Travel Talkers Toastmasters

Planning a winter vacation is often a decision between somewhere sunny and somewhere snowy. The theme of our December 7th meeting was “Sand or Snow.” We found out which of our members and guests prefer a sandy winter vacation and which prefer the snow.

Our Destination Master, Kit Myers, gave us these clues for her mystery location:

• This is a beach on an Island located in the Pacific Ocean–not Wiamea or Waialea.
• It is famous for its Banyan tree.
• It is located in the 50th state of the United States.
• It is 11 miles east of an historic national monument.
• It is 5 miles east o.f Daniel Inouye International Airport.
• It is 3 miles west of Diamond Head.
• It is located on the Island of O’ahu, the state capital.

If you guessed Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, you are correct!

Helen Josephine presented a speech set in the snow of Alaska to illustrate the need for compassion in leadership. She told the story of the 2019 Iditarod Trail Dog Sled race, a thousand mile dog sled race through the snow and tundra from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. During this race the dog team lead by musher Nicolas Petit was ahead with a 5 hour lead and they were less that 300 miles from the finish line. But then two of the dogs on the team had a disagreement with each other. Petit yelled at them to stop fighting and get going. After Petit yelled at them, the dogs refused to go any further and he had to drop out of the race at the Shaktoolik check point. Helen used this story to introduce the leadership principles of the Dalai Lama–be mindful, be selfless and be compassionate–from an article in the Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2019/02/the-dalai-lama-on-why-leaders-should-be-mindful-selfless-and-compassionate. She concluded that if Nicolas Petit had been mindful, selfless and compassionate instead of angry and frustrated his team of dogs might have responded in a totally different way to his request to get going. The outcome of the race for him and his team could have been different.

Tym Myers was the Travel Topics Master for the meeting. He asked us questions about our preference for snow or sand on a vacation. He also asked us to describe our first encounter with snow and our first encounter with sand. We enjoyed sharing our memories of family vacations at the beach and on the slopes.

Join us for our next meeting on December 14th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is Winter Holiday Weekend. Where are you planning to spend your Winter Holiday Weekend? Let’s hear all about it at our December 14th meeting. Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. If you would like to join the club, contact Helen Josephine for an application form.

Register for the meeting: https://tinyurl.com/TravelTalkersZoomLink

RSVP on MeetUp to let us know you are coming to the meeting. Guests are always welcome!

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters