March 27, 2008
We had 9 attendees at our meeting on Thursday, including a guest who joined our club – now that’s exciting! We welcome Kalyani Jeyapalan, she lives in Middletown and goes by the name "Kay." We look forward to her attending future meetings. We also heard TWO excellent Icebreaker speeches, congratulations to Jeffrey & Ann-Marie for completing their first speeches, and we look forward to hearing many more!
Our club meeting was held the same night as the Area C5 International & Tall Tales contests, therefore a number of our members were at Holy Apostles for the competition. Here’s a contest report from Nancy:
Hi fellow Middlesex members!
I’m just home from the C-5 contest, and I’m happy to say that Tom, Kim and I had a fun time representing the club tonight and, while we didn’t take first place in either contest, we did quite well!
Tom came in second out of six contestants in the International Contest, and Kim came in third! They had coached each other in advance to improve their speeches and Tom joked that Kim must have done a better job coaching than Tom did. (Remember Kim placed first at out club level and Tom was second). They both were outstanding.
In Tall Tales, I came in second (out of only two contestants but never mind!)
Arun was great as Chief Judge and Fred excelled as chair for the contest and provided the refreshments. Oh – our “rivals” the Eagles of Wallingford won both contests – Donna won Tall Tales and Claudine won International. Well there’s always next year!
Hope the meeting went well tonight, sorry we couldn’t be both places at once!
Cheers! Nancy
For anyone who has not yet renewed membership and intends to continue, please submit your dues as soon as possible, so there is no lapse in your membership. We have 15 confirmed renewals to date.
Dues: Please submit $33 no later than March 15 to John KepplerPayment can be via cash or check made out to "Middlesex County Toastmasters"
Club Meeting Attendance:
Name: Meeting Roles, Comments
1) Bob Briski: Timer, Humorist
2) Ann-Marie Cannata: Speaker # 1, Invocation, Word of the Day, Grammarian
3) Jeffrey Lagasse: Speaker # 3
4) Pat Loulakis: Evaluator # 4, Table-Topics Master
5) Cheryl Mason: Speaker # 2, Evaluator # 3
6) Rob Schaff: Toastmaster, Speaker # 4, Evaluator # 1, General Evaluator
7) Srinivas Voleti: Evaluator # 2
Guests:
8) Kalyani Jeyapalan: First-time guest, joined the club
9) Ashley Mason: Cheryl’s 10-year-old daughter
Business / News
The District 53 Conference is not far away -- sign up to attend this truly worthwhile event!
May 17, 2008 - District 53 Spring Conference
Pioneering Leadership Spirit – Explore New Possibilities
The Delaney House, 3 Country Club Rd. Holyoke, MA 01040, Phone: (413) 532-1800
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/conferences.html
Invocation – Given by Ann-Marie, uplifting thoughts of Spring, rejoicing, and being patient
Humorist: Bob told a fun story about golf and "it's the least I could do after being married for 27 years!"
Word of the Day: occidental - adj. Of or relating to western peoples or cultures
Ann-Marie provided this interesting word, and several speakers used it throughout the evening.
Table Topics
Pat provided thought provoking Table Topics. Cheryl talked about what's important in making a first impression, Rob talked about the biggest crisis in the U.S. today, Ann-Marie told us how she would share her wealth if she had wealth like Warren Buffet, Jeffrey tackled the subject of heart disease, Sreeni spoke on behalf of the FAA, and then on behalf of the airlines addressing the recent airplane groundings, Bob shared his thoughts about what to do for an inexpensive outing, and Ashley told us what she is most proud of (her family).
Speeches
# 1 – Ann-Marie completed speech # 1 Ice Breaker from the CC Manual, "Leave the Timing to the Universe." She intertwined stories about her family, her trip to Hawaii, how things change in a year, and how everything will be perfectly in its place! There was even a surprise ending (or new beginning?)
# 2 – Cheryl completed speech # 5 from The Speaking to Inform Manual, The Abstract Concept; title "Service No More." This speech addressed the changing face of customer service into self-service, and referenced Time Magazine's recent article "Top 10 Ideas that are Changing Our World." What are your thoughts about "hospitals using check-in kiosks for emergency room visits, simply touch the image of the human body where it hurts?" and no, it's not a joke!
