November 6th Meeting

Hello Eagles!

As usual, the meeting was opened by our Sergeant at Arms, Jaimie Fisher.

Eagles President Ute Brinkmann announced that our club had won the Smedley Award for gaining 5 members between August 1 and September 30^th.

Ian Brooks served as Toastmaster for the evening. 14 members and 2 guests were present.

The word of the day, presented by Grammarian Tony Centorino, was Assuage – meaning to ease or lessen pain, as with get-well cards or flowers.

Heather McKelvie was the humorist, and told a nutty joke about some complimentary nuts in a bar.

Nilani Shankar presented the Quote of the Day – from Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. “Don’t believe everything you hear – even in your own mind.”

Sandra Centorino was Tabletopics Master. In honor of Monday being International Kindness Day, Sandra had participants share what they would say in a letter to someone who deserved their appreciation. Ian, Heather, Melinda (a guest), Salvatore (another guest!) and Paula all contributed.

Our first speech of the evening was delivered by Amy Demas. Amy’s project was from the Technical Presentations Manual – (1) The Technical Briefing. In Revolutionary Front Desk Training, Amy demonstrated the training she would provide for a dentist office staff when switching to a cloud-based recording platform for their phone system.

In speech 2, Jaime Fisher spoke from the Competent Communication manual – (5) Your Body Speaks. What’s Inside an Acorn? was inspired by Jaime’s then 2-year-old son asking what was inside of an acorn, and Jaime responding with the bright answer, “A Tree!” Jaime explained that, just as the material inside the acorn requires time, energy and patience to grow into a big tree, we too can reach our full potential through consistent, deliberate daily efforts.

Ute Brinkmann also spoke from the Competent Communication manual – (5) Your Body Speaks. In Little Knights, Ute told us how she began making simple sugar cookies for the Merchant Marines. She soon grew bored of the plain cookies and began adding pizzazz with stamped rolling pins and cutters. Over the years she has amassed quite a collection of unique and in some cases, intricately detailed cookie cutters, stamps and molds, which she passed around for us to see. Decoration adds love and sunshine to the cookies, but no additional calories. In Ute’s words, people from Uzbekistan to Asia decorate their food. I think I speak for the club when I say the best part of Ute’s speech was that she brought little bags of cookies for each of us to sample!

Tony Centorino delivered speech project (9) Persuade with Power from the Competent Communication manual entitled You Own It.  Tony spoke about how we each have our own individual journeys, but we share a journey together as a club. For Tony, who has worked at GE for over 20 years, it means a lot to him that GE has been around for 125 years, and Toastmasters has been around for 120. Both have well-established cultures and seemingly endless resources. This means that we can grow as much as we want with Toastmasters. Our club has a healthy mix of “Senior” members – those who have been around for a long time, “Junior” members – those with 3-5 years’ experience, and “Newbies” – those who have joined within the past 3 years or less.  Our club is owned by the members and run by the members.  Tony’s message to us is that we can be in the drivers’ seat! Reach out and do what you can for the club and for yourself. Ask for any help you need – resources are available.

Stephen McGirr was our General Evaluator. Speaking of resources, Steve mentioned that he had compiled some resources for the General Evaluator role and was willing to share with whoever needed them. The General Evaluator Role is in the Competent Leadership Book 6 times!

Tony Centorino, Chris Gaffney, Kimberly Lewis, and Richard Freeman all served as evaluators for the evening. Other functionaries were: Nilani Shankar, Ah-Counter, and Paula Erardi, Timer. 

See you next time!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary 

September 18th Meeting - Evaluation and Humorous Speech Contest

The September 18th meeting was a special one - it was our fall contest! Many members chipped in and brought food and drinks to keep us fueled throughout the evening.

Jaime Fisher served as Contest Master, Peter Penev was Sergeant at Arms, and Deb Haggett was Chief Judge.

The group consisted of 17 members, 5 guests, and one guest of honor - the target speaker, Richard Peck, DTM, First Vice President of Toastmasters International.

