Area L 61 Leaders’ Newsletter December 2016 Director’s message It is said that the only time you should look back is to see how far you have come. We are in the last month of 2016 and it feels like just yesterday we were discussing how to collaborate on this year's activities. Welcome to the 3rd edition of our Area Newsletter. We have had some very exciting activities in our Area. With a successful Speechcraft coordinated by Yogesh at Watford Speakers and another two Speechcraft sessions planned for January 2017, Area 61 seems to be buzzing with energy. The next Speechcraft is being planned by Kavita and Amparo at Watford Speakers from 19th January 2017 and another one at Mind Harrow also starting on 19th January 2017. You are welcome to join these if you are a new member or if you think someone could benefit from these sessions and will eventually join the Toastmasters family. Harrovians have planned a Tall Tales contest at Area level in the New Year. All clubs are doing their respective club level contest prior to that. It will be exciting to hear some incredible tales at the area contest, which is coordinated by Sushil from Harrovians. Please feel free to contact him should you have some Pinocchio genes in you. The next Club officer training is planned for 4th February 2017 and is being led by Piotr from Watford Speakers. Please feel free to request for any specific presentations you would like to be covered in the COT. It is a good opportunity for club members who would like to explore officer roles next year to attend the sessions. I hope you are all excited and gearing up for the next International Speech and Evaluation contest at Area level on 25th March 2017. Please do experiment with your skills at the club level contest before that. Maybe this year, we may have the London winner from Area 61. We have such wonderful talent in our clubs that I believe this is possible. Let's keep the momentum with our high performance leadership projects and our Distinguished Club programme to add more strength to our clubs. We will continue helping each other and growing together. I wish you all happy holidays and a fantabulous New Year. Look forward to seeing you in 2017 with renewed energy and enthusiasm as we create new stories together. Seema Menon Area Director L61
Celebrating Harrovian Speakers Club’s move into the new venue in St Lawrence Close Jayanthiny Kangatharan, Harrovians Speakers Club President
On 5th December 2016 the Harrovian Speakers Club celebrated their move into their new venue in St Lawrence Close next to the Parish Church of St Lawrence that is within walking distance of Canons Park Tube station. The reason the Club moved venues twice in less than 5 months is that the St Lawrence Close venue fulfils the purpose of a user-friendly club venue better than the previous venue, Canons Hall in terms of club-friendliness, cost and practicality. One specific advantage, for example, is that the Harrovian Speakers Club can move back to meeting on Mondays at 7:30pm as the club used to before moving to Canons Hall on 6 th July due to limited space in Glebe Hall. Luckily, the St Lawrence Close venue was available for immediate use. As soon as Harrovian Speakers Club president Jayanthiny Kangatharan had visited the venue on 30 th October by chance to discuss a speech there with club VPM Amparo Villamil, the club president immediately negotiated with the hall manager to secure the venue for the club and explore potential meeting days. Thanks to collective club efforts, the Harrovians could move in about a month later. Not only is the St Lawrence Close venue larger than the club’s previous two meeting venues, but it offers both a small room for regular meetings and a large room for special events such as contests, training sessions, workshops, and of course for special occasions such as the celebratory first evening for the Harrovian Speakers Club.
Harrovian Speakers at St Lawrence Church Hall on 5 th December.
Photo Credit: Warren Sheng
The first meeting on 5th December began with a warm welcome speech by the club president, and was hosted by the club VPPR Jesus Parada who eloquently guided Harrovians through the special evening that had ‘Hope’ as the theme. Harrovians enjoyed a variety of outstanding speeches such as a roast, an entertaining speech and an Icebreaker. Father Paul Reece made a special guest appearance and spoke a few words to welcome the Harrovians to their new
venue. During the networking interval, Harrovians served tea and special cakes including the incomparable apple crumble that had been prepared by Jesus’ wife, and a delicious custard confection that was made by Amparo. The meeting then continued with a series of brilliant evaluations, and some announcements of important information, such as details about the upcoming Tall Tales club contest on 19 th December. The Harrovian Speakers Club will also organise the first Tall Tales contest at area level on 30 th January 2017, and therefore would like to invite you to come along and enjoy the variety of excellent Tall Tales that will be presented by winners from each club in Area 61 that will hold club Tall Tales contests before 30 th January. The Area Contest will be held at 7:30pm, on 30 th January 2017, St Lawrence Close, Edgware, HA8 6QS. Looking forward to welcoming you in our new venue in St Lawrence Close!
An Interview with Mopani Mkandawire and Steve Brewer By Naomi Tuttle, Watford Speakers Watford Speakers has lots to celebrate! Mopani Mkandawire entered the Division L Humorous Speech Contest in October and was placed 2nd. This is huge achievement, especially given that this was Mopani’s first entry in a competition. We are also thrilled to announce that Steve Brewer achieved his Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award, making him the 3rd DTM at Watford Speakers. We asked Mopani & Steve about their experiences which we hope will inspire others to say yes to more opportunities on their Toastmaster journeys.
Mopani Mkandawire, member of Watford Speakers who placed 2 nd in the Division L Humorous Speech Contest in October. This was your first time attending a Division Competition. Could you tell us about your experience? I didn’t know what to expect. All I was told was the speakers were going to be of a high standard, which I saw. The venue was unique. It was an exciting venue to give a speech in and to be a member of the audience. There were more people than a normal Toastmasters meeting and they brought a lot of energy, so much so I forgot it was a Saturday afternoon. I also felt competing against better speakers automatically forced me to raise my standards, which forced me to improve. What did you most enjoy about the day? I enjoyed giving my speech. If there was one thing I wanted to take away, it was to enjoy being on stage. I enjoyed the energy the audience gave me and I think I fed off that. I enjoyed the fact that most people did not know who I was. Because of this I felt no pressure as I felt I was an underdog. The hosts were entertaining, the competitors were entertaining and the mood was great.
