Gratitude

I've had a bit of a break in writing this blog.  And I hate it. Because the longer a break you have, the harder it gets to return to the routine. I guess that's true about any habit. I've noticed the same with Toastmasters as well. We have had a few members who wanted to take a break from Toastmasters due to other commitments in their life/work. They stopped attending the meetings or did not renew their membership. I have to admit that I've had those feelings creep in as well to want to take a break from the weekly meetings. However, I've not seen those members return. I've heard it takes about 21 days to establish a 'habit' or a 'routine', and it takes one short break to ruin it!
Anyways, back to the meeting today! It was Marcia's first time as the Chair and she lived up to the expectations. I loved that she chose 'Gratitude' as the theme which was perfect for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

We are starting to see a full meeting room as more of our members have returned from their summer vacations! I am grateful that we have a supportive group of members from all walks of life. I started a new manual today - Communicating on Video. The first project required me to prepare a short editorial and present it was as if I was on Television. It didn't take me long to select the theme for my editorial. Nutrition and Health have been my priority in the last few months. I saw the documentary, Fed Up, recently that got my riled up about Sugar. I decided to dedicate my editorial to educate the audience about how Sugar affects our health.  Was I nervous or what! I had a LOT to talk about Sugar, but so little time. Plus, the idea of talking to the 'camera' was new to me. I had to ignore the presence of the club members and stare at the camera. It was a bit distracting since I tend to draw my energy from the reactions of the audience. There was a lot of improvements I can make in the next few projects. Katrina pointed out I was speaking fast and need to slow down. Well, that has been my issue since Day 1! It's a work in progress. You can watch the video here.

Sundeep added a twist to the usual Table Topics. She listed a few countries and stated a few ways people show Gratitude in those countries. The members had to associate the country with the gratitude methods and explain why they chose the answer. I thought it was an interesting change to the routine. Also, I ended up knowing a bit more about each country and their system. Karen rounded up the General Evaluation section by reminding us about the procedures of handing the gavel while Chairing a meeting. It's Thankgiving weekend and we are celebrating Toastmasters' 90th Anniversary at our next meeting! Watch this space for an update...

Table Topics Contest

"Phew! It's over!"
"Did I just say that? "
"How stupid was that!!??!!"

Those are some of phrases I say after almost every Table Topics segment. Impromptu speaking continues to be the thing I fear most in Toastmasters! It's not just about saying it right, it's also about saying the right things... and making people laugh... and making sense! Learning to drive was easier than this!

As a Toastmaster for about 3+ years, I've crossed many a hurdles - won humorous speech contests, facilitated training sessions, managed public relations, and now serving as President. But, I've always avoided participating in a Table Topics contest. It has been my biggest fear. Today, I felt like I jumped out of an airplane... again! And I landed.... safely!

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulder. To be honest, it wasn't that scary. Yes, I could've made my segment longer and better, but I managed to successfully complete the contest without breaking down or saying non-sense.

I now know why did the chicken cross the road? 
Because it was afraid of the Table Topics! *cheeky laugh* :P :P :P

If there is an image of how I felt, this is it!

Family

The Toastmasters club is like a family unit. We meet every week, share laughter, talk about each other's lives and most importantly, support one another when required. And sometimes, important decisions need to be made and there is a need for a family meeting. Today, we conducted a club business meeting to discuss a potential membership fee increase. Since Toastmasters International (TMI) has headquarters in the US, all the fees/expenses need to be paid in USD. Due to the weak exchange rate and poor CAD/USD conversion, we have been going under deficit which would worsen the situation with the impending renewals in October. As a result, I teamed up with the Treasurer and created a detailed presentation discussing the need for an increase, the potential impact on the financials and the next steps. The members were supportive, there was a spirited discussion and we voted on the increase.

Yang Sun, our newest member, delivered her first speech, the Ice Breaker! Yang has been actively participating at our club meetings and volunteering for new roles each week. I have to admit that the energy shown by our newer members has quite infectious! It helps infuse positive energy and renew the commitment to the Toastmasters journey!

Summer Social!!!

It's that time of the year when we transition to the new executive, thank the efforts of the past year and share the goals for the upcoming year at the Meridian Toastmasters Club! As the Chair for today's meeting (and as President of the Club), I decided to host the Member Appreciation Summer Social! To keep it interesting, we set the meeting theme such that everyone was required to wear their favorite summer hats!

 This is the third summer of hosting member appreciation lunch meetings. We started the meeting 20 minutes late to allow everyone to get something to eat. I was a bit disappointment to see a very low attendance. It's always a struggle during the summer time. However, we continued the meeting with our high spirits. I delivered a short talk about the history of our club, shared the achievements in the past year, and discussed the goals for next year.

Sundeep took over the next session as the Table Topics masters. She projected a few creative images on the screen and asked members to provide a caption and interpret the image in 1 minute.
As part of the 'member appreciation'. we gave out 2 raffle prizes, a favorite Table Topics speaker and favorite Hat! Christine took away the 'favorite hat' prize with her hat made from coke cans!!!





