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