The Rotary Club of Kirkland held a meeting on January 23, 2023 at SOI Thai Restaurant & Bar in the Kirkland Urban.
President Amy Mutal called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
President Amy Mutal led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attending were Pete Anderson, David Aubry, Scott Becker, Gary Cohn*, Terry Cole, David DeBois, Donald Dicks, Jocelyn Ellison, Doug Evanson, James Feek, Rashmi Garimella, Isabelle Kalisa, Jim Meniketti, Amy Mutal, Rick Ostrander, Joanne Primavera, John Pruitt, John Storbeck, and Rick Walter. *Attended via Zoom.
Guests:
This evening’s guests were former Rotarians Ernie Norhad and David Mutal, former and prospective Rotarian Karin Quirk, Katie Munoz to present the program, student of the month Ria Mohan, past students of the month Ally Thompson, back for a second visit and Gabriella Vazquez, delayed from an earlier month, family of the student of the month father Sankar Mohan, mother Kasi Lalitha, and brother Rithik Mohan, and Jocelyn Casillas, whose mother is Rotarian Jocelyn Reiter Ellison, and Stephanie Monaghan, English/Social Studies teacher at Emerson accompanying the students of the month.
Greeters:
Jim Meniketti manned the front table and greeting was done by Jim, Dave Aubry, Amy Mutal and others. As everyone paid for their own drinks and meals, no money was collected. We managed to get Zoom up and running and had at least one virtual attendee.
Announcements, Club Business, Committee Reports:
Joanne Primavera reported on upcoming Community Service activities – there are several in the works. We may donate blood in February or March. We will visit Isabelle Kalisa’s employer, Hero House, in Factoria in March or April. We will meet at Helen’s Place near Lake Washington High School sometime in the next few months.
Rick Walter reported that the committee investigating fund-raising options has determined that the “Garage Sale” model such as used by the Bainbridge Island Club looks good and if the club membership approves of the discontinuation of the Duck Dash in favor of this major project we will move forward with the idea, probably about June.
Happy Bucks:
There were no Happy Bucks collected during this meeting.
Student of the Month:
November’s Emerson High School Student of the Month, Gabriella Vazquez, told us a bit about herself. She is considering obtaining an Associate of Arts degree at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Horticulture. She likes both gaming and gardening. Her teacher Stephanie says Gabby is intelligent and empathetic, and has provided assistance to her peers in a variety of situations.
Juanita High School Student of the Month for January, Ria Mohan, told club members she is into language and visual arts, and wants to be a surgeon. She has applied to Brown University. She likes painting, drawing, and socializing, and plays the violin.
Program:
President Amy introduced our speaker, Katie Munoz of “Pitch Perfect”, whose topic is Serious to Hilarious. She teaches speakers and marketers how to be funny. The aim is to use humor and stories to get your audience’s attention and to drive home your message.
You need to perfect your “elevator pitch”. Ninety-plus percent of buying decisions are based more on emotions, but most sales and marketing pitches are fact-based. We all need to improve our pitches. Laughter produces happiness. Stories are very effective at engaging the attention of your audience. She engaged a number of attendees in scenarios that illustrated the power of emotions and stories to engage an audience.
Requirements for a Great Pitch:
- Grab attention with a story.
- Generate emotion with the story.
- End with a call for action.
Humor can be found anywhere. When things go wrong, a sudden surprise is useful.
President Amy told us that next week’s meeting will be Zoom-only, starting at 6:00 p.m. She wants EVERYONE there so we can make decisions about meeting location, frequency, etc.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 6:42 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dave Aubry, Acting Scribe