Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters – July 20, 2005

Rudi opened the meeting at 7.15pm

“Chef” Miriam ran a “Summer Cooking” (theme) meeting with several changes to the agenda, but with a large audience composed of 15 members and 7 guests-helpers.

Iona, “a doer”, enforced that you have to act to do anything, and together we toasted “For Action!”

I wanted to add some “Flavour” to our meeting thru the Word For The Day, and in order to improve the tone of the meeting I encouraged everyone to taste it, to feel it, to season it, to smell it and to savour it!

Harry’s “Toilet policy” reminded to all of us that we are still human beings.

Simona, a last minute volunteer TTM, asked for some food recepies and there were useful tips from some of our fellow members as well from our seasoned guests. Especially Janette’s tips about how to keep the kitchen clean, was very practical. Don’t cook!

Clive stepped in as Chair for Miriam during the business meeting and banged the gavel and opened the business meeting. He explained the criteria required to become a” President’s Distinguished Club” and thanked Sherry for her extraordinary performance as the President last year. The last week’s minutes were read by me and were adopted without any change. The motion "to start a blog where the members of our club can contribute articles or comments and links they find relevant to Toastmasters activity and make our Club more visible to potential prospects" was adopted with a majority. The adopted minutes will be also posted in the Blog. The idea behind this blog is to be a source for information and to improve our communications skills.

Then Clive politely passed on the responsibility back to Miriam to took the charge again. That was a truly generous gesture on Clive’s part considering no one wants to give up power these days.

Mike Johnson a competitor and a veteran toastmaster, a past governor and the one closest to god in Toastmaster lingo – a DTM – acted as Parliamentarian and was truly impressed with the business meeting. Clive believed what he said.

After the break, the most energetic, the most learned and the most charming Kai presented very well his prepared introductions.

Ananthalakshmi Krishnaswami made us agree with her that we have to learn from our children to take the joy from simple things around us in her unique speech “Child is the father of the man”. She won the BS award. Yvonne evaluated Ananthalakshmi and demonstrated again that she knows what she is talking about and that she is just simply amazing. She won the BEV award.

After Peter’s speech we added another formula for Success. “Prioritize X3” is following the other “Learn X3” formula and now nothing will stop our members to work smart to do things to remain after their life. The President’s Trophy will be the proof! Rudi presented a good evaluation and offered some valuable recommendations.

Our President Clive, entertained us with some secrets from his wedding which got a
like warm review from Janet.

The meeting tasted good and energizing with Chef Miriam. Spark of the evening was none other than Simona for all of help she gave Miriam before, during and hopefully not after the meeting.

Our Eileen – VP PR did a great job as GE.
Abdullah helped graciously with the Timer and Grammarian’s report.
Iona gave us a flavoured excellent Listening Quiz.

Mike gave us the Thought For The Day and a reason to come to a TM club - not only a TM club – at Sheridan Park Club located at Hilton Hotel where the rooms are $99/night! “You cannot cry and laugh at the same time. It’s your choice!”

Miriam with a firm beating of the table with her gavel then closed the meeting on time.

An excellent fun filled meeting with everyone speaking eloquently and contributing effectively – well done all!
Members attending: Simona, Eileen, Kai, Rudi, Johnny, Miriam, Daniel, Abdullah, Peter, Yvonne, Di, Harry, Sherry, Krish, Clive, Ted. Honored Guests: Ananthalakswami, Iona, Endre, Michael, Janet, Rossane, Rebecca.

See you Wednesday 3rd August, for yet another great evening.

1 - The Icebreaker

Purpose: To introduce yourself to your fellow club members and share information about yourself of interest.
Timing: 4-6 minutes
What is this talk about?
The general subject of this talk is YOU! Share personal experiences of significance to you.
What do I talk about?
Select three or four interesting aspects about yourself which will provide an insight and understanding of you as an individual. You might include your birthplace, education or family, previous occupations, ambitions, hobbies, sports, or travel experiences.
How do I structure my talk?
Once you have decided what you will talk about, try to create an interesting opening that captures everyone's attention. Then work out how to finish your speech with a suitable conclusion. Finally fill in the body of the speech with the three or four points you want to make, expanding on them by using examples, stories, or anecdotes.
Should I use any notes?
Yes, you can use notes if you think you will need them. But remember, you are speaking about yourself, not reading your life history. You could write your main points on small card to refer to when you need to.
How much practice should I do?
You need to do as much practice as you think is needed so that you are familiar enough with your talk that it sounds spontaneous and natural. Rather than thinking of it as "making a speech", think of it as a talk before a group of friends, sharing information of interest.
Will I be marked on my speech?
No, you will not be marked or graded. Everyone will offer you feedback on how you did, and complete a personal written evaluation in your manual for you to take away and keep. You can use the evaluation sheet as a guide to things you did well, and things you could improve on or change for next time.
Should my talk have a title?
Yes, try to think of an interesting title for your talk that conveys a hint of what you are going to talk about and sets the scene for your talk. Before you speak, you will be introduced by name, using the title you have given.
Evaluation: Your evaluator will be looking for your strong points, whether they got to know you as a person, were you adequately prepared, did you speak clearly, did your speech have a definite opening, body and conclusion, and will offer specific suggestions to help you improve for next time.

More Information at:
http://www.toastmasters.org/pdfs/IceBreaker.pdf

Why to join? Learn with the best, and the rest will be easy!

