Eagles president Ute
Brinkmann was away for the evening,
so VP Kate Kelly welcomed us to the meeting. She had Sandra Centorino come up
and share some exciting news about opportunities that have opened up to her
thanks to connections made through Toastmasters.
We had 16 members and two guests attending. Jaime Fisher was Toastmaster.
Nilani Shankar provided the quote of the day,
from Thomas Jefferson. "Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask, act!"
Tony Centorino was the humorist and told a
funny story about a woman dedicated to following Gil Simmon’s instructions to
park the car on the correct side of the street during snowstorms, instead of
simply keeping it in the garage.
Markus Schumacher was the Table Topics Master,
and got us talking about our snow stories. Melinda,
Sandra, Heather and Nilani all
participated.
Celina Dorn was the first speaker of the
night, giving her Ice Breaker speech, titled A Couple Items About Me. Celina
showed us glasses, a leash, sneakers and a speaker and spoke about how each
symbolized something important in her life. Her career pursuits, her dog Flake,
the “fluffy white ball of love”, her interest in yoga, hiking and krav maga,
and finally, her love of music.
Melinda Torgerson also gave an Ice Breaker
speech, titled Party Like it’s 1999. She took us through her formative years
and explained how moments from her past can be tied to her current life, her
love of sports and running, music, and animals.
Steve McGirr spoke from the Special Occasion
Speeches manual, Speaking in Praise. He spoke of how Toastmasters has helped
him develop confidence, motivation and leadership. By constantly pushing
himself out of his comfort zone, he has grown exponentially. He sees the change
in his life in many ways and is thankful for all the opportunities Toastmasters
has provided him.
Markus Schumacher was the final speaker of the
evening, with the Organizing Your Speech project. In “My Struggle with
Confrontation”, Markus talked about how he wants to work on improving his
skills in facing confrontation in his personal life. He offered some tips in overcoming
this, such as 1. Timing – Confront early on, before it gets too late. 2. Stick
to your values, don’t compromise beyond your comfort level, and 3. Be
appropriate. As President Lincoln once
said, “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
Nilani Shankar was the general evaluator, and
speech evaluators were Paula Erardi, Sandra Centorino, Brad Leete and Steve McGirr.
Functionaries were: Ah-Counter - Kate
Kelly, Grammarian, Stephen McGirr, Timer – Richard Freeman.
