Issue 2- February 2018
oice Of Bunts Newsletter
U.A.E BUNTS TOASTMASTERS CLUB Club No. 6588499, Area 21, Division B, District 105
EDITOR’S MESSAGE
Dear Reader, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”. - Henry Ford This is what you will see at UAE Bunts Toastmasters Club. In the past few months, our club has shown tremendous progress – with growing in numbers to achieving the prestigious Super 7 COT and Smedley award, exceptional participation in the first annual club contest to having varied educational programs including the one by the top 10 finalists of World Championship of public speaking – Saveen Hegde; every single meeting of ours has been remarkable. We feel privileged and honored to release the second issue of “Voice of Bunts” newsletter. We have endeavored to resonate the voice of the club in Voice of Bunts through the club activities, meeting overview, club contest, member achievements & articles. We have the upcoming events in the form of Area Contest and Social Gathering. Finally, I would like to thank each and every one of our Readers for your continued support; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did compiling it. I would like to extend special thanks to those who contributed articles without which there wouldn’t have been this newsletter issue.
TM HARINI SHETTY Vice President Public Relation
MESSAGE FROM CLUB PRESIDENT
“People of excellence go to the extra mile to do what’s right – Joel Osteen” It is only 8 months since our club came into existence and I am already penning my message for the 2nd edition of the newsletter. This says a lot about the club and its consistent effort to achieve excellence. Our journey so far has not only strengthened our bond as members of one community but also as Toastmasters who are on a mission to grow. This is perhaps the reason why we have been able to grow from strength to strength in such a short period of time. The new year commenced with countless blessings as we were successful in achieving our first Smedley award for adding 5 new members in August 2017. We also achieved the Super COT award for attending the Club Officers Training in full strength, attributing this recognition to the executive committee who are totally committed to their role. Every milestone that we cross is a great way to measure the distance that we have covered along this journey. Our first milestone was the Charter meeting of the club on 28th October 2017 and the second one being the Club contest held on February 10th 2018. Both these events was a testimony to the commitment and enthusiasm of our members who came together as a team and put up a show par excellence. Although this was a first contest experience for our new Toastmasters it did not deter them from trying the unknown. Some of our members even ventured out and supported other clubs by taking up contest roles and leaving a mark of excellence in those clubs. It is truly a proud moment for me to see UAE Bunts blossom into a beautiful reality. This was possible with the support our mentors who have been guiding our members in their journey. While I would like to take this opportunity to wish UAE Bunts further success ahead, it will be my endeavor to guide and support the club along its journey. Hope you enjoy the second edition of our newsletter and wishing you happy times ahead.
TM JYOTHIKA SHETTY President
MESSAGE FROM AREA 21 DIRECTOR "I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the phonograph. No, when I have fully decided that a result is worth getting, I go about it, and make trial after trial, until it comes." -- Thomas Edison My journey as a Mentor with UAE Bunts Toastmasters over the past few months was so enthralling that I enjoyed every bit of this experience. The main reason for this was the kind of members UAE TMC has got on board. Each one of them are unique and have tremendous potential to unleash. Any given opportunity, the members are enthusiastic to grab and experiment with their talent. The result was amazing, as many members of this club did not only elevate their own self-confidence in leadership, communications and public speaking skills but also help overcome the infancy of the UAE Bunts TMC in terms of its quality performance, beyond expectations. As of now within less than 8 months of its existence, UAE Bunts TMC has established excellence and quite confidently taken on any challenges thrown out by various highly competent seasoned toastmasters clubs in and around Dubai & UAE. As this 2nd Newsletter is being rolled out I feel proud of being the Area Director to which UAE Bunts belong. I am pleased to acknowledge the consistent effort of creating this newsletter and also the clubs’ efforts towards achieving its DCP goals. I am confident that with addition of a few educational track and membership records achieving the Select or even the President Distinguished level is not far from achievable. I express my sincere appreciation for the kind of excellence UAE Bunts Toastmasters in totality has displayed under the able leadership of its founder and President TM Jyothika Shetty. Attending most of the 18 meetings so far I have witnessed that the enthusiasm and vibrancy of the members is such that it makes it a rewarding experience for everyone present. While wishing you good luck in pursuing your great efforts to excel, looking forward for your club achieving the President’s distinguished club status soon. All the very best and God Bless.
