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