Karnataka Club Toastmasters
Lead KALEIDOSCOPE Story Headline July-Sep 2012 volume XI Issue -I
Club Motto “ IMPROVE TO PROVE” Ex-com members : President : TM Zishan Beg VP Education :TM Vijay Naik VP Membership :TM Jothi Ruben Treasurer : TM Ahmed Meppatt VP PR: TM Sunil Kumar Secretary : TM Biju Sgt @ artms :TM Syed Iqbal
From the desk of Club President I am honoured and excited on getting an opportunity to serve my home club Karnataka Toastmasters for the fifth time, as an Excom member. I would like to thank all the club members who have made what the club stands as of today......for quality, camaraderie and leadership. Through the first issue of Kaleidoscope I would like to emphasize on the importance of toastmasters in our lives. We meet as a group of friends in Toastmasters because as individuals we cannot do many things alone, to achieve what we want. It’s a promise that Toastmasters will help you get what you want, based on what you choose to go after. Want to be a leader, take up Excom role or meeting roles like
TMOD, become a mentor etc. Want to be a better speaker or presenter, give project speeches etc. Want to make new friends and network ....attend not only your club meetings but other clubs also welcome you. Want to learn new skills .... Attend workshops and seminars imparting free knowledge and trainings sessions. Want to be a better human being .......we learn here how to respect others and never get tired of applauding and praising others for every single good act....here we don't criticize but learn how to give a positive feedback. All these skills are required whether we are at home or work place to make the world a better place. In short it's a lab where we
experiment, learn and grow with each other and at the end of every meeting we are elated that we have gained something today! Looking forward, let us all resolve to make KCT the most respected and renowned “Brand” so that we can proudly say wherever we go that we are KCTians. So let’s " Improve to Prove" no one else but to ourselves that we are better than before! Yours in Service TM Zishan Beg
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln
Page 2 Dear KCT Fellows, I felt the earth slipping under my feet and was devastated; but soon found myself riding a flying carpet fully recuperated! I reinvented myself with what I learnt through toastmasters. Today, apart from the education and skills, I owe my job for just mentioning “member of toastmasters International” on my C.V. We all know that it takes doctors and nurses to give a second lease of life sometimes; other times we have to nurse ourselves back with the available life support. For me it‟s like attending a special college only for courage and confidence; The 2 hours per meeting is value that multiplies- food for thought that must be shared. KCT Charter members Felix
RACING TOWARDS INFINITY
The memory about my first public speech always brings smile to me. It was the occasion of “meet the candidate” as part of our college election and I was a class representative candidate for first year Degree and there I had to take my first speech. I started my speech with shaky scrambled voice and throughout my speech I was touching my
KALEIDOSCOPE Miranda and Joseph Andrade would take pride in being there from KCT‟s inception; others must take pride in joining KCT; I‟ve been with KCT for about a decade; the only time I missed a meeting would be when I travelled. I call KCT my „cradle‟ club. Involvement at KCT has helped me become a dual member; was even given honorary membership at a corporate club and opportunity to be mentor and coach for new clubs. I allocate my time for gavel club activities where children are guided to learn handson. It has been more than rewarding. I am now privileged be given the opportunity to enroll new members for the KCT term 2012-13.
nose repeatedly, somehow I finished my speech and vanished from stage. Then and there my classmates used to mock me with touching nose. Years had passed, career, family , lot of changes. When I turn back now, I could say 70% the progress what I achieved today in public speech or addressing an audience is only during the last one year after I join with Toastmasters. Every Toastmaster got something to share about their club experience. For me it is an amazing journey so far with Karnataka Club Toastmasters (KCT). I never receive such round of applause and motivation in my life till I join with this great organization. Most of us we often forgot to smile each other in our busy routine life style but in Toastmasters this
July-Sep’ 12 volume XI Issue -I
Toastmasters is a life transforming experience. Come along and be transformed. At your service a Trusted Transformer TM Jothi Ruben, KCT VP Membership 2012-13
we often forgot to smile each other in our busy routine life style but in Toastmasters you find people with all those diamond quality surrounded you. From where you get a warm shake hand saying well done for a small assignment you did. Where you can get an audience who can give you two round of applause for a 5 minutes speech!... Toastmaster Club is a platform for falling , practicing and growing. It gives you a big platform where you are the master and it takes you miles and miles in your race for self development and confident communication. Overall, it gives you another family Handling club kitty is an another wonderful experience for me, there I practice different mode of collections and the…
KALEIDOSCOPE
Page 3 way to strengthen and smoothen the club operation being part of our dynamic team of Magnificent-7 (KCT Ex-Com). In this anniversary occasion of KCT family let us salute the leaders, charter members who spent their time to build this wonderful club. My hearty wishes to all fellow toastmasters. Cordially Yours, TM Ahmed Meppatt Treasurer-KCT
“We
July-Sep’ 12 volume XI Issue -I that we have to keep reading to reverse the learning curve dipping.
