans’ being a requirement for good sleep, as well as their favorite artists, authors and performers. Our guest, Matthew Satterfield rounded out the questions by sharing that he is a fan of his 7 year old daughter who is following her passion in competitive dance.
Amelya Black served as the General Evaluator, and gave a thorough review of the meeting. New member Tanuja Reddy took on a new role as Timer this week, and reported on times for the prepared speeches, Table Topics responses and speech evaluations. Angela Marsh served as Grammarian, and noted our grammar faux pas and the word of the day usage.
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A warm welcome to Maria Leon who recently joined Sunrise Toastmasters!
Our April 8 meeting will be an Open House. The meeting will include extended Table Topics so as many people as possible get a chance to speak. Invite your friends, family and co-workers to join us for this special meeting.
Amelya Black will represent Sunrise Toastmasters at the Division F Speech Contest on April 9. The contest will be from 9AM until Noon on Zoom. We are proud to have Amelya representing our club and welcome everyone to log in to the contest and show our support!
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The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 am, April 1 EST on Zoom.
The roles for that meeting are as follows:
Toastmaster: Kelsey
Speaker 1: Dave
Speaker 2: Savannah
Table Topics: Alvin
Gen. Evaluator: Greg
Speaker 1 Eval: Tanuja
Speaker 2 Eval: Norris
Timer: Karen
Grammarian: Nereida
Join us at Sunrise Toastmasters and discover why we are all huge fans of this group!
