07-14-05 Meeting Summary
Did you miss it? Did you miss today’s fabulous meeting consisting of fire, ice, and garage sales? If so, fear not…the summary of the meeting is below and you can plan now to attend next week’s meeting where speakers, Mark H. and Keri O. will entertain us—they’ll make us laugh, cry, or maybe just groan…who knows, but you won’t want to miss it!
Our Toastmaster, Kathy J, did a fabulous job of handling all of the room changes and setting up the room to make our speakers comfortable. Unfortunately, we were bumped from the Partnership room for a baby shower, so decided to meet in 21SW instead of the Achievement Room. We were a bit cozy and warm, which would have probably been more welcome on a cold, blustery day, but a little heat was preferable with TWO Icebreakers being given today!
The theme of the day was “Garage Sales”. Kathy asked each of our duty holders, “Why is one man’s junk another man’s treasure?” Below are all of the duty-holders responses:
When Kathy was little, she had a plaque that said, “A giggle a day keeps the glums away.” Hoping to make some money, she priced it for a quarter and put it in her sister’s garage sale. To her dismay, her father bought it and showed it to her for years whenever she was unhappy, then gave it to her as a wedding gift. This piece of junk from her childhood is now a treasure for her.
Betsy hates garage sales…everything about them! A friend of hers has a knack for finding treasures, though, and she doesn’t even wait for the sales!
Mike gets excited about the possible bargains that he’ll get, but has always been disappointed (and gets a headache!) when he goes to garage sales on Saturdays. When he visited on Thursday, though, it was a different experience! He found toys for Jack!
Mary Ellen hates garage sales, too, but her husband loves them. Unfortunately (for her), Tim has purchased items like an old Michael Jackson tape (they don’t have a tape player) and a Camel cigarette backpack (they don’t smoke). Because of this, Mary Ellen doesn’t feel like “garage sale-ing” is a good use of her time!
Keri really doesn’t like going to garage sales, but her mom loves going so is Keri’s personal shopper. When Keri is looking for an item, such as a coffee table, her mom brings home four of them for Keri to choose from, then sells the remaining three in her own garage sale.
Kim also has a mother that likes garage sales, but Kim doesn’t like to go. Her mom used to get stuff for her when she was in college, some of which she still has today. These days, Kim finds herself cleaning house and taking items to Goodwill more than bringing it in from garage sales.
Speaker #1 – Jerry V.: Icebreaker Speech – “My Origins” (6:24)
Jerry can sum up his origin in one word, HMONG—pronounced “mung”, not “ha-mung”—which means free people. There are three primary theories of origin of the Hmong people: 1. The Hmong are from southwest of China, which includes Burma & Tibet. They migrated to the Yellow River plains. 2. The Hmong are of Russian origin, from the Siberian plains, and migrated to the Yellow River plains. 3. The Hmong are from China and originated in the Yellow River plains. It’s difficult to know for sure which theory is correct (although theory number three is the one supported by most historians) because the Hmong have no written history. Long ago, they were nomads, so told their stories from generation to generation. If there ever was any written documentation, it was destroyed in the wars. Following the wars, the Hmong enjoyed 100 years of freedom and peace in the mountains of Laos. In 1960-1979, they joined the US to fight communism; then sought refuge in Thailand when the war was lost.
Jerry’s family spent 3-4 years in a refugee camp before coming to the US in 1979. He was born in 1981 and has four older siblings. All five of them attended Minneapolis South High School and graduated with honors. His siblings attended St. Thomas, but he chose Gustavus Adolphus to study management and communication. He accepted an internship with Management Services at Minnesota Life and was offered a full-time position in the Broker Dealer upon his completion of college.
Speaker #2 – Gadder F.: Icebreaker Speech – “November 2004” (5:29)
November 2004 was the end of a trying chapter in Gadder’s life. The journey began in September 1994 when he left St. Louis, Missouri, for Harvard University. The child of a Hungarian mother and African American father, Gadder was excited to begin college at Harvard. The first semester, however, proved to be overwhelming and expensive for him, especially considering that he had no focus. When his parents couldn’t make the payments any more, he took a leave of absence from school and sought out adventure and money. In February 1995, Gadder enlisted in the Air Force where he learned humility. He spent 64 weeks in an intensive language program where he learned Arabic; then served the US providing intelligence capabilities (that’s all he could tell us). After six years of active duty, with the support of his wife (who’s the best thing that ever happened to him), he returned to Harvard and studied Easter Europe in the early Cold War. After 3 ½ years, Gadder graduated in November 2004 with high honors.
