HCL CODC Speechcraft 2018 - Newsletter

HCL CODC SPEECHCRAFT NEWSLETTER

INSIDE THIS ISSUE About the HCL CODC Speechcraft Program Educational Session Highlights Speechcrafters’ Feedback DU Heads’ Opinion

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ABOUT THE HCL CODC SPEECHCRAFT PROGRAM

ABOUT THE HCL CODC SPEECHCRAFT PROGRAM As the co-ordinator, when I commenced the HCL CODC speechcraft program with the opening words“This is an opportunity for speechcrafters to improve communication and leadership skills", the response nevertheless lacked enthusiasm and emotion. However after eight weeks of collaboration, a promising change was witnessed with a plethora of new orators.

Speechcrafters were gradually groomed to indulge themselves in improving their communication and leadership skills. People were relentlessly thrived and mentored in a mutually inclusive environment. If you mull over what actually spearheaded the speechcraft program to influence so many speechcrafter’s lives - the answer is safety and inclusivity. We made speechcrafters believe that speechcraft is a safe place to fail-fast and learn quickly without being judged. Speechcrafters were also trained to be balanced to clearly receive constructive feedback and appreciate the positives in the others.

Eight weeks of focused learning has enabled Speechcrafters to: Handle stage fear Structure a presentation Speak with passion Review other presentations Remain grounded at all times Moderate an effective team meeting with diverse participants 2

Every session of Speechcraft program covered: Scholastic Sessions - Scholastic sessions were delivered by “Distinguished Toastmasters� covering key aspects of communication and leadership skills.

Management Viewpoint - Dignitaries from the CODC Management emphasized on the importance of communication and its impact on client relationships and customer satisfaction. They also stressed on the need for clear communication and articulation to evolve into leadership roles and set the expectations to the participants.

Prepared Speeches - The participants were allowed to prepare their speeches and present it at their own pace. This gave them time to rationally prepare themselves for the speech without shaking their boots.

Table Topics - Table Topic sessions were a big hit! Table Topics enabled the speechcrafters to take up impromptu questions from a random list and were expected to answer them within a designated time frame (the first 30 seconds). This exercise helped speechcrafters to learn the means to interact with customers, respond clearly and quickly without any hiccups.

Evaluations - Every session ended with encouraging words and constructive feedback for each participant to improvise his/her interpersonal skills. The feedback was honest though, however was given in a subtle and polite manner adopting sandwhich review technique, which made the participants feel at ease.

Speechcraft Essence : 17 out of 20 speechcrafters have successfully completed the course with flying colors and have transformed themselves into better communicators and leaders. Post the training, speechcrafters have gained the capability to showcase their talents to their respective clients with confidence.

Having said that, Speechcraft is not an ultimate magic wand, the participant still needs to put in continuous effort to groom their communication and leadership skills. To collaborate, around six members have shown interest towards joining the club and practicing communication and leadership skills regularly at our club.

TM Vidhya Boopalan Speechcraft Coordinator

CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT VIJAY ANAND GUNTUR FEEDBACK Dear Vidhya and Srini, The work that you are doing is very significant. Communication abilities are vital for our people not just only at work but beyond. What you have been contributing to is changing lives of people in a manner that would not have been otherwise possible.

Many thanks for your contribution to building stronger people. Shankar, thanks for supporting the initiative.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 1 WHY TOASTMASTERS? MEETING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Speaker – DTM Nina John The very first scholastic session was from DTM Nina John, one of the founder of Chennai Toastmasters and Toastmastering movement in Chennai. As the curtain raiser, the session focussed on Toastmasters club details and explained the roles and responsibilites of the club.

Why Toastmasters?

Toastmasters enables people to gain the skills that are required to become more confident public speakers and stronger leaders.

Here is the glimpse of responsibilities of various roles involved in Toastmasters: Sergeant at Arms ● ● ● ●

Confirms meeting location Arranges room and equipment Greets attendees Sets mission and vision of the club President Officer

● ● ● ●

Provides leadership and sets the meeting mood Prior to the meeting, consults with other officers about the meeting agenda Initiates and concludes the meeting Makes announcements

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Speechcrafter of the day Reviews the agenda Ensures agenda items are covered Introduces the speaker ● Ensures smooth transition to next speaker ● ● ●

