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