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.

February 19th Meeting

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.

January 22nd Meeting

Eagles kicked off 2018 with a full house! 21 members and 1 guest attended the meeting. 

Ute Brinkman opened by going around the room and asking people how long and why they have been in Toastmasters.

Steve McGirr was the Toastmaster for the evening. Robin Corrigan got us all laughing with a joke about an antique collector who used a lucky bowl to lure people into buying cats. Tony Centorino gave the quote of the day, from Dean Martin: "Good judgement comes from experience. And experience? Well that comes from poor judgement."

Sandra Centorino lead table topics with the questions: What is your favorite brand or product? Or What was the last thing you ought after seeing it on social media? Ian, Melinda, Nilani and Robin all participated.

Kate Kelly’s speech project was on impromptu speaking. She brought with her a list of 5 potential topics, and Tom Corrigan chose which topic she should speak on. The chosen topic was vacations, so Kate talked about her experience growing up with 5 siblings and taking the yearly family trip to Brooklyn in their big station wagon.

Our next speaker was Markus Schumacher, who spontaneously decided to do an impromptu icebreaker speech. He titled his speech, Be More Spontaneous, and spoke about spontaneously deciding to move to the US.

Speaker 3 was Chris Gaffney, who also spoke about vacations. In his speech, titled Repeat Vacations, Chris talked about the value of taking vacations in places you’ve been to before, whether it be visiting your old stomping grounds, or just having a place where you go year after year. It can be fun to make a game of spotting differences, like new furniture or coats of paint, and of course, reminiscing about previous trips with fond memories.

Speaker 4 was yours truly, who spoke on the Radium Girls, the true story of the women who worked as dial painters, and handled radium-based paint with no knowledge of the dangers of radiation. Though their story is a tragic one, we can thank them for bringing light to the issue of health & safety in the workplace, something that has been vastly improved in the 100 years since the Radium Girls.

Tony Centorino was the general evaluator, and Tom Corrigan, Ian Brooks, Chris Gaffney and Robin Corrigan all served as speech evaluators. Functionary roles were filled as follows: Paula Erardi – Ah-counter, Ian Brooks – Grammarian, Nilani Shankar – Timer.

December 18th Meeting

Our last meeting of the 2017 calendar year was held in the BYK Conference center. It was short and sweet, so that we could move out to the lobby and enjoy refreshments while doing a round of table topics by the fire.

Sandra Centorino was Toastmaster for the evening. We happily welcomed two new members – Markus Schumacher and Celina Dorn. Tom Piekarski served as the humorist and Ian Brooks gave the quote of the day, "Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection." – Winston Churchill.

To keep the meeting short, we only had two speakers. Ute Brinkmann delivered speech #9, Persuade with Power from the Competent Communicator manual. Her speech was titled Giving, and she spoke of the importance of giving to those who are less fortunate than we are. There are many ways to give – we can donate time, money, and resources. By doing so we can give hope to others in this world.

Maryanne Shirshac gave Speech #6, Vocal Variety, from the Competent Communicator manual. Titled “Holly Days”, Maryanne spoke about her cat, Holly. Holly came into Maryanne’s life as she was mourning the loss of her previous cat. Holly has left pawprints on Maryanne’s heart, which is something to which other pet owners can relate.

The general evaluator was Nilani Shankar, and Ian Brooks and Stephen McGirr evaluated the speeches. Functionary roles were: Ah-Counter – Heather McKelvie, Grammarian – Salvatore Romano, Timer –Melinda Torgerson.

After the evaluations and functionary reports were given, the group migrated to the lobby for snacks and socialization in front of the fireplace. Deborah Haggett led a holiday session of table topics. All in all, it was a fun way to celebrate our time together as Toastmasters.

December 4th Meeting

Once again, we met in the BYK Conference Center – an interesting change from our usual venue. 

Jaime Fisher, our Sergeant at Arms was first on the scene to ensure the room was ready for the night and to open the meeting with the bang of the gavel.

Eagles President Ute Brinkmann announced that next meeting (Dec. 18) is the holiday-themed meeting, and everyone may contribute by bringing something delicious to share. (Sign up on the agenda!) Perhaps some holiday attire, if you’ve got an ugly sweater you’re itching to show off?

Tom Corrigan was the Toastmaster for the evening. 16 members and 8 guests (yes 8!) were present.

Robin Corrigan was the humorist and told a funny story about a failed attempt to impress someone.

Robin also presented the Quote of the Day – from Adam Steltzner’s book The Right Kind of Crazy. I failed to write down what his quote actually was, but take a moment to Google him if you don’t know who he is – he’s an incredibly interesting guy! I think I’ll be reading that book!

Grammarian Paula Erardi presented the word of the day, which was Complicity.

Tony Centorino was Tabletopics Master and used the time to crowdsource us for ideas on how to get clubs to gain more visitors and members. Along the idea of having themed meetings, he asked us to speak for 2 minutes on various themes, such as books, travel, children, and music. Heather, Jaime, Paula and Robin all participated.

Our first speaker of the evening was the club’s prodigal son, Curtis Reddick. (Welcome back to the club, Curtis!) Curtis spoke from the Competent Communication Manual, project # 9 (Persuade with Power). Curtis’ speech was titled Rebel Against Mediocrity. Curtis packed his speech with information about how we can better ourselves. Just by being part of Toastmasters, we strive to rise above the status quo! He recommended a book called Organize Tomorrow Today, and reminded us that consistent behavior is what leads to change.

Nilani Shankar was up next, completing project #3 (Get to the Point) from the Competent Communication Manual. Nilani spoke about how she was introduced to the therapeutic techniques of tapping and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) from a fellow graduate student at UConn. She took us through the history of these therapies and even had us participate in a quick demo of self-tapping.

Speaker #3 was yours truly, Heather McKelvie. I chose project #1 (Speaking to Inform) from the Advanced Communication Series, Speaking to Inform.  In The Art of Zentangle, I attempted to introduce Zentangle to the group, explaining what it is, how it got started, and then how to do it. I brought examples of Zentangle books, as well as my own artwork, and even did a quick demo on the easel, but unfortunately, I found the time was up before I had completed the speech! Lesson learned: You can’t fit 20 minutes’ worth of material in a 5-7-minute speech!

Kate Kelly closed out the speech portion of the evening with her speech, entitled Take a Giant Hike. Her title was a play on words, as she talked to us about hiking at Sleeping Giant! A big part of her speech was on the importance of having a trail map so that you can anticipate the type of terrain you’ll be encountering, and find a gentle way back to the parking lot once you’ve had enough.

Jaime Fisher was our General Evaluator. Kate Kelly, Robin Corrigan, Sandra Centorino and Tony Centorino evaluated each speech respectively.

Other functionaries were: Curtis Reddick, Ah-Counter, and Stephen McGirr, Timer.

Our next meeting will be held on Monday, December 18^th at BYK. It will be a holiday-themed meeting and will include pot-luck. Be sure to see the agenda on eagletoastmasters.com to sign up!

See you then!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary

November 20th Meeting

Hi Eagles!

Our November 20^th meeting had a new venue – the conference center at BYK! We’ll meet here temporarily for the next several meetings, as our usual location has other plans.

The meeting was opened by our Sergeant at Arms, Jaimie Fisher. We had 14 members and 5 guests in attendance.

Club President Ute Brinkman welcomed us and mentioned that Ian Brooks was about to complete his Competent Communicator for the second time around!  She also reminded us that it’s good to look around at other clubs to visit, or even give a speech there.  Ute reminded us that the holidays are coming up fast and we’d like new ideas for our December 18^th holiday meeting.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Kate Kelly. Tom Corrigan was the humorist and had us all chuckling about how a husband had apparently already picked out his replacement wife, should his current wife die before him.

Ute Brinkman delivered the word of the day, which was Zonked, meaning to be exhausted.

The Quote of the Day was delivered by Sandra Centorino, taken from the book Kindness Boomerang: “Pay for the coffee. It’s not the coffee that will be remembered, but the kindness.”

Ian Brooks was the first speaker of the night. His task, taken from the Competent Communicator Manual was to Get Comfortable with Visual Aids. Ian gave us a brief history of early recorded sounds – as much as one can fit 30-40 years of sound in a 7-minute speech. He brought along a phonograph and played some old records for us. He also demonstrated the fragility of the old thermoset plastic records by breaking one with his bare hands!

Jaime Fisher gave us the Best Holiday Survival Guide with Kids. Since it is commonly thought that it takes 100,000 hours of experience to become an expert, Jaime qualifies as an expert in dealing with children. She had three helpful tips for anyone who may be spending time with kids this holiday season. 1. See kids as an asset in helping you be more mindful. They are mindfulness minions! 2. Consider skipping gifts. Sponsor violin lessons, or karate, or take them somewhere to have a memorable experience instead! 3. Remember the most important gift of all – make the time to spend with family and friends, even those relatives you don’t agree with. To simply listen to another is a gift.

Our final speaker of the evening was Chris Gaffney. He spoke from an advanced manual The Entertaining Speaker. In Meaningful Thoughts, Chris spoke about three people who he admired as inspirational thinkers. 1. Tom Bodette, who states his mind in a clear and reflective way. 2. Garrison Keillor, the master of nostalgia, who not only makes you think of it but feel it too. 3. Andy Rooney, the former curmudgeonly commentator from 60 Minutes. Chris also shared that he is now sharing his own meaningful thoughts on his new blog: www.uncommondiscourse.com  

Table Topics was moved to the post-speech portion of the evening, to make the best use of time. Robin Corrigan was the Table Topics Master. Robin got creative with this one, turning it into a crime scene, with all the participants as suspects! The scene was Sun Studios recording studio, and the crime was the stolen golden guitar! Kate was the detective, while Tony was the Elvis impersonator, Heather was the “real” Elvis, Tom P. was Johnny Cash, Ian was Carl Perkins, Curtis was Jerry Lee Lewis, Nilani was Diane, and Sam Phillips was played by Tom C. One by one, each suspect had to explain what they were doing during the hour break when the guitar went missing. In the end, Detective Kate determined that it was the Elvis Impersonator who had stolen the golden guitar!

The general evaluator for the evening was Heather McKelvie. Robin Corrigan, Paula Erardi and Tony Centorino evaluated each speech, respectively.

Other functionaries were: Ah Counter, Stephen McGirr (who is ruthless in this role!), and Timer, Nilani Shankar.

The December 4^th meeting will be held in the BYK Conference Center again. Hope to see you there!

Heather McKelvie

Eagle Secretary