Meeting Minutes 4.2.19!!!

Good evening fellow Toastmasters. Here is a mid-way snack between meetings to keep you satisfied!

What a fabulous meeting we had on Tuesday April 2^nd! Here is the meeting recap:

Members in attendance Stephen McGirr, Tom Alvord, Winston Phillip, Andrew Watt, Kristyn Neal, Schuyler Diehm, Sheetal Patel, Beth Pruchnic, Peter Wnek, Rob Dalo, Chris Scoppetta

Guest in attendance Carmine DeYoung, Marcus Schumacher, Becca Bard, and Douglas Bray

Stephen McGirr dropped the gavel at 6:30 p.m. to start our meeting off, dispensed pleasantries and housekeeping items, and passed control to President Stephen McGirr, who went right into his business meeting topics. The first item on the list was to speak about the upcoming year and the opportunities that lie ahead. If you want to continue building momentum in the areas of communications and leadership, take the next step in personal development and become a club officer! All club officer roles have transferable skills. Never stop learning, never stop expanding your skills, and never settle for good enough! Kee! p pushing out of your comfort zone, as Toastmaster is the perfect place to help you grow!

We had some guest introductions, with a 3^nd time visit from Carmine DeYoung, a Distinguished Toastmaster still deciding on which club to join in the area. Still?!? We welcomed back Douglas Bray and his fiancée Becca Bard. Douglas had stopped by a couple months back and returned now that his schedule has opened up! So glad you could make the meeting and share it with Becca! Second time visitor Markus Schumacher was also in attendance, and came back as he really enjoyed the last visit!

Stephen McGirr then passed control of the meeting to our Toastmaster of the Night, Andrew Watt. Andrew shared that Toastmasters is a great place for us to develop our self-confidence and personal growth. He led us through a reading of the clubs mission statement, and expanded to add that what we do in the club setting is learn to lead and we learn to empower. Toastmasters is a great place to practice the skills that make for more successes in the business world!

Our next meeting objective, was to call on our functionary role holders to hear about their duties for the night. First up was Stephen McGirr as the word of the day supplier. The word of the day was “thwart” which means “to frustrate or prevent”. It was used a solid half dozen times throughout the night. The next role called upon was handled by Peter Wnek, as the Ah Counter. The purpose of this role is to observe and keep track of, all filler words used throughout the meeting and gives report at the end of the meeting when called upon b! y the general evaluator. As Peters first time learning the role, he felt it was tough, but MUST be done to improve. Excellent mindset Peter! Double duty was given to Stephen McGirr as our Grammarian of the night. The grammarian takes note of correct or incorrect grammar usage, such as “public speeching” when it should have been “public speaking” or stating “the phone call I got” which would sound better as “the phone call I received”. The next role was held by Carmine DeYoung DTM as our Timer for the night. The timer keeps track of speeches, Table Topics, and evaluations, and signals when certain time thresholds are met. The timer signals these time markers with colored cards, records the total time used, and reports at the end meeting.

Moving onto the prepared speakers, Beth Pruchnic was our first her second speech out of Level 1 in Pathways titled “Sales Shape” (it sounds the better of the two…).Her goal was to train a sales force on how to be better at sales. Beth really jumped into it by getting all the members to stand and asked how many burpees we could do. Knowing that the process in getting to 100 burpees takes some time, getting good at sales is also something that doesn’t happen overnight, but will get better with 10 simple pieces of advice! Picking some of the ten tips, Beth spoke about getting in early work to mentally prepare yourself for the day, and that being on time, is actually LATE. Additionally, the ! power of networking can turn up sales leads wherever you go, so keep your eyes open! Rob Dalo was Beth’s speech evaluator and shared that it was a great idea to use Toastmasters as a way to prepare for her business training. Feedback ranged from being exceptional in her ability to engage with the audience, and that there is no need to ever apologize when you start to speak!

