Monday, August 31, 2015

Meeting Minutes August 18, 2015

Cromwell Community Toastmasters
Club 5908 ~ District 53
Tues, August 18, 2015


Attendees:    Don Ostertag, Crystal Storo, Bill Sullivan, Danielle Payne, Hollie Rose,  Charlie Hubert, Sheetal Patel, Gaia McDermott, Rob Dalo, Peter Davis,

Guests:  Amy, Maribell

Business Meeting

4 officers have been trained in this first training period: Andrew, Don, Jen and Hollie
This gives us our first point for the Distinguished Club Program.

Toastmaster Andrew Watt


Invocation Don Ostertag 

Table Topics Rob Dalo
  • [Bill] What is your dream vacation?: I spent time in Old Lyme shores and was able to disconnect from everything... looking at the sunset, crabbing, fishing on a kayak,.  2:05
  • [Gaia]  What is your favorite trip from childhood?   Ireland. Mother and father are from Ireland. Spent time with relatives. 1:13
  • [Danielle] What would be your dream vacation?   I was going to take a road trip to Arizona but ended up working instead. 0:48
  • [Amy]  What vacation did you go on with your Dad?   Camping in Canada. We explored muscles, shells and had a great time. 0:59
  •  [Mirabel]  Tell us anything you want:  We wanted to drive from Illinois to Nevada. It took two days longer than expected.   We got to see the Rocky Mountains.  2:02
  • [Sheetal]  Tell me about India?  The town in India is like Connecticut compared to New York. It is near the water.  One of the biggest festivals lasts 9 nights full of dancing. 2:44
  • [Don]  Tell us about visiting your daughter?  He was going to see his daughter in Vegas. He was on medication for a respiratory infection and just slept and relaxed the whole time. 1:13






Speaker # 1:  Andrew Watt 7:51
Manual/Project: Speaking to Inform, #3
Title: Contrast in Graphic Design
I have a presentation about graphic design without a projector. I will be teaching graphic design.  Graphic designers use CARP which stands for Contrast Alignment Repetition and Proximity. We as humans like sameness. There was an article on diversity with everyone the same age, same ethnicity, same clothing. People need to think about diversity. Different fonts also can represent diversity. Good graphic designers think about contrast.

Speaker # 2:  Peter N. Davis 4:17
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #2
Title:
Why I joined Toastmasters
I feel I am swimming against the current. I want to be a teacher but there are some things I need to work on. Number one, I get nervous in front of a group. Number two, my voice goes from high to low tone. Number three, I have a lisp that comes out when I annunciate my “S’s.” Number four, I wrinkle my face when I am thinking. These issues create a lack of self-confidence. I joined Toastmasters to help me reach my career goals. 

Evaluator # 1:  Crystal  3:59
The speech was open and honest. Thing didn’t go as planned but you did well. You made the computer visible to all and we were able to connect with you. You had a good sense of humor. You also used examples other than the computer. The examples with the bad and good choice of diversity were interesting. All in all good, maybe a little a little longer next time.

Evaluator # 2:  Bill Sullivan 3:14
Good visual… swimming against the tide.  You told us what you were going to tell us and then you told us. Good organization by numbering your points. Maybe more detail now. Make the speech about you more than your advisor. Again you mentioned turning against the tide at the end and you brought it back to the beginning.

Officials’ Reports:

WordMaster: Charlie Hubert  Prodigious, marvelous or enormous.  Rob 2, Andrew 1, Peter 1, Maribell 1

Timer:  Amy Hubert times given, see above

Grammarian:  Don Ostertag  Gaia- “I’m an extension of America.” Maribell used coincide very well. Peter to “embark on my career and turn the tide in my favor.”

Ah Counter:  Sheetal Patel Hollie 1, Andrew 2, Rob 6, Bill 2, Gaia 3, Danielle 8, Amy 4, Maribel 3, Don 2, Peter 12, Crystal 5.

General Evaluator: Hollie Rose
Thank you Charlie and Don for the signs. Hollie: “The president seems disorganized.” Thank you Rob for doing table topics.

In closing:  
The fall contest topics are humorous and table topics. Our fall contest will be September 15th.

Next meeting: September 1, 2014 – Area 44 Director August Wolf will be joining us

Respectfully submitted by

Danielle Payne, Secretary


[Posted by Hollie Rose]

District 53 Recognition Potential for all clubs in the District

Here's a note our President recently got about potential ways Clubs can win gift certificates from the District.
This is pertinent to every club in Toastmasters District 53.

********

Here are some incentives for you:

New Club Incentive: Any club that charter by June 30th will receive a $100 Toastmasters International (TI)  gift certificate and recognized at our next district conference. Click here for details on how to start a new club.

Spread the Word Incentive: Any club where a member suggests a lead that results in a demo meeting, the member will receive a $25 TI gift certificate and if the club chartering by June 30, 2016, the member will receive another $25 TI gift certificate and the club will each receive a $50 TI gift certificate. and be recognized at our next district conference.

Moments of Truth Incentive: Every club that conducts the Moments of Truth module, submits the assessment and action plan to our District 53 Program Quality Director will receive a $20 gift certificate to the District 53 bookstore and will be recognized at the next district conference.

Early Bird Dues Incentive: Every club that has paid dues for at least the same number of members as at the club's member base on July 1st and documented as received by Toastmasters International by October 1st  will receive a $25 TI gift certificate and be recognized at our next district conference. Clubs with less than 8 members at the start of the Toastmasters’ year must pay dues for at least 8 members to qualify.

Distinguished STAR Club Incentive: Any club that achieves Distinguished or higher, has a 2% increase in membership over the base number of members in July 2015 and increases their educational DCP points by 1 will receive $100 TI gift certificate and be recognized at our next district conference.

********

So there you have it - some things you or your club may want to shoot for...

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Connecting for Toastmasters Around the World

Today, our club website on Facebook got an interesting note. There was a private message from someone who wanted to visit our club and attend the very next meeting.  At first, our Facebook webmaster was deeply excited.  But something struck him as odd: the few visible photographs of the person messaging were filled with pictures of mountains.

Distinctly non-Connecticut-like mountains.

If you search for "Connecticut" and "Mountains" on Google images, you will seem some wooded hills, and some photographs of mountains that turn out to be a Norwich or Norfolk couple planning a 5,000 mile-long hike... in the Rockies.  Mountains like these mountains in this visitor's image don't really happen in this part of the world.

And we know it.

So our webmaster did a little more investigation. And it turned out that this person was looking for Cromwell, New Zealand toastmasters, not Cromwell Community Toastmasters in Connecticut.

Now, thanks to the Toastmasters International website, our webmaster was able to look up the possible clubs for a Cromwell, New Zealand visitor, and find two clubs close by: Queensland Toastmasters, and Wanaka Toastmasters, both of which are a little less than 25 miles from Cromwell, New Zealand.  We got this person the right information, at the right time, so that they could in theory make the meeting that's just a couple of nights from tonight.

So once again, we're a Connecticut club.  But this little bit of international goodwill and cooperation — achieved simply by a little attention to detail, and some web-search skills — proves again how Toastmasters is a place where leaders are made.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Minutes: 21 July 2015

The following account should give both absent members and guests a taste of what a typical meeting looks like:

Business

Charlie called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm sharp. Seven were in attendance: five members and two guests, a typical number for a summer meeting on a beautiful evening.  Charlie (Sergeant at Arms), Don (VP Membership), Crystal (Division Director), Andrew (VP Education), John A.  Guests: Warren and Ed.

Andrew brought news from our Club President, who was away on other business.  The International Conference is in Las Vegas, NV in mid-August. If any club member is attending, please be in touch with our president, as she would like to assign the club's proxy votes to you, so you can have the pleasure and honor of voting them at the Conference.  Otherwise, they will be assigned as is customarily done to the District Director. Andrew turned the meeting over to Crystal who acted as toastmaster.

Speeches

The word of the day was Flanerie, meaning "idle, aimless behavior."

Crystal helped our functionaries and officials for the meeting explain their roles, and then she called up Andrew as Table Topics Master for a round of impromptu speeches.  

Table Topics revolved around giving a traffic report for the state of Connecticut, and the condition of roads and obstacles on I-91, I-95, and I-84 — with the added complication of disasters both natural and fantastic.

  • Charlie's report helped motorists escape the ravages of ten thousand Toastmasters converging on Hartford; he urged taking secondary roads to avoid the traffic on I-91 north and I-95 east, with some slowdowns on I-84.
  • Don reported from New Britain on the challenges of dealing with a local alien invasion, and urged motorists to head east or south, but to avoid western routes so as to bypass the giant green men.
  • John urged motorists to abandon their regular commute and head south and west to avoid the rapidly-advancing glacier that had already covered Springfield, Enfield and the northern reaches of Hartford.
  • Ed, our guest, agreed to take on the role of traffic correspondent, and helped our intrepid commuters trying to get to work in the face of volcanic eruptions in the area of Meriden.
  • Crystal advised motorists on how to avoid the meteor strikes that had taken out parts of I-91 and I-95, and suggested that central Connecticut was to be avoided entirely, but that route 9 and route 17 south were both still open.
  • Andrew, at the insistence of members, helped the morning rush-hour commuters avoid the dragon lately perched on the ruins of the statehouse, the orc horde demolishing houses in Fairfield county, and the faeries who had overrun New Haven. 
Most of the speeches clocked in at about a minute and a half, which is about right for the typical traffic report.

We had three speeches in the Prepared Speeches section of the meeting.

  1. Crystal went first.  Working from the Specialty Speeches Manual, she gave a sales talk on why Toastmasters is a great buy if you want to learn to be a better speaker and leader.  She spoke about her own experiences, and how she came looking for leadership training, but grew to value the public speaking experience equally.  It was a great sales pitch.
  2. Don gave the second speech, on the Iwo Jima Memorial in New Britain, Connecticut.  Don is rising into a leadership role in the Marine Corps League here in Connecticut, and part of his work with them will be involved in providing docent and interpretation services at the Memorial.  His love for the Memorial and for the men it commemorates shone through. Don is working on the advanced manual, Speaking to Inform.
  3. John gave the third speech, How to Become a Lutheran Pastor, outlining the procedures he is going through in order to become a pastor in the ELCA.  It was John's last night with us, and it was enlightening to hear how he has made Toastmasters part of his eight-year-long education process to be ordained.  This was John's second speech out of the Competent Communicator Manual.  We wish him the best as he returns to Minnesota, and we hope he continues with Toastmasters!

Evaluations

The meeting continued with evaluations. Andrew served as General Evaluator; Ed was our timekeeper, and Warren served as both Ah-Counter and Grammarian.

  • Charlie delivered a warm and encouraging evaluation of Crystal's speech; he spoke fondly and memorably about watching Crystal's first speech five years ago, and noted some of the many ways that she'd improved over the course of her time in Toastmasters.
  • John delivered a positive evaluation of Don's speech, while noting some areas for improvement, notably in learning to let the speech flow out, rather than getting too bogged down in missed details.
  • Andrew evaluated John's speech.  He noted how the structure of the pastorate process lent itself well to organizing a speech, and how the recognition of an underlying structure allowed for the use of extemporaneous asides.
Andrew asked for reports from the meeting officials.  Warren reported that we spoke with good grammar, and that we had relatively few ummms and ahhhs, but that we tend to repeat words and re-start sentences too frequently.  Ed reported that most of us were exactly in our time windows for each project (with the exception of Andrew, who is a bit of a windbag?)  

Closing

After a formal good-bye to John and some closing remarks, Andrew closed the meeting with his first-ever bang of the gavel at 7:00pm exactly. 

Monday, June 29, 2015

Two Big Milestones

Hello, fellow Toastmasters!

As we near the end of the 2014-15 Toastmasters year, it's worth mentioning that we achieved two big milestones in the history of our club.

First of all, we completed nine of the Distinguished Club Program goals over the course of the year, and this makes us eligible to be a President's Distinguished Club!


