Jim opened the meeting right at 6:30. It was fitting that
Toastmaster Russell Pike's theme for the evening was “I'll never stop the rain
by complaining.” During the
meeting he surprised everyone when he related that Portland get more rain on
more days than – Seattle.
First Speaker Edie Gillis gave a speech called, “In The
Elevator.” We learned that
subjecting a captive audience to a sales pitch in an elevator just turns people
off. She said, Don't sell,
connect.” A good elevator talk is
more like dialog and a dance. She
made great use of a hand-held flip chart and made us laugh. Way to go, Edie!
Second Speaker Kevin Seed spoke on “Reading a Label.” He handed out chemical labels and drew
on his expertise as a landscaper to unlock their mysteries. He said there were two things to know
about chemical labels. First, the
label is a law. Second, read the
label. He said that if there is no
FDA number on the label to tell someone immediately. Another great speech, Kevin!
Table Topics Master Henry Exerjian gave members Brinn
Hemmingson, Jim Robison, and Edie Gillis and long-time member and current guest
Sandra Wolicki (she is re-joining Portland Progressives) their choice of
politics, law enforcement, and justice.
We learned that Brinn was a criminal justice major in college. She said she had been in funny, loud
protests without violence and that protesters that destroy property need to be
stopped. Sandra thought that body
camera were generally good, but that we should analyze the costs and benefits. Edie spoke out for more police
accountability and that the D.A. is looking for prosecutions and not
justice. Jim talked about why the
Democrats lost and said that money taking over the entire conversation during
election season is bad.
Jim lead the evaluation session.
Kathleen Clarke evaluated Edie's speech. Kathleen liked Edie's focus on meaning
and emotion. She also praised
Edie's creativity and especially the choreographed foot stomping
introduction. Kathleen said that
Edie easily met her project requirements
by demonstrating “how to say it” with short, distinctive words. Kathleen suggested that Edie should
slow down a bit.
Even though Sandra was a guest, she stepped up to evaluate
Kevin. Sandra told us that Kevin
had chosen a great topic for his “how to say it speech”. She liked the catchy start and the
repetition of the two points. She
liked his final recap and suggested that he end with a quote. Sandra encouraged him to do more
speeches.
Brinn was grammarian.
Five people used the word of the day, “exigency.” She pointed out our verbal highlights
and the few uses of filler words.
Christine Seed lead a short, punchy listener session that had us on our
mental toes. Peter Liu handled the
timer activity flawlessly and gave a crisp report.
Jim told us that he enjoyed the meeting and that it was
generally a good meeting. He
focused on our need for storage of equipment, a second guest book, and
signage. Without the storage,
these were missing since Sgt. at Arms Chuck Melikian had them and was unable to
attend the meeting.
It was a great meeting on a rainy day. We look forward to our next wonderful meeting coming up this Thursday! You don't want to miss it!
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