Schuyler Diehm, was up next with the project “Persuade with Power” from the Competent Communicator manual. His speech “Gratitude” shared that when you lead with the emotion of gratitude, it wipes out all other emotions. Our brains can’t take in everything we see, so the Reticular Activating System, or RAS, can be trained to seek out what is most important to us. When we learn gratitude, and focusing on the good things in life, training ourselves to be more positive, life becomes better. It is not that anything changes around us, but that we have decided what to! focus on. To cultivate gratitude, think of three things every day to be thankful for. Something really big, something small, and an experience. Andrew Watt was the speech evaluator and shared that Schuyler has come a long way! He is getting to the point where he commands a room, and is loud and clear. Sharing Schuyler’s message, if you adapt, great things happen. Andrew noticed the asymmetrical and symmetrical movements he used and suggested maybe next time to add another level by maybe adding in a little spiritualism to the subject.

Next on the agenda was guest Markus Schumacher with project #5 your body speaks, titled “I am on fire”, which the audience learned was not meant literally! We should all be excited about something in life, and for Markus, he has been really excited for the last two weeks knowing he would be going to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the Falcon X Heavy rocket launch over the weekend! He shared a variety of movements with tension building to the launch, the flight to Florida, relaxing on the beach and setting up his camera. The few minutes before the launch will be especially palpable with the expected crowd with him to witness the launch. Tom Alvord was Markus’s speech evaluator and he sh! ared that he really drew us in with a great topic. The Kennedy Space Center was a great choice to use for the body language especially describing large and small rockets and the very clear and interesting way Markus crafted the story. As with most body language speeches, Tom suggested that there were opportunities to do more, but a very well done speech nonetheless!

We next had our Table Topics portion run by Kristyn Neal! Kristyn shared that the theme for the night was to pick up a penny, dime, nickel, or quarter, and read off the date stamped into it. Whatever the year is that you pick, describe anything you wish from that year of your life! It was an excellent topic and will surely be used again! First up was Rob Dalo with a coin dated 2002. It was the year Rob and his wife had their third and final daughter. After he had the back-up for his first daughter turn out to be such a blessing, his wife and he decided to have a back-up for the back-up! A great first start to the speakers! Next was Winston Phillip who picked up a coin with 2001 stamped into it. He ! states it was the year he graduated from high school, and he used to walk around with a large boom box. Winston brought it on the bus and played rap and reggae music. It was well received. He also played a tennis match with Venus Williams! He didn’t win…maybe next time Winston! Chris Scoppetta pulled a coin with 1999 on it. He shared his story with being in high school and in 7^th grade. He wasn’t to enthusiastic as he was the same height he is now, back then! He was picked on for his size and bullied by shorter kids. He shared a story about having his drink tampered with and it was a red sports drink that when spilled all over looked like…well, you had to be there! Chris turned into a barbarian that day in the classroom, but seems to be docile enough now! Tom Alvord pulled the last coin of the day with one from 1957. Tom hails from a small town in Minnesota, and that year graduated from the 8^th grade in a catholi! c school. It was at this time that he walked around in a fog because of an unknown sensitivity to processed foods. He received mostly D’s and F’s but luckily moved to a new town where everyone didn’t know how bad he was. He settled in with the choir because he sang well, and made new friends, that were none the wiser about how bad he was in his old town!

We then switched it over to the evaluations portion of the meeting which was led by expert General Evaluator Sheetal Patel! Sheetal shared that the room set-up was very nice being in a different orientation than normal, being on time in the before the meeting is invaluable to the toastmaster, and we should never apologize at any point when we are up taking center stage during the meeting. She then invited Tom Alvord who filled roles for the next meeting. That way we can all be prepared and understand our assignments!

Our next meeting is on April 16th! 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!!

Meeting Minutes 3.19.19!!!

Good afternoon fellow toastmasters!

