by Nikita Kazakov
Vice President of Public Relations
Today’s meeting was eventful with two main speeches and two advanced project speeches. The evening started out with Sundeep Gopagoni taking on the role as the toastmaster for the first time, which he elegantly fulfilled.
The first speaker was Ashley Jones, who gave a speech titled The U in Compassion. She shared another angle of looking at compassion with us. Instead of only seeking to give compassion to others, why do we not show compassion towards ourselves? This is a surefire way of overcoming self-doubt and self-criticism. The evaluator for this speech was Eric Dunham.
Nina Minary gave us the second speech in the form of an interview titled PTM TV#1, which featured Eric Dunham as the host who asked Nina questions about her duties and membership revolving around Toastmasters International. Without missing a beat, Nina suavely answered each question without hesitation. The evaluator for this speech was Marcy Brack.
The table topics led by Nina Minary were a hit tonight as almost all members were able to participate in a 1-2 minute impromptu speech. Table topics is one of the many ways that Parker Toastmasters encourages its members to stretch their comfort levels by speaking in front of an audience without prior knowledge of the question to be asked.
There were two advanced HPL presentations given tonight. Eric Dunham presented An Evening with Traci Brown. Marcy Brack gave a presentation about Starting a Corporate Toastmasters Club, which focused on her successful efforts in starting a toastmasters club from scratch at her company.
Other Roles of the Evening included:
Ah Counter / Grammarian: Michelle DeVore
Timer: Elaine Chancellor
General Evaluator: Nikita Kazakov
Vote Counter: Ashley Jones