Did your club pay your dues?

One of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, had a short but insightful blog post today titled, "If Craigslist cost $1" and since the deadline for submitting Toastmasters dues is Oct.1st, I thought it would be appropriate to share his key point ....

Money creates a sort of friction. In the digital economy, magical things can happen when there is no friction. You can scale to infinity. On the other hand, sometimes you want friction.

If you lead a group that allows anyone to join, for free, your group might be large, but it's not tight, it's not organized to make important change. Commitment slows things down in the short run, but ultimately aligns interests.

If your club still needs to submit dues, please do it today (or tomorrow). If you are using a credit or debit card, dues can be submitted by a club officer via www.Toastmasters.org. Just be sure to get them paid before the deadline of October 1st.

Toastmasters is about making "important change" and you can demonstrate your commitment to your personal development by paying your dues.

In other words, now is the time to "Put your money where your mouth is" !

Winter Toastmasters Leadership Exchange

Did you attend the TLI events this past Summer? If so, you will recognize the tune that accompanies the video below...

If you do not see the video below (after giving it a couple seconds to load), try clicking here.

Speaking to the media

We have all seen it on TV... the interview on the courthouse steps with a million microphones all crammed in front of the attorney's face.

How many of us would be able to handle such a situation? What if we practiced it at a Toastmasters meeting as a TableTopics exercise?

Here are some pointers that I got from a recent e-newsletter from TJ Walker, a speaking consultant who helps people craft their message for the media ...

Preparing your Message for the Interview

1. Don’t talk to reporters without giving yourself time to prepare the message.
   
   
2. Don’t dodge questions!
   
   
3. Answer the question in eight seconds or less and bridge back to your main message for the next 25 seconds or so.
   
   
4. If a reporter asks you a complex, detailed, five-part question, focus on answering the one question that leads you back to talking about your message points.
   
   
5. When listening to a reporter’s question (and you must listen very carefully), don’t think about how your vast database of knowledge can provide 10,000 new facts to answer every nuance of the reporter’s question. Instead, focus on how you can honestly answer the question in a way that allows you to talk about one, two, or three of your message points.
   
   
6. Remember, questions don’t matter. The subject matters.

Now, you just have to come up with some scenarios to serve up to your club members as TableTopics !

Here are some suggestions ("torn from headlines", so to speak) ...

• CEO indited for misappropriation of company funds
• Celebrity arrested for ...
• Tradeshow TV reporters asking about your newest widget
• Politician caught ... (too many possibilities here)
• Evangelist asked about his role in the organization

I'm sure you can think of even more!

Have Fun with it !

(and help your club learn to cope with the media)

Dave Wheeler

Writing your contest speech...

Michelle Russell over at copyblogger.com wrote an interesting article about writing ... which could very easily be applied to your speech for the upcoming Humorous speech contest.

Michelle's article is titled, "Write with a Knife" and she suggests...

... Write for yourself, edit for your readers ...

1. Find the spine of your content and stick to it
2. Cut the first paragraph
3. Don’t over-spice your words
4. Watch out for “creep-in” words
5. Cut exaggerations
6. Find a more precise word
7. Reuse the leftovers

To learn what she means by each of these suggestions, check our the article by clicking here.

Have you signed up for your club's Humorous or Evaluation contest?

Word of the Day...

This Word of the Day comes from the Norwalk (CT) Toastmasters via their new Area Governor, Peggy Jean.

The word is Insouciant which means: in a lighthearted, unconcerned manner: nonchalance.

Here is the entry from Merriam Webster online...

• 
  
• Main Entry: in·sou·ci·ance , noun, : lighthearted unconcern : nonchalance
• 
  
• Pronunciation: \in-ˈsü-sē-ən(t)s, aⁿ-süs-ˈyäⁿs\
• 
  
• Etymology: French, from in- + soucier to trouble, disturb, from Old French, from Latin sollicitare — more at solicit
• 
  
• Date: 1799
• 
  

— in·sou·ci·ant \in-ˈsü-sē-ənt, aⁿ-süs-yäⁿ\ adjective

— in·sou·ci·ant·ly \in-ˈsü-sē-ənt-lē\ adverb

If I were a "Mad Man" (from AMC's television series)

Have you ever wondered what you would look like as one of the characters in the AMC series, "Mad Men"?

