April 1, 2014

Post date: Apr 3, 2014 5:38:23 AM

Club Meeting Date: April 1, 2014

Attendees: 11 Members and 2 Guests (June and Marla)

Hello Fellow Toastmasters:

Today’s meeting began at around 12 noon with Margaret Yamamoto introducing our presiding officer, V.P. Public Relations, Doug Wheaton. Doug called the meeting to order. We had a first time guest, June attend our meeting today. We enjoyed listening to June’s introduction and about U.S. life in “chilly” Iowa and falling in love with the California weather and the palm trees. She works at a semiconductor company in Irvine which we later find out to be Broadcom after the meeting. (Perhaps, Eric Palermo may have seen her in the hallways of Broadcom?) We also had another returning guest, Marla Kennedy who actively participated in today’s meeting.

The Toastmaster of the Day was Doug Wheaton. Doug reminded us that today is April 1 or also known as April fool’s day. Doug provided us a wealth of information on the origins of this day and past pranks done April fool’s day. He also described how he enjoyed playing an April fool’s prank on his 7 years old daughter today. It is truly a great meeting whenever we have Doug Wheaton as our Toastmaster of the Day. I love his transitions and fluidness of where he takes our meeting.

The first agenda was to make sure all the roles were assigned. Our volunteers were Faye Kitariev as the Ah-Counter, Marla Kennedy as the Grammarian, and Nannette Kazan as the Timer. And as General Evaluator, I will share with you my summary of today’s meeting.

The word of the day was “Timorous”-of a timid disposition; fearful. Several of our club members used the word of the day.

Harry Yan’s Speech Tip of the Day:

How to entice your audience by name-dropping famous people or in Harry’s case, successful rich people.

Start your message with a well-known name such as Warren Buffett. You want to captivate your audience, hold their attention and leave with a message. Harry posed a question: Who are the top 3 wealthiest people in the world?

1) Bill Gates (USA Microsoft), 2) Carlos Slim Helu (Mexico telecom), 3) Amancio Ortega (Spain retail)

Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) was #4 on the list. Warren Buffett, said the best investment he ever made was buying a copy of "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. Harry went on to say that the best investment you can make is to invest in yourself.

According to Warren Buffet “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” This is great advice. You might remember from Harry’s previous Speech Tip of the Day that Integrity is one of the essentials of a good leader as well as Respect, Service & Excellence.

Integrity = Trust or Worthiness of the Leader

Respect = Respect one another’s differences

Service = Have a Servant’s heart and value people’s need

Excellence = Leader must soar above mediocre and exceed expectation

The message Harry left for us is that Toastmasters empowers you to become an effective leader and communicator. Check out the next Founder’s District Newsletter where Harry Yan, District Governor of Founder’s district will include portions of the speech tip in his District Governor message.

Thought of the Day

Teri Tanaka provided us with several thoughts of the day. The one that I clearly remember from heart is that as husband and wife, you need to remember you are on the same side especially if you have a disagreement. The quote was from Zig Ziglar “Many marriages would be better if the husband and wife clearly understood that they’re on the same side.”

The next quote from Zig Ziglar is one that everyone at Toastmasters can relate to: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Everyone who is working towards their goals to be a better communicator and leader just have to make it a goal to start participating in the club meetings and one day, you will become great communicator and leader.

Humor of the Day

Fernando Reyes, a CPA, reminded us about a special day in April. Don’t forget about Tax Giving Day on April 15.

The humor of the day was about death and taxes…and the punch line was …at least death does not repeat itself.

Speaker & Evaluator

Sonny Gupta presented his 7th speech in the CC manual today. Project 7 is about researching your topic. The title of his speech was “Treat your watermelon, like you treat your Ferrari”. Sonny’s speech was on food combining guidance quoting Herbert Shelton, also known as the father of food combining, on which foods should and should not be eaten at the same meal. He provided us with a wonderful visual aid of his original drawings on food combining guidance. Ultimately, when eating water containing fruits like watermelon, wait 30 minutes before eating other foods. Banana would take longer, about 1 hour to be digested. Thanks Sonny for a great speech on food combining guidance.

Ryan Calderon evaluated Sonny’s speech. Ryan provided Sonny with positive feedback. He recommended Sonny to be aware of his tone or pitch at the beginning of his speech which started off slightly higher than his normal speaking voice. Well done Ryan!

Table Topics

Our Table Topics Master, Dana Conley has come up with a creative Table Topics session. She provided us with 3 choices of “varied but cohesive patterns” of spring. Seeds, Weeds, or a Good Read

Marla Kennedy went up first with the following question on “What seeds or intentions do you have for the rest of this year?” Her answer was to be less Timorous, become a better speaker and show more patience - Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Dana provided Faye Kitariev with a question on Good Reads. “What book has helped you to create or set intentions?” Faye immediately answered to the Good Reads table topics question. Faye’s choice of Good Reads was the book “Power of Intentions”. Faye practices daily intentions. She provided us with examples of setting intentions, by starting with “I intend to…..” or “My intention is….”

Ryan Calderon’s table topics Seeds question was “What intentions have you set this year? How will you nurture that seed?” Ryan’s answer was that the reason why he joined Toastmasters was for the purpose of making the best toast ever as the Best Man for his brother’s wedding later this year. He intends to nurture that seed by coming to the club meetings and volunteering for all roles and get stage time so that he will be ready to give the best toast at his brother’s wedding.

Nannette Kazan was our final table topics speaker. Her Table Topics question was on Weeds. Weeds are considered to block and create barriers, excuses and distractions. What tools and techniques do you use to prevent weeds in your garden of possibilities?

Nannette was able to help a family member who was surrounded by weeds and was not happy with her life, her job and living a life of paycheck to paycheck. Nannette’s advice was to think positive, listen to positive music, and put a list of goals and to check it off.

Excellent job to Dana as the Table Topics Master! We all enjoyed listening to the Table Topics speakers.

The Timer, Ah-counter and Grammarian did a great job reporting. Great job on your attentiveness and listening skills!

Our guests, made positive comments about our club and the meeting ended on time.

One final note from Harry Yan – Founders’ District will be having a District Spring Conference and Anniversary Celebration on May 3, 2014 at the Holiday Inn in La Mirada. Toastmaster is turning 90 and Founder’s District is turning 70! He encourages us to attend the free business meeting portion of the conference and to have the opportunity to meet other club members from the 200+ clubs in the Founders’ District. He passed out postcards of the spring conference event, club members should get one in the mail.

This concludes my General evaluator report. Don’t miss another fun meeting next Tuesday!

Happy April and have a wonderful week.

Best Regards,

Margaret Yamamoto

General Evaluator