Senate Toastmasters Club

08/14/2026

Marc led his first Senate Toastmasters club meeting today and his experience on radio and with America's Most Wanted shown through!

Alex shared an ice-breaker style speech on staying true to herself while accommodating family expectations and Carol introduced the concept of a community land trust.

Laura cited thoughtful quotes on leadership to ask our toastleaders to reflect on their leadership style during Table Topics.

We heard thoughtful responses from six people.

Carol told a sad story in three words:
Diet Pepsi okay?"

Randy provided "EXPEDITIOUSLY" as our Word of the Day which most people used, although not always correctly.🙂

Thoughtful and helpful speech evaluations from Devaki and Rebecca, accurate timing from Nate and a strong meeting evaluation from Jennifer!

We'll be back together on August 28, please join us!

Guests welcome to 54-year-old club that earned Toastmasters Distinguished recognition!

07/31/2026

Wow! What a fabulous U.S. Senate Toastmasters Speech-a-thon!

Kudos to Jennifer Okaima Piette for recommending we invest our fifth Friday's with a meeting to help people get their speech-giving time!

Our 11 person meeting was off to an AUSPICIOUS start (thanks Nate for WOD) and then three really insightful and emotional speeches.

1. New member, Marc, shared his HOW - honesty, open minded and willing. He spoke about growing up with immigrant parents who had great memories and were very wise despite limited formal education. He spoke eloquently about his dreams for career success on the radio - with his mellifluous voice and smooth delivery you could totally hear him on the radio or reading you an audio book - and then the challenges he faced including addiction as a casualty of the Drug War, unemployment and job loss. Now he has a major role in ensuring our National Airport runs smoothly!

He also demonstrated a cool party trick where you tell him where you're traveling and he guesses the airline and the gate - 100% accurate for me!

2. Rebecca explored the benefits she receives from being a native French speaker and how much more precise that language is for what she is trying to express and how proud she is to also be a French speaker.

3. Chester spoke about his time in BH HS - Bosnia Herzegovina - as a monitor at a tumultuous High School. Chester described the political climate in that nation as well as the importance of showing up and listening to people even if conflict resolution isn't working. He shared the valuable lessons he learned of time, attention and compassion.

Our speech evaluators - Bonnie, Laura and Daniel - praised the thoughtfulness and preparation for all three speakers. Suggestions included pausing, avoiding pacing, and continue to use specifics to evoke feelings.

Linda, serving as Timer, took Chester's advice to stay at the lectern so that there was always someone there.

Brittany counted the "ahs" and served as grammarian while Carol provided the General Evaluator comments building on Chester's frame of 1) What 2) So What and 3) Now What!

See you August 14 on ZOOM for this friendly, supportive and welcoming group of people - end your week with us!

07/30/2026

Plan to join us for the Speech-a-thon!

1 PM - 2 PM Friday July 31 | Hybrid (In-person or online)!

07/26/2026

We really enjoyed our July 24, 2026 meeting which featured two speeches on political topics.

Cassie provided an Advocacy 101 speech for new advocates attending a Hill Day.

Carol asked us to Choose to Challenge gendered stereotypes.

Jennifer's summer themed Table Topic questions were light hearted and we learned more about each other including Marc's dogs, Kelechie's avoidance of the Las Vegas heat and Daniel's fondness for ice cream.

Linda chose "resilience" as the WOD.

Speech evaluations from Laura and Rebecca reminded people to slow down, pause, choose your gestures with care as well as appreciation for the topics.

We're having a Fifth Friday Speech-a-thon on Friday July 31.

Chester will talk about his work in Bosnia - with an evaluation from Daniel who worked in Mongolia!

Rebecca, Marc and Alex are also giving speeches!

See you at 1 pm on Friday, July 31 -- all welcome!

07/22/2026

Two upcoming meetings in July!

Friday, July 24 and Friday, July 31 from 1-2 online or at the Hart Senate Office Building.

On July 24, Bonnie will lead the meeting with speeches from Cassie and Carol and Table Topics from Jennifer.

On July 31, it's our speech-a-thon with speeches from Rebecca, Chester, Marc and Alex.

If you ever wanted to try Toastmasters, now is the time before dues increase from $10/month to $12/month on August 3.

06/22/2026

Join us at our permanent NEW TIME - 1 pm - 2 pm - on WebEx and in person an office in the Hart Senate Office Building.

This last meeting of the Toastmaster Year will feature a special speaker, Lisa Simmons, Senior Auditor and Distinguished Toastmaster, who will take us on a hands-on session focused on setting goals and applying the transferable skills we are gaining at Toastmasters to our everyday lives.

For room number, email [email protected]

05/22/2026

Our 21-attendee Memorial Day meeting featured a speech about handling a bad fit job in the workplace from Jennifer - with an assist from a Kenny Rogers song. She discussed the different outcomes of negotiations, including when to run.

Chester pointed out how peeved he was when people incorrectly used the words preemptive and perused.

Carol as Toastleader perused the agenda prior to the meeting and preemptively asked Chester to be the back up speaker so he was ready to jump in when a vacancy occurred. So no need to be persnickety!

Rebecca's Table Topics were questions about finding, maintaining and growing inner peace.

Randy's exemplary grammarian report noted a number of interesting phrases.

Susan and Cassie provided thoughtful evaluations including pacing, visuals and organization.

Next meeting is June 12.

We are considering moving our meeting to 1-2 pm going forward.

Watch for a poll from the club.

05/07/2026

Mark your calendar for Friday, May 8 from 12-1 ET for our Toastmasters meeting!

Chester will lead the meeting with speeches from Nate, Alex and Carol.

Cassie will lead Table Topics.

Laura will serve as General Evaluator with speech evaluations from Jennifer and Elisa.

Guests are welcome in person or online - email for room number or WebEx link.

04/24/2026

Today's meeting at noon in the Senate and online includes a speech from Rebecca and a guest speech from a contestant in the District 36 International Speech Contest.

Susan leads the meeting.

Nate provides Table Topics.

Carol serves as General Evaluator with assistance from Cassie and Chester!

We're expecting some guests - you are welcome to attend!

We are a Toastmasters club located in Washington, DC, focusing on helping members improve their public speaking and leadership skills. We welcome Hill staff and others. We meet on the second and fourth Fridays from noon to 1 pm.

04/01/2026

When you become a Toastmaster, you are guaranteed two things: an audience and applause.

An audience is a gift of attention.

Applause is an act of generosity.

What do YOU want to say?

What do you want to change?

https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2026/march/the-privilege-of-being-heard?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ5UyRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFycVhnR0RTUk1QRjVsNjBhc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvRjRnTaS4_C9coclNbdNmlvPOV4syrcZ0vrOT1mEFcxKFsaobZm7jOulc0N_aem_pVulhGkQIfQ3Q0CX9kQ4Cw

The International President talks about the meaning of giving speeches.