Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club 628

Congratulations to the new Executive Team!!

2010-06-10T14:20:00.004-04:00

Hello Everyone,

It was an exciting meeting last night. We went through the democratic process of finalizing our nominations and the voting process for next year’s executive team. Each candidate laid it on the line about what they would do for the club next year. It was interesting and fun. My congratulation and thanks go out to each of you that will be part of the new executive team. You will be carrying the Sheridan Park TM torch for next year and will be building a stronger club.

Here are the results of the election and your new executive team for next year:

· President Tiffany

· VP Public Relations: Elizabeth

· VP Membership: Frances

· VP Education: Larry

· Treasurer: Rudy

· Secretary: Samaa

· Sergeant at Arms: Kai

Good Luck and Thanks Again,

Jeff

Top 10 Tips on How to Open Your Speech by George Torok

2010-06-10T09:18:00.000-04:00

© George Torok is the Presentation Skills Expert. He helps business leaders deliver million dollar presentations. For more free tips on how to deliver your speech visit http://www.SpeechCoachforExecutives.com

Read George's open-eye article here.

Arrange presentation skills training for your team and presentation coaching for your executives with George Torok by calling 905-335-1997

Maximize your presentation skills with 50 FREE podcasts

2010-04-20T13:01:00.002-04:00

Maximize your presentation skills with 50 podcasts developed to help you become a more effective and persuasive presenter

Developed by the communications experts at Communispond based on our 40+ years of experience teaching high-impact presentation skills to executives from Fortune 500 companies worldwide, the Communispond Podcast Library brings a wealth of presentation skills tips, techniques, and advice to your laptop or personal media player.

Some of the podcasts included in the library are ...

• Grab Them, Quickly
• Handouts vs. Presentations
• How To Disagree With Your Boss
• Checking In Without Checking Up
• Avoiding Dry Mouth
• Rules for Remote Meetings
• The Sit-Down Presentation
• Presenting Good News
• Using a Microphone
• Hostility and the Phone
• Don't Plan in PowerPoint
• Speaking on the Spot
• Project Energy With Gestures
• Red Dots and Playthings
• The Science of Stage Fright
• Walking or Standing Still
• Hostility and the Phone
• Anticipate Objections
• Using a Webcam
... and many more

DOWNLOAD NOW

Sheridan Park Toastmasters Open House on April 21st

2010-04-14T15:09:00.001-04:00

Sheridan Park Toastmasters Open House

Please join us as on April 21^st to learn more:

When: Wednesday, April 21 - 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
Where: Christ Church - 1700 Mazo Cres., Mississauga, ON L5J 1Y8

Guest Speaker: Brahm Memone "Creating Exceptional Outcomes"

Contact:

Jeff Peters, President: jeff.peters@aseco.net

Rudy DaCorte, Public Relations: rdacorte@cogeco.ca

Elizabeth Marina, VP Membership: emarina@rogers.com

Websites:

Sheridan Park Toastmasters: www.sheridanparktm.org

Toastmasters International: www.toastmasters.org

Spring Conference 2010

2010-04-12T11:18:00.000-04:00

You are invited to join your fellow Toastmasters at our District 86 Spring Conference at the beautifulDelta Meadowvale Resort and Conference Center in Mississauga, Ontario from April 16 to April 18, 2010.

We are expecting more than 300 enthusiastic Toastmasters to enjoy this Conference experience of workshops, International speech and Evaluation contests, the District business meeting and social evenings! Don't forget to visit the bookstore for all your club essentials and educational materials.

In order for the conference to be enjoyed by all, we must ask everyone to not use any scented products including perfumes, scented hair and body products. Please see the Toastmasters International No Scent Policy.

Help us promote the conference, download this flyer and invite your friends in and around the District to join you in Mississauga next April 16.The Spring Conference Committee looks forward to welcoming you to this conference.

Why Wanting to Speak Well Can Be The Very Reason You Suck at Speaking

2010-03-05T10:24:00.003-05:00

I wanted to share with you this interesting article written by Robert Monaco, in this month issue of "Influencing From the Front" newsletter. Robert discusses the difference between being Internally focused vs. Externally focused, and how it effects your performance as a presenter.

The Best Communicator in the World

2010-02-11T09:59:00.000-05:00

"If you feel shy, nervous, or afraid, you're not crazy, you're not alone, and today
is the day you stop letting ugly communication damage your relationships. Authentic
communication can become as natural as breathing - when you pay attention to a few
essential aspects of what connects people."

http://changethis.com/67.06.BestCommunicator
http://changethis.com/pdf/67.06.BestCommunicator.pdf

Build Better Rapport by George Torok

2009-07-23T09:28:00.000-04:00

Why build rapport?

Building stronger rapport with your listeners reinforces trust. When your audience trusts you, they will listen better, believe you more, follow your advice and buy your message, product or service. In the absence of trust none of this will happen.

The better the rapport that you create the more they will like you. In selling there is an old piece of wisdom that says, "People buy from those they know and like." Every time you speak you are selling something even if you think that you are not in sales.
How can you build rapport?

Demonstrate that you are like them.

People like those who appear to be like them. Dress like them but no less then the best dressed person in the room. Speak the language that they understand. Don't use words that are intended to impress. Instead always use words that everyone in the audience understands. You can impress with the way you string those words together and know your topic. Learn and use some of the key phrases and terms that they use. For example, do they have customers, clients, patients, members, associates or worshippers?

Show that you understand them.

Don't pretend to be an expert on their world or industry if you are not from that world. But with a little research - online and through conversations - you can collect some knowledge and perspective about their circumstances. Recognize their issues, challenges and triumphs.

Include them in your presentation.

Meet at least some of them before your presentation. Gather some anecdotes and stories that you might use. Mention some of their names in your presentation. Include at least one story that highlights one of their heroes - (which could be one of them).

Be real.

Speak in a conversational manner. Tell a story that makes fun of yourself. This might make them laugh and more importantly they will see you as imperfect - like themselves. Don't portray yourself as perfect because they will hate you for thinking that you are better than them. No one's perfect.

George Torok

Forward this tip to your colleagues who want to be more effective presenters.
For more articles check Library of Business Articles

Power Presentations® is a registered trademark of Peter Urs Bender
George Torok is licensed to use this trademark.

Public Speaking and Panic Attacks by Peter Lawrence

2009-06-24T11:53:00.003-04:00

Suffering a panic attack when giving a talk? This article states some steps to consider and do. Read on to know these steps.

Public Speaking and Panic Attacks

Use Your Inside Voice by SellingPower.com

2009-04-20T20:25:00.000-04:00

Voice control – great presenters use it to make sure their messages are heard loud and clear. Expert communications consultant, founder and president of Power Presentations, Inc., Sheri Jeavons offers these tips to use your voice more effectively:

Speak up. Pick a spot or a person in the back of the room to begin your communication. Make sure you speak loud enough for that person to hear you. However, warns Jeavons, if using a microphone, don't yell; instead, adjust the amplification so that you can be heard clearly while using your normal voice.

Tell stories. Some ways to make sure you have voice modulation and enthusiasm in your voice is to tell stories, and use analogies, metaphors, and alliteration. For example, using alliteration such as, "simple, selective service" can make a point memorable. You can also repeat a phrase so that it will be etched in your audience's mind. "You'll see a 30 percent cost savings. That's a 30 percent cost savings."

Use pauses. "If you feel that you speak particularly fast, stop and pause at the end of a key point and/or when you are changing a slide," says Jeavons. "This will stop the energy. Incorporating more pauses will help slow you down because it's a discipline."

Be natural. When you are presenting, use your everyday talking voice, says Jeavons. "People sometimes get into a presenter voice and it's a little too phony," she says. "Instead use your natural speech patterns because they have variations in pitch. For example, if you feel yourself droning on and notice that your audience is losing interest, the best thing you can do is stop talking and ask a question to change your tone of voice. This will engage you in a conversation and conversation is more natural because it adds modulation to your voice."

Seek variety. Tell a story so you can slow down or pick up your speech pace to make a point stand out. "Variety keeps it interesting," says Jeavons. "Think about where you want to speed things up or slow things down, and then slow down where you really want them to get it. Make it obvious." If your voice is really strong and quick normally, soften it, and slow it down. Conversely, if you tend to be laid back when speaking, get a little louder and intense on a part that's really meaningful to the client. Another way to add variety is to adopt a more staccato pace at certain points of your presentation – short, quick phrases can draw immediate attention to what you are saying. "That stop, start, stop, start will grab people's attention," says Jeavons.

Be enthusiastic. "Take it up a notch or two," advises Jeavons. "The way to do that is to tell the customer about the value they are going to receive from your product or service. When you are talking about something they want or need, you will see them smile or shake their head and that will create more enthusiasm for you, too."

Take care. Drink room temperature water before, during, and after you speak to prevent potential voice problems during your presentation. Jeavons says that coffee, tea, or sodas have acidic properties in them that can dry out your throat. She also warns against drinking cold drinks because they can constrict your throat.

Always practice. Jeavons suggests to audio record yourself and then listen to the way you present. Is there enthusiasm? No? Then tell more stories, ask more questions, or use people's names to create more energy. Does your tone vary? Does your pace vary? Do you need to pause more often? If so, where? Once you know where you need to improve, it can be easy to incorporate changes.

11 Tips to Be a Better Public Speaker by www.SixWise.com

2009-04-20T13:00:00.001-04:00

Public speaking is a skill -- one that takes practice and perseverance to master.
(read more here http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/08/05/07/11-Tips-to-Be-a-Better-Public-Speaker.htm)

And now, without further ado, here are the 11 top ways to become a better public speaker.

Know your audience. Tailor your message directly to this group, then greet some of the audience members as they arrive so you feel like you're speaking to friends.
Know your material. In general, you should only give a speech about something you know very well. Make sure you know even more about the topic than you intend to include in the speech.
Practice makes perfect. You should practice every speech, out loud, and including any visual aids you plan to use, numerous times.
Take a breath. Pauses can lend just the right emphasis to an important point, so be sure to include them when appropriate.

Remember to use body language, including your facial expressions, eye contact, posture, and hand gestures, to engage your audience and convey your confidence.

Use body language to your advantage. Your posture, eye contact, hand gestures and facial expressions speak volumes. Here are some tips to use this non-verbal form of communication.
Visualize a successful speech. Picture yourself wowing the audience with your charisma, poise and wit. It will help to ease your nerves.
Do not apologize. If you stumble on your words, appear nervous or mix up a part of your speech, don't say anything about it. The audience will probably not notice, unless you bring it up.
The audience is your friend. It's easy to think of the audience as the big, bad wolf. But in reality, they want your speech to be a success.
Figure out your take-home message. What is it that you want the audience to leave with? How would you want them to sum up your speech if they were to describe it to someone else? This is your take-home message. Use it to build your entire speech.
Start with a bang. The first few minutes of your speech will set the tone for your entire presentation, so use them to your advantage. Try a joke, a shocking statistic, an inspiring quote or a news headline that will get the audience's attention and peak their curiosity.
Get personal. When appropriate, share your personal stories, experiences and thoughts. This keeps your speech unique while sharing your motivations and enthusiasm with the audience. Also, speak to the audience as you would a friend. It's generally not appropriate to keep things overly formal or technical.

A Convenient Truth at Toastmasters by Meryl Runion

2009-04-08T13:23:00.002-04:00

Whitewash
Have you ever been beside yourself? I’m talking about the kind of mind-body disconnect where your body is there but your mind is someone else. That’s what I was like that day.

I took a deep breath as I observed the clock. It seemed to drag and fly at the same time. I didn’t hear a word the Toastmaster said until the sound of my name reached me through my fog. I somehow found my way to the front of the room.

The light from the window obscured the view of my audience. I was relieved that I couldn’t clearly see their reactions to my first speech ever. My mouth was moving, but I wasn’t aware enough to supervise what came out. I somehow knew when to stop and sat down to hear my presentation evaluated.

I feared the evaluation more than the presentation itself. I shouldn’t have. My evaluation was a whitewash. The evaluator sang my praises and failed to note a single flaw or idea for improvement. Wow. I must have been some kind of speaking genius.

I continued to present speeches and continued to receive rave reviews of my amazing, flawless presentations until something happened after my forth speech that took me down from my cloud.

Betrayed by the truth
What happened? I received an honest review. Bonnie, my evaluator, identified the strengths of my presentation and proceeded to identify the areas where I could improve.

I felt mistreated, abandoned and betrayed. Bonnie broke the rules! She was supposed to tell me how perfect I was like the others had done.

Yet beneath my inner protest I knew she had given me a far greater gift.

Nothing less than the truth would do
About a month later, I resolved to enter the Toastmasters humorous speech contest. Suddenly I was serious. Suddenly I wanted honest feedback. Suddenly I wanted Bonnie to evaluate all my speeches. And suddenly Bonnie left the club and was no longer available to tell me how I could improve.

I won second place for the Iowa Humorous Speech Competition that year. Had Bonnie been able to coach me, might I have won first?

A feast of feedback
Years later I sent a videotape of a Toastmasters speech to the largest seminar company in the United States. I was thrilled when they flew me in for an audition and later hired me.

At that point, when I spoke, 40 – 400 people who had paid money to hear me evaluated me each day. Some of the evaluations were whitewashes. Some were critical but lacking in recommendations I could implement. But mixed in, there were useful evaluations that Bonnie could have written. I used those evaluations to help me improve.

Now, I book my own speaking engagements. My platform is to Speak Strong – to be willing to tell people what they need to hear, even when they are reluctant to hear it. Bonnie demonstrated what it means to Speak Strong when she evaluated my presentation accurately.

