Praveen served as Toastmaster to an Indian Marriage Theme. Nine Members and two Guests braved the elements to attend the meeting. We started on time and ended 7 minutes over.

Scott informed the group that our landlord requested we reduce the amount of supplies in our storage bin because moving the large amount has become cumbersome. Scott took home several of the boxed items and will return the drinking cups to Tom. The Executive Committee will further reduce the stored contents at next weeks EC Meeting and discuss these other issues:

  1. Room Set Up / Tear Down
  2. New Sargent at Arms
  3. Club Financials
  4. Member Mentoring
  5. New Quiz Master Role
  6. Spring Speech Contest
  7. Club Officer Elections

All Members can attend EC Meetings but are not required to do so. If you have other items for discussion please contact one of the officers.

Scott’s speaking tip was to think about eye contact in a new way. Let’s say you are giving a 6 minute speech to an audience of 20 people. Ideally, you hold eye contact for 3 seconds before moving on to someone else. Do the math:

6 minutes x 60 seconds = 360 Seconds

360 Seconds / 3 Second Eye Contact Intervals = 120 Separate Eye Contacts in a 6 minute speech

120 Intervals / 20 Audience Members = 6 Separate 3-Second Eye Contact moments with every audience member!! Of course this will never happen but try to hold your eye contact longer and make it with every person in the audience at least once.

The WOD was “Faze” which is a verb that means to disturb the composure of. It was used 4 times including once by our guest, Carrie.

Praveen informed the group about various aspects of Indian Marriage:

  • A friend of both families act as the Matchmaker
  • Families have different criteria for the right partner
  • The bride and groom meet only after a long analysis by all parties
  • Weddings last a month long

George gave an informative speech entitled “Why”. He highlighted 3 areas of psychology / philosophy as to why humans behave the way they do. They were:

Jerome gave an inspiring speech about a phrase his Father instilled in him. “Finish Strong”. It doesn’t matter where you are at in any endeavor in life so long as you Finish Strong!

Sarah recently attended a few different meetings at other clubs in Israel and garnered new ideas to make the club better. She proposed the club incorporate a “Quiz Master” role into every meeting. The Quiz Master listens closely to all aspects of the meeting then presents 5-6 questions to the group at the end of the meeting. This further cultivates listening skills and reinforces learning.

Geoff filled in last minute as Table Topics Master and used famous quotes as inspiration. He asked the participants what these quotes meant to them:

  • “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Picasso
  • “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Da Vinci
  • “Oh the things you can find if you don’t stay behind.” – Dr. Seuss
  • “What we think, we become.” – Buddha
  • “There is no substitute for hard work.” -Edison

We will not be meeting next Monday, 1/20 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will hold our EC meeting immediately following our regular meeting on 1/27. Please sign up for a role if you plan on attending.