Meeting Notes - December 08, Movie Night

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, December 8, at Middlesex Community College, for our last meeting of 2011. Fifteen members and two guests were in attendence for a special Movie Night, featuring the Toastmasters video "Magic Moments 2".

Charnaie Gordon was our Toastmaster. Charnaie added to our Movie Night theme by mixing in some movie trivia, and rewarding correct answers with popcorn. Kay Jeyapalan provided the invocation, and Murali Pemmaraju was our Humorist.

Ramesh Padavala was our General Evaluator, and was supported by Jennifer Cimilluca (Ah-counter and Ha-counter), Rob Schaff (Grammarian), and Murali (Timer). Judy Thompson gaves us the Word of the Day ("ardent", enthusiastic or passionate). Judy presented the word as a scramble, and Jennifer was the first to figure it out. Charnaie also served as Table-Topics Master.

Prepared speeches:

• Helena Grey presented a Christmasy speech entitled, "Ornaments and Stuff," as project #8 from the Competent Communicator manual. She supported her speech with a variety of seasonal visual aids, including Christmas ornaments, candy canes, and mistletoe. Her speech was expertly evaluated by Michael O'Brien.

Movie Night

In the second hour of the meeting, we watched the movie, "Magic Moments 2". This movie was a collection of great moments from the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, from 2001-2003. A transcript of the movie is attached to this email.

The movie was narrated by David Brooks, the 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking. You can learn more about David Brooks and access free public speaking resources at his web site:
http://www.davidbrookstexas.com/

We had two guests visit the club, Pat and Omar. Both guests recognized that Toastmasters can be a fun and supportive way to improve their public speaking and get more comfortable in front of an audience. We hope to see them both again in 2012!

Our next meeting will be on January 12. This meeting will be held at MiddleOak in downtown Middletown. Details about directions and parking will be sent out prior to the meeting.

Members Present:

Tom Alvord, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Monica Lozano, Emily O'Brien, Michael O'Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, and Judy Thompson.

Guests Present: Patricia Alston, Omar Taliawi

Respectfully submitted,

Robert A. Schaff, ACS, ALB

Notes from Dist 53 Conference

The District 53 Fall Conference was held on Saturday, November 19, at the Heritage Hotel in Southbury, CT. Our Middlesex County Toastmasters club was well-represented. Ten of our members attended the conference, and they were very involved - helping to organize the conference, introduce the guest speakers, and serving as judges for the speech contests. This is an outstanding turn-out from our club.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, Jacqueline Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Michael O'Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, and Rob Schaff.

The conference featured a keynote address from Rory Vaden, the runner-up in the 2007 International Speech Contest. There were outstanding educational sessions, two excellent speech contests, and lots of opportunities for networking and socializing.

Table-Topics Contest Results:

1. Christy Minshall
2. Malcolm Dickinson
3. Richard Frantz Jr (Division C) 

Humorous Speech Contest Results:

1. Pratik Joshi
2. Gregor Wynnyczuk
3. Henry Greene

The District Conference is a great way to renew your motivation, network with members for our club, and meet new friends from the other clubs in the District. The next district conference will be held on May 19, 2012, in East Hartford, CT. You can learn more about the Spring conference and register online at the District 53 website: http://www.district53toastmasters.org/

Our next club meeting will be on December 8, and this will be a special "Movie Night" meeting. Hope to see you all there!

Respectfully submitted,

Rob

Meeting Notes - November 17

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, November 17, at Middlesex Community College. Fifteen members were in attendence.

Jennifer Cimilluca was our Toastmaster. Murali Pemmaraju provided the invocation and a humorous joke. Tom Alvord was the General Evaluator, and was supported by Rob Schaff (Ah-counter), Emily O'Brien (Grammarian), and Chris Sullivan (Timer). Chris also read the Word of the Day ("burgeon", to grow or develop quickly).

Ramesh Padavala was the Table-Topics Master. Ramesh got many members involved with questions around the theme of Thanksgiving.

Prepared speeches:

• Jonathon Herron presented his speech, "Children at Risk, How One Couple Decided to Help," and won favor with the audience by distributing Hershey Kisses before his speech. The speech was evaluated by Judy Thompson.

• Helena Grey presented "To Crush a Crash", a research-based speech on the proper way to handle many dangerous driving situations. Her speech was evaluated by Kay Jeyapalan.

• Jay Broderick presented speech #3 from the Competent Communcator manual, "Introduction to Occupational Fraud for Small Businesses". His speech was evaluated by Michael O'Brien.

Our next meeting will be on December 8, and this will be a special "Movie Night" meeting. Hope to see you all there!

Members Present:

Tom Alvord, Jay Broderick, Jennifer Cimilluca, Helena Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Monica Lozano, Emily O'Brien, Michael O'Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Chris Sullivan, and Judy Thompson.

Meeting Notes - November 10

The Middlesex County Toastmasters heard special guest speaker Leslie Karen Hammond present “Evaluate to Stimulate” when they last met on Thursday, November 10, 2011. We had another treat in hearing Division C Governor Sharon Roth give a speech as well.


Members Present: Tom Alvord, John Bell, Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Arun Sodani, Chris Sullivan, Judy Thompson.

Guests Present: Michael Aron, Doug Compton, Leslie Karen Hammond, Sharon Roth.

Business Meeting:

Our president, Kay, announced that our next two meetings will be on November 17th and December 8th (a “Movie Night”, organized by Emily).

Our Vice President Education, Murali, reminded us that the District 53 Fall Conference will be held on Saturday, November 19th in Southbury, CT. More information can be found at http://tinyurl.com/D53Conference.

On January 18th, we will having a speech-a-thon with the Wallingford Eagles Toastmasters club (location TBD). Four speakers from each club will participate.

Murali announced that Pam Mulready, after two years of guiding our mentoring program, has had to step down because of increased work commitments. Anyone interested in leading the mentoring program should contact Murali.

Kay was our Toastmaster, aided by the Wordmaster, Murali (“gingerly”, meaning cautiously, carefully); the Ah-Counter, Charnaie; the Ha-Counter, Michael Nicastre (in the role’s debut at Middlesex); the Grammarian, Chris; the Timer, Judy; and the General Evaluator, Ramesh.

Charnaie was our Invocator, and Tom was the Humorist. During Table Topics, Emily asked questions about motivational topics to Kim, Arun, Jay, Murali, Cheryl, John Bell, John Keppler, Sally, Anne-Marie, and our guests Michael Aron and Doug Compton.

Keynote Speech:

Leslie Karen Hammond presented “Evaluate to Stimulate”, which talked about the importance of evaluations, inside and outside of Toastmasters. In a lively and engaging speech, we were reminded that evaluations can change lives, giving evaluations is a privilege, and evaluations can help us learn about ourselves.

Prepared speeches:

• Our guest, Sharon Roth, presented “The Wonder Drug”, CC#7 (Objective: Research Your Topic). Her speech was evaluated by Michael O’Brien.
• Jen presented Project #4 in the Interpretive Reading Advanced Manual (The Play). “Driving Miss Daisy” was evaluated by Tom.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Kay presented “thank you” gifts from the club to Michael Aron (who delighted us with a speech while visiting our club on September 8th) and to Leslie Hammond, for her wonderful speech that night. She also thanked everyone who brought refreshments for the club to enjoy.

Tom asked those members attending the District 53 Fall Conference on November 19th to consider volunteering at the educational sessions. Each of the seven sessions requires a room monitor and a timer. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Tom.

Our next meeting will be on November 17, at Middlesex Community College.

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Cimilluca

Good article in WSJ

Middlesex member Arun Sodani provided this link to a good article about Toastmasters in the Wall Street Journal.

Check it out!

Meeting Notes - October 27

Thirteen Middlesex County Toastmasters and one guest braved the elements to meet on Thursday, October 27, at Middlesex Community College. The conditions were slippery, but the speeches were excellent.

Ramesh Padavala was our Toastmaster. Our functionaries for this meeting included Emily O'Brien (General Evaluator), Jonathan Herron (Ah-counter), Helena Grey (Grammarian), and Michael O'Brien (Timer). Steven Grey provided the Word of the Day, and Kay Jeyapalan was our Table-Topics Master.

Prepared speeches:

- Helena Grey focused on Vocal Variety with her speech, "The Sociology of Cultures." Her speech was evaluated by Rob Schaff.

- Jennifer Cimilluca brought history to life with her narrative of the day President Reagan was shot, "Rawhide Down - March 30, 1981." Her speech was evaluated by Emily O'Brien.

- Rob Schaff provided a spooky Halloween story, "The Monkey's Paw," evaluated by Jonathan Herron.

- Jacqueline Kirwan presented a poem, working from the Interpretative Reading manual, "The Six Goodbyes of the Eightfold Path." Her speech was evaluated by Jennifer Cimilluca.

With a smaller attendance, a number of people pulled double-duty to make this meeting come together. The result was a well-organized meeting where everyone had lots of chances to participate.

Members Present:

John Bell, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, Jacqueline Kirwan, Emily O'Brien, Michael O'Brien, Ramesh Padavala, and Rob Schaff.

Guests Present: Monica Lozano

Division C Contest Results

Table Topics Contest:

1st - Fred Pugh
2nd - Richard Frantz Jr.
3rd - Armelde Pitre


Humorous Speech Contest:

1st - Anokha Ratnayake
2nd - Linda Raitt
3rd - Catherine Bocciarelli


The winners of both contest were terrific. They will be excellent representatives for Division C at the upcoming District Conference on November 19.

Meeting Notes, October 13

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, October 13th, at Middlesex Community College with first-time Toastmaster Emily O’Brien ably guiding 13 members and three guests through the meeting.


Members Present: Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju.
Guests Present: Kay Baker, Monica Lozano, Greg Kline (Middlesex Community College).

Business Meeting:

Our President, Kay, announced that Rob was the runner up in the Area C-33 Humorous Contest, and would compete in the Division contest on October 25th in Marlborough should the area contest winner be unable to (flyer attached for Division Contest). Arun participated in the Table Topics contest, and Jen was the contest’s Sgt. at Arms.
Leslie Hammond will be our guest speaker at the November 10th meeting, giving a talk on evaluations. Our second meeting in November will be on the 17th.

Greg Kline, Director of Institutional Advancement, Middlesex Community College, accepted a donation from the club as our thanks for the use of meeting space at the College during the school year. He spoke about the new College President, Anna Wasescha, the College’s new mission statement, and an upcoming event at the school, the MxCC Scholarship 5K & Kids Fun Run on October 29th (see flyer attached).

Our Vice President Education, Murali, presented Jonathan and Emily with ½ CC certificates in recognition of their having completed five speeches in the Competent Communicator manual.

Our Toastmaster, Emily, was aided by the Timer, Anne-Marie; the Ah-Counter, Michael O’Brien; the Grammarian, Ramesh; the Wordmaster, Helena (“plethora”); and the General Evaluator, Jen.

Anne-Marie was our Invocator, and Kay was the Humorist. Jen asked John, Margarita, Ramesh, Steven, and our guests Kay, Monica, and Greg to share their “Autumn Memories” during Table Topics.

Prepared speeches:

• Charnaie presented “A Crappy Attitude” for the fourth project in the Humorously Speaking Manual, “Keep them Laughing”. Her speech was evaluated by Jonathan.
• Jonathan gave speech #6 in the CC manual (Vocal Variety), “The Blind Side”. Charnaie evaluated his speech.
• Helena presented speech #5 in the CC manual (Your Body Speaks). “True Upward Mobility” was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Kay reminded the club about the Division Humorous and Table Topics contests on 10/25 in Marlborough. The winners of the Division Contests will compete at the District Contests on November 19th (during the District Conference in Southbury).
Our next meeting will be on October 27th, at Middlesex Community College.
Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Cimilluca

Speechathon Recap - September 29

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, September 29, at Middlesex Community College for a special Speechathon meeting. We had 16 members and 1 guest in attendance.

Jacqueline Kirwan was our Toastmaster, and she did a masterful job of leading the meeting through 7 prepared speeches. Our functionaries for this meeting included Murali Pemmaraju (GE), Diana Ashton (Ah-counter), Ramesh Padavala (Grammarian), and Emily O'Brien (Timer). Pamela Mulready provided the Word of the Day ("sylvan").

The speechathon provided a great opportunity for our members to fit in 7 more speeches, helping a lot of members move closer to achieving their goals.

Prepared speeches:

• Charnaie Gordon presented a humorous speech from the Humorously Speaking manual, "Walk a Mile in Their Shoes". The speech was evaluated by Jonathon Herron.

• Michael O'Brien presented a persuasive speech, "The Twelve Week Year". His speech was also evaluated by Jonathon.

• Rob Schaff presented "The Underdog", an Abstract Concept speech from the Speaking to Inform manual. The speech was evaluated by Emily.

• Jennifer Cimilluca took on the character of Susan B. Anthony, and presented an Oratorical Speech from the Interpretative Reading manual, "Susan B. Anthony's Constitutional Argument." The group evaluated this speech with a round-robin format.

• Chris Sullivan presented project #2 from the CC manual, "Creating an Influence Network". This speech was evaluated by Pam.

• Judy Thompson presented "Brainstorm Predicted for Friday!", project #3 from the CC manual, evaluated by Jennifer.

• Helena Grey presented project #4 from the CC manual, "Positive Impressions". The speech was evaluated by Charnaie.



Members Present:

Diana Ashton, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Pamela Mulready, Emily O'Brien, Michael O'Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Chris Sullivan, and Judy Thompson.

Guests Present: Paul Dietrich

Fall Speech Contest - September 22

The Middlesex County Toastmasters held their Fall Speech Contest on Thursday, September 22, at Middlesex Community College. The evening featured two contests, Humorous Speech and Table Topics. We had 21 members and 1 guest in attendence.

Jennifier Cimilluca was the Contest Chair. Jonathon Herron was our Contest Master, and Kay Jeyapalan was the Chief Judge.

Humorous Speech - Results

1. Rob Schaff

2. Mike Nicastre

3. Tom Alvord


Table Topics - Results

1. Tom Alvord

2. Arun Sodani

3. Ramesh Padavala


The contest winners will be competeing at the Area-33 Contest on Wednesday, October 12. This contest will be hosted by the Greater New Haven Toastmasters, and will be held at New Haven City Hall, 165 Church Street, New Haven.

Members Present:

Tom Alvord, Diana Ashton, John Bell, Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Charnaie Gordon, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, and Arun Sodani.

Guests Present: Tanya Miuskova, a guest of Anne-Marie.

Our next meeting will be our Speechathon, next week, on September 29.

Respectfully submitted,

Rob

Meeting Notes - September 8

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, September 8, at Middlesex Community College. We had a great turnout for this meeting, with 23 members and 9 guests in attendance.

Rob Schaff was our Toastmaster. Our functionaries for this meeting included Charnaie Gordon (GE), Helena Grey (Ah-counter), Jacqueline Kirwan (Grammarian), and Jennifer Cimilluca (Timer). Jay Broderick provided the Word of the Day (aplomb), and Cheryl Mason was our Table-Topics Master. Cheryl used her experience at the recent Toastmasters International Convention to inspire a great set on table-topics, and included both members and guests in the impromptu speaking.

Prepared speeches:

- Jonathan Herron presented speech #5 from the Competent Communicator manual, "Parenting and Sporting Events". His speech was evaluated by Marsha Kiley.

- Emily O'Brien recounted her experience of learning to drive, "One Memorable Day", as project #5 from the CC manual. Her speech was evaluated by Anne-Marie Cannata.

- Our special guest, Michael Aron, presented our Keynote Speech, "What Is In It For Me". Michael gave a great accounting of the benefits of participating in Toastmasters, especially with regards to the development of self-confidence. Michael's speech was evaluated by Kim Price.

- Rob Schaff used the opportunity of being the Toastmaster to complete project #5 from the Specialty Speeches advanced manual, "Introducing the Speaker." Rob's introductions were evaluated by Michael O'Brien.

Lots of planning went into this meeting, and it really paid off, with excellent speeches, a beautiful meeting space with great refreshments, and a team of participants that came prepared to perform their roles. This was a great start to our fall season, and we look to keep the momentum going with our Fall Speech Contest on September 22.

Welcome aboard!

- Welcome to Diana Ashton, who joined our club following last night's meeting.

Members Present:

Tom Alvord, Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Mike Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Emily O'Brien, Michael O'Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani, and Chris Sullivan

Guests Present: Raja Annu, Judy Aron, Michael Aron, Diana Ashton, Ute Brinkmann, Marsha Kiley, Rose Rita Riccitelli, and Beth Lapin.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert A. Schaff, ACS, ALB

Meeting Notes - August 25

Meeting Notes - August 25

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, August 25, at The Village at South Farms. We had 18 members and 2 guests in attendance.

Our next meeting will be on September 8, back at Middlesex Community College. This meeting will feature a special guest speaker, Michael Aron, DTM. Michael's speech is titled, "What Is In It For Me?"

Jennifer Cimilluca was our Toastmaster. Jennifer was assisted by Emily O'Brien (GE), Tom Alvord (Ah-counter), Rob Schaff (Grammarian), and Murali Pemmaraju (Timer and Table-Topics Master).

