Meeting Minutes
South County Toastmasters (#1957)
| Meeting Date: | February 17, 2021 |
| Meeting Type/Theme: | Black History Month |
| Meeting Location: | Zoom |
| Called to Order: | 6:00 PM |
| Presiding Officer: | Kat Higashino |
Officers’ Reports:
President: Kat Higashino
- Kat asked if there were any changes to the minutes and hearing none, the minutes of last week’s meeting were approved as posted.
VPE: Patrick Hunt
- Patrick highly encourages members to attend our next joint meeting.
- Our next joint meeting is on March 4th at 6pm. The duration of the meeting should be around an hour and a half.
- Patrick is looking for someone to act as a speaker and evaluator for the club. Please send a message via email if you’re willing to fulfill one of these roles.
- Patrick adds, “I think we have a lot to show for the area and I think you all would do an excellent job.”
Treasurer: Prathyush Viswaroopan
- PV sent out an email regarding Membership Renewals.
- Please send a check to PV’s address (noted in the email) by March 15th.
- Make your check out to “South County Toastmasters.”
VPM: Kim Bond
VPPR: Sandy Roll
Secretary: Callie Koehr
Sergeant at Arms: Keith Page
Officer at Large: Jerry Paul
Committee Reports:
Debbie Young
- Debbie notes, “I sent out an email earlier this week – Our club is in need of new equipment in order to continue hosting hybrid meetings.”
- We have used the Owl Pro in the past. This is the piece of equipment Jerry Paul had when he was our president. As a club, we found it worked very well for us. The Owl Pro makes it easy for people in the club meeting to put together and set up.
- Debbie announces, “You can make a donation via Zelle or you can mail a check to Debbie. Based on the verbal pledges, it is likely the Owl will be purchased this weekend.”
- More information concerning the Owl Pro is below.
- More information concerning the Owl Pro is below.
Jim Salih
- Special committee recommendations:
- 1. Donations are being solicited for the club to buy a Zoom OWL and tripod.
- 2. There is no immediate need for a dues increase.
- 3. We don’t need $3,000.00 in the bank; $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 seems to be enough of a cushion. We feel that SSH does not need to be paid so far in advance for the room rental. That would give us more working capital.
- 4. Hybrid meetings should remain a part of the club even after SSH allows full attendance whenever that might be.
- 5. If SSH reverts back to their original opening hours and closes at 9:00 pm, the consensus is to run meetings from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. This will give members more time to get to the meeting and may allow members to stay and socialize until SSH locks the doors at 9:00 pm. Right now, the club must remain at a 6:00 pm start time until we hear of any time changes from SSH.
- 6. Some senior members stated that they would be willing to donate money to the club if needed.
- 7. The club needs to own its equipment without having to borrow from members.
- 8. We need to strengthen the club through the efforts of the VPM and VPPE seeking new and renewed memberships.
- 9. The current lock on the room cabinet seems to be secure enough for the new OWL equipment that we will soon buy.
New Business
- Kat announces:
- “Due to my personal circumstances, I have decided to leave the club by the end of February. The Executive Board will find an acting President. Patrick-VPE will serve as President until the position is filled.”
- Kat acknowledges Tom Terrific:
- Tom posted, “Speech Evaluation Tips” – Tom is providing a speech evaluation template which will help members improve their evaluations of speeches.
- You can find Tom’s “Speech Evaluation Tips” by clicking on this link: http://www.southcountytoastmasters.org/
- Scroll down to “Recent Posts”
- Click “Speech Evaluation Tips”
- Kat acknowledges Sandy Roll:
- Sandy sent out an email with a “cheat sheet” of links to our club website, as well as all SCTM social media accounts. (Facebook, Instagram, Meet Up, and Linkedin.) You can also find the cheat sheet here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQh7TMBbk9AkvXw543VYxokPGE4wDsqb/edi
- Feel free to contact Sandy if you struggle to connect with any of the social media platforms above. Kat has set up some QR codes. Sandy will update the cheat sheet with the QR codes for easier use.
- Please follow and support these accounts! Remember to like, share, or comment so the word of SCTM can be spread!
- Sean Sheehan
- Southwest Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon will be held tomorrow (02/18).
- This past Monday, Southwest Area Chamber of Commerce sent out another email about a separate event tomorrow (02/18) held via zoom. The event will be a “Meet & Greet” via Zoom from 4-5PM. This will be the first “Meet & Greet” of 2021.
- If anyone is interested in attending, there is no charge. You will have the opportunity to meet business owners who are a part of the Southwest Area Chamber.
- Send Sean Sheehan an email if you’re interested.
- You can find all upcoming events here: https://www.ourchamber.com/events/
Unfinished Business:
- None
Announcements:
- Thursday, March 4, 6PM – Area Joint Meeting
- Contact Patrick Hunt if you’re interested!
Meeting Roles:
| Toastmaster: | Kim Bond |
| Greeter: | Kat Higashino |
| Invocator / CLE: | George Kiser |
| Grammarian: | Sean Sheehan “Contribution” -Used 6 times |
| Time Keeper: | Patrick Hunt |
| Vote Counter: | Jim Salih |
| Ah Counter: | Sandy Roll -Counted 50 crutch words |
| Camera Operator: | Kat Higashino |
| Table Topics: | Keith Page |
| General Evaluator: | George Kiser |
| Joke Master: | Liz DeCamp |
| Hot Seat | Sandy Roll |
Speakers and Evaluators:
| Speakers | Evaluators | |
| 1 | Elisa Wong Speech Title: The Walls Part 2 | JD Perper |
| 2 | Tom TerrificSpeech Title: Tech Tips | Jeff Hoehn |
| 3 | Prathyush Viswaroopan Speech Title: Dear Candidate | Susan McConnell |
Voting:
| Most Improved: | Jeff Hoehn | |
| Best Table Topics: | John Cleary | |
| Best Evaluator: | Susan McConnell | |
| Best Speaker | Elisa Wong |
Meeting Rating: 9.0
Meeting Adjourned: 7:59 PM
Attendance: 71%
@Zoom: Jim Salih, Callie Koehr, JD Perper, Tom Terrific, Bill Collier, Susan McConnell, Sean Sheehan, Kim Bond, Elisa Wong, Liz De Camp, Nancy Alba, Rob VanWinkle, George Kiser, Vic Mattison, Patrick Hunt, Katsuko Higashino, Debbie Young, John Cleary, Keith Page, Jeff Hoehn, Sandy Roll, PV, Jim Bubash
Submitted by Callie Koehr, Secretary
southcountytoastmasters.org 