Congratulations to all the winners and the participants

Dear All,

Did I say Andrew was setting something special for us and Yes, he did, and the night was special. We had great food, we had sambusas, we had cookies and we had red and white wine flowing and more than this we had a great turnout for the meeting. With Andrew, the contest chair and Tom, the chief judge running the show efficiently, I was able to sit, relax, enjoy the wine and the great food.... Excellent job guys. I can't thank you enough.

Thanks goes to all the volunteers for bringing the food. Thanks goes to all the members and guests for showing up tonight and making the contest a HUGE SUCCESS... And SUCCESS it was.

Special thanks go to Yvonne, our target speaker. The speech was fabulous, it was like a perfectionist putting on a show for us. It was like a feast to hear the speech over the great food. Did I say the contest is about pleasing essentially all the 5 senses - yes, all the senses had a Treat.

Finally congratulations to all the winners and the participants.

Sonia, Mike and Rich came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the humorous speech contest.

Ian, Kate and Jessica came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the speech evaluation contest.

Sonia, Mike, Ian and Kate will represent the club at the area level. The area level contest is on Oct 10th at North East Utilities, Berlin starting at 6.30 pm.

We have more good news, Shari joined as our club member tonight.. Welcome Shari to our family! With Shari joining we reached the magic number 8 of new members ..... 8 = 2 .... That calls for extra celebration and I can sleep well :)

Thanks again to all of you. Our next meeting is on Oct 1st at our usual time (7.15pm) and our usual location. Please sign up for the roles.

Goodnight and see you all in 2 weeks.

Chandra

Club's Quality, Energy and Enthusiasm

Dear Eagles,

With the cool breeze in the air, it seems the days of extremely hot and humid days are finally over. In the past few months, we have seen many weather changes - hot days,  humid days, rainy days, windy days, but among all these unavoidable changes we have one thing staying the same - and that is our club's quality, energy and enthusiasm. We had another solid meeting with a good turnout including 4 guests.

With the humorous speech contest looming, Richard quoted Bill Cosby on how humor helps in many other dimensions  "Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it".

Kate as table topics master did something different, she made the previous table topics speaker to pick the next one... This was really good. There is always something new you learn at toastmasters!

Coming to the prepared speeches, with both the Republican and Democratic conventions done, Richard talked about three kinds of political ads - attack ads, contrast ads and dirty tricks and gave examples of each in his speech appropriately titled as " conventions are over. Let the ads fly". Richard is like an encyclopedia, his speech was loaded with details, facts, valuable information and to be honest it was difficult to keep pace with note taking. Couple of quotes I was able to jot it down - " we all know that politics is a contact sport" by Obama and another by Truman "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen".

Dawit in his speech titled "Peace Corp & me" talked about how the Peace Corp missions enrich and enlighten the lives of both the volunteers and the beneficiaries,  and after a certain time the definitions of providers and seekers may actually reverse. Dawit had a few capturing quotes in his speech like "if you spend 24 months in Africa, you learn to move(dance)" and of course Jessica as general evaluator pounced on that statement and requested Dawit to show some moves in his next speech which Dawit accepted with a smile.... (Body Speaks?) ... So keep an eye on Dawit's next speech and don't miss it if you want to learn some moves :)

Ute gave the speech on "Time to talk about food" where she did not talk about food per se but rather with good demo/gestures showed how different cultures consume food in different ways like use of silverware, use of wood (chop sticks) and of course use of plain hands. And what can I say about the speech?  She packed every  aspect of toastmasters into practice in her speech, be it the props, be it the body language, be it the vocal variety, be it the audience engagement, be it the inspiration... Yes she delivered all in this speech. She noted an interesting observation -about  1/3rd of the world population eat with silverware, 1/3rd with chop sticks and the rest 1/3rd with hands. A simple but phenomenal observation and I commend her in going out of her way to assimilate the different cultures....

Our next meeting on Sept 17th is a contest meeting. There will be food and wine on the table. It is time to put our 5 senses to use -  taste, smell, listen, speak and talk... And no better venue than the contest night. Please come. There will be many roles available like judges, timers, ballot counters etc etc and of course more member involvement more fun.