Prepared speeches:

- Chris Sullivan presented his Ice-Breaker speech, evaluated by Tom Alvord.
- Helena Grey presented a speech on the psychological impact of room colors, evaluated by Jacqueline Kirwan.
- Pamela Mulready presented her final speech from the CC manual, a persuasive speech showing the perils of procrastination. Pam's speech was evaluated by Mike O'Brien.
- John Keppler presented a persuasive speech from the CC manual, challenging us to understand the changes to CT withholding rules. John's speech was evaluated by Arun Sodani.

Congratulations!

- Congratulations to Pam Mulready, who completed her Competent Communicator award.
- Congratulation to guest Chris Sullivan, who completed his Ice-Breaker speech.

Toastmasters International - Winning Speeches
Tom Alvord let us know that, for the first time ever, Toastmasters International published the top 3 winning speeches on YouTube. The links to these videos can be found at
http://www.facebook.com/#!/ToastmastersInternationalOfficialFanPage

Members Present:
Tom Alvord, John Bell, Jennifer Cimilluca, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Pamela Mulready, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Murali Pemmaraju, , Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani, and Chris Sullivan.

Guests Present: Diana Ashton, Danielle Prushko.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert A. Schaff, ACS, ALB

Meeting Notes - August 11

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, August 11th, at Luther Ridge, Middletown.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Michele Rousseau, Judy Thompson.

Guest Present: Adam Herman.

Our Sergeant-at-Arms, Jonathan, opened the meeting and turned it over to the club President, Kay. Kay thanked Murali and Michael O’Brien (the evening’s Toastmaster) for organizing the meeting amidst last-minute changes.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Michael O’Brien, and our theme was “Get Motivated!”

Our Wordmaster was Charnaie, who used the game “Hangman” to present the Word of the Day, “Actuate” (to incite, or to put into action).

The Invocator, Tom, read us the poem, “The Dash” by Linda Ellis.

Our Humorist, Michael Nicastre, told us a joke about Mary and Maude, two women who met outside the gates of Heaven.

Jacqueline, our Table Topics Master, gave questions about motivation to Jonathan, Steven, Judy, Anne-Marie, Margarita, and Michael Nicastre.

We had four prepared speeches:

Our guest Adam, gave a speech called “Broken Politics in America”, which he will be presenting in a college class. His speech was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Sally presented a speech from the CC manual (Project #5, Your Body Speaks), “Good with the Bad, and Bad with the Good” was evaluated by Ramesh.

Helena’s speech, “The Waiting Game” was Project #2 in the CC manual (Organize Your Speech). Her speech was evaluated by Murali.

Michele gave a speech called “Do you Need a Life Coach?”. Her speech, Project #3 from the CC (Get to the Point) was evaluated by Emily.

Our General Evaluator was Jen, assisted by the Timer (Tom), Grammarian (John), and Ah Counter (Charnaie).

Jen noted that the meeting started on time with the room set up very nicely (in a horseshoe shape, the best use of the room at Luther Ridge that we’d ever had). There was a table with the duty roster for future meetings, guest book, and more, nicely laid out. Charnaie had a fun way to present the Word of the Day (the game of Hangman). Jen liked that Michael read out each objective from the CC manual for each speech, so the group knew what to listen and watch for during each speech. Jacqueline was careful during Table Topics to try to call on those who didn’t have other roles in the meeting, and coordinated with the Toastmaster to stay on time. It was apparent there was coordination between speakers and evaluators before the meeting, so the evaluators knew which areas were of especial interest to the speakers. Anne-Marie and John stepped into roles at the last minute, and it was nice to see the CL manual emphasized (Jacqueline mentioned that Table Topics speaker is a role for some CL projects, and CL manuals were seen being passed around during and after the meeting). The podium was left empty a couple of times – a speaker would sit down before the Toastmaster or Table Topics Master came back up to the podium.

There was one piece of closing business – the club received a ribbon for our banner after we “Beat the Clock” by having five new members join the club between May 1st and June 30th.

The meeting ended shortly after 9pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Meeting Notes - July 28

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, July 28, at The Village at South Farms. We had 22 members and 4 guests in attendance for this special meeting that featured two speeches from Jerry Aiyathurai, the District 53 International Contest winner.

Club President Kay Jeyapalan introduced the Distinguished Club Program to the club, and announced that when this meeting was completed, we will have qualified for 4 DCP points already this club year. The club is in great position to achieve President's Distinguished Club once again in 2011-2012.

Michael Nicastre was our Toastmaster. Michael managed the meeting very well, fitting in 5 prepared speeches and juggling special circumstances, including parking problems, shuttle busses, and requests to move our cars.

Arun Sodani was our Table Topics Master. Arun presented a series of job openings, and asked the members to portray both qualified and unqualified applicants.

Prepared speeches:

- Jerry Aiyathurai started off the prepared speeches with "Trapped", the speech that won the 2011 District 53 International Speech Contest. Jerry is preparing to give this speech at the TI Convention semi-finals.
- Jacqueline Kirwan presented her 10th speech from the CC manual, "Good Morning! What Would You Like to Accomplish Today?" Jacqueline's speech was evaluated by Rob.
- Emily O'Brien presented speech #4 from the CC manual, "Got a Vacation?" Emily's speech was evaluated by Sally.
- Ramesh Padavala presented his 10th speech from the CC manual, "Attitude". Ramesh's speech was evaluated by Cheryl.
- Jerry presented the speech that he is preparing for the finals of the International Contest, "The Best Thing That Ever Happened To You".

Congratulations!

- Congratulations to Jacqueline Kirwan and Ramesh Padavala for achieving their Competent Communicator awards, and for completing Phase I of their Pinky Challenge!

- Congratulation to guest Chris Sullivan, who became our newest member at the conclusion of the meeting.

Members Present:
Tom Alvord, Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Michele Rousseau, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani, and Judy Thompson.

Guests Present: Chris Sullivan, Susan Dean, Phil Mason, and Jerry Aiyathurai.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert A. Schaff, ACS, ALB

Meeting Notes - July 14

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, July 14, for the first meeting of the new Toastmasters club year. 13 members and 3 guests turned out to our summer quarters at Luther Ridge.

Club President Kay Jeyapalan introduced our theme for the 2011-2012 club year, "Dance as if no one is watching you." Kay spoke about the importance and challenges of being yourself when speaking in front of a group. This will be a challenge for all of us this year.

Arun Sodani was our Toastmaster. Arun did a great job of explaining each part of our meeting for our 3 guests, 2 who were attending their first Toastmasters meeting. Wordmaster Tom Alvord presented a word that everyone in the club could relate to, "glossophobia", which means fear of public speaking. Michael O'Brien was our Table Topics Master, and he presented a set of interesting and thought provoking questions to both members and guests.

Prepared speeches:
- Judy Thompson presented her second speech from the CC manual, "Wanna Yak?", about the process of getting started with kayaking. Judy was evaluated by Tom.
- Rob Schaff presented a speech of the pros and cons of Facebook as tool for promoting the club. Rob was evaluated by Michael O'Brien.
- Ramesh Padavala presented his 9th speech from the CC manual, "How to Save Gas While Driving". Ramesh was evaluated by Jonathan Herron.
- Jennifer Cimilluca presented a Folk Tale from the Storytelling Advance Manual, "Hansel and Gretel". She was evaluated by Kay.

All of our guests commented on the fact that everyone had a chance to speak at this meeting, and they liked the way that everyone had an opportunity to be involved.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, John Bell, Jay Broderick, Jennifer Cimilluca, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani, and Judy Thompson.

Guests Present: Adam Herman, Lori Miano, Chris Sullivan

Our next meeting will be on July 28 at The Village at South Farms.

"You've gotta' dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.
(And speak from the heart to be heard.)”
-William W. Purkey

Respectfully submitted,

Robert A. Schaff, ACS, ALB
Club Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters

Speechathon Notes, June 30

The Middlesex County Toastmasters concluded the 2010-11 Toastmasters year with a speech-a-thon at its June 30th meeting.

Members Present: John Bell, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Michael Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani, Judy Thompson.

The Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh, opened the meeting. Our President, Charnaie, led us right into the club officer inductions for the 2011-12 year. Our new officers for the upcoming year are:

President – Kay Jeyapalan
VP Education – Murali Pemmaraju
VP Membership – Ramesh Padavala
VP Public Relations – Jennifer Cimilluca
Secretary – Rob Schaff
Treasurer – John Keppler
Sergeant at Arms – Jonathan Herron

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Rob, who guided us through the agenda with eight speakers and evaluations:

Kay presented the second speech from the Speeches by Management Manual. Her speech, “Loss Reserves”, was evaluated by Michael O’Brien.

Jacqueline presented speech #9 from the Competent Communicator manual (Objective: Persuade with Power). “Take the IQ Test” was evaluated by Arun.

Ramesh presented speech #7 from the CC (Objective: Research Your Topic). “The Oracle of Omaha was evaluated by Michael Nicastre.

