Sunny served as Toastmaster with a theme of turning a crisis into an opportunity. We had our largest virtual turnout yet with 12 Members and 1 Guest, Rikas, in attendance. We started and ended on time.

Dues due by 4/30. See last weeks post for a link to online payment.

Congratulations to Tony and George who recently completed their Level 2 Pathways speeches. Remember to mark the Level as complete in Pathways Base Camp. Our continued progress in our individual Pathways is one criteria in our Distinguished Club Goals with Toastmasters International. We achieved the highest rating last year and will likely do the same this year.

Scott’s speaking tip was to get creative with your speech topics if you don’t have a specific example relevant to the project. For example, Tony and Sarah spoke of mentorship from an unlikely source as opposed to an official mentor / protegee relationship. Ideally speech projects will make you think about relevant communication / leadership ideas in addition to developing your public speaking skills.

Tony chose “Permeate” as his word of the day. It was used 6 times by the group.

Sunny shared some great ideas to implement in times of crisis including learning from history and asking fundamental questions instead of worrying or blaming. She suspects the coronavirus will disrupt the supply chain industry but that means opportunity.

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Winston Churchhill

George gave a prepared speech entitled “A Grasshopper Learns Manufacturing”. (Check this out for backstory on grasshopper / mentor saying). He spoke about the lessons he learned from his mentor John. He highlighted these 3 lessons:

  1. Value your Mentor’s Time
  2. Follow your Mentor’s Instructions
  3. Set a Clear Goal

Steve gave his Icebreaker speech entitled “About Steve”. He managed to weave humor into it on several occasions which is always a plus as highlighted by his evaluator, Traci. He even used the “Callback” technique during his close which is something the club discussed during humorous speech season. Steve also talked about his DISC profile and educational background as a lifelong learner. He spent a large portion of his career in defense and now works with business owners on exit strategies.

Tony led Table Topics with the following questions.:

  • Praveen: What does your joy look like today? He talked about his family.
  • Robert: What has life taught you recently?
  • Scott: What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
  • Geoffrey: What bad habits do you want to break? He wants to learn to let things go.
  • Rikas: What is your favorite place on Earth? His favorite place is home.
  • Traci: If I gave you $1000 and told you that you had to spend it today, what would you buy?  Toilet paper!
  • Rich: When was the last time you felt lucky and why?

During his general evaluation Scott suggested:

  1. Maintain Good Posture
  2. Look at the Camera
  3. Refrain from rocking or twisting in chair
  4. Notify him of a Guest’s attendance before the meeting
  5. Have the Timer in your view on screen when speaking

Praveen won the best Table Topics and Traci took home the best Evaluator.

Robert will be Toastmaster next week. Sign up for role if you will be in attendance!!