General Evaluator ● Oversees and coordinates the evaluation segments of club meetings ● Invites speech evaluators to evaluate prepared speakers ● Calls for reports from the timer, ah-counter, and grammarian ● Evaluates over all meeting proceeding and protocols Prepared Speakers ● Speechcrafters have to provide prepared speeches in accordance with the instructions in the Speechcraft workbook provided to them Speech Evaluators ● Helps participating speakers by evaluating them with a manual evaluation form and verbally highlighting their strengths and areas of improvement Timer, Ah-counter, Grammarian (TAG) ● Helps speakers to speak within a designated time frame ● Helps speakers to be aware of and enhance their choice of words Table Topics master ● Organizes impromptu speech for speechcrafters and guests ● Ensures participation from each member ● Checks the meeting agenda to give priority to those without assigned roles Each meeting needs all the described roles, and a full roster of participants to ensure the meeting proceeds smoothly.

Kabila Jayaraj Speechcrafter and Newsletter Editor

SPEECHCRAFTER ARUN SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “It’s a great platform to enhance my communication skills. I have learnt a lot from other speechcrafters, mentors, and evaluators. I really wanted to convey my sincere thanks to speechcraft organizers.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 2

SPEECH ORGANIZATION Speaker – DTM VIjayalakshmi Educational speaker DTM Vijayalakshmi is a Past District Judge, a good mentor, and an effective speaker.

She kicked-off the session with a self-deprecating humor.She lightened up the mood of the audience by setting the expectation right, Apart from mundane session, it will be 40% interactive and only 60% her speech.

She commenced with an anecdote of imagining a vacation to France and visiting the Effiel Tower, she related how a speech needs to be specifc and related to audience.

She also motivated the participants to mention their favourite movie and to ponder on why the movie remains etched in our minds. She explained that like the same way a speech should also be understood.

She went on with the presentation on "Organize Your Speech" by explaining the three sections of a speech "Opening, Body, and Conclusion".

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She explained the importance of having a good opening for the speech to catch the attention of the audience and gave the following examples of good opening. ● ● ●

A startling question or a challenging statement A small story or illustration An attention gaining generalization that ties with the subject The body of the speech should contain the statement of facts and supporting materials to serve the purpose. You can decide on your content depending on the time frame given to you.

The conclusion of your speech is the climax, the destination at which you hope to leave your audience.

The conclusion should always tie in with your opening . Finish your speech confidently, a week inconclusive or apologetic closing can kill even the best of the speeches.

She kept the audience engaged in her session repeatedly by eliciting the audience to respond to her Yes or No questions by asking "This is the time you will say - Yes!!"

She played a video of "Toastmaster Jim Key's "Never Too Late" winning contest speech and related it with the concepts we learnt in that session.

She concluded her educational session on a high note by comparing the "fast" and "low" elevators in her office and how "destination" is important and not the "means" of reaching there.

Ponguru Surendranath Guest

GUEST PARTICIPANT ADITYA SAYS… “I liked all the activity in the Speechcraft. All the educational speakers have given good information. Like Art of Evaluation (CRISP), Art of giving speech, etc. Hospitality of Toast Master members is more appreciable.”

“In table topics session, the topics were good. I have seen good transformation in the Speechcrafters whoever has attended from the audience level to TMOD and TAG role players.”

“Speechcrafters have given icebreaking speeches, I like the way they narrated the stories. Last but not the least, Grammarian, Time counter, and Ah counter players were playing key role to find the gaps in the other participant’s speech. I hope I will join the toast masters club soon.”

SPEECHCRAFTER SENTHIL SAYS… “It is a stupendous program, in which, we got a great opportunity to bring out the hidden talents and leadership skills. And, most importantly got new set of friends within a very short period (8 sessions).”

“My two-cents, this program should be made mandatory for bands E2.2 and above. Really, missed the toastmaster session during my tenure of 10+ years. I will join the toastmaster club soon after the speechcraft final session.”

“My heartfelt thanks to Vidhya, Ashwin, Ramya, and the entire team, who were involved in organizing the program over the weekends.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 3 ART OF EVALUATION Speaker – DTM Saro Velrajan Started the session with a note - “Any speech can be improved - the mantra that drives Toastmasters/Speechcrafters.” The audience was magnetically drawn to this theory. Later, he discussed the following points.

Types of Evaluations   

Good evaluation Bad evaluation Ugly evaluation Comparisons of each of these evaluations are as follows.