Jen gave her third speech from the Interpretive Reading manual, which was a monodrama. Murali evaluated her speech, entitled “Rachel’s Story.”

Judy gave her Icebreaker, “…And then I Bought a House”, which was evaluated by Charnaie.

Emily’s return to the club was marked by her third speech from the CC manual (Objective: Get to the Point). “Enjoy the Class” was evaluated by Rob.

Jonathan presented speech #4 from the CC Manual (Objective: How to Say it). Jen evaluated his speech, “I Can Afford to Wait”.

Our last speaker of the evening was Michael O’Brien, presenting speech #8 from the CC (Objective: Getting Comfortable with Visual Aids”. His speech, “What are Our Values?” was evaluated by Kay.

2011-2012 Club Officers

From left to right:
IPP Charnaie Gordon,
SAA Jonathan Herron,
Treasurer John Keppler
Secretary Rob Schaff
VPPR Jennifer Cimilluca
VPM Ramesh Padavala
VPE Murali Pemmeraju
President Kay Jeyapalan

Pictures from our 20th Anniversary

Club President Charnaie Gordon presents expresses our appreciation to guest speakers Jerry Theodorou and Kimberly Taylor.

2011 Beat-the-Clock Award

The "Beat the Clock" award is about finishing the year with a bang! Clubs earn this award by adding five new or reinstated members during these two months from May 1 to June 30.

With the addition of John Bell at our last meeting, Middlesex has reached this goal and will receive a "Beat the Clock" ribbon to display on our banner.

Members added May 1 - June 30: Steven Grey, Jonathan Martin, Emily O'Brien, Judy Thompson, and John Bell

Meeting Notes, June 23 - 20th Anniversary

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, June 23, for a rousing 20th anniversary celebration.

We were honored to have 32 people at this meeting, 20 members and 12 guests, including 11 people that have served as Club President at some point in our 20-year history.

Our current president, Charnaie Gordon, opened the meeting with a brief re-cap of our accomplishments during this club year. She recognized the club officers with a gift for their service this year.

Cheryl Mason served as Table Topics Master, and involved many of our guests and past members with her topic questions around the themes of summer and celebration.

Our celebration included great food and fabulous raffle prizes, as well as 4 excellent prepared speeches:

• Ramesh Padavala gave an inspiration speech from the Competent Communicator manual, titled “Put the Glass Down”.

• John Keppler recounted the 20-year history of Middlesex County Toastmasters, and showed us how each individual contributes to the continued success of the club.

• Our keynote speaker, Kimberly Taylor, told us about the beginnings of Toastmasters, and how Toastmasters has changed her life with her speech, “The Toastmaster Experience”.

• Special guest Jerry Theodorou gave an inspirational and frightening speech, “Let It Go”, detailing the lives of the Collyer brothers.

Jacqueline Kirwan served as our General Evaluator. She pointed out the historical theme throughout the meeting, from a 1-year recap, to our 20-year history, and even back to the beginning of Toastmasters,

We tried to wrap up on time, but there was too much meeting to fit the 7-9 timeframe, and the raffle and gifts spilled over into the 9:00 hour.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Steven Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Emily O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani, and Judy Thompson.

Guests Present: John Bell, Ute Brinkmann, Nancy Green, Phil Mason (Happy Birthday!), Ron & Trudy Reeve, Val McLean, Sharon Roth, Jerry Theodorou, and from Talk of the Town Toastmasters: Gail Lewis, Kimberly Taylor, and Jackie Carl.

June 9 Meeting - Canceled

Our June 9 meeting was canceled, due to a power outage at Middlesex Community College and across Middletown. To make up for the lost meeting, we will be holding a speechathon on June 30 at The Village at South Farms.

Meeting Notes - May 26

The Middlesex County Toastmasters met on Thursday, May 26th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jay Broderick, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Michele Rousseau, Rob Schaff.

Guests Present: Steven Grey, Jonathan Martin, Emily O’Brien, Jimmy Ortiz, Judy Thompson.

The Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh, opened the meeting. The club President, Charnaie, welcomed our guests and gave a recap of the District 53 Conference, held on Saturday, May 21st. Nine members went from Middlesex, and cheered Tom on to a 3rd place at the District’s Tall Tales Contest. Other news from the Conference, provided by Charnaie and Kay – Michael O’Brien will be the Division B governor for 2011-2012; Cheryl, Charnaie, and Rob were lauded as Triple Crown winners; Charnaie will be an area governor in Division B.

In June, the Middlesex County Toastmasters club will be celebrating its 20th anniversary. On Sunday, June 5th, we will have a special event – a teleseminar featuring Lenny Laskowski, a Distinguished Toastmaster and professional speaker. This one-hour conference call could be dialed into from anywhere, just RSVP to Kay or Charnaie to get the details, and submit your questions to Lenny.

Our 20th anniversary celebration will be held at our June 23rd meeting. Kimberly M. Taylor, from the Talk of the Town Toastmasters Club in New York City, will be our keynote speaker. Kimberly will talk about how Toastmasters has changed her life, a subject she shared in the May 2011 Toastmasters magazine. John, a founding member of the club, will also be speaking, and we will have many honored guests from “way back when” returning for the anniversary.

Our Immediate Past President, Cheryl, conducted the officer elections for the next Toastmaster year (starting in July). Cheryl read the names of the candidates thus far nominated:

President – Kay Jeyapalan
VP Education – Murali Pemmaraju
VP Membership – Ramesh Padavala
VP Public Relations – Jennifer Cimilluca
Secretary – Rob Schaff
Treasurer – John Keppler
Sergeant at Arms – Jonathan Herron

She then asked for nominations from the floor. There were none; the motion was made and seconded to accept the slate of officers, which was elected by a majority of the members present. The officers will be inducted at a meeting in June, to begin one-year terms on July 1st. District officer training will be announced soon.

Pinky Challenge

At the D53 Spring Conference, Middlesex members Ramesh Padavala and Jacqueline Kirwan seal their challenge to complete their CCs this summer and achieve the Toastmasters Triple Crown this club year. Margarita Giraldo and Rob Schaff witness the ceremony.

Meeting Notes - May 12

The Middlesex County Toastmasters had their last meeting on Thursday, May 12th.

Members Present: Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Pam Mulready, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Michele Rousseau.

Guests Present: John Bell, Steven Grey, Suzanne O’Connell, Jimmy Ortiz.

The Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh, opened the meeting and turned it over to club President, Charnaie. Charnaie announced that with Murali’s completing his CC, the club now has 10 points in the Distinguished Club Program and has achieved Presidents Distinguished status for the 6th year running.

Officer elections for the next Toastmaster year (starting in July) will be held at our next meeting, on May 26th. The officers will be inducted at the June 9th meeting and will begin one-year terms in July. Cheryl announced the nominees so far:

President – Kay Jeyapalan
VP Education – Murali Pemmaraju
VP Membership – Ramesh Padavala
VP Public Relations – Jennifer Cimilluca
Secretary – Rob Schaff
Treasurer – John Keppler
Sergeant at Arms – Jonathan Herron

Nominations are still open – anyone interested in running for an office can email Cheryl, and nominations will be taken from the floor on May 26th.

Because the meeting room at Middlesex Community College is not available for our meetings in July and August, we will be using alternate locations (still to be determined).

The Middlesex County Toastmasters club will be celebrating its 20th anniversary during the month of June. On Sunday, June 5th, we will have a special event – a teleseminar featuring Lenny Laskowski, a Distinguished Toastmaster and professional speaker. You can participate in this one-hour event from your own home by dialing in to a conference call. You are invited to submit your questions ahead of time to Charnaie or Kay to ask this dynamic speaker your questions on public speaking and leadership. Our 20th anniversary celebration will be held at our June 23rd meeting.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Ramesh.

Our Wordmaster was Jackie, who challenged us to use the word “galvanize” (to shock or arouse into action).

Pam was our Invocator, and shared an observation from her day – when people get talking, they find they have much more in common than they thought possible.

Sally was our Table Topics Master, and gave our guests Suzanne, Steven, and Jimmy spring-themed questions to answer.

We had five prepared speeches:

Charnaie gave a speech from the Specialty Speeches Manual (Project: Sell a Product). Her speech, “The Magic Pimple Potion”, was evaluated by Kay.

Pam’s speech, “Let’s Get Crafty” was for Project #8 in the Competent Communicator manual (Objective: Get Comfortable with Visual Aids). Cheryl evaluated Pam’s speech.

Jacqueline’s speech, “How to Tap into More of Your Brain’s Power” was Project #7 in the CC Manual (Objective: Research Your Topic”). Her speech was evaluated by Michael O’Brien.

Jen presented the third project in the Storytelling Manual (The Moral of the Story). Her speech, “Jim’s Perfect Evening”, was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Cheryl presented speech #2 in the CC Manual (Objective: Organize Your Speech). “The New Guy” was evaluated by Michael Nicastre.

