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