Wednesday, June 19, 2013


Meeting Minutes
Cromwell Community Toastmasters

Club 5908 ~ District 53
June 18, 2013
Attendees:    Twelve members attended: Tom Alvord, Bo Bogart Linda Campbell, Rob Dalo, Asha Gangina, Charlie Hubert, Elizabeth Landeen, Phil Mason, Hollie Rose, Crystal Storo, Brian Terry, Carolyn Warner
Business Meeting:
The meeting was called to order by Charlie Hubert. Rob announced that this would be his last meeting serving as president and how great the experience has been for him. Crystal conducted the business meeting offering handouts delineating the following key points: 1) Rachel Mele ACB of the Wallingford Eagle Toastmasters will be speaking at the Wallingford Public Access Association this Friday 6/21 at 7 pm. Rachel will be giving a speech on Toastmasters followed by a Q & A session. Crystal Storo CC, CL will be conducting the interview. The show will be video captured and broadcast on Comcast Xfinity 18, AT&T Uverse 99 and on the public internet. We will be going to dinner afterwards at the Old Dublin in Wallingford. All are invited to come, show support and join us for dinner; 2). TLI - Toastmasters Leadership Institute - Education for all to attend, need 4 of the new officers to attend. Crystal, Elizabeth, Hollie, Sheetal, and Bo have all registered for Aug 10th. Register at: http://d53tli2013.eventbrite.com/# Dates are: June22 - Schenectady, NY, July 13 - Hamden, CT, August 3 - Division A - TBA, August 10 - Manchester, CT; 3). Cromwell Toastmasters is now part of the new Area 32. Starting July 1st our new Area Governor will be Nathan Jaycox from the Energy Club. Area 32 includes Farmington Toastmasters, SBD Power Speakers in New Britain, Energy Toastmasters, CCAT, Middlesex County Toastmasters and Cromwell Community Toastmasters.  The attendance is free and there will also be free food provided.
 
Rob presented Linda with a  'Half CC Educational Achievement Certificate' and Hollie took a pictures. 
Rob further offered a shout out to Hollie for her help with the pictures on our website.
Meeting Roles:
Toastmaster: Crystal Storo CC, CL
Crystal thanked us for coming and encouraged us all to bring guests to the meetings. She thanked Phil for challenging us with the humorous pictures in tonight's Table Topics.
Invocation: Elizabeth Landeen
Elizabeth seconded Rob's theme for this year, " be a player; don't just sit in the stands" citing " go big or go home" as her personal theme and advised each of us to think of a personal theme for the year both for Toastmasters and life in general.
Word Master: Tom Alvord ACB, ALB
Word - of - the - Day: Rhetoric -  noun  - meaning the art of effective or persuasive speech or writing especially figures of speech and composition techniques; more recent usage as language designed to have an impressive effect on the audience but lacking in sincerity or meaningful content. Example:  " All we hear..... is empty rhetoric."
Table Topics Master: Phil Mason CC
Theme: Elaborating on humorous pictures
1. Charlie Hubert: Charlie said his picture reminded him of a 'gear head', a farmer of mechanical things, a cool guy and wondered how the truck got up in the tree and how they would get it out.
2. Brian Terry: Brian related how a friend of his was looking for a parking spot near a building and noted the car in the picture was positioned so the person could get out of the driver's side and that a motorcycle driver in the background is trying to figure out what to do. He further said it's interesting what people will do to get a close parking spot.
3. Linda Campbell: Linda recalled a recent incident where a deer standing on the road suddenly charged her after she clapped her hands in an effort to save the deer from being hit by a car and further related that the man on the motorcycle may have stopped quickly and the goat chasing him just hopped onboard or he might just have an interesting friendship with a goat.
4. Rob Dalo: Seeing a dog dressed in an airplane, Rob mentioned that people are always dressing their pets up in crazy costumes and how his daughters used to dress up their two cats. He said the cats are being tortured as they tortured him with their antics especially in the middle of the night and tonight he will pull out those costumes.
5. Asha Gangina: Seeing a young boy looking at an empty wine bottle that he thought he would enjoy, Asha said it reminded her of her daughter putting everything in the trash can.
6. Carolyn Warner: Carolyn related how she and her boyfriend go on hikes to get into shape and take their dog Joy along with them to Sleeping Giant and Ragged Mountain. She mentioned the way the woman in the picture was carrying her dog is giving her motivation to take her dog on a walk to the beach.
Prepared Speeches:
Speaker # 1: Bo Bogart
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator/ # 1.- Icebreaker
Title: Thank Goodness for Our Friends
Speaker # 2: Tom Alvord
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator
Title: Aristotle and Toastmasters
Speaker # 3: Hollie Rose
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator/ #6. - Vocal Variety
Title: Diaries and Journals
Cromwell Community Toastmasters Incoming Officers  (beginning July 2013):