No, me neither... but it was fun to check out their site and build a 1950's style avatar.

Check out mine...

I think the tie is a nice touch !

Very professional ... great for presentations (see below, left) !

Not sure about the hair and the smile though...

It is certainly better than when I was "Simpsonized" last year...

Official Car for District 53?

I was coming back from a weekend in New Hampshire and the number on this car caught my eye...

I knew that I had seen it somewhere before, but I could not place it until I got home.

By then I realized that it was an imitation of "Herbie, the Love Bug" (click here for the wikipedia explanation).

Should this be the "Official Car for District 53"?

TLI # 3 - University of Bridgeport, Sat. July 25

We had a great time at the Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) event last Saturday at the University of Bridgeport's Dana Hall. The event was attended by almost 100 people and the feedback we got was incredibly positive.

Special thanks to Steven Rashba and Ward Thrasher from the University of Bridgeport who helped us get the facility and set it up for such an outstanding event.

Also, the presenters were wonderful... Ute Brinkman, Norm Thibodeau, Peggy Jean, Richard Peck, Don Logie, Don E. Smith, Pat Wilson-Perkins, Jay Discount, Marsha Kiley, Brian Cavanaugh, Andre White and Rich Couture.

Click here for a slideshow of pictures from the event !

(Thanks to Arnie Grot for taking the pictures)

Pictures from AG / DG training 2009

Here are some of pictures from District 53's training session for Area and Division Governors in June 2009. (Did you know that Area Governors and Division Governors had their own training session?)

Next up... Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) at 4 different locations !

Hope to see you there !

D.Wheeler

D53 LGET, 2009-10

Move Forward !

Down to the wire for this Toastmasters Year !

Important notice as the Toastmasters year draws to a close ...

Club Officer Lists ... due at TI by 6/30/09

Distinguished Club Goals... all submissions (e.g. CC's, AC's, member applications, etc.) must be at TI by 6/30.

Since TI no longer has a grace period for things postmarked by 6/30, clubs should be sending in their new member applications by Wed. 6/24 for regular mail or use a faster delivery method if it is sent after that date.

It takes a long time for mail to get to Toastmasters International in California.

You do not want to work all year and then be disappointed that you did not meet your goals due to a delay in the paperwork.

Send it in NOW !

Use online submission at www.toastmasters.org for whatever you can (e.g. educational goals) and fax in membership applications to TI at 949-858-1207.

Don't delay !

Do it today !

Words of Wisdom

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Miranda
Subject: RE: Words of Wisdom
To: Dave Wheeler

you may use, but give credit where credit is due. . .Bobby Bloom.

On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Bill Miranda wrote:

Thought the following true story was worth sharing and repeating. Hope this finds everyone well.

There we were…..stuck with nowhere to go, nowhere to hide and all bored to tears. Myself, Tim, Don and Scott all sat trapped in a conference room at the Millennium Hotel in Downtown Chicago.

For the last couple of years I have been attending a series of Sales Forum's of sales leaders from different industries and companies and this was by far the worst. The speaker was the Sr. Vice President of Sales for a company that all of us had heard of but will go nameless in case one of you has a friend, relative or happens to know this gentleman.

So why were we bored to tears? Because he talked about the one subject that none of us cared about, spent money to hear or travel hundreds of miles to listen to. Although it was our least interesting subject obviously it was the speaker's favorite subject. The subject was himself!

I couldn't believe it and I can't exaggerate how bad this presentation was. He had a slide deck that was no less than 25 slides and the first 8 slides were dedicated to this man up to and including a picture of himself on vacation displaying his burly white legs and whiter bare feet as he smoked a hookah pipe on the roof of a Middle Eastern restaurant.

He spent so much time talking about his background and his supposed successful turnaround of four operating divisions that when he finally got to content that the sales leaders in the room cared about he had ran out of time and had to click through the slides in rapid fire succession. It was a classic mistake that many of us have made before; we sometimes speak so much about what we care about that we are oblivious to the cares of our customers.

