Oct. 14 Meeting Notes

The Middlesex County Toastmasters Club met on Thursday, October 14th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jackie Kirwan, Yolanda Lowe, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, and Arun Sodani.

Guests Present: Stacy Davis, Debra Flynn, Jessica Maxan, and Ashley Oliver.

Business Meeting: Charnaie presented a new member pin to Yolanda. She updated us on the club’s progress in the Distinguished Club Program. We have five points so far, and have earned Distinguished Club status again.

The Area C5 contest was held in Cromwell on October 7th, and we have a lot to be proud of. Rob won the Humorous Contest, with Michael Nicastre coming in 2nd place. Michael O’Brien won the Evaluation contest. Rob and Michael O’Brien will next compete in the Division Contest on Monday, October 18th at the Eagles club in Wallingford.

Charnaie mentioned some updates from the club officers’ meeting on October 5th. To sign up for a 5th speaking slot, see Kay or Charnaie. Also, the backup speaking slot might be an opportunity to get a speech in, if a scheduled speaker is unable to attend a meeting. She brought up the possibility of selecting a particular individual to evaluate your speech, if you would like to do so.

Our next meeting will be held Thursday, October 28th, at the Village of South Farms (in the Show Room).

Our VP of Public Relations, Rob, gave us a club calendar for the next few months. Upcoming highlights: November 11th – we will have a guest speaker, Isaak Gelbinovich, offering “Storytelling Secrets”. There will be an extra, “speechathon” meeting on November 18th. The District 53 Fall Conference will be on November 20th, in Fishkill, NY. There will an extra meeting (a movie night) on December 2nd. On January 20th, there will be an extra meeting, a joint speechathon in Cromwell with the Cromwell Community Toastmasters.

Tom Alvord offered a hike recap. On Sunday, October 10th, Tom, Anne-Marie, Ramesh, Murali, and several friends (12 people altogether) hiked up to the Hublein Tower on Talcott Mountain in Simsbury. More dates to come!

Kay presented Tom with a certificate of recognition to Tom for all his efforts in putting the hikes together. She also presented certificates to Michael O’Brien, Michael Nicastre, and Rob for representing our club and doing so well in the area contests.

Club Meeting:

Rob was our Toastmaster. Our invocator was Anne-Marie, who gave us inspiring words from John Lennon, from his song, “Imagine”. Lennon would have been 70 years old on October 9th.

The Word of the Day was offered by Michael Nicastre. He gave us “Extemporaneous”, meaning impromptu, off the cuff, given without notes. In addition to posting the word, he gave us a handout to help us keep the word in mind.

Our Humorist, Siva, gave us three political anecdotes including an exchange between Benjamin Disreali and William Gladstone, and words from Mohandas Gandhi.

Tom was our Table Topics Master. He gave autumn themed questions to John; our guests Ashley, Stacy, and Deb; Arun; and Kim.

We had four prepared speeches:

Charnaie gave a speech from the Special Occasion Speeches manual, “Mastering the Toast”. Her speech was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Jackie presented her Ice-Breaker, “My Search for Meaning: What I have Learned from My Favorite Book.” Rob evaluated Jackie’s speech.

Kay presented “The Toastmasters Educational Program” from the Successful Club Series. Her speech was evaluated by Murali.

Anne-Marie gave a speech, “Proper Flossing,” that was evaluated by Mike O'Brien.

Jen was our General Evaluator. Our technicians were Ramesh (Ah Counter), Siva (Grammarian), and Charnaie (Timer).

Jen’s evaluation of the meeting noted that as usual, club members were very supportive of each other. There were signs and banners congratulating Rob, Michael O’Brien, and Mike Nicastre for their performance in the Area Contest. Members stepped in to fill in roles, as Anne-Marie and Siva stepped in to fill a speaking slot and the grammarian role, respectively. Members were willing to evaluate each other in speaking roles and for the CL manual.

Comments from our guests: Stacy said she enjoyed it. Ashley thought it was great. Deb just loved it, and said that she will be back.

The meeting concluded on time.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club