PINNACLE BETM Club Newsletter 2015 - Vol1 Issue1

Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

The Quarterly Newsletter of Business Excellence Toastmasters Club

THE ACCIDENTAL CONSULTANT P.10

COVER STORY

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |

CROSSING THE EDGE P. 12

CLUB SNAPSHOTS

HONORING CC’S P.19

A CLUB PAR EXCELLENCE P.05

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | NEW CLUB MEMBERS Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

2014 P.14 1

Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Business Excellence Toastmasters Club About the Club Business Excellence Toastmasters [BETM] Club was established in June 2012, under the patronage of Department of Economic Development [DED], with the pretext of involving Dubai Quality Awards [DQA] and Dubai Human Development Awards [DHDA] assessors, to further improve their communication and leadership skills.

The club was started by DQA senior Assessors, DTM Nagabhushan Balaji and TM Prashant Nasery with support from the DED office. With an initial strength of only 4 members, today the club has grown significantly to more than 30 members, with its unique diversified members profile (11 countries) being the hallmark of the elite club.

When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say” - Abraham Lincoln

——————————————————— Club Mission: To provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

Our Clubs diversity visible here!

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Pinnacle

Business Excellence Toastmasters Club

Newsletter Team

The Club

“The well-balanced, intelli-

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PRESIDENT

gent speaker is the natural

TM Sameer Chougle sameerbc@gmail.com

DTM Balaji Nagabhushan 050 6562797

EDITORIAL TEAM

VP - EDUCATION

leader in any group of which he is a part”

MTM Maureen Galang - Dr. Ralph Smedley

mauistorm@yahoo.com

TM Praveesh Hassan 050 6505125

PHOTOGRAPHY

VP - MEMBERSHIP

TM Abdul Vaheed vaheed.abdul@gmail.com

ART & DESIGN TM Sameer B Chougle sameerbc@gmail.com

CLUB MENTOR DTM Nagabhushan Balaji balajibhushan@yahoo.co.in

TM Kapil Naresh 055 1347030

VP - PUBLIC RELATIONS TM Sameer B Chougle 052 8480529

CLUB SECRETARY MTM Maureen Galang 055 5140819

TREASURER TM Abdul Vaheed 050 6538086

SERGEANT AT ARMS TM Imran Iqbal 055 3526061

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Contents

Business Excellence Toastmasters Club

05

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

07

FRANKLY SPEAKING

DTM NAGABHUSHAN BALAJI

TM SAMEER CHOUGLE

17

HONORING CC’s

THE BEST THERE IS…

BETM ACHEIVEMENTS

09

TOASTED HUMOR

10

ACCIDENTAL CONSULTANT

23

12

CROSSING THE EDGE

14 15

MTM MICHELLE CHEDOTAL, CC

NEW MEMBERS 2014-2015

MTM MAUREEN GALANG

19 20

TM PRAVEESH HASSAN

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

2013-2014

TM KRISHNA PRABHU, CC

2014—2015

24

EXCOM 2014-2015

27

CLUB SNAPSHOTS

OUR GOAL, MY ROLE MTM LAYS LARAYA

Pinnacle is a quarterly newsletter published by Business Excellence Toastmasters Club, Dubai. The contents and articles published are the views, opinions

and thoughts of the authors/writers and the publishing and editing team are not responsible for the same. Business Excellence Toastmasters Club members meet every alternate Monday at Business Village, 2 nd Floor, Deira, Dubai. 1900 hrs onwards. If you have any complaints, ideas, suggestions, please feel free to write to us at betmclub2014@gmail.com Website: http://www.betm.toastmastersclubs.org.

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

President’s Message Business Excellence Toastmasters Club

A Club par Excellence!

You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards – Brian Tracy.

Fellow Toastmasters, I believe in the statement of Brian Tracy. Excellence is a habit and once it becomes a habit, there is no looking back. Business Excellence Toastmasters club believes in

making Excellence a reality every day and every minute. It’s a pleasure to an‘If you think you can do it, you probably definitely can and no one can deny that’

nounce and witness the release of our first newsletter for this year.

The club was launched in June 2012 after several years of planning and preparation. The sole purpose of forming this club was to have mutual collaboration with the Quality professionals connected with the Business Excellence Division of Dubai Quality Award Office.

While the assessors would bring in their vast experience in their respective fields to educate and share with members, experienced Toastmasters were to mentor and help these quality professionals improve their communication and leadership skills. It was win-win collaboration. The club was chartered under Area 30, Division J and District 20 of Toast-

“We are what we repeatedly do. Therefore Excellence is not an act but a habit.”

