Hello, Fellow Toastmasters! We had another terrific meeting on June 24th. The tone was set by Cheryl and Ashley Mason, who brought a wonderful assortment of snacks and beverages to celebrate the last meeting of the Toastmasters year.
Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jay Broderick, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Richard Graniero, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason, Pam Mulready, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Pete Plotica, Rob Schaff, Jeannette White
Guests: Ute Brinkmann (2009-2010 Area Governor C1, 2010-2011 President, Eagle Toastmasters Wallingford, Ashley Mason, Udaya Neelam (2010-2011 Area C5 Governor), Sharon Roth (2009-2010 District Webmaster, 2010-2011 VPE, Cheshire Toastmasters).
Business Meeting: Cheryl began the business meeting with a recap of the 2009-2010 year, highlighting educational awards achieved by club members, special events through the year, visitors and new member counts, and much more. Outgoing officers Cheryl, Charnaie, Michael, Kay, Dianne Olsen, John, Pete, and Rob have much to be proud of, with the club once again achieving President’s Distinguished Club status! Cheryl called up all of this year's officers to the front of the room, thanked them, presented them with a gift and officially discharged them. Charnaie and Kay were presented with Outstanding Toastmaster awards—well deserved recognition, to be sure.
The 2010-2011 officers were inducted: President, Charnaie Gordon; VP Education, Kay Jeyapalan; VP Membership, Murali Pemmaraju; VP Public Relations, Rob Schaff; Secretary, Jen Cimilluca; Treasurer, John Keppler; Sergeant at Arms, Ramesh Padavala.
Our July meetings will be held at the Village of South Farms at 645 Saybrook Road, Middletown (July 8th) and Luther Ridge at 624 Congdon Street West (July 22nd).
Cheryl was our Toastmaster for the evening.
Siva presented our Word of the Day, “Ebullience”, lively or enthusiastic expression. Charnaie was our Invocator, and gave us very powerful words on the power of words. Kay entertained us with a joke with landmines as the punchline (honest!) and a moral, “Behind every man is a smart woman.” John was our Table Topics Master, with questions for Tom, Jeannette, Rich, Rob, and Udaya.
Prepared Speeches:
Richard presented his Icebreaker, and shared his life story from the Army to medical school, to today. His speech was evaluated by Ramesh.
Jay also presented his Icebreaker, and told us how he hiked the Appalachian Trail (all 2,000+ miles!) in 2003. His speech was evaluated by Tom.
Pam told us all about her “Misadventures with Moe” (her car) in a speech using vocal variety, evaluated by Rob.
Murali’s speech was entitled “Using our Brain”, with the objective “Research Your Topic”. His speech was evaluated by Michael.
The General Evaluator was Jennifer Cimilluca. Other roles were filled by Ute (Timer), Sharon (Grammarian), and Kay (Ah Counter).
Sharon gave us a Two-Minute Tutorial on “Setting a Goal and Reaching It in 10 Easy Steps” (see attached).
Meeting Closing: Charnaie presented Richard and Jay “Icebreaker” candies in recognition of giving their Icebreaker speeches. Murali was presented with his official Half CC certificate. Congratulations, Richard, Jay, and Murali!
There will be an Executive Meeting on July 13th. The meeting is open to club officers only, but members with feedback or suggestions can bring them to any officer for discussion at the meeting.
We will have a special guest speaker on September 9th. Jerry Theodorou, a trained opera singer, will be giving us techniques on how we can more effectively use our voices.
Dianne and Tom have done an excellent job with our Club Mentoring program, and volunteers are needed for the new year. Anyone interested should see Kay, Charnaie, Tom, or Dianne for more information.
Charnaie presented Cheryl with a card and plaque in recognition for all of her hard work and dedication in making the club so successful in the last year. Kudos to Cheryl!
Kay announced that the Fall Speech contests will be on September 23rd. Contestants, timers, and judges will be needed for the Humorous and the Evaluation contests. Anyone interested can see Kay or sign up on the website.
The meeting was concluded by 9pm.
Please advise any errors or omissions.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca
Secretary, Middlesex County Toastmasters Club
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Meeting, Thursday, June 10, 2010 - Middlesex Community College, Room 808 D, Middletown, CT Middlesex Toastmasters Club #8340
Hello, Toastmasters!
Once again, we had a great meeting on June 10th!
Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Ashley Gasper, Charnaie Gordon, Lawrence Gore, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Erin Mulhern, Pam Mulready, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, Ramesh Padavala, Eric Roise.
Guests: Pat Lee (visiting from the Pflying Toasters Toastmasters/Pfizer club in Groton), Michael Nicastre, and Bill Pinckney (who is a professional speaker).
Business Meeting: Vice President Education Charnaie Gordon presented new members Siva Digavalli and Ashley Gasper with their membership pins to officially welcome them to the club.
A ribbon for our banner has arrived in recognition of the “Talk Up Toastmasters” award—and, our new banner stand has also just arrived.
Our July meetings will be held at the Village of South Farms at 645 Saybrook Road, Middletown (July 8th) and Luther Ridge at 624 Congdon Street West (July 22nd).
Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) Training will be held on June 26th from 9am – 1pm in Manchester, for club officers and any other interested members. More information can be found at the District 53 website http://www.district53toastmasters.org/
Jennifer Cimilluca was the Toastmaster for the evening. Erin Mulhern did double duty right from the start, introducing our word of the day “Regale”, and telling a humorous story about a mishap at the ATM. Our invocator Murali Pemmaraju brought us a very thoughtful story about Mahatma Gandhi, a young boy, and sugar, and how Gandhi wouldn’t give advice that he couldn’t follow himself.
Table Topics were presented by Anne-Marie Cannata, who gave Eric, Pat (our guest), Lawrence, Ashley, Bill (another of our guests), Sally, Siva, Murali, Erin, and Ramesh questions to answer about “LOVE”.
Prepared Speeches:
Sally Nicastre gave us the speech she will be giving to the Cromwell High School Class of 2010. There was a roundtable evaluation immediately following Sally’s speech, and her speech was formally evaluated by Erin Mulhern. Best of luck with the speech, Sally!
Ashley Gasper presented her Icebreaker, evaluated by Pam Mulready. Ashley did a great job, and we look forward to hearing more from her!
Lawrence gave an energetic and well-presented speech on the library and the many resources we can all find there. His speech was evaluated by Tom Alvord.
Rob Schaff gave a speech from the “Better Speaker Series” on beginning our speeches (see the handout, attached). Anne-Marie evaluated Rob’s speech.
The General Evaluator was Kay Jeyapalan, who commented how much she enjoyed Anne-Marie’s Table Topics, and the meeting overall.
Other Roles:
Timer: Michael O’Brien
Grammarian: Anne-Marie Cannata
“Ah Counter”: Pamela Mulready
Member Announcements: Tom Alvord announced that the art gallery at Luther Ridge will be presenting an exhibit called “Echoes from the Past” from now until July 16th, in honor of our veterans.
Meeting Closing: Charnaie presented Ashley with “Icebreaker” candies in recognition of giving her Icebreaker speech.
We will have a special guest speaker on September 9th. Jerry Theodorou, a trained opera singer, will be giving us techniques on how we can more effectively use our voices.
The new officers for the 2010-2011 Toastmasters year will be inducted at our next meeting, on June 24th.
One of our guests, Pat, commented that it was a “fantastic meeting.” Her club organizes their meetings differently, presenting Table Topics after the prepared speeches. Another guest, Bill, stated that he will be back on the 24th!
The meeting was concluded by 9pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club
Hello, Toastmasters!
Once again, we had a great meeting on June 10th!
Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Ashley Gasper, Charnaie Gordon, Lawrence Gore, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Erin Mulhern, Pam Mulready, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, Ramesh Padavala, Eric Roise.
Guests: Pat Lee (visiting from the Pflying Toasters Toastmasters/Pfizer club in Groton), Michael Nicastre, and Bill Pinckney (who is a professional speaker).
Business Meeting: Vice President Education Charnaie Gordon presented new members Siva Digavalli and Ashley Gasper with their membership pins to officially welcome them to the club.
A ribbon for our banner has arrived in recognition of the “Talk Up Toastmasters” award—and, our new banner stand has also just arrived.
Our July meetings will be held at the Village of South Farms at 645 Saybrook Road, Middletown (July 8th) and Luther Ridge at 624 Congdon Street West (July 22nd).
Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) Training will be held on June 26th from 9am – 1pm in Manchester, for club officers and any other interested members. More information can be found at the District 53 website http://www.district53toastmasters.org/
Jennifer Cimilluca was the Toastmaster for the evening. Erin Mulhern did double duty right from the start, introducing our word of the day “Regale”, and telling a humorous story about a mishap at the ATM. Our invocator Murali Pemmaraju brought us a very thoughtful story about Mahatma Gandhi, a young boy, and sugar, and how Gandhi wouldn’t give advice that he couldn’t follow himself.
Table Topics were presented by Anne-Marie Cannata, who gave Eric, Pat (our guest), Lawrence, Ashley, Bill (another of our guests), Sally, Siva, Murali, Erin, and Ramesh questions to answer about “LOVE”.
Prepared Speeches:
Sally Nicastre gave us the speech she will be giving to the Cromwell High School Class of 2010. There was a roundtable evaluation immediately following Sally’s speech, and her speech was formally evaluated by Erin Mulhern. Best of luck with the speech, Sally!
Ashley Gasper presented her Icebreaker, evaluated by Pam Mulready. Ashley did a great job, and we look forward to hearing more from her!
Lawrence gave an energetic and well-presented speech on the library and the many resources we can all find there. His speech was evaluated by Tom Alvord.
Rob Schaff gave a speech from the “Better Speaker Series” on beginning our speeches (see the handout, attached). Anne-Marie evaluated Rob’s speech.
The General Evaluator was Kay Jeyapalan, who commented how much she enjoyed Anne-Marie’s Table Topics, and the meeting overall.
Other Roles:
Timer: Michael O’Brien
Grammarian: Anne-Marie Cannata
“Ah Counter”: Pamela Mulready
Member Announcements: Tom Alvord announced that the art gallery at Luther Ridge will be presenting an exhibit called “Echoes from the Past” from now until July 16th, in honor of our veterans.
Meeting Closing: Charnaie presented Ashley with “Icebreaker” candies in recognition of giving her Icebreaker speech.
We will have a special guest speaker on September 9th. Jerry Theodorou, a trained opera singer, will be giving us techniques on how we can more effectively use our voices.
The new officers for the 2010-2011 Toastmasters year will be inducted at our next meeting, on June 24th.
One of our guests, Pat, commented that it was a “fantastic meeting.” Her club organizes their meetings differently, presenting Table Topics after the prepared speeches. Another guest, Bill, stated that he will be back on the 24th!
The meeting was concluded by 9pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
May 27 Meeting
Greetings, Toastmasters!
Last Thursday, we had a terrific meeting.
Members Present: Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason, Erin Mulhern, Deborah Nason, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Peter Plotica, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, and Arun Sodani.
Guests: Siva Digavalli, Rich Graniero, and Mike Nicastre (Siva and Rich joined by the end of the evening).
Business Meeting: President Cheryl Mason opened the meeting by presenting our newest member, Jay Broderick, with his membership pin. Welcome, Jay!
The District 53 Spring Conference was held on Saturday, 5/22 at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. Eight Middlesex County Toastmasters were present, which Cheryl thought was likely the most of any club at the Conference. Though it was a long day, the educational sessions were excellent (the best ever, Rob added) and the contests were great!
Our club was recognized at the Conference for achieving “The Talk Up Toastmasters” award and Distinguished Club status. Cheryl also had quite a day, presenting the invocation at the evening’s dinner, and was elected Division C Governor for 2010-2011 (Congratulations, Cheryl!)
Our July meetings will be held at the Village of South Farms at 645 Saybrook Road, Middletown (July 8th) and Luther Ridge at 624 Congdon Street West (July 22nd).
We will be having a walk at Wadsworth Falls State Park on Saturday, June 5th, from 10am – 12pm. You can sign yourself up, along with any guests you would like to bring, on the club website.
The 2010-2011 Middlesex County Toastmasters Officers were elected. Area Governor and MxCT Immediate Past President, Rob Schaff, nominated the following slate:
President: Charnaie Gordon
VP of Education: Kay Jeyapalan
VP of Membership: Murali Pemmaraju
VP of Public Relations: Rob Schaff
Secretary: Jen Cimilluca
Treasurer: John Keppler
Sergeant at Arms: Ramesh Padavala
These officers were elected as nominated, and will serve from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2011. They will be inducted at our last meeting of the year, on June 24th.
Kim Price was our Toastmaster for the evening, and it sure was lively!
Our humorist was Charnaie Gordon, following by an invocation on thought by Anne-Marie Cannata, with quotes that were themselves thought provoking. An abbreviated Table Topics session was led by Rob Schaff, who asked Arun, John, Pete, Kay, and Mike on their thoughts about their terms as club officers, and what advice they had for those officers newly elected.