A great resource
My career began for me at Toastmasters with a woman who was willing to tell me what I needed to know. I was terrified at my first presentation, and 1000 presentations later I still deal with that fear every time I present. I dreaded feedback then, and I still embrace it with trepidation today. But I love to speak more than I fear it, and I am grateful for the support that helped me get where I am.

Have you ever been beside yourself? It’s easy to disconnect and easier to give up. But then you’d miss the Toastmasters’ opportunity to learn how to speak well. You’d miss the opportunity to hear what you need to hear. You’d miss the opportunity to learn make your point so others get your point. You’d miss a fabulous opportunity to Speak Strong. What an opportunity that is!

For immediate help with your communication challenges, order the book PowerPhrases! now, and we'll email you a link to a free PDF of the book within hours.

Reprint/Reuse Policy:

You have permission to use any of these articles in your newsletter, publications, or on your web site. Please:

1. Let us know when and how you are using the article via email: E-mail Meryl.
2. If it is a web posting, please link back to this article
3. Place Meryl’s tag line at the end of the article with all her contact information. If on-line, please make certain that her web address links to her site. Thanks!

Tag line

Meryl Runion and Speak Strong (SpeakStrong) provides Power Phrases (PowerPhrases) and other tools to help you improve communication skills at work and at home.

She is the author of the books Speak Strong, PowerPhrases!, How to Use PowerPhrases, Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors and How to Say It: Performance Reviews. She can be reached at 719-684-2633 or by email: E-mail Meryl.

Overcoming Speaking Anxiety - free podcast

2009-03-18T08:43:00.001-04:00

Coach Ian Scott interviews professional speaker Lenny Laskowski. Lenny is the President of LJL Seminars, a public speaking training company. We discuss the fear of public speaking. Techniques to relax and be a more confident speaker. How taking the time to improve your communication skills can improve your career,increase your income,and impact upon ALL aspects of your life. Plus much, much more! To learn more about Lenny's company, visit: http://www.ljlseminars.com. To learn more about Coach Ian Scott, visit his official website here: http://www.coachianscott.com

7 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking

2009-03-17T16:59:00.001-04:00

We all have to speak in public one time or another, and according to some (somewhat doubtful) research, public speaking is the number one fear of most people. However, with some preparation, mostly anyone can do a pretty good job at it. There isn't as much magic to public speaking as some make it seem. By implementing the following 7 Tips anyone can come accross as a pretty good speaker. You don't believe me??? Try it!

1. Dress for success!
While this might seem an obvious one, I regularly encounter speakers who majorly underdress or (some) overdress. The thumb of rule is, of course, better be overdressed than underdressed. Your audience wants to look up to you and good "packaging" will enhance your image tremendously. When unsure, contact the event organizer and find out what is the expected attire for speakers.

2. Develop a great intro and closing and practice them till you can say them forward and backward even in your dreams!
There are only few things screaming "I'm not a professional" than someone starting their presentation with excuses or some weak mumbo-jumbo. Start your presentation with a quote, an intriguing question, humor, or a short story, or even magic; then link your intro to the topic of the day. Close your presentation by bringing up elements of your intro and build to a strong finish to elicit your well-deserved applause. One of my favorite techniques is the short suspense story that captivates the audience, then without finishing it, link it to the topic of the day. Then as a closing of the presentation, bring up again the suspense story, make a comparison to the topic again, and this time finish it.

3. Notice your tendency to use "Ah's," Mmm's" and other fillers in your presentation!
It can become really annoying when a speaker is uncomfortable with pauses in between sentences or while thinking, and fills those gaps with "Ahhh..," "Mmm.," or other sounds. Another, almost equally, annoying fillers are the constantly repeated "You know what I mean," "You see what I'm saying," and other constantly repeated fillers.There are two good ways to raise your awareness about these fillers: a) record one (or more) of your presentation(s) and listen with an ear for filers; b) Join your local Toastmasters International club - they are really good about helping you break your filler habits. (I had around 60 "Ahh's" and "Mmmm's" in my first speech I delivered at Toastmasters. By the time I gave my 7th or 8th speech I had zero fillers.) Once you are aware of your tendencies of using certain fillers, you can consciously take steps to eliminating them.

4. Don't overwhelm your audience with too much information!
Do you want your audiences to leave with a sense of "This was great! Today I learned something?" Then narrow down the information you want to present in a way that will not overwhelm your audience. Ask yourself "What is it that the audience really needs to know about this topic?" Then break down that info into chunks that will fit the length of your presentation. At the end of your presentation give your audience information on how they can learn more about the topic - hopefully, by buying your book(s), tapes, CD, extended course, etc.

5. Build your presentation in an easy to follow format!
Whether you are using PowerPoint, flip chart, or other methods to stay on track and to keep your audiences on track, make sure that you tell them in the introduction what points you will cover, then stick to the "plan" as close as possible. An easy way to accomplish this is by giving out handouts where participants can follow your train of thought. One of the most effective ways would be to have the main points spelled out on the handout, then have some fill-in-the-blanks fragments relating to each particular point.

6. Time yourself!
When you practice, time each segment of your presentation and prepare a little cheat sheet (a 2 X 4 card, for example) that you will keep in your sight while you speak, right near a timer or watch. With this little "tool" you'll always know whether you are on track. If you are running out of time, speed up or skip parts of your presentation and conclude with your rehearsed closing.

7. Keep eye contact!
One of the biggest difficulties of novice public speakers is keeping eye contact with the audience. However, this is a very crucial element to come accross as a great speaker. When a speaker keeps looking above the audiences head, the ceiling, the floor, etc., after a while the audience starts wandering "Who the heck is this guy talking to?"
The easyiest method to keeping good eye contact with your audience is by finding one smiling or friendly face and keep eye contact most of the time with that person... Then as the presentation moves on, start making eye contact (for a second or two) with some other audience members, but always returning to your smiling/friendly face. Then once you find another encouraging audince member, start keeping eye contact for some time period with this second person, while also wandering away to make eye contact with other audience members for a second or two.
By following this method, usually one finds themselves more and more encouraged and the confidence gained that way will result in an easier flow of the message and more and more audience members will become engaged and be transformed into "friendly and smiling" faces.

......

Public speaking can be one of the most rewarding experiences. When applying the above 7 tips should make it more enjoyable for anyone, including your audiences who definitely do not want to see a speaker fail, mumble, talk to the walls, etc. People listen to a speaker to learn something or to get entertained; so follow the above tips and give your audience the great presentation they deserve.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright E.G. Sebastian, 2005. All rights reserved.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E.G. Sebastian is a performance coach and an international speaker (speaks 6 languages).
E.G. is a certified DiSC Behavioral System trainer and DiSC personality assessments distributor.

To hire E.G. to provide Public Speaking/Presentation Skills training - for groups or for individuals - call him toll-free at 877.379.3793, or contact him by E-mail at info@egsebastian.com.

Online Public-Speaking Resources

2009-02-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

A great collection of links to blogs at http://speaking.alltop.com/

Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/

Six Minutes Your guide to becoming a confident and effective speaker http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/

Interesting, presentations are available at http://www.ted.com /

Podcast for Toastmasters - called Toastcaster http://toastcaster.podbean.com/

For humorous speech http://www.humorpower.com/

The best public speaking tip ever by Scott Berkun

2008-11-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

This is it. This is the big one. It’s the best, simplest advice I’ve ever heard about public speaking: Videotape yourself speaking and watch it.
That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
This is not new (title says best tip, not the most original), but most people are terrified of this and never do it. Well guess what - if you’re afraid to do it, how should your audience feel? Would you hire an accountant that doesn’t do their own taxes? Well, if you’re a speaker, you should, once in awhile, be your own audience.
We’ve all seen thousands of professional speakers, actors and presenters on tv and in the workplace making us all excellent critics of presentations. But what most of us lack is the most basic feedback on how we perform ourselves.
If you watch even 5 minutes of yourself presenting, you can catch:

Lazy speaking habits, like ummms and aaaaws.
Lack of eye contact (reading isn’t presenting) and presence.
Body language issues and distractions.
Moments when you’re confused by your own material.
Energy level (do you seem to care about what you’re saying?).
Personality - are you indistinguishable from a presentation robot?

Watch yourself and take notes. After you’ve caught things like above that distract you as a viewer, videotape yourself again - on the same material - with the goal of doing less of the above, and more or the things you did well. As you repeat the material with these things in mind, more and more of your material will come through. Still think you suck? Do it again and again and I promise you will get better nearly every time.
With the video, you can ask friends to review and give feedback - but pick your presentation minded, critical friends, not the ones who, like your Mom, will just tell you how great you were.
This requires no training, no special Powerpoint voodoo, just your willingness to swallow your pride for an hour or more. Believe me - your audience will appreciate it.

10 common presentation tips by Daryl Mather

2008-11-06T11:20:00.002-05:00

As part of my own consulting, as well as mentoring of colleagues and others that I come in contact with, I often give them the following tips on presentations.

This is sort of a small summary of the one day presenting skills course that I have developed over the past couple of years. I hope it is of use and of interest to you. (And if it is please share it with others)

And yes.. this means you need to revisit that presentation and cut it to ribbons.

1. Drink water about 20 minutes before speaking. It makes you think better. (Fact!) THis is good for interviews, exams and negotiations by the way.

2. Don't just use the bog-standard Power Point Fonts. (Fontstock.net)

3. Use open gestures. Do not point at anybody except with the back of your hands. (Flowing movement) Do not hide behind the flipchart. (Please!!)

4. Images win over text. The presentationis not your teleprompter, it is there for the audience. iStockphoto, Google Images, Flickr and Photobucket are all low cost sources of images. (Careful of copyright)

5. If you must use text then be creative. Don't write everything you know, only the points they need to remember. Don't use ten words when two will do, you can add it later verbally.

Do use scrolling, don't accentuate every word. Do change sizes, colors, etcetera.

6. Relax - they want you to succeed. (normally)

7. Remember the rule of thirds. Cut your screen into thirds and make sure that you place items in the right places. (For good perspective)

8. Be conversational, be socratic. (Ask questions)

9. State your claim. In your first minute or two make it quite clear that you have the right to be there talking to them about this theme. The more important you are the smaller introduction you need. (Anybody ever ask "who's Elvis?") So until you are that important you need to make sure everyone is comfortable spending the money they have spent.

10. Take questions during the presentation.

You dont want to get into the situation where a) you take questions from the most important person in the room but not everyone else, or b) you tell the most important person in the room to shut up.

Not an exhaustive list, but a good starting point for anybody about to present.

Another good article is 6 Tips for Presenting without Software

Secrets of interesting conversation by Peter Murphy

2008-10-11T21:42:00.000-04:00

In this video Peter mentions a number of common mistakes to avoid.
Make sure you catch those points. You´ll know why this is so
important after you hear Peter explain how those mistakes can really
get in the way of making great conversation.

Turn on your speakers and watch the video at:

http://www.howtotalkwithconfidence.com/interesting/interesting.html

Three Delivery Tips

2008-10-01T21:07:00.000-04:00

(this is part of Podcast episode 033: project management presentation skills (part 2 of 2))

Here are three simple delivery tips to remember for your presentation in order to have the biggest impact on your audience:

Stand up straight
Look at one person at a time
Speak loudly

Once you master these three tips, you can focus on all 9 skills of presenting which focus on:

Movement
Stance
Hands
Gestures
Eyes
Volume
Speaking pace
Animation
Non-words (”ums”, “ahs”, “errs” “like,” etc.)

You should practice your speech using pauses instead of non-words. Also, practice using pauses instead of “ums” or “errs” during meetings, on voice mail messages, and with friends. I personally would also like to recommend practicing elimination of non-words to those of you that like to talk to yourselves on the train or bus. I would like to see a little better presentation from you in those situations.
Videotaping yourself is a great way to help you become better at presenting while practicing skills and detecting your use of non-words. In most cases you will discover that you appear a lot more confident than you feel while presenting.

Answering Questions During Your Presentation

Division B - Education spotlight - Speaker To Trainer Workshop Sept 9, 2008 TUESDAY!!

2008-09-05T08:52:00.003-04:00

Click on the image -->
Kindest regards,

Iona Rodricks, DTM
Education Ambassador District 60 Div P / District 60 Directory Editor 2007 - 2008
VP Education, Past Division D Governor 2006/2007
905.267-0743
www.meadowvaletoastmasters.com

District 60 Toastmasters - 2008 Spring Conference Apr 11-13

2008-04-06T19:27:00.003-04:00

If you've never been to a Toastmasters District Conference — this is your year to start! And if you're a veteran, you'll find even more of what you've come for before!

— Doug Daye, Chair, 2008 Spring Conference

Hi all,

Do you want to see the best speakers and evaluators from all Division? Don't miss the District 60 contest!

District 60 Toastmasters Spring Conference will be held at Sheraton Parkway North, Richmond Hill, Ontario April 11-13, 2008.

Here are the schedule for the contest at the Conference:

International Speech Contest Saturday 4/12 9:30am-11:00am Grand York Cost $30
Evaluaton Speech Contest Sunday 4/13 9:00am-10:30am Grand Richmond Cost $30

You can go online to register. Follow the link below.

http://triontex.com/SpringConference2008/registration.php

Regards,

Kai Chan

VP-Education

Sheridan Park Toastmasters

What is your Resolution for 2008?

2008-01-07T08:54:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year Fellow Toastmasters and Guests,

This New Year finds our weekly Wednesday meetings at a new and improved location!

Join me on Wednesday, January 9th at the Country Inn, located at 2930 South Sheridan Way - South/West corner of Winston Churchill and Q.E.W.

I will be chairing the first meeting and ask members to go on-line and sign up for vacant roles.

Your participation and commitment will make 2008 GREAT!

