Written by Valerie Williams-Ndikintum, PMP

PMI Atlanta Toastmasters conducted its second meeting of October on Thursday the 23rd. The meeting consisted of 21 attendees in total including 4 guests. Guests included professionals, as well as students most of which were PMI Atlanta members.

The theme of October 23rd’s meeting was ‘Changes’, facilitated by Toastmaster Shannon Kraiger, CTM, CC. Three speech projects were delivered, all of which were presented to satisfy speech 2: Organize Your Speech, from the Competent Communication manual. A Table Topics session was also conducted.

The goal of project 2: Organize Your Speech, in the Competent Communication manual, is to deliver a speech as an outline allowing the audience to easily follow and comprehend the speech topic. The speech is expected to transition from message to message appropriately, presenting a clear and concise message all within the timeframe of 5 to 7 minutes.

 

The first speech of the evening was titled ‘Use Your Project Management Skills to Excel in Fantasy Football’, delivered by Gregory Smith. The speech outlined similarities in skills required to be an effective project manager, which according to the speaker, are the same skills required to excel at Fantasy Football. The speaker outlined three skills and provided examples to support his theory. The skills included risk planning, decisiveness (decision making) and relationship building. The speaker concluded his speech by citing successes achieved by implementing these traditional project management skills, one of which resulted in 3 consecutive years of wins in the virtual sport of Fantasy Football.

The second speech presented during the evening was titled ‘A Method to Their Madness’, delivered by Michael Sadlowski. The Method in the title references different styles of acting. The Madness references the influence on acting from early theater practitioners’ Constantine Stanislavski and Sanford Meisner. The speaker walked the audience through a timeline of acting systems, like the Stanislavski system and the Meisner Technique. Acting guilds, The Group Theater and The Actors Studio, were cited as examples of guilds who supported the implementation of these systems.

The third speech delivered was titled ‘What’s in Your Bag’, given by Jendayi Brandon. Jendayi’s speech cited experiences from her past, as well as her love of music to deliver advice to the audience regarding the importance of being prepared. The speech used the term ‘bag’ as a metaphor for a ‘toolkit’ to urge the audience to prepare themselves with tools and skills for situations, which will require them to act alone or as the speaker put it, go ‘solo’. The speaker described items which resources, despite their vocation, should be put in their bag using metaphors such as K.S.A. knowledge, skills and abilities; and P.I.E.S, physical, intellectual, emotional and social skills. She also described 7 factors she recommends to build confidence in preparation for experiences, which would require one to go ‘solo’.

1) Stand tall
2) Dig out old rap albums/CDs
3) Recall a time you were powerful
4) Indulge in rituals
5) Choose outfits wisely
6) Stretch those muscles
7) Brush up on a foreign language

The final speech of the evening was the Table Topics session led by Michael Sadlowski. 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 title of the Table Topics session was, ‘What’s your message to the world during these turbulent times’? During the session Michael assigned a superhero character to each of the speakers selected to participate in the session. The premise of the topic was each speaker would deliver their message to the world taking on the persona of their assigned superhero. Speakers selected to participate were Kevin Buchanan (Spiderman), Jalean McClurg (Wonder Woman), Isaiah Banks (Batman) and Gregory Smith (Captain America).

Serving as Evaluators during the meeting were Mark Gulledge, who served as General Evaluator, Isaiah Banks, Dean Gudlawski and Dionne Saunders. Sam Abdelaziz served as Sergeant-at-Arms and Joke Master, Kaitlin Anderson as Ah-Counter; the Grammarian was Kevin Buchanan. Time was kept by Scott Madden. The word of the day was ‘reticent’. Each speech 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. Jendayi Brandon won recognition for being the Best Speaker, Jalean McClurg for Best Table Topic, and Dionne Saunders for Best Evaluator.

The meeting wrapped up with an update from Fred Walker, VP of Education. Fred delivered an update to club members regarding the status of the club’s education programs, DCP goals, the mentoring program and the goal for his position as VP of Education.

In conclusion, two members of the PMI Atlanta Toastmasters club were recognized as candidates for open board positions, Sam Abdelaziz and Barbara Wallace. Sam Abdelaziz provided a short nomination speech for the position of Director-at-Large. Barbara Wallace was not in attendance, however, she was recognized as a candidate for the position of Treasurer.

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. Come join us as a guest, you just might leave as a member. The next Toastmasters meeting will be held on Thursday, November 13th at Nancy G’s on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. Meetings start promptly at 6:30p, however, many guests arrive early for dinner and networking.

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