Area L 61 Leaders’ Newsletter February 2017 Director’s message Welcome to the fourth issue of our newsletter. With a successful Tall Tales competition by Harrovians within the area, Speechcraft sessions at Watford Speakers and Mind Harrow, Club Officer Training and now gearing up for the International Speech and Evaluation Contest, it has been an exciting start to 2017. There are some minor changes to the Evaluation contest rules this year and it will be useful to make a note of this while organising the club contests. The Area 61 International Speech and Evaluation Contest will be held on 25 March at the Watford Speakers Club in the afternoon. Please do come to support your club participants. This year, we are all preparing for the launch of the new education programme Pathways. You can watch the videos and seek more information on the Toastmasters website. One of the biggest advantages is online access and control of the path you would like to take in the toastmaster journey. As we gear up for the transition, please do go to toastmasters.org and kindly check if your details are updated. I wish you all a very exciting February and I look forward to some amazing speeches and evaluations. Seema Menon Area Director L61
"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new" Socrates
The Founding of Watford Speakers – a triumph of inspiration and perseverance! By Sandra Lawes DTM How did it all start? It all started in late 2007 at a Toastmasters meeting of West Herts Speakers in St Albans. Just newly married, Beauty Zindi – already an experienced Toastmaster - visited the club as a guest. She had been a Toastmaster since 2002 in Zimbabwe and had joined Solent Speakers in Fareham, Hampshire in 2003 when she came to England to pursue her postgraduate studies at the University of Southampton. Beauty enjoyed the meeting in St Albans - but not the journey on the M25, and she wondered why there was no club in her home town of Watford. Two experienced members of West Herts Speakers in St Albans, Sandra Lawes and Valerie Lewis, had long held the dream of starting a club in Watford and were keen to complete this element of their journeys to Distinguished Toastmaster, but somehow the timing had never been quite right. With Beauty keen to push forward with plans for a new club in Watford, the three of them started talking things through. The timing was still not right as Sandra was Assistant Division G Director and Valerie was Area 20 Governor (now known as Director) and both had very busy personal and professional lives. But as the saying goes, “If you want something done, ask a busy person”, so spurred on by Beauty’s enthusiasm, Sandra and Valerie agreed to join forces with her and create a new club. Toastmasters International recommends that four people (two sponsors and two mentors) are needed to start a club, so we were delighted when another experienced Toastmaster, Alan McMahon of Harrovians, accepted our invitation to join the team. Overcoming obstacles And so our amazing journey began, with the four of us holding our first planning meeting on 18 December 2007 in the Young Pretender pub in Kings Langley. There was so much to do – we had to find a venue, send in an application to World HQ, decide how the club was to run, set up a bank account, raise funds to cover initial expenses, organise equipment, get help from neighbouring clubs, set up a website and – most important of all – publicise the new club and attract members. We each donated £50 of our own money to the fledgling club and we were off! West Herts Speakers agreed to be our sponsor club and helped us with a generous donation and support at our demonstration meeting. We found a venue in the Centrepoint Community Centre in Raphael Drive and Beauty joined the HOD club as it is not possible for a non-member to sponsor a new club. This started a long and happy tradition of links and co-operation between our two clubs which continues to this day. We printed leaflets and stood in the freezing January cold handing them out to commuters at Watford Junction station – nearly getting ourselves arrested in the process! We visited libraries and leisure centres – leaving leaflets everywhere. We contacted the local press and broadcast media and Valerie and I even managed to get a slot on Watford General Hospital’s local radio station. We also had an exhibition stand in
the Harlequin Shopping Centre all day on a Saturday, talking to everyone about why they should join a speakers’ club! Our new member kits arrived from the USA – all pristine and smart. We badgered our friends inside and outside of Toastmasters for help, and finally we held our very first club meeting on Tuesday 5 February 2008. The room was packed with Toastmasters from various clubs who had come to support us and (thank goodness) some keen members of the public who wanted to join. We held meetings on the first and third Tuesday of every month throughout the year, supported by some wonderful Toastmasters from neighbouring clubs. They are too numerous to mention by name, but they know who they are and they will always have our deepest gratitude.