This is the fifth year we've achieved this designation, and it's something pretty amazing.  If you look at what we achieved in the graphic, our members finished four Competent Communicator Awards, some Advanced Communicator Awards, and some Leadership Awards.  Our Officers attended training to learn how to serve our club better,  and communicate more effectively. We paid our dues on time, and we communicated with Toastmasters International effectively about our new officers and leadership team.  And we've done all of this for five years.

Second, and in some ways far more important (although it doesn't seem like it, given the amount of hoopla placed on getting President's Distinguished), is the certification of our club as a 30-year veteran organization.  We have staying power that lasts far beyond our own relatively-short terms in Toastmasters.  Some members of our club have been there for five years; some for longer, and many more for far fewer years than that.  But the club has remained active now for thirty years, and as each generation has gone out, they have found worthy successors to continue the work of service and education and entertainment and learning which is central to the Toastmasters mission.



Congratulations, everyone.  There are people that we have never met who helped us get to this place today, where we can be a club of excellence and amazing achievement.  Here's to another great year, our thirty-first, and hopefully our sixth President's Distinguished.

Please join us on July 7, at 5:30 pm, for our first meeting of the new Toastmasters year.  I believe we'll be swearing in our new officers at that time, and presenting another great round of speeches and evaluations.  Hope to see you there!

Friday, June 5, 2015

Meeting Minutes 6-2-2015 (Another CC for our club!)

Cromwell Community Toastmasters
Club 5908 ~ District 53
Tues, June 2 2015


Attendees:    Don Ostertag, Jen Bourne, Phil Mason, Bill Sullivan, Danielle Payne, Micheal Brillas, Hollie Rose, Jeevan Kale

Guests:  Peter, Mirabel, Bill

Business Meeting
Don Ostertag called the meeting to order and thanked President Phil Mason for his assistance is setting up tonight.   There have been some changes in the next Toastmasters year, putting us in area D in the coming year.   Officer trainings coming up starting in July:  July 11 Hamden, August 8 Manchester.  Elections will be put off until next week since Crystal is not in attendance this week.   VPE Bill discussed DCP progress, we already have 7 of 10 and will have 8 of 10 next week.   One new member needed.   

Toastmaster Phil Mason


Invocation Don Ostertag  I’ve learned that “fair” blinds your vision.   Believe in your value and self-worth.   Transform “fair” into “freedom”.

Table Topics Bill Sullivan
  • [Don] What can you do today that you weren’t capable of a year ago?   One of these is being up here talking off the cuff.    Also I was in charge of conducting detachment meeting for Marine Corp League. 
  • [Danielle]  What gets you excited about life?   Teaching Math.    Nothing is more exciting that taking a kid from bombing their last quiz or test and tutoring them until they don’t have to repeat the grade.   I love helping people.
  • [Hollie] Would you ever give up your life to save someone else?   I’m going to completely ignore the questions and go with what excites me about life.    I had a conversation with someone who thought I dislike CT.     It’s not that I hate CT; it’s that what excites me in life is seeing new vistas, doing new things.   What excites me is the newness of every day – if you can find it.
  • [Jeevan]  What makes you lose track of time?    At work struggling to come up with some solution to a problem.   Many times I’ve missed some meetings getting the solution to the problem.   Also, when I’m diving, I just want to drive and not stop – so I also lose track of the time driving without a destination to go to.    Sometimes an hour or more will go by.
  • [Mirabel]  What gets you excited about life?  I have 3 children.  Also every Saturday.   I also read, write, and enjoy poetry.    I have a grandson who just turned 5  and I hope he learns to speak another language.    
 Speaker # 1:  Jen Bourne 8:01
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator, #8  Visual Aids
Title: Get Real!
Jen shared some local places to camp and hike that look a bit exotic and handed out some Middletown outdoor options for the club members to explore.

