Meeting July 9, 2009 - Village at South Farms

Middlesex Toastmasters # 8340

Happy New Year!
This was our first meeting of the new Toastmasters year (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010).

We celebrated in style with festive hats, blowouts, balloons, and lots of yummy snacks and drinks! We were also treated to a wonderful homemade chocolate cake in the shape of a bicycle to match our District 53 theme for the New Year . . . thanks to Ute.
A special thanks to everyone that contributed to the festivities!

Meeting Attendees:
Charnaie, Craig, Deborah, Pete, Rob, Michael, Emily, Nancy, Jennifer, Tom, Rose Rita, Kim, Ron, Tom, Ute, Cheryl, Ashley

Guests
Rose Rita Riccitelli (past member of Middlesex)
Ute Brinkmann (past member of Middlesex)
Ashley Mason (Cheryl's 11 year old daughter)

The meeting theme was carried throughout the evening – thoughts of a New Year, a time of renewal, new challenges, resolutions, etc.

Business Meeting

Cheryl presented a vision for the club, focusing on member success and club excellence.
"Foster Aces" is the vision for the New Year. Stay tuned for more to come . ..


Also noted upcoming events – see below.

Cheryl brought "Drew" to the meeting before it gets captured! (see below)

Kim was presented with a ribbon "Award of Excellence" for his recent achievement of Advanced Communicator Gold, ACG. Way to go, Kim! He wore the ribbon on his pocket throughout the evening and it matched his pink party hat rather nicely!

Already we are making great progress toward "Distinguished Club Program" DCP goals!

Tom presented the idea of a "Variety Show" at the Village at South Farms to provide the residents there with entertainment as a way of giving back. They have been very accommodating with providing us a club meeting location during the summer and at other times when we've requested.

Calling all volunteers!

You are invited to . . .
sing a song, play an instrument, recite a poem, present a magic trick, give a 1-5 minute talk on a subject of your choice for which you may receive credit in your manual, present some photos, illustrate your hobby, tell a story, or come up with your own idea!
Most presentations will be 1-5 minutes in length.

The date will be sometime in October, specifics are being finalized. It may be held on a Thu. evening when we don't have a regularly scheduled meeting.

Please contact Tom Alvord tabangoman@yahoo.com and offer your support!

Charnaie handed out "Member Interest Survey" forms so that we can all provide feedback regarding goals, interests, and any suggestions for improving our club.
Charnaie was first-time Toastmaster, and the planning and organization that went into the meeting was apparent. She also brought professional looking laminated role cards that were used by those serving in roles. Charnaie provided remarks about the New Year theme and transitioned between the various parts of the meeting very nicely (as mentioned by our GE!)

Charnaie also encouraged us to try to challenge ourselves, try out new roles, and push ourselves out of our "comfort zone."

Nancy provided our Invocation (tied in nicely with our theme)
Ron provided us with a humorous story (we were picturing that horse!)
Craig provided the word of the day, "dogmatic," meaning rigid, unbending, fixed
Emily provided excellent Table Topics, involved members and guests, and tied the topics in nicely with our theme for the evening. There were thought provoking questions, and interesting
responses!
Deborah was our Grammarian (pointed out noteworthy phrases, word structures, etc.)
Craig was the Ah Counter
Cheryl was the Timer
Tom was our General Evaluator

Four excellent speeches were given –

· Rob had us in "stitches" with his humorous speech about teenager communications, all with a "hopeful" tone!

· Jennifer used awesome gestures with her speech, "to Whom Much is Given, Much is Expected"

· Deborah enlightened us with her "Human Tuning Fork" speech
· Ron broke the ice with his very first speech – and demonstrated great presence at the podium!

Our evaluators, Michael, Pete, Kim, and Rob all did a great job providing thoughtful feedback regarding the speeches.

Tom provided thorough feedback as General Evaluator, commenting on things that worked well with the meeting, as well as areas for improvement.

A few points:

Suggest that each person filling a role be prepared to give a short mini-speech regarding their role regardless of whether there are any guests in the audience or not, use it as an opportunity for "stage time"

Consider dropping the "objectives of the speech" given by the evaluator before each speech. Several other members agreed that this seems awkward and doesn't always fit nicely with the flow of a speech introduction. We will consider dropping this practice.

Ron was presented with a very nice "Ice Breaker Mints" medallion to wear around his neck by our VPE, Charnaie (see picture).

Meeting agenda was quite full, and Charnaie kept us moving along; we ended right on time at 9:00 p.m.

Upcoming Events: -

July 23rd – Guests from Stag Toastmasters are coming to "capture" Drew, a gavel we have had for the last year!
July 30th – Extra Club Meeting at Russell Library
August 10th – Club Officers Meeting at Russell Library
August 12-15 – Toastmasters International Convention, MGM Grand, Foxwoods Casino
September 10 – Club Contest - Humorous & Evaluation
October 8 – Guest Speaker Regarding Speech Evaluations - Kevin Wortman
October (specific date tbd) – Variety Show for Village at South Farms
November 7 – District Fall Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY