This week’s meeting kicked off with a warm welcome from our VP of Education, Gulnara. This was followed by the One World, Many Voices segment led by Toastmaster Norris, who shared a message regarding the sit-ins that took place during the 1960s. He explained how these nonviolent protests challenged segregation in the South and noted that similar demonstrations dated back as far as 1939. Norris highlighted how these actions helped facilitate change and improve the treatment of African Americans.
Afterward, Gulnara 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, Kerstin, who noted that we had an open Grammarian slot that Norris volunteered to fill. Kerstin then introduced the Word of the Day, cadence, defined as “a balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory,” and challenged members to find their cadence during chaos and use the word throughout the meeting. With that, she guided us through a well-organized meeting.
We had two speakers this week. Toastmaster Yuko delivered a speech titled “Mission Impossible,” in which she shared stories from a recent business trip to Dallas. In this humorous speech, Yuko described three different restaurant experiences, highlighting the massive portion sizes she encountered. She noted that diners around her were ordering large salads topped with heavy dressings to complement equally large steaks and recounted the tremendous effort that went into accomplishing her mission of clearing every plate. While she successfully completed most of her culinary objectives, the final challenge, a slice of chocolate cake, proved impossible.
Our second speaker, Toastmaster Adnan, presented a speech titled “A Taste of Home.” He opened by asking, “Have you ever tasted something and suddenly found yourself somewhere else?” He then shared how food has helped him understand the meaning of home. Through personal stories and memories, Adnan explained that home is powerful and cannot simply be packed into a suitcase because memories are carried differently, sometimes on a plate. He concluded that home can be a collection of people, places, and memories connected through food.
Table Topics were led by Toastmaster Sophie, who created questions to encourage use of the Word of the Day. Questions included:
- Whose words do you enjoy listening to, and what makes their way of speaking attractive to you?
- Do you usually speak quickly or slowly? What do you think your speaking cadence says about your personality?
- Have you ever met someone whose voice makes you feel calm and comfortable?
- If your life had a cadence right now, would it be fast, slow, peaceful, or chaotic?
- What song best matches the rhythm of your life right now, and why?
- Do you think the way someone speaks can change how you feel about what they are saying?
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 Syed led the evaluation team, reflecting on the subject of the One World, Many Voices segment and noting that the topic remains relevant today. He questioned whether segregation has disappeared entirely. He also expressed gratitude to Norris for stepping into the open Grammarian role and suggested that members make every effort to fill open roles ahead of time.
Speaker evaluations were delivered by Toastmasters Gulnara and Abdulrahman. Gulnara praised the humor in Yuko’s speech and commented on how relatable the stories were. She also highlighted the speech’s strong organization and gave a shoutout to Yuko for progressing through Level 3 of her Pathways journey.
Abdulrahman praised Adnan for providing his speech introduction and objectives ahead of time, which helped make the evaluation process more effective. He also highlighted Adnan’s strong opening and noted that the speech remained focused and cohesive throughout. Abdulrahman specifically commended the use of personal stories and memories to explore the concept of home and its connection to food.
Toastmasters Summer and Norris 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 7:59 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 25, 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: Robert
One World, Many Voices: Danielle
Speaker 1: Kerstin
Speaker 2: Diana
Table Topics: Lisa
General Evaluator: Chang
Evaluator 1: Sophie
Evaluator 2: Matthew
Timer: Md Adnan
Grammarian: Gulnara
