Meeting Minutes for September 11, 2006

Meeting Minutes from September 11, 2006

Greetings Roosevelt Island Toastmasters,

The first meeting of the semester was called to order at 8:00 by Club President Arlene Stock, who also served as Toastmaster for the evening. Malcolm Cohen served as Table Topics Master for a very special table topics session, and Immediate Past President, Jim Luce, served as General Evaluator for the evening. The special format of the Table Topics session included a tribute to founding member Bernie Silverman, who recently passed after an illness. With Malcolm leading the way, Mr. Silverman was remembered warmly as a long time member of the Roosevelt Island community, and he was praised as a dynamic public speaker, an influential figure, and an inspirational leader by Marlene, Sue, and Jim, who shared some of their memories of him with the audience. There were 5 guests present, with at least one of them a probable new member. The remainder of the Table Topics session centered on speaking about sources of inspiration and influence in our lives, and everyone present participated. Anna, Al, Simi, myself (Woody), and each of the guests accepted the opportunity to speak, telling us something about themselves and sharing a variety of experiences in the context of career influences and inspiring people or situations. Thanks to Elaina, Anna, Bart, Breana, and Jason - the honored guests for the evening- we had an especially interesting meeting, and thanks to the able leadership of Malcolm, the table Topics session went without a hitch. Jose Ortiz was the only speaker scheduled, and he completed Speech Project #5 (Your Body Speaks) with a speech titled "Memories of Wrestling." Sue evaluated his speech, and Jim Luce evaluated Sue and the meeting in general. Al served as Timer, and I (Woody) was Ah counter. Arlene had explained the timing rules at the beginning of the meeting, and it seems that everybody conformed to the rules. I was amazed that there were no "Ahs" during the tribute to Mr. Silverman, and only a few Ahs by the guests who introduced themselves. After a brief business session, Arlene adjourned the meeting at around 9:40 P.M. with a brief period of socializing afterwards.

The next meeting is scheduled for September 25 at 8:00 P.M. in the Westview Community Room.

Submitted Respectfully,

Woody Deas,
Secretary