Our General Evaluator was Murali, assisted by the Timer (John), Grammarian (Charnaie), and Ah Counter (Jonathan).

Murali commented that the meeting started right on time, and ran smoothly. He gave a special thank you to Sally for volunteering to be Table Topics Master at the last minute, and noted that she gave a number of our guests a chance to speak. He commented that each evaluator did an excellent job, and that our Toastmaster, Ramesh, did a great job of managing our time in a very busy meeting (in his first time in the Toastmaster role).

Charnaie took the reins of the meeting back, and asked the guests for comments.

John – every meeting is interesting, thoroughly enjoyed it
Suzanne – fun and fascinating
Jimmy – great!
Steven – 3rd visit, looks forward to “getting up there to give a real speech”

Kay offered the role sign up sheet for the next three meetings, and announced that the duty roster on the club’s website would be opening up for July and August. She presented Jacqueline with a “Half CC” certificate signed by the District 53 officers.

Kay reminded us to make sure that we are updating our Completion records at the back of our manuals, and make sure they’re completely filled out before turning into the VP Education for submission to Toastmasters International.

The meeting was adjourned shortly before 9pm.

Please advise any errors or omissions. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Meeting Notes - May 5

The Middlesex County Toastmasters last met for a special “speech-a-thon” meeting on Thursday, May 5th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jacqueline Kirwan, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Arun Sodani.

Guests Present: Ute Brinkman (President, Wallingford Eagle Toastmasters) and Steven Grey.

At 7pm, the Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh, opened the meeting. Our club president, Charnaie announced that on May 17th, the Cromwell Community Toastmasters will be having a guest speaker. Terry Bedard, the Division B International Contest winner, will be giving the speech that she will be presenting at the District 53 Conference’s International Contest.

Officer elections for the next Toastmaster year (starting in July) will be held on May 26th. Anyone seeking a leadership role should see the Immediate Past President, Cheryl Mason, for more information.

The Middlesex County Toastmasters club will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on June 23rd. Charnaie will be announcing the keynote speaker for the evening’s commemoration in the coming weeks. Charnaie and our VPE Kay will have an announcement at the May 12th meeting about another special event at the beginning of June – details to come!

Kay announced that Charnaie has earned a “Triple Crown” by completing three educational programs in a Toastmasters year. Kay presented Charnaie with a certificate recognizing her accomplishment. Charnaie is a repeat winner, having earned this distinction last year. Middlesex’s three Triple Crown winners, Cheryl, Rob Schaff, and Charnaie, will have their names displayed along with the other Triple Crown winners at the upcoming District 53 Conference.

Charnaie was our Toastmaster, and chose “Celebrating Excellence” for the meeting theme. She read to us from Dana LaMon’s “The Excellence Book: 104 Principles for Living and Working”: Principle #2 -- Excellence demands that you do your best, not be the best”.

The Word of the Day, “aplomb”, was presented by Kay. Aplomb: complete and confident composure, poise, self-assurance

We had six prepared speeches:

Helena presented her Icebreaker, “Journey to Toasting”, evaluated by Tom.

Tom presented the speech that won him the Division C Tall Tales Contest, “Swanee River”. His speech was evaluated by everyone in a round robin evaluation. He will be giving the speech at the District 53 Tall Tales Contest on May 21st.

Siva presented speech #4 in the Competent Communicator manual (Objective, How to Say it): “Books in Running Brooks and Sermons in Stones.” His speech was evaluated by Ute.

Murali completed the Competent Communicator manual with his 10th speech (Objective: Inspire Your Audience), “My Real Life Role Model). The group evaluated his speech in a round robin.

Our guest, Ute, presented Speech #9 from the Competent Communicator manual (Persuade with Power): “Get out and Volunteer”, which was evaluated in a round robin.

John presented Speech #10 from the Competent Communicator manual (Inspire Your Audience) in a speech entitled: KISS, Uncluttering Your Mind”, which was evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Our General Evaluator was John Keppler, assisted by the Ah Counter (Murali), Grammarian (Anne-Marie), and Timer (Ramesh).

Kay presented Helena with Icebreaker candies in honor of her Icebreaker speech. Anne-Marie was also presented with a certificate of recognition for her participation in the Division C International Speech contest.

The meeting concluded shortly after 9pm.

Please advise any errors or omissions. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Meeting Notes - April 28

On April 28th the Middlesex County Toastmasters, along with many guests, learned how to write a speech in 15 minutes thanks to special guest Walter Beveridge.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jennifer Cimilluca, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jackie Kirwan, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff.

Guests Present: John Bell, James Branca, Ute Brinkman (President, Wallingford Eagle Toastmasters), Steven Grey, Charlie Hubert (Cromwell Community Toastmasters), Rachel Mele (Wallingford Eagle Toastmasters), Louis Nizet (President, Cromwell Community Toastmasters), Mary Talbot (Cromwell Community Toastmasters), Jimmy Ortiz, Norm Thibodeau (Stag Toastmasters), Bruce Wallace.

Special Guest Speaker: Walter Beveridge, DTM, a member of the Taconic Toastmasters in Hudson, NY, and a Toastmaster since March, 1997.

The Division C International and Tall Tales Contests were held on Tuesday, April 26, and Tom won the Tall Tales Contest! He will represent the Division at the District 53 Conference on May 21st. Congratulations, Tom!

Our next meeting will be a speech-a-thon on May 5th at Luther Ridge at Middletown. (Luther Ridge is on Congdon Street, off Route 217 in Middletown). All the prepared speaking slots are filled, but there are still opportunities to speak with several meeting roles available.

Officer elections for the next Toastmaster year (starting in July) will be held on May 26th. Anyone seeking a leadership role should see the Immediate Past President, Cheryl, for more information.

Rachel, from the Eagle Toastmasters club, spoke about the Facebook page she has set up. A flyer was distributed for the Eagle Toastmasters Open House on Tuesday, May 16th, at the Wallingford Public Library.

Kay was our Toastmaster for the evening, and set the theme for the meeting by reminding us, “A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what ships are for” (William Shedd). We have to be bold and try new things, i.e. the techniques we would be learning from Walter later in the evening!

The Word of the Day, “invitation”, was presented by Jonathan. Invitation: A spoken or written request for someone’s participation.

Our invocation was given by Charnaie, who gave us inspirational words about the realm of possibilities, that we cannot cower toward uncertainty.

The evening’s technicians Rob (Timer), Ah Counter (Charnaie), and Grammarian (Mary) explained their roles for members and guests.

Our Table Topics Master, Charnaie, gave short scenes for us to act out. First up were James and Norm, strangers meeting and talking about a Toastmasters meeting flyer. Next, Jen, Rachel, Ramesh, and Michael portrayed four people stuck in an elevator. That was followed by Kim and Ute, playing the parts of two friends each annoyed by the other’s little habits. Jackie and Tom portrayed a couple about to break up, and lastly, Jimmy was interviewed by Louis and John for a meteorologist’s position at the local TV station. The skits were great fun and allowed many members and guests to participate.

The highlight of the evening was Walter’s workshop, “How to Prepare a 5-7 Minute Speech in 15 Minutes”. He walked us through a 12-step process that, starting from a single word, can allow you to choose an overall objective, determine the speech content, and plan the delivery of a complete speech. All this in about 15 minutes.

And to demonstrate, using the techniques Walter had just walked us through, Louis presented a speech about the beginning of his selling career, James presented a speech “Lost in Life” (at the first Toastmasters meeting he ever attended!), and Jackie presented “Running the NYC Marathon – Why, How, and What I Learned”.

Walter has added the presentation, notes, and materials to his website, www.wbdtm.com, so we no longer have to waste, as he put it, “millions of hours” writing speeches.

Our General Evaluator was Murali, assisted by the Ah Counter (Charnaie), Grammarian (Mary), and Timer (Rob). Murali pointed out that as usual, Ramesh did an outstanding job getting the room set up, and congratulated Charnaie for all the work and planning in having such an excellent speaker as Walter come to our meeting. Kudos were given to Kay for her great job as the evening’s Toastmaster.

Norm reminded us that the District 53 Contest will be held on Saturday, May 21st at the Clarion Hotel in East Windsor, CT. On line registration is available at the District 53 website, with early bird pricing ending on Monday, May 2nd.

Please advise any errors or omissions. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Meeting Notes - April 14

The Middlesex County Toastmasters enjoyed meeting in the cozy Pub Room at the Village of South Farms on Thursday, April 14th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Ann-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Helena Grey, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jackie Kirwan, Pamela Mulready, Janki Nambi, Michael Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Michele Rousseau, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani.