As the target speaker, Richard's role was to give a speech for the evaluators in the evaluation contest to evaluate. (Make sense?)

In his speech, More Than Just Words, Richard asked: "How do you use words to take people on a journey? When used properly, words can be extremely powerful." He went on to compare FDR's famous Pearl Harbor speech with an earlier draft, showing how the right words can have a much more powerful impact than those that first come to mind. He encouraged us to keep the 4 R's in mind when preparing speeches: Reinvent, Renew, Revitalize and Rewrite! Be mindful that your words take people on their journey, not yours.

Evaluation contestants were Joseph Oddie and Stephen McGirr

For the humorous speech contest, there were four contestants/speeches. In order of appearance:

1. Sarah Anne Ouellette / How Shit Can Set You Free
2. Brad Leete / My First World Record
3. Sandra Centorino / 17 Seats
4. Maryanne Shirshac / iLost

After each contestant, there was time for the judges to complete a checklist, which would be used to determine the speech contest winners. (This was also true for the judging of the evaluation contest.)

Once the judging forms had been completed, the ballot counters and chief judge retreated to another room to tally up the results. The rest of us mingled and enjoyed the refreshments.

Finally - drumroll please - the winners were announced.

For the evaluation contest, Joseph Oddie took first place, and Stephen McGirr second. For the speech contest, Brad Leete came in at #1, and Sandra Centorino came in second.

All four of the winning contestants would then go on to compete at the Area Contest, which was held in Waterbury on October 12th.

September 11th Meeting

The September 11^th meeting opened on a somber note, with Ute Brinkmann reading a poem remembering that fateful day. But she added a positive thought – the date 9/11 in European style stands for November 9. On that day in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down.

Amy Demas served as Toastmaster for the evening and suggested that we move Table Topics to the end of the meeting to make sure we had enough time for all the speeches.

The word of the day, presented by Thom Knowlton was Imagine.

The first speech of the evening was given by Kate Kelly. It was entitled “Pay it Forward” and was taken from the Advanced Manual – Specialty Speeches (2) Uplift the Spirit. Kate recalled that immediately after 9/11, humanity was at its best. People were kind and rushed to help each other and check in on each other. As often happens after tragedy or disaster, people reacted with love and concern. Kate asked, how do we keep that good spirit going? She then answered that we must always pay it forward to keep the kindness going. We don’t need to wait for another attack or disaster to motivate us.

Speaker 2 was Heather McKelvie (yes, that’s me!) who delivered a speech from the Storytelling Manual (3) The Moral of the Story. A Tale of Two Squirrels took the audience on a journey with a pair of squirrels – one who was very goal-driven and the other who was a bit less so. The story ended with a twist when the goal-oriented squirrel (Filbert) was snatched up by a hawk and the lazy squirrel (Marshall) went on to live the life that Filbert had once dreamed of for himself. The moral of the story was that you can plan all you want but you never really know how things will turn out in the end.

Joseph Oddie was the third speaker of the evening. He also chose a project from the Storytelling manual (4) The Touching Story. In “Face Your Fear” Joseph spoke about his paralyzing fear of public speaking that struck during his junior year of high school. From then on, his life choices were influenced by this fear. It took him 20 years before he confronted it by attending an improv class and even then, he wanted to run out of the room. But he stuck to it and was euphoric afterwards. He went on to try his hand at stand-up comedy. Each time was a little step forward. Joseph’s message to us was that if you don’t face your fear head-on, it will follow you throughout your life.

Our final speaker of the evening was Stephen McGirr, who gave his final speech from the Competent Communicator Manual (10) Inspire Your Audience.  Steve’s speech was entitled “What Will You Become?” He spoke about the three values he lives by: 1. Find Answers, 2. Be a Mentor, 3. Focus. When Steve was a child, he saw a Nostradamus documentary that cause him great distress. As he grew older he was crippled by his fears, suffering panic attacks that prevented him from going out and enjoying life. After consulting with a psychiatrist, and focusing on personal development and leadership training, he found answers to his struggles, became a mentor for others and has learned to focus on love and positivity, rather than the negative things in life. We too, can move past our own fears and use our experiences to help others.