Gadder and his wife moved to St. Paul and soon discovered that they were expecting. Gabriella Maria was born two weeks ago, weighing 6lbs 15oz. Today, Gadder is learning to live on two hours of sleep at a time and working in the Broker Dealer. His newest hobby is watching this new chapter in his life unfold.
Table Topics Master – Mike C.
Marian J. (1:18) – “What treasure have you found and why is it of value to you?”
Marian can’t recall the last garage sale that she’s been to, but is thinking of having one. She commented on the amount of work to set up, price, take down, and get rid of all of the items in the sale. She avoids looking at sales because she has too much stuff in her home and is trying to simplify her life.
Eddie K. (1:39) – “Why do you like/dislike garage sales?”
Eddie doesn’t go to garage sales today, but is looking for an LP player because he likes the pops and cracks that LPs provide the listener. If he finds an LP player at a garage sale, he’ll do much more garage sale-ing because he’ll also need to find speakers, a receiver, an entertainment system, and of course, some LPs.
Laura C. (1:33) – “How would you distinguish your garage sale from all of the others?”
The quality of Laura’s merchandise would set her’s apart, plus the fact that she’d have no prices—everything in Laura’s garage sale would be free to anyone who is willing to take the trash out of her yard. Included would be her husband, Rich’s, four foot by six foot steamer trunk that she would like to get rid of because it takes up so much room.
Evaluator #1 – Mary Ellen G. (1:06)
Mary Ellen commended Jerry on his stance, hand gestures, organization (he reviewed his points, added details, and summed everything up with a conclusion), format, thorough preparation, and conversational tone. All of these went into a great speech that allowed us to get to know Jerry. Next time, Mary Ellen suggested that Jerry watch out for slang terms, such as “gonna”.
Evaluator #2 – Keri O. (2:53)
Keri commended Gadder on his comfortable presence, preparation, structure, strong voice that was easy to understand, use of notes, purposeful gestures, and eye contact. She suggested that he try to get out in front of the lecturn to avoid grasping it and rocking on it and reminded him not to thank us, we thank him for sharing his speech!
Inspiration – Kim C. (1:50)
Kim shared the following story (in a bit more detail): A 92 year old petite and well poised lady, even though legally blind, moved into a nursing home—a move made necessary by her husband’s passing. After a wait, the nurse showed her her room, telling her about the furnishings. Before she’d had a chance to really see it, the woman exclaimed, “I love it!” The nurse was confused since the woman hadn’t even seen the room yet. The woman said, “Happiness is something you decide ahead of time…you can spend your days recounting the difficulties you’ve had, or you can focus on your happy memories. Old age is like a bank account; you withdraw what you put in.”
Reports
Wordmaster/Grammarian – Betsy S.
Betsy noticed a lot of ahs and ums today, as well as sentences beginning with connecters, such as “Well…”. She liked Gadder’s uses of the English language, including words/phrases such as humility, grueling, and beginning a new chapter in his life. She also liked Eddie’s descriptors of the LPs. Laura C. and Mike C. both used the word of the day, entrepreneur.
Timer – Lori G.
Please see times above, listed in parenthesis next to each speaker’s name.
General Evaluation – Mark H.
Mark enjoyed today’s meeting even though it was in a hot, cramped room. The meeting was fun and the time passed quickly.
He commended Kathy for handling the room’s shortfalls and her introduction of herself. Betsy introduced a good word that tied in with the theme and Lori was the “Sultan of Switches”. For table topics, Mark liked Mike’s questions and Marian’s non-answer that took over one minute. He was disappointed that Eddie didn’t share any “Eddie-isms”, but liked Eddie’s “don’t like to go, but reasons for going” answer. Even though he liked Laura’s concept for her garage sale, he still wouldn’t go!
For the evaluations, Mark liked the way that Mary Ellen used the manual for her guide and that she provided developmental feedback. Keri demonstrated critical listening so was able to provide great examples for Gadder during her evaluation.
Mark liked Kim’s inspiration and its message.