To achieve anything in life, you must first be able to communicate your needs and desires to yourself and then to others. If you do not know how to do this, you will not achieve your goals, gain understanding or cooperation from others.You will not be able to bring your business or organization to the potential it can achieve. Can you picture the place you want to be? See if you can't realize the power of mastery of communication to get you there. Know the power of words to create a win/win environment and to build trust with people and increase co-operation. Learn about disasters that come from assumptions. Realize the influence of perceptions, paralanguage (tone) and body language.
Learn tools to make you a master communicator. (read more at http://www.falconfreedom.com/)

Toastmasters provides the tools that enable you to become an effective communicator and leader both in business or professional life, and your personal life.

A Toastmasters club is a "learn by doing" workshop in which men and women hone their communication and leadership skills in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.

If you would like to:

give better sales presentations
hone your management skills
work better with fellow employees
effectively develop and present ideas
offer constructive criticism
accept criticism more objectively
conduct effective meetings
speak off the cuff on a variety of topics
develop self-confidence and poise

then, Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club is welcoming you!

You'll enjoy the fellowship of our fellow members as you learn how to:
research and prepare speeches
design and use visual aids
evaluate other speakers
mentor and coach fellow club members
organise and run meetings, courses and conferences
conduct, judge and participate in speech contests
tell stories, present awards and introduce speakers
give educational speeches and workshops
host and speak at family and social occasions
deliver a variety of speeches on topics of interest to you and your audience

We're all volunteers, helping each other to improve and enjoy life. Whatever your goals or ideals, our club will help you achieve them.

Joining is easy! Everyone is welcome to visit a meeting. As a guest, you can sit back and observe. You will not be called upon unless you want to be. If you decide you would like to join the group, the Vice-President Membership will guide you through the process.

Toastmasters: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters – July 13, 2005

As Chairperson, our Sgt. At Arms Rudi Dacorte, gave a warm welcome to all participants announcing the theme of the meeting “Summer Fun”, and raised the temperature in room up to 30 Deg. Celsius.

This was only a breeze for Kris Ravuvari, who remembered much higher temperatures from his home country India, but we all felt the “Excitement” from his word for the day!

Our Past President Sherry Parnell as Timekeeper kept us to toe the line on time; furthermore she decided to gain more points reporting also as Grammarian and QuizMaster. The contest for the President’s Trophy seems to be tough!

Topics Master was the chirpy and funny Miriam Richter who treated us to an excellent Table Topics session posing interesting subtle questions such as “Get your picture – and picture yourself there!” Bob’s, Harry’s, Sal’s and Kai’s imagination won the best Table Topic after they looked deep within themselves for answers!

Our business like Rudi called the Business Meeting to order at 7.59pm. The minutes were adopted quickly and the business meeting was adjourned without a Parliamentarian report.
But, Simona didn’t give up and after the break she concluded nicely as the Parliamentarian, that for his first role as Chairperson, Rudi handled it with experience.

Peter Chen showed us how to be a Toastmaster with style, introducing the speakers “a la carte”.
If you didn’t love the dogs before, you will love them after Yvonne’s speech “I would like to have a dog.” At her second speech, Yvonne was natural and well prepared… to choose the breed, however a lot of decisions are still to make. Congratulations for winning the Best Speaker award.
Miriam demonstrated and convinced some of us that “piercing is cool”- in her “Hurray Piercing” speech – ATM-B #5. As a mother, she recognized in her daughter “the rebellious” child and decided to get 12 piercing fashionable holes, one for every month.

Great insightful evaluation was delivered by Eileen who won the BEv ribbon.
Our energetic Kai as GE had a thoroughly entertaining and well constructed evaluation done in 4 min.

Our very special president’s SPARK was deservedly given to Sherry who presented us with 3 reports through the evening.

Ted Schuster concluded in his THought of the day that “together we can help each other” and wisely decided to join our club!

Congratulations to all of us! Our Club is a 2004-2005President's Distinguished Club
Please put the following dates in your diaries now - they are all events not to be missed!
2005 International Convention Toronto, Ontario, Canada - August 24-27, 2005

And so ended another fantastic night at Sheridan Park Club – hmmm – at Hilton Garden Inn Hotel where the rooms are …$99/night - isn't it a great club?

Members attending: Simona, Eileen, Kai, Rudi, Johnny, Bob, Miriam, Daniel, Emily, Abdullah, Peter, Yvonne, Di, Harry, Sherry. Honored Guests: Amanda, Sal, Ted, Norman

See you Wednesday 27th July, for yet another evening of sparkling talent!

Please visit us!

The motion "to start a blog where the members of our club can contribute articles or comments and links they find relevant to Toastmasters activity and make more visible our Club to potential prospects" was adopted in our last meeting from July 20, 2005. The adopted minutes will be also posted here.
The idea behind this blog is to supply a large resource of information to improve our communications skills. I am Daniel Cheoreanu, the Secretary of our club.

Sheridan Park Toastmaster Club 628
District 60 Division P Area 22
is a 2004-2005 President's Distinguished Club

http://www.toastmasters.org/creports.asp

Drop in to see us for more information.
http://sheridanparktm.org/contact.htm

Join us and have fun!
http://sheridanparktm.org/join.htm

The 2005 International Convention

REGISTRATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FRIDAY JULY 22, 2005!
Online Registration is Now Available!

2005 International Convention
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
August 24-27, 2005