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| A | X | @0700-0900 Q2 Prepare Toastmasters humorous speech (2005.10.04) |
| B | X | Figure out how to send messages to tm5556 : E-Mail from notify (2005.09.09) |
| A | X | Send note to Randy Park about his talk on influencing others (2005.09.07 social toast) |
| A | X | Give speech #3: Get to the point (2005.08.30 toast) |
| A | X | Write card : Richard S. Hockett (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Gina S. Mapua (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Geetha Nicodemus (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Syed Zia ur Rahman (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Debbie Ulanday (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Antoo Valookaran (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Alain Londes (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card : Tony Cortes (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| B | X | Write card for Frank and Celly Adamo : Frank S. Adamo (2005.08.29 social toast) |
| A | X | Attend Toastmasters convention, all day (2005.08.27) |
| A | X | Volunteer for secretary/treasurer position (2005.08.16) |
| B | X | Give speech #2: organize it - tags (2005.08.16 toast) |
| A | X | Volunteer for next Toastmasters speech (2005.08.14) |
| A | X | Find out about humorous speech devices (2005.10.13) |
| A | X | Write down laughs on index cards / paper again (2005.10.13) |
| A | X | Lay out my talk (2005.10.13) |
| A | X | Run through (2005.10.13) |
7. Finished my tenth speech!: 23:58
The club gave me a CTM pin and a very interesting book entitled "48 Laws of Power". They also signed a card... Awww! =)
Happy, happy, joy, joy!
On Technorati: toastmasters, toastit
6. Toastmasters: 23:55
I'm doing "Evaluate to Motivate" next week. I have plenty of stories to tell them about my family and my friends! =)
On Technorati: toastmasters, speech
5. Speech #7: One in a Million: 23:17
Throughout the explanation of luck, work, and love, I wove in stories about my childhood: gymnastics lessons, piano practice, chess... and computers, of course. =) (They laughed when I told them my only souvenirs from gymnastics were posture, poise, and a flat head from falling on the floor too many times.)
I wanted to talk about my parents, but even after I dropped a lot of material from the speech, I still clocked in at nine minutes--well over the 5-7 minute goal. Then again, even our timer didn't realize how much time had already passed. <grin> I guess it was a good speech, then.
The audience liked how I used simple statistics, research, and personal experience to support a story. =) I got plenty of wonderful feedback from the Toastmasters! It's always fun to perform in front of such a supportive and helpful audience.
Not bad for a speech I'd _just_ finished sketching in class that afternoon... I had most of it in my speech ideas notebook, but I hadn't settled on the specific examples until today.
Much fun. I'm looking forward to doing speech #8, which will help me get comfortable with visual aids. I've already got something planned for that one! I don't think I'll be able to finish my CTM by the end of the year--not with the end of term coming up!--but it should be pretty smooth sailing, thanks to my well-stocked idea book.
Whee!
4. Totally blown away: 19:46
And boy, Toastmasters are a _great_ audience. People were laughing, people were cheering, people were energetic and out there. That encouraged speakers to pour even more energy into their presentations. Amazing stuff!
Each of us had evaluation sheets, and I struggled to score people who were so far beyond my capabilities. After the first two speakers, I knew I would probably end up giving everyone a perfect score. I just didn't know how to evaluate them! They all sounded and looked so fun, so good... Seeing my distress, the gentleman on my right leaned forward and whispered, "You don't have to bother with numbers. There's usually a clear winner. Just see which speakers affect you the most."
He then introduced himself as Richard Hockett. Throughout the rest of the morning he deepened my appreciation of the contest by telling me anecdotes about the contestants, like the way Lance Miller had competed using the same basic idea two or three years ago, but had been disqualified for going a heartbreaking fraction of a second overtime.
When the judges announced that one of the contestants had disqualified because of time, I groaned in sympathy. Could it be Lance? I liked Lance's speech the most. It was delightful and insightful, and if he had lost for the second time because of a fraction of a second... Awww!
But it was his lucky day today, and he was too professional to make the same mistake twice. He won first place! We gave him a standing ovation when it was announced, and another standing ovation at the end of his speech. It was really cool.