The daylight is hanging around a little longer with each passing day, but we never let the sunset on our education at Cromwell Community Toastmasters! Tuesday March 19^th was a fantastic meeting, here is the meeting recap:

Members in attendance Stephen McGirr, Tom Alvord, Winston Phillip, Andrew Watt, Kristyn Neal, Schuyler Diehm, Sheetal Patel, Maureen Willett, Beth Pruchnic

Guest in attendance Carmine DeYoung, Peter Wnek, Chloe Zanardi, Marcus Schumacher, Chris Scoppetta, and Daniel Proiette

Sheetal Patel dropped the gavel at 6:35 p.m. to start our meeting off, welcomed everyone to the meeting, and passed control to President Stephen McGirr, who went right into his business meeting topics. First item was to remind of dues that need to be paid. $51 is due this cycle, $45 for Toastmasters International and $6 for club dues. The second item mentioned was the upcoming Division B International and Tall Tales Speech contests, Saturday March 30^th, at the Waterbury Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.. Come and support our International speech winner at the Area 25 contest, Carl Lepack! It will be a! great meeting with great speech’s all around. Your officer team highly recommends the opportunity to be exposed to well-rounded speakers!

We had some guest introductions, with a 2^nd time visit from Carmine DeYoung, a Distinguished Toastmaster still deciding on which club to join in the area. We share with her great meetings, jump in Carmine! Peter Wnek with his 2^nd visit working on transferring his thoughts to words a little better. Great seeing you again Peter! Chris Scoppetta, first time visitor, who is the President of Cedar Hill Toastmasters. Chris was looking to give a speech at, and visit, a different club than his own. Well he came to Cromwell, and JOINED! Welcome to the club Chris!! 2nd time visitorChloe Zanardi, who is looking to brush up on her public speaking skills, an! d from her performance at the meeting, is going to be unstoppable in her journey! First time visitor Marcus Schumacher, was also visiting from another club, Eagles in Wallingford. Marcus was finally able to make a meeting, and states he will definitely be back! We also had the pleasure of Daniel Proiette joining us and making the meeting. Daniel wants to be around those that are also improving their skills and came to the right place! We look forward to growing with you Daniel!

Stephen McGirr then passed control of the meeting to our Toastmaster of the Night, Sheetal Patel. Sheetal wasted no time and got right to work, as we had a full speaking agenda, and proper timing is in the hands of the Toastmaster. Sheetal started with calling up Stephen McGirr with our invocation. It was a thought on vibration, and how everything in this world vibrates, including emotions. With the Law of Attracting where like attracts like, we should use the Law of Attraction, and getting into a positive state of emotions and excitement, and quietly focus that on everything ! we want that is good in this world. He states he feels he cheated to get what he wanted in his career, but the laughter from the audience makes him think they feel he worked for it…you decide!

Our next meeting objective, was to call on our functionary role holders to hear about their duties for the night. First up was composed guest Chloe Zanardi as the word of the day supplier. The word of the day was “potent” which means “having great power, influence, or effect”. It was used a solid half dozen times in different variations. The next role called upon was handled by Andrew Watt, as the Ah Counter. The purpose of this role is to observe and keep track of, all filler words used throughout the meeting and gives report at the en! d of the meeting when called upon by the general evaluator. Guest Carmine DeYoung DTM was next tapped as our Grammarian of the night. The grammarian takes note of correct or incorrect grammar usage, such as Carmine picking out “wanna” and “gonna”, as well as noting phrasing such as “need a little more feel better” and colorful use such as wiggling feet into the sand. The next role was held by Beth Pruchnic as our Timer for the night. The timer keeps track of speeches, Table Topics, and evaluations, and signals when certain time thresholds are met. The timer signals these time markers with colored cards, records the total time used, and reports at the end meeting.