Dear Toastmasters, I joined Karnataka Club Toastmasters to learn more. By learning more, I intend to empower my skills and others‟ in mutual environment. I realized being in a vibrant group means learning from experinced leaders who are leading by example. I also recognized
Reading is the key to improve our vocabulary power and thereby improving our communication skills. A famous person once exclaimed upon entering a library – “so many books and so little time left”, he was one among the lot who enjoyed reading. Reading is an act of intelligence that sets us apart from anything that is uncivilized. From ancient civilization, we the human beings take pride of preserving our thoughts and action on records.
are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit” - Aristotle
This preservation of our culture in action is nothing but History. Infact, all our mythological epics, religious books have been preserved in writing. Reading is a habit, is a passion, and is a hobby. Many read for past time, most read for knowledge, and many read for specific information. The knowledge derived from reading provides our brain the nourishment, which keeps us up to date. We share our knowledge with others, provide information to others, explain and narrate, stand up to speak and deliver a speech. There is a famous saying that “brain is the only thing that is getting sharpened when used, where as the other things use to get blunt on usage”, based on this we can confidently say that reading is is a way which helps us to sharpen the mind activity
. In Toastmasters, our speeches‟ delivery style is based on our reading, experiences and analytical power. All of these are result from reading. A good speech is only delivered after a thorough reading and understanding of the subject. The ability to make the others understand is the art of communication, and this is improved in Toastmastering. We should encourage reading at any time and indulging in reading is always a rewarding factor. Reading makes us knowledgeable and quenches the thirst for knowledge. My dear friends, on the anniversary of Karnataka Club Toastmasters, I urge you all to keep reading, to rejuvenate your thoughts and rewarding yourselves. With Best Wishes, TM Ashok Kumar
BELIEVE & MAKE IT HAPPEN We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. We come across so many individuals, who seem to have developed a mental block about their abilities. No, Not, Don‟t, Never, Impossible, difficult …. seem to be their catchword phrase of every sentence. If you happen to be
Page 4 one of the many, this article of a simple lady will help in removing the mental block & change your perspective, from an Underachiever to Overachiever. When glancing thru a magazine the other day, I came across and interesting article on Nobel laureate WangariMaathai and the hummingbird Fable. She started a movement to reform Kenya, provide jobs for women and stop erosion. This eventually resulted in 30 million trees being planted. It also helped 900,000 women, who were each paid a small sum to plant trees. As a result Maathai won the Nobel peace prize in 2004. This was a mammoth task, which was extremely
KALEIDOSCOPE difficult, but she overcame many gigantic hurdles to achieve the nearly . impossible task through persistence.The same persistence that she showed in her work came through in her story she told again and again in speeches. Wangari Maathai from Kenya used a simple fable to demonstrate a profound principle that inspired her listeners around the world. This gave her speech a short and powerful punch. It is a fable about the hummingbird, which among the animals ... affected by a forest fire, attempts to put the fire out alone, one drop of water at a time. When the animals asked last couple of year. It was a wonderful leadership journey for me as part of the excom and being in regular touch with members. I really enjoyed working with our members, mentoring, motivating and it had given me new vistas of leadership training and personal growth. As I learned such opportunities provide us a great learning
Leadership Lessons I learned…. @KCT Dear fellow TMs ! Greetings and warm wishes to you ! As KCT embarked on a fresh year with new team; I take pleasure in sharing some of my leadership learning at KCT with you all. I was fortunate to be associated with the excom in various roles during last four years starting from Sgt@arms and and finally as President in the
let me share few of those leadership skills which I have learnt : Always have clear goals and dreams: Clear goals will provide direction to the journey, then with a road map to know where you are going and follow the map Team Dynamics are crucial: If you want to achieve your dreams you better work and play with others. Leadership is a team play and better dynamics of the team; the better the results
July-Sep’ 12 volume XI Issue -I
„what are you doing?‟ the hummingbird said “I‟m doing the best I can. This story allowed Maathai to show her audiences that they too could have a big impact with a small and persistent effort. After hearing this story, who would say no This great leader proved that every individual has the power to achieve his/her dream & can make it happen if they wish too. “Be a hummingbird of your family, school, organization, the society, community, nation and the world” Rufus Pinto ACG/ALB
Responsibilities are not smooth sail and one way street: Responsibilities bring challenges and cruising through roadblocks brings new dimensions to our experiences. Appreciate and learn to take the detours. Stop, introspect, ask for help and directions: Helping hands are available all across our journey; especially in Toastmasters- for any mid course corrections to our goals. Brainstorm with teammates: Each team member can bring new dimension to a solution. This will also provide an opportunity for the team to participate in the decision making and thus for better solutions. ………………..Contd. Next page
KALEIDOSCOPE
Page 5
July-Sep’ 12 volume XI Issue -I
Challenge yourself and your team: I‟ve found that it‟s important to keep pushing myself and the teammates little bit beyond the comfort zone for better performance. You‟ll never know until you try your limits.
this mission helps in developing
Enjoy the team spirit: Share and enjoy the team spirit every time when you achieve a milestone, bringing better team cohesiveness.
Communication Leadership.
Each leader may have volumes to share their unique leadership experiences; and I feel those experiences make us richer and richer day after day as we move ahead.
TM Abraham Jacob
ones
mission, I have been greatly benefited and developed a passion for these two aspects -
sential in all spheres of life. Be
A DUAL PLATFORM When
I
was
introduced
to
Toastmasters, I was thinking it is all about making a good speech. I never thought how this mission helps
in develop-
ing ones overall communication
derstand that being a great com-
Lack of group skills
All the above problems are effectively addressed in masters.
dles for effective communication. For example some write well, but they are not able to express themselves verbally. Similarly, some speak fluently, but cannot write without grammatical errors. Some having problems with their body language and some find it difficult to maintain eye contact. Other problem in Communication
Fear of speaking in public
Limited vocabulary
Imperfect pronunciation
Lack of active listening
it an interview in business , demonstration in
a project ,
working out a solution with a team or writing a report etc if you have the right skill to
seriously.
Lack of confidence
Numerous problems acts as hur-
and
Communication skills are es-
listener.
communication
Having spent seven years in this
At the same time, we should unmunicator is also being a great
overall
skills as well as leadership skills.
Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Every organization needs leaders at every level. By enhancing the leadership skills among its staff, the organization can prosper and become a leader. A leader with vision has a clear, vivid picture of where to go, as well as a firm grasp on what success looks like and how to achieve it. But it's not enough to have a vision; leaders must also share it and act upon it. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE said
communicate. It is equally important
while communicating
with our family members.
"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion" A leader must be able to communicate his or her vision in terms that cause followers to buy into it. He or she must communicate clearly and passionately, as passion is contagious. Also a leader should be a servant leader which means he should lead first when it comes for service. To summarize, behind every successful leadership there is a necessity for effective communication. Toastmaster mission is a platform for both.
Karnataka Club Toastmasters
KALEIDOSCOPE July-Sep 2012 volume XI Issue -I
From the Editor’s Desk Its really a pleasure to take the first step as an editor and I profusely thank KCT for giving me an opportunity as VP Public Relations for the term 2012-13. Its our first issue of the term and my heart goes out to all who contributed with articles for this issue. Sharing is caring so I urge everyone to take up this opportunity to share their thoughts and activities to make this a wholesome KCT family magazine. Looking forward to Improve on this issue next time to Prove we are getting better! We can help us TM Sunil Kumar
With Best Compliments from:
Contact: Vijay 39084973
Our Contact Info:
Karnataka Social Club, Manama Email: Kct-excom@googlegroups.com Ph: 973-39451493/39856824
Meeting Time: 7.30pm on 2nd, 4th & 5th Wednesday