# 3 – Jeff Lagasse completed speech # 1 Ice Breaker from the CC Manual, Three Simple Rules. We learned how Jeff became interested in Tai Chi Chaun, and the impact one of his teachers made by encouraging these three simple rules: Do Your Best, Don't Overdo, and Make a Little Progress Every day. And always with a smile!
# 4 – Rob Schaff completed speech # 2 Organize Your Speech from the CC Manual, "Selecting a Topic." Rob talked about his VPE role in encouraging speakers to sign up to give speeches toward their goals. Whether an "Eager," "Willing," or "Reluctant" speaker, remember, we're here to practice, don't worry about being perfect. Rob suggested keeping a journal of ideas provides a good way to keep topics readily available. Every day we each learn something that could be a good topic.
Evaluation portion of the meeting included feedback from each speech evaluator, the timer's report, ah counter report, grammarian report, and the overall general evaluation. Thanks to all our evaluators for all the valuable input!
Worth mentioning – Ann-Marie provided great feedback regarding awkward phrases and sentence structures she picked up on during the meeting. A suggestion was made that perhaps if everyone participated in providing round-robin feedback on grammar usage, it would help all of us improve our awareness in this area.
Our guest, Kay, said it was an enjoyable meeting (she completed the application and joined!)
Rob presented Ice Breaker Mints to our two Ice Breaker Speakers!
Closing - Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Contest Winners
Congratulations to the winners of our Spring Speech Contest!
International Speech
First: Kim Price
Second: Tom Alvord
Tall Tales
First: Nancy Green
The winners will represent our club at the Area C5 contest on March 27.
International Speech
First: Kim Price
Second: Tom Alvord
Tall Tales
First: Nancy Green
The winners will represent our club at the Area C5 contest on March 27.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Middlesex Captures Traveling Gavel
Middlesex County TM Club 8340 Invades Cigna Lunchtime Club 9617 for Gavel Capture!
On March 4, four members from the Middlesex County Toastmasters Club traveled to Bloomfield to capture the Division E Gavel from Cigna Lunchtime Toastmasters: Tom Alvord, Cheryl Mason, Rob Schaff, and Nancy Green.
The Cigna Toastmasters are a warm and welcoming group, with a lot of spirit! While we were there, we got to participate in their Tall Tales contest, serving as judges and timers.
We are very happy to have captured a Traveling Gavel, and we look forward to welcoming any gavel-seeking visitors!
On March 4, four members from the Middlesex County Toastmasters Club traveled to Bloomfield to capture the Division E Gavel from Cigna Lunchtime Toastmasters: Tom Alvord, Cheryl Mason, Rob Schaff, and Nancy Green.
The Cigna Toastmasters are a warm and welcoming group, with a lot of spirit! While we were there, we got to participate in their Tall Tales contest, serving as judges and timers.
We are very happy to have captured a Traveling Gavel, and we look forward to welcoming any gavel-seeking visitors!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Meeting February 28, 2008
We had 12 attendees at our meeting this past Thursday. The meeting was very well organized, and our environment was warm and friendly -- that's exactly what our guests told us! We were happy to have FOUR guests at our meeting. Thanks to all that helped make the meeting such a success.
Dues: Please submit $33 no later than March 15 to John KepplerPayment can be via cash or check made out to "Middlesex County Toastmasters"
$27.00 goes to International for dues April 1 through September 30th. The other $6.00 is used for club activities. You may forward $66.00 and that will pay for the period April 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009.For further information, contact John via e-mail: John.Keppler@milfordhospital.org or phone: (860) 841-9323 Mail payment to: John Keppler, 194 Avery Avenue, Meriden, CT 06460
Club Attendance:
1) Tom Alvord - Toastmaster
2) Nancy Green - Table Topics Master
3) Chris Lewis - Speaker #3, Timer
4) Cheryl Mason - Speaker #1, Word Master
5) Kim Price - Ah Counter, Evaluator #2
6) Rob Schaff - Speaker #2, Sergeant at Arms
7) Fred Swiderski - Humorist
8) Srinivas Voleti - Evaluator #1, General Evaluator
Guests:
9) Bob Brisky - Grammarian, Bob is a returning visitor
10) Mark - Mark works with Bob
11) Shelby Smith - Shelby is from Wallingford, she relocated from Kentucky
12) Erik Jarboe - Erik is from Haddam
News
March 13 – Tall Tales & International Speech Club Contest (MCC regular meeting location)
Volunteers are needed to bring snacks – please let Rob know what you are able to bring.