We have a Target speaker coming from the greater Hartford and the Audience is the best gift any speaker can have. So please come,  let us put on a good show and make the contest a success.

Goodnight and see you all next Monday.

Chandra

Fantastic show tonight

Dear Eagle Toastmasters,

Another night, another meeting and we put together another fantastic show tonight. Friday night we had almost an empty roster except for 3 speaking slots filled, and by Monday afternoon we had a full roster with even a backup speaker.... Yes, this is incredible and this is something very special about our club - stepping in when needed. We had 18 members tonight including our guests Susan and Michelle, and we had Steve sign up as a new member. Welcome Steve to our club/family.

Andrew as table topics master not only lightened the mood but was also very creative with the material he offered as topics. Everyone felt at ease and as a matter of fact Andrew did not have to force anyone to step forward as he had members voluntarily step forward and had a go at it. Yes we all had belly full of laughs.... Thanks and great job Andrew.

Our streak of meetings with icebreaker speeches is still going strong (hope it does not end anytime soon..?) and today Hyunsoo gave her first speech titled "the places i have been", narrating us how she landed in Wallingford after her stops in Seoul (birth place), Canada, Long Island (New York), England and Chicago, in sequential order. Her speech was well written and her soft & soothing voice had the attention of the whole room.

I grabbed the opportunity of an open speaking slot and, for a change, gave a speech on how my pain, anger and sorrow remained the same even after 18 years of the loss of a family member very dear to me. I hope, by sharing this with all of you tonight, my pain, anger and sorrow subside... Really hope and thank you all for the kind words.....

Rachel brings in passion to everything she does. Rachel imposturing as the division lead for the Juice Product Association called on all the fellow colleagues on how important it is for their division to get their act together in time to disseminate facts vs myth about the arsenic levels present in food, especially pertaining to apple juices. For a moment I thought she moved to a new job - excellent job, Rachel.

Ute shared the 4 core values of Toastmasters: 1. Dignity 2. Dedication to excellence 3. Service to the member and 4. Respect for the individual. Thanks for sharing this and I hope we maintain these core values at our club.

In short, we had a fantastic show tonight. Thanks to everyone for stepping forward and making this happen.

Goodnight and note that our next meeting is on Sept 10th.

Chandra

Drinks on me for breaking the Eagle tradition

Dear Eagles,

A new room, a new setting and yet the same great turn out and the same great fun filled meeting. We had another 20+ member turnout, with 2 guests and one signing above the dotted line. Welcome Jay to the Eagle family!

"Don't count the days, make the days count" by Muhammad Ali was one of the 2 quotes provided by quote master, Richard.

We had Andrew as the toastmaster, and he did a wonderful job considering that this was his first time as TM. I want to commend Andrew for reaching out to all the speakers prior to the meeting and setting the tone & the tempo for the speakers and the speeches.

We had 3 prepared speeches tonight. Richard gave his Icebreaker speech titled "Shadow effect", in which he narrated us the story, the relation, the bonding, the emotions, the evolution and the growth of his 2 loves - his daughter Bailey and her (their) horse, Shadow, and how Shadow had a major influence in both his daughter and also their lives, and he ended by saying  "No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle taking care of the horse," which had an appropriate addition "taking care of the horse" to the famous Winston Churchill's quote. Richard kept us so captivated that we did not realize that he was 2 minutes over time, which in itself is phenomenal for an icebreaker speech!

Mike followed Rich's speech with his icebreaker speech titled "Who is Michael". Oh, Mike had several stories with in a story. I really liked the way he connected the mini stories of his childhood, his family, his work, his education, his passion, his love...... He had this gentle, soft natured humor to his narration that, oh yes, he got the room worked up....

Lucy gave her 2nd speech titled "Memories," where she described vividly with great detail and examples how the meaning of vacation is so different for parents and children - parents want vacation for relaxation and stress-free whereas children want vacation for just the opposite "Chaos"... what better way to sum up the wide rift in the expectations......?  Lucy is like a "Wordsmith," where her narration is like a poetry or a well written prose, and the choice of words and the quality of the content keeps us beholden.

All in all, we had a great night filled with 3 fabulous speeches. Congratulations to both Rich and Mike for giving their first speeches, and my apologies to both of you for forgetting to give the "icebreaker" mementos - our club tradition; extra drinks on me for both of you for this unforgiving mistake of mine :)

Club level Evaluation and Humorous speech contest will be on Sept 17th, so start working on your humorous speeches. 