The meeting theme for this week is: What is your Resolution for 2008?

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday at 7:15 PM.

Cheers,

Rudy DaCorte

President - Sheridan Park Toastmasters

New Location: Country Inn - Oakville

2008-01-07T08:48:00.001-05:00

New Location:

Country Inn - Oakville

For Map and Directions click on the address below:

2930 South Sheridan Way , Oakville, ON L6J 7J8 , Canada

Telephone: (905) 829-8020

Fax: (905) 829-4168

The Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club (District 60) is one of six clubs in Area 22 - Southern Ontario. Our group is made up of colorful people; many nationalities, young, not-so young, male, female, etc. but we all have something in common, we all want to improve our communication skills and have fun in the process.

Sheridan Park Toastmasters is your key to developing the essential communication skills needed in today's fast-paced world. Whether you are presenting to your senior Vice-President, preparing a speech for your best friend's wedding, proposing a toast at a luncheon, or running a meeting for the local charity, effective communication spells success!

At Sheridan Park Toastmasters, we provide an environment conducive to your growth and development. Our members are enthusiastic, supportive and FUN!

Impromptu Public Speaking

2007-07-19T12:41:00.000-04:00

Do not think on your feet!
Sometimes you might be asked to give comments or a presentation without advance notice. You might be tempted to think on your feet. I strongly suggest that you do not think on your feet. It is easy to get yourself into trouble. Instead always be prepared to speak on very short notice. Impromptu speaking is similar to regular presenting – in that both are based on skill development. The better you know and practice the techniques the more it looks like talent.

Here are some techniques to help you with impromptu speaking.

Know some favourite stories that you tell well and can use to illustrate more than one message as required.
Quickly write three points on an index card – then talk about those points.
Decide on the one thing that you want to get across – and deliver that message.
Conduct your speech as an interview with yourself. Ask questions – and answer them.

Don’t think on your feet – instead be prepared.

George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
Presentation Skills Training
Motivational Keynote Speaker

The Health Benefit of Public Speaking

2007-07-06T20:37:00.000-04:00

hen once asked by Dale Carnegie about the health benefits of public speaking, Dr. David Allman, former president of the American Medical Association stated, "it is a prescription that no drugstore can fill. It must be filled by the individual; if he thinks he can't, he is wrong." Dr. Allman continued by jotting it down on a piece of paper for Mr. Carnegie.

Here it is:

Try your best to develop an ability to let others look into your head and heart. Learn to make your thoughts, your ideas, clear to others, individually, in groups, in public. You will find, as your improve your effort to do this, that you-your real self-are making an impression, an impact, on people such as you never made before. You can reap a double benefit from this prescription. Your self-confidence strengthens as you learn to speak to others, and your whole personality grows warmer and better. This means that you are better off emotionally, and if you are better off emotionally, you are better off physically. Public speaking in our modern world is for everybody, men and women, young and elderly. I do not know personally about its advantages to one in business or industry. I only hear that they are great. But I do know its advantages in health. Speak when you can, to a few or to many; you will do it better and better, as I have found out, myself; and you will feel a buoyancy of spirit, a sense of being a whole, rounded person, such as you never felt before. It is a wonderful sense to have, and no pill ever made can give it to you.

What are you waiting for? Go give your presentation!

Announcement about the Temporary Location Change

2007-07-02T22:29:00.000-04:00

One Time Meeting Location Change:
Meeting on Wednesday July 4, 2007 at:
Royal Windsor Pub
(The South West corner of Ford Drive and Royal Windsor Drive)

Congratulations to the new Executive!

2007-05-24T19:56:00.000-04:00

Greetings Fellow Sheridan Park Toastmasters!

Nomination meetings were held on May 2nd, May 9th & May 16th
Last night (May 23rd), Nominees spoke to the club regarding the position they had agreed to run for. Bob Skakie and Kai Chan forwarded their speeches to be read in their absence.
At the conclusion of the speeches a vote was held and the decision was unanimous.

The results are as follows:

President: Rudy DaCorte
Vice-President Education: Kai Chan
Vice-President Membership: Vivian Li
Vice-President Public Relations: Allwyn Gomes
Secretary: Krish Krishnamurthy
Treasurer: Jeff Peters
Sergeant at Arms: Bob Skakie

Congratulations to the new executive.

Ross
Nomination Chair

The Voice

2007-01-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

There are two good methods for improving your voice:

1. Listen to it! Practice listening to your voice while at home, driving, walking, etc. Then when you are at work or with company, monitor your voice to see if you are using it how you want to.

2. To really listen to your voice, cup your right hand around your right ear and gently pull the ear forward. Next, cup your left hand around your mouth and direct the sound straight into your ear. This helps you to really hear your voice as others hear it...and it might be completely different from the voice you thought it was! Now practice moderating your voice.

For more tips, check the link http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadpres.html

Santa's Wisdom

2006-12-18T13:48:00.000-05:00

Greeting of the Season
and many good wishes for the New Year!

Meeting Location Changed

2006-10-04T17:58:00.000-04:00

Fellow Toastmasters and Guests:

Please be advised that our toastmasters meeting has been permanently changed to the following location:

Meeting location:
John Knox Christian School
Resource Centre
2232 Sheridan Garden Drive
Oakville, ON L6J 7T1
(Royal Windsor and Ford Drive area)

Meeting time:
Every Wednesday at 7:15 to 9:15pm

Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest 2006

2006-09-17T12:52:00.000-04:00

Fellow Toastmasters and Guests:

Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest 2006 from Sheridan Park Toastmasters club, Area 22 , Division Q and District 60 will take place on following date. It is a great opportunity to learn communication skills from those selected speakers. Please come, enjoy and have fun.

Sheridan Park Club:Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest

Wednesday, October 4, 2006,
7:15-9:14pm

Area 22: Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Starting at 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Location:HJA Brown Education Centre
http://www.peelschools.org/facts/map.htm

Division Q:Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest

Friday, October 20, 2006
Registration: 6:30 p.m.
Contests Start: 7:00 p.m.

HJA Brown Education Centre
5650 Hurontario Street (Hurontario and Matheson Blvd)
http://www.peelschools.org/facts/map.htm

Cost: $5/member at the door; non-Toastmaster guests for ONLY $3/guest

District 60: Full Conference

November 3 - 5, 2006.
Niagara Falls

For a sneak peek at the Conference, please view a Promotion video:
http://www.toastmasters60.org/FallConference2006/ConferencePromo.htm

EDUCATION AND TRAINING CONTESTS

2006-09-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

1) CC AND AC CHALLENGE:

Anyone completing a CC or AC award
and submits it between July 1, 2006 and October 15, 2006 will go into a draw.
1st Prize: One lucky winner will have their Fall Conference fee paid ($165.00+ value).
2nd Prize: $20 coupon to spend in the bookstore at the Fall Conference ($20.00 value).
3rd Prize: $10 coupon to spend in the bookstore at the Fall Conference ($10.00 value).

2) DISTINGUISHED CLUB CHALLENGE:

Any club that has met the distinguished club criteria (5 or more of the 10 DCP items) by December 31, 2006 will receive a $10 coupon to spend at the upcoming Spring Conference Bookstore.

One lucky club will receive a $100 coupon to spend at the upcoming Spring Conference Bookstore.

3) GO OUTSIDE THE CLUB CONTEST:

Each time a club member goes outside the club to participate in other meetings or events they gain experience. To help promote this District 60 is holding a contest. Please see Contest Form for details.

John MacDonald, DTM, District 60 Lieutenant Governor Education & Training 2006 – 2007
Email: jmac@jmactm.com

2006-09-10T13:04:00.000-04:00

Lakeshore Division Presents

MAKE CONTESTS FAIR & FUN: A Workshop on Judging

Time: Friday September 15, 2006, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

A Workshop that will Help Judges and Contestants

Facilitated by Judy Suke, DTM
Winner of the District Level Humorous Speech Contest & Stand-Up Comedy Contest

-Gain a clear understanding of Judging: 1) The theory, 2) The form
-What to look for
-Where to assign marks
-Practice the skills in a Mini Contest

Only $5.00 /Person

Location: 262 Dundas St. East Waterdown, Ontario

Directions: 262 Dundas Street is the Old High School (Converted into Condos)

From the East …
407 west to Hwy 5 Dundas Street in Burlington (After Appleby) OR QEW to Brant Street – North (Right) to Dundas Hwy 5 West (Left) to Waterdown, Take Hwy 5 into Waterdown – Past Mill Street and Main Street Turn South (Left) on Hamilton Street Enter first ‘real’ driveway (paved) on the right. Park in Visitors Parking. Walk to the Far Doors. If full, park across the street at the Plaza.

From the West …
403 through Hamilton to HWY 6 North towards Guelph
Right (East) on HWY 5 (Dundas Street)

Into Waterdown … past Dairy Queen and large Plaza on Left (My building is directly across from this plaza), TURN RIGHT AT HAMILTON STREET, Enter first ‘real’ driveway (paved) on the right. Park in Visitors Parking. Walk to the Far Doors. If full, park across the street at the Plaza.

To register contact:
Lori Lococo, DTM, Division L Governor
905 357 5902 or lori.lococo@sympatico.ca

Public Speaking video

2006-07-20T09:20:00.000-04:00

Public Speaking

I've never sent a clip of a speaker before, because most just aren't that good. We'll Guy Kawasaki is that good. He's a great example for all caliber speakers.

Guy's presentation is just a piece down this page...

http://tinyurl.com/jyc5x

Here are some presentation points from his talk from a technique sense...

1. Confidence. He knows exactly who he is and what he does.

2. Clear. No sidebars or loss of thought.

3. Content. Usable info.

4. Contrarian. He says stuff that is not said openly, but most people think.

5. Common sense. It's not "deep thinking" but obvious. Too many speakers try to be profound.

6. Concise. You don't get the feeling that he's fishing, instead he's hauling you in.

7. Connecting. His use of humor and illustrations is near perfect.

8. Conversational. Guy doesn't have the "fake" sound that many "professional" speakers have.

9. Computer. No telling how many times he's given that speech, but he still has his notes on his computer right in front of him.

Those 9 elements can be used by anyone to become a better speaker.

Have a GREAT day!

Paul Evans

Become a Great Public Speaker

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Toastmasters -July 5 2006

2006-07-13T12:01:00.000-04:00

The meeting was chaired by the new member Vivian Li with the theme “FIFA World Cup 2006 Final”. Sgt. At . Arm Rudy Dacorte called meeting to order at 7:15 with 14 participants.

General toast was kindly offered by president Clive Milton and Joke of the day was delivered by Simona Cheoreanu CTM.

Rajinder Mann hosted TT section with different pictures for the participants to describe and figure out the theme of the picture. Clive Milton CTM won BTT award.

During the business meeting session, Eileen He, CTM VP- Education read the minutes of the last meeting. Minutes were adopted as read.

Clement Chan, a fairly new member- first time toastmaster, introduced 3 speakers and their speeches in proper order and with well –thought presentation.

Rudy Dacorte presented his CTM #5 speech “ Art of Persuasion” .
Bill Gillies kept his promise to continually deliver the speech at each meeting till the time he could complete his CTM 10　speech. The speech of the evening was CTM #8 “ Snap Happy”. Through the speech, he showed the fellows some excellent action dancing photos he snapped for his daughters.
Clive Milton presented his ATM Bronze #7 speech. The whole issue was nothing related to the objective as he announced before starting the speech. However, his vivid story-telling skill in the story ‘ Anticlea & the Lion” won him the best speaker for the evening.

Our 3 CTM: Krishnamurthy, Simona and Eileen evaluated 3 speakers respectively. Krish won Best EV.

Bob Skakie was a sharp Timer. Eileen gave the quiz regarding many detail information in the speeches

Di Wang CTM & CL evaluated the meeting with good insights, suggestions and congratulated Vivian for her first well chaired conduct.

Vivian honored Simona as spark of the meeting for her courage to cheer the participants with the joke and good example to other lady members who have concerns to present the joke.

What an excellent and fun meeting with everyone speaking and contributing! Well done. The meeting was closed at 9:20pm.

Members attending: Clive, Simona, Agota, Eileen, Kai, Rudy, Vivian, Krish, Rajinder, Clement , Bill, Bob, Di and guest Susan.

Toastmaster Meeting - June 7, 2006

2006-06-06T23:29:00.000-04:00

Hello Fellow Toastmasters!

I am looking forward in rebounding your interest and enthusiasm in our next Toastmaster meetings while talking about .......

MONEY

Are you interested in having money, making more money, spending money, investing money, giving away money to charities or even only in the philosophy of rich people and poor people? If you are, I am sure that you will find something to give and to take from our next meeting.

And here are just some quotes to think about:

Money:
" Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can" (WESLEY)

"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart" (SWIFT)

"Money is a good servant, but a dangerous master" (BOUHOURS)

Have a great evening and please participate so we could have a great meeting!

Thanks,

Simona

416-527-3201 (cell)

MAY 31 MEETING CANCELLED

2006-05-30T22:26:00.000-04:00

Dear Toastmasters

I received a late call from the Hilton ....
No Room Available Tomorrow

Due to the late notice, I am cancelling the meeting as there are no meeting rooms available in our area available for tomorrow according to Parks and Rec.

Clive Milton
905-309-9666

District 60 Conference - May 5-7, 2006

2006-05-04T23:26:00.000-04:00

Delta Meadowvale Hotel - Resort & Conference Centre
6750 Mississauga Road, Mississauga

Education, Encouragement and Enrichment is a passport to great achievement and self development in our diverse world.

“Passport to your destiny” is a diversity theme. Our actions often affect how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves. As we extend ourselves to others and demonstrate understanding, we become empathic. As we respect difference, our actions, which include our messages, affect our own lives as well as the lives of others.