We don't always spend the time talking about us personally but how many times have you given or been part of a presentation where we simply go into our song and dance about the features and benefits of a product only to find out nothing about the needs of our customer or what they care about? If you've ever started a presentation by asking no less than a half dozen questions about the objectives of your customer, than I can guarantee that you are guilty of this! Every meeting or presentation should be started with a number of questions before the meeting and during the start of the meeting to get a feel for what is one the mind of the customer and what their priorities are for your product or proposal.

Make sure that each and every account call is focused on the one thing that matters most to the customers…..the customer. Whether in the business of sales or in your everyday relationships if all your focus is on yourself you'll find yourself a very unsuccessful sales person and a very lonely individual.

Bill Miranda

Newest Toastmasters Club in District 53 .... Route 1 Toasters at Affinion Group in Norwalk, CT

Please welcome the newest Toastmasters Club in District 53 .... Route 1 Toasters at Affinion Group in Norwalk, CT !

Special thanks to Mary Beth Schroeder and Brian Lessard who initiated the club and worked to get them to their current 25 members!

An added note... they have a strong team of club officers in place and have added at least one new member at each of the past few meetings. They are definitely on their way to being a strong club !

Congratulations Route 1 Toastmasters !

Dave Wheeler

D53 LGM, 2008-9

Be The Change You Want To See !

Region 7 Conference- International Contest results

Sherri Raftery from District 31 has a good post with the results from the Region 7 Toastmasters conference on her blog...

http://sherriraftery.blogspot.com/2009/06/region-vii-speech-contest.html

Unfortunately, District 53's representative, Nana Danso, did not make the top 3.

Dave Wheeler

D53 LGM, 2008-9

D53 LGET, 2009-10

Bridgeport Toastmasters in-the-news !

The University of Bridgeport has a nice article on the "News & Events" section of their website about the involvement of their students with the Greater Bridgeport Toastmasters club (click here).

UB is also where we will be having one of the Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) events on Saturday, July 25th !

Hope to see you there !

D.Wheeler

What's going on with Dave Wheeler?

Dave Wheeler has discovered Twitter.com ... and is becoming an active "tweeter" !

What does that mean?

It means that you can "follow" him and receive super brief updates (up to 140 characters) or other "tweets" from him via your own twitter page.  Visit http://twitter.com/ to sign up for Twitter and then search for "theshot92" to find Dave' updates.  (It is free.)

Why?  What will I get?

Depending on who you are following, Twitter provides quotes, life updates and insights that range from the profound to the inane.  In other words, choose who you follow wisely... but then you probably already knew that from real life !

Why is the media making such a big deal about Twitter?

Twitter is part of what is called "Social Networks" or "Social Media".  In other words, it is an online way to connect with people and spread "the word".   (Whatever "the word" means for you and people who think like you.)  Other sites that are often mentioned as part of the "Social Media" are Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.  (Dave is on Facebook and Linkedin too, in case you are interested.)

Try it out and let us know about your Social Media experience !

You might be surprised what you find.

Dave Wheeler

D53 LGM, 2008-9

D53 LGET, 2009-10

 

What are you doing with your Cognitive Surplus?

The video below introduced me to the concept of "Cognitive Surplus" and got me thinking... What am I doing (or going to do) with my own "Cognitive Surplus"?

In short, the gist of Clay Shirky's speech is this...

In the industrial revolution, people were drawn into cities; productivity created a boom in free time (vs. the old agrarian lifestyle) and the "opiate of the people" (to steal a concept from another historical figure)  was GIN (or at least it was for London, which Clay talks about).  The boom in free time (and time to think about things) is what Clay calls a "Cognitive Surplus" and in the industrial revolution it was eventually deployed by society in the form of libraries, schools and other institutions which helped society.

He goes on to point out that, [in the post world-war growth of mass media and business growth], productivity of our business systems has continued to grow and the replacement for GIN is television.  (specificically, according to Clay, TV sitcoms).