As mentioned, we will have 4 speaking slots from next meeting onwards. The agenda already shows these changes, thanks Joe.

Sign up for the roles, goodnight and see you all in 2 weeks.

Regards,

Chandra

Alcohol Works but Eagle Rocks!

Dear All,

It was a hot and a "dry" day but that did not stop us from having another great and fun filled meeting. "Dry" in the sense that we did not have alcohol served in the meeting after 3 consecutive meetings where alcohol sort of stole the show; and even then we had 20 members  including 4 guests, out of which 3 signed on the dotted line. That is Great and Welcome on board to the new members!

With record high temperatures this year, Ian, as table topics master, aptly chose "Heat" and various connotations of Heat like hot, hotter, etc as the theme for tonight's table topics. The whole room went quiet when Ian asked for volunteers to talk about the "hotter person" - I don't know what everyone was thinking but I know for sure that Kate (past club president) was thinking about George Clooney and I was thinking about Catherine Zeta Jones...( Now you guys know what Presidents think like , I mean eagle club presidents), but Robin broke the ice by stepping forward and started talking about her grandmother as the hotter person. Robin had the whole room cracked up in her 2 min table topics speech... Timely thinking and Great Job Robin!

Rachel with Area Governor hat thanked all the past club officers for the last year Club's achievements and then installed the current officers. It was very formal and this was a new experience for all of us... Looked very formal but Rachel with her magic touch made the whole episode very enjoyable.... Rachel also used her charm in making 5 members commit (voluntarily) for completing their CCs and 3 members for finishing their ACs( I have the names written down.. No ESCAPE. :) ).. Thanks Rachel for making my life very easy.

Ute stepped in when 2 speakers had to back out in the last minute and it was an appropriate continuation to where Rachel left off. 3 EEEs always sum up Ute's speeches.. Engaging, Energy and Enthusiasm... And this speech was no different. She makes it look very easy.....

And of course best for the last, we had an icebreaker speech given by Dawit who joined our club only in the last meeting. Dawit took us through his journey from Ethiopia to Europe to New Haven. Dawit has a Ph.D and he is carrying out research on coming up with early diagnostic tools for cancers like pancreatic cancer in particular at the Yale school of medicine. Dawit claims to be stubborn (?) though he does not look like at all and he loves soccer apart from research.

Finally after today's meeting I am convinced that it is our club's energy, chemistry and the atmosphere we create are the reasons for the recent good turn out for the meetings and not the alcohol..... So  Alcohol works but Eagle rocks!

Of course as usual please sign up for the roles and please contact me or any of the officers if you want to speak and there are no slots available.... We can always try to accommodate.

Goodnight and see you all in 3 weeks on Aug 6th. 

Regards,

Chandra

Great start for 2012-13

Dear All,

We just had our first meeting of the 2012-13 and what a start it was. We had a good turn out with 2 guests and 2 new signed members, champagne and food on the table (many thanks to Ute) and with the music in the background, it was a perfect setting for the perfect start.

It was heartening to see all the three prepared speeches come from the new members and they all did a wonderful job. Andrew ensured that we all had plenty of laughs with his speech on Jokes, by sharing the history of some of the jokes; he also shared a fart joke that can be traced back to 2500 B.C. With all the laughter, Andrew concluded his speech on a philosophical note saying even in the era of iPhones, airplanes etc etc, the basic common things like family ties, sharing a joke with close ones etc etc are still the underlying themes that bonds us/society.

Jessica gave her icebreaker speech by letting us all know about her a bit more. I was very impressed in the way she was able to, with ease and comfort, weave in about her family and background while answering two questions (i) why graduate school and (ii) why chemistry major. We all love icebreakers!

Santy shared how eventful his 2012 birthday was, where he had experienced a mix of emotions ranging from the excruciating pain due to the bleeding from his finger to the pleasant surprise party he received from his friends.

All in all it was a great start. As I said, in my opinion, toastmasters is of the members by the members and for the members and it is for us to steer and take advantage of.

Goodnight and see you all in 2 weeks.