  

Good evaluation (is like Tonic) – It helps the speaker to improvise the speech and self-motivation Bad evaluation (is like Water) – It creates no impact on the speaker. It does not help the speaker to improve Ugly evaluation (is like Poison) – It almost kills the confidence of the speaker and such evaluations are never encouraging or encouraged Later, he changed his track to explain various types of feedback and the consequences of each of them.

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Types of Feedback  

Constructive feedback – Talks about the positive aspects of the speech. The negative aspects are to be feedback in a constructive manner that creates a positive impact on the speaker.

Critical feedback – Talks about the direct feedback to the speaker – be it positive or negative. This type of feedback hurts the speaker over time and should be very cautious when you choose to give a critical feedback.

Important Points for providing feedback:

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Prepare feedback as a one hour session but narrate it as a 3 min speech.

Use CRISP technique (Constructive, Relavant, Important, Specific and Personalised) While giving feedback, keep a ratio of 3 : 1 (good:improvement)

    

Some questions of self-ask before evaluation: How to evaluate, when the core idea is not convincing?

Do we need to refer past speech, while preparing feedback?

Do we need to evaluate content and delivery?

How to handle, if the listener takes feedback personally?

How to handle multiple and negative feedback?



With all these questions and preface of these questions, Saravanavel has really imparted the sensitive aspects of providing feedback to the speakers.

Thiyagarajan Pandian Speechcrafter

SPEECHCRAFTER ARASU SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “Below is the experience I would like to share.  

Got rid of stage fear Learnt how to organize speech,adopt various techniques in speech,validate a speech,organize an event Toastmasters have really took a lot of care in organizing these 8 sessions, hats-off to them. Especially (Vidhya, Ashwin and Ramya) were very helpful in guiding all of us to next level.”

SPEECHCRAFTER VANITHA SHARES HER EXPERIENCE “Yes. The weekend speech craft sessions were too good. I keep learning something new from each session to enhance my communication and leadership skills. Please continue the program.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 4

SPEAKING WITH PASSION Speaker – DTM Mala Mary Martin The session commenced with a brain exercise to boost the energy and to encourage active participation from the audience . We all know the winner of 100m running race in Rio Olympics 2017 – Usain Bolt, followed by Justin Gatlin. With a simple question about the second winner, she made a note that history remembers, only the first rank holder. Then, she stated that the difference between success and failure could be as minute as 0.08 seconds and made the audience realize by giving an example of everyday life of Usain bolt that passion is not a mask, it is a life style.

She made the audience introspect on what is unique about them among the people in office, which makes them different from other 3000 fellow colleagues.

“We don't have a choice but to work, so why not with passion? We don't have a choice but to speak, so why not with passion?” are the thought provoking words from Mala.

Key to the passionate speaking is 3C rule:   

Clarity Confidence Conviction

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She shared that the workaround to look more confident is to speak loudly while delivering the speech.

With a lot of passion and enriched interactivity with audience, she took this topic far beyond than limiting it to an ordinary speech and made us learn a life-long lesson.

DTM Mala included slides relevant for HCL, by capturing certain posters within HCL Campus, that showed how much she is passionate towards speech delivery and has worked hard to put relevant content before the meeting to ensure the session is tailor-made to suit the HCL audience. She has also researched the HCL website to post questions on "1-2-3 Strategy". She invited speechcrafters, toastmasters, and guests to the stage at various times during her presentation to demonstrate the various aspects of her presentation (3 Cs) and made it a very interactive and lively session.

Franco Ignaci Speechcrafter

SPEECHCRAFTER NATHAN SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE..

“I should say that this program has helped me a lot in improving my communication and confidence.”

“Few highlights of the Speechcraft sessions:   

Few education speech, has thrown light on how to take right information (communicate) to customer and how to convince them to implement our suggestions.

How to get prepared for a speech; same has helped me on how to be prepared for a customer/ accounts team calls.

How to learn new words and tips to remember new words and their usages.”

“The program is also well organized and opportunities were given to all participants to enhance their various skills.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 5

PRESENTING SOLUTIONS TO THE CUSTOMER Speaker – DTM Alex Jacob While delivering a speech or selling a product to customer we must always keep in mind to think from the other’s (audience or customer here) perspective.

Answers to the following basic questions will help you deliver the best speech: 

 

What is the purpose to come on stage to deliver the speech?

• Catch the attention of customers/audience • Context of the speech Why customers need to use this product/listen to this speech?

What is special about this product/speech when compared with competitors?

Understand the target audience. For example, the age group of crowd should be analyzed first and then accordingly you can take your product to the right people in a right way. A proper conclusion will always remain in mind of the audience.

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Alex divided audience into four groups, and he gave a product for each group. He gave five minutes to each group to prepare a writeup/script that they would deliver in the press meet during their product launch.

Products given to each group:     

Group 1 : BMW new model Group 2 : Energy drink from natural fruits Group 3: News Paper Group 4 : Mattress Group 5 : Mosquito bat Each group did their best, to provide a grand opening for their product during the product launch. Most interesting product was Mattress that came along with remote control system to flip the mattress side according to the climatic conditions.

Alex concluded that, a product will have a great opening only when you provide solution to the problem faced by a customer.

Ravi Verma Speechcrafter

SPEECHCRAFTER RAVI VARMA SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “The speechcraft program is a great forum for people to enhance their communication skill. It offers a very good learning experience. In these eight sessions that I participated in, I learnt how to organize a speech, present a speech effectively, and analyze other presentations as evaluator.”     

The speechcraft program has helped me to : Overcome stage fear, earlier I had fear of conveying my thoughts on stage.

Deliver speech on any content.

Know my positives and negatives with my communication and written skills.

Observe and evaluate fellow speechcrafters prepared speech; this activity has improved my ability to provide feedback.

Enhance knowledge that would be helpful for both professional and personal career, by listening to interesting and more informative sessions.

“Special thanks to my Manager – Dinesh who has nominated me to join this fabulous program.”

“Team – Vidhya, Aswin & Ramya, and my mentor Dheena, who has encouraged me a lot in this program. Thanks to my team.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 6

WORD POWER Speaker – TM Sarathy Srinivas Sarathy greeted the audience with his pleasant voice and shared his story of joining toastmasters and how he became a good speaker.

He shared some statistics with the audience on usage of words:   

Active words in English : 1,71,000 Average Adults’ Vocabulary: 30,000 Learning curve(per year) – Age 5 - 17 : 2000 words and Adult : 50 - 100 He explained the words Synonyms, Homonyms, and Heteronyms.

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 

Synonyms – A word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language, for example shut is a synonym of close.

Homonyms – Each of two or more words having the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins.

Heteronyms – Each of two or more words which are spelled identically but have different sounds and meanings, such as tear meaning ‘rip’ and tear meaning ‘liquid from the eye’.

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Another take away from the session included pronunciation of the words like – Epitome, Water, Bowl, and so on. A quick session on describing words for pictures, difference between synonyms, homonyms, and heteronyms, and word puzzle. After the session, many of the audience reviewed their pronunciation of different words.

Discussed some of the idioms like ‘a little bird told me’ etc. With the word puzzle, he made sure that the participants get correct solutions. Asked the audience to fill more crosswords in order to learn better language, vocabulary and idioms.

Ponguru Surendranath Guest

SPEECHCRAFTER NAGAPPAN SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “Got to know how to present idea in speech through stories, how to make great speech by connecting to audience, and how much filler I used during speech – I am still in the process of reducing It ” “The speechcraft program has enabled me to improve my communication by undergoing simple activities and also it provided an opportunity for me to understand that just speech alone is not communication.

Communication is all about how we sell our ideas effectively and connect with client/customer to understand their need.”

SPEECHCRAFTER KARTHIK DURAIVELU SAYS… “The Speechcraft program was well designed and organized properly for the 8 consecutive weeks and I thank the organizers (Vidhya, Aswin & Ramya) for the same. The Educational session on week on week program were so informative.

These are the benefits I got from the speechcraft program:     

It helped me to get rid of my stage fear.

Learnt how to deliver an organized speech within a given time.

Learnt how to utilize the stage properly and how to present my ideas.

It helped me to realize how many filler words I am using during the speech. I am still working on the same to avoid it consciously during speech delivery.

Being an introvert person, the speechcraft program has given me a lot of confidence to talk in-front of a crowd without any fear or shyness.

From my personal experience, reviewing the prepared speech with mentor and implementing their feedback has helped me a lot. So, I feel that every prepared speech of speechcrafters must be reviewed with the mentor before delivery.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 7

MANAGEMENT LESSONS PRESENTATION Speaker – TM Satish Menon Here are the key points for success, as discussed by Satish.

Living in the past – Don’t dwell on the accomplishments of the past. Keep focus on constant communication, acknowledgement towards meeting the client expectations.

Take Risks – Risks are necessary. But, you need to be ready to take calculated risks and carefully take steps toward their goals. Some risks may not pay off but, an optimistic risk-taker will always look at a failure as an opportunity to learn (not be random gambles).