At the end, I made everyone stand up, do a little stretch using a self-hug and thanked them for their contributions in the past year! I truly believe that the members are our biggest assets and I feel proud to be part of Meridian Toastmasters.

But first, let me take a #selfie! :P

 

Dreams

It was yet another beautiful day in the city. Warm summer sun with a slight chill in the wind! As I was crossing the street to go to the club meeting, I wondered how refreshing it would be to host a meeting in one of the parks! Ahhh... wishful thinking.. or 'dreaming'! Melrose chose an interesting theme for the meeting today. She opened the meeting by talking about two different interpretation of dreams. One that we have while we sleep and another about future and aspirations! Anil presented the Thought of Day by encouraging everyone to dream about the future and shared some motivations tips. He also talked about Martin Luther King and his famous speech, "I have a dream" that has inspired many people around the world. You can watch his Thought of the Day here.

We had a full house today. Sundeep and Pam delivered their Speech #3 from the Competent Communicator (CC) manual - Organize your speech. Sundeep talked about the 'selfie stick' and the much buzz around it. I thought it was very clever to bring a selfie stick and provide a demonstration. Being a selfie addict myself, I have been tempted to get one! She also showed a few photos she took with the stick and how easy it was to capture the background. Pam followed Sundeep and took up on a bike ride along the city. Her vivid descriptions allowed me to visualize as if I was taking that bike ride. An effective technique, especially for storytellers. Pam had just made a visit to the dentist and told me her face was frozen. Kudos to her for delivering the speech without any issues. You can view Pam's speech here.

I was tasked as the Table Topics master. I find the concept of dreams very interesting and have read a bit about the interpretation of dreams as well. I decided to do round robin style Table Topics where I started out by narrating the beginning of a dream I had recently and everyone else continued the story. It was impressive how all the members participated enthusiastically and I noticed a lot less usage of filler words. Somehow there were a lot of zombies in the story that finally developed!
I wish I would've recorded it view it later... But, oh well! I can tell you that our members had wild imaginations and there was a lot of laughter.

Fun in the sun!

The Gods of Sunshine have been blessing up with a lot of Vitamin D these past few weeks. I was scheduled to Chair the meeting today. However, we did not have enough prepared speakers. So we decided to host an Easy-Speak refresher course. Pam agreed to take on the role of Chair and did a wonderful job holding the fort! Christine forgot she was supposed to prepare the Thought of the Day, however he did a fantastic job delivering an impromptu 2-min speech!

Then I delivered a refresher on Easy-Speak. I'm slowly getting comfortable with the 'training' set up. Being behind the lecturn seems so easy now. Today, as I was talking about Easy-Speak, I could see myself getting used to it. It is going to be a learning curve, but it was quite rewarding to share your knowledge and see that someone else learnt something new because of you! 

Marcia conducted the Table Topics session and asked all members to share one of their memorable moments in the sunshine! Karen told us about a Christmas many years ago when she made an impromptu day-trip all the way to Atlanta with some work colleagues. Now that's a memory worth creating! Sundeep rounded it off as the General Evaluator. She was encouraging in her feedback and acknowledged everyone. My favorite part was the way Pam ended up the meeting with a poem. I borrowed it from her so I could share it with you. Here it goes -

" It holds its heads up with pride in the morning,

But flees into the dark by night,

Its beauty shines each day without warning,

Brightening the day in warming light,

Capable of burning us to ashes,

But also able to sustain all life,

Looking at its constant flashes,

The sun gleams with certain rife."

Source: unknown

Collaboration

Our meeting today was an excellent example of advance planning, collaboration, and leadership. As our Chair, Anil was proactive in ensuring that all the roles were filled. A week before the meeting, he sent out an email reaching out to our club and older guests asking for volunteers for unassigned roles. Our meeting began on time and we had new guests join us. Anil opened the meeting and talked about the importance of collaboration in our daily lives. I doubled up as the SAA and Grammarian.
.

Sundeep is back from her vacation in Europe and she was smart to use her experience as a topic for her speech. Sundeep talked about her trip to Italy. Being a travel and food enthusiast myself, I am tempted to plan a trip, more so after seeing all the scenic images of Italy and the hearing about the Italian delicacies. You can watch her speech video here. I wish Sundeep also brought us back some pastries and chocolates! You know, it's all part of effective presentation skills! :P


Our Division Governor, Jerako, joined us as our second speaker. Jerako selected a speech on the Advanced Manual and it's always a pleasure to watch her speak. Katrina followed as the Table Topics master today. She shared two envelopes. One of them contained a list of activities and the other one contained name of famous people. We had to pick one item from each and share our thoughts if we want or did not want to share the activity with that person. I thought it an excellent idea for Table Topics and everyone seemed to have had fun with it. Even our guests participated! I had Dolly Parton as my famous person, but I didn't get a chance to speak. Oh well, maybe next time! But any activity would have been 'interesting' with Dolly! :)

As we get closer to the transition to the new Executive, I am excited to take up the role as the President. Today's meeting theme reminds me of the importance to collaborate and ensure successful team work. I am lucky to have an excellent team and I am excited to see what the new year brings to Meridian Toastmasters.