Come to the conference and celebrate what makes toastmasters’ different and what makes us the same. Use your toastmaster passport and ensure to have it stamped through out the conference for all of the great events.

Mark May 5th, 6th and 7th on your calendar as the passport to your destiny. It is the place to be!!!

see Program

►Conference Home
►Register ONLINE
►Registration Flyer

►Business Meeting
►C&L Award

Power Presentation Tips by George Torok

2006-05-02T23:48:00.000-04:00

Confident speakers:

Are comfortable with silence.

Smile more.

Say less.

Dare to be different.

Show they can be vulnerable.

Move slower. (Rapid movement looks nervous)

Are comfortable with ambiguity.

Know what they don’t know

Accept responsibility.

Share credit.

Don't feel 100% confident all the time.

Do not pretend to be perfect.

Speak in simple words.

Welcome questions and challenges.

Are willing to face their fears

Are willing to learn from every presentation.

Consider the perspective of their audience.

Stay focused on topic.

Are clear about their purpose.

Spend more time reading the audience instead of their notes.

Observe speakers who you judge to be confident. Note how many of these attributes they follow. Then check your own presentation. What characteristics are you already doing? Where do you need to improve? I bet that some items on this list surprised you.

Speaker confidence is not what you feel - it is what your audience perceives.

You can be a more confident speaker. Learn how to transform your presentation so that you project confidence. Attend this tele-seminar:

How to Radiate Confidence While Presenting - even when you don't feel it.

Specific how-to's along with examples from the above list. Techniques that you can start using today.

Don't miss this first in the new series of Power Presentation Teleseminars. The regular value is $24.95

As both a thank you for your e-postcard subscription and introductory celebration this first teleseminar is yours to attend at no charge. You can't afford to miss it.

3:00 pm EDT, Thursday May 11, 2006

To register now email your name to teleseminar@Torok.com

You will receive the phone number and your password.

To learn more read here.

Subscribe to Power Presentation Tip here.

George Torok is the Speech Coach for Executives

Goals and Achievements

2006-04-30T23:27:00.000-04:00

Hello Fellow Toastmasters,

The end of our year is rapidly approaching, believe it or not.

With this in mind, it is time for you to think about what goals you want to achieve in our club by the end of June.

If you want to finish your CTM OR CL ( Educational ) ,

I STRONGLY advise that you sign up for your speeches NOW.

Please, sign up ONLY if you fully intend on keeping your schedule.

I have just signed up for the last of my own ATM Bronze speeches so that my own target is completed by the end of this Toastmaster Year.

Remember, you may also visit other clubs and give speeches, if they can accomodate you. Give me a call if you need more info about this.

Typically, our meeting has 3 speeches, however, we can accomodate up to 5 per meeting if we cut short our table topics and business sessions.

You are the reason that our club exists.

Let us help YOU ensure that you achieve your goals for 2006.

If you need speech details, please check out Danny's Blog.

If you are not sure how many speeches you have accomplished, please contact Simona.

In my Mailbox today I received the Sheridan Park Update

We need 9 Points to achieve the Distinguished Club award

To Date We have 7 !!!! We are already a ` Select` Club

We have :

2 CTM's ( Competent Toastmasters )

2 Additional CTM's

1 CL ( Competent Leader )

We have 13 new members !!

We trained 11 Officers !!

We have submitted all reports on time !

That totals 7 points........We are already a Select Distinguished Club

____________________________________________

We NEED

1 ATM ( Advanced Toastmaster ) ..............I am shooting for this.

1 Additional ATM ..................................We need this ...who is close ?

1 Additional CL ( Competant Leader ) Who can do this?

Who can step up to help us achieve our goals ?

Clive Milton
President, Sheridan Park Toastmasters

New Members Induction in the meeting of April 26, 2006

2006-04-29T19:48:00.000-04:00

Pledge by new members:

I name, in the presence of my fellow members of the Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club, make this firm obligation

to attend meetings regularly and prepare fully for each assignment
to apply myself to the program outlined in the Toastmaster Manual
to participate actively in Club activities
to evaluate others in a positive, constructive manner
to build open friendly relationships with my fellow members
and to bring new members into the Club so that they also can gain the benefits of Toastmasters

Club members pledge to new members:

We the members of Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club pledge

to support you in your quest for self-development
to provide you with positive, helpful evaluations
to maintaina friendly and supportive athmosfere
to give you the opportunities to help others
and to make your Toastemasters membership a rewarding and fulfilling experience.

New members: Bruce, Benjamin, Agota, Raj, Niv, Candy, Elizabeth.

Division Q, District 60: International Speech & Evaluation Contest

2006-04-21T08:59:00.000-04:00

Date: Friday, April 21, 2006
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: 5650 Hurontario Street Mississauga (HJA Brown Education Centre)
Cost: $5/person at the door, bring non-Toastmaster guests for ONLY $3/guest

Registration starts at 6:30 p.m.

Parliamentary Procedure: a Poem

2006-04-14T22:27:00.000-04:00

by Carol A. Townsend, ATM-S

When we are at meetings,
t’ is order we seek,
Roberts’ Rules are the ones we
should keep.

It’s up to the Chairman
when taking the Stand
to have those rules close at hand.

A friendly advisor
can help with the task
of getting motions amended and passed.

Parliamentary Procedure:
Respect for the Chair,
Being Polite-and –Being Fair.

(It’s a good thing)

Aspirin – relief from pain by George Torok

2006-04-13T16:48:00.000-04:00

We take aspirin or equivalent when it hurts. We seek a solution when the pain or threat of more pain is enough to move us to change. Have you noticed that the changes you make in your life are more often the result of pain than anything else?

Consider these possible pain-change combinations:

Hate the boss – find a new job.
Get fired – become an entrepreneur
Heart attack – change diet, start exercising
Embarrassing presentation – learn to be a better speaker
Lost sale – review selling skills
Broken relationship – learn how to maintain relationships
House break-in – arrange alarm service

Change happens around us every day. The change that we pay attention to is the change that causes us direct pain. Then we change.

Floods on the other side of the world inspire minimal change. But when your next-door neighbor gets robbed, or we do – then we change quickly. When our hydro grid fails a bunch of us buys flashlights and generators – because we felt the pain and fear of deprivation.

Why is that important to you?
If you want people to buy – you must identify their pain – and touch that nerve.

Then offer your aspirin.

George Torok
http://www.powermarketing.ca/

Attention! - Meeting room change for April 12th

2006-04-11T17:08:00.000-04:00

IMPORTANT FOR TOMORROW

WED APRIL 12th

Good Evening Fellow Toastmasters

We have a meeting room change for tomorrow night.

South Common Community Centre

2233 South Millway

` Seniors Room `

L5L 3H7

7:00 PM

Awards Area 22 Evaluation & Int'l Speech Contest

2006-04-02T12:33:00.000-04:00

International Speech Contest

Indy Juneja - "Take That Step" - Trillium Toastmasters Club
Rocco Bellusci - "Right Here! Right Now!" - Trillium Toastmasters Club
Safar Ali - "When Oportunity Knocks" - Lakeview Toastmasters Club

Evaluation Contest

Ash Gulati - Trillium Toastmasters Club
Frank Waldner - Trillium Toastmasters Club
Safar Ali - Lakeview Toastmasters Club

Contestants International Speech Contest

Contestants Evaluation Contest

Division Q Contest - April 21st - 7:00 pm
HJA Brown Education Centre

District 60 Contest - May 5th - 7th Weekend
Delta Meadowvale

Area 22 Evaluation & Int'l Speech Contest on Friday, March 31, 2006

2006-03-30T14:55:00.000-05:00

Fellow Toastmasters,

You are very welcome to the

Toastmasters International

Area 22

Division Q, District 60

Evaluation

Int'l Speech Contest

Friday, March 31, 2006

7:00 pm

HJA Brown Education Centre

Room change for March 29th

2006-03-28T20:11:00.000-05:00

Good Evening Fellow Toastmasters

We have a meeting room change for tomorrow night.

Huron Park Community Centre

830 Paisley Blvd W

7:00 PM

Iroquois Room A & B

Thanks very much and sorry for the short notice !!!

http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/huronpark

Clive Milton
905-309-5566

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters - March 15, 2006

2006-03-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

Our Past President and the present Area Governor - Sherry Parnell, CTM, CL opened with 16 members a very interesting meeting with the theme “Passion!!!!!!”

“ENTHUSIASM” was the WFD presented by Ted Schuster, as well as the spirit of the participants in the TT conducted by Miriam Richter, CTM.

Stuart was kind enough to share with us that he passionately hates only the Taxes, in Canada, and without any hesitation the members voted him for the BTT award.

During the business meeting session, Simona invited the members to pay the due to the Club and Sherry announced the International Evaluation and Speech Area 22 Contest on 31st March.

Our members will compete against Trillium Club: Phil x 2, Jeff - EV and Clive - Speech.
We wish them the best of success and we will be there to encourage them!

Eileen He, CTM our VP-PR as TM introduced the speakers and their speeches in proper order and with well-thought presentations.
Eugene Ossadtchi delivered his Icebreaker as a seasoned TM re-joining our club. The pleasure to have him back as “A new friend” was definitely ours.
Stuart Montgomery with his speech titled “When you’ve got to go, go!” fired us! We’ve got from powerful motivators from as “Stay & Fight” and “Do!”

Clive Milton, CTM, CL – our President and Kai Chan, CTM our VP-Membership evaluated Eugene respective Stuart.
Eugene won the BS and Clive the BEv.

Elizabeth was a sharp Timer, Rudy caught almost all the grammar errors in his report and Daniel won the Spark OM.

Sherry reminded us that “the passion is our heart….” and then with a firm beating of the table with her gavel she closed the meeting 9.25pm.
An excellent good fun meeting with everyone speaking and contributing – well done all.

Simona Cheoreanu, CTM - our VP-Ed. evaluated the meeting with good insights and suggestions and congratulated Sherry for her well conducted meeting.

Members attending: Clive, Simona, Eileen, Kai, Rudi, Benjamin, Candy, Miriam, Daniel, Ted, Sherry, Elizabeth, Raj, Eugene, Stuart, Kris.
For those of you who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you at future meetings.

The Theme of the Meeting: Success

2006-03-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

Fellow Toastmasters and Guests,

I am very pleased to be your chairperson for next Wednesday's meeting, March 22, 2006. The theme of the meeting is SUCCESS.

Each person has his own definition of success. As Henry David Thoreau said so well, "if one advances confidently in the direction of his dream, and endeavors to live the life being imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

Fellow toastmasters and guests, we are going to have an exciting meeting, with four wonderful speeches, from CTM#1: Ice-break to CTM #10: Inspire your audience. Thanks to all participants, most of the meeting roles, such as the 4 speakers, 4 speech evaluators, General evaluator, Toastmaster, Table topic masters, Joke master, and Thought of the Day, have been filled.

However, there are still several available roles for you to take, as below: 1) Word master, 2) Quiz master, 3) Grammarian, 4) Timer, 5) Parliamentarian, 6) Role for toast

Let’s fill out the above roles so we can have a complete agenda. Please fill out the role online, or send me an email or call me with the role you would like to take.

Please remember that little things can make a big difference!

It is our meeting. Let’s work together as a team, learn, enjoy and have fun together!

Eileen H. He
Sheridan Park Toastmaster

Winners go on to the Area 22 Contest on Friday, 31st March, 2006

2006-03-09T22:04:00.000-05:00

Winners go on to the Area 22 Contest
on Friday, 31st March, 2006

Congratulations to all participants who had the courage to compete at the International Speech Contest and many thanks to all volunteers who made this contest an excellent event!

The winners are: 1. Phil Taylor, ATM-B, CL 2. Krish Krishnamurthy, CTM 3. Clive Milton, CTM, CL

Phil and Clive will represent our club at the Area Contest level for the International Speech Contest, and Phil and Jeff will represent our club at the Area Contest level for the Evaluation Contest.

Phil Taylor - "One day at a time!"

Krish Krishnamurthy - "Stuborn Geniuses"

Clive Milton - "Happy Trails"

Miriam Richter - "WOW Moments"

Peter Chen - "How to be a Proactive Consumer"

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Toastmasters-March 1st, 2006

2006-03-09T21:11:00.000-05:00

Miriam Richter, CTM chaired this special meeting with “Olympic Achievements” as the theme, with 20 members 3 guests.

The Toast by Phil Taylor, ATM-B, CL “To our champions – the Canadian team” who won the 3rd place at the recent Torino’s Olympics Winter Games and the Word of the Day “WIN” by Eugene gave the meeting a great kick start.

Tim Fuchs, the President of Trillium Toastmasters Club invited us to participate at their special 30th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday April 1st, 2006.

Jeff Peters, CTM was the Table Topics Master and true to his style and form built TT around Olympics carefully selecting the participants. Kai Chan won for the Best Topics presenter again. Kai will remain recognized for his wisdom and his words:” WIN WIN WIN!”

Miriam overcame graciously the adversity of the neighbor’s noise and took it as a challenge to be able to conduct a business meeting session even during the hammer’s kicks and walls trepidations. At the Officers Reports session, Clive announced the Speech Contest for the next meeting giving personal example and leading the contestant’s registration. A new member was inducted – Candy Zhang and our hardworking Simona Cheoreanu – VP-Ed, presented an excellent Parliamentarian report full of explanations for the new members.

Phil as Toastmaster introduced in his original and inspirational style the speakers for the evening; Bruce Mackay with his Icebreaker and Eileen He, CTM – our VP-PR…

The speech by Bruce “My Family” and the evaluation done by Clive were both splendid.