Moving onto the prepared speakers, Stephen McGirr was our first with a speech from the advanced speaking manual “Speaking to Inform”. The speech titled “Pathways” from project #3 “The Demonstration Talk”, took a look at how members can access their education in the Pathways program. It was a power point presentation that took the members step by step through the process of selecting a path, starting their projects and printing out the evaluations for the meeting. Guest Marcus Schumacher was Steve’s speech evaluator and shared that it was a fitting project choice to share and the presentation method was very good. Possible additions were to smooth out the presentat! ion and time the slides as there was brief disconnects, and a handout also would have been valuable. But a very good speech with relevant information for the listeners.

Visiting Cedar Hill President Chris Scoppetta, was up next with project #8 from the Competent Communicator manual, Getting Comfortable with Visual Aids. His speech “Building a Better Beverage” took us through the process of making Kambucha, a homemade fermented tea full of living probiotics. A tea very good for the GI tract. Tastier than water, and more beneficial than any sports drink on the market. Andrew Watt was the speech evaluator and shared that there were some opportunities to add dramatization with the visuals, especially the growing live culture in Chris’s science experiment looking like drink, and taking a shot at drinking it in front of us as a perfectly safe to drink ! beverage. It was a very informative speech and a great topic for sharing visual aids!

Next on the agenda was Schuyler Diehm with a speech that was evaluated and will count towards an as yet undecided project! Get credit for ALL speeches you give in Toastmasters! Schuyler’s speech shared with us how to stop “Hitting the Snooze Button”. Want to get up on the first alarm? Want to start your day right and keep your energy at a high level when you wake up? How about thinking quickly on your feet w=once you get to them? This speech is what you need to hear! Chalk full of tips, background information, and supporting notes, even I remembered the speech the VERY first time my alarm went off the next day and I tried to hit snooze! Chris Scoppetta was Schuyler’s speech ! evaluator and shared that he absolutely crushed it! It was clear, direct, and relatable topic with supporting documents. Chris shared there was opportunity to use the room more and act out some parts to more effect (getting chased by a bear). A really good speech that I’m sure wasn’t the only one to remember the next morning…

Our final prepared speaker of the night, was Beth Pruchnic, who gave her very first Ice Breaker speech! Her speech shared with us so much about who she is and what she is all about. From her childhood picture on the beach, to her triathlon picture of her on the beach as a woman, and her future…on or near the beach! A competitive woman with goals and a strong background with many, many, MANY activities and interests, we are so glad to have a strong, positive, ambitious woman as part of our club as a friend and member! Stephen McGirr was her speech evaluator and presented her with her Ice Breaker candy award! Also he mentioned what a great ice breaker it was, sharing so much information about herself! and doing it with many Toastmaster cues entwined. She repeatedly used the rule of three, had great eye contact, and vocal tone, and was comfortable with her space. A tip for moving forward, is to not hold onto something with one hand the whole time so we can really experience your freedom of movement! Can’t wait for more!

We next had our Table Topics portion run by Tom Alvord! Tom explained that Table Topics is what we do every day in general conversation, just with and added time limit component. Tom had with him a set of general questions that enabled some excellent answers. First up was Marcus Schumacher with what you love about entering spring time. Marcus shared that he likes that things get better, less snow, more daylight. Not so much cold and freezing anymore. Spring is the opening for the rest of the seasons. Getting out into the day again, preparing for summer and the fall as well. Until we have to retreat back indoors again in the winter. Kristyn Neal shared with the members a favorite spring time activit! y. Kristyn likes to garden and test her skills, and apparently patience! As she states she doesn’t have a green thumb but a black thumb. Planting a garden and trying with seeds at first and if that doesn’t catch start with the little pre-started potted plants. One pesky task that seems to get in the way is the watering part…must remember to water! Winston Phillip was next up sharing about spring food. What types of food, do you associate with Spring? Hot dogs! How about barbeque? Spring is when we roll out the grills and start cooking outdoors. This led to a whole slew of thoughts in ice cream, chips, West Indian food and Spanish food, island food. Food is good! Chloe Zanardi next shared her view on what the changing of seasons means to her. Change of seasons, change of clothes! Switching out the closet of winter clothes, going through them, finding what she won’t wear anymore, what can go to goodwill. She’s not one to sell the c! lothes online, so giving them away works best. Change of seasons, change of thought and mood, and cleansing! Making new again from the winter.

