Dreams

It was yet another beautiful day in the city. Warm summer sun with a slight chill in the wind! As I was crossing the street to go to the club meeting, I wondered how refreshing it would be to host a meeting in one of the parks! Ahhh... wishful thinking.. or 'dreaming'! Melrose chose an interesting theme for the meeting today. She opened the meeting by talking about two different interpretation of dreams. One that we have while we sleep and another about future and aspirations! Anil presented the Thought of Day by encouraging everyone to dream about the future and shared some motivations tips. He also talked about Martin Luther King and his famous speech, "I have a dream" that has inspired many people around the world. You can watch his Thought of the Day here.

We had a full house today. Sundeep and Pam delivered their Speech #3 from the Competent Communicator (CC) manual - Organize your speech. Sundeep talked about the 'selfie stick' and the much buzz around it. I thought it was very clever to bring a selfie stick and provide a demonstration. Being a selfie addict myself, I have been tempted to get one! She also showed a few photos she took with the stick and how easy it was to capture the background. Pam followed Sundeep and took up on a bike ride along the city. Her vivid descriptions allowed me to visualize as if I was taking that bike ride. An effective technique, especially for storytellers. Pam had just made a visit to the dentist and told me her face was frozen. Kudos to her for delivering the speech without any issues. You can view Pam's speech here.

I was tasked as the Table Topics master. I find the concept of dreams very interesting and have read a bit about the interpretation of dreams as well. I decided to do round robin style Table Topics where I started out by narrating the beginning of a dream I had recently and everyone else continued the story. It was impressive how all the members participated enthusiastically and I noticed a lot less usage of filler words. Somehow there were a lot of zombies in the story that finally developed!
I wish I would've recorded it view it later... But, oh well! I can tell you that our members had wild imaginations and there was a lot of laughter.

Fun in the sun!

The Gods of Sunshine have been blessing up with a lot of Vitamin D these past few weeks. I was scheduled to Chair the meeting today. However, we did not have enough prepared speakers. So we decided to host an Easy-Speak refresher course. Pam agreed to take on the role of Chair and did a wonderful job holding the fort! Christine forgot she was supposed to prepare the Thought of the Day, however he did a fantastic job delivering an impromptu 2-min speech!

Then I delivered a refresher on Easy-Speak. I'm slowly getting comfortable with the 'training' set up. Being behind the lecturn seems so easy now. Today, as I was talking about Easy-Speak, I could see myself getting used to it. It is going to be a learning curve, but it was quite rewarding to share your knowledge and see that someone else learnt something new because of you! 

Marcia conducted the Table Topics session and asked all members to share one of their memorable moments in the sunshine! Karen told us about a Christmas many years ago when she made an impromptu day-trip all the way to Atlanta with some work colleagues. Now that's a memory worth creating! Sundeep rounded it off as the General Evaluator. She was encouraging in her feedback and acknowledged everyone. My favorite part was the way Pam ended up the meeting with a poem. I borrowed it from her so I could share it with you. Here it goes -

" It holds its heads up with pride in the morning,

But flees into the dark by night,

Its beauty shines each day without warning,

Brightening the day in warming light,

Capable of burning us to ashes,

But also able to sustain all life,

Looking at its constant flashes,

The sun gleams with certain rife."

Source: unknown