The Spirit Award went to Jerry and Gadder for their Icebreaker speeches.
The June Member of the Month went to Marian J. for the speech about her daughter.
Our Toastmaster, Kathy J, did a fabulous job of handling all of the room changes and setting up the room to make our speakers comfortable. Unfortunately, we were bumped from the Partnership room for a baby shower, so decided to meet in 21SW instead of the Achievement Room. We were a bit cozy and warm, which would have probably been more welcome on a cold, blustery day, but a little heat was preferable with TWO Icebreakers being given today!
The theme of the day was “Garage Sales”. Kathy asked each of our duty holders, “Why is one man’s junk another man’s treasure?” Below are all of the duty-holders responses:
When Kathy was little, she had a plaque that said, “A giggle a day keeps the glums away.” Hoping to make some money, she priced it for a quarter and put it in her sister’s garage sale. To her dismay, her father bought it and showed it to her for years whenever she was unhappy, then gave it to her as a wedding gift. This piece of junk from her childhood is now a treasure for her.
Betsy hates garage sales…everything about them! A friend of hers has a knack for finding treasures, though, and she doesn’t even wait for the sales!
Mike gets excited about the possible bargains that he’ll get, but has always been disappointed (and gets a headache!) when he goes to garage sales on Saturdays. When he visited on Thursday, though, it was a different experience! He found toys for Jack!
Mary Ellen hates garage sales, too, but her husband loves them. Unfortunately (for her), Tim has purchased items like an old Michael Jackson tape (they don’t have a tape player) and a Camel cigarette backpack (they don’t smoke). Because of this, Mary Ellen doesn’t feel like “garage sale-ing” is a good use of her time!
Keri really doesn’t like going to garage sales, but her mom loves going so is Keri’s personal shopper. When Keri is looking for an item, such as a coffee table, her mom brings home four of them for Keri to choose from, then sells the remaining three in her own garage sale.
Kim also has a mother that likes garage sales, but Kim doesn’t like to go. Her mom used to get stuff for her when she was in college, some of which she still has today. These days, Kim finds herself cleaning house and taking items to Goodwill more than bringing it in from garage sales.
Speaker #1 – Jerry V.: Icebreaker Speech – “My Origins” (6:24)
Jerry can sum up his origin in one word, HMONG—pronounced “mung”, not “ha-mung”—which means free people. There are three primary theories of origin of the Hmong people: 1. The Hmong are from southwest of China, which includes Burma & Tibet. They migrated to the Yellow River plains. 2. The Hmong are of Russian origin, from the Siberian plains, and migrated to the Yellow River plains. 3. The Hmong are from China and originated in the Yellow River plains. It’s difficult to know for sure which theory is correct (although theory number three is the one supported by most historians) because the Hmong have no written history. Long ago, they were nomads, so told their stories from generation to generation. If there ever was any written documentation, it was destroyed in the wars. Following the wars, the Hmong enjoyed 100 years of freedom and peace in the mountains of Laos. In 1960-1979, they joined the US to fight communism; then sought refuge in Thailand when the war was lost.
Jerry’s family spent 3-4 years in a refugee camp before coming to the US in 1979. He was born in 1981 and has four older siblings. All five of them attended Minneapolis South High School and graduated with honors. His siblings attended St. Thomas, but he chose Gustavus Adolphus to study management and communication. He accepted an internship with Management Services at Minnesota Life and was offered a full-time position in the Broker Dealer upon his completion of college.
Speaker #2 – Gadder F.: Icebreaker Speech – “November 2004” (5:29)
November 2004 was the end of a trying chapter in Gadder’s life. The journey began in September 1994 when he left St. Louis, Missouri, for Harvard University. The child of a Hungarian mother and African American father, Gadder was excited to begin college at Harvard. The first semester, however, proved to be overwhelming and expensive for him, especially considering that he had no focus. When his parents couldn’t make the payments any more, he took a leave of absence from school and sought out adventure and money. In February 1995, Gadder enlisted in the Air Force where he learned humility. He spent 64 weeks in an intensive language program where he learned Arabic; then served the US providing intelligence capabilities (that’s all he could tell us). After six years of active duty, with the support of his wife (who’s the best thing that ever happened to him), he returned to Harvard and studied Easter Europe in the early Cold War. After 3 ½ years, Gadder graduated in November 2004 with high honors.
