Meeting Notes, August 26, 2010

The Middlesex County Toastmasters last met on Thursday, August 26.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Anthony Elder, Charnaie Gordon, Lawrence Gore, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jackie Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Erin Mulhern, Pam Mulready, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Jeannette White.

Guests: Alfredo Herreira, Udaya Neelam (Area C-5 Governor).

Business Meeting: Charnaie has updated us on how our club is “Branching Out” in the Distinguished Club Program. So far, we have three points for the year.

Our September – December meetings will be held at Middlesex Community College, starting on September 9th. Our October 28th meeting location is TBD.

There is an officers’ meeting on October 5th, at the Russell Library from 6:30-8pm. Club members are encouraged to give any feedback to a club officer prior to the meeting.

Club dues are up for renewal in September. Renewals for the October – March period are $33 ($27 to Toastmasters International and $6 retained for the club). Also, 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. Please note: Checks should be made payable to the Middlesex County College Foundation. John is collecting both the club dues and the collection for the college foundation.

We will have a special guest speaker at our next meeting on September 9th. Jerry Theodorou, a trained opera singer, will be giving us techniques on how we can more effectively use our voices. Toastmasters from all over the district have been invited and we hope to have a packed house!

Tom spoke about our upcoming hike at Wadsworth State Park on Sunday, September 12th, from 1-3pm. It will be about three miles long. Toastmasters from Holy Apostles, Cromwell, Eagle, and Cheshire Toastmasters have been invited to join us, so we should have lots of company on a fun day. Anyone interested or needing more information should see Tom.

Our mentoring program coordinator, Pam, passed out a survey for prospective mentors/mentees. These surveys should be returned to Pam as soon as possible.

Our VPE, Kay, spoke about the Humorous and Evaluation contests, which will be held on September 23rd. A chief judge, timers, ballot counters, and a sergeant at arms are needed. To sign up for one of these roles, please go to 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, at the Village of South Farms. It will be a “speechathon” meeting, with up to eight speakers. Signups are now available on the club website.

Tom Alvord was the evening’s Toastmaster.

Erin presented the Word of the Day, “inchoate”, meaning not yet completed or fully developed, rudimentary, just begun, incipient, not organized.

Our Invocator, John, told us “life is about expectations”, and reminded us how our positive and negative expectations affect what happens in our lives.

Our Humorist (and new member), Jackie, gave us many great examples of just how bizarre the English language really is at times. She had us rolling with laughter.

Our Table Topics Master, Charnaie, asked “If your fill in blank could talk, what it would it say about your ___________?” Lawrence was asked about his stove, our guest Udaya his brain, and Rob his phone. Sally was asked about her hair, our guest Alfredo his wardrobe, and Siva his eyes. Murali was asked about his pen, and Michael Nicastre was asked about his stomach.

Prepared Speeches:

Jennifer’s speech answered the question, “Who the heck were the Mansfields?” and was evaluated by Udaya.

Anthony wowed us with his Icebreaker, “Disadvantage to Advantage”. His speech was evaluated by John.

Pam presented her seventh speech, “Angry? Don’t get Even…Get Speaking!, which gave very effective anger management techniques and dispelled a myth or two. Her speech was evaluated by Cheryl.

Michael O’Brien’s speech, “30 Days to Success”, was evaluated by Erin.

The General Evaluator was Rob. He commented on how much he liked John’s invocation, adding that if you expect a good meeting, you will get one (and we did!). He praised club members for being willing to step up and fill in, noting that Tom stepped in as Toastmaster at the last minute. Rob also noted Charnaie’s excellent Table Topics questions, saying it was terrific to learn so much about our club members. He also commended the speech evaluators.

Our technicians were Jeanette as Timer, Kay as Grammarian, and Ramesh as Ah Counter.

Kay presented Anthony and Jackie with their new member pins. She also presented Ice Breaker candies to Anthony – along with congratulations on an excellent speech.

Guest comments: Alfredo used the words, “wonderful” and “animated” to describe the meeting.

Udaya said it was a pleasure to be there, adding comments on how well organized the meeting was, and energetic.

The meeting concluded shortly after 9pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club