Eileen presented us very interesting tips and “saving money tricks” in her “Planning a trip” speech. Rudy Dacorte as evaluator was very impressed and declared that even he likes the danger of the unknown, he will think again before a new trip scheduling.

Bruce and Clive were awarded with the Best Speaker and respectively the Best Evaluator.
But the best deal in town was done by Bruce, again! He revealed us the secret and told us that "buying their daughter for 1 $/ pound worth every penny". He was the Spark of the Meeting and the Thought of the Day!

Members attending: Rudi, Miriam, Phil, Simona, Ross, Daniel, Eileen, Carter, Kai, Vivian, Jeff, Frank, Heather, Krish, Niv, Raj, Clive, Benjamin, Bruce, Candy. Guests: Dil, Andre, Tim, Eugene, Stuart,

International Speech Club Contest - Wednesday, March 8th, 2006

2006-03-07T01:03:00.000-05:00

Dear Fellow Toastmasters and Honoured Guests!

After such outstanding and inspirational meetings during the last months, culminating with the last “Olympic Achievements” one, I am excited about announcing this Wednesday’s theme of… “International SPEECH Club CONTEST”. It should be absolutely amazing!

I have the honour chairing this competition with excellent speakers, and the Chief Judge is the one and only Kai Chan, CTM.

“WIN, WIN, WIN!” is his advice! And I will paraphrase Phil Taylor’s last Toast:

“To our Champions, the Sheridan Park Toastmaster Club members!”

Please come and participate in the Contest! Guests are more than welcome!!!

Contestants (list NOT closed yet!): Miriam/ Clive/ Phil/ Krish/ Jeff/ Peter/

Please let me know if there are any other champions, and send me your introductions ASAP, please !

Have FUN!

Daniel

*** and don't forget... March 8 is International Women's Day!

Canadians will celebrate International Women's Week from Sunday, March 5, to Saturday, March 11, 2006, with the highlight being International Women's Day on March 8.

Trillium Toastmasters 30th Anniversary Celebration

2006-03-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

Tickets are going fast for this event. To date we have 72 Toastmasters and guests attending. If interested in attending, contact information is detailed in the attached flyer. Hurry up; the deadline to buy your tickets for this fabulous event is March 23rd!!!

With Thanks,

Tim Fuchs
President
Trillium Toastmasters

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters - February 22, 2006

2006-03-05T09:11:00.000-05:00

Fellow Toastmasters and Honoured Guests!

Clive Milton, CTM-CL our President conducted an excellent “Open House” meeting in the presence of more than 40 people (members and guests), with the theme “Beginnings”.
Rudy Dacorte, our SAA did a great job introducing the Chair and especially for the Parliamentarian role he was well prepared and flawless.

During the business session three events were announced:
March 8th - “Club Speech Contest”
April 3rd - “Mississauga Valley Anniversary”
Elections in May

Simona Cheoreanu, CTM-our VP-ed and the newest Canadian citizen (as today) took the role of Table Topics Master instead Sherry (who was not able to be present today) and found a great theme, which captivated almost all the audience with “New Beginnings in… marriage”

Ted Schuster with the General Toast, Bill Gillies with Word for the Day, Alice Xie with Joke for the Day, did also a superb job representing our club with pride and joy!

Daniel Cheoreanu – our Secretary grabbed the attention of the audience quoting: “It doesn’t take a grand act to inspire people. You can do it doing the right thing, by doing something difficult or by doing something special. You can do it through the words you say to encourage someone on.” – Author unknown, and then introduced the speakers.

We had four speakers:
Rajinder Mann with “New Beginnings for Me” and Benjamin Deng with “Milestones in My Life”, Icebreakers, achieved their objective to introduce themselves to our fellow club members and to discover speaking skills they already have.
They were evaluated by Arabella Benson and Fraser McAlllen, very experienced public speakers. We were honoured by their participation and their joy of sharing with us great tips and effective evaluations.
Agota Roth delivered her 3rd speech “My Hero”, an emotional speech and was evaluated by Jeff Peters, CTM.
Yvonne Francis overcame the adversity of a bad flu and delivered her 6th speech “Art Reproduction 101” an interesting and captivating speech and won the Best Speaker award.

Best Evaluator was awarded to Jeff, and Kai Chen won the Best Table Topics.
Vivian Li did a great job as Timer, and Bruce Mackay surprised us with his fine sense of humour thorough Grammarian Report and Listen Quiz.

Eileen He, CTM as General Evaluator was crisp evaluating the whole meeting without any missing. She thanked the evaluators for their inspirational support and Clive for the excellent conducted meeting.
After “his marathon” as Toastmaster, Daniel was awarded with the Spark of the Meeting, and Carter Qian concluded the meeting with the Thought of the Day.

For those of you who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you at the future meetings.

Members attending: Rudi, Simona, Ross, Bill, Daniel, Eileen, Carter, Kai, Vivian, Bob, Jeff, Frank, Agota, Krish, Ted, Alice, Niv, Raj, Yvonne, Miriam, Clive, Benjamin, Bruce, . Guests: Arabella, Fraser, Sharif, Marlene, David, Nicola, Irene, Glen, Peter, Johnny, etc.

Trillium Toastmasters is celebrating it's 30th Anniversary in 2006.

2006-02-27T23:16:00.000-05:00

Fellow Toastmasters,

Trillium Toastmasters is celebrating it's 30th Anniversary in 2006.

We are planning to have a special 30th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, April 1st 2006. It will be exactly thirty years to the day that our club's charter was granted!

Over the years we have made many friends from other Toastmasters Clubs in Mississauga. We have visited each others clubs on numerous occasions, graciously accepted to be target speakers for each other's contests and chatted it up at District Conferences. I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to drop by to invite your members to attend our special evening. After all, what fun is a party if we can't invite our friends!!

Tim Fuchs
President
Trillium Toastmasters

A new manual on leadership and a new leadership award.

2006-02-24T14:45:00.000-05:00

The 10-project Leadership Program manual will help you develop leadership skills while serving in various club meeting roles. The manual debuted in January 2006 and will be included in the New-Member Kit, which all new members receive. Other members may purchase the manual (Catalog No. 265) for $6.00 (U.S.) plus shipping. Members completing the manual will receive the new Competent Leader award. Toastmasters International will begin issuing the new award in July 2006.

Q: The new leadership manual has 10 projects. Will I be evaluated on each of these projects, just as I am in the current Communication and Leadership Program manual?

A: Yes. For each leadership role you complete as a project requirement, your club vice president education will assign an evaluator who will provide a written evaluation. However, a verbal evaluation is optional and at the club’s discretion. Many clubs have limited time available during meetings; adding verbal evaluations for those serving in meeting roles may not be feasible. If you want a verbal evaluation in addition to the written evaluation, and if the meeting cannot accommodate it, the evaluator should give it privately after the club meeting.

Q: How will the Competent Leadership manual affect my club?

A: The new manual allows members to join your club and immediately begin working on developing their leadership skills. As mentioned in the previous question, the club vice president education assigns an evaluator who will provide a written evaluation. However, most clubs won’t have the meeting time to allow verbal evaluations of a leadership project. In these cases, if a member wants a verbal evaluation, the evaluator may provide it outside of the club meeting. More information about how to incorporate the manual into your club and its activities will appear in the December issue of this magazine. Club officers also will get information during their district’s upcoming club officer training.

Q: Do I have to complete the Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals in any particular order?

A: No. You may work in both manuals at the same time if you wish, or work in one at a time. If you complete the Competent Leadership manual first, you may apply for the Competent Leader award. If you complete the Competent Communication manual first, you may apply for the Competent Communicator award. If you finish both at the same time, you may apply for both awards at the same time.

Excellent presence at Open House

2006-02-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

more to come...

Invitation to OPEN HOUSE on Wednesday, February 22

2006-02-22T00:07:00.000-05:00

Invitation

Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club is pleased to invite you to our Open House Wednesday, February 22, 2006.

We will be serving Coffee, Tea, Soft Drinks, Cake and Pastries and look forward to seeing all of you!

Our Meeting starts promptly at 7:15pm at

2774 South Sheridan Way, Oakville, ON L6J 7T4

(QEW and Winston Churchill)

If you would like a role in advance, please call or email Clive

Sheridan Park Members: You are welcome to bring your spouses and other family members!

Please let me know in advance who from your family is coming!

Arabella Benson, World Champion Speaker,
and Fraser McAllan, World Class Coach
will honour us with their presence.

With Regards ....

Clive Milton
Sheridan Park Toastmasters

President

905-309-9666

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters – February 15, 2006

2006-02-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

Fellow Toastmasters, Dear Friends and Honoured Guests!

The theme of the meeting of Sheridan Park TM Club of Feb 15, 2006 was “Competition”. Jeff Peters, CTM as the Chairperson demonstrated that he is still “competitive at Math”, overcame all challenges and announced some changes in the agenda. 17 members and 2 guests were present.

General Toast was delivered by one of the first runner in our Club, Kris Ravuvari, ATM-S, who always is ready to help.

Simona Cheoreanu, CTM – presented “COGNITION=NOESIS” as Word For the Day.
Bill Gillies delivered again one of his great jokes and seems that he is challenging Bob Skakie for the Joke For the Day monopoly!

Our President, Clive Milton, CTM, CL brought a fresh twist in Table Topics and challenged us with his Olympics Pictures theme. Tough competition, but the Best Table Topics was awarded to Agota.

At 7.45pm Jeff opened the floor for the business meeting and conducted it very well thru minute’s adoption and the new business announcements. The Speech Contest will be on March 8th!
He also was pleased with his performance, about how he dealt with different aspects and that all discussions were addressed “thru the chair”, as Parliamentarian!

Alice Xie as Toastmaster introduced the speakers and their prepared speeches using the name of the speaker followed by the speech’ title and then repeating the speech title followed by the name of the speaker.
Niv Mann started as a WFF2 champion her Ice Breaker and introduced very well herself to the Club. We are looking forward to “compete” with such a good performer.
Sherry Parnell, CTM, CL evaluated Niv’s speech pointing out particular parts of the speech that she really liked and encouraged Niv for her delivery.

Eileen He, CTM our VP-PR with her ATM#2 “Magic Lights” prepared speech introduced us to the photography emotions and interesting facts.
Kris Ravuvari our seasoned member evaluated Eileen’s speech in a professional manner – good example for all of us.

The third speaker was Daniel Cheoreanu with speech no. 9 – Subscribe me! – and he tried with all his efforts to persuade the audience to subscribe to the Club’s blog. If the result was achieved, we will see soon, if not he will compete again at the next Olympics.
Kai Chan, CTM evaluated with sharp insights Daniel’s speech and won the Best Ealuator award.

Eileen was awarded with Best Speech award.

Simona Cheoreanu, CTM as General Evaluator was a sharp evaluator of anything and everything that took place throughout the meeting. She thanked the evaluators for their efforts and Jeff for the well conducted meeting.

Rudy presented a very precise Timer report.
Alice Xie was sharp as Grammarian and with List. Quiz.

Niv got the Spark of the meeting for her perkiness and presence.
Ted Schuster “seized the moment “ and with his Thought of the Day he encouraged everyone “TO CARRY ON!”

Members attending: Rudi, Simona, Ross, Bill, Daniel, Eileen, Carter, Kai, Vivian, Bob, Jeff, Frank, Agota, Krish, Sherry, Ted, Alice. Guests: Niv, Raj
For those of you who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you at future meetings.

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters – February 8th, 2006

2006-02-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

The Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club meeting from 8th February 2006 was a great success with 16 members and 3 guests!
Daniel Cheoreanu chaired the meeting of the Evaluation Contest 2006.

Vivian Li delivered an inspirational toast and then Bill Gillies proposed two "Word For the Day", which if I recall right, were used only once - by the Secretary, who wanted to FLAUNT (show off) and not FLOUT (double-click the word for explanation).
Simona Cheoreanu, CTM “shuffled the deck” as Table Topics Master and as many coincidentally things in life, everyone who participated got the … right card! Not only this, but Simona won the Best Table Topics.

During the unconventional business meeting, Clive Milton, CTM-CL announced the Speech Contest for 8th March 2006.

After the brake, Lori-Ann Jakel, DTM was introduced by Daniel as the guest speaker and Kai Chan, CTM the Chief Judge read the judging rules.

With five contestants, we all enjoyed both the Lori-Ann’s speech titled “Angels among us” and the evaluation session.
Finally, Phil, Jeff and Eileen won the first three places in this order.

We adjourned the meeting with “Smiles” on our faces and with great interest for the Speech Contest.

For those of you who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you at future meetings.

Kudos Phil, Jeff, Eileen!

2006-02-13T23:34:00.000-05:00

Excellent participation at Evaluation Contest 2006. Lori-Ann Jakel, DTM as our guest speaker from the club "Confidently Speaking" delivered the speech titled "Angels among us" and Clive Milton, CTM, CL; Simona Cheoreanu, CTM; Eileen He, CTM; Jeff Peters, CTM and Phil Taylor, ATM-B, CL in this order presented their outstanding evaluations.

Kai Chan, CTM - Chief Judge nominated the winners: 1. Phil Taylor, ATM-B, CL 2. Jeff Peters, CTM 3. Eileen He, CTM

The SPEECH CONTEST will be held on March 8th!

Toastmaster of the Month

2006-02-12T22:38:00.000-05:00

Winners of the Toastmaster of the Month award - in the race for the Toastmaster of the Year Contest - the winner will have their name engraved on the magnificent President's Trophy to be presented at the 2006 BBQ.

January: Eileen He, CTM

November/ December: Carol Townsend, ATM-S

October: Rudi Dacorte

September: Kai Chen, CTM

August: Abdullah Ozdemir, CTM

July: Daniel Cheoreanu

Welcome Dear Friends!

