California Dreamin'
Enlightening, Motivational, Educational, Thought Provoking, and Fantastic are some of the words to describe my first experience at Toastmasters International's 64'th Convention which was held at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego, California on August 15-19, 1995. Approximately 3,000 Toastmasters from around the worked gathered to meet, greet, learn, speak, cheer, eat, dance, and vote. Some of the world's most dynamic leaders and communicators were present for this event.
My experience began with registration. Hundreds of participants waited for up to an hour to for registration materials and the opportunity to buy tickets for exciting events such as the Golden Gavel luncheon which featured key note speaker, Anthony Robbins. Other events included the President's luncheon, Super 60's dinner, and the much anticipated International Speech Contest. Although I was a stranger in a strange town, everyone treated me as friend and family. I met Area and District Governors, International Presidents, Club Presidents and non-officers. Friendly smiles and handshakes were abundant throughout the day and week.
The opening ceremony was an event like no other. It began with the parade of flags, an exciting, colorful, and emotionally charged event that featured Toastmasters from more than 160 countries. They marched to the tune of national anthems and others stimulating songs. The enthusiasm was unlike anything I had ever seen. The event concluded with remarks form the current International President and introduction of the International Officers and other high ranking officials. Surprisingly, there were no Club Presidents introduced during this event (smile!).
The first full day provided an opportunity for participants to choose from many outstanding educational sessions. These sessions were conducted by dynamic speakers with enthusiasm and who offered new ideas for improving leadership and educational skills. The highlight of the day was the Golden Gavel Luncheon. Anthony Robbins was this year's recipient of the Golden Gavel Award. He gave an emotional, feet stomping, hand clapping, people grabbing, key note address. He is everything people say about him and more. Networking and a visit to the Toastmasters bookstore followed the educational sessions. The day concluded with a candidates forum. Each candidate for international office was able to state their goals and objectives to the convention participants on a more personal basis. After the candidates forum, District and Regional officers conducted a caucus to discuss issues and concerns important to them in addition to questioning the candidates one-on-one.
The second day was equally exciting for a first-timer like myself. I actually observed an International Business Meeting. The primary mission of this meeting was to vote for the 1995-96 officers. Jim Ronning, District 36 Governor, Joyce Franklin, Lt. Governor, Education, Leverne Hawkins, Lt. Governor, Marketing, and Jill Lambe, Immediate Past District Governor, along with other district Toastmasters, cast their votes for the candidates of their choice. A luncheon and more educational sessions followed.
The last day of the convention ended with the World Championship of Public Speaking. This was the highlight of the convention. Nine energetic, confident, and capable speakers form around the world took turns rousing the audience with powerful speeches. Participants were able to evaluate each candidate. Ironically, I chose the winning speaker. The winner was from Region 7, which includes our Area and District. His name is Mark Brown, District 46, Mt. Vernon, New York. His topic was, "A Second Chance." The convention ended, just as it had begun, with high energy and enthusiasm, more educational sessions, and the President's Dinner Dance.
I cannot wait until the next convention. The next convention is scheduled for August 20-24, 1995 in St. Louis, Missouri. I would highly recommend that all Toastmasters attend a convention. The experience is invaluable. You walk away with a broader understanding of the overall organization, meet TM leaders, find out about new developments, establish new friendships,
purchase new supplies, watch some of the best speakers in the world perform, and help decide on the future of the organization. Without question, I have returned with new energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge.
Announcements
Congratulations to:
More Than Just Speeches
One of the great things about Toastmasters is that, not only does it help you improve your public speaking, but it gives you milestones by which to gauge your progress. Those are the CTM, ATM, and DTM. To reach each of those milestones, the Toastmasters educational program shows you the steps to take. For instance, to get a CTM you have to complete all 10 speeches in the Basic Manual. For the higher levels of achievement there are additional goals added to just delivering speeches. They may require holding a club office, or giving speeches outside of a Toastmasters meeting. But as anyone who's involved in Toastmasters can attest, there is more to being a Toastmaster than just giving speeches.