Differentiate – Focus on distinct differences in offered to clients to establish a competitive advantage. For service-oriented businesses, you can focus on quality differentiation as a strategy to attract and retain core customers. For example, collect accurate information from log to effectively resolve customer complaints, actively providing multiple ways for customers to contact you, and everything needs to happen in timely manner.

Play favorite – Show favoritism towards someone who can completely impact the business at various level, positively

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Innovative – It’s a competitive environment out there, so your small business needs to be innovative to stay competitive. An important part of innovation is creativity. Creativity is linked to innovation, and an important component of creativity is diversity. It’s critical to connect with a range of diverse people and sectors to break down traditional silos to come up with innovative ideas and solutions.

Learning – Organizations are more competitive, agile, and engaged when knowledge is constantly and shared free of cost.

The main way for employees to be productive and achieve goals is for employers to provide them with opportunities for continuous learning. This helps employees continue to improve their skills and be more flexible and adaptable, as changes related to technology and other workplace matters can arise quickly. When continuous learning is supported, employees feel valued, helping boost employee engagement and retention.

Enjoy – Work done ethically and honestly with proper balance will always result in more enjoyment. This is helpful because it means enjoying work has less to do with your actual job and more to do with your attitude towards it.

Senthil Kumar Speechcrafter

SPEECHCRAFTER FRANCO SAYS… “Really impressed with the Toastmasters culture i.e., punctuality ,responsibility, shook hands between transition, appreciating everyone irrespective of their speech, impelled all to give nice introduction of the next person, and receive the person with smile.”

“Able to connect with many nice Toastmasters who are always ready to help, suggest, assist, and encourage without any hesitation. Thanks a ton to Vidhya, Aswin, Ramya , Muki, and Rajesh.”

“Every session is unique in its own way and every week sessions are informative & interactive. This makes me more interested and elicit me to come for every sessions without fail.”

“Other than speeches, Role Play opportunities were open and shared across SC which really added value in our learning. For example, evaluating other speeches will help us to correct our own mistakes.”

SPEECHCRAFTER SUBBIAH SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “In addition to the points covered by my fellow speechcrafters, I would like to mention about the role play expereience. While performing ah counter role, my listening skill has improved. The speechcraft program has helped me to collaborate with others easily without any fear. Speechcraft has helped me a lot.”

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SPEECHCRAFTER BALA SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “The Speech craft session has been instrumental in getting me one level up from my past level. I was able to see the gradual change in due course of the sessions that my fear of public speaking has bid adieu. Be it a presentation, speech organization, and evaluation, have seen a change in due course towards betterment.“ “The educational session has helped in gaining knowledge from experiences of distinguished toastmasters which adds a lot of value to this program. Would like to specially congratulate the entire organizing team for the great transformation of the participants.”

SPEECHCRAFTER SYED HABIB SAYS… “Every week, the speechcraft program was initiated with impressive thought or ice breaker. The educational speech of every week was very informative. I have learned a lot from the speechcraft program.

To name a few:    

Body language and action Address audience needs How to convey your thoughts to audience How to organize and deliver speech Thanks to all organizers who were organizing the speechcraft every week even when it is raining. They did a great job.. Thanks a lot.”

SPEECHCRAFTER KABILA SHARES HER EXPERIENCE “I see the Speechcraft program as a great platform for not only improving communication and leadership skills, but also it’s a platform for overcoming stage fear, eliciting the hidden talent, and gaining confidence. Overall, it has improved my inter-personal skill.”

“The most I liked about Toastmasters is making speechcrafters to perform Role play. By playing Toastmasters of the Day (TMOD) role, I learned how to drive the whole program, summarize the speech, and it helped me to face audience with much confidence. “ “The educational sessions has helped me to learn how to organize the speech, to get audience attention, and to use stage wisely which I am still practicing. “ “Vidhya, my mentor, has encouraged, guided and supported me in my prepared speeches and role plays, and she has helped me to achieve more than what I thought possible.”

“In a nut shell, the speechcraft program has provided a perfect platform to develop skills at my own pace and comfort level.”

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HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATIONAL SESSION 8

INSPIRE THE AUDIENCE Speaker – DTM Jayan Narayanan Jayan started the session with a warm greeting. He mentioned about how one can improve their language. He stated an example of how he improved his English speaking skills. . He said that reading newspaper loudly with his friends helped him to conquer over his fear of language.