Aristotle

masters International.

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Two years down the lane, I am proud to state that the vision of forming this club has stood its ground. We not only have a healthy membership of Quality and Excellence Professionals from different industries but also experienced Toastmasters fraternity in our midst. Our membership is culturally diversified with people of eleven nationalities enjoying the aspects of sharing and learning. The best part of this group is the willingness to share and also accept critical evaluations or comments

towards improvement.

We have achieved the distinction of being a Distinguished Club during the first year by reaching five out of the ten goals set by Toastmasters International annually. During the second year, we have taken the challenge and achieved the Select Distinguished Club status by reaching seven out of ten goals. This year and in all our future years of existence, our goal is to be a President’s Distinguished Club by reaching ten out of ten goals every year. We also have three members who have climbed the first ladder of success by becoming Competent Communicators and I am sure there will be many more coming up this year. Last year we had three of our members qualify in their speech contests – one of them to the Area level, two to the Divi-

sion Level and eventually one of them to the District level and that’s a fantastic achievement for such a new club.

BETM, BETM, BETM………this is what I and many others have been hearing this year in Division J. We are a force, a team and we believe in excellence. We believe that we are a team and together everyone achieves more. This can be visualised with the quality meetings organized and conducted this year. The Executive Committee is energetic, young, ambition filled, passionate, innovative and I am sure we shall climb great heights this year as well as in the years to come.

Nagabhushan Balaji Distinguished Toastmaster Club Mentor & President

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Frankly Speaking Business Excellence Toastmasters Club

Editor’s Note After a lot of thought and effort, we are finally out with Business Excellence Club’s very first newsletter. This magazine is very close to my heart, not only because I worked hard on it, but also due to the fact that it has the stories of many of my fellow colleagues lives, as toastmasters in our club. This makes it exceptionally special. A very impressive part of this newsletter are the pictures, professionally done— an idea of one of our senior club members. Fun photo session I would say and that reflects in the pictures!

“Quality is in the eyes of the Beholder, just like Beauty”

Being Editor-in-Chief of a newsletter is a unique experience, definitely not an easy position to manage. Let me not rant further on how many midnight lamps I have burnt and have been at the receiving end of a disgruntled family (a.k.a wife). Eventually, I am extremely happy with the output of this effort and all is now hunky dory—you now know that a healthy trip to an elite shopping mall helps release tension on one side while burning a devastating hole in your pocket on the flip side! I hope my wife never reads this.

While this newsletter leaves immense scope for improvement, this is our first effort. And we have tried to include some interesting sections viz., superb articles, a humor page which we plan to improvise on in the future, crossword puzzle (do provide feedback), and club snapshots of 2014.

Deciding on the newsletter name was not a piece of cake either. So, we decided to have a little contest, where club members could suggest names for the newsletter. After 2 weeks of suggestions—we realized our newsletter is going to be called ‘PINNACLE’. Congratulations MTM Meesha Kapoor for suggesting this far and high reaching name! ‘Pinnacle’ is in all probabilities, the most apt name the newsletter could get. ‘Pinnacle’ means the peak, or highest point—we can proudly say that our club is well on the way to reaching its pinnacle!

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

The EXCOM for 2014-2015 deserves a mention, hence we have included the profiles of the club executive committee members.

Do read through and get to know them better—the people who manage the club.

We have presented the new members of the club for 2014-2015, covered our honorable Competent Communicators and Business Excellence Toastmasters Club achievements over the past two years. Do browse around and read through.

Crossword, fantastically developed by the effervescent MTM Maureen Galang, has clues all about toastmasters. Go ahead, google your brains out and find all the answers. Winner gets a Cross Pen with his/her name engraved!

Our very first newsletter—and this deserved an inspiring Cover Story from an absolutely inspiring, energetic and magnanimous personality—and that is none other than MTM Michelle Chedotal. ’Crossing the Edge’ is the story of her journey with Business Excellence Toastmasters and the point of crossing the edge. Did she, didn't she? Read on Toastmasters….

Finally, thank you in advance, for reading till the end. We all know this is just a start, and I look forward to your regular contributions to this newsletter—articles, jokes, puzzles, trivia, anything interesting and worth taking a leap into, I will put it here.

Go for it!

I’ll let you pass by me with a personal quote: “ I once asked Perfection how he came into existence, He said “I don’t exist; many try to make me but fall short and keep trying but fall short and keep trying……..I am Continual Improvement!”

