On Thursday, April 17th, 2024, Norwich Toastmasters club held an open house at Chelsea Groton Bank in Norwich. We had 19 attendees, including 6 guests at our club meeting. Of our six guests, we had one guest from District 38 who gave a speech and our District 53 District Director, Distinguished Toastmaster Patti Walter.
To get us started, Ed Watkins, our Toastmaster of the Day, introduced our technicians that were filled by members from both Norwich Toastmasters club and our sister club, Colonel Ledyard Toastmasters. This meeting focused on spreading the word about Toastmasters and what Toastmasters has to offer. If you are looking for somewhere to challenge yourself to grow personally and professionally, you need to check out Toastmasters, as we all know the number-one fear is public speaking. The first section of the meeting focused on prepared speeches. At this meeting, we had three electrifying speakers!
- The first speaker this evening was Christine Gabel, her speech was titled, “Find Your Voice, What Norwich Toastmasters Can Do for You?”. Christine’s speech was a very compelling speech about Toastmasters and what it has to offer, to help you find your voice because Toastmasters is an affordable continuing education that teaches you skills and allows you to practice them in a positive and supportive environment without fear of failure. Christine is new to Toastmasters and it is very evidence she is passionate about Toastmasters.
- Our second speaker, Dennis Stevens, gave his speech titled, “Be Brave!” Dennis joined the club this past February and is already giving his 3rd speech. Dennis was inspired to give this speech after attending several club meetings and notice people refrain from participating. He talked about what does bravery mean? in reference to public speaking. He told us about the tale of two arrows in Buddhism. The first arrow we can’t always control, but the second is our response to the first arrow. He ended by giving us suggestions on how to handle our fear of failure and challenged us to let go of our fear, be brave and start right now by volunteering for Table Topics.
Photo provided by Christine (Christine and Mary were missing from the photo)
- Our final speaker was Frank Vowinkel from Lehigh Valley Toastmasters in Pennsylvania, a club in District 38. Frank came to practice his contest speech titled, “The Funcle”, and to receive informal feedback prior to competing at his District’s Humorous Speech Contest. It was a hilarious story on how he was the fun uncle. His niece and nephew are so lucky to have a Funcle!!! We wish him all the best at the contest and look forward to hear how he placed.
We then moved to the impromptu section of the meeting, Table Topics. This part of the meeting allows us to practice thinking on our feet. Darrell Fox, our Table Topics Master, introduced school days as the theme for this session. Darrell asked questions about favorite teachers, best school topics, favorite toys and/or activities when we were all growing up. It was a lot of fun!
The final section of the meeting was evaluations led by our General Evaluator, Nate Jaycox. In this section we received constructive feedback to help us continue to improve our skills. Toastmasters provides a positive and supportive environment to allow us to learn and practice without fear of failure.
Are you looking to improve your communication skills? Are you looking to become a more effective leader? Are you looking for somewhere to challenge yourself to grow personally and professionally? If you answer yes to any of these questions, please attend our next Toastmasters club meeting in person or online.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1st
TIME: 7-8:30 pm
IN PERSON LOCATION:
- The Congregational Church of Salem
at the Community Building across the street from the church.
244 Hartford Road
Salem, Connecticut 06420
ONLINE ZOOM:
- LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84732872267?pwd=ZlZ1ODFYZzNySjBOVjR2UnN2aGFTZz09
- Meeting ID: 847 3287 2267
- Passcode: 4779255
For more information about the upcoming club meeting, contact Dennis Stevens at 760-802-4103 or Sharon Mercado at 860-367-4195.