March 26th Spring Speech Contest

Brass City and Eagle Toastmasters convened in Wallingford on the night of March 26^th to hold the Area 23 Spring Speech Contest, consisting of Table Topics and International Speeches.

Markus Schumacher called the meeting to order as Sergeant at Arms and introduced Sandra Centorino, the Contest Master.

The Table Topics Contest had four contestants: Stephen Burgess of Brass City, Michelle Modeaux of Eagle, Peter Penev of Eagle, and Maribel Rodriguez of Brass City.

As is customary in table topics at the contest level, three of the contestants were led to a separate room so they would not have the advantage of hearing the topic until it was their turn to speak. Each was given the same question: What was the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?

After a brief break following the Table Topics Contest, the International Contest could begin. Once again, there were four contestants who spoke on a variety of interesting topics:

Maribel Rodriguez of Brass City; Our Moment Has Arrived. Inspired by March being Women’s History Month, Maribel spoke of the progress made in women’s rights and in the women’s empowerment movement.

Stephen Burgess of Brass City; Bees Matter. Steve, an avid beekeeper, spoke of the importance of these pollinating insects. He shared information on colony collapse disorder, where honeybees leave their hives and never return, and gave tips for things we can do to help save the bees.

Chris Gaffney of Eagle; Everyday Moments. Chris reminded us that what defines and connects us are those little every day moments that being joy, such as receiving the daily paper, or the friendly banter with the cashier while checking out at the store.

Steve McGirr of Eagle; Rubber Band Habits – Using clever visual aids, Steve demonstrated how we can get ourselves unstuck from habits that are holding us back and build new habits that will propel us toward our goals.

While the ballot counters tallied up the scores, Sandra Centorino interviewed each contestant. We learned that Steve Burgess has held every officer role over the course of his time with Toastmasters. Michelle Modeaux said that she is most inspired by the compassion demonstrated by the nurses she works with. Peter Penev’s son Christian has taught him patience more than anything else. Mirabelle Rodriguez believes that showing love and compassion to her elderly patients is the gentle way to shake up the world. Chris Gaffney’s blog holds the distinction of being named one of Feedspot’s Top 100 Humor Blogs, which may be a scam but he’s proud either way. Steve McGirr shared his motto that the next 5 years don’t have to be like the last 5 years.

Lani Brown of Brass City gave a 2-minute Spring Conference Update, letting us know the Keynote speaker, Mark Hunter is one we should not miss! The Conference will be on May 19^th at UMass Amherst.

Finally, the moment we’d all been waiting for: The Presentation of Awards! Sandra and Tony Centorino handed out awards as follows:

Table Topics Contest: 2^nd Place Winner: Peter Penev of Eagle. 1^st Place Winner: Michelle Modeux of Eagle.

International Speech Contest: 2^nd Place Winner: Chris Gaffney of Eagle, 1^st Place Winner, Steve McGirr of Eagle.

Closing Remarks were given by Larry Wood – Division B Director. The next level of the contest (the Division level) will be held on Wednesday, April 11 at Eversource in Berlin, CT.

Thanks to all who participated in and supported the contest by taking on a role, helping to set up the room, and contributing food! Every little bit counts!

March 19th Speech-a-thon

Eagles President Ute Brinkmann opened the meeting by reminding us of several important dates. Dues ae due at world headquarters by March 31, so members are encouraged to get their payment to Maryanne Shirshac immediately if they haven’t done so already. Also – Monday, March 26^th is the Area 23 Contest, which is being hosted by Eagle. We need people to sign up for roles and food contributions.

Kate Kelly was Toastmaster for the night. The meeting room was cozy, with 21 members and 3 guests.

Our humorist, Tom Corrigan, told a handful of Soviet Union themed jokes. The quote of the day was from Stephen Hawking, given by Markus Schumacher, as a tribute to Hawking, who died recently.

There were no table topics for the evening, in order to make room for more speeches.

Speaker #1, Brad Leete, powerfully persuaded us all to go vegan!

Speaker #2, Jamie Fisher, convinced us to visit Yosemite, but to be sure to plan ahead and bring water, snacks and appropriate clothing!

Speaker #3, Kate Kelly, gave us a summary of her High Performance Leadership project, where she went into a corporate setting and delivered a speaker training course to help prepare speakers for an upcoming event.

Speaker #4, Tony Centorino, read and then spoke about a poem from 1934 called The Man in the Glass.

Speaker #5, Maryanne Shirshac, had some technical difficulties which prevented her from giving the speech she had planned for the evening, so instead she delivered an impromptu speech about how constraint creates creativity.

Speaker #6, Steve McGirr, gave a presentation on Service and Leadership, based on his own experiences in the workplace.

Robin Corrigan served as General Evaluator for the evening, and Tom Corrigan, Robin Corrigan, Celina Dorn, Marcus Schumacher, Heather McKelvie, and Ian Brooks all evaluated the speakers in the order given.

We were pressed for time at the end of the meeting, so skipped the Ah-Counter’s report, and the Grammarian’s report, and only took a moment for the Timer (Chris Gaffney) to report on speech lengths.