March 27 - Area Contest at Holy Apostles, Cromwell, doors open at 6:45 p.m.
May 17, 2008 - District 53 Spring Conference
Pioneering Leadership Spirit – Explore New Possibilities
The Delaney House, 3 Country Club Rd. Holyoke, MA 01040, Phone: (413) 532-1800
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/conferences.html
Tom reminded us that it's everyone's responsibility to keep our club healthy, and to ensure we continue to have plenty of members. Visualize 20! We need a minimum of 20 members in the club – and need to anticipate members that might not renew, so we all need to do what we can to help increase membership!
Fred Swiderski, our Area C5 Governor, updated us on the upcoming contests and conferences. He also conducted a club progress meeting, which is required twice a year.
Humorist: Fred shared a couple of jokes that had us all laughing (or groaning!)
Word of the Day: Vice versa
Definition: in reverse order, the other way around (ex. dogs often chase cats, but not usually vice versa). Cheryl mentioned that she has seen these words misspelled.
Table Topics
Nancy challenged us with a very creative theme for Table Topics. We practiced introductions by providing background information as we introduced our table topic, each was selected from the bottom of a large shopping bag.
Kim did a fine job introducing Madam Flashlight, Chris gave a warm welcome to Mr. Static Guard, Tom had some friendly comments about Mr. Plastic Bottle, Fred talked up a "storm" about Mr. (squishy blue) Sponge, Bob introduced "Mr. Book," Sreeni had the "honor" of introducing President Bulb, Cheryl introduced a young Miss Nature Made, and Rob was happy to welcome Mr. Paper Clip, who we don't get to hear speak very often!
Speeches
# 1 – Cheryl completed speech # 8 from the CC manual, Get Comfortable with Visual Aids, title "Toastmasters and the Family Tree." She shared information she learned about the organizational hierarchy within Toastmasters. She provided a handout she put together regarding the TM organization and some interesting trivia that she learned from researching the websites as well as information she received from Karin Von Känel, ACB,ALS, Lt. Governor Education & Training.
# 2 – Rob completed speech # 2 from The Entertaining Speaker manual, Resources for Entertainment; title "Cold Storage." This was an interesting speech that touched on the War in Iraq along with themes about patterns and correlations. We also heard the anecdotal story about Uncle Toby and the story about Awakenings.
# 3 – Chris conducted the presentation, "How to Conduct Productive Meetings," from the Success Leadership program. Chris shared some of her own experiences and kept the material interesting, involving members from the audience as she spoke. This was a formal presentation that had a lot of useful information that we all could relate to!
Evaluation portion of the meeting included round robin feedback from the audience for Chris, feedback from each speech evaluator, the timer's report, ah counter report, grammarian report, and the overall general evaluation. Thanks to all our evaluators for all the valuable input!
Tom presented Rob with his CC certificate, for completion of 10 speeches in the CC manual. Way to go, Rob!
We had some great feedback from Fred, Area C5 Governor, regarding our meeting and our club.
Closing - Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Meeting Feb. 14, 2008
February 14, 2008
Lucky 13! We had 13 members in attendance (again). It was a great meeting, and thanks to all that participated, and for those that couldn't make it, we look forward to seeing you next time!
