Thursday, August 29, 2013

August 20, 2013 Meeting Minutes



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]

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