In the opening remarks, President Kerstin Haase shared the story of demonstrating resilience and the power of focusing on positivity in the face of adversity.
In a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, the group observed a minute of silence, muting microphones and turning off cameras to honor all victims of racial injustice.
The meeting was then handed over to the Toastmaster of the Day, Kendra Hiatt. Kendra introduced the Word of the Day (WOD), which was “bird.” She explained WOD’s symbolic meaning as freedom, hope, and transcendence and that birds are associated with the ability to soar above challenges, representing a desire for liberation and escape.
Toastmaster Summer Murphy introduced the 1st speaker, Toastmaster Abdulrahman Albazie, who spoke on the importance of acceptance, highlighting that acceptance begins with understanding our differences. Abdulrahman emphasized self-acceptance as a foundation for accepting others and encouraged compassion by recognizing shared struggles. He acknowledged that acceptance can challenge our beliefs but is crucial for respecting diverse perspectives.
Summer evaluated Toastmaster Abdulrahman’s speech, commending his exceptional delivery. Summer provided constructive feedback, identifying areas where the speaker could further strengthen his speech.
Toastmaster Stiles Burr introduced the 2nd speaker, Toastmaster Norris Bass, who delivered a compelling speech on the power of words. Norris emphasized that the language we choose in our speeches significantly impacts our audience, creating meaningful connections. He highlighted that words spoken with conviction can ignite passion and inspire action, pointing out that our everyday conversations hold the potential to uplift, motivate, and encourage others.
Stiles evaluated Norris’s speech, commending his great eye contact and gestures that helped convey the message effectively.
Toastmaster Savannah Murphy led a table topics session, challenging participants to respond to “bird” questions! The exercise aimed to foster quick thinking, effective articulation, and confident on-the-spot communication skills among the attendees.
Toastmaster Tim Murphy served as a General Evaluator, providing comprehensive feedback on the meeting and commending the exceptional performance of participants. Toastmaster Kerstin Haase delivered the Timer report, ensuring each segment adhered to the allocated time. Toastmaster Matthew Choate, served as the Grammarian, offered valuable linguistic feedback and shared resonating quotes with the group.
Toastmaster Kendra smoothly handed over the meeting to Savannah to wrap up and officially adjourn the meeting.
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The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 a.m. on May 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: Au
Speaker 1: Savannah
Speaker 2: Tina Joe
Table Topics: Dave
General Evaluator: Summer
Evaluator 1: Kendra
Evaluator 2: Kerstin
Timer: Stiles
Grammarian: Tim
