Cromwell Community Toastmasters
Club 5908 ~ District 53
August 20, 2013 Meeting Minutes
[My bad - I thought I posted this last week. Sorry it's late! ~~ Hollie]
“Go Big or Go Home”
Attendees: members
attended: Bo
Bogart, Elizabeth Landeen, Cheryl Mason DTM, Phil Mason CC, Donald Ostertag,
Sheetal Patel, Hollie Rose CC, Molly Seely, Crystal Storo, and Andrew Watt.
Guests: Miroslav
Grajewski, Mark LaBarge and Catherine Rose
Business Meeting:
The meeting was called to
order on time by Phil Mason CC. President, Crystal Storo thanked everyone for
coming and then welcomed new members Molly Seely and Andrew Watt. Elizabeth
Landeen - VP of Education – spoke about the upcoming speech contest Crystal congratulated:
Hollie Rose on receiving her CC; Cheryl Mason DTM on completing her 7th CL manual and Sheetal
Patel on completing her ½ CC. She spoke
of our club’s goal to be a President’s Distinguished Club, Hollie spoke of the
Aug. 10th Leadership Training and Crystal introduced our three
guests and they told what brought them to tonight’s meeting.
Meeting Roles:
Toastmaster: Crystal Storo
Invocation: Donald Ostertag - Looking for a non denominational invocation
Don inspired us with his and Emily Dickinson’s thoughts on Dwelling in
Possibilities.
Word Master: Hollie Rose
Word - of - the - Day: finesse – extreme subtlety in action, performance or skill,
skill in handling a difficult or highly sensitive situation
Table Topics Master: Bo Bogart
Theme: Theater
and movies - Cheryl Mason answered the first question and told us she’d like to
see Bob Seeger in concert, Catherine
described Lady Gaga’s meat outfit and
Andrew acted out three different roles from
the Pirates of Penzance. Molly told us how she picks movies, horror shows are
first choice, Miroslav said that the last movie he saw was so gruesome that he
and a friend watched a “chick flick” afterwards and Mark told us how he evolved
into his current job and how he got his great Mr. Potatohead tie.
Prepared Speeches:
Speaker # 1: Elizabeth Landeen
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator/Project 1 Ice
Breaker
Title:
How My Heart Found the West
- Elizabeth told us when she was a
teenager she visited the southwest and loved it so much she didn’t want to come
back to CT. She did come back to CT, but then chose a college that was near the
Grand Canyon. Some of the draws are the
history and Native American culture, slower lifestyle, easy camping access,
less bugs and lower humidity. She plans
to go back someday.
Speaker
# 2: Andrew
Watt
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator/Project 1 Ice
Breaker
Title: What Do They
Really Need? Andrew spoke of skills, students and how he had to facilitate
learning while fading into the background. He then told us three stories, the
first one of a backpacking trip where he was carrying a lot of gear. It was a
14 day hike with only 9 minutes at the summit to see the view, but the trip was
totally worth it. The next story was
about another hike where he had trouble with the local drinking water and a
fellow traveler helped him out by having accessible toilet paper. His third story was of a 13 year old boy he
was restraining so that the boy couldn’t return to the fight he’d been in. The boy bit Andrew and was warned if he bit
Andrew again, Andrew would bite him back. Andrew ended up biting the boy. His
conclusion tied the three stories together very cleverly.
Speaker # 3: Cheryl Mason DTM
Manual/Project: Competent
Communicator/Project 1 Ice Breaker
Title: 26,37,52 Cheryl told us of the excitement of their first house, how her husband was a
visionary to find it and how family, friends and neighbors turned their first
house into a home. In the 26 years they lived there, there were
celebrations and good times and some not so good times. Cheryl told us that
after 37 years in their home her parents moved to a ranch in NH, where they are
happy, and after 52 years in their home her in-laws moved into an apartment,
where they too, are happy. Family,
neighbors and celebrations make a home and there is much potential.
General Evaluator: Hollie Rose CC
Evaluator # 1: Phil Mason CC
Evaluator # 2: Sheetal Patel
Evaluator # 3: Crystal Storo CC, CL
Functionary Reports:
Ah Counter: Elizabeth Landeen
Grammarian: Catherine Rose
Timer: Donald Ostertag
In closing Crystal
gave Ice Breaker candies to Elizabeth, Andrew and Cheryl. Elizabeth
also received her ½ CC.
Congratulations! Crystal asked new members and guests what
they thought of the meeting. Molly said
she watched the functionaries because now that she’s a member she wants to be
more involved. Mark had some questions about all the abbreviations. Miroslav thought Toastmasters could be very
useful and might soon sign up to become a member. Catherine, a member in Hartford is thinking of joining our club.
Andrew had fun.
Next meeting: September 3, 2013
Respectfully submitted by
Bo Bogart,
Secretary
[Posted by Hollie Rose]