Prepared Speeches:
Murali Pemmaraju, Mother Theresa (evaluated by Ramesh Padavala)
Anne-Marie Cannata, A Quick Lesson on the Law of Attraction (evaluated by Erin Mulhern)
Erin Mulhern, Practice Safe Baking (evaluated by Anne-Marie)
Jen Cimilluca, Umbrellas (evaluated by Michael O’Brien)
The General Evaluator was Cheryl Mason.
Other Roles:
Word of the Day: Charnaie Gordon (“moxie”)
Timer: Peter Plotica
Grammarian: Deborah Nason
“Ah Counter”: Sally Nicastre
Member Announcements: Pete Plotica announced that the art gallery at Luther Ridge will be presenting an exhibit called “Echoes from the Past” from now until July 16th, in honor of our veterans.
Anne-Marie announced that speech practice opportunities are available at the Buttonwood on Monday nights. Open mike starts at 8pm with sign-ups beginning at 7:30pm.
The meeting was concluded by 9pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club
Last Thursday, we had a terrific meeting.
Members Present: Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason, Erin Mulhern, Deborah Nason, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Peter Plotica, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, and Arun Sodani.
Guests: Siva Digavalli, Rich Graniero, and Mike Nicastre (Siva and Rich joined by the end of the evening).
Business Meeting: President Cheryl Mason opened the meeting by presenting our newest member, Jay Broderick, with his membership pin. Welcome, Jay!
The District 53 Spring Conference was held on Saturday, 5/22 at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. Eight Middlesex County Toastmasters were present, which Cheryl thought was likely the most of any club at the Conference. Though it was a long day, the educational sessions were excellent (the best ever, Rob added) and the contests were great!
Our club was recognized at the Conference for achieving “The Talk Up Toastmasters” award and Distinguished Club status. Cheryl also had quite a day, presenting the invocation at the evening’s dinner, and was elected Division C Governor for 2010-2011 (Congratulations, Cheryl!)
Our July meetings will be held at the Village of South Farms at 645 Saybrook Road, Middletown (July 8th) and Luther Ridge at 624 Congdon Street West (July 22nd).
We will be having a walk at Wadsworth Falls State Park on Saturday, June 5th, from 10am – 12pm. You can sign yourself up, along with any guests you would like to bring, on the club website.
The 2010-2011 Middlesex County Toastmasters Officers were elected. Area Governor and MxCT Immediate Past President, Rob Schaff, nominated the following slate:
President: Charnaie Gordon
VP of Education: Kay Jeyapalan
VP of Membership: Murali Pemmaraju
VP of Public Relations: Rob Schaff
Secretary: Jen Cimilluca
Treasurer: John Keppler
Sergeant at Arms: Ramesh Padavala
These officers were elected as nominated, and will serve from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2011. They will be inducted at our last meeting of the year, on June 24th.
Kim Price was our Toastmaster for the evening, and it sure was lively!
Our humorist was Charnaie Gordon, following by an invocation on thought by Anne-Marie Cannata, with quotes that were themselves thought provoking. An abbreviated Table Topics session was led by Rob Schaff, who asked Arun, John, Pete, Kay, and Mike on their thoughts about their terms as club officers, and what advice they had for those officers newly elected.
Prepared Speeches:
Murali Pemmaraju, Mother Theresa (evaluated by Ramesh Padavala)
Anne-Marie Cannata, A Quick Lesson on the Law of Attraction (evaluated by Erin Mulhern)
Erin Mulhern, Practice Safe Baking (evaluated by Anne-Marie)
Jen Cimilluca, Umbrellas (evaluated by Michael O’Brien)
The General Evaluator was Cheryl Mason.
Other Roles:
Word of the Day: Charnaie Gordon (“moxie”)
Timer: Peter Plotica
Grammarian: Deborah Nason
“Ah Counter”: Sally Nicastre
Member Announcements: Pete Plotica announced that the art gallery at Luther Ridge will be presenting an exhibit called “Echoes from the Past” from now until July 16th, in honor of our veterans.
Anne-Marie announced that speech practice opportunities are available at the Buttonwood on Monday nights. Open mike starts at 8pm with sign-ups beginning at 7:30pm.
The meeting was concluded by 9pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club
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