The Middlesex County Toastmasters Club met on Thursday, February 10th.
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 24th) 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 26th, from 1-3 at the Bowl-O-Rama, 2131 Berlin Turnpike, Newington. Please RSVP by Tuesday (Feb 15th) to Kay.
The spring contests (International and Tall Tales) will be held on March 10th. 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.
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 27th 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
No comments:
Post a Comment