Toastmasters is really a complete communication skills package. Sure, it helps an individual to improve their public speaking skills, but that's just part of it. Communication involves more than just speaking, it has to do with listening, organizing thoughts, and creating an atmosphere conducive to an open, but structured, exchange of ideas. To gain those benefits, however, requires broad participation in all aspects of a Toastmasters meeting. Just take a look at some of the various jobs required to run a complete meeting and the skills they help us to foster:
Speaker: Of course this is the one we may think of first. Preparing and presenting a speech requires organizational skills as well as speaking skills.
Evaluator: This is a very important part of the learning process for the speaker. To be an effective evaluator requires good listening skills, as well as the ability to convey useful suggestions to the speaker.
TMOD: Here's a position that I've found has been very useful to me. Basically, a TMOD must organize a meeting, something almost all of us have to do. This means they need to get in touch with the other people involved in the meeting, delegate jobs, and put together an agenda. These are all necessary leadership skills.
General Evaluator: The general evaluator uses the organizational skills of the TMOD as well as evaluation skills. The GE contacts all the critics and organizes the evaluation portion of the meeting while also evaluating the meeting to highlight what worked well and what could use some improvement. This helps the club as a whole to improve.
Table Topics: Being the table topics master is a chance to exercise our question asking ability. And coming up with clear, thought provoking questions is sometimes more important than the answers to them.
Critics: These positions (timer, grammarian, whisker counter) all help to develop good listening skills, and, by highlighting these aspects of speaking, cause us to think more about improving our own speaking skills.
There are also other positions such as "Word of the Day", "Thought of the Day", and ballot counter, all of which contribute to a successful, well rounded meeting. None of these jobs is particularly complex, or difficult. They just require a commitment to do them to the best of your abilities. If you really what to get the most out of Toastmasters you need to participate in all aspects of the club. By being active in those other parts of the meeting you will improve not only your speaking skills, but also your listening, organizational, and leadership skills, and THAT is what Toastmasters is all about.
Words From the Wordsmith
Eponyms are words with tales behind them. Mr. Silhouette, the French controller general of finances immortalized himself with his petty economies when "silhouette" came to be known for any outline. This issue, words that each have a story to tell.
Milque.toast n [Caspar Milquetoast, comic strip character created by H. T. Webster d. 1952 Am. cartoonist] (1935): a timid, meek, or unassertive person
Gon.go.rism n [Sp gongorismo, fr. Luis de Gongora y Argote d.1627 Span. poet] (1813): a literary style characterized by studied obscurity and by the use of various ornate devices
ig.no.ra.mus n, pl -mus.es also -mi [Ignoramus, ignorant lawyer in Ignoramus (1615), play by George Ruggle, fr. L, lit., we are ignorant of] (ca. 1616): an utterly ignorant person: dunce
ton.tine n [F, fr. Lorenzo Tonti d. 1695 Ital. banker] (1765): a joint financial arrangement whereby the participants usu. contribute equally toa prize that is awarded entirely to the participant who survives all the others
thra.son.i.cal adj [L Thrason-, Thraso Thraso, braggart soldier in the comedy Eunuchus by Terence] (1564): of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of Thraso: bragging, boastful -- thra.son.i.cal.ly adv
mox.ie n [fr. Moxie, a trademark for a soft drink] (1930) 1: energy, pep 2: courage, determination 3: know-how, expertise
Summer Quarter Meetings Summary
July 26, 1995. This was the day for our Annual Picnic. This year we changed the format a bit and moved our activities from the Recreation Center to the covered picnic tables across from Building 19. We also had Pizzas delivered instead of a spread prepared by Barney. Despite the oppressive heat, a good time was had by all.
August 9. Jan Gervin performed the TMOD duties for the first time and organized a great program which included three excellent prepared speeches. Tom Riley (Preventing RSI) spoke about the increasing problem of Repetitive Strain Injury and told us of ways to avoid the problem. Tom incorporated his furniture-building hobby to explain how furniture should be designed to reduce the effects of repetitively induced strain. Andrea Harrison (Without a Vision) spoke about the necessity of setting goals. When initial goals might need to be changed, we need to be flexible and develop alternative goals. A very inspirational speech, Andrea! Jeff Bolognese (Life's Up's and Downs) described a dangerous driving experience in which the car's breaks failed while driving over a hilly terrain. The anxious experience was related in a way spiced with humor. The story was then related to life by noting that events would be safer on a flat or routine surface, however, by taking chances at times, things can be more interesting and more can be accomplished. Herb Blodget evaluated Tom, Margaret Pavlinic evaluated Andrea and Paul McCeney assessed Jeff.