Dues: Please submit $33 no later than March 15 to John KepplerPayment can be via cash or check made out to "Middlesex County Toastmasters"
$27.00 goes to International for dues April 1 through September 30th. The other $6.00 is used for club activities. You may forward $66.00 and that will pay for the period April 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009.For further information, contact John via e-mail: John.Keppler@milfordhospital.org or phone: (860) 841-9323 Mail payment to: John Keppler, 194 Avery Avenue, Meriden, CT 06460
Club Attendance:
Tom Alvord: Grammarian, Humorist, Evaluator
Nancy Green: Invocation, Work of the Day, Evaluator
John Keppler: Speaker # 1
Cheryl Mason: Speaker # 3
Kim Price: Evaluator
Rose Rita Riccitelli: Speaker # 2
Rob Schaff: Toastmaster, Speaker #4
Arun Sodani: General Evaluator, Sergeant at Arms,
Fred Swiderski: Ah Counter
Brenda Violette: Timer
Srinivas Voleti: Table Topics, Evaluator
Guests:
Cliff Straub - Works in Middletown, found us via the Internet
Ashley Mason
News
March 13 - Club Contest (same meeting location) - Tall Tales and International Speech. If you haven't signed up already, consider participating as a contestant or in any of the open roles.
March 27 - Area Contest at Holy Apostles, Cromwell, check District 53 website for more info.
May 17, 2008 - District 53 Spring Conference
Pioneering Leadership Spirit – Explore New Possibilities
The Delaney House, Holyoke, MA
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/conferences.html
Fred shared his thoughts with us on what a terrific opportunity the conference is to see some great speakers.
February 28th – Chris Lewis will be giving a 45-minute presentation to meet the goals of one of her projects. This is planned for the second half of the meeting.
Practice makes perfect! Words of encouragement from Tom, who reminded us about the great opportunity we have to practice speaking at each Toastmaster meeting – in any of the meeting roles we fill.
Invocation: Nancy talked about a favorite author, Corrie ten Boom, who wrote "The Hiding Place."
Information found on-line: Corrie ten Boom was a leader in the Dutch Underground during WWII. With the aid of her family, she hid scores of Jews from the Nazi invaders. She was arrested along with every member of her family, spending the remaining war years in concentration camps.
Nancy shared these favorite inspirational quotes by Corrie ten Boom:
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
"Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear."
These quotes are especially relevant when we think about our journey with Toastmasters, which tied right into the word-of-the-day from Nancy.
Word of the Day: TRUST
Humorist: Tom sang (yes he sang!) a wonderfully funny story about a man who married a woman 30 years older, and how everything was perfect until the wedding night! There was something about the wife removing teeth and hair, and something about a dainty glass eye, and something about sleeping in a chair, "Side by Side" !!!
Everyone was chuckling during Tom's rendition of this very humorous song!
Table Topics
Sreeni led the table topics and provided us with very interesting questions! We enjoyed stories about bumper stickers, "a dark and stormy night," the most important question to be answered, who you would want to meet (that is deceased), what you would do if you didn't have to work for a living, whether you would rather be without television or the internet, and which country you would visit and why.
Timbuktu – YES it really is a place! And Sreeni knew just where it was, too!
From Wikipedia:
Timbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. Timbuktu is populated by Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Mandé people, and is about 15 km north of the Niger River. It is also at the intersection of an east–west and a north–south Trans-Saharan trade across the Sahara to Araouane. It was important historically (and still is today) as an entrepot for rock-salt from Taoudenni.
Speeches
# 1 - John gave a speech (without a whole lot of preparation!) with a Valentine's Day theme. John talked about calling someone who doesn't get very many calls, and getting in touch with someone you haven't been in touch with in awhile. He also shared a couple of very humorous stories about some "expensive" Valentine's Day gifts (or so it seemed), and buying some kisses (which turned out to be chocolate). Very entertaining!
# 2 - Rose Rita completed speech # 5 from the CC manual, Your Body Speaks, title "Take a Bow." We heard about an ancient Indian greeting, deep respect, and the spirit in each and every one of us. She shared an interesting message about becoming flexible in mind, body, and spirit. Great speech!
# 3 - Cheryl completed speech # 7 from the CC manual, Research Your Topic. The topic of this speech was "50 Years Ago," and she shared memories of a recent cruise as well as some family history related to the Andrea Doria.
