Meeting Minutes 1-5-2016

Cromwell Community Toastmasters

Club 5908 ~ District 53

Tues January 5, 2015

Attendees:    Charlie Hubert, Danielle Payne, Hollie Rose, Donald Ostertag, Gaia McDermott, Andrew Watt, Crystal Storo, Cheryl Mason, Phil Mason, Bill Sullivan, Tom Alvord, Sheetal Patel


Guests: Jay, Maribel, Ed, Patrick

Business Meeting

Welcome to the new year.

The Contests is for Tall Tales and International Speeches and it will be held on March 1st.

The Jan Jam is to be held on Jan. 23 at the Manchester Church of Christ.

Toastmaster Tom Alvord

Invocation Hollie Rose

Neil Gaiman quote

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” 

Table Topics Cheryl Mason

Holidays

Holidays – are you glad they are over?
1:45 Patrick – My family and I had pre Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, and post Christmas. I have a large tightknit family from all over the country.

Do you have a new year’s resolution? Do you believe in New Year’s resolutions?
1:12 Ed – Many people make but don’t keep resolutions- eat better, go to the gym. I stopped drinking coffee when I was in Florida visiting my mother in law. I have resolved to go back to drinking coffee at work.

Did you travel for the holidays? Do you have a travel dream or plan?
2:08 Andrew- Fourteen years ago my mother became a snow bird from January 1^st to March 1^st. Now its mid October to the end of May. I visited her recently. I didn’t get much done because Dad fed me her marmalade each morning. Later Mom looked for her marmalade for a special recipe and was appalled it was gone. It was special marmalade that had alcohol in it. No wonder I got nothing done.

What do you like most or least about this time of the year?
1:22 Gaia- My son is back from Southern where he is a freshman. He is going back early to run for the school. I bought him some nice pajama bottoms which he liked.

Speaker # 1:  Phil Mason:  6:23

Manual/Project: Competent Communicator # 5 – Your Body Speaks

Title: Let’s Go to the Dump

This Saturday I went to the dump. It has changed ecologically from dump to landfill. It is not good for the environment and now everything is separated. When I got there it was like a gated club. Some people don’t know what they are doing. They did not separate their materials ahead of time and cause a huge line. I wondered if the giant compactors were feeding it back to us like in Soylent Green.

Speaker # 2:  Charlie Hubert: 4:39

Manual/Project: Competent Communicator
Title: Use Your Courage

We all have it but we don’t think about it until we need it. I was surprised at the definition of courage. It is just an attitude. It’s something we can all face. If you make a mistake and are not afraid to make mistakes you grow.

Speaker # 3:  Crystal Storo: 28:04

Title: Virtual Meeting Discussion

This speech was to lead a discussion. Crystal led a discussion on if we, as a club, should have virtual attendance. Here are the key points.

Will virtual attendance be cold and impersonal?
Will it be difficult for shy people?
Where would we store the equipment?
Would we have a two way or one way camera?
Will people hide behind the camera?
Will some people only attend virtually?
Do virtual people have to be members?
Will this be the next generation?
Will this be a benefit or add confusion?
Will this decrease the number of people at meetings?
Will we have a limited number of virtual spots available?
What about technical difficulties?
Will people get the same vibe if they are not physically here?
Will this appeal to the younger crowd?
Will there be an allowance of how often you can attend virtually?

Andrew will write a potential policy and do his discussion speech on the topic next meeting.
We will look into a pilot program.
We voted and the majority want to try it.


 Speaker # 4:  Cheryl Mason: 6:29

Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #5 – Your Body Speaks
Title: The Right of Passage

I am required to travel to Indianapolis for my job. First, I left my phone in the car on the way to the airport. I had nothing to do. Everyone else was on their cell phones. I thought I would wear my pedometer to track how far I walked. This was a problem when I went through the security check. The only rental car available was a huge truck. I got in the truck and couldn’t figure out how to shut the four way flashers off. I couldn’t get the GPS to work because I was in the parking garage. When I finally got the hotel I couldn’t find my room. I’ve been doing this for a few months now and I’m a much better passenger now.

Evaluator # 1: Sheetal Patel 2:12

I never heard a speech about the dump. I liked your description and approach, comparing the dump to a snotty club. Your body movement was restricted to a small area. Your opening was not as powerful as it could have been. Overall fabulous. 

Evaluator # 2:  Andrew Watt 2:36

I like how you related your speech to the word of the day. When you give a speech you control the agenda. You also drew in Hollie’s invocation. You did not use all the space. Taking up all the space can also show courage. You were not forceful in using the space but showed strength nonetheless.

Evaluator # 4:  Ed 2:36

We can all relate. The project for this speech was your body speaks. You were able to relate your body language to the topic. You were prepared. You could make more eye contact. You did a lot of scanning but try to make more contact. Were all those hardships just one trip? You could drag it out by making it more than one trip building on your troubles and your learning to overcome them. Your speech was lighthearted, interesting and enjoyable.


Officials’ Reports:

WordMaster: Charlie Hubert

Resolution -
a firm decision to do or not to do something
the act, process, or capability of distinguishing between two separate but adjacent objects or sources of light or between two nearly equal wavelengths

Timer:  Donald Ostertag

Times given, See above.