Ciao

Sameer B Chougle, TM QA Controller, dnata Airport Operations Editor-in-Chief, Pinnacle Vice President, Public Relations

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL VOL 11 || ISSUE ISSUE 11 || JANUARY JANUARY 2015 2015

Toasted Humor

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

The Accidental Consultant

BY TM PRAVEESH HASSAN I am a Consultant, by accident. I never thought in my life I will become a Management Consultant. My ambition, while at University, was to work for myself. Soon after my MBA, I landed up in a job. But I was disappointed by the atmosphere at my first work place. Having studied in a western world and having an idealistic mindset, I was shocked how the actual work world worked. So I decided to venture out. But with little capital, I had no means to start a business. So I started off with what I had. Tons of courage and very little experi-

ence in management science.

It was a small beginning. But soon with my quality of work, I had references from my clients. I started getting busy. I took whatever projects came in my way; failed projects by other consultants, complex projects which others didn’t want to touch, projects in remote places. I soon became experienced. I had lots of work. I had lots of money as well.

Over the years with so many consultancy projects, I lost focus on what I was really good at. I never focused on one special area, where I could be the best in the world. I was jack of all management solutions. So I decided I have to master one area and I chose Strategy. At that point, I realized—to be a great Strategy consultant, you need to be a great communicator.

Toastmasters was introduced to me by my dear friend about 10 years ago. But I never took it seriously at that point of time.

I was busy and successful. But soon I realized, no matter how competent I am in the field of Strategy, communication matters. I can only be a World Class Strategy consultant if I have World Class communication skills. You need outstanding persuasion skills if you want to execute a great strategy in any organization. So my mind conspired to join Toastmasters again.

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

The Accidental Consultant

BY TM PRAVEESH HASSAN

I was waiting for Toastmasters Club to be launched by Business Excellence Department. I jumped at the opportunity when it began.

Although being a consultant for 17 years and having done numerous trainings, I was jittery during my first speech, an impromptu table topics speech. I realized public speaking is a different ball game from the traditional boring presentations done by consultants.

Toastmasters took public speaking altogether to a different level. I saw many speakers inspire and educate me. I saw many nervous speakers being great speakers by end of their fourth speech. I met many interesting and warm hearted human beings. I started enjoying my toastmasters club. I started giving my project speeches. I started being comfortable with my body language. I started using stories in my speeches. I opened up.

Now I have great friends. I eagerly wait for our club meeting on Mondays. At the end of every meeting, I get a great feeling of freshness and positivity. Every meeting day, I would have met someone interesting, I would have learned something anew.

My journey has begun. I will march on, and I will take others along with me.

Praveesh Hassan, TM CEO, Win Management Vice President, Education

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Crossing the Edge

COVER STORY

BY MTM MICHELLE GARNIER-CHEDOTAL, CC “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves” - Thomas A. Edison In today’s super-competitive marketplace, high achievers are those people who follow a systematic approach to their success. As the best success movement to come along in decades, Toastmasters International catalogs and explains, in a practical and powerful way, the arts of listening, thinking and speaking, in simple language with step-by-step instructions—and this for impact.

Success is something almost everyone wants, and many a lifetime hoping for. Some never find it while others realize it early in life. No matter where you are in your life, and maybe you are already there, or trying to get there, or you are lost somewhere in between the desire for and the realization of personal success. But, when you are brave enough to join a Toastmasters club and find the courage to want more for your life, then everything will change.

I did ! After a one year training on The Success Principles with Jack Canfield, the N01 Success Coach in the USA, I heard of Toastmasters by my fellow coaches while I was still in California. At the time, I declared in a quite assertive voice : “ I don’t

think we have one in Dubai”, only to find out while doing a search on Google, that there were “many’ !

I was astonished ! Truly, I had never heard of it ! Naively, I thought it was a ‘baking type group” learning to roast and toast !

Back in the Emirate, I immediately called a few clubs and registered with Business Excellence Toast Masters. On the first evening attending merely out of curiosity, I was called to ‘ volunteer’ for a Table Topic. Now, talk about being thrown into the deep end, and choosing to take “100% responsibility” for being there! I had to immediately become an Inverse Paranoid, and believe that the world was not plotting to do me harm, but rather plotting to do me good!

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Crossing The Edge

BY MTM MICHELLE GARNIER-CHEDOTAL

What came to my mind at the time was a quote from W.Clement Stone (Self –made multimillionaire and former publisher of Success Magazine) who said “When life hands you a lemon, squeeze it and make lemonade” . Surprisingly, I won my first winning baby award that night! and the rest is now history!

Over time, Project by project, from Listening to Team Building, I achieved my ten Leadership assignments taking me to a place of being what TM calls: “A Competent Communicator”. Today, I am not sure if I am ‘competent’ to the level I want to be, but what I am sure of is that I have better skills, greater ease, techniques and more so, better understanding on how to communicate with others, amazing tools, a mentor and a community that can take me as far as I dare to dream.

Now, was it easy? To be honest, the answer for me would probably be a No! I have to admit that many times I wanted to quit as each project was more challenging taking me through a place of doubt, a place where I had to face my own fears and resentment. And yet, I knew that it was in ‘crossing those edges” that I would grow. Going back, finding hundreds of excuses for not ‘needing’ to develop those Leadership muscles, would have been easy. But, I decided to “stay” and beautifully supported with intellect, compassion and humor from my mentor and the group, I have gained confidence, and stood taller as a communicator. I realized that joining a Toastmasters group was not only to take the front of the room as a speaker, but to take the front of the room of my life!

If you are looking for a magic bullet to improve your life, your career and your relationships, Toastmasters delivers it in spades. If expanding your opportunities, creating new alliances, helping more people, and getting more out of every minute of your life are your goals then, Toastmasters can bring those results. Because you see, Toastmasters is not just only about the tools, the techniques, the process, what I call ‘the particles”, it is about the development of the heart by overcoming the fears, the limiting beliefs, and the stories in our heads. It is about creating connection for impact in our lives and the lives of others.

It is about inspiring, by being brave enough to grow as human beings.

Pretty cool!

Michelle Garnier-Chedotal, MTM Managing Partner, KinesioCoach (LLC) Competent Communicator

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL VOL1 1| |ISSUE ISSUE1 1| |JANUARY JANUARY2015 2015

New Members 2014

MTM Lays Laraya

TM Nur Nurani

TM Pratyush Mandal

TM Ranjeet Philip

TM Karam Antakli

DOJ - 01 Feb 2014

DOJ - 01 Mar 2014

DOJ - 01 Jun 2014

DOJ - 01 Jun 2014

DOJ - 01 May 2014

MTM Amani Al-Hammadi

TM Ravikumar Subbiah

TM Khalid Yahya

TM Vinay Vaishya

MTM Shurooq Al-Banna

DOJ - 01 Aug 2014

DOJ - 01 Aug 2014

DOJ - 01 Sep 2014

DOJ - 01 Sep 2014

DOJ - 15 Sep 2014

MTM Maryam Rezvan

MTM Hayet Zenati

MTM Urvashi Sarin

TM Usama Shatara

TM Abdullah Al-Hammadi

DOJ - 29 Sep 2014

DOJ - 29 Sep 2014

DOJ - 13 Oct 2014

DOJ - 10 Nov 2014

DOJ - 10 Nov 2014

MTM Eman Al-Suwaidi DOJ - 01 Dec 2014

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Our Goal, My Role

BY MTM LAYS LARAYA I remember sitting in a Leadership Orientation class when I joined my current organization about 3 years ago. It was a session of the award winning Steven Covey’s Great Leaders Program. The reason I remember that day so well is that I came to know of some very scary figures pertaining survey results on organizational excellence.

The survey results showed that, on average, only 15% of the organization’s people could identify the top goals and priorities for the organization. Of those 15%, only 19% said they felt passionate about those goals while 51% had no idea on what they were supposed to do about the goals.

The image which came to my mind was of a natural disaster movie scene where everyone runs into a different direction trying to save their lives… a very different picture from true organizational success! At that stage I was an operational leader and although I felt compelled to ensure my team of about 120 colleagues would at least learn what the priorities of the organization were. I could not imagine I would, so soon be involved in ensuring this (and further) would be a reality for the entire organization.

In this organization I work for, Balanced Scorecards have been in place since the very first years and surely, the property’s most senior leader always knew what the goals for his/her business unit were. After all… that’s where bonus comes from! But the reality seemed rather different at the colleague level. Although all departments had their bonus KPIs, there was limited awareness, and often relevance regarding how those goals actually supported the high level strategic goals of the organization.

The element of passion was also questionable given the level of awareness.

The organization had done an amazing job in creating, assessing and refining Balanced Scorecards and aligned incentive schemes and hence the platform for goal cascading was in place, ready to be explored and translated into an easy-to-

understand-and-act-on-language. | Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Our Goal, My Role

BY MTM LAYS LARAYA Step 1 – Know It!

Step 3 – Do it!

The organization’s first step into creating the so desired alignment and commitment to the goals was to communicate them. Executive Office, HR and Business Excellence conducted a campaign entitled “Top 3” which highlighted the Top 3 Goals of the organization in very simple language to all colleagues. Posters were distributed and quizzes were conducted to ensure everyone would know those 3 figures by heart! At the end of that year, the first issue of the above mentioned survey indicator had been ticked off our list.

That was great! Awareness and passion for the goal are very important… Still, there was one question left in one of our top leaders mind: “Do they actually understand what THEY are supposed to do each day to help us achieve that goal?”. Sitting next to him at one of those enthusiastic events, I had no choice but to confess that I also did not have such confidence. (Looking back, I can only be thankful for having had great leaders who would never be satisfied with the “now” and to whom excellence had indeed no finish line).

Step 2 – Love It! Well, surely that wasn’t enough. The leadership team had lots of work to do if they wanted to address the two other areas of concern: getting the colleagues emotionally attached to the goals and to ensure they understand what their roles were.

On the second year, fueled by a passionate Learning and Development Team, the organization decided to organize an engaging event to not only communicate, but to explain what each of those goals meant in terms of outputs and deliverable actions. At that stage our BSC had grown to incorporate 4 dimensions and our top leader created the 4Ps concept (People, Passion, Performance, and Profit) to better engage and ensure colleagues could relate to the goals. The workshops were a success and for two years in a row we collected surveys showing that 98% of our colleagues understood and supported our Top 4 goals.

In this fourth year of continuous assessment and refinement of our goal cascading and communication approach, a new program called Our Goal My Role was introduced by that leader. In this program, colleagues have been involved in defining objective statements of the contributions for each of the Job Profiles within our organization to be reviewed twice a year during their appraisals.

At last I feel a strong sense of satisfaction by looking back and seeing that the leadership of this organization has invested sincere efforts towards all of those scary point addressed by Covey’s survey.

Step 4, 5, 6, 7… Keep on Racing!

Well, when we feel this way, there is one thing left to do: Look for another scary survey and improve a whole different process!

Lays Laraya, MTM Business Excellence Manager Jumeirah Hotels, Dubai

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Crossword Puzzle!

BY MTM MAUREEN GALANG 1

2

3

4

5

6 8

11

7

9

Solve this breeze of a crossword and win an exciting CROSS PEN with your name engraved! Winner will be selected through raffle draw.

10

12 13

14

16

18

Hello Toastmasters!

15

17

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20

21

Last date for submittal is 15 February 2015.

22 23 24

25

26

27

29

30

ACROSS:

28

31

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33 34 35 36

37

38 39

41

42

43

40 44

45

46

47

48

49 50

ACROSS: 1. A ritual in which a drink is raised and taken as an expression of honor or goodwill 3. An integral part of the club meeting agenda wherein it means “the act of considering or examining something in order to judge its value, quality, importance or condition.�

4. Toastmasters' most prestigious award is the Golden _______.

5. It is the heart of the Toastmasters educational program supportive commentary and helpful suggestions can reinforce positive speaking behaviors and point toward areas that need improvement

51

ACROSS: 6. A well-known BETM mentor who says Life is all about Passion and has been a passionate Toastmasters for the last sixteen years 8. Ralph Smedley's mantra "Let's keep it ____" 14. A list of meeting activities in the order in which they are to be taken up, by beginning with the call to order and ending with adjournment

16 The current president of TMI 18 Comprised of people with diverse social and cultural backgrounds that a speaker need to relate to for a good speech 20 Debate contestants needs to present _____________ views 24 A designated space for the performance of productions 26 The name of 27 Verb form of the CL Project 1 skill 29 Newsletters, manuals and magazines from TMI comes through 31 A toastmaster that takes a personal interest in and helps an inexperienced person, offering knowledge, insight, perspective or wisdom.

32 Title of BETM Newsletter Editor's Note 34 The alias of the first female International President of Toastmasters 35 A form of communication in spoken language, made by a speaker before an audience for a given purpose 39 For ice breaker, at what time does the amber light appear 43 Most people come to Toastmasters to overcome this in regards to public speaking 44 A social concept used to categorize humans into large and distinct populations or groups

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Crossword Puzzle!

BY MTM MAUREEN GALANG SALAS

ACROSS:

DOWN:

DOWN:

45. Two ____, as appointed by the chief judge keep the official record in contest speeches with one with using stopwatch and the other a signaling device

12 VPPR hope that every attending guest signs up

37 One of the primary rules in Toastmasters is to “speak to people's _____.”

13 Toastmasters' International Acronym

47. Which award does a club get on adding five new, dual, or reinstated members

15 Non-club members… yet

38 Competent Communication manual speech #10 objective

48. Tellers develop the ability to make different characters distinct by using ______ variety 49. "We empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders."

