Neat Idea from the Saratoga (NY) area

At the recent District 53 Executive Committee meeting, the group of Area Governors from the Saratoga, NY area showed us their "chart" for tracking members progress towards their goals. They created a racetrack and each member had a "horse" with milestones on the way to the "finish line". For example, one "racetrack" was the Competent Communicator award with 10 speeches on the way to the finish.

A neat idea !

See below for a close-up of the banner ...

Area A3 Speech Contest set...

Area A3 has scheduled their Fall contests (Humorous and Evaluation).

It will be held Monday October 2, 2006 at 7:30pm.

The location is at the United Methodist Church in Gardnertown, NY and will be hosted by Orange County Toastmasters.

Gardnertown United Method Church

1191 Union Avenue

Newburgh, NY 12550-1633

Phone: (845) 564-4134

http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=1191+Union+Ave,+Newburgh,+NY

Contact Dave Wheeler, John Capen or Carole Hurst for more information.

Dave Wheeler can be reached via email at theshot92@gmail.com

Running A Toastmasters Speech Contest

Running a Toastmasters Contest for the first time can be a bit intimidating ...

There seem to be tons of rules; many, many roles (some of which you might not be familar doing and much less managing or leading others in those roles).

On top of all that there are excited (and probably tense)contestants and loads of audience members who you might not know ... especially if you are running an Area or Division contest.

What do you do??? Where do you start???

If it is Summertime and you are preparing for the Fall Contests, you can attend training at TLI. There is always at least one session on running a contest and you will pick up some great information as well as a good handle on the paperwork and protocols.

Of course, if you are like me, you've put it off and the contest is next week and you have to pull things together NOW !!!!!

So, let's dig in ...

Running a Toastmasters contest is really very simple. You only need 3 things for a successful contest.

1. PEOPLE,
2. FORMS, and the
3. AGENDA !

Well, that doesn't sound too hard...
... except for the fact that I have no idea what any of those things mean !

:() <-- That's the symbol for "OH NO!!!"

District 53 to the rescue !
The linked text below gives you the handout developed by Dave Wheeler for training Area Governors in District 53. There are links to different formats depending on how you want to print it out.

Contest Survival Guide
(11 x 17 two sided format ... good for folding and holding all your forms).

Contest Survival Guide
(8.5 x 11 single sided format ... good if your printer does not do two sided.)

Contest Survival Guide ... tall version of "People" page
(if you have ALOT of people in your contest or your contest is a combination of multiple clubs or areas.

Now, from this point on, I will assume you have the Survival Guide in front of you ...

First, the "People" roles that are most critical...

Contest Master and Chief Judge.

These two people are the team that will make a successful contest meeting. It also allows the division of labor so that neither person has to do everything. If you are running a contest, most likely you are filling at least one of these two roles.

Next, recruit the key role players including Judges, Timers, Counters and Sergeant at Arms. You can use Judges for both contests and you should be sure to pick a mix of people from different clubs or areas so that there is no chance for biased voting. Shelly Hathaway, District 53 Chief Judge, has put together a table of "Requirements for Contest Roles" and you can download them by clicking here.

If you are having an Evaluation Contest, it is important to recruit your "Target Speaker". This speech should be a reasonable length (5-7 min. is good) and can be from a manual (although you won't tell the audience or the contestants that it is from a manual). This is a great opportunity for a speaker to get a number of evaluations of their speech and it can be a great experience for the Target Speaker.

Now, before we get to the Contestants... let's get our forms !

All of the forms listed in the Survival Guide can be ordered from Toastmasters. Most of the forms are not allowed to be posted on web sites due to copyright laws, but if you search long enough you will probably find them (or some old, out-of-date versions). The best bet is to purchase a set of the listed forms from TI's online store.

Now that you have all your forms... you need to start getting the room and contestants ready!

Contestants can start by filling out the Biographical Information (BI) and Eligibility and Originality (E/O) forms if they have not done it already. The Survival Guide has check boxes to make sure you get the forms from all the Contestants.

