Sunny served as Toastmaster for our Open House with a Comfort Zone theme

17 Members / 11 Guests = 28 attendees

2 prepared speeches /  5 table topics

Started and ended on time

Other Highlights:

WOD:  “Banal” – boring

Sunny says she uses Toastmasters to get out of her comfort zone, especially because English is her third language!

Try new things, ask questions and take a chance to push the boundaries of your comfort zone.

Scott described Toastmasters as practice. 

“Practice in here, makes us better out there.”

We set up the room differently to accommodate more people.  Tear down takes longer so we will tweak it.

Nancy, John and George submitted their application and are officially members!  That puts us at 26 total!

Nadine asked the audience for what to leave in and what to take out as she practiced a speech she will be giving in Orlando.  She told the audience:

“We get to choose our destiny.  Leave the negative voices behind and kick your baggage to the curb.”

Jerome spoke about talking to yourself.  Maybe the people who talk to themselves are actually geniuses.

Evaluators highlighted: 

  • Jerome’s use of humor – helps the audience relax and be entertained
  • Nadine’s use of personal experiences was more powerful than retelling someone else’s.   

Robert got creative with voting – if a Table Topics speaker used the WOD then they got an extra point.

Sarah used “Idioms” as a  Table Topics theme.  Speakers had to read the idiom aloud and then find a way to use it in their speech.

Idiom – a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light )

Sarah pointed out that prior to Table Topics, a host of idioms had already been used: Talk him off the ledge, pity party, throw baggage to the curb, fuel for my fire, and more. Here are the Table Topics idioms:

  • “Set in your ways” – Scott
  • “Read my mind” – Nicole
  • “On the cutting edge” – Mandeep
  • “Fed up with” – Jim (Winner – used WOD twice in speech)
  • “Put all your eggs in one basket” – John

Thank you and congratulations to everyone who helped put together the Open House. Special thanks to Rupali for planting the seed and running the ice cream social.