Going on job interviews? Giving a business presentation? Leading a meeting? Need confidence? Toastmasters is the answer!

The ability to speak well is crucial to success, but have you ever evaluated your speaking skills? Many people, if they were to seek feedback, would learn that they talk too much, or perhaps too softly, that they fill their sentences with “ums” and “uhs,” or that they are hard to follow. You might say that it’s the message that matters; but if you can’t put your ideas across in a way that makes people want to listen, that promotion or that leadership position could be a long time coming.

Toastmasters offers a formal, self-paced program that will help you learn to speak better. The two keys to this are practice and feedback. Toastmasters clubs provide a friendly and supportive setting where you can practice your public speaking, and receive constructive feedback. Darlene Burrill says, “Toastmasters has given me the courage to speak in front of a group in spite of my speech impediment.”

To learn more about Toastmasters attend an Open House at Burien Breakfast Toastmasters, Thursday, September 9, 2010. Arrive at 6:45am to receive your guest packet and get your coffee or juice. There will be a light breakfast served at break time.

Burien Breakfast Toastmasters Open House
4 Lessons on Speaking from “The Karate Kid”
Highline Public Schools ERAC Building
15675 Ambaum Blvd SW, Burien
Across the street from Azteca, next to Hi-Line Lanes
7:00am – 8:15am
Arrive at 6:45am for Guest Packets, Coffee and Juice
For more info contact Theresa 206-588-5088 or burienbreakfast.com@gmail.com

There will be three parts to the meeting, the prepared speeches, the evaluations, and “Table Topics”. The prepared speeches are usually of five to seven minutes long. Each member is given in a manual that sets out ten speech projects. Each of these has a specific goal, such as speech structure, using gestures, pauses and vocal inflection. These will help you learn how to express your ideas clearly and with confidence. Bang Parkinson, the President of Burien Breakfast Toastmasters, says that using the speech projects helped her gain confidence and feel comfortable presenting at board meetings at work. “Even though I still have my Chinese accent, people understand me better. Giving speeches at Toastmasters helped me to articulate well and to speak slower, clearer and smoother.”

After each speech an evaluator, usually a Toastmaster more experienced than the speaker, provides feedback. This takes the form of an impromptu speech and the objective is to give suggestions on how to improve future speeches because feedback is essential to learning.

For many people the “Table Topics” part of a meeting is the most frightening, yet this is also of the greatest benefit for those wanting to improve how they speak at work. In Table Topics each person is called upon to speak impromptu on a subject. If you’ve never done it before, delivering an interesting and well-structured talk to a group of attentive listeners without any preparation can be extremely difficult. Yes, the first time is hard, but it gets easier with practice, and that’s precisely the point. As Jean Schmidt says, “I used to be legally blind. Science gave me back my eyesight. Toastmasters opened my eyes. Now they can’t keep my mouth shut!”

Attend a meeting and you’ll find Toastmasters are more than willing to share stories of how Table Topics practice helped them at work. From explaining a project to a group of unexpected visitors to persuading colleagues to consider a crazy idea, being able to express thoughts clearly is essential to being viewed as both confident and competent. Roger Wells will tell you how Table Topics saved his dad’s life when with no preparation he had to convince medical authorities to hospitalize his dad at once.

You can learn these skills and more in a supportive, self paced, fun atmosphere at Burien Breakfast Toastmasters. Join us at our Open House September 9, 2010 at 6:45am or at any of our regularly scheduled meetings.

Burien Breakfast Toastmasters
Highline Public Schools ERAC Building
15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW
Burien, WA 98166
2nd and 4th Thursday of every month
7:00am – 8:15am

Our sister site The B-Town Blog wants to remind our readers of its next Candidates Forum, featuring the contenders vying for Dow Constantine’s former seat on the King County Council – including former Normandy Park Mayor and current Councilmember Shawn McEvoy.

It will be this Tuesday, July 20, from 7pm to 8:45pm at the Highline School District’s E.R.A.C. Building, 15675 Ambaum Blvd. S.W. in south Burien, across the street from Azteca Restaurant and just north of Hi-Line Lanes.

Moderator for the evening will be longtime local reporter and radio talk show host Dave Ross. Ross’s show airs 9am to noon Monday through Friday on 97.3 KIRO-FM.

All four candidates for the seat have been invited and all four have agreed to attend.

They are:

• Diana Toledo, former King County employee.
• Shawn McEvoy, former Normandy Park mayor and current city councilmember.
• Joe McDermott, current 34th district state senator.
• Tim Fahey, professional carpenter and South Park resident.

The forum format is to have area journalists ask questions for the first 45 minutes or so, followed by questions from the public. There is no admission charge and anyone and everyone is welcome to attend.

The 8th District council seat everyone is duking it out for is currently held by Jan Drago. Drago is not running for election.

The primary is August 17. Mail-in ballots will be sent to voters later this month. The two candidates garnering the most votes advance to the general election in November.

The City of Normandy Park is holding an Open House/Parks Forum for the 2010-11 Comprehensive Park Plan on May 19th from 3pm – 7pm at city hall, located at 801 SW 174th Street.

According to the city, “interested persons may provide testimony either in writing or by appearing at the Open House/Public Hearing. All questions should be directed to the Public Works Director Peter Landry at (206) 248-8269.”

Here are the details:

WHAT: City of Normandy Park Open House/Parks Forum for 2010-11 Comprehensive Park Plan.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 19th from 3pm – 7pm.