Later he mentioned an incident where he had addressed a gathering of people of the age around 50 years. He had also mentioned another incident where he had addressed a gathering in an engineering college. With a good example, how the same joke was able to grab the audience in both the cases was explained to deduce the point – Know your audience.

He explained the context of having a good audience as well as good content while delivering speeches. He had mentioned different mindsets of the audience. This really grabbed the show.

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Later, he spoke about the ah-counter. In his words, “To get rid of ah’s in your language, become the ahcounter for yourself.” He shared a tip tobecome ah-counter for himself.

Other Key Takeaways:Performance = Potential minus Internal interference (internal dialogue, constantly demotivating yourself, lesser the internal dialogue, better the confidence) Remember, every performance is equally important and you are as good as the Last performance On the whole, the speech was very well received by the audience with good humor, where Jayan completely served the title “Inspire the audience”. For his session, the audience were really inspired.

Ponguru Surendranath Guest

SPEECHCRAFTER KISHORE SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE “This program has given me a very good platform to overcome my communication problem, and learnt how to interact with people, clients, and peers. Starting from the day 1, the educational speeches were very unique and inspiring, and I learned how to prepare the speech and deliver it correctly.”

“Toastmasters are very interactive and encouraged me to deliver the speeches. Each segments in the session (table-topics, role-play, prepared speeches) are informative and interactive. By profession, as I am in to customer issue handling, these sessions are very useful in my day to day work. Helped me in offer better communication to customer and TAC.”

SPEECHCRAFTER PRBHAKARAN SAYS “It was a useful educational session and learned how to deliver the speech in public. Learned different ways of speaking like humorous, passionate, and impactful speech which I was not familiar earlier.

Evaluators gave feedback in a constructive way, which has helped me to correct the mistakes.”

“On the whole, it was a good experience and learning, Thanks a lot for the organizers who have worked hard in accomplishing this event a big success.”

SPEECHCRAFT CO-COORDINATOR ASWIN CHANDRASEKARAN SAYS “Learnings as one of the Speechcraft Co-Coordinator: I thought conducting speechcraft would help me in improving my leadership skills and coordination skills.

But I was wrong. It did not help me improve those skills at all…. INFACT, IT MADE ME REALIZE THAT I SEVERLY LACKED IT…!!

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Yes – as a speechcraft coordinator it exposed me of not just skills that I wanted to improve – but importantly – it exposed me to skills which I was badly lacking and also helped me gain a bit of understanding about myself. Some are: By coordinating with various stakeholders, I learnt how not to under-communicate and not to overcommunicate – but rather maintain crisp updates, announcements in the right form that is not disturbing.

By signing up to do various roles like Agenda planning, Minutes of meeting preparation – I learnt I lacked the art of delegation – by giving responsibility and tracking it to closure.

By taking up roles at the last minutes, I learnt to tackle any last minute surprises and not to lose the cool in such moments. I learnt to “expect” last minute surprises and “respond” to the same instead of to “react” By witnessing the awesome speeches from Speechcrafters, I gained many good life lessons via their life stories. My Co-coordinators Ramya and Vidhya are totally inspiring with their commitment and dedication.

The educational sessions were a treasure trove of knowledge that I want to put to full use not only in toastmasters but also in the life outside it.

Things that went well       

Meticulously planned quality meetings Sticking to agenda High profile educational speakers High energy meetings Lot of learning for every stakeholder Good rapport among speechcrafters and toastmasters Good snacks ;)

Constructive Feedback (Things that could have been done well) We could send out Minutes of Meeting after every session by having a dedicated role player for the same.

We should monitor the mentoring process more closely and effectively to ensure Speechcrafters are gaining via mentoring and no speech goes without a mentor review.

Should start and end on time.”

SPEECHCRAFT CO-COORDINATOR RAMYA GNANASEKARAN SAYS “First of all, learnt the snags in organizing every session and how to get rid of any hurdles through my coordinators Vidhya and Aswin. About the Speechcraft program, happy to see tremendous transformation in their communication and presentation skills week by week.

Speechcrafters involved in taking roles which in turn enhanced their leadership skills and also admired with Educational sessions.

Happy to be a part of it and learnt from each and everyone.”

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“A good experience and a memorable event on Weekend!”

VENUGOPAL SANDPEUDI, GENERAL MANAGER “Saro’s speech on SMART Principle was impressive and informative. Personally the tips he shared including how to keep the session lively was useful.”