TM RAMESH BABU MENON, ALB, ACS Area 21 Director, Division B, District 105
The Power of ‘YOU’ by TM Shreya Bhandary Have you wondered why some people have it all together? From having a lucrative career to building positive relationships to speaking confidently. What is their superpower? Well, as per renowned psychologist Leil Lowndes, it’s the skill of effective communication with others. In her book titled as “How to talk to anyone: 92 little tricks for big success”, she explains how one can have successful conversation with anyone, at any time. Being a toastmaster, naturally, I was inclined to get my hands on this book. While reading, I found a fascinating chapter with the heading ‘Comm-YOU-nication’. This chapter revolved around the question why is YOU such a powerful word? According to Leil Lowndes, using YOU when asking for a favor promotes better results. This can be better explained by an example. Suppose you want to take Thursday off. You can either ask “Can I take this Thursday off, Boss?” Or “Boss, can YOU do without me this Thursday? “In the first scenario, the boss needs to put an extra thought as he/ she has to translate “Can I take Thursday off into can I do without this employee this Thursday”. Extra thinking is an off-putting process also as you know some bosses hate thinking! On the other hand, “Boss, can YOU do without me this Thursday?”, there is no thinking process for the boss. The arrangement of words is in such a way that there is a matter of boss’ s ego involved now. This phrasing would most likely be replied by the boss with “of course I can manage without your help on Thursday” Opening Sentences with YOU boosts social discussions. During the presentation, if a participant from crowd asks a good question, instead of saying ‘that’s a good question’ you could probably say ‘You Have asked a good question’. It makes a greater impact as the participant feels good now. Similarly, using YOU while complimenting makes huge differences. For instance, say two people complimented your dress. First one says, “I like your dress” and the second one says, “YOU look great in that dress”. Obviously, you would be more pleased with the second compliment. Thus, application of the word YOU enhance and supplements conversations. The usage of words such as ‘me’ and ‘I’ are high among patients belonging to mental institutions as per research. Almost twelve times more than sane individuals. As and when their mental health improves the number of times they use personal pronouns diminishes. In the same way, the author claims that fewer times you use I, the more sane and understandable you are for your listeners.
THE ART OF NESTING by TM Mohnisha Shetty HOW A SIMPLE TECHNIQUE CAN HELP YOU TAKE COMMAND OF THE STAGE Yes, you’ve made it. “Ladies and gentleman, it is my privilege to present our keynote speaker for the evening….” You walk that long walk across the stage, desperately trying to avoid the betrayal of millions of snapping synapses in your body that walk the journey within you. It’s show time! The latest research I saw indicates that a television commercial has just 4 seconds to grab our fleeting attention, or we will move on. The public speaker probably has a little longer than that before audience members begin to tune out, but those first few seconds are still very important. Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to fill those seconds with words! That gap in time, that worm hole between the words of the master of ceremonies(MC) and your speech – that brief underrated moment – is your time. It’s a crucial time, its your time to nest. Novice speakers often ride the wave of jangling nerve endings head long into painstakingly crafted opening lines. Plummeting like a runway train to fill that unforgiving minute of pause with 60 seconds of words, words, words. But this is the time to let silence weave its magic. More can be said in 10 seconds of silence than five minutes of rational discourse. It is time to Nest. If you are lucky, you will be introduced by a Toastmasters – trained MC who will prepare the audience to be wowed (or motivated or informed), and you will arrive on stage to rolling applause. Your eyes will warmly meet the MC’s eyes, and you will shake his/her hand and then move with gravitas to the lectern,now yours by right. It is time to Nest. Nesting: “the tendency to arrange once surroundings. To create a place where one feels secure, comfortable or in control.’’ Deliberately place your nates on the lectern , and check them to ensure they are all there, and in order. Remove anything from lectern that’s not yours or not needed. If you wear reading glasses, put them on now , breathe deeply and do not rush. It is your space make it the way you like it. This is not wasted time; this process of nesting communicates volumes to your audience. It is indicative of your state of mind and internal dialogue: while I stand upon this stage, this stage is mine. It also sends the unspoken message: what I am about to say is worth waiting for. The audience will wait, for it is you they have come to hear. This is your time.
