Meeting Notes - August 12

We had a great meeting on Thursday, August 12th at the Village of South Farms. Many thanks to our Sergeant at Arms, Ramesh Padavala, for arranging for us to be in the Village’s “Show Room”. It was a very nice room for our meeting.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Craig Fresher, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, Cristina Johnson, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason, Erin Mulhern, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Pete Plotica, Kim Price, Arun Sodani, Gary Torello, Jeannette White.

Guests: Jackie Kirwan (who joined the club after the meeting), Steven Monahan, Amanda Roczniak.

Business Meeting: Charnaie gave an overview of our club’s progress in the Distinguished Club Program. Our club has earned DCP status in each of the last five years, and with four new members, we have earned another point (3 points for the year, of a possible ten).

Our club earned the “Beat the Clock” award for having five new members join the club in the last two months of the Toastmasters year (from May 1st – June 30th). A new ribbon for the club banner is on its way.

Our next meeting (August 26th) will be held at Luther Ridge at 628 Congdon Street West. We will be back at Middlesex Community College on September 9th. We will have a special guest speaker at that meeting. Jerry Theodorou, a trained opera singer, will be giving us techniques on how we can more effectively use our voices. The September 23rd and October 14th meetings will be at the college, and our October 28th meeting location is TBD.

We are taking up a collection to thank Middlesex Community College for allowing us to use meeting space there. MxCC’s Greg Klein will be coming to our September 23rd meeting to accept the donation. Any members interesting in donating can see John. Please note: Checks should be made payable to the Middlesex County College Foundation.

Tom told us all to “Take a Hike”! We will be having a hike at Wadsworth State Park on Sunday, September 12th, from 1-3pm. It will be about three miles long. Anyone interested or needing more information should see Tom.

Gary and Cristina were presented with their new member pins and officially welcomed to the club!

Our VPE, Kay, spoke about the Humorous and Evaluation contests, which will be held on September 23rd. Kay will be the contest chair. A chief judge, timers, ballot counters, and a sergeant at arms are needed (signups available on the club website). Contest judges are also needed—please email Kay if you are interested in being a judge.

We will having an extra meeting on September 30th. It will be a “speechathon” meeting, with up to eight speakers. Signups are now available on the club website. Location TBD.

Michael O’Brien was the evening’s Toastmaster. The theme for the meeting was “Relaxing and Enjoying the Summer” and over the course of the evening, Michael offered some of his own ideas—exercise, trying something new (he practices the piano), and relaxing with a nature CD—and some ideas from the evening’s speakers.

Michael Nicastre presented the Word of the Day, “umbrage”, which means “offense, resentment”.

Our Invocator, Anne-Marie, gave us a moving quote from Neale Donald Walsch about “the grandest version of the greatest vision you ever had about yourself.”

Our Humorist, Siva, told us a true story about father-daughter time – be very careful if your daughter offers you some tea!

Our Table Topics Master, Pete, brought a basket of coins. He asked our members and guests to pick one and talk about whatever happened (personally or historically) the year the coin was minted. Called up were John (1990), Jeannette (2002), Kim (1975), Gary (1986), Cristina (1997), and our guests Steven (1983), Jackie (1970), and Amanda (1965). Great idea, Pete!

Prepared Speeches:

Michael Nicastre presented his Ice Breaker, “The Real Impact of Mentoring on a Life,” evaluated by Cheryl.

Erin spoke about a new veterinary diagnosis technique for “foot and mouth” disease. Her speech was evaluated by Craig.

Charnaie’s speech gave helpful tips about preparedness, based on her training and experience as a Red Cross volunteer. “When Disaster Strikes” was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Kay presented “Evaluate to Motivate” from the Toastmasters’ Successful Club Series. The speech was evaluated by Arun.

The General Evaluator was Tom. He commented how much he enjoys our meetings, and how much fun they are. He praised the evening’s Toastmaster, Michael O’Brien, for the meeting’s theme and excellent preparation.

The technicians were Murali (Timer), Jen (Grammarian), and Sally (Ah Counter).

Guest comments: Jackie said the meeting was everything she expected, and more. She was very glad she came.

Amanda said that she expected to come back again.

Steven found it enjoyable, said he liked it a lot, and hoped to be back.

Kay gave Ice Breaker candies to Michael Nicastre, with well deserved congratulations.

Craig was presented with his “Half CC certificate” for having completed five speeches. Congratulations, Craig!

The meeting concluded by 9pm.

Please advise any errors or omissions.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary