Good evening fellow Toastmasters!
Another fine meeting was had for all in attendance on Tuesday February 5th! Here is the meeting recap:
Members in attendance Stephen McGirr, Heather Turner, Rob Dalo, Maureen Willett, Beth Pruchnic, Winston Phillip, Mark Richardson, Carl Lepack, Andrew Watt, and Tom Alvord
Guest in attendance Chloe Zanardi-Neal
Our Sargent at Arms stand-in, Andrew Watt, banged the gavel at 6:30PM to start the meeting off, opened with a warm welcome, and smoothly invited up Tom Alvord, who gave his rendition of the Club Mission Statement, inviting us to ask ourselves, “why are we here?”. The actual statement reads “We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members ! are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills. Resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.” Tom also had us close our eyes, and do some inward reflection, but I think it was really to pocket a couple of the delicious Lindt Chocolates that Maureen Willett sprinkled on our tables for us! Thank you Maureen!
Andrew Watt then passed control of the meeting to our President Stephen McGirr, who welcomed our guest Chloe Zanardi-Neal, and shared with her a new guest packet. Chloe is looking to develop her public speaking skills, and definitely came to the right place! Steve also shared that we have our Area 25 Contest on February 25th. The contest will be at Cromwell town Hall’s Arch Room. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., contestant and judges briefing at 6:00 p.m., and contest starts at 6:30 p.m.. Please make every effort to attend and cheer on our two contestants, Maureen ! Willett in the Tall Tales Speech and Carl Lepack in the International Speech! Steve also called upon our Treasurer, Andrew Watt, to share that we have come upon the spring dues cycle. Please remit your payments to a club officer so we are paid in full. Especially necessary for contestants, as it is a requirement of being able to compete in contests in the following months! I have faith we have winners in our midst!
Stephen then passed control back to Andrew Watt as our Toastmaster of the Night. Andrew did not hesitate in calling upon or functionary role holders. First up was Rob Dalo with the word of the day Epitome, which means atypical, or an ideal example. It was used thoroughly throughout the meeting, and whether pronounced right or NOT, each one was counted! Rob was also our grammarian and proved to be quite the listener as he picked out many uses of the English language to comment upon. Winston Phillip with “candy in Connecticut”, Chloe with her descriptive “putt putt on the highway” to describe car troubles, and Mark Richardson with his naturally humo! rous musing about “…and that’s how you end up watching cat videos.” Beth Pruchnic proved impeccable at her sense of timing, as she kept an accurate log of all speaking roles, twelve in all! Stephen McGirr was our final functionary, rounding up the line-up as the Ah-Counter for the night. Steve picked a good night, as there was a noticeable absence of filler words. Are we getting good, or what?!?
Next on the agenda, Andrew Watt called upon or speakers of the night. Stephen McGirr was our first speaker of the night with a speech from the second level of his Effective Coaching Path, communication styles. His speech looked back on his life to connect the dots between how he communicates now, and the events that happened in the past to shape his style. A natural tendency to want to help others, developed the trait of being compassionate in his speaking. The events that caused him to quit because of a lack of information, developed his trait of wanting to share information so others have what they need to make decisions. And his final communicating style trait was passion, stemming from his knowledge that tim! e is short, and the more we delay, the more time we lose. So put all your fears aside and live the life you deserve!!! Carl Lepack gave Stephen his speech evaluation and shared that he excels at passion and tone, but could slow down a tad bit on the gestures. Additionally, Stephen may try his hand at giving a speech he knows nothing about. Thanks Carl!
Our second speaker of the night was Andrew Watt, who shared with us a speech from his Leadership Development path on body language. Andrew took us through the paces and journey of the different levels Toastmasters we go through from the delivering of a weak beginner speech, to delivering much better speeches. After speeches we can get a whisper in our ear from a more senior member about becoming an officer. After the officer role we end up in the leadership role with no title, where we lead with prestige as a mentor. All the while, Andrew was using his body language to tell a story and progress across the stage simulating a journey. Maureen Willett was his evaluator and shared how much she wished all her ! teachers were like Andrew. Maureen picked up on Andrew’s use of hand gestures and especially liked his use for a crown. Additionally, Maureen suggested as a challenge, Andrew could have walked deeper into the audience for a closer feel. A challenge for his next speech, excellent Maureen!