Look up, smile , pause and then say “Ladies and gentlemen, good evening”. You get that one shot at that line ; make it resonate off the walls. Be wary of excessive nesting; however like many, I cringe at the extravagant pauses taken at the beginning of some World Championship of Public Speaking speeches delivered a few years ago. If you speak without notes or in a competition, a three-second pause has impact; but a 10 second – pause suggests you have forgotten your opening line. If you have notes or a lectern, a 10 second pause suggests confidence and control, a 30 second – pause suggests you are unprepared, self – absorbed or nervous. There is a fine line between appearing in control and seemingly forgetful. If you are nervous nesting delivers a double amount of goodness because it communicates exactly the opposite. The audience believes you are in control, when in fact you are taking time to gain – control and get those butterflies to fly in formation. If you breathe deeply and appear confident, the audience will assume that you are….and so you will be. The next time you watch a presentation from a master of public speaking watch how he/she nests and takes control of the stage. Fee the anticipation as it builds in the audience, and then see how, just at the right time, the speaker begins. “Ladies and gentlemen, Good Evening “It’s show time!
The tale of a Charter Meeting by Jyothika Shetty “Leadership is an action, not a position” – Donald McGannon This proverb is quite relevant while I talk about my experience in conducting the Charter Meeting of our club. While I amplify this message more in my narrative I would like to begin by saying that this meeting was also possible because our leaders displayed their support in the form of action that was truly inspiring. The birth of a child is a momentous occasion in any family and as such the arrival is celebrated with much pomp and show. In Toastmaster birth of a club is always an occasion to cherish and what better than the Charter meeting to celebrate this moment. UAE Bunts was founded on 15th June 2017 and had immediately commenced its meetings. By the time the Charter certificate travelled its way from TMI in the United States it was October 2017, by which time we had completed 9 club meetings. When we were informed by our District Director DTM Sunil Kottarathil that our charter certificate had arrived it was as if UAE Bunts’ existence received the much awaited validation from the TMI fraternity. This was a momentous occasion and we could not proceed without celebrating in the much deserved manner. So the 10th meeting on October 28th 2017 was decided to be the Charter meeting. The Majlis hall at the Holiday Inn was booked for this occasion and all our members immersed themselves in preparing for the big day. Right from the decoration to home-made food everything was done with much love and affection. The club banner was ordered from TMI and it was planned that the District Director would present the charter certificate and banner to us on this big day. While the order was placed 3 months before the event there was no sign of the banner at all. “How could we conduct a charter meeting without the club banner?” With much disappointment I made several calls to the Division Director DTM Vinod Wariath forcing him to check his post box (he had taken responsibility of the order !!!). I was then told that the address given was that of our CGD DTM VP Menon. It was now time to call our CGD requesting him to visit the post office but this task was skillfully executed by our DD DTM Vinod Wariath !!!). There began DTM VP Menon’s visit to the post office and after several rounds of unfruitful trips, the much awaited package was finally handed over to him just a day before the charter meeting. He personally delivered the package to me, considering the urgency of the matter and thus provided the much needed relief. On the charter meeting day all our members were dressed in the best traditional attire (including the men!) and tasty home-made food was displayed on the table. The first guest to arrive was our District Director DTM Sunil Kottarathil with his humble smile which brightened our day. While the meeting was graced with the District trio DTM Balaji Nagabhushan and DTM VP Menon, from the Bunt community the occasion was attended by Mr. Sarvotham Shetty (founding member of the Abu Dhabi chapter) and DTM Ravindra Rai. It was an evening that was celebrated with fun and frolic and it truly ended up as a memory that will be etched in our hearts forever. More importantly it was a display of efficient leadership which conveyed a clear message that “Leadership is an action and not a position”. If each of the leaders did not do what they did, this meeting would not have gone the way it did. Most importantly it was a great leadership lesson to pass on to ensure this fraternity is filled with leaders who truly serve others.