2006-02-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

With the pounding of the gravel, the Toastmasters experience begins......

Meeting Time

Every Wednesday, 7:15 p.m.

Meeting Location

Hilton Hotel

2774 South Sheridan Way Oakville, ON L6J 7T4

Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club 628, District 60 was formed on March 1, 1974.

The mission of our club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

At Sheridan Park Toastmasters, we provide an environment conducive to your growth and development. Our members are enthusiastic, supportive and FUN!

Come out and be apart of the experience, see how you can become a member of our dynamic team. To our success!

What FreeMind is good for

2006-02-08T23:32:00.000-05:00

Last meeting Eileen recommended to use mind mapping for organizing and writing speeches. Herewith is a free program for your use. I am using it for some time and I really like it. Enjoy!

About Mind-Mapping

Main Page - FreeMind - free mind mapping software:

Current users of FreeMind use it for the following purposes:

* Keeping track of projects, including subtasks, state of subtasks and time recording
* Project workplace, including links to necessary files, executables, source of information and of course information
* Workplace for internet research using Google and other sources
* Keeping a collection of small or middle sized notes with links on some area which expands as needed. Such a collection of notes is sometimes called knowledge base.
* Essay writing and brainstorming, using colors to show which essays are open, completed, not yet started etc, using size of nodes to indicate size of essays. I don't have one map for one essay, I have one map for all essays. I move parts of some essays to other when it seems appropriate.
* Keeping a small database of something with structure that is either very dynamic or not known in advance. The main disadvantage of such approach when compared to traditional database applications are poor query possibilities, but I use it that way anyway - contacts, recipes, medical records etc. You learn about the structure from the additional data items you enter. For example, different medical records use different structure and you do not have to analyze all the possible structures before you enter the first medical record.
Commented internet favorites or bookmarks, with colors and fonts having the meaning you want.

Contest Judging

2006-02-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

Working Through the Judge’s Guide & Ballot

There are three basic judging categories: Content, Delivery, and Language. Let’s take a look at each category.

Content Content is defined as “That which gives substance, meaning, and purpose to a speaker’s message.” This category has the largest number of qualifying statements and represents 50% of the value of the speech. Here you determine how well the speaker communicated a message. Areas to consider are:

Speech Development

Was the speech structured to have clearly defined opening, body, and conclusion?

Was the speech organized so that the speaker’s ideas were clear and easy to follow? Were they presented in logical sequence?

Did the speaker move from point to point smoothly, using effective transitions?

What support material did the speaker use? Were facts, examples, and illustrations used well?

Speech Effectiveness

How did the audience react to the speech?

Was the speaker’s purpose clear and well defined? (To entertain, inform, persuade, or inspire)

Was the subject matter relevant to the audience?

Was the subject matter presented clearly?

What did the speaker intend to accomplish? What did the speaker actually accomplish?

Speech Value

Did the speaker have something to say? A clearly defined message?

Did the speaker’s message have substance and logic?

Were the speaker’s thoughts original or a rehash of old ideas?

Was the speech in good taste?

Did the speaker’s message contribute to the listeners’ knowledge? Their growth?

Delivery This is the second category. Delivery is defined as: “The mechanics of delivering the message.” This represents 30% of the value of the presentation. Areas to consider are:

Physical -- Look and Observe

How does the speaker look? Neat? Sharp? Is he or she properly attired? Or, an “I don’t care” look?

Do his or her facial expressions reveal the “emotional” side of the speaker’s message?

Is eye contact sharp and direct? Does it cover the entire audience?

Do gestures have purpose? Do they complement words and message? Are they effective?

Do body movements have purpose? Do they add to, or detract from, the speaker’s message?

Voice -- Listen Carefully

Does the speaker’s voice have a good quality? Is it firm to show strength, assured to show confidence, warm to convey friendliness, and pleasing to win the audience?

Is the rate compatible with the message?

Is the volume adequate, and were words spoken with clarity?

Is the speaker’s voice flexible, to show feeling and emotion?

Did the speaker’s style and pace build a strong contact with the audience?

Did the speaker speak with enthusiasm for the message?

Language
The last category is language. Language is defined as: “The speaker’s word choice and grammatical skill.” This represents the final 20% of the points value.
Areas to consider are:

Appropriateness

Is the speaker’s language compatible with the speech and the audience?

Do his or her words accurately convey the message?

Has the speaker chosen words that will “sell” the message?

Correctness

Has the speaker used correct grammar and good enunciation?

Do these reflect preparation?

Is the speaker “master” of the words he or she has chosen to convey the message?

Do You Criticize or Evaluate?

2006-02-08T15:53:00.000-05:00

When was the last time you accepted constructive criticism without resentment?
Most people see constructive criticism in a negative light, and for good reason. All too often, such criticism is delivered with little foresight or is down right vengeful. Even where criticism is well meant, it can be perceived as a personal attack and the outcome is resentment. This approach is virtually always unsuccessful, lacks empathy and is not to be confused with effective evaluation.
Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship. Zeuxis 400 BC

Since Ralph C. Smedley founded Toastmasters International in 1924, Toastmasters worldwide have practiced and shared their evaluation skills and techniques. This sharing has resulted in Toastmasters becoming the architects and practitioners of effective evaluation skills. The outcome is that Toastmasters developed the challenging art of delivering empathic and effective speech evaluations, in a supportive club environment, with the sincere intention of helping every Toastmaster grow.

How do Toastmasters develop effective evaluation skills?

Effective Speech Evaluation Tips
(Condensed from an evaluation article published in recent toastmasters newsletters)

The Friendly Evaluation by Vuong Vo

Employee Morale & Confidence Tips

2006-02-02T16:17:00.000-05:00

Employee Morale & Confidence Tips
The Confidence Center Newsletter
January 31, 2006 - Vol.6- Issue 5
Written by Harriet Meyerson and Published every Tuesday

Q. Since I am the most knowledgeable about our newest product, my boss has assigned me the task of giving a crucial presentation to a group of prospective clients.

It is a wonderful chance for me to advance, but I am terrified of speaking in public. Help - how do I overcome this fear?

A. Since you know all the information about your topic, in order to present it well, you will need one special ingredient - Courage. These are some ideas to help you gather your courage:

1. Visualize yourself presenting your program and also visualize the audience loving it. See them attentive and responding with nods of agreement.

2. Visualize yourself at a time when you accomplished something that made you feel very confident and successful. Be-that confident
person- when you give your speech.

3. Eye contact will help you connect with your audience. Rehearse your speech to several different chairs in an empty room.

In other words, say one sentence to a chair on the right, the next sentence to a chair at the back on the left side, and the next sentence to a chair in the center front of the room.

* When you are giving your presentation, only make eye contact with those people who appear interested as they will create positive energy for you that will radiate back to your audience.

LAUGH & LEARN WITH IMPROV!

2006-01-26T00:19:00.000-05:00

LAUGH & LEARN WITH IMPROV!
INTERACTIVE TRAINING SESSION:
“Impromptu Speaking & Improvisation”

Who? All District 60 Toastmasters, guests & partners

What? Interactive Training - Guest Facilitators:
“BAD DOG THEATRE COMPANY”
Improv & Comedy Trainers for Canada

Where? OPG Bldg. - 700 University Ave., Mezz Level
(SW corner, University & College), Toronto
Queen’s Park subway station

When? Wed, Feb 22, 2006 –
5:00 pm register, warm up activities and light meal;
6–8 pm – Laugh & Learn Interactive Improv Training Session

Why? Improve impromptu speaking skills & have fun!

Pre-Registration Please:
Laura Mitchell: mitchell905@rogers.com
Gary Pennington: garywpen@hotmail.com
905-472-0614 – Public Rel. Officer for further info

Cost: $8.00 for light meal & refreshments

Want to hold the audience in the palm of your hand during your presentation?

2006-01-24T14:31:00.000-05:00

Hi Daniel,

Bob Tracz here with another Complimentary Presentation Skills Tip.

Hold eye contact with them.

Speak to one individual for about the length of time it takes to express a phrase or sentence then address a new individual.

Listen to them. Read their body language to know if they're following you, agreeing with you, etc.

Speak low (pitch) and slow when you want to make a point. Low shows authority and slow confidence in what you're saying.

Exude confidence in yourself and in what you have to say - it's contagious.

QUOTATION:
You have confidence in yourself, which is valuable, if not an indispensable quality.

ATTRIBUTION:
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), U.S. president. letter to
Joseph Hooker, Jan. 26, 1863. Collected Works of Abraham
Lincoln, vol. 6, p. 78, Rutgers University Press (1953, 1990).

Dr. Tracz is a available for presentations and coaching
For more information, visit http://www.roberttracz.com

5 Tips for Exciting Speeches by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

2006-01-24T11:52:00.000-05:00

1. Open Hot, Close Hotter.
To grab audience attention and be remembered, start the presentation with a bang, not a limp, "Thanks, it's nice to be here." The first (and last) 30 seconds have the most impact on the audience. Save any greetings and gratitude until they've already grabbed the audience with a powerful opening. And don't end with a whimper. Remember that last words linger. Unfortunately, many speakers close with, "Are there any questions?" Wrong! Instead, say, "Before I close, are there any questions?" Answer them. Then close on a high note.

2. Get the Inside Scoop.
Attendees at one of my seminars, "How to Be a Coach to Your Client," want to know how they can personalize and add excitement and color to the speeches they craft for others. How, they ask, can they get those invaluable inside stories? I suggested they do what I do--interview the speaker's client's colleagues and family members. These people are familiar with the "stories" the speaker often tells, stories that have already been honed to what I call the "Hollywood model" (characters, dialogue, dramatic lesson learned). What insights and amusing stories can they share? Advise your members to ask others for input that can provide color and energy to a presentation.

3. Try Inside-Out Speaking.
Don't write speeches for people to read. Instead, sit down with them, in person or on the phone, and ask them questions. I do this, pulling out of them their ideas, stories, life experiences, philosophies, and examples through questions. Then my job is to help them organize, wordsmith, and deliver these comments with more drama.

Although the client and I often end up with a script that can then be edited and tightened, the words grow out of our conversations. I call this "inside-out" speaking. My work represents a cleaned-up conversation; one the speaker is going to have with the audience. Of course, a script is not a conversation, but if it sounds conversational, it is far more appealing and much easier to deliver directly to the audience without reading it word for word. Emotional contact is impossible without eye contact.

4. Provide Five Magic Moments.
How are great speeches like classic Hollywood movies? Movie promoters say that a successful film has to have five magic moments for each viewer, though not necessarily the same five. When it does, people will talk about it and add enough energy to a paid advertising campaign to make it a hit.

Be sure each presentation has five great moments--dramatic, humorous, profound, or poignant --that the audience can relive in their minds later and repeat to their friends.

5. Avoid Borrowed Stories.
I urge you to create vivid, personal stories for their presentations. Imagine how I once felt, sitting in an audience of 18,000 people, listening to Barbara Bush describe a great story she had read in Chicken Soup for the Soul--my own story which made the point, "What you do speaks louder than what you say." (Yes, I know Ralph Waldo Emerson said it first.) Did Barbara Bush mention it was my story? No.

But even if she had mentioned my name, I think she missed a huge opportunity with her speech. Back then; I imagined her sitting in bed at the White House, going through stacks of books with a highlighter pen for things to talk about. Since then, I've realized that a speech writer did the research and wrote her words. My point? I'm not upset she didn't credit me. Just disappointed that someone with Barbara Bush's incredible life experiences did not share them. I am sure she had much more interesting recent topics and perceptions than reporting on something someone said to me many years ago. That's how audiences will feel if your members repeat things they've read instead of experienced.

Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE is a San Francisco-based executive speech coach, sales trainer, and award-winning professional speaker on Change, Customer Service, Promoting Business, and Communication Skills. She is the author of Get What You Want

http://www.fripp.com
http://fripp.blogs.com/presentations/

5 Tips to Conquer Your Speech Anxiety

2006-01-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

Free-Special Report

5 Tips to Conquer Your Speech Anxiety
Includes a quick test to determine your level of nervousness.

This Friday, January 20th - Club Officer Training open to everyone!

2006-01-18T23:23:00.000-05:00

Everyone is invited, not just Club Officers.
Club Officer Training - Division P & Q

From our Marie Pereira, DTM - Division Q Governor: This is going to be a very educational, fun event, we will be presenting 1 workshop by the current District Champion (Ash Gulati) and reviewing the recipe for success at the international speech contest. We are pleased to let you know that we have confirmed some of our finest to present the various workshops. Also not to be missed – the Toastmaster Executive trial of the century and a key note address by our own Harry Ansara who has won national accolades in public speaking. Most of all this training counts towards the club DCP!!!

Please encourage all your clubs to send all their members not just executive as there is something for everyone at this session. The clubs can pay just $30 for all their members!!! Pre-registration would be extremely helpful. Light refreshments will be provided. Thank you for your attention.

Start the exciting 2006 with a vigorous evening devoted to education, training, and idea generation!

Get reenergized and recharged, and have some fun!

Watch a mock trial in which Club Officers of Terrible Toasties are being held accountable for their misdeeds. (Some might be summarily executed right before your unbelieving eyes!)

Attend individual training sessions for the different Club Officer roles.

For non-Club Officers, there is a how-to workshop on preparing and delivering a winning speech.

Hear a closing keynote on leadership.

Meet Toastmasters authors.

Rub shoulders with your Area and Division Governors. (Wow!)

Lucky draw for door prizes. Light refreshments.

When: Friday, January 20, 2006
7:00 p.m. sharp; registration starts at 6:30 p.m.

