Hello Eagles!
Our meeting tonight was well-attended for a summer evening.
We had 12 members and two guests – one of whom became a member by the end of
the evening. We welcomed Jaime’s friend Theresa as a guest, and Tom and Robin’s
friend Lou, who is now our newest Eagle!
Jaime Fisher banged the gavel for the first time as Sergeant at
Arms. Ute Brinkmann kicked off the meeting with a Presidential Welcome that included a summary
of the TLI training that was held this past Saturday in Hamden. All 7 officers
attended, as well as one enigmatic member who also serves as an officer in
another club.
Ute mentioned new ideas she will be implementing this year,
such as the presidential welcome letter which will be handed out to guests. On
the back of this letter is the new member form - to encourage guests to sign up
as soon as the spirit moves them.
She also introduced “The 15-Minute Speech Preparation Plan –
A 12-Step Worksheet” to serve as a handy guide for generating a speech in a
quick and orderly fashion. I intend to give this plan a whirl in planning my
next speech.
Fred Swiderski served as our Toastmaster for the evening. He was also
the humorist, and had everyone laughing with his clever “walk into a bar”
jokes. Sandra Centorino inspired us with a quote from Jay Danzi reminding us that our
smile, personality and affect are personal business tools that we carry with us
all the time.
As Table Topics Master, Paula Erardi had some thought-provoking
questions on the theme of time. Tom P., Lou, Sandra and Theresa all gave
interesting and timely responses.
Jaime Fisher was the first speaker tonight, which started
off with a hilarious Q&A session wherein she demonstrated the dramatic
reactions her children have had to simple requests she has made of them. As the
audience, we were to try and guess what she had asked of them to elicit such
responses.
Ute Brinkmann then gave her speech, “V for Volunteer” where
she shared how she bakes cookies every week for the merchant marines, and how
she has learned that when you put your heart and soul into something and treat
as more than just a task, you will flourish and grow. You get out what you put
in.
Kate Kelly was the final speaker for the evening, and she
gave a toast (complete with real wine!) to the best Toastmasters club (that’s
us!). She gave credit to the outgoing officers who served for the past year,
and mentioned the incoming officers. Most important of all are the members
themselves – we pick each other up and have made great friendships along the
way.
Thank you to the evaluators – some who stepped up at the
very last minute! Stephen McGirr was the General evaluator, and speech
evaluators Chris Gaffney, Tom Piekarski and Robin Corrigan.
Other functionaries tonight were Tom Corrigan: Ah-Counter, Robin
Corrigan: Grammarian, Heather McKelvie: Timer
Last, but not least, some of our new officers made
announcements at the end of the meeting. As Sergeant at Arms, Jaime asked that
we each take a turn giving her a hand setting up and taking down the
Toastmaster swag at each meeting. Stay tuned for more from Jaime on how to sign
up for this role.
Paula, VP of Public Relations has big plans for
promoting our club through social media. She’s also happy to hear any ideas or
suggestions from the club, so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with her.
Our next meeting is only one week away, on July 17th. Be
sure to log in to the site and sign up for a role.
See you then!
Heather McKelvie
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