CHARTER MEETING PHOTOS
LAUNCH OF THE FIRST NEWSLETTER VOICE OF BUNTS The first experience is always special in our lives, be it the first day of school, first best friend or even our first job. In Toastmasters too few first experiences gets etched in our minds forever. One such experience is the release of our first newsletter. Being a new club we would perhaps be excused if we said that newsletter was not a part of our plan. But being the club we are, challenges is a part of our DNA. So our VP PR TM Harini Shetty took up the challenge of rolling out our first newsletter on the charter meeting day. This was certainly not an easy task since this fraternity itself was new to our VP PR and such a challenge was indeed overwhelming. However, this did not deter her ambition and she went ahead and started the task of compiling the newsletter. A newsletter naming contest was also rolled out and finally the name “Voice of Bunts” was unanimously voted as the winning name while the winner was our club mentor TM Ramesh Menon. The first edition of newsletter was planned to be released on the charter meeting day but we wanted to make it extra special. So this time it was decided that a print version would be distributed to all the attendees and also launched by the dignitaries present. While it was certainly a mammoth task considering very little time that we had on time, TM Harini did not give up. She designed and created a newsletter par excellence that opened our eyes wide open. The colour, the articles, the creativity was further enhanced when all of us received a print version of the newsletter that was of top quality. This was one of the highlights of our charter meeting and launching the newsletter in the 10th meeting may not be a task that many new clubs would like to undertake. But braveness is not in the tasks undertaken but the willingness to undertake tasks and this is exactly what our brave VP PR TM Harini proved to all of us. We do hope the newsletter tradition is carried forward in the years to come as this is one of the incredible ways to build a legacy.
CLUB CONTEST The ďŹ rst Contest of UAE Bunts Toastmaster Club was held on 10th Feb 2018 at the Business Village. We witnessed some excellent performances by our club members who participated whole heartedly in all the 4 categories of the contests that was a well-organized. Area 21 Contest will be held on 23rd March 2018 in Dulsco Headquarters. Contestants representing our club in the Area 21 Contests:
INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST
HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST
TABLE TOPICS SPEECH CONTEST
EVALUATION SPEECH CONTEST
CLUB CONTEST
SPECIAL EVENTS
Visit of TM Saveen Hegde: The 14th UAE Bunts TMC which was the last meeting of 2017 will be etched in our memory forever for more than one reason. First it was the last meeting of 2017 where we celebrated Christmas. Secondly we had a special guest who visited us and gave us a session on story telling technique. The special guest was none other than the 2017 top 10 WCPS ďŹ nalists TM Saveen Hegde from Bangalore. The icing on the cake is that Saveen Hegde is also a Bunt and a well-known design thinking expert and an Improv artist who is an expert in his domain.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Community Outreach Program: As a part of the community outreach program, our club participated in the Bunts Youth Sports day on 2nd February 2018 that was conducted at the Institute of Applied Technology, Al Qusais, Dubai. This was a whole day event attended by more than 500 Bunts. The aim was to create visibility and educate the community members of the various activities the community is offering for their benefit. This was spearheaded by the President with the team of excom members who participated and created awareness of the Toastmasters fraternity. A roll up stand was made especially for this occasion and also fliers for printed to create awareness. At the end of the day several members expressed their intention to visit the club meetings.
MEETING FLYERS
MEETING PHOTOS
MEETING PHOTOS
CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS Pathways is on its way at UAE Bunts !!! The much awaited Pathway training was conducted by DTM Cherry Pye (Pathway Ambassador) on 24th February 2018. She delivered an elaborate education session explaining the beneďŹ ts of pathway and the structure of the program. It was indeed very helpful and provided the much needed clarity about this program. The session was followed by a Q&A segment where the members asked their queries which was well answered by DTM Cherry Pye. She also handed over the Pathway kit to the President TM Jyothika Shetty while wishing good luck to our members. Pathways indeed has created that excitement amongst our members who are eagerly waiting to witness the program go live.
CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS
Super COT Award: All 7 excom members attending both the C.O.T. Training
Smedley award from TMI – Sept 2017 – For adding 5 members
U.A.E BUNTS TOASTMASTERS CLUB Club No. 6588499, Area 21, Division B, District 105 Website: www.uaebunts.toastmastersclubs.org Facebook: /uaebuntstoastmastersclub We Meet on 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month at 3 pm @ Holiday Inn, Embassy District, Bur Dubai