Regards,
Chandra

Eagle Toastmasters Meeting of June 18, 2012

Eagle Toastmasters:  June 18, 2012

6-7pm:  Rachel worked with Sonia, Tami, and Elaine, giving them insight into the use of the new TM website. Thank you, Rachel.

President’s Remarks:  VP Education-JoeToday’s Toastmaster:  Tom C.

Humorist:   Bret

Quotemaster:  Robin

“Some men see things as they are and ask why.  Others dream things that never were and ask “why not”.  George Bernard Shaw

 “If you can dream it, you can do it.  Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse.”  Walt Disney

 “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”  C.S.Lewis

Word of the Day  Ian

Exigent:  adj., requiring immediate action.  The fire caused exigent circumstances.

Table Topics:  Rachel cleverly used value pack coupons as topics for extemporaneous speaking.

Speaker 1
Robin—CC, “Persuade with Power; 5-7 minutes; “Life Is Just a Bowl Full of Golf Balls! Or Inspiration in a Jar”

Congratulations to Robin on her 10^th Speech, allowing us to become “President’s Distinguished for a 11^th year in a row.  We have the required 9 points, but are going for a perfect 10.

Robin spoke about an article entitiled, “The Journey to Fulfilling Your Dreams” by Janet Grace Ortigas.  It stated that while we all want to fulfill our dreams and desires only a small per centage actually do.  She persuaded us to prioritize our goals by examining them outside the box with, of all things, a bowl full of golf balls, beads, and confetti-like sand.  That’s Robin for you!

 Speaker 2,

Joe—CC Demonstrating; 5-7 minutes “Why not Salt, No Rocks; As Joe searched for a topic, While Joe was onsidering speaking about folding sheets, brewing coffee, and tying a tie, we all proceeded to fall asleep.  Then he created a room full of excitement as he donned his apron and revealed his recipe for the “margarita”, a refreshing summer repast.  He clarified some misconceptions about tequila, stating that high quality tequila does not need salt and that it comes from a cactus. 

Speaker 3,
Sonia—CC, #3; 5-7 min.; “Weight Loss Obsession”.  Sonia revealed her thought process as she was trying to lose the 20 pounds gained in her early years in college.  While researching the ads for chemical solutions, diets, and exercise machines, she finally realized that the answer was balanced nutrition and exercise.  She was then able to lose the 20 pounds in 1year without financially investing in diet programs, pills, or exercise gizmos.

Speaker 4:

Andrew—CC, Icebreaker; “Life and Learning”; Andrew needs to be commended for diving into his icebreaker.  Being creative, he used his talents to give teachers a run for their money in high school.  Using his artistic ability, Andrew forged a career for 30 years as a Tatoo Artist. Though his reputation was not as a student, he is on the verge of completing his Bachelor Degree because of his appreciation of life-long learning.

General Evaluator:  Robin

Evaluator 1:  Chandra for Robin—Robin persuaded us to keep adding to life, never losing sight of priorities.  Robin left us with visual images as she took out her inexhaustible bag of  tricks that allowed us to see that there is always room for more in life. “The only one stopping you is you”.

Evaluator 2:  Rachel for Joe-Joe did a fabulous job of demonstrating as he too brought out his bucket of tools.  His props fully engaged his audience as they actually experienced his speech topic.

Evaluator 3:  Ian for Sonia-Sonia has great natural potential, using very effective body language as a beginning Toastmaster.  She related her journey to weight loss experiences and research which culminated in the simple solution of balance, nutrition, and exercise—how profound.

Evaluator 4:  Rich from 1 State Street for Andrew-Rich has an effective conversational storytelling style and a sense of humor—important for an effective public speaker.  He even ended with a quote.  After this impressive icebreaker, he is well on his way to passing his public speaking requirement.  

Ah-Counter:  Tami

Timer:  Jessica
Grammarian:  Lucy

President’s Remarks:  Joe, VP Education

By the end of June, we will be one of 2 clubs with the award of President’s Distinguished for the 11the year in a row.  We will have a perfect 10.

Our guest, Rich, a 25 year Toastmaster Member, advising us to learn and enjoy the trip! 

            Eagle TM is certainly enjoying the trip!!

20 were present including 8 guests or new members.