Meeting, Thursday, December 10, 2009 - Middlesex Community College, Room 808 D, Middletown, CT Middlesex Toastmasters Club #8340
Another Great Meeting!!
Middlesex Toastmasters held our final meeting of 2009 last night.
As usual it was full of growth, leadership and inspiration.
Our theme was "THE SPIRIT OF GIVING"!
In spite of the fact that our last meeting was just a week ago and members are busy preparing for the holidays twelve members and one guest attended:
Amy Alvord (guest)
Tom Alvord
Ana Bowman
Anne Marie Cannata
Craig Fresher
Charnaie Gordon
John Keppler
Cheryl Mason
Pam Mulready
Ramesh Padavala
Murali Pemmaraju
Pete Plotica
Arun Sodani
Everyone had a chance to participate:
Our able SAA Pete opened the meeting on time and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance
President Cheryl inspired us with humor, a pep talk and announcements.
VP Ed Charnaie Gordon enlivened us with details of upcoming events and
Toastmaster Arun Sodani introduced everyone, kept the meeting moving in his famous well organized style and shared his friendly smile with all.
As the invocator Arun also got us started with a wonderful message in keeping with the giving theme: that "we are blessed by our history"
Our Wordmaster Cheryl introduced us to the Word of the Day: LACONIC which was used by four people during the meeting.
Table Topics Master Craig had us all talk about giving and receiving
Humorist Tom had us laugh about a goat.
We were treated to outstanding Icebreakers from two of our newest members.
Ana Bowman presented "Sweet Potato Pie" about growing up with her big family and surviving and thriving as the only girl among 9 brothers and Murali Pemmaraju fascinated us with his stories of growing up in India , his thrill at being accepted as a Mechanical Engineering student at Texas A & M, designing meat processing machines at Jarvis in Middltown, and his joy that he doesn't have to see the meat since he is a vegetarian.
Charnaie treated us with her speech about the competition between her two favorite loves: dog and husband. (Which is first? She didn't say)
Cheryl inspired us with her third Ice Breaker about valuable insights she gained from an interview with a young woman who came to her for advice.
As General Evaluator Pam Mulready lead us through reports and evaluations:
Craig evaluated Ana's Icebreaker
Pam evaluated Murali's Icebreaker
Cheryl evaluated Charnaie's speech
Pete evaluated Cheryl's Icebreaker
Pete provided the Grammarian report, Charnaie the Ah counter report and Ramesh was our Timer.
Arun invited our guest Amy to comment on the meeting and she said it was the best one of the four she's attended.
A great time was had by all!
Upcoming events:
· Dec 24 - The 4th Thursday of December - Christmas Eve - no meeting.
· January 7 - Speech-a-thon with Cromwell Community Toastmasters Club.
· February 6th Bowling – Use the duty roster to sign up!
· Club Contest: March 11
· Open House: March 25
Tom Alvord – substitute secretary December 11, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Meeting, Thursday, December 3, 2009 - Luther Ridge, 628 Congdon Street, Middletown, CT Middlesex Toastmasters Club #8340
Our meeting last night was held at Luther Ridge in Middletown; all were warmly greeted and welcomed by the staff. A hearty thank you to Tom Alvord for making this arrangement possible for our club!
Members in attendance: Ana Bowman, Ron Brunelle, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyaplan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason (Area B2 Governor), Pam Mulready, Deb Nason, Dianne Olsen, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Pete Plotica, Kim Price, Rob Schaff (Area 5 Governor), and Arun Sodani. Guests: Paul Randolph (C2 Area Governor and member of the Air Line Club in Colchester), and Paul Rice (a friend of member Ann-Marie Cannata).
President Cheryl Mason began our meeting with the introduction of “Drew” the traveling gavel, which was recaptured Wednesday at the Stag Club Meeting in downtown Hartford by Charnaie, Cheryl, Michael O'Brien, and Arun.
Other announcements by Cheryl:
· Saturday, December 12th will be the Officers’ Training in Manchester
· Take a look at our Middlesex club website, freetoasthost sites have had new formatting changes.
· Take a look at the District 53 website; there have been changes made in the format giving it a new look and feel
Vice President of Education, Charnaie Gordon also mentioned some upcoming announcements:
· Our Club is holding a Speech-A-Thon in conjunction with the Cromwell Club on Thursday, January 7th from 7-9 pm. We currently have 5 speakers from our club signed up. Pizza will be served (a small donation will be asked).
· The Club Speech Contest (International and Tall Tales Contest) will be held March 11th. Speakers, evaluators, judges, etc. will be needed
· Club Open House Event will be Thursday, March 25th at Middlesex Community College. Keynote Speaker will be Jerry Aiyathurai, winner of the District 53 Fall Conference.
Meeting
Kay Jeyaplan was the Toastmaster; her theme was “Unleash Your Potential.” She inspired us with readings and quotes taken from the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins.
TableTopics Master, Charnaie, led us with the theme, “Maximize Your Potential.” Mini speeches were given by Kim, Arun, Ana, Pam, John and Ramesh. In addition, both of our guests, Paul Randolph and Paul Rice also participated.
Speakers
It was wonderful to listen to the speeches and see the development of all the speakers.