His question is ... how are we, as a society, going to use our growing "Cognitive Surplus" (instead of just watching more sitcoms on TV)?

Clearly, Toastmasters is a great choice and the good news is that you don't have to give up sitcoms "cold turkey".  There are now DVR's which will tape your shows and play them back (without commercials) so you can attend your evening Toastmasters meetings !

What are you going to do with your Cognitive Surplus ?

 

World Champion comes to D53 !

Shera Cohen and Springfield (MA) Toastmasters organized an excellent event last Thursday evening featuring the 1962 World Champion of Public Speaking, Bob Garton. 

There was also television coverage (channel 22) as shown by the YouTube video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdyTTu_sIaI

How to deal with the stress of the current economy...

The link below shows Tony Robbin's appearance on The Today Show yesterday....

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7506072

He makes some great points very quickly but his best point is right at the end... and it emphasizes why we should all start to think about our next role within Toastmasters !

How are you going to challenge yourself over the coming Toastmasters year?

Working on your CC/AC/CL/AL?

Don’t think you’ll have time to finish all your speeches by the end of the Toastmaster Year?

Well, Division A wants to say “YES you can” and to help you, we are pleased to announce our

Year      End       Super meeting
Speech-a-Thon and Membership Drive

Saturday, May 30^th, 2009 9:00AM to 3:00PM

King of Kings Church
543 Union Ave
New Windsor, NY

The day will consist of two Toastmaster meetings, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This will provide an opportunity for up to 12 people (6 each in AM and PM) to give a speech and up to 12 people to serve as Speech Evaluator (for CL). 

Also, up to 10 people (two each role) can serve as Toastmaster, Timer, Grammarian, Ah-Counter, and General Evaluator (for Competent Leader). (Note, there will not be Table Topics, just speeches). Roles will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. The event is open to all Toastmasters and all Toastmasters are invited to bring guests (AKA potential members) as well. Membership information and forms will be available. Agenda is as follows:

9:00AM           Registration/Gathering/social time

9:45AM           Welcome and Introductions

10:00AM         First Meeting starts

12:00PM          Lunch  / Registration for PM Session Only Attendees

1:00PM            Second Meeting starts

3:00PM            Wrap up

There will also be prizes for:   

• Club with most attendees, 
• Club with most guests/visitors attending, 
• Area with most clubs (percentage of total in area) participating, 
• Farthest traveled, and more. 

There will also be a Silent Auction and 50/50 Raffle. 

 COST: Meetings are FREE!!!

 An optional $5.00 pizza lunch will be available at the site or you can go off site

If you’d like to participate, please email  Registration Chairman Andre White at dtxr2001 [at] gmail.com and ask for the applicaiton form.

It will be a lot of fun !  Don't miss it !

An interesting TableTopics Question...

Neatorama.com had a recent post about a "new Stonehenge" in Georgia which ends with a question that would make for an interesting TableTopics session ...

In 1979, an anonymous group erected a massive stone structure in Elbert County, Georgia. This modern-day stonehenge is more than twenty feet tall and arranged to serve as a calendar and a clock. Its slabs have instructions in eight languages for reconstructing society after the collapse of civilization. The instructions are more philosophical than technological, but perhaps nonetheless prudent:

PROTECT PEOPLE AND NATIONS WITH FAIR LAWS AND JUST COURTS. LET ALL NATIONS RULE INTERNALLY RESOLVING EXTERNAL DISPUTES IN A WORLD COURT. AVOID PETTY LAWS AND USELESS OFFICIALS. BALANCE PERSONAL RIGHTS WITH SOCIAL DUTIES. PRIZE TRUTH—BEAUTY—LOVE—SEEKING HARMONY WITH THE INFINITE. BE NOT A CANCER ON THE
EARTH—LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE—LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE.

If you were composing brief instructions for survivors of the collapse of civilization,
what would you write?

The original article in Wired magazine has additional background ... which could spur additional questions for your TableTopics session, such as "Where did this structure come from?" and "What does it do?".

Have you found something interesting that you have turned into a TableTopics Session? If so, please leave a comment below and tell us how it went !