Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Meeting Minutes 4-5-16



Cromwell Community Toastmasters
Club 5908 ~ District 53
Tues April 5, 2016


Attendees:    Rob Dalo, Crystal Storo, Bill Sullivan, Danielle Payne, Jay Drew, Sheetal Patel, Maribel Camacho

Guests
: August Wolf


Business Meeting

Membership Standing
We lost one member
All but one member has paid their dues (the check is in the mail)
We have 21 dues paying members

Discussion regarding being a club sponsor for a new club – Jackson Laboratories (Jen Bourne’s employer)

Division D Speech Contest
April 13 at 7 PM
Thames Club, 290 State Street, New London
Come cheer for the  Area 44 representatives, Sheetal Patel and Andrew Watt
If you are serving as a judge or functionary, please arrive before 6:30.

Toastmasters District 53 Spring 2016 Conference 
Friday May 21, 2016 Social and Networking
Saturday, May 21, 2016 Conference
Sheraton Hartford Hotel @ Bradley Airport
Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT 06096


Toastmaster Bill Sullivan


Invocation Maribel Camacho

Maribel read a poem about the questions surrounding life and success

Table Topics Sheetal Patel
Everyone picked three cards from the game Yadda Yadda Yadda

Best friend, voting, favorite desert
1:25 August Wolf – Joe, my best friend, is a chef at William Sonoma. He created a tower of puff pastry goodness. The tower was held together with caramel and spiced sugar. If done right it looks like Trump’s hair.

Teacher, first serious crush, camping
0:56 Jay Drew – I am a happy camper. I go camping with my son and his friends. Everyone sings songs and has a good time. My first serious crush was Paul in high school. He didn’t know that I existed.

Using coupons, living like the Flintstones, professional athletes’ salaries
2:14 Andrew Watt – As a kid my mother did not let us watch the Flintstones. I recently saw that Tom Bradey has a 653 room house. If that was my house I would need a room for coupon clipping.

Baldness, reality tv, ghosts
0:45 Danielle Payne – I think that they should make a new reality tv show where people with no experience give other people haircuts. Rob would be the only one safe on the show.

Cell phone etiquette, dressing up your pet, fast food
2:15 Crystal Storo – I am going to talk about some else, my son. My son just had his 6 month birthday. We went to my brother’s house for the Easter holiday. It is great to see him developing, learning and interacting.


Speaker # 1:  Rob Dalo:  5:04
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator
Title: My Next Trip

I hate giving speeches. I joined three years ago to grow. I would sign up two weeks prior and practice and rewrite. I would take the afternoon before the meeting off to practice. Then I would come in and perform. It was not me. Just as I push myself to grow in Toastmasters, I am pushing myself with my next trip. I just booked a trip to Paris with my daughter, Joey, who lives in California. It’s a five hundred mile hike from France to Spain. We will go church to church and stay in hostiles. I will once again push myself to do something uncomfortable


Speaker # 2:  Andrew Watt: 10:10
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator: Research Your Topic   
Title: The Names of Figures of Speech

Reach back to your ancestors and then to your ancestors’ ancestors. The two figures of speech everyone learns about are metaphor and simile. These, along with others, are the tools or writers and speakers. We should have a guide book to better understand the ancient tools for public speakers. Some other tools include erotesis which is the asking a series of rhetorical questions that lead the audience to the same narrow set of answers. Another example is anaphora. Anaphora is the act of repeating a given phrase at the beginning of several sentences in a row.

Speaker # 3:  Sheetal Patel: 6:21
Manual/Project: Entertaining Speaker Manual
Title: Stay Ignorant and Confident Forever

This is how I used to speak three years ago (very quiet, shy and unsure). That was before Toastmasters. Fast forward to the present time. I was at a wedding in India for my husband’s cousin. Weddings in India are huge with 1500 to 2000 people and last for two weeks. Two days before the dancing night I was asked to be the emcee. I would have to introduce the songs but was told it would all be written out for me. Right before the event I was handed a few notes scribbled on half a piece of paper. I was prepared to handle the situation because of Toastmasters. I delegated roles like someone to keep time, someone else to tell me who was up next. This was just like having functionaries at a meeting. At the end of the dancing night people congratulated me on how well the meeting went. It would not have been possible without Toastmasters. Thank you for being a part of my life.


Evaluator # 1: Bill Sullivan  

I loved the detail about your first speech. I think a lesson could be to not over think your speech all the time. Your journey was from the heart and soul. You moved around too much. Don’t stay in one place but don’t pace either. It was a little confusing how you were hiking in Spain but flying to Paris. Also you could use longer pauses for effect.


Evaluator # 2:  Crystal Storo

The topic was to research your topic. You definitely did that. It was a little hard to write down or spell all the words you were talking about. You could have more vocal variety. I liked your body language. You pointed and counted on your fingers. You squinted when you said, “Don’t you think.” You also had great eye contact. Don’t mention that you had a script. You could have drawn us in more.

Evaluator # 3:  Round Robin

You could look even more nervous at the beginning.
Talk about putting your Competent Communicator and Competent Leader skills more.
Link the wedding story to Toastmasters more.
Talk more about how big Indian wedding are.
Use vocal variety.
Pull it together at the end.
Have the actual half sheet of notes as a prop.

Officials’ Reports:

WordMaster: Jay Drew

Malarkey – insensitive of foolish talk

Bill Sullivan – 3
Sheetal Patel – 2
Crystal Storo – 2
Rob Dalo – 1


Timer:  Danielle Payne

Times given, See above.


Ah Counter: August Wolf

Andew Watt – “gonna”
Rob Dalo – “you know,” run ons, double “ands”
Bill Sullivan – “um,” “yur”
Sheetal Patel – no ahs or ums but you tend to draw out the word “the”

Table Topics
Jay Drew – 1 “ah,” 1 “um
Andrew Watt – none
Danielle Payne – 1 “ah,” 2 “ums”
Crystal Storo – “ahs,” “ums”

Evaluations
Bill Sullivan – Double “I can,” “yeah so its gonna”
Crystal Storo – “ums”



Grammarian:  Rob Dalo

Maribel Camacho – the daily grind
August Wolf – filled goodness
Jay Drew – happy camper
Andrew Watt – Tom Bradey, the head of the football team
Danielle Payne – Rob would be the only one safe because he’s bald
Crystal Storo – watching him from afar
Andrew Watt – blowing smoke
Sheetal Patel – inspired by those present and absent
Crystal Storo – be interested in my squint
Bill Sullivan – prepping and preparing


General Evaluator: Andrew Watt

We only had a few people but everyone filled the roles nicely.
Thank you everyone for stepping up.
Thank you to our Toastmaster Bill Sullivan

Closing: August Wolf

There are district incentives like a phone charger if you do items on the list such as attend a contest, act as a functionary, act as a contestant or visit another club.

Don’t forget the Division D Speech Contest and the District 53 Spring 2016 Conference (info under Business Meeting)

Next meeting: April 18, 2016


Respectfully submitted by
Danielle Payne, Secretary