Silver Spring Toastmasters August 4 Meeting Summary by Pauline Brown

What makes Silver Spring 1314 such an exceptional club, you wonder?

Think adaptable!

The Chinese Proverb sums it up well in a few words, “The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher.”

And adapt we did. Our usual meeting place was temporarily without air conditioning, so we met instead, in the church sanctuary.

What great opportunity for voice projection!

As captured above, Club President Mel Bayo transitioned dramatically form the role of president to the role of Toastmaster of the Evening—and the tone was set for an exciting and memorable meeting!

Our August 4^th meeting was special.

To enhance the ecclesiastical flavor added by the meeting environment, Merlyn Kettering, Area 62 Governor, used the hip-pocket slot on the agenda to give a 7-minute excerpt of his speech that he prepared for the 150^th anniversary of the Church of the Brethren in Ashland, Ohio. How fitting!

Table Topics was a refreshing treat. With the theme, “Picture This,” Maxine Blanks, threw out one creative question after another, and the equally creative responses evoked much fun and laughter. Thanks also to Maxine for our photos.

From the CC Manual, Project #3, Louise Janus navigated quite skillfully around the topic, “Do you really need a GPS?” And yes, she really got to the point!

Yen Le’s Icebreaker speech was as engaging as it was nostalgic. To drive home the importance of family, community and home, Yen concluded her speech with the powerful statement, “Home is a journey, and you are becoming a part of my community.” You should have seen her fiancé, Hai, just beaming with pride as he captured the speech on video.

Oswaldo Ortega “Broke the Ice” with confidence and wit. First he ‘hooked’ us with the statement, “I am an Outlier.” Then he drew us in with sincerity and bold eye-contact. Yes, in our Club 1314 world, Olwaldo is truly an ‘Outlier’ We learned a new definition from his description of his experience growing up in Brooklyn, NY. He has already demonstrated potentials for a Competent Communicator.

At Silver Spring 1314, no meeting is ever complete without an allotted time for interaction. We got to know our three visitors better. Ellen Segal and Merlyn Kettering provided the food to complement the social time.

There was not one hearty “Amen” after all the great speeches. Rather, at Mike Nolan’s direction, the evaluators, Eniola Olowofoyeku, Mary Olowofoyeku, Pauline Brown, and Bill Aley each did a superb job of highlighting the many great points, and of offering suggestions for improvement of each speech.

Oh, I must mention here that Bill is an Area Governor, and our newest member—and his evaluation skills are excellent!

Kudos to Robin Bradshaw, Joan Phillips, and Shirley Jarvis. With their attention to detail and listening skills they added much value to the Timer's, Grammarian/Ah Counter, and Listener’s reports.

As you can see, all our meetings are exceptional and we look forward to YOU being part of our next one on August 18^th!