Speaker # 2:  John Ansell  6:32
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #1, Ice Breaker
Title: The Interesting Life of John
Originally I come from Mn, from a small town in the Southwest.   It’s a town that you can see farm fields everywhere.   I have siblings who live in other places in the Midwest .   I played tuba in marching band, played sports, and acted in various school plays.    Things became interesting after graduation from High School.   I went on two different paths as the same time.   Joined the Army reserves and accepted to U Mn.    In S Carolina I did basic training and then advance training as a Chaplin’s assistant.    I came back to university and attended to my studies for 3 years.   In that 3rd year I was offered a proposal to be deployed to the Middle East.   I accepted the deployment in 2006 to Iraq.  It was a time of Civil War and unrest in that place at that time.     I came home and got my Bachelors in 2009.   As luck would have it the recession was in full bloom.    I was deployed again to the Middle East.   This tour really encouraged me to go into Ministry.  I was accepted in the Lutheran seminary in St Paul.   I am currently in my year of assignment to Cromwell for seminary school.


Speaker # 2:  Jeevan Kale  7:48
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #2
Title: Managing Projects
Some projects go well and some are failures, you may have a process for your projects or you may not.    It’s something that you can use a methodology – at least you know what you are going to do.   There are different models.   I follow the PMI module because it has certification that is globally recognized.  Important to define a project:  A temporary endeavor which is intends to achieve a goal, result, product or service.   A unique effort.   There are 5 phases: Initiation, planning, executing, controlling and monitoring, closing.   One example for initiation:  you want to paint your living room.   It starts because of a need, want, or any other goal. In Planning you plan what exactly you want to paint; one color or two colors, what walls.  How big is the living room, how much paint do you need, what kind of brushes do you need.   All those things are taken care of in planning.   Decide paint the walls only, not the ceiling – the ceiling is “out of scope”.   Exciting – is simply doing the painting.   Controlling and Monitor: Did I get it done in the week I wanted to or was there something that got in the way.   Closing: clean the room, put the paint away, put the furniture back.


Evaluator # 1:  Michael Brillas
The speech was well done but a little at first a little metaphysical.  The lack of ability to change the slides took away from message.   Excellent ability with body language e.g. turning around at the fire and that helped bring things together.    The pictures were well done as well.    And supported the point of people fixating on the indoors and not getting out in the real world.


Evaluator # 2:  Bill Sullivan
John’s first speech, he has a great baritone voice with wonderful projection.     Before you move come up and get grounded – become part of the floor and then move.  
You did that well but then didn’t move so much.    It was interesting but not as engaging as it could have been.   Tell us some stories about your interaction with your brothers, why you decided to become a Chaplin. 

Evaluator # 3:  Phil Mason
A lot of kudos for getting up here and doing it even through you weren’t felling fully  prepared.  I was great to hear about you and your PMI certification and it was clear from how well structured your topics was.   You seemed comfortable but not too comfortable.   Sometime you are hard to understand because you are a little quiet.    For a partially prepared speech this was great – can’t wait to hear you speak again.


Officials’ Reports:

WordMaster: Phil Mason  Prodigious, marvelous or enormous.  Bill 1

Timer:  Hollie Rose times given, see above

Grammarian:  Peter (Guest) Jen: end a lot of sentences with prepositions.   John: repeated phrases, keep an eye on that, use more variety of words   Jeevan:  used same words, look for more variety

Ah Counter:  Danielle Payne  TT  Don 1 Jen 3 John 1 Jeevan 1

General Evaluator: Phil Mason
Officers pay attention to training meetings.   All - never apologize for anything when you’re on the speaking stage.   Bill: First and lasts.   First speech John, First evaluation Micheal,  10th speech Jen
Congratulations on getting your CC Jen Bourne!


In closing:  


Next meeting: June 2, 2014

Respectfully submitted by
Jennifer Bourne, Secretary
[Posted by Hollie Rose CC, CL]


Meeting Minutes 5-19-2015

Catching up on posting our meeting minutes.