Rob Schaff did an unusual “off the cuff” speech in which he submitted a list of 5 possible speeches he could do and his evaluator randomly chose one of them at the beginning of the meeting. He did one entitled, “Time Management.”
Deborah Nason spoke on “A Day Trip to France”, with a descriptive speech that made you feel like you were there.
Ron Brunelle spoke with authority on “Our Economic System, does it work?”
Cheryl Mason let her body speak out with her speech “Tuesday Afternoon.”
Evaluators
General Evaluator, Arun Sodani
Speech evaluators were as follows:
Dianne Olsen for Rob (her first evaluation)
Cheryl Mason for Deb
John Keppler for Ron
Ana Bowman for Cheryl (her first evaluation)
Arun Sodani gave an exceptional overall evaluation of the meeting. John commented that it was the “most complete general evaluation” ever done at our Club.
Other Roles
Invocator: Charnaie
Humorist: Murali
Word of the Day: Pam, “MNEMONIC”
Grammarian: Pam
Ah Counter: Deb
Timer: Pete
Toastmaster, Kay, made a final comment on an article that was in the December Cromwell/Middletown Chronicle about Cheryl receiving the Triple Crown at the District 53 Conference! If you get a chance, read it!
President Cheryl closed by asking our two guests to give us their impressions of the meeting, and they provided very positive feedback. We hope to see them again! The meeting was closed on time.
Our meeting last night was held at Luther Ridge in Middletown; all were warmly greeted and welcomed by the staff. A hearty thank you to Tom Alvord for making this arrangement possible for our club!
Members in attendance: Ana Bowman, Ron Brunelle, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyaplan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason (Area B2 Governor), Pam Mulready, Deb Nason, Dianne Olsen, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Pete Plotica, Kim Price, Rob Schaff (Area 5 Governor), and Arun Sodani. Guests: Paul Randolph (C2 Area Governor and member of the Air Line Club in Colchester), and Paul Rice (a friend of member Ann-Marie Cannata).
President Cheryl Mason began our meeting with the introduction of “Drew” the traveling gavel, which was recaptured Wednesday at the Stag Club Meeting in downtown Hartford by Charnaie, Cheryl, Michael O'Brien, and Arun.
Other announcements by Cheryl:
· Saturday, December 12th will be the Officers’ Training in Manchester
· Take a look at our Middlesex club website, freetoasthost sites have had new formatting changes.
· Take a look at the District 53 website; there have been changes made in the format giving it a new look and feel
Vice President of Education, Charnaie Gordon also mentioned some upcoming announcements:
· Our Club is holding a Speech-A-Thon in conjunction with the Cromwell Club on Thursday, January 7th from 7-9 pm. We currently have 5 speakers from our club signed up. Pizza will be served (a small donation will be asked).
· The Club Speech Contest (International and Tall Tales Contest) will be held March 11th. Speakers, evaluators, judges, etc. will be needed
· Club Open House Event will be Thursday, March 25th at Middlesex Community College. Keynote Speaker will be Jerry Aiyathurai, winner of the District 53 Fall Conference.
Meeting
Kay Jeyaplan was the Toastmaster; her theme was “Unleash Your Potential.” She inspired us with readings and quotes taken from the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins.
TableTopics Master, Charnaie, led us with the theme, “Maximize Your Potential.” Mini speeches were given by Kim, Arun, Ana, Pam, John and Ramesh. In addition, both of our guests, Paul Randolph and Paul Rice also participated.
Speakers
It was wonderful to listen to the speeches and see the development of all the speakers.
Rob Schaff did an unusual “off the cuff” speech in which he submitted a list of 5 possible speeches he could do and his evaluator randomly chose one of them at the beginning of the meeting. He did one entitled, “Time Management.”
Deborah Nason spoke on “A Day Trip to France”, with a descriptive speech that made you feel like you were there.
Ron Brunelle spoke with authority on “Our Economic System, does it work?”
Cheryl Mason let her body speak out with her speech “Tuesday Afternoon.”
Evaluators
General Evaluator, Arun Sodani
Speech evaluators were as follows:
Dianne Olsen for Rob (her first evaluation)
Cheryl Mason for Deb
John Keppler for Ron
Ana Bowman for Cheryl (her first evaluation)
Arun Sodani gave an exceptional overall evaluation of the meeting. John commented that it was the “most complete general evaluation” ever done at our Club.
Other Roles
Invocator: Charnaie
Humorist: Murali
Word of the Day: Pam, “MNEMONIC”
Grammarian: Pam
Ah Counter: Deb
Timer: Pete
Toastmaster, Kay, made a final comment on an article that was in the December Cromwell/Middletown Chronicle about Cheryl receiving the Triple Crown at the District 53 Conference! If you get a chance, read it!
President Cheryl closed by asking our two guests to give us their impressions of the meeting, and they provided very positive feedback. We hope to see them again! The meeting was closed on time.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Gavel Drew back at Middlesex
Drew, the Division D Traveling Gavel, has been captured from the Stag Toastmasters Club #2908! Four members of the Middlesex County Toastmasters Club participated in the Stag Club Meeting on Wednesday 12/2 at noon in downtown Hartford. The meeting was a lot of fun!Shown here l to r: Charnaie Gordon, Cheryl Mason from Middlesex, Christina Dzenyuy from Stag, Michael O'Brien, and Arun Sodani from Middlesex.
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