Gratitude

Prepared speeches

Jason pulled double duty as both Meeting Manager and the evening’s first speaker. His speech “My First Bank Check” took the audience back to a formative moment in his life. The chat lit up mid-speech with a memorable quip: “Jason’s first French kiss.” The next day, someone in the foodie group connected Jason’s story with Tao’s: “和 tao 有的拼.”

Tao’s speech “I Care About How I Look (and You)” explored personal appearance and self-presentation. The day before, Tao had been cramming: “开始背稿！” he announced in the group after sharing prep notes with a friend who helped him get ready. During the speech, Brownie reacted with “I love my shirt !” in the chat.

Table Topics

Anna hosted the Table Topics session, keeping the same theme as the meeting: Gratitude. She had prepared a dedicated slide deck for the occasion, sharing it in the group before the meeting started.

Behind the scenes

Jason wore many hats that evening. Before the meeting, he called out in the group: “tao…你开车,” rounding up rides to the venue. When he floated the idea of someone else taking the president’s chair, Tracy shot back: “你不是主席吗？要辞职啊？还是被弹劾了啦？” Jason’s answer: both.

The Grammarian slot had been empty on every version of the agenda, but Kevin stepped up on the spot during the meeting. Becky invited him into the group chat right after.