50. Applause 51. Bring or come to an end.

17 In an Evaluation Contest a speaker will give this type of speech 19 BETM belongs to this 21

Since BETM inception, he was one of mentors

22 A BETM member who has founded Win Management Services in 1997 and has been a Dubai Quality Award Assessor since 1998.

2 To say words to express yourself in a particular way

23 As a presenter, if you can successfully connect your hook to this, then your audience will be much more likely to remember your key point.

3 One of the Toastmasters International Values and promoted by BETM

25 On this project you discover your speaking skills

6 Which TMI club has been sponsored by Department of Economic Development of Dubai

28 To tell a story

DOWN:

7

BETM Anniversary month

8 First Woman from the Middle East to reach the finals of a Toastmasters International Contest 9 A crucial element of public speaking is to create among listeners the right _____ 10 11

40 Part of the Leadership Track 41 Important tip in public speaking. Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.

42 A fixed period of time 46 Usually speeches ends with a lesson that can be derived from a story or experience.

30 Project 7: Research your ______ 33 Becoming an Outstanding Toastmaster or Toastmaster of the year, you need to accumulate these 36 A valuable mechanism for building drama, adding suspense and imbuing key words and sentences with added meaning

Crossword designed and developed by:

Maureen Galang, MTM HR Manager Carea Air-conditioning Services LLC. Dubai

A Speech Contest Official Highest level achieved in Toastmasters

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20

VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015

Honoring our Competent Communicators 2013-2014 One of the precious Distinguished Club Points has been achieved due to the contributions of two of the most recognized public speakers of BETM, MTM Michelle Chedotal and TM Krishna Prabhu.

As a previous Business Excellence Assessor herself, MTM Michelle

TM Krishna Prabhu’s Competent Communicator journey began in

Chedotal was one of the first group of members of Business Ex-

2013, having been invited by one of his closest friend and BETM’s

cellence Toastmasters, closely mentored by DTM Nagabhushan

past president Manu Singh.

Balaji.

His uncanny ability

She is a seasoned coach

to bring intelligent

with the inherent ability

humor in his project

to engage her audience

speeches has been

with the way she passion-

appreciated on

ately delivers her project

numerous occa-

speeches. She completed

sions. He complet-

her Competent Communicator on 1st Sept 2014.

ed his Competent Communicator on 29th Sept 2014 .

The following list is a snapshot of MTM Michelle’s and TM Krishna’s Competent Communicator journey (P1 to P10) : Sr.

Project

Speech Title (MTM Michelle)

Speech Title (TM Krishna)

P1

The Ice Breaker

Comb your hair / Clean your shoes

Ice Breaker

P2

Organize Your Speech

Take 100% Responsibility

Time Management

P3

Get to the Point

Problem, what problem?

Art of Manipulation

P4

How to Say It

To do or not to do

Beauty

P5

Your Body Speaks

Be an inverted paranoid

Money

P6

Vocal Variety

Foot on the break

Restroom Etiquette

P7

Research Your Topic

Be invincible

Loneliness

P8

Get Comfortable with Visual Aids

Crossing the edge

Wisdom

P9

Persuade with Power

From frustration to fascination

The Best Donation

P10

Inspire Your Audience

Money Matters

The Best There Is.., The Best There was…The Best there ever will be

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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The Best There Is...

BY TM KRISHNA PRABHU, CC “I Am The Best There Is, The Best There Was And The Best There Ever Will Be” I am sure none of you would agree with what I said because I am not…How many of you have heard this statement before? These are the famous words of Wrestling Superstar Bret “The Hit Man” Hart. As a kid, I was a huge fan of Bret Hart and since then this statement had a massive impact on my thought processes and the way I went about with my life.

Even before joining Toastmasters I was exposed to public speaking. Although this was generally well appreciated by the audience, I always felt I WAS NOT THE BEST!!! I was introduced to Toastmasters as a Guest in a meeting where stalwarts like DTM Balaji were sitting in the audience and I was asked to attempt a Table Topic.

Initially I was quite nervous, however post a valiant attempt at the Table Topics, DTM Balaji had some kind and inspirational words for me and I just knew at that very moment that I wanted to be a Toastmaster and I eventually decided to join the awesome Business Excellence Toastmasters Club.