Cromwell Community Toastmasters
Club 5908 ~ District 53
Tues, May 19 2015


Attendees:    Don Ostertag, Andrew Watt, Jen Bourne, Heather Turner, Phil Mason, Bill Sullivan, Charlie Hubert, Crystal Storo, Danielle Payne, Jon Ansel, Tom Alvord, Sheetal Patel, Hollie Rose

Guests:  Peter, Darwin

Business Meeting
Sgt at Arms called the meeting to order.   Looks to be a great meeting, all roles are filled and we have a guest tonight.    VPE Bill Sullivan went over the club’s progress towards our president’s distinguished goals.   Crystal (Area Governor) Incoming officer team, has been nominated - President.: Hollie - VPE: Andrew - VPM: Don - VPPR: Jen - Treasurer: Brian - Secretary: Danielle  Sgt at Arms: Charlie   Voting most likely at the next meeting and then invocation for new officers.   Incoming folks should prepare why they should take on the role.    Crystal has been elected new Division B Governor!   Heather would like to give us a report on last weekend’s district conference.     Richard Peck (Regional Director for Region 9) lead the meeting.   3 sessions: Motivational session was very well attended.   And Crystal appears to have a following as the audience was pleased when her candidacy for a district office was announced.

Toastmaster Andrew Watt

Invocation Crystal Storo 
Stumbled upon this quote  "The truth is our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." M. Scott Peck


Table Topics Crystal Storo
Facilitated Session:  Problem Solving – Increasing New Members



Causes:
bad winter
visitor follow up
slow start to visitor year
lack of apparent diversity
new members goals
low under 35 membership
packages for guests
good meetings
  
Solutions:
facebook /social media / google + / targeted geographic marketing

district go-to webinars: upcoming
personal connection
networking with friends

email signatures
with TM stuff – listing benefits of joining toastmasters

email meeting minutes to guests
backup secretary to ensure minutes go out.

3x5 card for guest to fill out for info for follow-up

leadership, mentorship, speaking benefits.

Leadership series presentations

talking to guests after the meeting

postcard sent with personalized message  (postal mail for Toastmasters)

multi-prong media strategy – text people
video tape meetings new speaker-evaluator and experienced speaker-evaluator pair

track guests to member conversion metrics.



Speaker # 1:  Jen Bourne 8:02
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator, #5
Title: Map of the Year
Jen talked about the changing sunrise sunset times across the course of a year, how the sun is in a different place in the sky at the same time of day, essentially drawing a figure 8 over the course of the year, and how she believes and lives 8 distinct emotional-motivational states that she likes to think of as the 8 seasons.

Speaker # 2:  Don Ostertag 11:20
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #10
Title: Feeling good within yourself
Here to tell new members about the different programs our veteran chapter has to offer.   The first is the Hartford parade (we can have 40-50 members at the parade). About 1.5 mile and 1.5 hours to complete.  Next is our toys for tots programs, we drop off at about 70 locations and then pick up the full boxes of toys, we sort the toys by age a gender, and then we distribute them to organizations that can use them.   We also have the Rocky Hill Veterans home and run Bingo there once a month.    Usually there are 20-30 patients who attend the Bingo, usually attend in walkers or wheelchairs – we give then $5 per Bingo they get that they can use in the hospital store.   They thank us for being at the Bingo, and we thank them for their service to the country.   At our wake detail, all our members come in the blazer and cap – often we have 20 members at a service.   We have a chaplain, we face the casket and salute - after the Chaplin is done with the prayer we have another salute and we play the Marine Corps theme (CD) at the end of a service many people feel it is wonderful that we were there to comfort the family.  At the cemetery we have a rifle detail, sometimes there is also a detail of active duty Marines.  Together we run the flag folding and the rifle firing.   On your way home you start to think how nice it was to give a fellow marine the honor of a proper burial. 

Speaker # 3:  Sheetal Patel  8:13
Manual/Project: Competent Communicator #10
Title: Be confident and ignorant forever
Mark Twain: “To succeed in life be ignorant and be confident”.   Ignorance I had, I needed to get confidence and so I joined Toastmaster.  I was attending a traditional Indian wedding and the host asked me if I minded anchoring the musical portion festivities.    “You just have to speak for 5 minutes before every dance”  “How many dances?”  “About 12-15”.     I was expecting a script and he gave me a list of songs.    That’s when I took out my CC manual and started assigning functionalities.   A timer, and a person to make sure the right song was played, and a person to advise me on the current Bollywood songs.   The theme of all of my speeches was arranged around the process of having an arranged marriage.   I used eye contact, humor, vocal variety, and everything I've learned here.   Every person in the audience came up to congratulate me on what a good job I did.   And at that time, I remembered each and every one of you.    This is my 10th speech – and it’s not the destination, its every step of the journey.  Stay hungry, stay ignorant, and become confident by coming here.