District Officers Teresa Dukes and Gary Sander present the Watford Speakers club banner to Beauty Zindi
Our first venue posed some challenges, as the local youngsters found it amusing to arrange various distractions inside and outside the building which our new members found very off-putting. So, later in 2008 we moved to The Newton Price Centre, an adult education centre in Grosvenor Road, Watford. This was fine for a while, except that all meetings had to finish promptly by 9.30pm – otherwise the caretaker would fling open the door and loudly order us out. Somewhat disconcerting for anyone doing a role or a presentation towards the end of the meeting as all eyes (and ears) were on the door – waiting for the caretaker’s arrival and not on the speaker!! But this was just part of the challenge of finding a cost-effective venue in a busy town. We also had generous support from Hertfordshire Speakers, Solent Speakers (Beauty’s former club), other neighbouring clubs and The Speakers Trust who not only gave us a very welcome donation but also a Table Topics’ trophy. We quickly learned that such monetary and other support is crucial to getting a new club off the ground.
Publicity, publicity, publicity We had been told that the secret of starting a new club was ‘publicity, publicity and more publicity’, so we continued our efforts, welcoming guests and doing everything we could to give them a great Toastmasters’ experience. By December 2008, we had reached the magic number of 20 members which allowed us to send in our application to Charter – to become a full Toastmasters club. We officially chartered on December 12, 2008 – a magical day that truly justified all our efforts. And, although we did not realise it at the time, perfectly timed so that the club could celebrate its anniversary each year at the Christmas outing without depriving members of speaking opportunities!
Far left Alan McMahon, centre Beauty Zindi, fourth from right Valerie Lewis and third from right Sandra Lawes
We chartered – what could possibly go wrong? We held our Charter Lunch in a hotel in central Watford in early 2009 – a never to be forgotten event organised by Daniel Sylvester. It was attended by most of the Toastmasters who had supported us from the beginning and by District Officers including Gary Sanders (the then District Director) and Teresa Dukes who is now an International Director. It was one of those days when everything went wrong at first – traffic jams, problems with the hotel and the catering, some confusion over who was doing what, but in true Toastmasters’ style, everything fell into place at the last moment and the event was truly memorable and magical for all the right reasons. The pride we felt as we were presented with our Charter documents and our certificates as Charter Members was something none of us will ever forget. Achievements since chartering Since Chartering, the club has gone from strength to strength.
Thanks to Beauty and her husband Tim, we moved to our wonderful venue in the Church Hall in Cassiobury Drive. We think it is the best venue for miles around and we know we are very lucky – it is the envy of everyone who visits from other clubs. The club has achieved at least Select Distinguished Club status every year since Chartering, and Presidents’ Distinguished Club in most years. We have provided four Area Directors and one of our members was elected as Division Director for 2016/17. We have held high quality contests twice a year, and members of the club have competed at all levels – Club, Area, Division and even District. The Mayor of Watford came to one of our meetings - she was very impressed with the proceedings and we even managed to persuade her to do a Table Topic! In October 2012, we took the bold step of hiring The Pump House Theatre in Watford for a showing of the movie “SPEAK” – a moving, informative and entertaining full-length film about how six contestants prepared for and competed in the World Championship of Public Speaking. This was shown to a packed house and justified the risk we took in arranging the event. To help our members develop their skills and give them broader perspectives, we have always encouraged them to attend meetings at other clubs, different types of events and workshops - including those with visiting World Champions. And at club level, we frequently hold workshops on specific aspects of public speaking and leadership, run by District Champions and other experts. Time has flown since those early days of planning the club, but we know we have established firm foundations for the club’s future. Three of the club’s founders have achieved their Distinguished Toastmaster awards and the fourth (Beauty) would have done so if she had not been so busy starting her own successful business and producing a beautiful baby daughter! It has been wonderful to see how the Toastmasters’ Programme has worked its magic and changed the lives of so many people who have passed through the doors of Watford Speakers Club. All four of us who founded the club feel very humbled and intensely proud that our efforts have affected so many people in such a positive way. “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” – Mark Twain
Dates for your Diary
