September 9 - Meeting Notes

The Middlesex County Toastmasters welcomed many guests and a special speaker, Jerry Theodorou, to our meeting on Thursday, September 9th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Anthony Elder, Charnaie Gordon, Erik Jarboe, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jackie Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Pam Mulready, Deborah Nason, Michael Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Pete Plotica, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani.

Guests: Venessa Bromell, Christopher Cargnel, Gail Freeman, Norris Haynes, Kristoffer Jensen, Jessica Maxan, Abhijit Mhetre, Ewa Nowale, Frances Ocansey, Murugan Pachaiyappan (a former Mx County Toastmaster), Dave Pelland, Kasia Polak, Paul Rice, Barakah White.

Business Meeting: Charnaie welcomed our many guests, and Erik (a returning member) was given a new member pin and welcomed back. Charnaie gave us an update on how our club is progressing in the Distinguished Club Program. So far, we have three points for the year.

We are back to meeting at Middlesex Community College, with two exceptions in the near future: we have an extra “speech-a-thon meeting” on September 30th at the Village of South Farms, and our October 28th meeting location is still TBD.

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

On November 11th, we will be having another special guest. Isaak Gelbinovich will be presenting "Storytelling Secrets of the Masters".

Our VPE, Kay, spoke about the Humorous and Evaluation contests, which will be held at our next meeting on September 23rd. Timers and ballot counters are needed (sign ups available for these roles on the club website). Contest judges are also needed—please email Kay if you are interested in being a judge.

Our mentoring program coordinator, Pam, reminded us she is still collecting surveys for prospective mentors/mentees. Those members interested in being a mentor should have already given three speeches.

Charnaie was our evening’s Toastmaster.

Meeting:

Jackie did probably the most thorough presentation of the Word of the Day the club has ever seen. “Malapropism” means usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase.

Our Invocator, Pam, gave us words of wisdom from a new client she had met earlier that day.

Our Humorist Tom had us laughing over a teenager scoring a great truck at a naughty husband’s expense.

Our Table Topics Master Cheryl put us in pairs for everyday (and not-so-everyday) situations. Up to the challenge were Kim and Deborah; Jen and Jay; Pete and Michael Nicastre; Siva and Erik; our guests Abijit and Dave; Rob and our guest Ewa; and Murali and Murugan.

Prepared Speeches:

Anthony presented his second speech from the Competent Communicator manual, “Everyone Can’t Be Rich, but Everyone can be a Success”, which was evaluated by Arun. Kay presented the first speech from the Speaking to Inform manual, “Numbers can Tell Stories.” Her speech was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Our special guest speaker for the evening was Jerry Theodorou, who gave a vocal clinic for speakers. His presentation gave three common pitfalls for speakers and exercises to help overcome them: Mumbling/Garbled Indistinct Speech; Unprojected Sound Stuck in the Throat; and the Foreign Accent. It was an excellent presentation. Jerry brought a handout that will be available at our next meeting for those members unable to attend.

The General Evaluator was John. He thanked Charnaie for her efforts in bringing Jerry to the meeting and for all of her hard work in putting the meeting together. John gave kudos to Jackie for her excellent presentation of the Word of the Day and bringing four guests to the meeting (also some food!), also to Cheryl for her Table Topics.

Our technicians were Anthony (the Ah Counter), Pam (the Grammarian), and Michael O’Brien (the Timer).

Kay presented Erik with his “1/2 CC” certificate which he earned before his sabbatical from Toastmasters, and also a “1/2 CC” certificate to Ramesh. Congratulations to both!

Charnaie gave Jerry an appreciation gift to Jerry. It was a mug with the most appropriate saying: “Find Your Voice”. Many thanks to Jerry for a very enjoyable and helpful program.

The meeting ended at approximately 9:05pm.

Please advise any errors or omissions.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club