“Role player’s awareness to use the WOD and IOT was really appreciable. Program structure: Prepared Speeches/Table topics/Evaluation with Grammarian and Timer report was good.”

“Feedback to the speechcrafters is given in writing that will help to improve further.

Overall it was good experience for me and memorable event on weekend.”

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MUTHU KUMAR, ASSOCIATE GENERAL MANAGER

“One of the best things happening in CODC is Speechcraft.”

“Speechcrafters and Team is working with a lot of enthusiasm.”

“One of the best things that is happening in CODC is Speechcraft. Sessions are very interactive and useful. Most of the Educational sessions were very useful to the audience.”

“I wish all the participants all the very best and I wish to see more Speechcraft events.”

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GAJENDRAN SELLAPANDI,

“Speechcraft program ensured: There is SUCCESS behind every person.”

ASSOCIATE GENERAL MANAGER “I would say by the Speechcraft every person has improved from Level x to Level y and I was able to see a person standing mum for 30 seconds was performing great on a later session.”

“There is SUCCESS behind every person.

Everyone (Team) was interested to perform their role and did with lot of passion. “ “After delivering the Speech the speakers were eagerly waiting for the feedback, that was nice. Will be good to have the sessions during some weekday instead of weekend.

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SRINIVASAN SUBRAMANIAM, GENERAL MANAGER

“Witnessed a tremendous change in the speakers”

“Witnessed the speakers in the first and last sessions, there have been tremendous improvement in their communication skills.”

“Participants could deliver 4 minutes speech with clarity and structure now. This improvement is going to help them personally as well as organization as they are all customer facing leads.”

“Looking forward for the next Speechcraft session !”

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JAYASRI BANDI OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

“Relevancy of Speech with Passion to Communication was an amazing take away!”

,

“Mala’s articulation on Speech with passion and the impact it creates bringing a differentiation to communication was an amazing take away for the team.”

“It was great to see the speechcrafters evolving their speeches and observing skills.”

“It is a very wonderful and useful forum for molding individual personalities and to bring out their hidden capability. I did observe a spirit of handling situations in my team who were not doing the same prior to this.”

“On the whole the session added value to the participants. My vote is for this initiative.”

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HARIHARAN KUNCHITHAPATHAM DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER

“Energy level in Speechcrafter s were super high”

“I had a great time, enjoyed each and every speech which varied from “Mini Japan”, Outlook towards life or anger, to helping others.”

Speechcrafters – Though, each one is coming from a different background, it is excellent to see their ability to work as a team and encourage each other to speak or lead. I believe each SME session gives them an insight into varied topics and increases their overall confidence level.

Overall, the energy level in the speechcrafters were super high. Appreciate their commitment

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FROM THE VALEDICTORY CEREMONY ON 21-AUG-2018 The eight week speechcraft program culminated instyle with a Valedictory Ceremony on 21st August 2018.

Dignitaries in the meeting were Jaishankar, the DU Heads, HR Partners Nitya and Laxmi, the Speechcrafters and the Toastmasters from HCL Expressions Toastmasters Club.

The event commenced with a welcome note by Speechcraft Coordinator Vidhya. She welcomed the gathering for their presence and support, shared the agenda of the valedictory session and set the context about the Speechcraft program and it’s benefits. She precisely highlighted the key differentiator of the program and called Aswin to conduct the panel discussion.

Speechcraft Co-coordinator Aswin moderated an energetic and fun filled Panel Discussion with 6 Speechcrafters Karthik, Napoleon, Kabila, Ravi Varma, Franco and Arasu along with the audience on their viewpoints on perceptions, learnings, favorite segments of the program, feedback, and recommendations about the Speechcraft Program.

Key takeaways from the Panel Discussions are – Speechcrafters were able to feel a visible difference in getting rid of their stage fear, unnecessary inhibitions in making their first move, confidence when approaching a new audience/person, structuring thought flow into an organized delivery, better articulation, speaking concisely respecting time, learning to prepare and tackle eventualities, importance of body language, vocal variety and much more!

Speechcraft Co-cordinator Ramya continued this momentum by seeking feedback from Jaishankar and other DU Heads on the various aspects of this program. Jaishankar while addressing the gathering appreciated the fact that many Speechcrafters in this batch had volunteered themselves for this program. He highlighted that self-realization is the most important aspect of such transformation. Jaishankar emphasized that the lack of effective communication skills always had a hit on CSAT score and it has been a biggest pain point of CODC consistently for many years. He added that, Toastmasters and Speechcraft are indeed a very important need-of-the-hour program for most of us and we should effectively use such forums to get benefitted. Though self-interest plays a key role in such transformations, he also requested all DU Heads and Managers to drive this initiative and ensure that their team members are getting trained and benefited.