# 4 – Rob completed speech # 1 from the CC manual, the Ice Breaker, title "Something Personal." Rob shared a heartwarming story about how he was able to connect with others, share memories, and put his Toastmasters experiences to good use at an important family gathering. Very inspirational!
Evaluation portion of the meeting included feedback from each speech evaluator, the timer's report, ah counter report, grammarian report, and the overall general evaluation. Thanks to all our evaluators for all the valuable input!
Input from our guest, Cliff, was that he was pleased with the meeting and enjoyed himself.
Kim reported that his presentation in Florida went well; it was great to hear how the preparation and practice for this formal speech helped to make it a success!
Closing - Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Lucky 13! We had 13 members in attendance (again). It was a great meeting, and thanks to all that participated, and for those that couldn't make it, we look forward to seeing you next time!
Dues: Please submit $33 no later than March 15 to John KepplerPayment can be via cash or check made out to "Middlesex County Toastmasters"
$27.00 goes to International for dues April 1 through September 30th. The other $6.00 is used for club activities. You may forward $66.00 and that will pay for the period April 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009.For further information, contact John via e-mail: John.Keppler@milfordhospital.org or phone: (860) 841-9323 Mail payment to: John Keppler, 194 Avery Avenue, Meriden, CT 06460
Club Attendance:
Tom Alvord: Grammarian, Humorist, Evaluator
Nancy Green: Invocation, Work of the Day, Evaluator
John Keppler: Speaker # 1
Cheryl Mason: Speaker # 3
Kim Price: Evaluator
Rose Rita Riccitelli: Speaker # 2
Rob Schaff: Toastmaster, Speaker #4
Arun Sodani: General Evaluator, Sergeant at Arms,
Fred Swiderski: Ah Counter
Brenda Violette: Timer
Srinivas Voleti: Table Topics, Evaluator
Guests:
Cliff Straub - Works in Middletown, found us via the Internet
Ashley Mason
News
March 13 - Club Contest (same meeting location) - Tall Tales and International Speech. If you haven't signed up already, consider participating as a contestant or in any of the open roles.
March 27 - Area Contest at Holy Apostles, Cromwell, check District 53 website for more info.
May 17, 2008 - District 53 Spring Conference
Pioneering Leadership Spirit – Explore New Possibilities
The Delaney House, Holyoke, MA
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/conferences.html
Fred shared his thoughts with us on what a terrific opportunity the conference is to see some great speakers.
February 28th – Chris Lewis will be giving a 45-minute presentation to meet the goals of one of her projects. This is planned for the second half of the meeting.
Practice makes perfect! Words of encouragement from Tom, who reminded us about the great opportunity we have to practice speaking at each Toastmaster meeting – in any of the meeting roles we fill.
Invocation: Nancy talked about a favorite author, Corrie ten Boom, who wrote "The Hiding Place."
Information found on-line: Corrie ten Boom was a leader in the Dutch Underground during WWII. With the aid of her family, she hid scores of Jews from the Nazi invaders. She was arrested along with every member of her family, spending the remaining war years in concentration camps.
Nancy shared these favorite inspirational quotes by Corrie ten Boom:
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
"Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear."
These quotes are especially relevant when we think about our journey with Toastmasters, which tied right into the word-of-the-day from Nancy.
Word of the Day: TRUST
Humorist: Tom sang (yes he sang!) a wonderfully funny story about a man who married a woman 30 years older, and how everything was perfect until the wedding night! There was something about the wife removing teeth and hair, and something about a dainty glass eye, and something about sleeping in a chair, "Side by Side" !!!
Everyone was chuckling during Tom's rendition of this very humorous song!
Table Topics
Sreeni led the table topics and provided us with very interesting questions! We enjoyed stories about bumper stickers, "a dark and stormy night," the most important question to be answered, who you would want to meet (that is deceased), what you would do if you didn't have to work for a living, whether you would rather be without television or the internet, and which country you would visit and why.
Timbuktu – YES it really is a place! And Sreeni knew just where it was, too!