Where: The Valleys Senior Public School
1235 Mississauga Valley Blvd.
Mississauga, Ontario
(at Central Parkway, south of Burnhamthorpe, east of Hurontario)
(right next to the Mississauga Valley Community Centre)

Admission: $30/club or $5/person

Everyone is invited, not just Club Officers.

What is Happiness?

2006-01-16T21:54:00.000-05:00

Fellow Toastmasters,

First of all I would like to thank you for all the support and encouragement which helped me in my journey for achieving my CTM. Without you this would not have been possible.

I am honoured to be your chair next meeting.
The theme I have chosen is "What is Happiness?"

"There are many people who we think should be happy but are not. There are many people who we think should be miserable but are not. Some people who seem to have nothing are very happy. Some people who seem to have everything are not. Yet some jet-setters seem happy while some moral crusaders have become miserable old grouches. Happiness seems very unpredictable, inconsistent, irrational." <www.DrKenner.com>

Let's investigate as much as we can, on Wednesday Night, the rational basis of happiness.

Most of the roles were filled out at the previous meeting, which causes me a great deal of happiness, as I don't need to work so hard at the beginning of the next meeting. There are 4 speakers scheduled (Frank, Heather, Agotha & Clive) and I expect an interesting table topics from Krish.

Please feel free to log on the on-line sign up sheet and fill out the remaining roles or sign up with a role for the next meeting.
http://www.sandyeast.com/servlet/Login?cid=628

Also, Danny is constantly adding new information and useful tips for public speaking on the Newsletter blog at: http://www.sheridanpark.blogspot.com/
Give him a feedback on that and make him a HAPPY man.

Let's have another great meeting with a lot of positive ideas that will make us all happy and fulfilled.

I have a special invitation to all those who were missing at the last meeting!
See you all Wednesday! Simona

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters - Jan 04, 2006

2006-01-12T22:52:00.000-05:00

Our new year’s meeting started fresh, with a “Fresh Start” theme, in a happy and celebration atmosphere given by the vivid coloured hats brought in by Sherry – for her TT session. 14 members and 1 guest were present.
Jeff Peters, CTM conducted the meeting confidently and took charge especially in the business session due his New Year resolution to take more responsibilities.
Our lovely Di Wang, CL toasted “For a good habit” and advised us wisely that in any challenge we have to “Stand up one more time than fall!”.

Frank Gao gave us “OASIS” as WFD right in time to remind us that somewhere in our imaginary world everyone has an “OASIS”.
Yvonne Francis as JM put us on the spot with 3 “thinking” jokes.
Our Past President and actual Area Gov., Sherry Parnell, CTM inventive as usual, got almost from everybody’s hat well kept “Goal Tips”.
BTT were awarded to Andrew and Ross.

During the business meeting the parliamentary procedure was used efficiently when Kai moved the motion and Jeff announced “it has been moved and seconded – to let the people who didn’t take roles be called first in the TT session.” After debates, the Chair explained the results of the vote and the motion was promoted to be taken to the executive with “7 ayes and 6 noes”.
Sherry announced the Club Int. Speech & Ev. Contest on 1st week of Feb. – click on Newsletter link on our website.

Our experienced CTM, CL Ross Breston introduced lively Clive Milton CTM and his pocket speech ATM B #2 “Retail”.
Clive delivered a funny, simple but powerful in free tips on saving money speech, and won the BS award.
Daniel – Danny – myself as the unique Ev. enjoyed the BEv. award, too!
Rudi & Alice were exactly reporting the Timer’s, Grammarian & Listening Quiz evaluations.
Kai Chen, CTM and always smiling, wore this time as GE, a serious hat for 5min which passed as 15 min. He did a superb job with clear insights and all of us took notes for the next roles.

Jeff awarded Clive with Spark of the Meeting for his unconditionally help to the success of our club. Yvonne Francis closed the meeting with a fresh and inspiring ending for TFD…
We adjourned the meeting just before 9:15

Members attending: Rudi, Peter, Ross, Clive, Daniel, Alice, Yvonne, Di, Kai, Vivian, Ted, Sherry, Frank. Guest: Andrew.
For those of you who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you at future meetings.

USEFUL LINKS

2006-01-11T09:49:00.001-05:00

Here is your on-line planning pad to ensure that every presentation is audience-centered. - check also the TIPS on the same page

The ECHO™ - Your Weekly Presentation Tip - GREAT archive!

	Advanced Public Speaking Institute
	This site offers free advice and articles on all aspects of public speaking, including performance and storytelling techniques, how to develop a topic, the use of props and handouts, humour, tricks, gimmicks, and stage fright.

How to Get a Standing Ovation

Big Dog's Leadership Page - Presentation Skills

Research-It! - language, library, etc.

Seriously Funny
"How to deliver winning, confident presentations every time"by Sean McPheat10 Tips for Successful Public Speaking

THE TOASTMASTER magazine

Public Speaking Gold Mine - Audio Free Training.

Conquer the fear of Public Speaking at Stand Up and Speak

How to Overcome Public Speaking Fear. Speech Presentation Tips.

Persuasive Speaking

http://publicspeakersblog.com/

Free persuasive speech topics

How to talk your audience into a whole new point of view. - By David Garfinkel

How to give a winning presentation on any occasion

14 Surefire Ways To Write More Powerfully by Suzan St Maur

Action Plan to Achieve Your Personals Goals

Effective Speech Evaluation Tips

Effective Evaluation Judging Handouts

Speaking Tips from The Presentation Team

If you are dedicated and committed to becoming a great public speaker check the free tips and articles at: http://www.instantspeakingsuccess.com/articles.php?a=cat&cid=8

Practical Speaking Tips at http://www.speechcoachforexecutives.com/article_7.html

Toastmasters Resources

TM Member Information > Club Management Software
http://www.toastmasters.org/artisan/member.asp?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=40

Club Leadership ROLES

Meeting Roles Checklist

52 Table Topics Ideas for the whole year!

10 Leadership Tips

10 Communication Tips

10 Benefits of the Distinguish Club Program

President Training
	Handout 1 President Training

VP Education Training
	Action Plan to Achieve Your Personal Goals
	Case Study VP Ed Training Notes Contest Planning Personal Educational Program Action Plan

VP Membership
	Handout 1 VP Membership Mid-Year Review Membership Building Ideas

VP Public Relations

VP PR Training Summary

"Let the World Know"

Sergeant-At-Arms Training
	Powerpoint slides
	Responsibilities
	Standards
	Personal SAA Standards

Exciting Club Program
	Patterns in Programming

Distinguished Club Plan
	Member Personal Goal Planning
	Toastmasters Program
	Other documents referred to

Membership Building, Marketing, and Public Relations

New Competent Leadership Manual

Stand Up and Speak offers a unique learning environment for students to gain a sound understanding on the art of public speaking. Public speaking is like any sport, the more you practice the better you become.

Need a good on-line dictionary?

Looking for a word with just the right connotation

Need the perfect quote to add impact to your presentation?

Some guidelines for effective conference presentations

Allyn & Bacon have some wonderful speech writing suggestions

Other Toastmasters Clubs in Area 22

	Port Credit
	Trillium Toastmasters Lakeview

10 Toastmasters Promises

Finding Your Voice & Connecting with Passion by Randy Gage

2005-12-29T16:31:00.000-05:00

Those first three minutes—when they want to love you, when they want to connect with you—you are holding them at arm’s length. This is the most important time in your speech; your chance to really connect with the people in the audience, and have then leaning forward on the edge of the chairs, waiting in anticipation of what you will say next.

It’s a chance to really bond, and start that electric connection that all world-class speakers are able to achieve. So how do you do that?

* read more at http://www.randygage.com/artman/publish/article_33.shtml

Happy Holidays Fellow Toastmasters !

2005-12-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe
and enjoyable holiday season.

Yesterday was Wednesday, and I really missed the group.

Sheridan Park Toastmasters is more than a club, it is an
extended family and it is a family that I am proud to be a member of.

I look forward to seeing everyone January 4 when the competion heats up
for the Toastmaster of the Year Contest as well as many other exciting events
throughout 2006.

Once again, have a very safe and fun holiday and Happy New Year!

Clive Milton
Sheridan Park Toastmasters

A free persuasive speech SAMPLE for you

2005-12-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

Why struggle guessing, when this persuasive speech sample will outline and demonstrate exactly what is needed in a persuasive speech. This is how to write the speech that persuades.
This persuasive speech sample demonstrates how the persuasive speech Outline is actually used to create a compelling, persuasive speech.

It's A B C D E

Note how firstly, the Attention of the audience is gained, how the speaker Bonds and links to each audience member by creating "hooks" into their everyday experience.

The exact hooks depend on your audience research.

There is the establishment of the Speaker's Credentials, identification of the speech's Destination, or outcome and finally, an Explanation of the Map to get to the destination.

It's as simple as A B C D E !

Note also how the speech is built,
how it builds with evidence, and
how it finally challenges the audience.

A Persuasive Speech Sample (click on the title)

New member induction

2005-12-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

In the 30 Nov. meeting some new members were inducted.

Effective Speeches: Writing Your Speech by Ronald Vereggen

2005-12-07T14:18:00.000-05:00

Speech writing or speech craft is considered an art form in many circles. There are many aspects that must come together to make an effective speech. This will be the first in a series of articles where I will share with you some of my experiences of what I found to improve my overall speaking ability. We will cover quite a few details, everything from what to do to write your speech, to how to project confidence and tips for effective speech delivery.
For this article I will focus on writing your speech. There are three things to consider when writing your speech, objective, theme and structure. Let’s begin with …

Objective
All good speakers know exactly what they want to accomplish when they deliver a speech. They are focused on achieving a specific set of outcomes and define their objectives. In every speech, one of your objectives is to sell something. It might be an idea, a point of view, some information or an actual product. Without knowing your objective you will not be able to realize the “sale”. To complete the “sale” during your speech you need to tune into your audience. The station you are looking to tune into is WIIFM. WIIFM stands for What’s In It For Me. It is critical that you tune into WIIFM as soon as possible. This will draw your audience toward the direction you want to take them. One of the best ways to draw you audience in is to review the benefits and features of what you are going to “sell” them. Benefits are what people will get from using your product. Features outline what you product can do. Benefits focus on emotions (the heart). Features look at logic (the head). Of the two, it best to focus on the benefits of your topic. Grabbing the emotions of your audience will “out sell” the use of logic every time.

Remember that you have not “sold” anything unless you have convinced your audience to take action. Have you convinced your audience to use your techniques? Will your audience approve your idea? Have you swayed your audience over to your point of view? Will your audience buy the product you are attempting to sell? This is your ultimate goal in any speech. You must learn to inspire your audience to take action!

Theme
Now that you know what your objectives are, you need to design a theme for your speech. The theme is defined by the flow of content. Your content consists of the stories, facts, ideas, jokes, quotes and messages contained within your speech. An effective theme consists of related content. If your objective is to inspire your audience, your content should consist of inspiring stories, facts, ideas, jokes, quotes and messages. Each section should flow nicely from one section to the next. There’s nothing worse than a speech that jumps all over the place. When you do this you will quickly lose your audience. When creating your theme it’s best to select content that you are enthusiastic and passionate about. Select quotes that inspire you and choose ideas that move you! Channel that passion into your speech! Use stories from your life that have stirred your emotions. There’s a good chance that if something inspired you, it will inspire others.

Structure
Now that we have clearly defined the objectives and developed an overall theme for our speech, we now need to bring it all together. We need to develop the structure … There are a number of ways to structure your speech. One of the simplest is to develop a good opening, identify 3 to 5 main points to deliver and then wrap up with a concise closing that will move your audience to action.

Opening
It is good to identify the WIIFM with your audience during the opening of you speech. This means you need to let the audience know what benefits they are going receive by listening to you. By doing this early on, people will be tuned into what you are saying during your entire speech.
Body
The body of your speech should follow some sort of logical order or flow. A good example of this is chronological order. This is one of the most common speech structures to use. The idea is to structure your speech around time events. First this happened, then something else, etc …You can also use any structure that makes logical sense. The idea is to group your main points together so that they can be easily remembered and understood. You might describe different viewpoints or start with a broad focus and move toward a more narrow standpoint. There is really no limit. Just try to keep it simple.
Remember to keep the body of your speech to 3 to 5 main points. Too much information will overwhelm your audience. They will walk away dazed and confused instead of charged and ready to take action. During the opening of your speech focus on the benefits of your topic to sway the emotions of your audience so they will listen to you. Once you have captured their emotions, you can focus on the logic of your topic. The body of your speech is a good area to place the features of your topic. So go ahead to explain things in as much details as time will allow.
Closing
There are two main things you want to accomplish during the closing of your speech. The first is to review the main points of the body of your speech. This will refresh the key points of your topic. The second is to get your audience to take action. You need to close the “sale”. You need to tell people what you what them to do! So if you what them to buy your product … tell them! If you what them to vote if favour of your proposal … tell them! If you what them to use your idea … tell them!People will remember only about 10% of what you tell them. So it is best to tell the audience over and over what you are saying. It is ok to repeat the key points of your topic. A good way to do this is during the opening of your speech you tell them what you are going to tell them. During the body you tell them what you came to say. Finally, you tell them what you told them during the closing.
The End
I personally believe that anyone can become a good speaker. With a little (a lot?) of passion and determination it is possible to develop this skill. When you do, people will notice. Your confidence will come out in your personal and professional lives. Maybe you will be able to persuade others to your position on the golf course or on the school board? Perhaps you will be noticed for that next promotion at work? The possibilities are endless.

Copyright 2004 Focused Fool Inc. -- All Rights Reserved
About the Author
Ronald Vereggen, "The Focused Fool", helps inspire, encourage and empower individuals to achieve elite performance within their lives. As a Success Coach, Ron combines NLP and Personal Leadership techniques to assist you to *ACHIEVE SUCCESS* within your life. Explore the Focused Fool Community at www.FocusedFool.com to learn more.