Speaker # 4:  Heather Turner  9:18
Manual/Project:
Title: How to attract Millennials to our club
There is surprisingly little tangible info out there on how to attract Millennials (anyone under 35).   At TM  ¼ of our members are under 35.   In 10 years they should be ½ of our membership if all things go right.    4 key things that we can focus on. 
  1. Clubs / Orgs / Business getting involved in causes.   A lot of clubs around the country are getting involved in causes – food pantry,
  2. Looking for Mentors.   Mentors are very important to them – looking for long terms mentors.  Beef up our mentoring program.   Not assigning – let the person select their mentor.
  3. Goal related. Everyone works at their own pace.  If you don’t want to be motivated, you don’t have to.   Younger generation wants the goal and wants the carrot. 
  4. Not the me” generation” the “us” generation.   Sure they want wealth, fame, and money, but they also want world peace.
The TM website is mobile friendly, our website is not.   Heather will work with our new VPPR to institute the workaround.   The younger generation do almost all of their web searching on mobile devices.  Look at our website on a mobile device.   One of the key websites they access is youtube.   “help with fear of public speaking”  will get found on youtube.
  
Evaluator # 1:  Tom Alvord
Jen has so many natural attributes that serve well for this speech, a great smile, and eyes that connect with people well.  When she was talking about the first week of Oct. she really made it clear that she turns inward with the “mole” body language.     She memorized the first part and last part of her speech also a helpful tactic.  This speech could have been made better my keeping it a little more simple.  Moved abruptly from good opening to too much detail. 

Evaluator # 2:    Phil Mason
I want to congratulate Don on speech #10.   We have another competent communicator.   You were very prepared, knew material very well.  The biggest thing I saw was your confidence.   You knew what you needed to know.   If would have been good to know dates around the time of year that each of these programs is available to league members.   You involved your speech title in the feeling of the last part of your speech.  Excellent job.

Evaluator # 3:    Bill Sullivan
Sheetal, why did it take so long?   She’s been here for 3 years and showed us how she changed by coming up and mumbling then going off the stage and restarting the speech.   As a club we remember her hesitance and now her confidence is clear, and that’s when your brain fills in with good positive energy, thoughts, and clear confidence.    Your pause toward the end “it is not the destination” was really excellent.     Improvements, do some dancing, talk more about Indian culture.  You brought it all together; every speech is different, don’t stay home, get out there and sign up for more speeches. 

Evaluator # 4:    Round Robin
Crystal: some other clubs “select a buddy” in their group who remains their mentor for their time in the club.    Maybe both a buddy who started the same time you did and a mentor who you can go to for advice.
Have non-officers run community outreach committee activities
Bill:  Theme meetings, first job, how to get a promotion (speeches on the topics)
Andrew:  Multi-media approach.   34 guests to 3 members – what is our follow-up?
  
Officials’ Reports:

WordMaster: <Toastmaster>  Affinity  a spontaneous or natural liking for someone or something.    4 uses

Timer:  Danielle Payne  times given, see above

Grammarian:  Jon Ansel  That weekend the universe kicked my ass.   Ignorance I have plenty of but confidence.

Ah Counter:  Charlie Hubert none in T T, bill, Heather, Danielle, Don, Hollie.   Had: Crystal 3, Jon 2, Andrew 1  Speakers:  Jen 3 Sheetal 1 Heather 1

General Evaluator: Heather Turner
Guest: Looks like a supportive group – liked how everyone applauds after someone speaks. 

In closing:  
We always have enough time for certificates.   Competent Communicator was presented to Don and Sheetal!


Next meeting: June 2, 2014

Respectfully submitted by
Jennifer Bourne, Secretary

[Posted by Hollie Rose CC, CL]