Ah Counter:  Maribell

Phil Mason – 2 “you knows”-  2 “sos”
Charlie Hubert – 2 “ahs” -  a few “ands”
Crystal Storo – a few “ums” and “ands”
Tom Alvord – none
Hollie Rose – 1 “um”

Donald Ostertag – 1 “ah” - 1 “um”

Sheetal Patel – none
Cheryl Mason – 2 “finally”
Patrick – a few “ums”
Ed – 1 “ah”
Andrew- a few repeats
Gaia- 1 “um” – 2 “sos”

Grammarian:  Gaia McDermott

Ed – more coffee
Andrew – marmalade, twinkling palm trees
Phil – club at the dump, remember dump etiquette
Charlie – courage is an attitude
Crystal – I appreciate your feedback, to conclude
Cheryl – doofus
Andrew – if you give a speech make sure you control the agenda

General Evaluator: Hollie Rose

I liked how evaluators checked in to be more critical of experienced speakers.

Maybe we can have a cheat sheet for visitors and new members that explains roles.

Closing: Hollie Rose

Thank you to everyone.

Next meeting: January 19, 2016

Respectfully submitted by

Danielle Payne, Secretary

[Posted by Hollie Rose]

Meeting Minutes Cromwell Community Club #5908 12-3-2013

Cromwell Community Toastmasters

Club 5908 ~ District 53

December 2, 2013

Attendees:    Members attended: Robert Dalo, Elizabeth Landeen, Donald Ostertag, Hollie Rose CC, Crystal Storo CC, CL, Andrew Watt, Charlie Hubert, John Hart, Robin Thompson, Carmen Jenkins, Tom Alvord, Sheetal Patel,and Bill Sullivan

Business Meeting:

The meeting was called to order by Charlie Hubert.  President Crystal Storo spoke about the agendas on the website. Because we have so many new members and older members who may not always think about the way our website agendas work, she gave us an overview of some of the main points. She invited everyone to challenge themselves to try new roles and sign up for them in advance.  For those who may not have recently accessed the online agendas, she passed around a printed copy of the agenda for the next meeting and asked for people to sign up that night for roles.

Meeting Roles:

Toastmaster: Crystal Storo

Invocation: Robin Thompson - read the Toastmasters mission statement

Word Master: Tom Alvord

Word-of-the-Day:  Exculpate – show or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrongdoing.

Table Topics Master:  Andrew Watt

Theme:  Game design versus unusual ways of looking at story telling.  Andrew offered attendees a choice of either using deck of cards that related to game design (the deck was designed by Jesse Schell and Andrew invited us to look into him further if we had interest in this area) or an app on his phone that addressed story telling. (The app is called Oblique Strategies and was designed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt)  

Table topic speakers included: Charlie speaking about fairness; Crystal talking about her cat and her Christmas tree; Hollie contemplating note taking; Rob discussing a movie and book he’s interested in; Donald talking about characters that transform; Elizabeth gave further thoughts about taking notes; and Sheetal spoke about what is safe.

Speaker # 1:  Hollie Rose

Manual/Project: Communicating on Television/Project 4-The Press Conference  

Title:  Walkabout     

Hollie told us of her upcoming plans for a road trip journey to begin this coming week. She spoke about why she’s wanted to do this and why now is the best time and she told us some of her loose plans as well as rules she has given herself. Then, in the manner of a Press Conference, she answered questions from the audience.

Speaker # 2:  Andrew Watt

Manual/Project: Competent Communicator/Project 5-Your Body Speaks 

Title:  Knowing Your Stage   

Andrew spoke about the importance of knowing your stage. He told us about some of the things he learned in Seminary and how that relates to what we learn and do in Toastmasters. The room in which we speak is a speaker itself and many times we forget this. He showed us ways in which we can utilize the entire stage area and understand how to best use our bodies in the space we have. 

Speaker # 3:  Rob Dalo

Manual/Project:  Competent Communicator/Project 9-Persuade with Power 

Title:  Who Knows, Just Wing It

Rob talked about his parent’s Christmas spirit and the vast amount of blank holiday cards his mother receives from organizations she supports. His mother asked if he could use the cards since she has so many. He told her – of course he could. Now he has all these cards and he asked attendees to address and write one of these cards to his mom. We’ll send them to her and mail bomb her for the holiday. He added that the bonus was how his father would react.  

General Evaluator: Elizabeth Landeen

Evaluator # 1:  Charlie Hubert (evaluating Hollie)

Evaluator # 2:  Tom Alvord (evaluating Andrew)

Evaluator # 3:  Sheetal Patel (evaluating Rob)

  

Functionary Reports:

Ah Counter:  Sheetal Patel

Grammarian:  Elizabeth Landeen

Timer:  Carmen Jenkins

In closing Crystal reminded everyone to start signing up for roles for future meetings.  She also acknowledged everyone for being flexible and stepping into roles at the last minute due to a number of agenda changes. 

Next meeting: December 17^th2013.

Respectfully submitted by

Elizabeth Landeen, VPE

[posted by Hollie Rose CC]