Andrea and Jeff tied for most effective speaker. Paul McCeney walked away with the best evaluator trophy and Michael Parish provided the best table topic response for Carol Bleile's questions.
August 23. Today was the day for selecting our representatives for the Area Table Topics and Humorous speech contests. Jeff Bolognese, Martha O"Bryan and Michael Parish vied for the Table Topics award as they responded to Tom Riley's topic "There were many worldly problems in the year 1000 AD. Do you think we will encounter any of the same problems in the year 2000 AD?". Michael was elected our representative and Martha was first runner up.
Dan Mandl and Pat McHale competed in the Humorous Speech Contest. Dan "The Joys of Fatherhood as told by Dan" described many humorous, though some times taxing, experiences he has encountered with his son Michael. Pat, in his speech "Food for Thought" told us how marketers of common food products play on our fears or aesthetic feelings to sell their products. Both speeches were excellent and had us laughing throughout. Pat was voted most humorous speaker. Pat will repeat the speech at the next meeting to polish it up for the Area Meet.
September 13 Jeff Bolognese served as TMOD today and developed a great meeting with five prepared speeches. Tom Riley (Designing over the Internet) designs and constructs custom furniture for computer users. He then told us how he defined user requirements via Internet responses. Jane Liu (Affirmative Action) described the objectives of Affirmative Action programs and how they failed to meet their goals many times. She then proposed that the academically handicapped should receive remedial training so that they can successfully compete at the established level. Liz Saniga (Reading is Fun..damental) gave her second "be in earnest" speech. Liz spoke on the necessity of reading to children on a regular basis in order to develop their interest in reading in later life. Herb Blodget (The Legend of the Three Sisters) told the native American folk tale about the origin and curse of the Three Sister Islands in the Potomac River. Pat McHale (Food for Thought) repeated a more polished version of his humorous speech to be presented at the Area Contest. Martha O'Bryan evaluated Tom, Maureen - Jane, Tim Reyes - Liz, Pat Greco - Herb and Michael Parish - Pat McHale.
Pat was voted most effective speaker and Martha received the best evaluator award. Because of the number of prepared speeches there was no Table Topic session this meeting.
September 27. Pat Greco was the TMOD for the meeting. Don Moore presented the only manual speech for the day. The speech was entitled "Shoot Your Television", and was a persuasive argument in favor of living a TV free life. Don talked about how much the quality of his family's lives has improved since removing TV from their home.
The meeting then had a special presentation by Wayne Boswell from the office of Human Resources. He talked about leadership and inspiring others and used a scene from Shakespeare's "Henry V" to illustrate.
Table topics were presented by Michael Parrish, and Pat McHale evaluated Don's speech.
Toast
Have you ever wondered where the word "toast" came from? According to William and Mary Morris in their book "Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins," Volume 1: One of the pleasanter and more civilized customs is toasting the continued good health of a friend. There is nothing new about the practice, for in all likelihood it began in ancient times, long before the Christian era.
The work 'toast' itself seems incongruous these days, although the serving of beverages today is often accompanied by varieties of toasted tidbits. In the time of Shakespeare and before, however, a piece of toasted bread was put in the bottom of the tankard or cup before the ale or wine was poured in. Chroniclers of the period say this was done to 'improve the taste.' but this scrivener suspects its chief purpose was to clarify the drink by collecting all sediment and impurities at the bottom of the cup. Thus the drink itself became a toast.
A person who attained great popularity, so that his health was often toasted became known himself as a 'toast'--a usage that survives today in the phrase 'toast of the town.'
And since `tis the season, here are some toasts for the holidays ahead:
May you live as long as you want
Were't the last drop in the well,
"I drink to the general joy of the whole table."
To all, to each, a fair good night,