Gadder and his wife moved to St. Paul and soon discovered that they were expecting. Gabriella Maria was born two weeks ago, weighing 6lbs 15oz. Today, Gadder is learning to live on two hours of sleep at a time and working in the Broker Dealer. His newest hobby is watching this new chapter in his life unfold.
Table Topics Master – Mike C.
Marian J. (1:18) – “What treasure have you found and why is it of value to you?”
Marian can’t recall the last garage sale that she’s been to, but is thinking of having one. She commented on the amount of work to set up, price, take down, and get rid of all of the items in the sale. She avoids looking at sales because she has too much stuff in her home and is trying to simplify her life.
Eddie K. (1:39) – “Why do you like/dislike garage sales?”
Eddie doesn’t go to garage sales today, but is looking for an LP player because he likes the pops and cracks that LPs provide the listener. If he finds an LP player at a garage sale, he’ll do much more garage sale-ing because he’ll also need to find speakers, a receiver, an entertainment system, and of course, some LPs.
Laura C. (1:33) – “How would you distinguish your garage sale from all of the others?”
The quality of Laura’s merchandise would set her’s apart, plus the fact that she’d have no prices—everything in Laura’s garage sale would be free to anyone who is willing to take the trash out of her yard. Included would be her husband, Rich’s, four foot by six foot steamer trunk that she would like to get rid of because it takes up so much room.
Evaluator #1 – Mary Ellen G. (1:06)
Mary Ellen commended Jerry on his stance, hand gestures, organization (he reviewed his points, added details, and summed everything up with a conclusion), format, thorough preparation, and conversational tone. All of these went into a great speech that allowed us to get to know Jerry. Next time, Mary Ellen suggested that Jerry watch out for slang terms, such as “gonna”.
Evaluator #2 – Keri O. (2:53)
Keri commended Gadder on his comfortable presence, preparation, structure, strong voice that was easy to understand, use of notes, purposeful gestures, and eye contact. She suggested that he try to get out in front of the lecturn to avoid grasping it and rocking on it and reminded him not to thank us, we thank him for sharing his speech!
Inspiration – Kim C. (1:50)
Kim shared the following story (in a bit more detail): A 92 year old petite and well poised lady, even though legally blind, moved into a nursing home—a move made necessary by her husband’s passing. After a wait, the nurse showed her her room, telling her about the furnishings. Before she’d had a chance to really see it, the woman exclaimed, “I love it!” The nurse was confused since the woman hadn’t even seen the room yet. The woman said, “Happiness is something you decide ahead of time…you can spend your days recounting the difficulties you’ve had, or you can focus on your happy memories. Old age is like a bank account; you withdraw what you put in.”
Reports
Wordmaster/Grammarian – Betsy S.
Betsy noticed a lot of ahs and ums today, as well as sentences beginning with connecters, such as “Well…”. She liked Gadder’s uses of the English language, including words/phrases such as humility, grueling, and beginning a new chapter in his life. She also liked Eddie’s descriptors of the LPs. Laura C. and Mike C. both used the word of the day, entrepreneur.
Timer – Lori G.
Please see times above, listed in parenthesis next to each speaker’s name.
General Evaluation – Mark H.
Mark enjoyed today’s meeting even though it was in a hot, cramped room. The meeting was fun and the time passed quickly.
He commended Kathy for handling the room’s shortfalls and her introduction of herself. Betsy introduced a good word that tied in with the theme and Lori was the “Sultan of Switches”. For table topics, Mark liked Mike’s questions and Marian’s non-answer that took over one minute. He was disappointed that Eddie didn’t share any “Eddie-isms”, but liked Eddie’s “don’t like to go, but reasons for going” answer. Even though he liked Laura’s concept for her garage sale, he still wouldn’t go!
For the evaluations, Mark liked the way that Mary Ellen used the manual for her guide and that she provided developmental feedback. Keri demonstrated critical listening so was able to provide great examples for Gadder during her evaluation.
Mark liked Kim’s inspiration and its message.
The Spirit Award went to Jerry and Gadder for their Icebreaker speeches.
The June Member of the Month went to Marian J. for the speech about her daughter.
posted by Mutual Voices Toastmasters | 11:14 PM
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