12/11/2024
Hello Columbus,
Here is a Holiday gift from us to you! A sneak peak into our meeting minutes from today:
We had another great and fun filled meeting today .
The theme for the day was 'reflections and resolutions'.
Meeting was led by Hiram the toastmaster for the day.
Here were the role assignments for today's meeting.
Toastmaster - Hiram,
Prepared speaker 1 - Abhijit(Title - 6 corporate skills that require zero talent)
Evaluator 1 - Deepti,
Speaker 2 - Dexter(Title - Its not us who is afraid of them, rather thay are afraid of us - Spiders)
Evaluator 2 - Venkat,
Timer - Pavan,
Table topics master - Mark,
Table topics evaluator - Venkat,
Grammarian, Filler words counter - Deepti,
General Evaluator - Deva
First prepared speech by Abhijit was based on '6 corporate skills that need zero talent for success' If we inculcate these skills and embrace them, we will surely succeed in the corporate world.
1) Punctuality,
2) Avoiding unnecessary drama,
3) Deliver your work,
4) Strive to be an ideal co-worker,
5) Take accountability for mistakes,
6) Be a good listener.
Thanks to Deepti for a detailed evaluation of Abhijit's speech.
Some points mentioned -
a) Make sure the stage movements are natural and organic,
b) Make sure your facial expressions align with the point you are mentioning.
Next speech was by Dexter, which was titled 'It's not we who are afraid of them, rather they are afraid of us'.
Great speech packed with information on spiders and the key point mentioned was that most of the spiders are innocuous.
If we spot a spider in our home, try to relocate them to somewhere outside the home.
One new word that we learnt is arachnophobia - fear of spiders. Let us try and overcome it because usually, spiders mean no harm.
Venkat evaluated Dexter's speech in a comprehensive manner.
Mark conducted the table topics session wherein each participant was asked to narrate a story(either from history or any story of their choice).
1) Hiram narrated a great story on the Lambert - Lion raised by sheep.
2) Deepti spoke of her transition from being shy to speak to how she emerged as such an effective and eloquent speaker.
3) Deva spoke on the story of a sacrifice of a noble person while building the sun temple.
4) Pavan spoke on India's freedom struggle on how Mahatma Gandhiji chose the path of non violence to achieve liberation from colonization.
5) Monica narrated an effective story which was based on the birth of Lord Jesus Christ.
6) Our guest for the day Gopi also narrated an interesting experience of how he started his career journey in the United States.
The table topics speeches were evaluated by Venkat.
Deepti played the Grammarian's and filler words counter, word of the day was 'ameliorate' implying 'to improve anything'.
It is a verb, our toastmaster's meeting indeed help us ameliorate our speaking skills.
There were multiple instances of good vocabulary usage such as bashful, arachnophobia, demeanor, cantankerous etc.
One key point mentioned during today's Grammatical evaluation was - It's not just the choice of rich vocabulary , rather how impactfully we use our vocabulary is what counts.
Pavan was the timer and he played the role very well.
Meeting concluded with a summary evaluation by Deva.
One key point mentioned - Clapping is the essence of our meeting.
Great meeting overall, some announcements -
1) Our last meeting for 2024 will be next week on 12/17/24. For those who will not be able to attend, wishing you and all members Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
2) Our International speech contest as well as the Tall Tales contest will be scheduled sometime in Feb-2025. Mark will confirm the date by the end of this week.
Thanks,
Abhijit S Kulkarni,
Club Secretary, Treasurer.