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Srini and Sundar Adityan particulary called out how they were able to see the difference in some of the Speechcrafters post the session. Jaishankar and the DU heads also appreciated the Speechcraft Coordinators and the HCL Expressions Toastmasters Club for playing a crucial role in this transformation of these Speechcrafters today and wanted to see many more CODCians to get benefitted from Toastmasters and Speechcraft. They acknowledged the key part played by Toastmasters in driving CODC events and insisted to publish Success Stories from the transformations that these programs brought.

Everyone agreed for more Speechcraft sessions similar to this one and felt the importance of conducting it on weekends(Saturday) compared to weekday as we get undistracted attention from all stakeholders and availability to invite top quality Educational Speakers from the toastmasters fraternity.

Coordinator Vidhya along with Newsletter chair Kabila invited Jaishankar to release this Newsletter which contains rich information on the 8 week program, the feedback from Speechcrafters, DU Heads, Educational Speech session content, photographs, memories etc. Jaishankar appreciated the effort.

Following this, the qualified Speechcrafters from this program who completed a minimum of 3 projects and having a minimum of 6-session attendance were awarded the completion certificates by Jaishankar. Coordinators and other supportive Toastmasters behind this program were felicitated by Velu.

Executive Sponsor Srini and Coordinator Vidhya concluded this Valedictory Ceremony with their note of thanks marking - not the end – but the beginning of more such transformations in Communication & Leadership skills of CODCians.

TM Aswin Speechcraft co-coordinator

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NOTE OF THANKS FROM COORDINATOR We are overwhelmed and sincerely thank our HCL CODC Management for the seeds of encouragement. I extend my special thanks to Jaishankar Mahadevan, Vice President, Singaravelou Rajaram, Associate Vice President, Suresh Kumar Kunzi Parabath, Operations Director, B Jayasri, Operations Director, Srinivasan Subramaniam, General Manager and executive sponsor, Venugopal Sandepudi, General Manager, Hariharan Kunchithapatham, Associate General Manager, Sundar Adityan, Associate General Manager, Mahadevan Chellaperumal, Associate General Manager, Muthu Kumar, Associate General Manager, Sellapandi Gajendran, Associate General Manager and Nitya Maheswara Reddy Senior Manager HR for being part of speechcraft valedictory ceremony and management guest during speechcraft sessions.

Once again, we would like to emphasize that we will definitely step forward and let this initiative grow to greater heights in coming days.

Coming to co-coordinator Ramya and Aswin, the pillars of speechcraft program. You both really helped me tremendously by being there with me all the time. I owe you a big thanks and I am grateful for your tireless efforts, without you this event wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you Laxmi and Manoj, you remarkably enabled us by playing various roles week after week. The responsibility and dedication that you both demonstrated were significant! At this moment we also take time to thank Niju C. Thomas, Manager and Hydergudem Ravi, Senior Executive HR Shared Service for helping us with payment processing.

Need to mention about the educational speakers DTM Nina John, DTM Vijayalakshmi, DTM Sarovel Rajan, DTM Mala Mary Martina, DTM Alex Jacob, TM Sarathy Srinivas, TM Sathish Menon, and DTM Jayan Naranyanan. They crafted the educational session and added value to the program to a great extent. Special mention about toastmasters fraternity members BalaChander, Gautham, Noorain, Muki, Shanmugapriya, Pruthvi, Venkatesh, Kannan, Ramesh, Ptashanth, Antony, and Kalyan.,who were constant source of encouragement and support.

We would also like to acknowledge external mentors Bharathi, Gautham, Deena and Jahir from our sister clubs and internal mentors Vidhya, Muki, Priya, Aswin, Mehala, and Rajesh from HCL Expressions.

Last but not the least, long term trainers Anil, Surendra, and Aditya were truly diligent in supporting us and we have always been looking forward to work with them. Though, they initially walked in as guests, they slowly started volunteering for roles and took complete ownership towards capturing Minutes of Meeting and helped Kabila in drafting this newsletter.

Thank you all once again, as toastmasters we loved bringing in this communication change and would love to organize many more such sessions @ CODC in the coming days.

TM Vidhya Boopalan, Speechcraft Coordinator 30