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 Norris, who shared a message around encouraging a loved one with special needs to advocate for herself. He concluded by asking fellow Toastmasters if they allow their friends and family members with special needs to use their voice.
Afterward, 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, Lisa, who noted that this was her first time in this role. She moved on to acknowledge the significance behind 9/11, then introduced the Word of the Day, transition, defined as “the process of changing from one state, stage, or situation to another.” Next, she ran through the meeting roles to confirm everything was filled, noted that we had guests in attendance, and led a quick round of introductions by having members say what their favorite thing about fall is. Given that it was her first time stepping into the Toastmaster of the Day role, Lisa did a phenomenal job and guided us through a well-run meeting.
We had two speakers this week. Toastmaster Kenny delivered a speech from the Presentation Mastery Pathway, Evaluation and Feedback, titled “My Burnout Story.” Kenny described how burnout is more than just being tired, noting that it is physical and mental exhaustion. She then went on to describe how burnout starts and discussed the dangers associated with it. One takeaway from this speech is that burnout doesn’t have to define us.
Our second speaker, Toastmaster Matthew, presented a speech from the Presentation Mastery Pathway, Effective Body Language, titled “Nothing Stops Jasmine, Except Maybe Rocks.” He recounted the story of a hike he took with his vizsla, Jasmine, on her second birthday that did not go quite as planned. He also reflected on how much Jasmine has changed since he first introduced her to the club.
Table Topics were led by Toastmaster Kerstin, who thoughtfully structured the questions around the Word of the Day. Questions included: If you could live your dream, what would you be doing? Which transition did you find preferable, getting a pet or a promotion? When you went through a challenging time and nailed it, what was the challenge and what did you do to nail it? And, since some folks use the term “half full” while others use “half empty,” where do you fit in?
Next, we moved into our Breakfast of Champions segment for those on the East Coast of the United States, and also known as Lunch or Dinner of Champions depending on your location. This portion of the meeting marks our evaluation and feedback session. Toastmaster Abdulrahman led the evaluation team, highlighting the excellent One World, Many Voices segment and noting how the topic is something we do not get to hear about often. He went on to praise the engaging Table Topics questions and great speaker evaluations, noting that they were comprehensive. He also offered a specific tip for future meetings: check your Windows update schedule beforehand to avoid any unforeseen mid-meeting restarts.
Speaker evaluations were delivered by Toastmasters Yuko and Tim. Toastmaster Yuko noted that Kenny’s core message was incredibly motivating and that she bravely shared the harsh reality of being a healthcare worker. She went on to note that Kenny created a beautiful narrative before offering specific areas for improvement to use in future speeches.
Toastmaster Tim noted that Matthew’s choice of speech was perfect for the body language project and that he loved the topic choice. He offered specific feedback regarding standing up for this type of speech to allow for more body language to be displayed, alongside fantastic suggestions for getting better at going without notes.
Toastmasters Sophie and Summer helped keep the meeting on track by serving as Timer and Grammarian, respectively, monitoring speech timing and tracking filler words throughout the meeting.
The meeting adjourned right at 8:01 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 September 18, 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: Norris
One World, Many Voices: Open
Speaker 1: Yuko
Speaker 2: Md Adnan
Table Topics: Sophie
General Evaluator: Syed
Evaluator 1: Gulnara
Evaluator 2: Abdulrahman
Timer: Summer
Grammarian: Open