They say “fortune favors the brave”, I don’t really know if I was brave, however I was quite fortunate - I got the opportunity to be mentored by none other than DTM Balaji. Today, in little over a year’s time, I have managed to complete my Competent Communicator Manual I have been adjudged “Best Speaker of the Day” at BETM on 7 occasions I was the Winner at the 2014 BETM Club Level International Speech Contest I was First Runner Up at the 2014 Area 30 International Speech Contest

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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The Best There Is...

BY TM KRISHNA PRABHU I may seem arrogant and boastful about my achievements..., however all the Credit goes to my mentor and evaluators. Having said that, my fellow toastmasters, I would be the first to accept that this is not rocket science… and if I can do it… so can you!!!

There are three powerful ingredients that you and only you as a Toastmaster can bring into the equation, - A Burning Desire - Willingness to Work Hard - Willingness to Constantly Learn The initial question here is “How strong is the desire?”

A man once asked the greatest Greek Philosopher Socrates, “What’s the secret to success”?

Socrates instead of replying caught hold of him by his neck and closed his nostrils and held him in that position. The man struggled and gasped for breath, but Socrates did not release him. When the man was almost about to die, Socrates released his hold and asked “What did you want the most when I strangled you?” The man replied, “Air”. Socrates then said, “Only if you want success as badly as you wanted the air, you will get it.”

A burning desire is the starting point of your journey towards success. Therefore I said to myself, come what may, I will become not just a Competent Communicator, I wanted to be the Best Public Speaker.

Secondly…Can a strong desire alone lead you to success?

Well…the answer is No! One must sweat it out.

In my experience with all our other engagements like office work, studies, and family commitments it is a real challenge to turn up with quality speeches, however we should remind ourselves of the promise that we made when we joined Toastmasters.

I promised that I will plan, prepare and practice the speeches to the best of my ability and so I spent most of my free time searching suitable topics and material for my speeches. I wrote and re-wrote each speech at least 5 times, constantly improving upon it, till I was completely satisfied and only then I sent it to my mentor. Once I got the go-ahead from my mentor, I scheduled the dates for the speech well in advance and tried my best to meet the deadlines. I worked hard to internalize the speech so that I could deliver it with ease. It was not easy, and because I wanted to be the best, I chose to work hard…

And Finally - Your desire for success and your hard work must be supported by your willingness to learn.

Once upon a time there were two woodcutters who used to work very hard but could cut only 2 trees per day. One day someone advised them to spend some time in sharpening the axe to increase their productivity. One of them who was willing to learn, followed this advice, took time and sharpened his axe, only to discover that he was now able to cut 4 trees per day, the other woodcutter who did not bother, continued cutting only 2 trees per day.

The axe for us “Toastmasters” is our communication skill, by being open enough to learn from every Toastmaster,

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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The Best There Is...

BY TM KRISHNA PRABHU especially our mentor and speech evaluators. There will be no end to learning, however good we are, there is always a scope for improvement. I always noted down areas of improvement from all possible sources and prepared my speeches keeping in mind those valuable points.

Remember “The Toastmasters Program” is a serious endeavor and our BETM Club is actually a remarkable educational institution, because it provides its members—Us—with an opportunity to develop oral communication skills, which in turn fosters selfconfidence and personal growth.

I have always believed that if you take care of the process, the result will take care of itself. If I can do it… so can you… and all you need is 3 powerful ingredients, 

A Burning Desire



Extreme Hard Work



Willingness to Constantly Learn

It is now your turn to wake up… to rise…. and to deliver your next speech and never stop this process…Not until our BETM Club is “The Best There Is, The Best There Was And The Best There Ever Will Be”.

Krishna Prabhu, TM Competent Communicator Asst. Manager - Process Re-engineering Emirates Islamic

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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Business Excellence Club Achievements YEAR 2014 – 2015 [Achieved to date] ON TIME SUBMITTAL OF OFFICERS LIST & RENEWAL OF FEES

1 GOAL

TEN NEW MEMBERS REGISTERED

2 GOALS

TWO COMPETENT COMMUNICATORS

1 GOAL

OFFICERS TRAINED FOR FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR

0.5 GOAL

OFFICERS TRAINED FOR SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

0.5 GOAL

TOTAL ACHIEVED (Distinguished Club) out of 10 GOALS

5

NUMBER OF NATIONALITIES Brazil, 1, 3% UAE, 7, 21%

China, 1, 3% France, 2, 6%

Syria, 2, 6% Philippines , 2, 6% Jordan, 2, 6% Iran, 1, 3%

India, 15, 46%

SMEDLEY'S AWARD 2014 Business Excellence Toastmasters Club was awarded the Smedley Award for adding 5 new members to its club. This is a commendable achievement for the club and the ExCom.