We then switched it over to the evaluations portion of the meeting which was led by expert General Evaluator Andrew Watt! Andrew shared that we did a great job making an excellent meeting. The beginning was tough and started a little late, but that means for his section, he was right on time when he ended at 8:05! We also invited Tom Alvord up who will be filling roles for the next meeting at this meeting. That way we can all be prepared and understand our assignments for the next!

Our next meeting is on April 2nd! 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

March 5th Meeting Minutes!!!

It was cold and snow covered outside for our meeting on Tuesday March 5th! Here is the meeting recap:

Members in attendance Stephen McGirr, Heather Turner, Mariusz Sasinski, Tom Alvord, Rob Dalo, Andrew Watt, Kristyn Neal, Schuyler Diehm, Sheetal Patel

Guest in attendance Carmine DeYoung, Peter Wnek

Stephen McGirr dropped the gavel at 6:35 p.m. to start our meeting off and went right into his business meeting topics. First item was to remind of dues that need to be paid. $51 is due this cycle, $45 for Toastmasters International and $6 for club dues. Andrew Watt would like to kindly remind us, that we need to spend what is in our coffers as we should not make money as a not for profit organization. The second item mentioned was the upcoming Division B International and Tall Tales Speech contests, Saturday March 30^th, at the Waterbury Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.. Come and support our Internat! ional speech winner at the Area 25 contest, Carl Lepack! It will be a great meeting with great speech’s all around. Your officer team highly recommends the opportunity to be exposed to well-rounded speakers!

We had some guest introductions, with Carmine DeYoung, a toastmaster for 20 years who is hunting for a new club in the area, and Peter Wnek. Peter decided to come on in and see if this was the place to work on transferring his thoughts to words a little better. It sure is Peter!

Special congratulations goes out to new member Kristyn Neal and returning member Schuyler Diehm!! Welcome to, and welcome back to, the club!!! Can’t wait to experience your influence on the meeting dynamics!

Stephen McGirr then passed control of the meeting to our Toastmaster of the Night, Heather Turner. Heather wasted no time and got right to work, as we had a full speaking agenda, and proper timing is in the hands of the Toastmaster. Heather started with calling up Mariusz Sasinski with our invocation. It was an Albert Einstein quote, and had the meaning of live for today!

Our next meeting objective, was to call on our functionary role holders to hear about their duties for the night. First up was Sheetal Patel as the word of the day supplier. The word of the day was “portent” which means “a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen” or “an exceptional or wonderful person or thing”. It was a solid choice to share and was used at least a half dozen times in different variations. The next role called upon was again S! heetal Patel, but this time as the Ah Counter. The purpose of this role is to observe and keep track of, all filler words used throughout the meeting and gives report at the end of the meeting when called upon by the general evaluator. Rob Dalo was next tapped as out Grammarian of the night. The grammarian takes note of correct or incorrect grammar usage, advises how it can be made better, and also notes especially colorful language to share and bring to light so we can all benefit and try to incorporate such language into our own speeches. The next role was held by Andrew Watt as our Timer for the night. The timer keeps track of speeches, Table Topics, and evaluations, and signals when certain time thresholds are met. The timer signals these time markers with colored cards, records the total time used, and reports at the end meeting.