The contest was an amazing experience. You _had_ to be there! The contestants were masters at body language and theatrics, vocal variety and speech organization. Amazing. Consummate actors, natural comedians, inspired storytellers... They completely redefined my ideas of a brilliant speech and gave me new role models. Wow. Well worth the convention fee, even if I have to eat ramen for months.
In fact, I even sprung for the MP3 records of the entire convention, sans speakers who didn't give permission. Not the same as being there and seeing everything, but at least I can be inspired by the content _and_ the technique. Wow. I will think of it as a long-term investment. I'll need to keep telling myself that while I eat ramen because of my totally blown budget... ;)
Richard and I chatted after the competition. Upon learning I'm from the Philippines, he told me his wife came from Cebu, and casually mentioned that Johnny Uy (our scintillating MC) is also married to a Cebuana. (Lawrence Hughes will be pleased to know about that. It will encourage him in one of his sinister conspiracies. ;) )
This large-hearted economics/speech/presentations professor then proceeded to give me even more tips on public speaking. Really, I'm amazed at how wonderful people are in Toastmasters, and how ready people are to reach out and adopt this newbie. ("You've only been a Toastmaster for a month? Wow!" "Yeah, I was really thrilled to find out there was an international convention in Toronto! Perfect timing!")
After that exhilarating experience, I looked for people I knew. I wandered around the lobby until I heard snatches of Tagalog. I introduced myself and asked where I might find Gina, Charo's friend. Another woman turned to me and asked, "Chua? Are you the daughter of John Chua?" As it turns out, she's Tita Virgie's sister, Irene! Had I written Tita Irene earlier (which I would have had I not misplaced her contact information... =|), I would have had the pleasure of meeting them much earlier. Better late than never, though, and we all headed out for some lunch.
The Filipinos were really nice! I thought they were going to a Thai restaurant, and anything with the word "restaurant" in it would have been even further out of my budget, so I tried to excuse myself and go grab a hotdog instead. It turned out that they were just heading to the food court in a nearby mall. When I offered to pay for my meal, though, Marlon refused to hear of it and insisted on treating me to a chicken teriyaki meal... Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
It was great meeting other Filipino Toastmasters based in Toronto and elsewhere. I finally got to talk to Gina (and, err, mistakenly picked up her copy of the program). I also had a lot of fun chatting with Tony Cortes, president of the Sick Kids Toastmasters Club. Sick Kids Hospital is doing some really, really nice work, and I told him how I wanted to volunteer to tell stories to kids. Turns out they've got a regular reading hour set up, so I'll get in touch with him and volunteer to do that maybe once a week or once every two weeks.
After a fun lunch, we headed back to the convention center. I caught a talk on organizing classrooms which stressed the importance of establishing procedures to help make sure that a classroom runs smoothly. I bought a book and I'm looking forward to e-mailing insights from that to Mario Carreon and other teachers interested in that sort of stuff. =) Then I caught another talk on influencing people better by understanding what your filters are and what their filters are. Randy Park had successfully made the jump from tech guy to professional speaker and author, so I wrote him fan-mail on the back of the suggestion form and submitted the form after the presentation. Yay! Learned a lot!
Hitting the lobby after the convention, I mustered enough self-confidence to smile and talk to people. For some reason or another, Erastus Mongave (technical and community college teacher in Delaware) and I started talking. When he found out I was just a month-old Toastmaster, he laughed and introduced me to a friend who joined Toastmasters 6 months ago and who thought he was the "youngest" Toastmaster at the convention. We got a good laugh about that one, and when his friend wandered off to other conversations, Erastus and I talked about teaching. Another Toastmaster asked if she could take our picture, introducing herself as Geetha Nicodemus from Dubai. Then Ari Caylakyan wandered past (finally! someone from Toast I.T.!), and we chatted about Sabah Dattu's speech about Burj al-Arab, the seven-star hotel in Dubai.
(Aha! I'm onto something here. The more I experience or learn, the easier "small talk" becomes. Maybe that's why older people don't mind small talk as much.)