Jaime Fisher lead table topics for the evening, which were a series of interesting questions such as: If you had a superpower for one day, what would it be? What was your favorite childhood toy or game? And, if you could learn a new skill, what would it be? Sarah Ouellette, Maryanne Shirshac and Brad Leete all participated, and then we were out of time!

Thomas Piekarski was the general evaluator for the evening, while Anne Lee, Brad Leete, Paula Erardi and Joseph Oddie evaluated each speaker.

August 21st Meeting

Hi Eagles!

I arrived at our August 21^st meeting expecting another small group. Boy was I wrong! We ended up with a total of 22 people – 8 of whom were guests.

Jaime Fisher was back to bang the gavel and begin the night. I (Heather McKelvie) served as Toastmaster.

As Humorist, Tom Piekarski told a risqué joke about a nun giving two priests an eyeful while on vacation.

Paula Erardi gave a quote from Frederick Lewis Donaldson about the seven social sins.

Following in Tony’s footsteps from last week, I also served as Topicsmaster. I brought in a grab bag of items and asked people to come up, randomly choose an item and then speak about it for 2 minutes. Sandra and Steve both found sunglasses and talked about their experiences with the solar eclipse. Jaime, inspired by a stuffed giraffe, told us about her struggles as a minimalist parent with children who hoard stuffed animals. Chris found a “clock man” in the bag and spoke about how it was a super hero action figure. He convinced us that it was a valuable collector’s item. One of the guests, Sarah, gave it a whirl and impressed us with her thoughts about pearls.

Then it was time for the main event – the speeches!

T Poirer gave the first of the three icebreaker speeches of the evening. She spoke about her nervousness and shared a poem she wrote about the nervousness and fear. As Sandra would later emphasize, T took the energy from her fear and turned it into courage!

Nilani Shankar’s icebreaker was inspired by the Jim Rohn quote from the previous meeting. She spoke briefly about her 22 years of formal education and then dove into her self-education. She discovered that self-hypnosis could help her memorize 25 pages of piano music, and has gone on to study how hypnosis can be used to help others.

In her icebreaker, Anne Lee started off by telling us how her family moved from Korea to Bangkok, where she learned English in an American school, only really taking it seriously once the math problems became word problems and she had to rely on probability to get the answers right. Anne came to the US for high school and college. She wanted a practical career, so she became a doctor and practiced radiology for 20 years. She then tried her hand at house-flipping, developed interested in real estate and became a broker! She says that when you want something in life, opportunities will come to you, and that America really is the best place to make that happen.

Amy Demas then gave a speech from the Advanced Manual – Special Occasion Speeches, Speaking in Praise, called “Thank you, Light” Amy praised light for three of it’s greatest characteristics – Radiance, Energy & Momentum and Guidance.  She concluded by reminding us that we can empower and motivate, just like the sun. 

Jaime Fisher wrapped up the evening as General Evaluator. Speech evaluators were Sandra Centorino, Amy Demas, Steve McGirr and Jaime Fisher.

Other functionaries were Paula Erardi: Ah-Counter, Nilani Shankar: Grammarian, and Richard Freeman: Timer.

Our next meeting is September 11^th. Ute suggested that the theme for the evening be National Day of Remembrance.

See you then!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary

August 7th Meeting

Hi Eagles!

Although our August 7^th meeting was sparsely attended, everyone there stepped up to fill roles and make the evening an enjoyable one.

There were 8 members and 4 guests – two of whom joined as members by the end of the meeting!

Stephen McGirr banged the gavel to start the meeting, and Tony Centorino served as Toastmaster.

Sandra Centorino humored us with a joke about an old married couple – in honor of her and Tony’s recent wedding anniversary. I wonder how many dolls Sandra has crocheted over the years?

Stephen McGirr stepped up to give a quote from Jim Rohn about the significance of self-education.