The Chief Judge should review the Technician and Judge Briefing Guide that was provided by District 53's Chief Judge, Shelly Hathaway. (Click here to download it in PDF format.) This covers the "Judges Briefing" portion of the agenda shown on the Survival Guide.

Next, the Contest Master should review the Contestant Briefings Guide ... also provided by District 53's Chief Judge, Shelly Hathaway. Click here to download it in PDF format. The Contest Master should also review the Fall 2006 Contest Script provided by Shelly Hathaway. Click here. There are also some additional "Good Ideas" on the back page of the Survival Guide that you should review before you get started with the pre-meeting activities in the AGENDA.

Now, all that is left is to run the meeting according to the agenda provided in the Survival Guide with the guidance provided by the Briefing Guides and the Contest Script.

If you have learned the material presented here, it should be very staightforward to use your Toastmaster skills to run the Contest as you would a Toastmasters meeting.

Good luck and enjoy the process !

Contributed by Dave Wheeler, Division A Governor, 2006-7 (Survival Guide) and Shelly Hathaway, District 53 Chief Judge, 2006-7

Most of the linked documents in this document are in PDF format and, if needed, free viewer / reader software can be downloaded at www.adobe.com

Friday Humor (?)

I found this picture on Seth Godin's blog and thought you might get a kick out of it ....

Fall Contest Season ... some tips for Contestants

I came across the following site with some tips for Toastmasters who are entering contests ...

http://jagamache.com/en/tm/art5.htm

Fall Contest Season ... running a contest

Attention Contest Masters (Toastmasters for Contest meetings) and Chief Judges:

The Fall Contest season (Humorous & Evaluation contests) is fast approaching and hopefully you are scheduling your club level contests.

Deadlines:
Club Contests by Sept. 16th
Area Contests by Oct. 7th
Division Contest by Oct.21.
The Division Contest has been scheduled for Oct.11th, hosted by Socially Speaking Toastmasters in Brookfield, CT starting at 7:30pm.

These contest materials (agenda / briefings) might be worth reviewing to help get a good overview of the contests: http://www.d4tm.org/D4_events/contest_materials.html

The scoring sheets are supposed to be purchased from International (but there might be some ways around this...send us an email if you are stuck without forms). You can also check out the categories and weights on the forms at:
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/ContestScoring.html

Let me know if you have any questions.

Speak UP !

contributed by Dave Wheeler, Division A Governor, 2006-7, theshot92@gmail.com

Area A4 / A2 Fall Contest Scheduled !

The Fall Contest for Areas A2 and A4
will be a combined event on:

Wednesday Sept. 20, 2006
Hosted by WestConn Toastmasters, www.westconntoastmasters.org
Location: Wooster School Library, Danbury, CT
Time: 7:30pm (contestants should show up at 7:00pm for briefings)

Barnum Square Celebrates a "Banner" year!

Press Release:

--- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ---

Bethel's Barnum Square Toastmasters celebrated their "banner" year yesterday during their weekly meeting held at the Bethel Senior Center in the Bethel Municipal Center.

Barnum Square Toastmasters achieved "Distinguished Club" status by April 30th, 2006 and were awarded $50 toward Toastmasters materials. They used this award to order a custom Toastmasters banner for their club and it was presented to the club yesterday.

Toastmasters clubs can become "Distinguished" by meeting a number of requirements set out by Toastmasters International. These goals include having club members achieve communication awards (within the Toastmaster program), leadership awards (also part of the Toastmasters program) along with meeting membership goals.

On hand to present the banner was Dave Wheeler, Division A Governor for District 53 Toastmasters and former Area A4 Governor, and he is shown in the picture above giving it to 2005-6 Club President Pat Kelly and 2006-7 Club President, Richard Smith. A HiRes version of the picture can be obtained by clicking here (approximately 1.2MB) while a REALLY, REALLY High Resolution version can be downloaded by clicking here (approx. 3.2MB).

