Written by Valerie Williams-Ndikintum, PMP

PMI Atlanta Toastmasters conducted its first meeting of November on Thursday, the 13th. The meeting consisted of 24 attendees in total, including 4 guests. Guests included professionals, as well as students, most of which were PMI Atlanta members.

The theme of the November 13th meeting was Veterans Appreciation, facilitated by Toastmaster, Modupe Olatunji, PMP. Three speech projects were presented. One non manual project and two projects from the Competent Communicator Manual. A Table Topics session was also conducted.

The first project, presented by Fred Walker, ACG, ALB, was a custom speech outlining the Toastmaster Mentoring Program. Fred used a PowerPoint presentation as a visual aid to walk the audience through key aspects of the mentoring program. Information shared during the speech comprised of the benefits of the mentoring program for new Toastmasters members including ease of transition into the club and developing special skills. Fred also delivered the advantages to mentors, clubs, and mentor qualities.

The second speech of the evening was project 6 from the Competent Communicator manual. The speech, titled ‘Be a Better Speaker: Practice Speaking’, was delivered by Kristin Howlett, PMP. Kristin’s speech addressed guidelines used by speech coaches to ‘sound like you know what you’re talking about’. Tips highlighted during the speech included:

1. Record yourself and play it back.
2. Identify bad habits.
3. Be conscious of your body language.
4. Find your optimal pitch.
5. Speak at the rate of no mistake.
6. Think in phrases.
7. Remember to breathe.

In addition to the advice outlined above, Kristin reviewed qualities of people recognized as being the best speakers, display confidence, appear relaxed, and genuinely interesting.

The third speech of the evening was also given from the Competent Communicator Manual. The speech presented was project 4, ‘How to Say It’, delivered by Cyndi Ellsom. Cyndi’s speech was titled ‘Shades of Gray’ and discussed domestic violence from a first person’s perspective. The speech covered different areas of abuse such as emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The speech covered the range of emotions experienced by a victim ranging from a feel of being alone, embarrassed, ashamed and isolated. The message of the speech was from the perspective of an outsider looking in, domestic violence can appear to be black and white. However, the truth is oftentimes shades of gray.

The final speech of the evening was the Table Topics session led by Valarie Merced. Table Topics sessions are impromptu speeches on topics selected to provide insight into life skills such as negotiation and conflict resolution, themes essential to project managers. The subject of the meeting’s Table Topics session ran parallel with the theme of the meeting, Veterans Appreciation. Members selected to speak and the topic assigned to each speaker were:

Valerie Williams
Question: What is your favorite military movie?
Answer: Zero Dark Thirty

Dean Gudlauski
Question: What is your favorite military-themed song?
Answer: Yankee Doodle Dandy

Sam Abdelaziz
Question: Home front or world protector, which should the US be?
Answer: Home front

Mark Gulledge
Question: Which great military leader from the past would you be?
Answer: Eisenhower

The Timers report depicted two of the three project speeches presented qualified for time. All Table Topics speakers and evaluators qualified for time.

Serving as Evaluators during the meeting were Jalean Matos-McClurg, who served as General Evaluator, Chris Coussens, Sam Abdelaziz and Michael Donahoe. Sam Abdelaziz served as Sergeant-at-Arms, Valerie Williams as Ah-Counter; the Grammarian was Mark Gulledge. Time was kept by Kevin Peter Buchanan. The word of the day was ‘Freedom’. Each evaluation kept within the allocated time limit. The tone of the audience was uplifting and evaluations were constructive and encouraging.

Awards were presented towards the end of the meeting for Best Speaker, Best Table Topic and Best Evaluator. Cyndi Ellsom won recognition for being the Best Speaker, Mark Gulledge for Best Table Topic, and Chris Coussens for Best Evaluator.

If you’re looking for an empowering and supportive organization one which assists in improving your leadership and communication skills, PMI Atlanta Toastmasters may be the organization for you. The next Toastmasters meeting will be the club’s annual holiday gathering held on Thursday, December 11th at Nancy G’s on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. The meeting will start promptly at 6:30p, however, attendees may arrive early for dining and networking.

For more information regarding PMI Atlanta Toastmasters Club please visit http://pmiatl.toastmastersclubs.org.