Meeting Minutes
South County Toastmasters (#1957)
| Meeting Date: | January 6, 2021 |
| Meeting Type/Theme: | Regular Meeting – Theme: Happy New Year – New Beginnings |
| Meeting Location: | Sunset Hills Center |
| Called to Order: | 6:00 PM |
| Presiding Officer: | Jerry Paul |
Officers’ Reports:
President – Jerry Paul: asked if there were any changes to the minutes and hearing none, the minutes of last week’s meeting were approved as posted.
VPE: Kat Higashino
January 20, 2021: Speech Contest – contestants and volunteers are needed. Please respond as soon as possible.
Treasurer: Kim Bond
VPM: Brent Stewart
VPPR: Patrick Hunt
Secretary: Kathy Denton
Sergeant at Arms: Jim Salih
Officer at Large: Susan McConnell
Committee Reports:
None
Unfinished Business:
Jerry Paul: We held the Executive Committee Meeting on December 17th. We invited the new slate of officers to discuss the upcoming year.
New Business:
The new slate of officers were inducted:
President: Kat Higashino
VPE: Patrick Hunt
Secretary: Callie Koehr
Treasurer: Prathyush Viswaroopan
VPM: Kim Bond
VPPR: Sandy Roll
Sergeant at Arms: Keith Page
Officer at Large: Jerry Paul
Immediate Past President: Jerry Paul
Informal discussion regarding technology for the new term:
Meeting Owl Pro (same model as Jerry Paul’s)
$999 tax / $42.21 Cables – up to $50 / Estimated budget $1,100
Jerry Paul’s owl will be unavailable after January 27, 2021.
Jim Salih would like to look for cheaper alternatives and says we have to know how we’re going to secure it. We will need to know what other peripherals may go with it. Is the owl connected to a PC? There may be cheaper alternatives. Jim doesn’t want to agree to it tonight.
Keith Page mentions there are other options to explore. However, he feels $1,100 is appropriate for what you get. Keith goes on to say, “You could spend a couple $100 on a webcam and microphone, but in the end if we know this works, it’s worth it.”
Kat Higahsino mentions there are other models we can consider, however, the quality may not be as good as the Meeting Owl. Kat adds it could be a problem if the camera does not show the speaker. Kat says she can always bring her laptop to utilize as the camera (if a backup plan is necessary.)
Jim Salih mentions, “We have not decided that we will stay as a hybrid club.”
Kim Bond says, “Our account is hovering around $3000 right now. We no longer have a credit at Sunset Hills, therefore that is another expense we have to pay for. The only income that we have are new members or until the next renewal.”
Jim Salih says, “We may want to consider our purchase more deeply before we do.”
Kathy Denton suggested we take up a collection for the technology fund to reduce how much comes out of the budget.
Kat Higashino says, “an ipad will be available for the time being.”
The Meeting Owl Pro that is utilized for video conferencing will be unavailable after Jan 27. The club needs to consider whether we shall purchase the Meeting Owl Pro or another option.
Announcements:
Patrick Hunt
Toastmasters Learning Institute – Saturday, January 9th – It shall be held online. Patrick included a link in an email to all SCTM club members. You can also access the link here: https://dist8tm.org/training/
The purpose of the TLI is to provide training for club officers as well as provide interesting classes for people to participate in. Everyone is invited, even people who are not officers.
Area Speech contest – Saturday, February 6th
After we complete our club speech contest, two people may attend via Zoom to compete in the International Speech Contest. Two people may also compete in the Table Topics Contest.
Let Patrick know if you’re interested.
Meeting Roles:
| Toastmaster: | Bill Collier |
| Greeter: | Keith Page |
| Invocator / CLE: | Liz DeCamp |
| Grammarian: | Liz DeCamp “pragmatic” – Used 3 times |
| Time Keeper: | George Kiser @Zoom / Jeff Hoehn @Sunset |
| Vote Counter: | Debbie Young |
| Ah Counter: | Katsuko Higashino |
| Camera Operator: | Debbie Young |
| Table Topics: | Elisa Wong |
| General Evaluator: | Prathyush Viswaroopan |
| Joke Master: | Patrick Hunt |
Speakers and Evaluators:
| Speakers | Evaluators | |
| 1 | Kim Bond Speech Title: Successful Allies The Protégé Mentorship | Sean Sheehan |
| 2 | Jim Salih Speech Title: Yada, Yada, Yada, Etc. | Victor Mattison |
| 3 | Keith Page Speech Title: Confessions of a Procrastinator | Jerry Paul |
Voting:
| Most Improved: | Keith Page | |
| Best Table Topics: | Kathy Denton | |
| Best Evaluator: | Sean Sheehan | |
| Best Speaker | Jim Salih |
Meeting Rating: 9.5
Meeting Adjourned: 8:00 PM
Attendance: 61%
@Zoom: Jim Salih, Callie Koehr, Jerry Paul, Rob Van Winkle, Kathy Denton, Elisa Wong, Sean Sheehan, Sandy Roll, Patrick Hunt, George Kiser, Liz De Camp, Kim Bond
@Sunset: Debbie Young, Keith Page, Jerry Paul, Bill Collier, Jim Bubash, Kat Higashino, Jeff Hoehn
Submitted by Callie Koehr, Secretary
southcountytoastmasters.org 