December 1, 2014 Meeting

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“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals”. This quote by Henry David Thoreau, accompanied by a supporting personal story, was shared by our invocator Chris to kick off our meeting about goals.

For his Ice Breaker speech, Jonas took us on a wild ride through his early career. His evaluator Jyo said it had been a long time since she had heard an Ice Breaker with so much energy and honesty. Jonas’ happiness and peace-of-mind are his true measure of success! His speech was fun and inspirational. Way to go Jonas!

Eileen got to the point for project #3: Music is a Language. Babies naturally recognize the beat of music and observe the joy music brings to the adults around them. Eileen taught us that babies and children learn spoken languages through exposure and that they can learn the language of music in the same way. If children were praised for their musical accomplishments in the same way they are praised for their first spoken words, we would probably have fewer children dropping out of music lessons in favor of other activities.

Dean taught us about the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Using powerpoint like a pro, he provided a very balanced view about what is working and what isn’t so far. On the plus side, 20 million people have gained insurance coverage who didn’t previously have it. Not so great: large companies with 10,000 or more employees had their healthcare costs per employee increased by $4,800 to $5,900. PPACA has a long road ahead of it with changing political leadership and the need to address the fact that healthcare costs are still extremely high.

After the meeting, our Toastmaster of the Day Mickey sent us some video links to reinforce the simple process for settings goals that he taught us: Short and Simple Process for Setting Goals by Brian Tracy, Brian Tracy on How to Word Your Goals, and How Goal Setting Has Impacted Brian Tracy’s Life.

All of the Big 3, Evaluators, and Helpers ambitiously (Word of the Day) completed their roles to produce a top-notch meeting. Our two guests, Sonia and Stacy, certainly enjoyed it based on their feedback at the end of the meeting.

Join us next week as Durai takes the reigns as Toastmaster!

Ribbon Winners

5-Star Helper - Durai
Best Evaluator - Jyo
Best Table Topics - Patrick
Best of the Big 3 - Mickey
Best Speaker - Eileen
Spark Plug - Jonas