Aug 14th, 2017
by Dr. Eric Tangumonkem, CC | | Permalink
The invocation of our meeting was given by Wen Kuo, and he used a $20 bill to remind us that our value is not dependent on where we have been and what we have been through. Our Toastmaster for the day Lekshmi reminded us why she chose "Multi Cuisine" as the theme of the day and waxed eloquently on her international cooking adventures.
Three wonderful speeches kept us spell bound. The first speech delivered by Priti Kara, titled “My Hero,” was a heartwarming inspirational story about the legacy of her dad and the immense impact he left on her. You could hear a pin drop as she held the audience captivated by the dramatic and sudden passing of her beloved dad! The high point of her speech was not the loss of her father, but the exemplary life he demonstrated for them and how she and her family are doing all in their power daily to carry that legacy on. She reminded us to live our lives with intentionality because somebody is maybe watching and modeling us.
Amit Gupta took us to Finland and elaborated on the wonders and exceptionality of the Finnish educational system. He used the story of his 4-year-old daughter who came home excited about solar eclipse and was able to articulate how solar eclipses occur accurately. He pointed out the respect that the teaching profession has and the excellent pay teachers in Finland receive. Another key component of the Finnish educational system is their limited use of testing. We were all surprised to hear that students start school at the age of 7 and receive their first standardized test at 16. But the Finnish students do exceptionally well when they compete with students from other parts of the world.
Our third speech by Lisa Sun, took us to Shanghai China and dazzled us with her grandma’s scrumptious cuisine and cooking from the heart. According to her grandma, “Good cooks do not need a recipe book.” That is why when she passed away, Lisa was unable to reproduce her delicious meals. But she was rescued by a cook book she bought in China town when she visited Las Vegas of all places. She could reproduce one of her grandma’s specialty dishes “wheat gluten” served with a special sauce.
Geri Forsythe brought a lot of innovation and out of the box thinking with the table topics. Each participant was asked to volunteer, and each person was given a food item to introduce. We had a Mr. headless carrot, Mr. Mango Mango, and Mrs. Taro.
Max shared with us his presidential citation awarded the highest award for a toastmaster conferred by the president of Toastmasters International. The pin was passed round for all of us to see and touch.
We had two new members that were inducted during the meeting.
The winners of the day were; Lisa Sun for Best Speaker, Eric Tangumonkem Best Table Topics, Lekshmi Krishnan Best of Big Three, Ravi S 5 Star Helper, Ed Meissner Best Evaluator, Geri Forsythe Spark Plug.
Another fantastic and well ran "Preston Persuaders" meeting came to an end, and many members wished it could continue!
