Good evening fellow Toastmasters!
We had an amazing fun filled meeting Tuesday night on September 18th! Here is the recap:
Members in attendance Stephen McGirr, Tom Alvord, Astrid Uryson, Carl Lepack, Heather Turner, Winston Phillip, Mark Richardson, and Andrew Watt
Guests in attendance Maureen W. and Beth Pruchnic
Our President Stephen McGirr banged the gavel at 6:33PM to start the meeting off, welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the summer (BOOOO!!!) and led a round of introductions. First introduced were our returning guests Maureen and Beth, followed by a round of member introductions with how we first visited Toastmasters and how long we had been members for.
Stephen then passed control to our Treasurer Andrew Watt, so he could remind us of the importance of paying our membership dues, what the dues fund, and how to go about submitting a payment. Six months membership includes $45 to Toastmasters International and $6 for club dues. A total of $51. Checks to be made out to “Cromwell Community Toastmasters”. Thank you for your continued support and participation!
Steve then handed control over to a seasoned Toastmaster to lead us through the agenda, Tom Alvord! Tom demonstrated amazing ability to seamlessly fill in any gaps in the agenda, and coordinated a full meeting. His first order of business was to call up Andrew Watt, who shared with us his version of the invocation. Andrew read aloud the Toastmasters Promise developed long ago in 1927 by Ralph Smedley. It is always a good idea to remember what we promised, when we signed up to become Toastmasters. Thank you Andrew!
Next on the list, Tom introduced our functionary roles of the night. Carl Lepack took on the role of Ah Counter. Mark Richardson was our punctual timer. The grammarian role was taken on by Andrew Watt, whose role it was to listen for grammatical inaccuracies, failures of language, infelicities, and additionally mellifluous use of the English language. Yes, that last one is actually a good thing! ! Tom with his impeccable observational skills, knew we didn’t have a Word of the Day, chose to have mellifluous as the word of the day which means “flows like honey”. Also a snap decision, Tom enlisted Winston Phillip into the role of observing who used the word and how many times.
Our speeches were given by first off by Carl Lepack. His speech “What does a business organization do?” was an extended elevator pitch for what it is that the CT Business and Industry Association (CBIA) does. Carl took us back in time with a short history lesson of where the saying “Yankee Ingenuity” comes from, why the factories started here in CT with its prime location, and the origination of the assembly line. Moving next onto the need for an organization that fights for pro-business legislation, helps small businesses save money, and assists with employee training programs. Only 2% of the business that belong to the organization are large, the rest are smal! l or “Mom & Pop” businesses. Andrew Watt was his evaluator and shared he loved the rich content that was supplied in the speech, advised to add in structured movement to display points, and cautioned on the habit of hand wringing. Carl has done an excellent job reigning in his tireless energy, that’s a tall order and he is doing great! Excellent Carl!
Our second speaker of the night was Astrid Uryson, her speech tonight realized the completion of her tenth speech! She has come SO FAR! Astrid is going to be teaching a class over the next couple months on incorporating Feng Shui in our lives. She started off with a great example of being outside and looking up at the night sky. Do you believe you would look at the night sky the same way as an astronomer? Adding the concept and teachings of Feng Shui in our lives, gives us a new lens to view the world. It allows us to work towards removing clutter and restoring the free flow of energy in our lives. Living in a state of being conscious of our surroundings. Heather Turner was Astrid&rs! quo;s speech evaluator and loved the phrasing of the question “What is clutter? What is it not?”, asked if Astrid could supply more examples of clutter, and suggested maybe she could move around the stage a little bit more. It has been a pleasure watching how far Astrid has come I the past year and we look forward to her continued journey!
Next on the list with a different speech format adapted to a specific situation, Stephen McGirr delivered an interview speech with the help of Heather Turner and Andrew Watt. Stephen was to be interviewing for a high level position at his work and, of course, the Cromwell Toastmasters was there to serve his needs and help him prepare. Heather asked the first two questions and shifted to Andrew who asked the final question. A Round Robin Evaluation Session was conducted to hear feedback from all of those in attendance, and job offers were put on the table as well! I can tell you now, as I am writing this, the interview was a TOUGH experience! Thank you ALL for the preparation, advice, and participation!
Our final speaker of the night was Mark Richardson. Mark shared a speech from the Competent Communicator Manual, project #3, get to the point. The speech titled “Getting out of your own way”, was a look at how our thoughts can sometimes get in the way of what we are looking to accomplish. Such a valuable concept that started with the story of an Olympic Hurdler, who in a race, had a “continent of distance” between her and the next contestant. She stumbled over a hurdle, then continued to stumble over hurdle after hurdle and ended up finishing twelfth. When asked in an interview what had happened, she simply stated that as she was running she wondered what would happe! n if she lost. Also shared was Mark’s own experience with trying to diagnose a home alarm system malfunction where he suspected there was a bad window switch for sure, and it turned out to be the main circuit board instead. Mark asked us to stop, and reset ourselves, if we find we are in that type of situation where are minds are overburdening us with wrong thinking. Winston Phillip was Marks speech evaluator and shared he had a great voice, and presentation. No need to preface the speech with humor to say he wasn’t completely prepared, or apologize. Take the stage and run with it! This was also a sentiment that was echoed by Tom Alvord as Steve had also done this as well before his talk. Great points gentlemen!
We next had our Table Topics portion run by Stephen McGirr! Stephen led a Table Topics session that had everything to do with the five senses (Hearing, Sight, Smell, Touch, and Taste) and how memories and thoughts can be intrinsically attached to them. He had made emoji props for us to hold as we shared our stories about our chosen senses. Winston Phillip chose sight, as he shared with us his recent trip to Tobago with his infant son, and how he was able to hold him as he looked up to the star filled night sky as his son fell to sleep.Heather Turner chose smell, as she shared her love of cooking and being a chef and how from smelling so many items, through smell overload, she! has lost her sense of smell. She shared with us the technique of checking old spices by smelling them. If you have to shake the bottle to get them to smell, check them! When you shop for food, the best tasting will be the best smelling! Smell them cantaloupes! Andrew Watt chose touch as his emoji of choice and shared with us an Australian Aboriginal Tradition of “feeling” where you are and the connection you have with the earth and your location in the environment. A society that spans 40,000 years can’t be wrong! Andrew asked us to remember to see how it feels for a moment, when we get out of our cars at home. What does it feel like to be home? Beth Pruchnic gave Table Topics a try and shared a story involving touch and sight. She celebrated a birthday recently and her co-workers decorated with balloons and streamers, and even used her favorite color orange in the decorations. From the sight and magnitude of the care they shown for her, she! was touched. Very cool! Happy belated Beth!! Astrid Uryson gave it a try and also shared her love of cooking and the smells that are produced from combining ingredients like garlic, onion, and ginger. Good food smells get everyone excited!! (Good thing we bring snacks to our meetings!)
When switched it over to the evaluations portion of the meeting which was led by expert General Evaluator Heather Turner.
Our next meeting is on October 2nd! Can’t wait to do it all again! Thank you all for your participation, and we will see you soon for our first Fall meeting!
Steve
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