Praveen served as Toastmaster highlighting impacts of the COVID – 19 pandemic on various countries throughout the world. There were 10 members in attendance. We started on time and ended 10 minutes early.

Dues are due by 4/30. Please notify Scott if you will not be continuing your membership. Tony has informed the club that he will be stepping away to pursue his next personal development challenge. He expressed his gratitude for the support and friendships over the last two years. Thanks to you too Tony! Good Luck and Be Well!

Agendas are live on the website through June. There will be no meeting on Memorial Day.

We may try to add an item on the Agenda for the Toastmaster to call on the evaluator prior to introducing a prepared speaker. In the meantime, try to remember to do so.

For his speaking tip, Scott had Robert share his screen to demonstrate where on the agenda an evaluator can go to see a prepared speaker’s project description and evaluation form. Both are located in separate small blue rectangles above the speaker’s speech title on the agenda. If you are going to be an evaluator, read it before hand. It only takes a moment and will better prepare you for your task.

The Word of the Day was “Acumen“. The group may have set a new record in its use. Nice!

Praveen shared data from this COVID – 19 tracking site. Some countries are harder hit than others and the numbers displayed are probably not entirely representative of the total impact. There are a variety of mitigation strategies being deployed to combat the virus. Each strategy raises difficult philosophical questions that leaders must contemplate.

Scott gave a prepared speech titled “The Protege Experience”. He started by asking the question of why on Earth would anyone want to be a mentor? He went on to share these 3 lessons he learned from mentors:

  1. Leadership means dealing with varying opinions and layers of bureaucracy
  2. A good mentor will make available resources outside of themselves
  3. A strong competitive spirit is a good thing

Scott concluded that his mentors helped him because they were in a position to do so and it was the right thing to do. It was their way of sewing a good seed.

Robert gave some practical Zoom technical feedback and praised the structure of Scott’s speech. He suggested Scott adjust the camera position to be more direct so it’s more square-on and less pointed at the ceiling.

Sarah went creative with Table Topics asking participants to pick a specific local business they would save based on the category she provided. These were some highlights if you want to check them out when things open up:

Tony suggested the Toastmaster create a bullet point personal meeting agenda of ideal flow prior to the meeting. This helps to not forget the little nuances of a good Toastmasters meeting in addition to layering in theme specific content at the appropriate time. He also suggested using the dial in for audio because sometimes the video can go blurry as it did in Scott’s speech.

Angela is serving as Toastmaster next week so make sure your dues are paid up and sign up for a role!