Moving onto the prepared speakers, Stephen McGirr was our first with a speech from Effective Coaching, Level 3, connect with your audience. The speech titled “Keep Moving Forward” took a look at the life Steve has led over the last 2 years, and the areas he has received criticism and felt halted by the opinions of other people in his life. Sometimes we can be stifled by living up to the standards or opinions of others, but the real focus that we need to keep in mind is what we want to do with our lives. We will face criticisms, doubts, and the opinions of others and ourselves, but when we keep hold of the vision of what we want to become as the focal point of our thoughts and actions, we keep moving ! towards our dreams. No matter what the obstacles, the vision we hold of ourselves in our minds will be the dominating director of where our lives take us. Heather Turner was Steve’s speech evaluator, and shared that more than previous speeches, he has moved into the center of the room more, and keeps a longer gaze at each audience member to boost the connection. More can be done in the way of asking questions and further developing a truly engaged audience.

Heather Turner was up next with a tale about mentors in her life, as it is a Level 2 pathways project, introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring. Heather shared her cooking life from the time she persisted in getting her first cooking position, to her experience with those she was around for her career. It was through cooking that she met mentors that believed in her, had a great work ethic, and was taught to appreciate employees. And while things can be at their most dire, a good mentor sticks up for their employees and those around them. Rob Dalo was her speech evaluator and shared that she ! does a really good job with body language and expressing thoughts with her words AND hands. Heather added vocal variety, especially with imitating the voice of her French kitchen boss. Rob did suggest that the mentoring story be developed a little further to really describe how the mentoring took place above and beyond the actual business skills Heather gained as far as work ethics and being good to employees.

Next on the agenda was Andrew Watt with a topic that comes before our elections are to take place for next year’s officers. Did you know that Toastmasters roles and officers are actually HIGHLY transferrable skills to the business world?! Toastmasters is actually a leadership organization. A small start that leads to bigger opportunities. Practice leadership by accepting real world positions in the club. Secretary documents legally binding meeting minutes, Treasurer practices real world items such as dealing with the IRS. That’s important!!! Sheetal Patel was his speech evaluator and shared that he had great vocal variety, but maybe was a little too loud for the room at times. Andrew covered s! o much ground with moving on the stage, vocal variety, and body language. A suggestion she made was that he could have touched upon all the roles a little each, instead of a couple roles with more extended descriptions.

Our final prepared speaker of the night, was Schuyler Diehm, with a speech on self-image. Having been one to struggle with self-image when he was younger, shared a process we can use moving forward with our own struggles. I, Stephen McGirr, as Schuyler’s videographer, was not able to take any detailed legally binding notes of the speech as secretary, so will move into Tom Alvord’s role as the speech evaluator, which will give the reader more insight! Tom noted that Schuyler did an excellent job at letting the audience settle before he started the speech. He used great questions to immediately get audience participation and buy-in. The speech was about giving value and passing something onto th! e listener, great for speech giving. Something to work on would be to be cautious of the pacing, as the younger generation can be faster in their communication than an older generation can grasp.

We next had our Table Topics portion run by Tom Alvord! Tom explained that Table Topics is what we do every day in general conversation, just with and added time limit component. Tom had with him a set of general questions that enabled some excellent answers. First up was Kristyn Neal with what book had changed her life. She shared that the book that changed her life was on the fundamentals of marketing, as now, she is at CCSU teaching it! Granted, she has a high level of comprehension and must remember to talk at a lower level for those just entering the subject.Mariusz Sasinski shared with the members a risk he had taken, the first of which was moving to the U.S. with a low level of English comp! rehension. The second of which was having a web design company and doing well, but then having all of his employees focus on a new game called starcraft and losing the company. He learned from that experience how NOT to do business! Peter Wnek was next up sharing about the town where he grew up which was Meriden CT. Peter is actually a photographer and is now documenting Meriden in all of its diverse glory o share as a media public relations campaign for the city. A blue collar town that Peter is shedding a different light on. Carmine Deyoung next shared her view on everything happening for a reason. God wink, or serendipity in her life and how it relates to her next book. The book has to do with the hobo life and her research follows a young man riding the rails, had her as the 2008-2009 hobo queen, and took her to the first national hobo convention in Iowa. A hobo convention and hobo queen??? Speech material all day long!

