Greetings fellow Toastmasters and honored guests!
It was our first meeting of the year! We kicked off with a peaceful transfer of power. Alex Schams took to his new position as President with grace and dignity. His acceptance speech acknowledged past President (Me), and how happy he is to be a part of this wonderful and supportive little group. Well, not so little anymore.
Karan Bavandi took the stage as our Toastmaster and led the meeting without a hitch. Our functionaries were introduced. Our Grammarian Joelle, challenged us with the word for the day. Which was “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. It was quite a fun one!
Our first speaker of the new year was Blake Samuelle. She gave her much enhanced second speech entitled, “Why you should hire a Xennial”. I may be biased, but she gave some excellent points! That generation experienced a booming era of tech. I guess you can say Xennials are unique because they know the troubles of manually repairing our ancient computing systems. With a trip down memory lane of care bears, and nintendos. Blake gave us all a reason to appreciate the “before times”. Thank you Blake!
Second speaker of the evening was Steve Evans. Sadly, Lauren Clayton could not perform her speech, so Steve gave an impromptu and informative talk about Pathways. While we were all partying over the Holiday’s, Steve was busy making our lives a little easier. Yes, spreadsheets! He color coded and masterfully organized our paths. Steve is helping us all in our journey to better our extemporaneous speaking skills.
Sam Nazarian led us to some interesting questions as Table Topics Master, where we got to know each other a little better.
Andy would have liked to have gotten a little more sleep as a youth in Military school. He now enjoys his one hour more of sleep because waking up at 4am was too early, 5am is more appropriate.
Antonio is proud of his puppy for 2020. It was not as expected but a decision he does not regret. Hopefully we get to hear more about his adventures with his puppy pal in the near future.
Azita does not like touristy things. I guess you can say, she doesn’t like to follow the crowd. She’s more of a nature person.
Maryam talked about how her grandparents met and no, it was not through text messaging.
Kenzie found how different Germany was when she visited for the first time, many years ago. Not a lot of smiles, but she would totally visit again.
Alex Bello did want to miss our meeting as he is currently in Miami. He is enjoying leftover roast pork from his family, the neighbours and the extended family. Not the best meal for his vegetarian wife.
Jaclyn and Evan visited family in Colorado over the holidays. Separately, of course. Colorado seems to be a popular place for family members to live. Jaclyn was met with a lot of COVID restrictions when snowboarding, which led to some strategic ways to get warm and get food.
Evan wanted nothing more than to visit a restaurant again and concerts are dearly missed. I think we are all onboard with you Evan.
Armando’s favorite historical place he visited was the Washington Monument. He reminded us that a lot of sacrifices were made in order to call this place home. The names of our brave country men and women are etched on the walls for all to see and cherish.
As you guessed it! our word or the day was used quite a bit. Joelle noted that some people added more to the word and some only used half of it. I think if you say it outside during the day, a bird will land on your shoulder, think Disney Princess.
Caution: Do not attempt if you are allergic to birds, have bird allergies or deathly afraid of a bird invasion. Experiences may vary.
The meeting ran a little late but that’s what happens when you’re having fun! Special thanks to Andy and Antonio for stopping by. Quick reminder that we have Study Hall on Tuesdays from 6-7pm. If you have questions or need some ideas for your next speech, we are here to help!
Here’s the line-up for our next meeting, Thursday night, January 14th. To sign up for your role every week in the new Agenda format.
If your name is Evan, Armando, or Lauren please send your intro to our Toastmaster, Jacyln. If your name is Jaclyn, please send your intro to our new President Alex Schams.
- Toastmaster – Jaclyn Lineback
- Table Topics Master – Evan Pawelk
- Speaker #1 – Lauren Clayton
- Speaker #2 – Armando Yee
- Chief Evaluator – Blake Samuelle
- Evaluator #1 – Karan Bavandi
- Evaluator #2 – Azita Sachmechian
- Timer – Maryam Ashouri
- Grammarian – Li Xin
- Ah Counter – Andy Eftekhar
- Thought for the Day – Alex Schams
- Joke Master – Alex Bello
It’s a new year and we have a new cabinet. Your voices were heard. The people have spoken! Together we will make Silicon Speech the best club in D1 in 2021 and beyond!
- President – Alex Schams
- Vice President of Education – Steve Evans
- Vice President of Public Relations – Luis Hurtado
- Vice President of Membership – Blake Samuelle
- Treasurer – Evan Pawelk
- Secretary – Len Kung
- Sgt. at Arms – Li Xin
All of the officers need to attend the online Officers Training being held on Saturday, January 30th. In the meantime, you can study ahead and learn all about your role by checking out the Club Leadership Handbook. This document will serve as our guide during the next term.
Here’s the link.
If you are a guest and would like to become a member, click here.
That was a great start to 2021!
Happy New Year and I’ll see you Tuesday (Study Hall) or Thursday (Silicon Speech).