About Toastmasters:
Toastmasters clubs provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment where every member can develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn fosters self-confidence and personal growth.

Barnum Square Toastmasters meets every Tuesday at noon to 1pm in the Bethel Municipal Center at 1 School Street,Bethel, CT. The club can be reached via telephone (203) 790-1638 and guests are always welcome.

A-team theme music ... straight from the 70's TV show!

Roger Brown, D53 Toastmasters webmaster sent along the following...

On 8/22/06, Roger Brown wrote:

The A-team never disappoints. :-)

http://www.mrtvseverything.com/sounds/ATintro.wav
http://www.mrtvseverything.com/sounds/ATtheme.wav

Possible A-Blog sound effects ... yes?

Fall Contests UPDATE

Here is some very important info. from the district ...

Regarding Number of Contestants (Club to Area):

- Each year, the district decides, whether they allow...

1. clubs to only send 1 contestant to each of the area contests
2. clubs to send 2 contestants to each of the area contests IF the area has 3 or fewer clubs
3. clubs to send 2 contestants to each of the area contests IF the area has 4 or fewer clubs.

On Saturday, the District team voted for the second option. i.e. Areas that have 3 or fewer clubs get the benefit that their clubs can send 2 contestants to each Area contest

In Division A, Areas A1 and A3 benefit from this rule, but not A2/A4/A5

Please note this change !

Membership Growth Materials (courtesy of Roger Brown, D53 Webmaster)

First Aid For Your Club
Membership Growth Materials
http://www.toastmasters.org/pdfs/firstaidforyourclub.pdf

All Toastmasters Clubs need new members. Even though your Club may currently enjoy a healthy membership roster, a few months from now that could change as members move, change employment, or reach their speaking and leadership objectives. Toastmasters International has created a variety of materials to help:

Toastmasters On-line Store
http://www.toastmasters.org/store/


MEMBERSHIP CONTESTS/PROGRAMS
Item # 1620 Annual Membership Programs Flier . . . . . . . . . 3 free*
Item # 1621 A Simple Membership Building Contest . . . . . . . 3 free*
Item # 1622 Membership Building 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 free*

BROCHURES & FLIERS
Item # 101 Confidence, The Voice of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . 10 free*
Item # 99 Find Your Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 free*
Item # 103 Clear Communications. Your organization needs it. . 50 cents
Item # 124 All About Toastmasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 cents
Item # 114 Toastmasters Can Help! (50 fliers) . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2.50
Item # 115 Toastmasters. It’s More Than Just Talk (50 fliers) $2.50
Item # 367 Toastmasters. It’s More Than Just Talk (5 posters) $4.00
Item # 108 From Prospect to Guest to Member . . . . . . . . . 3 free*

MANUALS AND KITS
Item # 1158 How to Rebuild a Toastmasters Club manual . . . . $1.00
Item # 1159 Membership Growth manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.25
Item # 1160 Membership Building Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5.00
Item # 1162 New Member Orientation Kit for Clubs . . . . . . . $5.00
Item # 1140 Let the World Know – Public Relations manual . . . $2.50
Item # 1150 Public Relations & Advertising Kit . . . . . . . $18.00

Certain items above can be downloaded in PDF format (FOR FREE) from the TI web site or by clicking on the linked text above. Free viewer software for PDF files can be downloaded at www.adobe.com if needed.

Area A5 - Fall Contest Scheduled

On 8/16/06, David Gavin, Area A5 Governor, wrote:

The Area A-5 Fall Contest (Evaluation) is scheduled for October 4, 2006 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Marist College in the Ulrich Conference Room.

Asking GREAT questions ....

One of my favorite blogs to read is Seth Godin's. Part of it is his great ideas on marketing but every now and then he throws in new topics or ideas that he picks up from other people. Today's post by Seth gives John Sawatsky's "seven rules for a great interview" as well as a link to a great article from the American Journal Review. John now works as director of talent development for ESPN.

The following paragraphs from the AJR article were of particular interest and might be helpful the next time you are your club's TableTopics Master !