President: Crystal Storo CC, CL
Sergeant at Arms: Charlie Hubert
Treasurer: Brian Fleming
Secretary: Bo Bogart
VP Public Relations: Hollie Rose
VP Education: Elizabeth Landeen
VP Membership: Sheetal Patel
General Evaluator: Elizabeth Landeen
Elizabeth thanked Charlie for getting everything ready for the meeting, and said, " even in the pouring rain, the signs were out", mentioned how creative the Table Topics pictures were and thanked Phil for such a great idea, said that the interruption during the meeting didn't bother us, explained how much we all learn via the speeches, thanked Hollie for pushing through and giving an alternate speech, noted with specific examples how effective tonight's evaluators were and proposed that we use the round robin technique for evaluation again as it proved very helpful to us all. Elizabeth advised that the round robin evaluation idea could be suggested to the new officers.
Evaluator # 1: Charlie Hubert
Evaluator # 2: All participated using Round Robin technique/ Asha Gangina ( written evaluation)
Evaluator # 3: Rob Dalo
Functionary Reports:
Ah Counter: Brian Terry
Grammarian: Linda Campbell
Timer: Carolyn Warner
Closing: Rob Dalo and Crystal Storo
Asha Gangina informed us that she won't be able to attend meetings for the next six months as she will be moving to Fort Worth, TX  for a new job. She thanked everyone for supporting and helping her and for the friendly environment provided by the Cromwell Community Toastmasters club. We wish her all the best and hope she'll keep in touch with us.
Rob congratulated Bo on her Icebreaker speech and presented her with Icebreaker mints and a ribbon. Crystal and Rob further presented each outgoing officer with a certificate and Toastmaster key chain with his or her office engraved on one side and the Toastmaster International logo on the other. Crystal presented Rob with a beautiful club president award and said " ...you stepped up to the plate...have grown tremendously...providing outstanding dedication and leadership..." Hollie took a photo of Crystal and Rob holding the club president award. Crystal further gave each incoming officer a Club Leadership Handbook, and Elizabeth (VPE) several additional manuals and our new DCP chart and introduced a chart to track everybody's progress ( CC, Advanced Communicator Awards and CL). She recommended that we think about our goals for the                                                                 next year            
 
 Rob reiterated what a successful year it had been and how much he enjoyed being our president. He also noted that the VPE "really runs the club" and that Crystal has lead it "with vigor and passion". He told Crystal that " you made me look good" and thanked her for her "effort, hard work, and dedication". Rob presented Crystal with a 'pair of shoes in a box' for Designer Shoe Warehouse, thanking her for " the passion you bring to the club". Rob ended the meeting with his comment that we could either " sit in the stands or be out on the court....all the fun happens on the court."
Reminder: Crystal asked us to please use the box at the bottom of the agenda page on our website if unable to attend the next meeting.
Next meeting: July 2, 2013
Respectfully submitted by
Linda Campbell, Secretary
Uploaded by Hollie Rose.
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