What did you learn from taking part in the competition? Competitions have a different atmosphere to club sessions. You are exposed to better speakers, different styles, personalities, and audiences. This gives you exposure to a different situation. It raises your standards and expectations of yourself. You also begin to experience how much bigger Toastmasters really is apart from just seeing it online. What advice would you give to anyone considering entering a club competition who is unsure? I entered a competition when I believed I was not ready and my speech would not be good enough. I was advised by fellow Toastmasters to join. I would say enter first and then worry about your speech after. If you procrastinate on getting a speech first you might take years or never do it. Whether you win or lose you will still get exposure. This makes it a win, win, win scenario.
Mopani Mkandawire, 2nd from left, at the Division L Humorous Competition with his 2 nd place certificate
Steve Brewer, Watford Speakers’ newest DTM & Division 91 Director Congratulations on achieving your Distinguished Toastmaster Award. How does it feel to hold the highest rank in the Toastmasters Educational Programme? It feels a little bit surreal, to be honest. Driving towards the goal gives its own focus but what happens now that I’ve achieved my DTM? I intent to take a couple of weeks to enjoy it rather than commit today to the next opportunity just yet, but rest assured I’ve got plenty of ideas!
What have been some of your highlights on your journey to becoming DTM? Highlights are without a doubt the people that you meet, the personal growth that you see in them in quite a short space of time and the parts we play in each other’s journeys. The magic truly happens at the clubs. Personal highlights have been the acquiring of greater confidence to communicate and create opportunities do to different things in my career. What are the most valuable things you have learnt from becoming a Toastmaster? Have fun and give encouraging meaningful evaluations and suddenly we have that mutually supportive environment that helps us all get that bit better. There is always something to learn and improve on; making mistakes is ok and knowing this can give you the confidence to step further out of your comfort zone. Don’t just box tick the requirements. Toastmasters don’t have a pass/fail criteria for their projects, however members should try to do things to the best of their ability. Genuinely, the more you put in the more you get back. What is next for you now you are a DTM? Hopefully keep learning new things and develop more skills; DTM is just the start. What excites you most about Toastmasters right now? Opportunities! If I looked back four or five years I would never have thought that I would speak in front of 200 people (through choice), deliver workshops on High Performance Leadership at Toastmasters conferences or take the skills learnt and improve community clubs and take more control of my career.
Distinguished Toastmaster Steve Brewer accepting his DTM award from Watford Speakers President Dave Collins
High Performance Leadership – Words and Music By David Phelops – HOD Speakers Club
How often do you have the chance to bring your passions in life together and proclaim them with one voice? Music and Words are mine…. A natural fit for Toastmasters, perhaps? That was my High-Performance Leadership Project. A fund-raising concert for ‘More Than Just A Choir’ The timing was serendipitous (my favourite word and a great word-of-the-day); the elements all in place. At the same time that Steve Brewer DTM, the Area 41 Director and Coralie Frances DTM, my mentor, were encouraging me to undertake my HPL, I was fast heading for my seventh anniversary with More Than Just A Choir – a charity social and music group for adults affected by mental illness in different ways. I was impressed and encouraged by the HPL manual. Not only did it define the leader’s role, but also set out clear ideas as to how to make it work; easily translatable to the community outside Toastmasters. The elements: Vision; mission; team; monitoring and assessing; staying focussed; getting things done. Having a vision and mission for the project written down helped very much to keep the project focussed and on track. It really helps to be clear about what you want to achieve. Was my HPL worth doing? – Oh Yes! This is what I have learned along the way: Have clear ideas and ways to implement them, bring people along with you and share the vision. Encourage and support others to take part. Use the skills that surround you. Delegate and let go of certain expectations. Allow ideas to develop. The HPL has been successful. The concert was fab-u-lous! A double win. We raised £2,300 for the choir. The picture says it all.
Using Toastmasters Skills Outside of Toastmasters By Indra Sikdar, Assistant Director Area 61 Recently, I used some Toastmasters skills for two events outside of Toastmasters. Firstly, I was put in charge of the office Christmas party. Previously, the organiser had asked last minute and few people attended. I started preparation much earlier, and asked people individually and created an excel spreadsheet to keep track of numbers and the participants rose last year to 26 people and this year to 32 people. I felt that I was using some of the Toastmaster skills such as looking at a dashboard to make sure a club has accomplished its DCP points (in this example I was checking against an excel sheet to record attendees and their menu choices), as well as asking people individually (similar to the way we ask people to joining Toastmasters on an individual basis). Also, I was on a committee organising a dinner dance. I noticed one month before the event that no activity was taking place so I initiated an email campaign to advertise the event, I created an excel sheet to record members, guests and sponsors attending, kept in touch with the main organising committee by email, and met organisers at informal planning meetings (where we were able to discuss changing ideas such as DJ or raffle prizes (we are used to planning quickly at Toastmasters – innovating if a participant is unable to attend). So you can see the skills I used:
Early planning Communicating clearly and regularly with people via email and in person. Being inclusive Being innovative and quick thinking to overcome challenges. Using IT such as emails, electronic flyers and Excel Striving to maintain a calm and professional manner.
Dates for your Diary
Tall tales Competition: o Club competition – Harrovians’ : 19th December 2016 o Area competition at St Lawrence Church Hall, Edgware : 30th January 2017 Speechcraft at Watford Speakers and Mind Harrow : from 19th January 2017 Club Officer Training (COT) : 4th February 2017 International Speech and Evaluation Area Contest :25th March 2017
Edited by Siddhi Siriwardana, Secretary Area 61 Copyright © 2016 Toastmasters Area L61, All rights reserved.