Friday, June 5, 2015

Meeting Minutes 5-5-2015 (We're 30 years old as a club!!!)

Catching up on posting our Minutes.

Cromwell Community Toastmasters
Club 5908 ~ District 53
Tues, May 5 2015


Attendees:    Don Ostertag, Charlie Hubert, Bill Sullivan, Jen Bourne, Crystal Storo, Phil Mason, Cheryl Mason, Sheetal Patel, Hollie Rose, Andrew Watt, Jeevan Kale

Guests:  Maria , Claude, Aiday

Business Meeting
President Phil Mason presented the Cromwell Community Toastmaster certificate for the club’s 30 year anniversary.   VPE Bill Sullivan reviewed our progress toward our presidents distinguished status for Cromwell.  Area Governor Crystal Storo, in charge in nomination committee for next officer group effective July 1st.   Voting process within next two meetings, Nominees Hollie Rose  - President,  VPE – Andrew Watt,  VPM Don Ostertag, VPPR – Jen Bourne, Treasurer – Brian Fleming, Secretory  and Sgt at Arms nominees yet to accept nomination.  Second meeting in June small campaign speech and then voting.
District Conference – this weekend Sat in Albany, NY.   Info on District 53 toastmasters website.

Toastmaster Hollie Rose

Invocation Charlie Hubert 
Og Mandino: The Greatest Salesman in the World.  “I will form good habits and make them my slave.”


Table Topics Andrew Watt
Good Stuff in Toastmasters Magazine
·       [Bill] Common Speaker Pitfalls  Given this a lot of thought.  Greatest pitfall is thinking that you don’t have to prepare for a speech.   Best speakers look like they were able to do it without practice, only because they did so much preparation.
·       [Crystal] Setting and reaching goals When I first joined TM I came at speech-a-thon time; the speakers and then the feedback really drew me in. There’s no timeline to say, I have to get this done in a certain amount of time.  You can set a goal and get it done in your own time.
·       [Don] Leading with Love  When I was 50 years old I stumbled on the “consonant blend” which opened up a big door for me in ease of reading.   Doing reading manual after finishing my CC.
·       [Sheetal] Telling Tales at the Office  There is nothing you can do better at work than to be honest and there are many ways of telling the truth.   The direct way is the best way.
·       [Maria] It’s about time, and how to manage it Life has been very busy, as a working mom.  Just forget about the list, just do what you need to do.  I hope to find time (enough time) for everybody in my life.   One step at a time.
·        [Cheryl] TED talk  The best Ted Talk I ever saw was described and delivered though the movement of dancers on the stage.  It was about physics and science.  It changed my whole vision of how to present at topic.
·        [Claude] Password security  It doesn’t matter how careful you are.  If you have a digital internet its possible for your password to be stolen.   I had this experience and found out when I went to file my taxes.   Choose a password root and make the password unique to the website in question
·        [Aiday] Speaking on Camera I will be looking at the person who is behind the camera.  The camera is a person that you are talking to.

Speaker # 1:  Crystal Storo  9:03
Manual/Project: Specialty Speeches, Impromptu Speaking
Title: Off the Cuff: Officer Roles
 I have served in all of these roles; Secretary – was only member for 4 months.  I’m a procrastinator and usually meeting minutes would not go out until the day before the next meeting.   So I learned to work on procrastination. Advice: Participate as an officer in ways other than meeting minutes – you are part of the leadership team and can give your input.   Second role was VPE – I felt I hadn’t been a member long enough.   But this was one of my favorite roles and the one that made me flourish.   Their main responsibility is to motivate the club members to achieve their goals.    I felt it was rewarding to see people grow throughout the year.   Advice: Connect with each person individually rather than in aggregate as a club.   Third role was President – Felt very enthusiastic and want to help lead the team.  One of the things I work on is to try to build the team and get people to work together.   This was great for my professional role at work. Advice: get your team together thinking about not just their role but how they can all help each other.  Currently Area Governor – work with the leadership teams of all the area clubs and get area clubs together and cross pollinate.     Next will be running for Division Governor – gets area governors together and works to improve the district as a whole.

Speaker # 2:  Jen Bourne 5:23
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #9
Title: What’s your story?

Jen asked the club to stand up and physically express and feel certain way – think about their story when they felt a certain way.   She asked fellow members to move beyond initial excitement of motivation to working towards their goals in their own way. 

Evaluator # 1:  Phil Mason
Crystal’s off the cuff speech sounded like a prepared speech.  Detailed about explaining roles and what people could get out of that role.   You could have moved around the room and connected with different people.   Liked how you told how you were rewarded by each role.  You created a really strong structure, which is a challenge in an impromptu speech.

Evaluator # 2:    Charlie Hubert
What better way to persuade than with the title, What’s your story?    Persuading people works well when you connect with people’s personal interest.   I can recommend “not to use any notes”.   I think she persuaded us that we need to tell our own story and this is the venue to do it in.

Functionary Reports:

WordMaster: Andrew  Vernal –adj spring-like, springtime  Hollie 1, Andrew 1, Jen 1, TT speaker 1

Timer:  Sheetal -   gave times see above

Grammarian:  Cheryl – Bill: preparation is the key to give  Crystal: “you do good when you are setting goals” Jen  “How do you succeed in the way you want to succeed it your story”

Ah Counter:  Don  -  Only a few each for:  Crystal, Maria, Phil that was basically it.

General Evaluator: Bill Sullivan -
Transition to Table topics, this is a place where we make mistakes and a learning opportunity.   That’s why we practice, practice, practice.   It would have been fine to just go with it and see how it goes for the group. Part of the beauty of toastmasters is the place to make the mistakes.  Andrew in table topics, I thought I had him and I didn’t think he’d called on guests but then he got them.  Evaluators:  I like to hear how the speech made you feel.   Give the evaluation from your point of view.  Meeting could have started more on time.   The person who didn’t speak today was Jeevan.  Jeevan: Crystal’s and Jen’s speeches were good the meeting was good.  To the guests, it is really good that you spoke at your very first meeting.  Next time you’re in a staff meeting, notice how many people speak.  Not everyone is speaking but everyone has something to say  - ask a chronically quiet person what they think.


In closing:  
This weekend, there is the district conference.   International conference in August – go online and be inspired by some of the international speech contest winners on you tube.


Next meeting: May 19, 2014

Respectfully submitted by
Jennifer Bourne, Secretary

[Posted by Hollie Rose CC, CL}


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