Feb. 5th meeting!

Ellen Ino stepped in as toastmaster at the last minute and did an admirable job befitting her vast experience as a toastmaster.  She ably carried through the existing theme of “Reflections”.

Karen Semprevivo spoke about “Radon gas in Portland, Oregon:  Are you in danger of exposure?”  Her lively talk featured a slide presentation focusing on the hidden danger of radon gas, how it got to Portland in the first place, and how to get your dwelling checked.

Ann Kroetch once again spoke on the benefits of being a toastmaster in “Look for the best in people.”  I enjoy the way Ann continues to use Toastmasters in her speeches showing us how it can improve our lives. Chuck Melikian told us about “The end of the day philosophy.”  He gave us the goal of trying to live our lives so that when we reflect on our day at its end we are satisfied that we did good for others and ourselves.  I especially enjoyed Chuck's personal examples and how they told us more about him.

Jim Robison's table topics session levered the theme of reflections beautifully.  He asked who had certain characteristics or history and picked from among them.  It lead to a series of personal, thoughtful table topics.  The highlight was a table topic by a second-time guest, Prajwahl.

Lydia Hoover lead the evaluations as general evaluator.  She gave her own thoughts on the three speeches during her general evaluation and said she thought it was an excellent meeting.

The evaluators were Henry Exerjian (Karen), Brinn Hemmingson (Ann), and Russell Pike (Chuck).  Each demonstrated their skill at highlighting the strengths of their evaluated speech, gently making a suggestion for improvement, and encouraging the speaker to higher speaking achievement.

Christine Seed was grammarian.  Her word of the day, the royal “we”, created a thoughtful dialog.  It was used several times during the meeting.

Edie Gillis once again made us think and this time as listener made us laugh from time to time as well.  Her questions really challenged us remember what we had heard throughout the meeting.

Colleen Seckler was timer, which was her first meeting role.  She gave a thorough report that demonstrated she is learning to speak succinctly.  She was also snack master – yum.

Much thanks to Russell for keeping us posted!