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