From Wikipedia:
Timbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. Timbuktu is populated by Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Mandé people, and is about 15 km north of the Niger River. It is also at the intersection of an east–west and a north–south Trans-Saharan trade across the Sahara to Araouane. It was important historically (and still is today) as an entrepot for rock-salt from Taoudenni.
Speeches
# 1 - John gave a speech (without a whole lot of preparation!) with a Valentine's Day theme. John talked about calling someone who doesn't get very many calls, and getting in touch with someone you haven't been in touch with in awhile. He also shared a couple of very humorous stories about some "expensive" Valentine's Day gifts (or so it seemed), and buying some kisses (which turned out to be chocolate). Very entertaining!
# 2 - Rose Rita completed speech # 5 from the CC manual, Your Body Speaks, title "Take a Bow." We heard about an ancient Indian greeting, deep respect, and the spirit in each and every one of us. She shared an interesting message about becoming flexible in mind, body, and spirit. Great speech!
# 3 - Cheryl completed speech # 7 from the CC manual, Research Your Topic. The topic of this speech was "50 Years Ago," and she shared memories of a recent cruise as well as some family history related to the Andrea Doria.
# 4 – Rob completed speech # 1 from the CC manual, the Ice Breaker, title "Something Personal." Rob shared a heartwarming story about how he was able to connect with others, share memories, and put his Toastmasters experiences to good use at an important family gathering. Very inspirational!
Evaluation portion of the meeting included feedback from each speech evaluator, the timer's report, ah counter report, grammarian report, and the overall general evaluation. Thanks to all our evaluators for all the valuable input!
Input from our guest, Cliff, was that he was pleased with the meeting and enjoyed himself.
Kim reported that his presentation in Florida went well; it was great to hear how the preparation and practice for this formal speech helped to make it a success!
Closing - Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Meeting Notes: January 24, 2008
Lucky 13! We had 13 members in attendance. It was a great meeting, and thanks to all that participated, and for those that couldn't make it, we look forward to seeing you next time!
Brenda Violette is the newest member of the Middlesex Club, welcome, Brenda!
Club Attendance:
1) Anne Marie Cannata, Word Master & Grammarian
2) John Keppler
3) Jeff Lagasse, Timer
4) Eliot Lofman
5) Pat Loulakis, Table Topics Master
6) Cheryl Mason, Speaker # 1
7) Kim Price, Speaker # 3, Humorist
8) Rose Rita Riccitelli, Speaker # 2, Evaluator # 1
9) Rob Schaff, General Evaluator, Backup Speaker
10) Arun Sodani, Toastmaster, Sergeant at Arms,
11) Brenda Violette
12) Srinivas Voleti, Evaluator # 2
Guests:
Bob Brisky - Bob is from the Middletown area and expressed interest in joining. We provided him with an application, website info, and some TM promo materials, as well as John's contact info for collecting dues / activating membership.
News
District 53 Spring Conference
Pioneering Leadership Spirit – Explore New Possibilities
May 17, 2008 – The Delaney House, Holyoke, MA
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/conferences.html
Rob noted that Meshva Patel has relocated to Houston, TX, having taken a new job.
Our membership is currently at exactly 20 members. We need to add new members in order to be sure we don’t dip below 20 should any existing members not renew. It is important to maintain at least 20 members; It is part of the criteria used for the distinguished club program.
Dues: please submit $33 no later than March 15, by cash or check to John Keppler. The cost covers $27 for international dues, $6 for local club dues which are used for educational materials, etc. John will submit the dues to International by April 1.
February 28th – Chris Lewis will be giving a 45-minute presentation to meet the goals of one of her projects. This is planned for the second half of the meeting.
Humorist: Kim shared a funny story with us about being in VT at a house that was being remodeled and didn’t have a working bathroom, and the nearby bucket. Luckily the bucket wasn’t used the way his wife thought it was going to be!
Word of the Day: Coalesce
co·a·lesce
verb (used without object)
1. to grow together or into one body: The two lakes coalesced into one.
2. to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.: The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
3. to blend or come together: Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
—Synonyms 1, 2. unite, combine, join. 2. amalgamate, fuse, blend, merge.