We then switched it over to the evaluations portion of the meeting which was led by expert General Evaluator Stephen McGirr! Steve shared that we did a great job making an excellent meeting. Steve kept it short and sweet so we could end just past the 8:00 mark.

Our next meeting is on March 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

x

Meeting Minutes 2.5.19

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 25^th. 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

Meeting Minutes 12.4.18

Good evening fellow Toastmasters!

Another fine meeting was had for all in attendance on Tuesday November 20th! Here is the meeting recap:

Members in attendance Stephen McGirr, Sheetal Patel, Heather Turner, Phil Gagnon, Rob Dalo, Maureen Willett, Andrew Watt, Donna Denert, Tom Alvord, Carl Lepack, Mark Richardson

Guests in attendance Harouna Camera, Krysten, Douglas, Chris, Damaris Velez

Our Sargent At Arms stand-in, Tom Alvord, banged the gavel at 6:30PM to start the meeting off. Tom opened with a warm welcome, greeted our full house with enthusiasm and style, and smoothly passed control to our President Stephen McGirr. First order of business was to present Donna Denert with her new member certificate and her very own name placard! Welcome to the club Donna! Stephen made an announcement that we will be having a special meeting on th! e 18^th, including food, drink, and a unique Table Topics section. We are asking if you are attending, please bring a gift of $5 or less wrapped to place in a gift sack. When we have our Table Topics, we will each take turns pulling a gift out, unwrapping in, and speaking on it as out Table topics! Next, for the guests and everyone to get to know each other, we had a round of introductions with name, how long you have been in Toastmasters, and what brought you to Toastmasters. After everyone had a turn, it was time to start the regular meeting, and Steve passed control to himself as he was the Toastmaster of the evening.

Stephen McGirr addressed the meeting agenda openings first off, with the members that volunteered to fill them out. A very important item to address brought up by our General Evaluator of the night Tom Alvord, is that as we move forward developing our successful club, is to make sure the agenda is filled 100% hours (preferably days) before the meeting starts. This keeps us professional and punctual. Tom has us well on our way to a full agenda for our next meeting, thank you Tom!

Stephen next called up the Phil Gagnon who gave us the invocation for the day. Phil asked us if we knew Nathan Hale, who was an American soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British and executed. Courage was the theme. Courage to do what is needed. Courage to start a new career such as Donna Denert, or courage to move and find a job such as our guest Chris. Courage to come to Toastmasters and develop the skills to spea! k in public like most of us. Courage, to do anything! Excellent invocation Phil!

Next called up was Sheetal Patel, with our word of the day BLISS, which means “perfect happiness, great joy”. It was an excellent word selected as it was used approximately a dozen times!

Stephen then called upon our functionaries for the evening which included as Timer, a special dignitary from Energy Toastmasters, club President Damaris Velez. She is a well versed Toastmaster and kept impeccable time! Always on point as the grammarian, was Mark Richardson. Of special note, Mark heard “dreaming out the window”. Toastmasters is a place you will find the most amazing phrasing! Sheetal Patel also served as our umm, Ah Counter!

After our functionaries were identified, it was time to move on to the prepared speeches section. First up with her second speech in as many meetings was Maureen Willet! Maureen shared with us the perfect evergreen decorated for Christmas. Easily one of the most descriptive speakers we have had in a while, Maureen really goes all the way in sharing visually descriptive language. All the way down to her stealing a little Christmas tree when she was a little girl. After leaving a store, the small tree was found when her mother opened up her hand to see what she was hiding wrapped up inside her little fingers! “Christmas Tree Justice” then ensued, as it was placed to grow outside her bedroom window to s! erve as a reminder not to be naughty! After sharing with us examples of how she felt looking at the tree out her window, and how it affected her decisions, sort of, she opened up a small box with all that remained of that tree. Inside were two small pine cones. Carl Lepack was her speech evaluator and also shared some very descriptive language during his evaluation! Wrestling with ourselves to give speeches, pushing against a difficult horse to move and was particularly pleased with Maureen’s use of the prop at the end showing us the pine cones.

