7/15 Eagle Toastmasters Meeting...another Electric Evening

Eagles,

Tonight we enjoyed an electrifying meeting in a smaller venue at the Parks and Rec., with special accompaniment by the children’s choir next door! We had a total of 23 attendees….21, now 22 members, and 1 guest.

Yours Truly served as Toastmaster of the evening. Markus Schmacher, our President, opened up the meeting, fresh from a return from his trip to Germany.

Chris Scoppetta, one of our newest members, provided an inspirational quote from Theodore Roosevelt that set the tone for the evening.

Steve McGirr followed with a funny story about a snarky parrot.

Michelle Madeux provided table topics with a culinary theme. Markus advised us that the most nutritious breakfast is no breakfast at all, an opinion that Steve McGirr was not willing to second. Now if somebody offered Steve seconds for breakfast……..

As for the speeches…..Jaime Fisher gave an inspirational speech that taught us that “clarity of task” can overcome many barriers….even language barriers. Speaker #2, Tony Centorino, presented an award out of the Special Occasion manual. Kat Calhoun gave a speech about the hazards of electricity and its many forms. Ric Zabor followed with a similar topic that taught us the positives of negative electrons. It was an old school multimedia presentation complete with flip charts and interesting props. Kat and Ric’s presented information backed by research that lent credence to their speeches.

A special thanks to all of the evaluators that stepped up. Diana Grippen, Kate Kelly, Eric Krausz, and Steve McGirr served as evaluators. While I benefited from my evaluation by Kate, I also learned a lot from the evaluation of others. I’d like to especially acknowledge Diana and Eric for stepping up as Eagle “newbies” and evaluating our more experienced speakers. We always benefit from new perspectives…..and giving an evaluation offers a terrific opportunity to give a “mini speech”. If you haven’t evaluated a speech before, please consider doing so at the next meeting!

Finally, thank you to Sandra Centorino (General Evaluator), Paula Erardi (Timer), Carlos Perez (Ah counter), and Barbara Flagg (Grammarian, new member, and Michelle Madeax’s Mom)!

Some housekeeping notes:

Our next meeting will take place on 7/29…..We are taking advantage of the fifth Monday for a third meeting…..The theme will be “Adventures”. More to follow on this theme by President Markus.

Start thinking about the following meeting on 8/5 as well….Chris Scoppetta will be the Toastmaster for that meeting.

Sandra Centorino our VP PR is “calling for all Facebook Live people” that are willing to do a live recording of “meet the members”. Addy Nunez and Steve McGirr couldn’t raise their hands fast enough! More to follow!

Thank you for another fun and fulfilling Eagle Toastmasters Meeting!

See you all on 7/29!

Tony Centorino

Secretary

New Year....New Beginnings

Eagles,

July 1^st marked New Year’s at Eagle Toastmaster. Complete with bubbly beverages (leaded and unleaded) and homemade sweets – courtesy of the meeting Toastmaster, Ute Brinkmann! Nothing like sweets and beverages to get us off to a good start, “knock on wood”.

Our meeting featured 21 attendees - 16 members and 5 guests (some which have become newly minted members).

Tony Centorino opened the meeting with a toast….This marked speech #1 of the evening straight out of the old school Special Occasion Speech Manual. The theme of the toast was for each one of us to be committed to achieving our goals, to ourselves, and to each other.

Diana Grippen followed with a funny story to warm up the crowd. She commanded the stage like a seasoned pro!

Kat Calhoun provided a poignant quote of the day that was worthy of repeating….so she did!

Sandra Centorino led a light and  captivating, 4^th of July themed Table Topics. Six people stood up front, including three Eagles and three guests.

As for the speeches…..

Eric Krausz, Speaker #1, provided a compelling story about letting happiness find us. To those of us that wish we’d win the lottery, Eric’s story was a reminder that money can buy a lot of misery and that happiness is something that can find us.

Chris Scoppetta, Speaker #2, gave a persuasive speech encouraging us to serve as evaluators. He also taught us how to receive evaluations by taking the “attitude of gratitude”.

Tony Centorino, Speaker #3, gave a speech outlining the merits of Small Talk (aka social oxygen).

Kudos and Thank Yous to all of those that stepped up to serve as meeting functionaries. Richard Freeman (Ah Counter), Riz Zabor (Grammarian), John Sepple (Timer), Steve McGirr (General Evaluator), Joseph Oddie (Evaluator #1), Lauren Bruno (Evaluator #2), Eric Krausz (Evaluator #3).

Our next meeting is Monday July 15^th…..We still have a lot of roles open, including Toastmaster and General Evaluator. If you are going to be at our meeting on 7/15, please sign up for a role! You will make the experience fulfilling for yourself and better for everybody else!

Tony Centorino

Eagle Toastmaster Secretary