Table Topics
Pat led the table topics and provided us thought provoking questions from a variety of sources including Reader’s Digest. We enjoyed stories about speeding tickets, spirituality, having an entire movie theater to yourself, among others.
Speeches
Cheryl completed her 6th speech from the CC manual, Vocal Variety. The topic of this speech was "Relax," and she shared a picture of a beautiful relaxing beach scene which is hard to imagine in this cold January climate!
Rose Rita completed her 3rd speech from the CC manual, Get to the Point. The topic of this speech was “Living with JOY!” She shared adorable pictures of her new puppy and talked about the excitement and joy her new pet is giving her.
Kim gave an in-depth presentation regarding paper products, in preparation for a speech he will be giving next week. Kim shared some in-depth knowledge of the industry and the importance of many of the current product offerings.
Rob facilitated a round-robin, open feedback session for Kim, with lots of input from the audience. Good luck with the upcoming speech, Kim – you’ll do great!
Closing - Meeting was adjourned by at approx. 8:55 p.m.
Brenda Violette is the newest member of the Middlesex Club, welcome, Brenda!
Club Attendance:
1) Anne Marie Cannata, Word Master & Grammarian
2) John Keppler
3) Jeff Lagasse, Timer
4) Eliot Lofman
5) Pat Loulakis, Table Topics Master
6) Cheryl Mason, Speaker # 1
7) Kim Price, Speaker # 3, Humorist
8) Rose Rita Riccitelli, Speaker # 2, Evaluator # 1
9) Rob Schaff, General Evaluator, Backup Speaker
10) Arun Sodani, Toastmaster, Sergeant at Arms,
11) Brenda Violette
12) Srinivas Voleti, Evaluator # 2
Guests:
Bob Brisky - Bob is from the Middletown area and expressed interest in joining. We provided him with an application, website info, and some TM promo materials, as well as John's contact info for collecting dues / activating membership.
News
District 53 Spring Conference
Pioneering Leadership Spirit – Explore New Possibilities
May 17, 2008 – The Delaney House, Holyoke, MA
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/conferences.html
Rob noted that Meshva Patel has relocated to Houston, TX, having taken a new job.
Our membership is currently at exactly 20 members. We need to add new members in order to be sure we don’t dip below 20 should any existing members not renew. It is important to maintain at least 20 members; It is part of the criteria used for the distinguished club program.
Dues: please submit $33 no later than March 15, by cash or check to John Keppler. The cost covers $27 for international dues, $6 for local club dues which are used for educational materials, etc. John will submit the dues to International by April 1.
February 28th – Chris Lewis will be giving a 45-minute presentation to meet the goals of one of her projects. This is planned for the second half of the meeting.
Humorist: Kim shared a funny story with us about being in VT at a house that was being remodeled and didn’t have a working bathroom, and the nearby bucket. Luckily the bucket wasn’t used the way his wife thought it was going to be!
Word of the Day: Coalesce
co·a·lesce
verb (used without object)
1. to grow together or into one body: The two lakes coalesced into one.
2. to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.: The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
3. to blend or come together: Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
—Synonyms 1, 2. unite, combine, join. 2. amalgamate, fuse, blend, merge.
Table Topics
Pat led the table topics and provided us thought provoking questions from a variety of sources including Reader’s Digest. We enjoyed stories about speeding tickets, spirituality, having an entire movie theater to yourself, among others.
Speeches
Cheryl completed her 6th speech from the CC manual, Vocal Variety. The topic of this speech was "Relax," and she shared a picture of a beautiful relaxing beach scene which is hard to imagine in this cold January climate!
Rose Rita completed her 3rd speech from the CC manual, Get to the Point. The topic of this speech was “Living with JOY!” She shared adorable pictures of her new puppy and talked about the excitement and joy her new pet is giving her.
Kim gave an in-depth presentation regarding paper products, in preparation for a speech he will be giving next week. Kim shared some in-depth knowledge of the industry and the importance of many of the current product offerings.
Rob facilitated a round-robin, open feedback session for Kim, with lots of input from the audience. Good luck with the upcoming speech, Kim – you’ll do great!
Closing - Meeting was adjourned by at approx. 8:55 p.m.
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