Give a Great Presentation by Penny Tremblay

2005-12-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Penny Tremblay is an energetic speaker and motivator offering clever insight to becoming 'The Greatest You'. She writes monthly articles that provide insightful tips and techniques to help you become your personal best.

See more at http://www.northernlightspresentations.com/articles.htm

Special meeting this Wednesday 16th of Nov.

2005-11-14T10:21:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon Fellow Toastmasters

I missed you last week !!!!

The theme of the meeting is WEATHER, very fitting for this time of year, as a Tornado in Hamilton caused me to miss last weeks meeting!

Next week is a very special meeting for us, we are honored to host Fraser McAllen and
Arabella Benson and their class to our meeting once again.

Those unfamiliar with them (and those that are) should click on this link to read
more about this Dynamic Duo of Speakers !!!

http://www3.sympatico.ca/speakers4000/Winning.html

Clive Milton
President
Sheridan Park Toastmasters

Area 22 Table Topics & Humorous Contest - October 14, 2005

2005-10-13T15:28:00.000-04:00

Our Club contestants delegates are:

Carol Towsend & Rudy Dacorte - Table Topics Contest
Miriam Richter & Kai Chan - Humorous Contest

We wish them Success!

Location: HJA Brown Education Centre (Hurontario & Matheson Blvd. W.)
Time: 7:00 pm
Cost: $5 - Reimbursed by the Club - (ask for receipt!)

Thoughts Become Things! by Mike Dooley

2005-10-12T23:48:00.000-04:00

An inspirational speech by Mike Dooley. Who's Mike? Click HERE to find out.

Option 1: View with Windows Media Player
Option 2: View with Real Player Format

How I could get more laughs from my audience using NLP?

2005-09-29T16:42:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends!

I have just found this interesting article, and because very soon we will open the Humorous Speech contest, I thought you might be interested to use these tips...

***
Last week we explored the idea that you have to get someone to imagine doing something before they’ll do it. One of the things I’ve been imagining myself doing this week is my standup comedy routine. After training ‘The Secrets of Hypnosis’ on Saturday and Sunday, I’m zooming into Leicester to compete in the BBC’s new talent competition (sorry, it’s already sold out). I’ll let you know how I get on.

When I first started doing standup comedy (on a workshop with 10 other people), I had an experience which relates to NLP and hypnosis. We were ‘learning by doing’, so within ten minutes of starting the course I was on stage telling a story. After coming off stage, I was reflecting on how I could get more laughs from my audience next time, when I suddenly realised I’d missed the most basic trick in the book: I hadn’t set a goal. Right away, I imagined myself standing on the stage with the audience laughing uproariously. Next time I was on my way to the stage, I imagined it again. The response was overwhelming: I got way more laughs the second time, just by seeing the audience responding as I wanted in my mind’s eye.

Before you start using hypnotic language with others, it is important to get a clear goal in mind. What responses do you want to elicit from the other person? How will you know when you’ve got those responses? If your goal is to get the person to go into a trance, how will they look when they’re in that trance? Make a clear mental image of the person (or people) you are working with, having the responses you desire.

Your nervous system is goal-seeking. When you set a clear mental goal, you get your entire nervous system working for you to achieve that goal. If you want someone to go into a trance, make a clear mental image of them in that state. If you want them to have a sudden transformational shift, make a mental image of them having one, then hold it in mind. If you want someone to laugh, start by picturing them doing so (to really super-charge the process, hear what you’ll hear and feel what you’ll feel as well).

Speaking to you as a conversational hypnotist, your unconscious mind is your most powerful ally. Creating a clear goal in pictorial form, then adding in sounds and feelings as necessary is one of the most powerful ways to get your unconscious mind working for you.

Pictures are one of the most powerful ways of communicating with your unconscious mind, so if you create a mental image of your goal, in positive terms, it creates a clear message to your unconscious.
***

This week’s tip is taken from our free ebook, ‘The Top 10 Secrets of Conversational Hypnosis’. To get your copy of the ebook, as well as a language pattern each week for a whole year, and a free 7-minute audio of me demonstrating hypnotic language, sign up for our free hypnotic language e-course at no charge. You can sign up here:
http://www.saladltd.co.uk/hypnosis_course_free_signup.htm

For more of Jamie Smart’s nlp tips, please go to http://www.saladltd.co.uk/
©2005 jamie smart all rights reserved

What is the best speech format ? written, memorized or an outline? - by Bob Tracz

2005-09-27T10:59:00.000-04:00

I believe an outline works best for most situations.
It provides cohesion to your purpose and provides a rational progression to your conclusion.

You can use 5X7 cards so you can easily review, organize, reorganize and review your thoughts.
Your introduction should get the audience's attention,
introduce the topic, explain the topic's importance andforecast your main ideas.

Your body of the presentation can follow a logical thoughtpattern - one topic progresses into the next, chronological,spatial, classification, problem/solution, cause/effect,
prioritized... so you can be conversational and neverhave to worry about forgetting what you wanted to say.

Your conclusion should - inform the audience that you areabout to end, summarize the main ideas and leave theaudience with a call to action.

QUOTATION:
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbour, though he build his house in the woods, the world willmake a beaten path to his door.
ATTRIBUTION:
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. Attribute

Dr. Tracz is a available for presentations and coaching
For more information, visit http://www.roberttracz.com

HighGain 360° Listening Assessment

2005-09-11T16:27:00.000-04:00

I believe, here at Sheridan Park Toastmasters Club we master the listening skills. With each role performed, everyone is working to cultivate skills that can be applied in all aspects of our life.
You will become a better listener and a more critical thinker.
You can check your own listening skills by taking this four-minute self-assessment. As you take this, please think of a specific environment- at work, at home, or performing community work. Listening is context driven: we often listen well in one arena and poorly in others. By becoming aware of your listening patterns you can take steps to cultivate this life-long skill.
Take the Listening Self-Assessment http://www.highgain.com/SELF/index.php

Meeting this Wednesday - September 7th

2005-09-06T18:56:00.000-04:00

Hello Fellow Toastmasters,

The theme of this week's meeting will be 'If music be the food of love...play on'.
This week's program promises to be quite exciting .....you shouldn't miss it. Come early and mingle....and enjoy the soothing sounds of music!!!! Then, we will have the opportunity to hear the speech delivered by the winner of the International Contest at the recently concluded Toastmasters Conference. This will form the basis of our 'Table Topics' section....this should be quite interesting.
We will all be waiting with baited breath to see who has won the title of 'Toastmaster of the Month' for the month of August! This award together with other awards earned by our members during the month of August, will be given out during the 'Business Meeting'.

In the speech section, Ted will be giving his first speech - 'Icebreaker'...
...and Sherry will be giving Speech #4 from the Public Relations Manual, with a presentation entitled 'Work In Progress" ...Hmm!!
I can't wait to hear these speeches! What about you?

There are still many outstanding roles that have not been filled for the Meeting. Please log in to our website at http://www.sheridanparktm.org/ and go to the members only software option. Sign in and then pick the 'sign up for roles option'.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

Thanks. Yvonne

"Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." - William Congreve

Words Convey Two Kinds of Meaning, Not One

2005-08-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

There is always more than one meaning of a word or a phrase. As all good writers know, terms convey two distinctly different kind of meanings simultaneously. These two kinds of meaning correspond to the intellectual-emotional duality in human thinking and behavior.
One is denotation, the cognitive meaning, and the second is connotation, the emotion or associational aspect of a term.

DENOTATION, also known as cognitive meaning, refers to the direct relationship between a term and the object, idea, or action it designates [the familiar "dictionary" meaning].

CONNOTATION, also known as affective meaning, refers to the emotive or associational aspect of a term [not available in dictionaries].
(McArthur, T. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)

"Skill in using the emotional appeal of connotation is essential in any writing designed to persuade, convince, anger, inspire, or soothe a reader."-- McCrimmon, J.M. Writing with a Purpose. Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1950.

Emotional Dictionary http://www.writing.ws/

Minutes of the Meeting of Sheridan Park Club Toastmasters – July 27, 2005

2005-08-04T00:23:00.000-04:00

Our punctual SAA Rudi at exactly 7.15pm started the Sheridan Park TM meeting, with 18 members and introduced Peter Chen as Chair of the meeting.

The theme of the meeting “I cannot live without books” everyone could see it on Clive’s T-shirt, a subtle reminder to the members that didn’t have time to check the agenda.

In his Toast, Daniel’s perseverance into finding the formula for success was emphasized by Krish & Mythili daughter personal example. Kavita, a Canadian junior national champion in all age categories, with an international superb activity, will perform this week at Rogers cup with the best players in the world. Her continual persistence and effort are powerful steps toward the achievement of success.

Alice and Yvonne settled the tone of the meeting with FUN and some creative words from Joke of the Day.

As Table Topic Master, Clive investigated our library code cracking skills. Rudi and Carol shared the Best Table Topic award because Rudi secretly likes Jim Carry, and Carols name means exposure in French.

Peter the business likes serious with a nice smile opened the floor to business meeting on time and the parliamentary procedure was used efficiently.

Carol proposed that a motion to vote for membership to be moved the next meeting.

Di as Toastmaster elegantly introduced the speakers.
Simona with her speech “It’s time for travel to Europe!” - CTM #8 - almost convinced us showing about 8K pictures and took us with her thru Europe.
Harry shared with us his hacker skills and secrets in his speech “Don’t be part of the statistics!” CTM #3.

Simona was awarded as the Best Speaker.

Mythili as GE did a superb job with her clear insights, as well as her evaluators.
Kai and Johnny the “beer specialist” did a great evaluation and complimented Harry for his nice… slim and beautiful posture, for which he got the Best Evaluator award.

Abdullah, Robert and Carol helped with Timer & Grammarian’s Reports, and Listening Quiz.

Peter awarded Daniel with Spark of the Meeting for his help to make him more nervous during the meeting and invited our Krish William Shakespeare to offer us his Thought for the Day.

We adjourned the meeting just before 9:15

Members attending: Rudi, Peter, Clive, Daniel, Mythili, Alice, Yvonne, Carol, Di, Simona, Harry, Kai, Johnny, Abdullah, Krish, Ted, Emily, Robert.

For those of you who were not able to attend, we missed you and hope to see you at future meetings.

Tips on Impromptu Speaking

2005-08-02T20:28:00.000-04:00

"One of the best things I got from Toastasters was learning the skill to think and speak on my feet. Much to my surprise the ability to improvise is a skill that can be learned. The first time I witnessed a Toastmasters contest for impromtu speaking, (Toastmasters calls it Table Topics), I was blown away!

In this contest each contestant was allowed into the room one at at time. They were given the word for this contest. The word was 'light'. Then each in turn marched confidently to the front of the room and each delivered a three minute speech that they composed on the spot. They were entertatining, insipiring, thoughtul and funny. I thought, "I could never do that!"

From Toastmasters I learned how to do that and below are some of the techniques I learned. You can use these techniques in Table Topics or in any situation where you need to think and speak on your feet.." George Torok

1. When you first hear the topic smile. This will help you feel good and look confident.
2. Immediately decide if you strongly like it or strongly hate it. Then go in that direction. Your emotion will fuel your thoughts. Don’t sit on the fence - watching someone sit on a fence is so boring. But watching them jump into the corral and wrestle the bull - that is a lot more entertaining.
3. One approach is to state, ‘There are three things that come to mind about this topic.’, even if you can not think of three things when you start. As you speak you will be searching for three key ideas. It helps give you apparent structure. If you run out of time to list all three, announce that you will explain more another time.
4. Try the pro/con method. State the pros, then state the cons. This can be confusing to the audience about where you stand on this topic. To give your position - be stronger on one side than the other. You could even make fun of the opposite side by mocking their views. Be very careful with this because sarcasm turns people off and can turn them against you.
5. When your mind goes blank and you don’t know what to say next - smile, look at the audience and pause. They will review your last words and reflect on how profound they were. The one or few second pause is powerful and it gives you time to plan your next words.
6. If the pause and smile don’t get you going - repeat the topic or your last point in a profound way. You could even repeat it more than once. This is like revving your engine. Your thoughts collect then suddenly your mouth engages again.
7. Look for a lesson you can find in this word. Relate this word to a book you read, a TV show, a movie, the daily news, a community project, your work or your hobby.
8. Everybody has family. Bring your family into this topic. It is the universal way to relate to everyone. When you talk about family be sure to use names - it makes a stronger emotional picture for the audience.
9. Use the topic to segue to your main message. Politicians do this all the time. If you ask them about corruption in their campaign they talk about why you should vote for them and all the great things they did for the community. Make it a smooth transition and the audience will go with you.
10. Build in humor early. When the audience laughs with you, they relax and so do you. Plus that gives you a shot of confidence.

Bonus tip: Speak slowly - it gives you time to think.

Toastmaster Tips courtesy of George Torok Professional Speaker, Radio Show Host, Toastmaster
http://www.geocities.com/george_torok/TableTopics.html

© George Torok is licensed to present Power Presentations™ by Peter Urs Bender, author of the best seller 'Secrets of Power Presentations'. Torok is co-author of 'Secrets of Power Marketing' and host of the radio show Business in Motion. He delivers seminars across North America on thinking and communication skills. He can be reached at (905) 335-1997 or Coach@Torok.com For more tips visit http://www.torok.com/ and http://www.speechcoachforexecutives.com/

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

2005-07-28T23:28:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-27T13:04:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-07-27T12:55:00.001-04:00

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

2005-07-24T17:18:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-07-24T16:42:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-21T00:35:00.000-04:00

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

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