WHERE: Normandy Park City Hall, located at 801 SW 174th Street.

INFO: Here’s the full release from the city:

NORMANDY PARK – PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

PARK BOARD OPEN HOUSE: PARKS FORUM 2010 – 2011 COMPREHENSIVE PARK PLAN

May 19, 2010

CITY HALL, 801 SW 174th Street, Normandy Park, Washington 98166

The City of Normandy Park Board of Park Commissioners invites all interested parties to attend an open house/parks forum on May 19, 2010, between 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. to discuss the proposed 2010-2011 Comprehensive Park Plan. A Public Hearing will be conducted at 7:00 p.m.

A copy of the proposed plan is available from the City Clerk’s Office at the City Hall address or by calling 206-248-7603.

Interested persons may provide testimony either in writing or by appearing at the Open House/Public Hearing. All questions should be directed to the Public Works Director Peter Landry at (206) 248-8269.

Written comments should be sent to the Park Board, Attn: Deputy City Clerk, City Hall, 801 SW 174th Street, Normandy Park, Washington 98166.

The next Port of Seattle Commission meeting, scheduled for 1pm on Tuesday, March 23rd at the Cove in Normandy Park, will also include a staff update on the Part 150 Airport Noise Study.

The Commission will be taking public comment, so gather your thoughts about SeaTac Airport noise and show up, ready to talk.

In addition, on Wednesday, March 24, the members of the Highline Forum will also discuss the Part 150 Noise Study at SeaTac City Hall’s Council Chambers (4800 South 188th Street.) The meeting begins at 2:30pm and the public is invited to observe.

The Highline Forum includes the southwest King County communities of Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila and Federal Way, and the Highline School District and Port of Seattle.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting

WHEN: Tuesday, March 23 beginning at 1pm

WHERE: The Cove in Normandy Park – 1500 SW Shorebrook Drive

INFO: From a press release:

March 23 Port Commission Meeting in Normandy Park to include Part 150 Noise Study Update

Part 150 Study also a Discussion Item at March 24 Highline Forum

The Port of Seattle Commission will be holding their March 23 regular meeting at the Cove in Normandy Park – 1500 SW Shorebrook Drive. The agenda includes a staff update on the Part 150 Study and the Commission will be taking public comment. Meeting starts at 1 p.m.

On March 24, the members of the Highline Forum will also discuss the Part 150 Noise Study at SeaTac City Hall’s Council Chambers – 4800 South 188th Street. The meeting begins at 2:30 and the public is invited to observe. The Highline Forum includes the southwest King County communities of Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila and Federal Way, and the Highline School District and Port of Seattle.

For your convenience, please visit the dedicated  Part 150 Web site (http://www.airportsites.net/SEA-Part150/) that has been established as the single location for all documentation connected to the study.

Guests are welcome to the next Southwest Guild of the Seattle Art Museum monthly meeting and program on Tuesday, Sept. 30th at the Normandy Park Cove Community Center, 1500 Shorebrook Drive, Normandy Park, WA.

Coffee and refreshments will be available from 10am until 10:30.

After a short business meeting, the speaker, Pam McClusky, curator of “Art of Africa and Oceania” at the Seattle Art Museum, will explain her new exhibit at SAM displaying the fascinating history of the importance of beads through out the centuries.

Membership in the Southwest Guild is enjoyed by adults from a vast area including; Seattle, Vashon Island, Enumclaw, Tacoma, Renton, Kent, Federal Way, Burien, Normandy Park and other areas.

Adults interested in visual arts are welcome to attend the guild’s monthly 4th Tuesday meetings and programs as guests twice before joining for $15/year.

Membership in the Seattle Art Museum is mandatory.

For more information, please call (206) 246-4415.

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Both Miller Creek and Walker Creek flow through the area, and both creeks are in need of your help.

An ad-hoc committee aimed at monitoring and studying both creeks is forming, and its inaugural workshop is scheduled for Wed., Sept. 24, from 7pm – 8:30pm at the Burien Community Center, Classroom 5, located at 425 S.W. 144th Street (map below).

At this workshop, participants will learn the answers to some of the following questions, and help provide answers to some other questions:

• How do we know about water quality, water quantity, and habitat conditions in Miller and Walker Creeks?
• What monitoring has been done in recent years?
• What monitoring is necessary to allow for analysis of trends?
• Can we better coordinate existing monitoring?
• What additional monitoring would we like to do in the future?
• And how are we going to use all the data that have been and will be collected? Five years from now, will monitoring give us the information we need to evaluate the health of these stream basins and make good decisions about future projects, programs, and policies?

Improving monitoring of water quality, water quantity, and habitat conditions is recommended in the Executive Proposed Miller and Walker Creeks Basin Plan. This workshop is intended to kick off an ad hoc committee effort to answer the questions listed above. Answering these questions will help everyone take better care of the land and water in the Miller and Walker Creek basins (basin boundary map).

The monitoring discussion is intended to produce recommendations on how local partners can conduct voluntary monitoring in the future. The outcome of this process will not affect the current monitoring for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as required by the Department of Ecology. The monitoring that has been and is being done by the Port of Seattle will be discussed, however, because it provides information on those portions of the creeks that flow through the airport property.

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact Dennis Clark, King County Public Outreach/Stewardship Coordinator, 206-296-1909.

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