The Ice Breakers Cometh

As the hot humid weather continues, so do our Ice Breaker Speeches. Our new member, Tom, gave his Ice Breaker speech on July 11^th. His title was “It’s Complicated.” We got to know just about every aspect of Tom’s life from his admitting that he a procrastinator, as he held up a package of Toastmaster material that he was suppose to open a week ago, but just opened that morning, to his vacation in Alabama.

If Tom’s speech was “complicated”, then our next speaker, Greg, had a tongue twister title “Why We Do What We Do, Why Do We Think What We Think?” Greg gives speeches that require thought and reflection. In his speech, he said that we all needed to accept responsibility. Greg contrasted “needs vs. desires.” And, as always, he added humor to a serious, thought provoking topic.

Our new member, Thomas, was the Table Topics Master. He brought in a 20-sided die called an “icosahedron.” I never heard of this word before, maybe it was taught in one of my math classes, but I didn’t pay attention. I am also happy that I am writing this and not trying to pronounce it. Thomas asked for volunteers to come up and roll the die and whatever number the person rolled, he or she, had to talk about why this number was significant.

At our meeting today, July 18^th, we greeted a new guest, Shawn. We had another Ice Breaker Speech, this time from Brittney. The title of her speech was “What Do I Love?” She told us five things that she loves and she used descriptive words to paint for us a picture. One of the things that she loves is going to the movies. She described the seats as “plush movie theater fabric.” When she described the seats, I felt that I was sitting on the seats in the movie theater and not on less than plush seats at the Toastmasters’ meeting. She also loves to take the bus and to visit different neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.

Our Table Topics Master was Tom. His one word question he asked all of us was “why?” Why, what? That was our job to answer. Everyone at our meeting got the opportunity to get up and speak. Our new guest, Shawn, got up and gave a well-structured response. The “why” question he asked was “Why did I come here today?” His answer was to present himself to other people and to develop a passion for public speaking.

Next week, July 25^th, we have a full speaking schedule and I can’t wait to listen to the speeches and learn something new.

Welcome Guests!

The Midday Toastmasters, on June 13^th, held its open house and greeted eight guests. Joe, the VP of Membership, along with Jim M., Greg, and Eric did an excellent job organizing and setting up for this event. Joe didn’t just stop at organizing our open house, he also gave a speech from the Competent Communication Manual #4, How to Say it.  Joe has a talent in painting a picture with words. The title of his speech “I Want to Go Back” made us feel that we wanted to go back and we had never been there. He described his trip to Colorado Springs and the descriptive name of a park called “Garden of the Gods.” He talked about the elks he saw and the caves he explored.

           

Our second speaker was the president of the club, Eric, and he gave a pertinent speech “Why Join Toastmasters?” He told us about his own experience in public speaking, starting when he was in junior high school. He wanted to speak, but he was too nervous.  Later in his life, he took acting classes where he took on a persona. His goal in Toastmasters is not to use notes when he gives speeches.

After the two speeches, we had Table Topics and I took on the role as Table Topics Master. I brought several USA Today Snapshots to ask the members to speak  about for one to two minutes. We had time for three people to speak about reptiles as pets, what would you do if you won $5,000 dollars tomorrow, and what do you do when you are stuck at the airport? Our speakers were Zuleikha, Michael – one of our guests, and Blake. All three speakers gave interesting responses.

“Why Am I Here?” This was the Ice Breaker speech that our guest, Thomas, gave at the meeting on June 20th. The purpose of the Ice Breaker speech is for the members to get to know the speaker. We got to know quite a few things about Thomas: where he works, his experience in teaching, and technical writing.

Joe’s Table Topics were challenging. He asked the question, “Which would you rather…?” The either/or questions were stop war or world hunger, have no one show up at your funeral or wedding, find true love or ten million dollars, being reincarnated as a pet pig or monkey, and never be able to shower again or see one’s reflection again. I won’t say who gave their answer, but instead, I want you to think about the questions and come up with a one to two minute response.