May 1st Meeting

Brian H was the Toastmaster of the day, whose theme was Cinco de Mayo. He talked about how this is more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. The general evaluator was Lauralee, who said Brian did a good job transitioning between speakers and into table topics. One thing that she did suggest is to make sure all of the business for the day is delivered at the beginning of the meeting.
Kristina was the first speaker of the day, who gave a speech on square dancing. She started her speech off with a call, and how she began dancing at a very young age. Her family was highly involved in it, and they would take her to square dances all the time. At the end of her speech, Kristina talked about how beneficial dancing was, and told us that we could go to a square dance in Corvallis, Oregon.
http://corvallissquares.com/
Christa was Kristina's evaluator for her research speech in Pathways. She loved how Kristina was able to bring the fun into square dancing for her. She really like the invitation at the end and how it is motivating with all of the benefits that Kristina mentioned.
Dave was our second speaker of the day, who did a practice run through of his speech Half the Man I Used to Be that he will give on Saturday. To start his speech, Dave told us that he had got rid of a person, and he is glad he did. Dave started at the beginning with being diagnosed with depression after Vietnam. Later he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. To make himself feel better, he would eat, but it progressively took more and more food to give him comfort. The doctor said he would need to lose 200 pounds before he could safely do the hip replacement and recovery. By 450 pounds, Dave had a heart attack and had a lot of time to think about what he had been doing with his life. He realized that he was trying to commit suicide by knife and fork. Once he had lost 30 pounds, the weight loss surgeon agreed to do the procedure, and with the help of a dietitian, Dave was on his way to getting his hip replaced. Today, Dave is half the man he used to be and is able to shed his past as he symbolically steps out of the clothes that he wore at 450 pounds, to emerge a new Dave.

Brian H suggested that Dave make sure to take at stance at the beginning of his speech so that he would not rock, but thought the content of his speech was very good. Jalene suggested that Dave emphasize the transitions of his speech to help them stand out, from energized to storytelling, and motivational. Svetlana said to make sure that Dave use his props for everyone to see since they help to tell his point so vividly. 

Brian H was the table topics master of the day. He asked Christa to talk about the Franco-Mexican war, who said that her father was a major history buff. He had taken Christa to a lot of war sights since they lived on the East coast. He asked Lee how he would be celebrate Cinco de Mayo day, to which he said that that he would be going to the Loyalty Day parade since it falls on Cinco de Mayo this year. Lauralee was the last person who was asked about how in high school her teacher had us tell the preschoolers about Cinco de Mayo. Christa was the winner of table topics.