THE OLYMPIC CLUB

Seattle • Established 1942

Conversation • Fellowship • Public Speaking

Thursday, One Long Table

Every Thursday, twenty-some people sit down to lunch at one long table in Seattle.

A question is posed. Each member has ninety seconds to answer - no notes, no preparation, no echoes. Two speeches, followed by honest applause and honest advice. Then comes the conversation. Riveting, and nobody leaves early.

We take turns with all the parts. Toastmaster. Topic Master. Speaker. Critic.

The Olympic Club has been doing this since 1942, eighty of those years inside the Rainier Club.

We are a club of people who believe that how we talk to each other matters - perhaps now more than ever.

In troubled times, what we need most is to listen.

We live in an age of shouting. Of hot takes and cold shoulders. Of algorithms that feed us certainty and starve us of nuance. We retreat into echo chambers where every voice agrees with our own.

The Olympic Club exists as a counterweight.

Every Thursday at lunch, we gather — in person, face to face — to practice extemporaneous speaking, deliver prepared speeches, give and receive honest critique, and close with the kind of active, rare conversation that deepens real friendship.

This is not a debate club. This is not a networking event. This is a place for the kind of conversation that actually changes us.

THE OLYMPIC CLUB

Thursdays at 12:30pm · 4101 Airport Way S, Seattle, WA 98108

gajohnso@gmail.com · Est. 1942