Harrovian Speakers Club International Speech and Evaluation Club contest: 20th February 2017 Watford Speakers Club International Speech and Evaluation Club contest: 7th March 2017 HOD Speakers Club International Speech and Evaluation Club contest: 16th March 2017 International Speech and Evaluation Area contest: 25th March 2017 International Speech and Evaluation Division contest: 8th April 2017
Kavita Dulai, Past President of Watford Speakers’, on her visit to Harrovians new venue Just wanted to say I really enjoyed my first visit to your new venue & the Tall Tales Contest. I love the new venue which has a great feel to the place. I am glad there is now another large venue in Area 61 which can accommodate area competitions, COT meetings plus other events. It was a special meeting, as it was also the Club’s first Tall Tales Contest (or should I say Area 61 first Tall Tales contest!). It's been good to see Harrovians take the lead on Tall Tales & pave the way for other clubs to follow. The club made everyone feel very comfortable & even my son felt comfortable enough to take on a small role. As Amparo's mentor, I like the way she is improving & thriving under the umbrella of your club and it gave me even greater pleasure to see her compete in the competition. You had a fantastic atmosphere, and all ran smoothly. All the guests were made to feel most welcome & were eager to take part in the rest of the evening (Table Topics). I wish you all the success & best wishes for the remainder of the Toastmasters year in your new venue. “No one ever complains about a speech being too short!” – Ira Hayes
Hosting the first Area level Tall Tales Contest at Harrovian Speakers Club’s in St Lawrence Close Jayanthiny Kangatharan, Harrovians Speakers Club President
On 30th January 2017 the Harrovian Speakers Club held the first Area level Tall Tales Contest in their venue, together with HOD and Watford Speakers. Two members from the Harrovian Speakers Club, two members from Watford Speakers, and one member from HOD competed in this unique contest. After a vivacious welcome from Harrovian President Jayanthiny Kangatharan, the contest chair club VPE Sushil Shah introduced the first speaker that was Pam from Watford Speakers. Pam entertained us with a story about the Watford Speakers’ Christmas socials, while fellow Watford Speaker David Collins told us how an incident he was involved in created local headlines. Gill grabbed our attention with her story concerning a domestic issue, while Meena fascinated us with a moral story involving a race for charity. Amparo had us laughing at her story about her vacation in Vietnam. Each story was truly funnier than the previous one and brought the house down yet another time.
First place at Area level Tall Tales contest won by Gill Ornstein from HOD Speakers. Sushil did a fantastic job at interviewing each contestant, and had the audience laughing at his unique way of asking questions that referred to aspects in contestants’ stories in order to find out if they were true or not. Afterwards, Division director Steve Brewer helped Sushil give out the certificates of participation and revealed the winners of the first Tall Tales contest: Pam and David won second and third place respectively, with Gill winning first place. Gill said: “When I first heard of the Tall Tales Competition I felt it is, to be honest, a little superfluous, as we have the upcoming International Speech Competition. Now I see it as a valuable opportunity particularly for those who haven’t entered a competition before to do so and ‘try it out’ with this contest as it is less daunting than the National and International Contests and gives insight into what is involved, producing as high a level of speech as possible.”
Second place at Area level Tall Tales contest won by Pam Atfield from Watford Speakers.
All in all, it was a very exciting and fun evening, even though attendance from all clubs could have been stronger. Lorna from Harrovians provided constructive feedback as General Evaluator, and praised the event as a great success overall. Though being the first Tall Tales contest in the Area 61, not all attention was on its contestants because guests such as Patrick from Harrovians were also given the opportunity to shine. When he introduced himself during the meeting, he told his own Tall Tale, which because of its true nature created another moment of laughter for everyone at this special event. The meeting ended with Steve reminding members in the audience of important contest dates in Area 61 with regard to the International Speech and Evaluation contests at club, area and division level. The Harrovian Speakers Club is now looking forward to welcoming you on 20 th February 2017 when its members are holding their club level International Speech and Evaluation contest, with winners representing Harrovians at the area contest on 25th March, and at the Division contest on 8th April. We are looking forward to welcoming you!
Third place at Area level Tall Tales contest won by David Collins from Watford Speakers. Photos by Jayanthiny Kangatharan.
“There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.” – Winston Churchill
We are always looking for contributions from every club with articles from new members and experienced toastmasters alike being very welcome. If you would like prepare an article for the Area L61 Newsletter, please email paulc_11@hotmail.com Edited by Paul Campbell, Harrovians Speakers Club Copyright © 2017 Toastmasters Area L61, All rights reserved.