The meeting was opened at 7pm by our Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh. Charnaie opened the business meeting by welcoming our three newest members, Michele, Janki, and Helena, with their new member pins. She then updated Middlesex’s progress in the Distinguished Club Program (9 points out of a possible ten, officially we have President’s Distinguished Club status after the April 1st club renewals). Charnaie pointed out that we need just one more CC for the 10th point, with a member very close to reaching that goal.

The Area C5 contest was held on Sunday, April 3rd, and Middlesex was well-represented. In the Tall Tales Contest, Tom was the winner and Murali the runner up. In the International Contest, Anne-Marie was the winner. The Division C International and Tall Tales Contests will be held on Tuesday, April 26 from 6:30-9:30pm at the Fellowship Community Church, 24 South Road, Marlborough, CT. Everyone is encouraged to come cheer on Tom and Anne-Marie!

On April 28th, we will have a guest speaker, Walter Breveridge, giving his workshop, “How to Write a Speech in 15 Minutes”. Walter is traveling from New York, and members are encouraged to bring guests and fill the room for him. Following Walter’s workshop, some speakers will try their hands at writing speeches using the skills just learned.

There will be a speech-a-thon on May 5th at Luther Ridge at Middletown. (Luther Ridge is on Congdon Street, off Route 217 in Middletown). There are four slots left (fill in your name in the “notes” section of the duty roster). Four speakers will receive formal evaluations, and four will receive “round robin” evaluations from the members present.

Officer elections for the next Toastmaster year (starting in July) will be held on May 26th. Anyone seeking a leadership role should see the Immediate Past President, Cheryl, for more information.

Michael O’Brien was the evening’s Toastmaster, with the meeting theme, “Planning Ahead.”

One of our newest members, Janki, presented the work of the day, “Adopt”. It means to choose or take as one’s own, make one’s own by selection or assent, or to take and rear as one’s own child, by a formal legal act.

Our Invocator, Rob, quoted from the poem, “The Waste Land,” which begins with those famous words, “April is the cruelest month…”. He reminded us that it’s time to get up and get moving!

Tom, our Humorist, had us rolling, after he told a story of dire consequences caused by just leaving one letter out of an email address: a recent widow was convinced her husband was in hell, and that she was joining him there the next day!

The evening’s technicians introduced their roles: Jackie as Timer, Jen as Grammarian, and Ramesh as Ah-Counter.

Our Table Topics Master, Charnaie, divided us into two groups and gave us keywords to lead us in “Three Line Scenes” (as we first learned in the Sea-Tea Improv workshop a few weeks ago). It was great fun and gave everyone a chance to participate in Table Topics.

We had four prepared speeches:

Michele presented her Icebreaker, “Russo vs. Rousseau”, evaluated by Anne-Marie.

Jonathan presented speech #3 in the CC Manual (objective: Get to the Point), “Becoming a Granite Member of the Cambodian Medical Clinic”, which was evaluated by Siva Digavalli.

Pam presented her ninth speech (#10 in the CC Manual, objective: Inspire your Audience), “Why Don’t I do the Things I know are Good for me?” Her speech was evaluated by John.

Rob’s speech was #2 in the CC Manual (objective: Organize Your speech). “Casey Martin and Aristotle” was evaluated by Kay.

Arun was our General Evaluator, with assistance from technicians Janki (Wordmaster) Ramesh (Ah Counter), Jen (Grammarian), and Jackie (Timer).

In his comments on the meeting as a whole, Arun commented that once again Ramesh had done a great job of getting the room set up and organized, Kay had sent emails to get the roster filled, and this was another example of the well-organized meetings that the club is famous for.

To conclude the meeting, Charnaie mentioned that the Sea-Tea Improv Troupe was putting on a presentation in Hartford on Sunday, April 17 from 4-6:30pm ($20). She, Jackie, and Tom were going, if anyone was interested.

John, our Treasurer, and the VP Membership, Murali, were given kudos for their excellent teamwork in getting so many membership renewals done in such a timely way (making housecalls if necessary!)

Kay presented Michele with “Icebreaker” candies and congratulations in honor of her Icebreaker speech.

From the floor: There are two upcoming hikes: April 23rd at Miller’s Pond in Durham and May 7th at Louis Nizet’s house in Haddam (email Tom Alvord for more information if interested in participating in either hike).

The Foodshare Walk Against Hunger will be held on Sunday, May 1st in Hartford (on the grounds of the Hartford Insurance Company). Email Jen Cimilluca for more information, if you are interested in participating.

Anne-Marie announced that the Buttonwood Tree has an open mic night every Monday, where you could get some additional practice for your speeches outside the club. Sign ups begin at 7:30, with the open mic starting at 8pm.


The meeting concluded at 8:53pm.

Please advise any errors or omissions. Thank you.


Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Area Contest Results

Middlesex County Toastmasters hosted the Area C5 Speech Contest on Sunday, April 3.

Winners:
Tall Tales Contest: Tom Alvord
International Speech Contest: Anne-Marie Cannata

These two Middlesex members will represent our Area at the Division C contest:

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Location : Fellowship Community Church, 24 South Road, Marlborough, CT
Contact : Cheryl Mason divc53@district53toastmasters.org

Congratulations to Tom and Anne-Marie!

Open House Notes, March 24

The Middlesex County Toastmasters’ Open House was enjoyed by 26 members and guests on March 24th, featuring special guest Ruby Parker and her workshop, Holistic Evaluations.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Brian Burness, Anne-Marie Cannata, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Charnaie Gordon, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, John Keppler, Jackie Kirwan, Cheryl Mason, Michael O’Brien, Murugan Pachaiyappan, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani.

Guests Present: John Bell, Marsha Kiley (District 53 Immediate Past Governor), Richard Peck (District 53 Lt. Governor Education& Training), Bettyann Peck, Janki Nambi, Louis Nivet (President, Cromwell Community Toastmasters), Maryanne Shirshac.

Special Guest Speaker: Ruby Parker, Area A4 Governor

The meeting was opened at 7pm by our Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh. He turned the meeting over to club President Charnaie for the business meeting. She welcomed our guests and updated Middlesex’s progress in the Distinguished Club Program (9 points out of a possible ten, for President’s Distinguished Club status six years running).

The Area C5 International and Tall Tales Contests will be held on Sunday, April 3rd, hosted by Middlesex County Toastmasters. The contests will be held at the Village of South Farms, 645 Saybrook Road, from 6:30-9pm. A $5 donation is requested for refreshments.

On April 14th, the regular club meeting will be held at the Village of South Farms, instead of Middlesex Community College.

On April 28th, we will have a guest speaker, Walter Breveridge, giving his workshop, “How to Write a Speech in 15 Minutes”, and some speakers will do just that, using the skills taught in the evening’s workshop.

The Toastmaster, Jackie, ably guided us through a packed agenda.

Our Word of the Day, “obdurate” was presented by Siva. The word means, “hardened against feeling, not giving in to persuasion.”

Our Invocator, Kay, spoke about the power of turning a minus into a plus. She shared the story of Thelma Thompson, who turned a miserable time in the sands of the Mojave desert into the best time of her life by changing her attitude. Her situation did not change but her attitude did, and her life was transformed.

Our humorist, Murugan, both made us laugh and inspired us, telling us a true story about a CEO who had a very clever way of choosing his successor, a seed with no harvest: “If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.”

The evening’s technicians introduced their roles: Cheryl as Timer, Charnaie as Grammarian, and Anne-Marie as Ah-Counter.

Table Topics were led by Jonathan, who did a great job in his first time in the role. His “One Up, One Down” topics asked the speakers to state one thing they like, and one thing they would change, on whatever topic they were given to speak on.

Ramesh spoke about the world he lives in; Michael about the place that he works; Tom, the country he lives in; Maryanne, the state she lives in; and Janki, the country she lives in. (Disliking taxes seemed to be a common theme!)

Ruby Parker, Advanced TM Gold/CL, presented “The Holistic Approach to Evaluations”, which offered excellent suggestions and a checklist (attached) to prepare and present the evaluation speech, and give feedback to the speaker following the meeting.

Among her many suggestions:
* Talk to the speaker before the speech
* Focus – there is only limited time to evaluate the speech
* Share your notes with the speaker afterwards to discuss the speech
* Solicit feedback on your evaluation

We had two prepared speeches:

Brian presented his Icebreaker, “A Little Bit About Me”, evaluated by Michael O’Brien.

Rob earned another Competent Communicator award with his speech, “Vitamins, Aspirin, and Toastmasters”. His speech was evaluated by Murugan.

Following the evaluations, Ruby came back to do a mini workshop on evaluating the evaluators, which was the perfect capstone to her earlier presentation.

Arun was our General Evaluator, with assistance from technicians Siva (Wordmaster) Anne-Marie (Ah Counter), Charnaie (Grammarian), and Cheryl (Timer). He gave well-deserved praise to Ramesh, Charnaie, Kay, Jackie, and all who put so much preparation into the Open House meeting. He turned the meeting back to the toastmaster, Jackie, who gave her thanks to all who signed up for meeting roles.