Then Richard found me again, and I told him about the small-world effect of finding out that the Cebuana he mentioned that morning is the sister of a family friend. =) We chatted a bit more, and he invited me to the Toastmasters karaoke party after the main dinner event. I didn't have a ticket to the dinner event, so Ari and I headed off to the subway. Ari already had something else planned for the evening, but I'm definitely not going to pass up the chance to hang out with other Toastmasters some more.
Argh! Why didn't I go for the dinner option? At first glance, USD 75 for a dinner that featured the installation of the 2005-2006 Board of Directors was a bit pricey. Heck, at first glance, USD 110 for the Saturday pass was pricey. But going for that--catching the first circus, in the words of my parents--really paid off for me, and now that I think about it, I should've signed up for dinner as well. I wasn't quite sure if I could make the most of it, but with the energy I had from the convention and with such wonderful guides, I'm sure I would have met many, many other fantastic people. Next time, Sacha, cross the barriers of fear!
I still need to work on my introductions. Must get that active voice introduction all fixed, and must trim my introductions down so that I can quickly put the focus back on other people. But that was just soooo much fun. I know today's going to be one of those days I'll look back at and say "That was _totally_ cool."
Last note: seven compliments on the red Thai pants. Kathy, I owe you _tons_ for having such awesome taste. I need more of these pants. I think it's not just the cut, but the material. Shiny dark red stuff is good for me.
Really last note: They don't have easily-findable homepages... =( Hmm, should mention this to Stephen Perelgut to get his insights on personal/professional role separation.
3. Get to the point: Are you secure?
2. Toast #2: Organize it
real-life metaphors: files and folders. one place at a time. copies are tedious.
Toast I.T. Table Topics
Objectives:
- Speak with passion. - Rethink work. - Appreciate other people.
Introduction:
Several workers were at a construction site. A visitor asked the first worker, "What do you do here?" He replied, "I lay brick." The visitor asked the second worker, "What do you do here?" The worker replied, "I am just making a living." The visitor then posed the same question to the third worker, who proudly answered, "I am building a cathedral."
Tell us:
- your occupation - why you're passionate about it - how do you affect people's lives?
Topics:
fast food cashier construction worker supermarket clerk janitor homemaker
insurance agent used car dealer umpire / referee librarian domestic helper
public school teacher taxi driver helpdesk telemarketer dog walker / pet sitter
manager TTC attendant caregiver department store attendant mascot
computer technician coat clerk bartender telephone operator garbage collector
As Mother Teresa said: We can do no great things; only small things with great love
In today's table topics, you heard how people can be passionate about even the most ordinary jobs.
Do you introduce yourself with passion?
Why do we introduce ourselves with "Hi, my name is John. I'm an accountant." or "Hi, my name is Jane. I work for Bell."? n
Kahlil Gibran wrote: "Work is love made visible."
Toast: 6:15
- Agenda changes. Yogesh- general evaluator, ken west: ah counter, doug: grammarian. - Moments of Truth. Exercise in evaluating our club.
Guest: Densil Paragh, Amy Yun. Byte It: ROI: Return on Investment. Word of the day: inexorable Table topics winner: Doug, with his speech on the power of telephone operators
also speak to non-passionate people, help them find aspects that they're happy about. Good: wrapping up. Ken 3, also in time.
Natasha Guigova, Suzie Dejardins, Ken West, Doug Vowles, Amy Yun, Mark Cidade, Densil Paragh, Jerez Solis, Ari Caylakyan, Sacha Chua
Next time: interact with the group. (hey, my rediscovering theatre talk fits right into that!)
Doug's leaving!
Other business: membership dues. contests.
EXECUTIVE meeting
also mailing dues
Description of rolses.
VP Membership VP PR: updated website, added detailed descriptions of speeches for CTM. Added pictures for last event. Lately, had virus, so haven't had a chance to go back and update the website. Paul: Consultative role for the president and anyone else. Also available for ad hoc whatever intervention as you may want to use me. Ari: Major responsibility is to make sure that learning and educational objectives are met. VP Ed role to assist people to keep track of how they can be pat of Toastmasters, assign roles, organize speech progression, speaking order.. responsible for creating agenda and assigning roles or working with people to understand what roles they want to take one. being aware of contests.
