Hi Everyone!
Today was the first meeting of the Toastmasters new year! We had a great start with yummy bubbly and cookies, courtesy of Ute.
Tonight, we had Crystal and Tom visit us from the Cromwell club and impart their wisdom regarding the benefits of video taping our speeches. Their title, "Watch Your Speech", says it all. It's the perfect tool to see yourself as others see you and conduct a self-evaluation. They acknowledged that even though it may be scary at first, if you begin with focusing on the positive you can see your strengths for yourself and in effect, build on them. True, your first instinct is to shun the idea of seeing yourself on camera, but when you can give yourself an honest review, it gives you an edge on making bigger learning strides. Tom filmed our meeting tonight, and I hope that especially those of you who attended will be brave enough to go ahead and watch the video. It may take a few tries to get used to it, but I think it's hugely beneficial to see yourself as others see you.
Tom Piekarski gave a memorable reading of "General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Speech". Tom was genuine and passionate. He chose an interesting speech because the General wrote the speech on May 12th, 1962, but there were aspects in it that hit too close to home.
Congratulations to Kevin, who gave his ice breaker speech tonight. He gave a chronological rendition of his life's events with delightful humorous anecdotes peppered throughout. It was immediately clear that Kevin has a talent for humor. We look forward to many more speeches from him.
Colleen made a vast improvement from our last meeting and read a poem in preparation for her niece's wedding. We all have been told at one point in our lives or another that practice makes perfect, and Colleen is a perfect demonstration of this concept. Thank you Colleen and good luck!
Some food for thought, as mentioned in today's meeting, Crystal and I think it would be mutually beneficial for our two clubs to get together and have a combined toastmasters meeting. We will set up a time some time during the second or fourth week in August. It's a great opportunity to break out of comfort zones.
Speaking of comfort zones... we had an excellent experience taping a meeting at the Wallingford Public Access. It's a great way to break down barriers on our road to personal growth, which is what Toastmasters is all about. I know that's why many of us join Toastmasters, and I hope that people will join in taking advantage of such a great opportunity.
Sincerely,
Sonia Dean
President, Eagle Toastmasters
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