Our third speaker was Winston Phillip, with an Ice Breaker speech from an undisclosed Pathways Path. His speech titled “Becoming the better version of me” took us on a journey from his young adolescence to the man he is today. Remembering back when his mother sacrificed enormously, and with his Aunt conspired to have him brought to America for a better chance at a prosperous future. Through a culture shock, Winston kept to himself and was quiet, reserved, and undocumented. His life took the green go at the age of 18, and one fateful night years later, at a Toastmasters meeting, started down the giving back path. Pondering a vocation as a teacher and shying away from it, a Toastmaster friend told him ! to stop being selfish, and the rest, is history. Andrew Watt was his speech evaluator, and shared that it was the epitome of a story about the people that helped Winston and moved him forward. Having heard a version of the speech before, Andrew pointed out that this was the best version he had heard, and we agree! Subtle tips for improvement, symmetrical gestures and adding some vocal variety. Great speech Winston!
Our final speaker of the night was Heather Turner! Heather shared a reworked speech from a Pathways project that has a speaker give a speech, make adjustments with the evaluator’s suggestions, and then re-present it. Heather really knocked it out with a descriptive distinction between viruses and malware, threw out crazy statistics with 40,000,000 viruses created since 2014, and included much audience participation. If you haven’t updated your virus and malware protection, DO IT NOW! Winston Phillip was her speech evaluator and confirmed her most excellent adjustments. She hooked us in the beginning, controlled the audience throughout, and shared valuable content. The trifecta of goodness. No, seriou! sly, UPDATE YOUR COMPUTER PROTECTION!
We next had our Table Topics portion run by Heather Turner! Heather used a car emergency kit information sheet for participants to pick a topic and speak on. First up was Rob Dalo, who stated he joined Toastmasters to meet awesome people like Heather! Additionally, it was one of her speeches that led him to have a grab and go bag for his vehicles, so long ago! Andrew Watt shared a Saab story (HAHA!) about his vehicle catching fire and burning to the frame. Temperature gauge broke and the vehicle ran hot, in the hot summer. No good! Winston Phillip shared a harrowing tale of traveling to Virginia where they sell fireworks right out in the open…for anyone to buy! His friends and him lit! some at a hotel and almost burned a family caravan to the ground, but instead gave it a cool undercarriage glow. First time Table Topics participant Chloe Zanardi-Neal reminisced about the time her and a girlfriend were driving and their car decided to “putt-putt” and die on the road. Never shying away from a fitness activity, the duo pushed the vehicle to the side of the road. Deciding that was good enough, pulled out a blanket from the car and laid out under the stars until help arrived! Mark Richardson, the epitome of a survivalist, shared how to make cotton balls fireballs, suggested we keep a cheap lighter on hand, suggested we keep a stainless steel knife on hand, and eventually led us to watching cat videos. Still unsure how that happened. Mark really needs to do stand-up! Rounding out the ix quickly, Heather Turner finished up with a present for all of us in the form of Mylar safety blankets we could all keep in our cars. She had be! en stuck before and insulted her car a bunch of them, and with other stranded motorists and were able to keep warm. Thank you Heather!!
We then switched it over to the evaluations portion of the meeting which was led by expert General Evaluator Tom Alvord! Tom shared we did a decent job staying on time, and having a great flow to the meeting. Try not to make the new guests stand out too much! Hey, Chloe, that was you by the way =) =) =)
Our next meeting is on February 19th! Can’t wait to do it all again with a full house of members and eager participants!! Thank you all for your participation, and we will see you soon!!
Steve