Problem areas:
Extra:
fall contest, dues.
Fall Contest.
Recording: opt-in
| A | _ | Suzie: Notify Janis Daly so that she can advise the other clubs in the area |
| A | _ | Ask Shazad if he can come back for that meeting |
| A | _ | Send out an e-mail to members |
| A | _ | Sabah: Put details on website |
| A | _ | Sabah: Repeated mailings |
| A | _ | Ari: E-mail about contest included in roles |
| A | _ | Sacha: Send mailing address to everyone, specify deadline |
| A | _ | Sacha: Get check instructions from Ari |
| A | _ | Ken: Call people up |
| A | X | Set the date and fallback date |
Membership benefits if the meeting is conducted in the Toastmaster way. A well-run professional meeting presents a good product.
Yogesh: Saw other opportunities in other Toastmasters club. Skilled, inspiring speakers.
Professionalism. Running the meeting the Toastmasters way.
Reiterate rules in a mini-speech, short, contained.
Mentoring: need new mentors, sabah, ari.
Presenting club material as speeches.
Cross-pollination with sister clubs.
Proactive scheduling.
Mine: Newsletter.
elections- term extended to a year, maybe?
In 1962, Srully Blotnick began a study focused on 1500 new college graduates. He divided those 1500 people into two groups. The first, which made up 83% of the total, chose their careers based on the potential for making a lot of money. The remaining 17% chose their career based on what they loved doing.
Twenty years later he revisited the two groups. Of the original 1500 people, there were 101 millionaires. Of those 101 millionaires, 100 came from the 17% that chose their path based on what they loved!
INTRO: GET PEOPLE TO IDENTIFY
Have you ever procrastinated? Have you ever put things off, dragged your feet, left things undone?
Mr. Toastmaster, honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen: if you've ever spent hours reorganizing your files instead of writing a report, you're not alone. Researchers at the University of Calgary estimate that at least nine out of ten people procrastinate occasionally. The rest haven't gotten around to it. (FIRST LAUGH, WE HOPE.)
And it's not just a matter of time management. Giving a chronic procrastinator a daily planner is like telling a clinically depressed person to "cheer up." Forget it. I want books like "7 Habits for Highly Ineffective People" and "Getting Nothing Done!" (SECOND LAUGH, WE HOPE.)
Procrastination costs trillions of dollars in wasted time, missed opportunities, ruined relationships. It's been linked to health problems: ulcers, insomnia. There's no doubt about it--procrastination is bad... for your boss. Who's certainly going to take it out on you.
Or is it?
If you procrastinate, you're in great company. Leonardo da Vinci was a man of many talents--too many, it turns out. He finished painting the "Last Supper" only when his patron threatened to cut off all funds. "Mona Lisa" took 20 years to complete. And let's not even talk about countless sketches and half-baked designs...
Procrastination is the hallmark of the modern genius. The master procrastinator doesn't have to worry about finding a Christmas tree or putting it up for the holidays--why bother, when the old one's still there?
The master procrastinator is the one with the neatly organized, alphabetized, and color-coded files.
perfectionist
my experience with procrastination write your tasks down writing = doing
how do you do it? research, writing, classes, Toastmasters, etc. I publish my task list on the Net. If at first you don't succeed, there's always next year.
The best part about procrastination is that you are never bored. You always have a number of interesting tasks you should be working on. Never put off until tomorrow what you can forget about forever Take advantage of other people's procrastination. If anything is worth doing, someone else will do it.
schedule your procrastination. ex: stress over visa
procrastination. find your passion. process of elimination. how much time can you gain?
book about procrastination... when I eventually get around to writing it!
I'd love to hear about any questions, comments, suggestions or links that you might have. Your comments will not be posted on this website immediately, but will be e-mailed to me first. You can use this form to get in touch with me, or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com .