Tony Centorino - in one of his many roles that night – led Table Topics with a travel theme.  We got to hear how our fellow Toastmasters have set off alarms at customs and security thanks to contraband items such as untreated wood and full water bottles. Kate shared a truly cringe-worthy story of how her suitcase was critically battered by the baggage handling system and had to be delivered to her in a giant trash bag.

Tony Centorino switched hats from Table Topics Master to Toastmaster to Speaker #1 (can you keep up?) and delivered speech #3 from the Competent Communicator Manual: Get to the Point.  Tony spoke about his journey through Toastmasters, from the day he and Sandra discussed it over coffee at Dunkin Donuts, to joining Eagle in June 2014, and progressing as a speaker and a club officer – taking on roles such as Club President, VP of Membership and Secretary. Today Tony is Area Director and he concluded his speech by outlining his goals for mentoring the clubs in our area.

Ute Brinkmann delivered speech #8 from the Competent Communicator Manual: Get Comfortable with Visual Aids.  A Humble Wooden Stick was our opportunity to take a good look at a violin bow. Ute brought enough for everyone! After she handed out the bows, she explained what they are made of – wood from Brazil, horse hair from Mongolia, a “frog” with mother of pearl inlay from Germany. We were surprised to learn that high-quality bows such as the ones Ute had entrusted us to hold were worth $15 - $17,000!

Kate Kelly wrapped up the evening as General Evaluator as well as speech evaluator for Tony. I evaluated Ute’s speech.

Other functionaries were Stephen McGirr: Ah-Counter, Fred Swiderski: Grammarian, and guest-turned-member Nilani Shankar, who stepped up and took on her first role as timer

Our next meeting is August 21^st, which is just around the corner! Sign up for a role today to help make it another successful night.

See you then!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary

July 17th Meeting

Hi Eagles!

Last night was another great meeting. There were 14 members and 5 guests – one of whom became a member by the end of the evening. Please join me in welcoming Kimberly Lewis as our newest Eagle!

Jaime Fisher took on the role of Toastmaster and made the job look easy. She’s a natural and not once became nonplussed by the responsibility.

Fred Swiderski was the humorist, and amused us with a joke about aquatic predators. Maryanne Shirshac shared a quote from her favorite children’s book, The Little Prince.

Sandra Centorino handled the Table Topics portion of the evening and integrated a game called Sparked. Each contestant – er, table topics speaker – spun a wheel to determine their question category and then Sandra chose a relevant question from that category. A lot of people got involved – Maryanne, Amy, Steve, Tony, myself and Jaime all participated.

For the speech portion of the evening, Tony Centorino gave an after-dinner speech, from the Advanced Communication Manual, The Entertaining Speech. Tony told a humorous story about a visit to a movie theater in Vermont where just one employee was running the whole operation. He tied this in to how the Eagle Toastmasters club has pulled through the years - sometimes relying on very few members to take on multiple roles in order to get the job done.  He shared with us the 3 P’s – Product, Process and People. Without our members (people) doing their part (process) we would not have the successful club (product) that we do!

Kate Kelly then revisited the Competent Communicator Manual and gave an Icebreaker speech called Why I don’t have a Tattoo. Kate took us on a journey through significant moments in her life and how she might have marked these memories with tattoos – that is, if she wasn’t afraid of needles and the permanency of tattoos.

The third and final speech of the night was given by me - Heather McKelvie. It was from the Advanced Communication Manual, Storytelling. Go Fly a Kite was the story of my childhood kite-flying experience gone wrong. My hubris lead me to not only lose my brand new kite, but to cause a power outage to the entire neighborhood!

Amy Demas performed as General Evaluator and evaluated Tony’s speech, while Fred Swiderski and Tony Centorino evaluated Kate and Heather. 

Other functionaries tonight were Richard Freeman: Ah-Counter; Stephen McGirr: Grammarian; Chris Gaffney: Timer

Our next meeting is August 7^th. It will be here before you know it! Sign up for a role today to help make it another successful night.

See you then!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary

July 10th Meeting

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 17^th. Be sure to log in to the site and sign up for a role.

See you then!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary