Meeting Minutes – July 24, 2008

Our Mission: The Travelers Noontime Toastmaster (TNT) Club is dedicated to helping individuals improve themselves by sharpening their speaking, listening and thinking skills, all of which are necessary for success at work and at home. We provide a supportive environment with opportunities for public speaking and leadership development.

Chairperson: Tim Bannon

Toastmaster: Mary Semeraro

Timer: Michael O’Brien

Grammarian: Prasanthi Lingamallu – Today’s word of the day was nemesis which means: something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc.

Mary’s Toastmaster tip for the day was – When to buy gas. Even though we can’t avoid the pain that gassing up is putting on our wallets, we can avoid the pain that it might cause to the environment. By putting gas in your car only during the coolest parts of the day (am and pm), you reduce the amount of fumes going into the atmosphere.

Speaker 1:

Steve DeBenedet, “The Four Agreements” (CC #4; 5-7 min.) [Actual Time = 6m 10s]

Today Steve talked to us about one of his favorite books, “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. This book discusses 4 things that people should strive to do on a daily basis in order to achieve a more peaceful life. Steve first explained how he came across this book – while traveling one time on a very stressful business trip, he found this book in the airport book store and was drawn to it. Ever since, he has read the book numerous times and feels that it has really come in handy in his life.

The four agreements that are discussed in this book are: 1) Always be impeccable with your words. Speak with integrity, and always mean what you say. This is easier to manage then telling people “what they want to hear”. 2) Don’t take anything personally. Nothing other people do is because of you, everyone has their own circumstances which can contribute to their behaviours. 3) Don’t make assumptions. Asking clarifying questions up front can help avoid a lot of confusion later on down the road. 4) Always do your best! This helps ensure that you have less regret if things don’t go as you had hoped, and can help to avoid self judgement.

At the end of his speech, Steve challenged us to try just one of these suggestions for a week and see if it bettered our lives. And he highly recommends this book to anyone looking to live a more happy, peaceful, life.

Evaluator: Dan Guinan [Actual Time = 2m 42s]

Speaker 2:

Helene Talbott, “Tips for Living Green” (CC #2, 5-7 min.) [Actual time = 6m 03s]

Helene’s speech today was all about living green and reducing our carbon footprints. She started her speech by talking about some of the consequences that we are already seeing as a result of not living green. Our climate is changing which is caused by thick blanket of gasses in our atmosphere. This is leading to changes in our health, economics, environment, seasons, temperature, and could even be causing more hurricanes and droughts. If we don’t make small changes now, we can permanently alter our lands and waters which are critical to our survival.

Helene then explained how we can make small changes at work, on the road, and in our homes. At work we can turn off our monitors and lights when not in use. Only print necessary documents, and if you have to print, print on both sides to reduce the amount of paper. On the road, try and combine errands to reduce the amount of time spent in the vehicle. Or better yet, walk/bike/carpool places if you can. Keep your tires inflated to the proper amount (specific to each car) and roll your windows down if you’re traveling under 40mph (use AC at speeds greater than that). Also, keep your speed low…for every 5 miles you drive over 60 mph, you increase the cost of gas by 30 cents per gallon! Finally, at home you can change your light bulbs to compact fluorescent. This helps save 100 pounds of carbon over the lifetime of the bulb! Buy a programmable thermostat so you can keep the temperature down when you are not home. Also, buy energy star appliances and you can save almost 30% per year on your electric bill!

Helene ended by stating that even though the US is only 5% of the world’s population, we contribute to 22% of the carbon emissions! Spread the word on these easy tips to living green, and hopefully if we all work together we can make a difference!

Evaluator: Sid Yudowitch [Actual Time = 4m 33s]

Speaker 3:

Austin Matulis, “Don’t Poo Poo Sci-Fi” (CC #2, 5-7 min.) [Actual time = 8m 17s]

Austin has loved science fiction ever since pre-school when he started watching Ghostbusters. His love continued through his Star Wars/Power Ranger phase (he wanted to be a Power Ranger Jedi as a boy!) and it hasn’t faded since! In Austin’s speech today he explained how much science fiction could be plotted on a 2 axis grid. The first axis is the soft -> hard axis. The harder the science fiction, the more scientifically realistic it is. One example of “hard” novels are the Red Mars series by Robinson. These books, although about a Martian society, use real scientific methods to explain a lot of the phenomenon. Contrary, “soft” science fiction includes any superhero book/movie (i.e. Superman). The second axis is a bit more arbitrary, and rates the quality of the drama from low -> high. At the high end of the axis (in Austin’s opinion) is the movie X2: Xmen United. On the low end of the spectrum is the book “Evolution” where the main character was a series of vignettes which as a whole attempted to explain the theories of evolution. Austin thought this was low because it was hard to relate to any one “character” since they were fleeting.

A good science fiction work finds the happy medium on these 2 axis. Austin’s example of a “balanced” work was Star Trek. He thought that the works (including the TV shows, movies, and books) used good scientific methods while maintaining a dramatic fantastical plot. Austin believes that these works even helped to contribute to some modern technology (i.e. the compact devices that the characters used to talk to each other, highly resemble modern day cell phones!).

Evaluator: Ed Foerster [Actual Time = 2m 12s]

Table Topics:

Chairperson – Bob Kirkendall. For today’s table topics, Bob used the theme of “sacrifice”

1. Lora Ashcraft: Would you go on a vacation from hell if requested by someone you love?…. [Actual Time = 1m 24s]

Lora’s vacation from hell would be going on a motorcycle vacation with her husband and his friend (who has a “rough” girlfriend). She went once before and this women made her a little nervous! Also, the seat on her husband’s bike is flat which doesn’t exactly make for a smooth ride! But, she said at the end of the day she loves her husband enough to go, so she would do it to make him happy!

1. Ed Foerster: Would you let your neighbors live with you for a year?…. [Actual Time = 1m 07s]

Ed decided that although he wouldn’t let anyone live with him for an entire year, he would help his neighbors find a new home and even help them move! But, he thought if he spent a whole year living with his neighbors, they would eventually become enemies.

1. Tracey Miranda: What if you had a car that only could travel in a 25 mile range?… [Actual Time = 31s]

Tracey thought that if she had a car that could only travel 25 miles, she would be late for a lo of things – work and dates especially!

1. Chris Rucci: Would you go to prison for your favorite cause?….[Actual Time = 1m 24s]

Chris decided that even though he wouldn’t go to prison for his favorite cause, he would go to prison to protect his family’s rights. He would sacrifice his life for freedom, but for his favorite cause he’d be more likely to sacrifice money and time!

General Evaluator:

Lisa Lew

Lisa liked that our meeting started on time, and thought we had excellent speeches and table topics today. Overall, she thought the meeting flowed well, but reminded us all to be watchful of our time when in a speaking role!

Club Business:

• On August 11, Michael is holding a special TNT session on how to give evaluations. Details to follow.
• August 14 th is our speech contest – we currently only have 2 contestants and need more people. Please consider volunteering for a speaking role!
• Congratulations to Lora who received her Competent Communicator award today!! J
• The third and fourth week in August will be “Bring a Friend” meetings, so please bring anyone you think might be interested in joining our club!

Next Meeting: June 31, 2008

1. Chairperson: Tracey Miranda
2. Toastmaster: Lisa Lew
3. Speaker 1: Joyce Gross
4. Speaker 2: Jade Tran
5. Speaker 3: Mary Semeraro
6. Table Topics: Helene Talbott
7. General Evaluator: Tim Bannon
8. Evaluator 1: Michael O’Brien
9. Evaluator 2: Chris Rucci
10. Evaluator 3: Marsha Pritchard
11. Timer: Sridhar Greg Fennel
12. Grammarian: Monica Cassarino

If you change your availability for your assigned roles, please e-mail VPE Bob Kirkendalland let him know .