American Journalism Review: "He sees his method [of interviewing] as the journalistic equivalent of judo. 'When someone attacks us, our first instinct is to resist with force. This is not good news for small people. Judo teaches cooperation, to use the bigger opponent's size to our advantage. It's the same in an interview. We're playing on their turf. We're generalists interviewing people who know their subject, and we don't. If we fight them head-on, we lose. They know more than we do. If we turn it around, if we make them prove everything, we turn our weakness into strength. Don't fight their superior knowledge, use it.'"

"Without agreement, the journalist spars for control with the source, lurching back and forth between coercive questions and flat assertions. Sawatsky calls it "moving back and forth between 'outputting' and 'inputting.' " Outputting is any time you make a statement, interject a value, voice an opinion. Inputting is when you ask nothing but neutral, open-ended questions. People, by nature, are either "inputters" or "outputters," he says. TV journalists, for instance, tend to leave their dial on output. Inputters are straight men, allowing sources to crack wise and showcase personality. "I can go into any newsroom and usually tell you who gets the best stories in the paper. It's usually the reporters with the blander personality. They're not the life of the party. They're amazingly consistent if you eavesdrop on them during interviews: You'll hear plain, neutral, bland questions. Colorless questions usually provide colorful answers."

John provides a glimpse into the media and interviewing that not many of use get a chance to see, much less analyze or understand the mechanics so we can use them in our own life.

I am definitely going to try using John's techniques the next time I am talking to someone I don't know. I think these ideas would be very valuable in normal conversation when your only goal is to get to know the person.

Speak UP!

Special Event: "Emotional Intelligence" Aug.23, 7:30pm

Socially Speaking Toastmasters of Brookfield, CT will be hosting a special event on August 23rd titled, "EQ Profiling: Using Emotional Intelligence to develop effective leaders, teams and individuals" by David Gavin. The session will be held at 7:30pm in Fellowship Hall of the Brookfield Congregational Church located at 160 Whisconier Road, at the intersection of Routes 25 & 133 in Brookfield, CT.

In his ground breaking book, Emotional Intelligence, author Daniel Goleman shows how being truly “smart” is not a matter of IQ but EI (emotional intelligence).

Emotional Intelligence has quickly become the standard for measuring a person’s ability to achieve success both personally and professionally.
By attending this session, you will learn what emotional intelligence is and how to measure it.

Plus, David Gavin will show how to use EI for self-improvement, creating high performing teams, and developing truly visionary leadership. A flyer for the event is available online: click here.

About David Gavin:
David Gavin is an Emotional Intelligence Consultant and teaches Organizational Behavior in the School of Management at Marist College. He has used Emotional Intelligence in a variety of industries, including food service, book / magazine publishing, and computer software development.

About Socially Speaking Toastmasters club:
Socially Speaking Toastmasters meets on the 2nd and 4th Wed. of every month in Fellowship Hall in the basement of the Brookfield Congregational Church. The church is located at 160 Whisconier Road, at the intersection of Routes 25 & 133 in Brookfield, CT.

The club can be reached via email, sociallyspeakingtm@yahoo.com, tel. 860-350-2669 or on the web at http://sociallyspeaking.freetoasthost.com.

What is the "2006th Really Awesome-est Thing on the Internet"?

Check it out ....

Click here to find out what is the "2006th Really Awesome-est Thing on the Internet" !

(I could not resist signing up for it ! DW)

Date for Fall Contest ... Division A contest set

We have a date for the Division A Fall Contests:

When: Wed. Oct. 11, 2006.
The contest will start at 7:30pm and contestants should arrive by 7:15pm.

Where: Hosted by Socially Speaking Toastmasters who meet at the Brookfield Congregational Church, 160 Whisconier Rd, Intersection of Rtes 25 & 133, Brookfield, CT.

More news on Club and Area Contests as they come in ...
Keep in mind ...
The deadline for Club Contests is 9/16 and the deadline for Area Contests is 10/7.