Charnaie asked for comments from our guests:

Marsha: “fantastic, energetic, smiles galore”
John: “enjoyed it, felt welcome”
Richard: “first time here, Cheryl doesn’t blow smoke when she’s describing this club”
Janki: “encouraging, welcoming”
Maryanne: “supportive, makes me feel like I want to continue”
Louis: “welcoming"
Ruby: “a great club, honored to be here, a wonderful experience”

She then presented a certificate of appreciation for Ruby for her excellent presentation. Kay presented Brian with “Icebreaker” candies in honor of his Icebreaker speech.

The meeting concluded at 9:00pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Middlesex Open House, March 24, 2011

We had a great turn-out for our Open House. Thanks to Ruby Parker for her excellent presentation on evaluations.

Meeting Notes - February 24

Twenty members and guests enjoyed a workshop with the Sea-Tea Improv troupe, plus a fun club meeting, on Thursday, February 24th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jennifer Cimilluca, Siva Digavalli, Margarita Giraldo, Charnaie Gordon, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, Jackie Kirwan, Yolanda Lowe, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Arun Sodani.

Guests Present: Mallika Digavalli, Kevin Finn (Cedar Hill Toastmasters), Abhijit Mhetre (Nathan Hale Toastmasters), Michele Rousseau (Michele joined the club after the meeting).

The meeting was opened at 7pm by our Sergeant-at-Arms, Ramesh. He turned the meeting over to Greg, Julia, and Dan from the Sea-Tea Improv troupe, who used a series of games to teach us and let us practice the “rules” of improv: “Make your partner look good”; “Yes, and…” (Listen, acknowledge, and add to whatever information you are given); “Make honest choices” (Don’t overthink and edit yourself”).

We learned and practicing thinking on our feet with compound word games, three line scenes, creating continuous stories, and more. The hour flew by, but there are plenty of opportunities to see Sea Tea in action (see seateaimprov.com for more information).

Following the workshop, the regular club meeting began.

Our Word of the Day was presented by Charnaie: “persnickety”, meaning over particular, fussy, snobbish, requiring painstaking care.

Our Invocator, Jonathan, shared three ideas from Steven Covey’s book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”: Habit 1: Be Proactive--Taking responsibility for your choices and the consequences of them. Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind--Figure out what's important to you and pursue that. Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve. Habit 3: Put First Things First--Prioritize. Do what must be done before why you want to do.

We had two prepared speeches:

Kay also used examples from Steven Covey’s book in her speech, “The Law of Subtleness of Mind”. Her speech was #5 from the Speaking to Inform Manual (The Abstract Concept), and was evaluated by Rob.

Kevin Finn presented Speech #4 from the Storytelling Manual (The Touching Story). His speech, “And The Winner is Dave” was at times humorous, and touched our hearts. Siva evaluated Kevin’s speech.

Yolanda, a first-time Table Topics Master, asked several of us to devise commercials for the products she brought, and for ourselves as potential hires for an advertising team. Michele, Jen, Jonathan, and Jackie took turns pitching Jif peanut butter, Olde Cape Cod salad dressing, jam, and chocolate covered butter cookies, and themselves.

Michael Nicastre was our General Evaluator, assisted by Sally performing the dual roles of Ah Counter and Grammarian, and our timer, Tom.

Charnaie presented Margarita with a new member pin to officially welcome her to Middlesex County Toastmasters. She also announced that Michele has joined the club.

Our club will be hosting the Area C5 contests on Sunday, April 3rd, at the Village of South Farms.

We are now a “President’s Distinguished Club” with nine points in the Distinguished Club Program – the first club in the district to earn that distinction!

The meeting closed promptly at 9:00pm.
Please advise any errors or omissions. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Middlesex County Toastmasters Strike a Fun Filled Afternoon

The 2nd annual Middlesex Winter Bowling Outing was held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. The event was attended by 12 adventurous Toastmasters, friends, and family members.

The event was held at Bowl-O-Rama on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, with the following attendees: Tom Alvord, daughter Amy and son Jeff, Cheryl Mason and husband Phil, Murali Pemmaraju, wife Saratha, and friend Pushkar, Kay Jeyapalan, Jackie Kirwan, Charnaie Gordon and husband Barry.

Bowl-O-Rama is quite a busy place on a Saturday afternoon! With advance reservations in place (thanks to Kay), we had a very comfortable area to ourselves. We set up in 3 bowling lanes together which accommodated 4 bowlers in each lane.

The excitement and surprise of strikes, spares, and reluctant pins falling like dominos was quite exhilarating. We cheered each other on as we completed two fun filled games.

High scorers for the first game: Tom 144, Jeff 134, & Phil 127
High scorers for the second game: Phil 156, Jeff, 154, Tom 140
Most improved in second game: Murali 126

The event concluded at 3:00 p.m. Thanks to everyone that participated in this fun filled afternoon, and especially to Kay for organizing the event!

Meeting Notes, Feb-10, 2011

The Middlesex County Toastmasters Club met on Thursday, February 10^th.

Members Present: Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Jonathan Herron, Kay Jeyapalan, Jackie Kirwan, Yolanda Lowe, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Kim Price, Rob Schaff.

Guests Present: Helena Grey, Margarita Giraldo (Margarita joined the club after the meeting).

Business Meeting: Charnaie welcomed our guests, then reminded us that the Sea Tea Improv troupe will be at our next meeting (February 24^th) to put on a workshop from 7-8pm (followed by an abbreviated club meeting from 8-9pm). $5 per person is requested to cover the cost of the workshop and refreshments, and registration is limited to 40 people. (You can RSVP to info@middlesex.freetoasthost.com).

Kay updated us on the following events: the club’s Bowling Outing will on Saturday, February 26^th, from 1-3 at the Bowl-O-Rama, 2131 Berlin Turnpike, Newington. Please RSVP by Tuesday (Feb 15^th) to Kay.

The spring contests (International and Tall Tales) will be held on March 10^th. Jackie will be the contest chair. Anyone wishing to be a contestant should see Jackie or Kay. In addition, the roles of chief judge, judges, timers, and ballot counters are still open.

Charnie updated us the club’s Distinguished Club Program. Middlesex has eight points, though would have nine points by the end of the night after Charnaie’s speech (and earn President’s Distinguished Club status).

Kay was our Toastmaster for the evening.

Meeting:

Jackie presented the Invocation, relating fitness expert Tony Horton’s words to our Toastmasters experience – “Remember to Breathe” (relax, focus, and keep poised); “Do your Best and Forget the Rest (clear your mind of any negative self chatter”) and “Keep Pushing Play” (if it doesn’t go the way you’d like, you can always try again).

Cheryl was our Humorist, telling a very funny joke about four brothers and gifts (to their mother) gone bad.

Apropos for Valentine’s Day, our Wordmaster, Jonathan, gave us the word “Passion” to use in our Table Topics, prepared speeches, and evaluations -- strong feelings (rage, anger, love) – and gave us a poem about passion.

Sally was our Table Topics Master, and used raffle tickets to choose members for her Valentine’s Day-themed questions. Answering her questions (and receiving Valentine’s Day candy) were Yolanda (answering about a romantic dinner), Charnaie (a romantic date), Kim (a romantic purchase), Murali (a romantic book), Jen (a romantic movie), and Kay (a romantic vacation).

There were four prepared speeches:

Michael O’Brien presented speech #9 from the Competent Communicator Manual (objective: Persuade with Power). His speech, entitled, “Ruddy Apple, Ruddy Cheek”, persuaded us to pursue healthier eating habits (centered around the apple) and was evaluated by Kim.

Rob also presented speech #9 from the CC manual. His speech, “Speech Contests” gave the benefits he found in participating in the fall speech contests, and persuaded us to do the same. His speech was evaluated by Michael Nicastre.

Charnaie spoke from the Better Speaker Series on “Selecting Your Topic.” After her speech (which was evaluated by Rob) we will have a much easier time in finding speech topics -- what we know, what we have a passion for, and what our audience cares about.

Our last speech was given by Kim Price. “Governor, Please” used three examples of poor communication styles (and the negative consequences) to illustrate how important good communications skills are. His speech was evaluated by Cheryl.

Our technicians were Yolanda (Timer), Murali (Grammarian), and Jen (Ah-Counter).

Ramesh was our General Evaluator, and he noted that Jackie in her invocation set the bar higher (as she does with every role she takes on). He led an extra round of applause for Sally and her excellent Table Topics – they were Valentine-themed, loads of fun, with candy gifts for those who participated. He lauded those who stepped in to roles at the last minute but noted how unfortunate it was that that was necessary. Ramesh reminded us to please sign up for roles ahead of the meeting time, before turning the meeting back over to Kay.