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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EXCOM 2014-2015

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE TOASTMASTERS CLUB EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2014-2015

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle Pinnacle || http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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BETM Executive Committee 2014-2015 DTM Nagabhushan Balaji - Club Mentor & President DTM Balaji joined Toastmasters in September 1998, and it has been a very satisfying journey till now. He is a Distinguished Toastmaster currently mentoring numerous clubs under Division J in the UAE. Once a senior management professional with a leading bank, DTM Balaji now looks at being his own boss. He likes to read, keep fit, smile, share knowledge and follow sports. Balaji says ‘ Its a privilege as I have learnt a lot and met people from various fields of expertise and this is one place where learning never stops’! One can never stop learning from him.

TM Praveesh Hassan - Vice President Education TM Praveesh is a “Man of Strategy” with a love for solving business critical issues and building innovative ideas.

He joined BETM in 2012 and this year 2013-2014, he was elected President as VP- Membership 2013-14, . He established his own Strategy Consulting firm in 1996 in Dubai, and has since undertaken various challenging strategy assignments.

Praveesh is a family man and enjoys spending time with kids. An avid reader, he has a wide collection of books from different fields of knowledge. He is fond of quoting Jay Forrester: "While most people understand first-

order effects, few deal well with second-and third-order effects. Unfortunately, virtually everything interesting in business lies in fourth-order effects and beyond".

TM Kapil Naresh, CC - Vice President Membership TM Kapil is a dual six sigma black belt, level-1 certified TRIZ practitioner and an EFQM certified assessor. He is presently working as a Quality Assurance Controller in dnata Airport Operations. His areas of expertise are Strategy deployment, Business Process characterization, Project and Risk Management.

Having joined toastmasters in 2012, TM Kapil wishes to keep learning from this great educational institution.

“A toastmaster is my arena where I do mistakes and learn to become exactly what is required, nothing more, nothing less”, he says.

TM Sameer Chougle - Vice President Public Relations TM Sameer is a Chemical Engineer with a Masters in Operations Mgmt. He is also a Six Sigma Green belt, a certified DQA assessor and is currently working with dnata Airport Operations as a QA Controller.

TM Sameer cannot explain what drew him into what is now a passion for toastmasters. He simply just loves attending BETM club meetings, something he always thanks TM Kapil for — introducing him to the club in 2013.

He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the club quarterly magazine—Pinnacle. He loves Shiv Khera’s famous words “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently “ - and tries to implement in his work and personal life.

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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BETM Executive Committee 2014-2015 TM Maureen Galang - Club Secretary MTM Maureen joined toastmasters in 1st September 2013 after MTM Michelle Chedotal introduced her to the club. During the first ever club meeting, she was called to speak in a table topics session and she won it. Since then, Toastmasters has become a vital part in MTM Maureen’s chosen path of self-discoveries, both professionally and personally. She works as an HR professional in UAE since the past 7 years, and is also a sports enthusiast, avid supporter of environment conservation and animal protection causes.

She says “Every day I am discovering insights to myself, my appreciation for competent leadership and won-

derful friendships”.

TM Abdul Vaheed - Club Treasurer TM Vaheed is a management professional of high caliber. Working with S.S. Lootah, Dubai as Business Excellence Manager, he has been instrumental in numerous quality improvement projects with the firm. He is also a DQA senior Assessor and has assessed organizations since 2004.

One of his best qualities are to instinctively think ‘out-of-the-box’ and come up with something innovative, that’s why he is called the ‘Innovator’ at the BETM club. A quiet profile, he is married and has three beautiful children. TM Vaheed will continue his journey with toastmasters for many years to come.

TM Imran Iqbal - Sergeant At-Arms TM Imran joined toastmasters in 2013 and has been actively involved with the executive committee since then. He is currently working as a QA Manager with a leading construction company in Dubai.

He is confident he will be able to achieve his objectives of joining toastmasters, as he has already made huge strides of improvement.

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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CLUB MEETINGS SNAPSHOTS 2014 One of BETM’s Iconic meetings showcasing our club’s diversity!

| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation | Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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For membership, please contact: Kapil Naresh | VP Membership | kapilnaresh@gmail.com For complaints and suggestions, please contact: Sameer Chougle | VP Public Relations | samebc@yahoo.com

Business Excellence Toastmasters Club Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 We meet on alternate Monday | 1900 hrs to 2130hrs @ 2nd Floor | Business Village | Deira, Dubai http://www.betm.toastmastersclubs.org

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