(Still looking for an Area A3 Governor! Email Dave at theshot92@gmail.com if interested.)

Membership Building Module presented at TLI

Dave Wheeler presented a module on Membership Building at last weekend's TLI in Hartford.

The module included a handout (click here for a copy) and an interactive session where the audience came up with items under the "Hook'em, Cook'em and Sign'em Up" categories of Marketing of Toastmasters.

For more information on this module you can attend the Division A training sessions where it will be featured again (in addition to some other fun stuff).

(The actual responses from the session will be published after the August 19th Division A Training session so that we don't "spoil the surprise" for attendees of the make-up training sessions.)

Division A - Officer Training

Division A - Fall Officer Training Sessions !

Wed. August 9th
Host: Socially Speaking Toastmasters
Where: Brookfield Congregational Church basement meeting room. Enter at back of church.
160 Whisconier Road, Intersection of Routes 25 & 133, Brookfield, CT
Time: 7:30 - 9:30pm

Sat. August 19th
Host: Marist College Toastmasters
Where: Marist College, Dyson 145 (room)
3399 North Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, United States
Time: 9am - 12noon

Area A4 ... now with info for Area's A1, A2, A3 and A5!

The other Area Governors in Division A thought it would be a good idea to combine all the area blogs into one BIG BLOG rather than have a bunch of individual blogs that would have much of the same information (contest deadlines, info. from the district, etc.). Since Area A4 blog has been going for a year already and has lots of information in its archives, we thought it would make sense to use it as the "BIG BLOG" !

If you are joining us from Area A1, A2, A3 or A5 ... Welcome !

Please check out all the past posts (there is lots of stuff that might be of interest to Toastmaster members) and let us know what you think by leaving us a comment. We would love to hear any ideas you have that could make the Toastmaster experience even better for members in your club, your area or anywhere in Division A !

Smedley Award and Back-to-School for Toastmasters

Here is the email announcement regarding "Back-to-school" TM Marketing and the Smedley award in case you want to edit it and post it to your area blog.
- Dave Wheeler, Div.A Governor, 2006-7

****************************************************************

For immediate release to all Toastmaster Club Officers and leaders.

Please distribute to all Toastmaster Clubs and Club Officers.

The Smedley Award and Back-to-School

Have you noticed that the back-to-school advertisements have

started to appear in the newspapers? We too can start our

marketing plan today and promote Toastmasters as an educational

item for back-to-school.

Let your Toastmasters community know that better communication

skills are just as important as stocking up on paper, notebooks,

pencils and pens. Take stock in Toastmasters.

Imagine the pressure of communications if you were starting your

business, your MBA or your law degree. It takes awhile to

recognize the need, even engineers, scientists, and computer/IT

professionals need more than just technical expertise to get ahead

in their career. Let's find the time to promote Toastmasters.

Share the gifts of our communication and leadership program and

help your Club earn the Smedley Award - named for our founder,

Dr. Ralph C. Smedley.

Toastmaster's Smedley Award

Add 5 New Members in August / September 2006

October 1924 Was When It All Began - Ralph Smedley and a few

men met in Santa Ana, California YMCA and conducted the first

meeting of what would eventually evolve into what we know today

as Toastmasters. One person initiated a program that would go on

to affect millions of people.

In Ralph Smedley's honor, a Toastmaster Club will receive the

Smedley Award Ribbon for display on their Club's Banner ... IF the

Club qualifies by increasing their club membership by 5 or more

new members in the months of August and September 2006.

The club will also earn a choice of one module from The Better

Speaker Series, The Successful Club Series, or The Leadership

Excellence Series.

TRIVIA CHALLENGE: What is Ralph Smedley's middle name?

What does the "C" in Dr. Ralph C. Smedley stand for?

WEB RESOURCES:

http://www.district53toastmasters.org/marketing.html

http://www.district53toastmasters.org/membershipkit.html

http://www.district53toastmasters.org/pafiledb/pafiledb.php?action=category&id=3