Our second speaker of the night was Donna Denert, who shared with us her Ice Breaker! In her speech titled “It’s never too late for a dream”, she shared with us her childhood aspiration of becoming a nurse. Moving through her adolescent years, she shared some of the lessons she learned. It was school years with Algebra and Chemistry which proved to be a hurdle for her. Life seems to have a way of moving along and she became a wife, mom, school bus driver. All wonderful things of course, but not a nurse. She went back to the schooling, and at 42 became the nurse she had always wanted to be! It is never to late to do what you dreamed of! Rob Dalo was her speech evaluator and shared what a ! natural speaker she is and how relaxed she was giving her ice breaker. She had her notes, but didn’t use them too often at all. She shared a great deal and could even had split it up into two speeches!

Our third speaker was given by Mark Richardson, shared with us a speech about “Learning”. Mark, if you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing a speech from him, is naturally warm and humorous without even trying! Mark shared with us the tools of learning from retired Hartford Fire Chief Charles Teale. A very engaging speaker, he really invites the audience to think about if they ever had trouble, taking all day to learn something. If we had all day, to understand all we needed to do, would we remember it all when we tried again? Learning by accident is not learning. And mark shared at the end, the real goal in learning is being able to repeat what your learned, when you need to do it, and whenever! you want! Sheetal Patel was his speech evaluator and shared that indeed, Mark is so full of humor! Sheetal gave advice on how to use the lectern if needed for notes by moving it to the center of the stage and glancing when needed.

Next on the agenda was out Table Topics session led by none other than Mr. Andrew Watt! Andrew started off by having a table added to the center of the room and two chairs added for two participants! It was holiday time and two judges are going to be commenting on clove (Winston Phillip) and orange (Rob Dalo). Winston shared a piece on his grandma’s ham and stealing some from underneath before it was shared for dinner, and Rob shared how for him, Italian food is love and he could talk about it for hours! Next up speaking on the holiday topic of flavor, Tom Alvord shared that as he was growing up, he really didn’t realize how bland his families cooking was, being born to Ge! rman and English parents. When he was exposed to Italian cooking he was blown away and wondered what it would have been like to be born in an Italian family! Our guest Chris Kullstroem gave table topics a try and was given the topic of cinnamon. Cinnamon is good sprinkled on eggnog, but one thing she shared she absolutely loves is eggnog as creamer in her coffee. Writing this my mouth started watering! When the dessert comes out and the coffee is supposed to compliment the dessert, she put it as the pumpkin pie compliments the eggnog and coffee! Excellent Chris! Phil Gagnon was given the topic of a taste you didn’t expect. Phil spoke about going to eat with his friend with a special needs child that accidently went for the wrong sauce. Skipping the mild, and mild plus, he used the “don’t touch” sauce and had somewhat of a scene in the restaurant. It all ended well though. Phil is really a great speaker and does so well at all his opport! unities to stand in front of the group and share from his experiences. Last up wasMark Richardson who shared with us something that was made to share but ended up getting eaten all by on our own. Mark admits, he can’t cook, but there is only some many times and so many people that can bring the same cups and spoons to the party! Mark tried making a cheesecake that really didn’t have the right consistency. MMM, tasty! But Mark found it just fine!

We then switched it over to the evaluations portion of the meeting which was led by expert General Evaluator Tom Alvord. Tom reminded us of the need to having meetings prepared well in advance so that we get started on time, reduce the stress of those leading the main roles and are of the utmost professionalism! Tom really liked the meeting and can’t wait for next meeting!

Our next meeting is on December 18! 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!!

Please remember to set Tuesday’s meeting in your calendar and plan to arrive 15 minutes early, as we start promptly each week at 6:30! Thank you!!

Steve