Kay closed the meeting with two inspirational quotes that she thought summed up our Toastmasters club and members – “Some people want it to happen, Some wish it to happen, some make it happen”, and “Teamwork allows common people to do uncommon things.”

She gave Jonathan Icebreaker candies, in recognition of his icebreaker speech at the January 27^th meeting, noting that he gave his icebreaker in just his first meeting after joining the club.

Charnaie gaveled the meeting closed just before 9pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary, Middlesex County Toastmasters Club

Meeting Notes, January 27

Despite a snowy start to the day, the Middlesex County Toastmasters Club met on Thursday, January 27^th.

Members Present: Tom Alvord, Jennifer Cimilluca, Charnaie Gordon, Jonathan Herron, Jackie Kirwan, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Michael O’Brien, Ramesh Padavala, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff.

Guests Present: Michele Rousseau, Genevieve Marai.

Business Meeting: Charnaie welcomed our guests, Michele and Genevieve, and updated us on the Distinguished Club Program. Middlesex earned another point after last Monday’s officer training, bringing us to eight points for the year so far (out of a possible ten).

Charnaie announced that the Sea Tea Improv troupe would be coming to our February 24^th meeting to put on a workshop from 7-8pm (followed by a club meeting from 8-9pm). $5 per person is requested to cover the cost of the workshop and refreshments, and registration is limited to 40 people. (You can RSVP to info@middlesex.freetoast.com).

Charnaie welcomed our newest member, Jonathan, and presented him with a new member pin.

Meeting: Our Toastmaster for the evening was Charnaie.

Rob presented the invocation, reflecting on the quote “Your audience does not require your perfection; they seek only your authenticity.”

Our Wordmaster was Charnaie, who challenged us to use the word “thwart” (to frustrate or prevent) in our Table Topics and speeches.

Our Humorist was Tom, who sang us a humorous (and touching song) about a young lady and the love of her life, a logger.

In another of her multiple roles, Charnaie was our Table Topics master. She provided conversation cards with questions for Rob, Ramesh, Michael O’Brien, and our guest Genevieve to read and answer.

There were four prepared speeches:

Jonathan presented his Icebreaker, “Let’s Go Fishing”, in which he used the acronym “FISH” to introduce us to important areas of his life. Ramesh evaluated his speech. (It should be noted that Jonathan joined the club on January 13^th, received his Toastmasters manuals on the 26^th, and gave his Icebreaker on the 27^th—and was our Ah Counter that same night. What a great start to his Toastmasters journey!)

Sally and Michael Nicastre treated us to a pair of speeches, “Home Sweet Home” and “Home Sweat Home,” a wonderful “hers and his” view of the homes they have shared in their married lives. Rob evaluated Sally’s speech, and Murali evaluated Michael’s.

Jen presented an interpretive reading of a story, excerpted from Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods.” Her speech was evaluated by Tom.

Michael O’Brien was our General Evaluator, assisted by Jackie serving the dual roles of Timer and Grammarian, and Jonathan, who was our Ah Counter as noted earlier. Michael noted that while the meeting started just a bit late, people were willing to step up and take on multiple roles (as they usually are). He commented how interesting it was to see a team speech done by Sally and Michael, since it’s not something that we see often. He then turned the meeting back to Charnaie.

Charnaie asked the guests, Genevieve and Michele, for their comments about the meeting. Genevieve said it was informative, and that she thought she’d be back. Michele said that she would be coming back. She thought the feedback the speakers received was great.

With the meeting proper ending early, Charnaie asked for comments and suggestions from the members present. Jackie suggested putting meeting role descriptions, agenda templates, and forms on the club website. Tom commented on the importance and value of the mentoring program. Murali was hoping for an update on the proposed bowling outing.

The meeting concluded at approximately 8:50 pm. Please advise any errors or omissions in these meeting notes. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Cimilluca, Secretary

Middlesex & Cromwell Speech-a-Thon

The 2nd annual Joint Speechathon with Middlesex County and Cromwell Community Toastmasters was held on Thursday, Jan 20, at the Cromwell Public Library. The event was well-attended, with members from both clubs and a number of guests joining in the fun.

The meeting featured seven speeches, from Jackie Kirwan, Murugan Pachaiyappan, Charlie Hubert, Charnaie Gordon, Ute Brinkmann, Jay Broderick, and Tom Alvord. All speeches received a verbal evaluation.

Check out this full set of photos from the speechathon.

Fire-eating at the District Conference, Nov. 2010

Most of the time we give speeches, but once in a while someone eats fire.

Meeting Notes - January 13, 2011

Members Present: Jackie Kirwan, Tom Alvord, Charnaie Gordon, Kay Jeyapalan, Cheryl Mason, Michael Nicastre, Sally Nicastre, Murali Pemmaraju, Rob Schaff, Kim Price, Arun Sodani, Jay Broderick, Brian Burness, Anne-Marie Cannata, John Keppler, Yolanda Lowe, Michael O’Brien.

Guests Present: Johnathan Herron, Margarita Giraldo and Udaya Neelam (Area C5 Governor).

Business Meeting

DCP Status Update: Charnaie updated us on the club’s current status in the DCP program (Distinguished Club Program). We currently have 7 points making us “Select Distinguished”. We are currently on track to become a “President’s Distinguished Club” for the sixth year in a row!

District Event – “Jan Jam”: Upcoming District 53 events include the “Jan Jam”, which will be held Saturday, January 29, 2011, from 1:30pm to 4:00pm (Please note the time change). This event will be held at The Hartford, 690 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT. (A note from the District 53 website: Admission is free but you must RSVP. Contact janjam@district53toastmasters.org or register online.

Club Outing – Bowling: Kay would like to organize a club bowling outing. The tentative date she selected is Saturday, February 26th. The time and location is still being worked out. Please contact Kay if you have an interest in going bowling with us.

Outside Event – “Show Up and Tell”: Anne-Marie mentioned an event called “Show Up and Tell” being held at The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main Street in Middletown on Saturday, January 29th at 8:00pm. Attend this event if you’d like to practice your speaking skills in front of a different audience. Please contact Anne-Marie for more information. Cost: FREE (Donations will be accepted)

Meeting Details

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Jackie Kirwan. Jackie did an amazing job her first time as Toastmaster – Kudos!

One of our newest members, Brian Burness, presented a very profound invocation in which he incorporated diversity of different faiths.

Our Wordmaster was Arun Sodani. Arun presented the word-of-the-day in a very unique approach by presenting a mini humorous and suspenseful speech. Arun challenged us to use the word “incompatible”, meaning unable to exist together in harmony; incapable of associating or blending.

Kim Price filled the role of Humorist. He humored us with a joke about an atheist who took a walk in the woods and came in contact with a grizzly bear.

Cheryl Mason took on the task of being the Table Topics Master for the evening. The theme was “New Year’s Resolutions. Seven people participated: Sally Nicastre, Udaya Neelam (guest), John Keppler, Jonathan Herron (guest), Margarita Giraldo (guest), Michael O’Brien, Yolanda Lowe.

There were four prepared speeches:

Rob Schaff – “The Power of One”: Rob told an inspirational story about this favorite U2 song and the story behind it. The speech was from the CC manual, #10 – Inspire Your Audience. Kay evaluated his speech.

Anne-Marie Cannata – “Believe it Or Not”: Anne-Marie told us an interesting story in which we were told to “believe it or not”. The speech was from an Advanced Manual and the objective was “Entertain Your Audience”. Anne-Marie’s speech was evaluated by John Keppler.

Murali Pemmaraju – “Vote For Your Future”: Murali gave an informative and persuasive about the importance of exercising your right to vote. He also provided reasons why voting is important and how much people take it for granted. This speech was from the CC manual, #9 Persuade With Power. Arun evaluated Murali’s speech.

Tom Alvord – “An Interesting Lady”: Tom presented an informative and historical speech about an interesting lady, Marie Antoinette. Michael Nicastre evaluated Tom’s speech.

Charnaie was our General Evaluator. Other meeting roles were filled by: Michael O’Brien (Timer), Cheryl Mason (Grammarian), and Yolanda Lowe (Ah Counter).

Charnaie noted this was Jackie’s first time as Toastmaster, and complimented her for an outstanding job. The meeting planning began early and the agenda was very well laid out, with the prepared speeches’ projects as well as titles. Jackie even brought snacks for everyone! The word-of-the-day was used quite often throughout the meeting.

When our guests were asked their overall impressions each person said they enjoyed it. Jonathan Herron even became a member at the end of the meeting – welcome Jonathan!

The meeting concluded at 9pm.

Please advise any errors or omissions. Thank you.

Respectfully Submitted,
Charnaie Gordon, President
Middlesex County Toastmasters Club