The Laughing Toastmaster: Green Room Gossip

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Green Room Gossip - Sonia Aste

As Toastmasters we visit a lot of Green Rooms doing public speaking. Personally, I’d prefer if they were white and padded (especially before an important gig), but at this point in my ‘thriving’ public speaking career, I’m just glad there’s a ROOM.

After being squeezed into corridors, cubbyholes, and janitor’s closets (it’s amazing how little space mops take), I can boast there’s a Green Room. And toilet paper in the Ladies’ Room! Success at last!

Now let’s not confuse ‘Green Room’ with the evergreen section in your local Garden Centre. A Green room is defined as: ‘A room in which speakers can relax before and after they perform on stage’. ‘Relax’ is not exactly the word I would use. More like, ‘She’s hyperventilating, looks like she’s going to pass out’!

I didn’t, but it was close. Where’s a brown paper bag when you need one? Plastic bags won’t do. You’ll not only hyperventilate but asphyxiate and die. Plenty of time to do that on stage.

I like Green Rooms. They remind me of my true love: chocolates. They come in all shapes and sizes and bigger is definitely better.

Take the last corporate event I did. The Green Room was a huge seminar suite filled with posters praising the benefits of hard work:

  • WORK and MAKE IT HAPPEN!
  • No Shortcuts: WORK FOR IT!
  • WORK HARD! Get AHEAD!

Very inspirational. I must remember to follow them one day.

For quirky Green Rooms, the winner has to be a B&B room in York, annexed to the conference room we were performing in. One speaker took a shower, the Keynoter took a nap, and I took all the biscuits. Hey they were free!

Close second is a Curry House in Birmingham, hired for an office party award ceremony. The Green Room was beside the kitchen. I wasn’t exactly on top of the stove but close enough to go on stage smelling like Chicken Dopiaza. Turned out the audience went ballistic and wanted more and more! Curry.

My personal favourite? A large brewery near Chicago. Was it the tank’s reflexion that made all the speakers shine? Or the fact the audience was doubly intoxicated due to what I call ‘alcohol osmosis’?

Green Rooms have rules too. As far as I know these remain unwritten, so for the benefit of all you rookies out there (in public speaking that means anyone with less than 101 years’ experience):

  1. Don’t be a jerk… but be prepared to meet a few.
  2. Avoid asking ‘Is this the Green Room?!’ With a smirk on your face. Go back to point 1.
  3. Don’t brownnose the event organizer … too much. A little ‘mocha’ nosing is expected, but most people will see through ‘You’re the best person in the world!!’ And those who don’t are best avoided.
  4. Fans and groupies are not allowed in the Green Room. My grandmother is in Spain so not a problem for me.
  5. Don’t be greedy. The organizer has kindly put out drinks and refreshments for ALL the speakers. Taking the Gin and Vodka bottles home is not cool. Plus, I have yet to be invited back to that specific event.
  6. Be nice to the host/MC. They have the power to introduce you as: ‘We believe in giving new public speakers a chance, I’ve never seen her before … so anything goes’…
  7. Don’t believe speakers that boast about how they have won all the speaking competitions in the world, especially if you’re performing in the cafeteria of an accounting firm in Sunderland. (See point 8).
  8. Do boast that YOU have won a Toastmasters’ speech competition as the name of our organization carries a lot of clout. Never mind it was third place at club level and there were only three speakers.
  9. Don’t say, ‘You really bombed!’ to the Key-Note Speaker (even if it’s true). Don’t be tempted to give them an evaluation (even if they really need it). Do say ‘Have you thought of joining Toastmasters’?

And finally,

  1. If you have an issue with any of these rules – ignore them like I do.

Sonia Aste is a Harvard MBA, Engineer, MEng, writer, public speaker, and comedian. She’s a Toastmaster at Riverside Communicators Club
More from Sonia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Club Growth Newsletter – September 2023

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Club Contest Season and Growth Opportunities

On Wednesday 21 September 2016 I walked into Lewisham Methodist Church with a friend. It was the venue for Lewisham speakers Toastmasters club, and it was a special night, Humorous speech, and Table Topics contests. That was my first Toastmasters experience and my first meeting with Julie Kertesz who was in the table topics contest and still a member.

I eventually joined Kent Speakers in May 2017, and club contests have played an important part in my Toastmasters development. I recall being excited after finishing third in our club Humorous speech contest. It did not matter that there were only three of us in the contest, my “I did it” moment was fulfilling. I subsequently performed better in the International Speech Contest reaching the Division H finals with Sandra Mighty and Dan McGill in Edenbridge in 2018.

Mo Dawodu at Contest

My International Speech Club contest experience made me both curious about Toastmasters and inspired me to attend my first Toastmasters International Convention in Chicago, where I experienced the international speech contest final live, Ramona J Smith with a speech titled still standing contributed to my long-term commitment to Toastmasters.

At club level we hold contests twice a year. I believe these are unique events to promote some of the benefits of Toastmasters, and we should consider sharing this experience by welcoming guests at the club, Area, and Division levels.

I have experienced many contests in the past six years, many as a functionary to support both at Club and District levels. Taking part in speech contests has challenged me to grow and as a member I will encourage you to take part as a contestant or support as a functionary.

Lot of winners are created at Club, Area, Division, District, and international levels. Like Ramona you could be still standing.

What next?

  • Why not invite guests to your Club, Area, and Division contests?
  • Take advantage of the opportunity to add five new members to qualify for the Smedley award benefits.
  • Please contact your Area Director, Division Director, or Club Growth Director with membership and new club ideas.

Thank you!

Mo Dawodu
Club Growth Director, 2023-2024

Program Quality Newsletter – September 2023

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“Time is the fire in which we burn”.

How is it possible that we are now in the third month of this programme year? I don’t mind admitting that I have been a lifelong Star Trek fan and the speed of everything in the district at the moment reminds me now of a quote that I often use when I am doing the timekeeper role at my club:

“Time is the fire in which we burn”.

The thing with time is that it can be both a healer and stealer.

It might be a good time to consider what were your Toastmasters goals when the year started? What were your professional goals and what were your life goals? Where are you and what course correction might you need to make to ensure you can achieve what you want to achieve? Don’t ever underestimate the progress you can make with your goals just by breaking them down step by step and taking time to celebrate the small wins.

I am writing this newsletter article while sitting in Nassau at my first ever Toastmasters International Convention. It has been an unbelievable reminder about the sheer size of our organisation and how many people across the world enjoy the benefits of membership. Our board of directors confirmed that next year Pathways will be transitioning to a new LMS (Learning Management System) and at the same time we will take the opportunity to reduce the number of paths transitioning over and focus on the ones that prove most popular to members across the world.

We have recently completed the first round of Club Officer training, and I want to thank the hundreds of you who came to one of the training sessions provided by either your area or division director – or even another district. Whether you were being inducted into a new role or receiving some useful reminders about the duties of your office, well done for giving up a few hours of your time for the good of the members in your club.

Speech contest season is now here, and I wish all participants in the Humorous and Table Topics contests the very best of luck. The final of all our District level speech contests will be taking place at the district conference in May 2024!

Talking of conference: we need your help! At the time of writing, we don’t have any nominations for Conference Chair.

Do you have an interest in running events? Do you think you could build and inspire a team to run a weekend where we will celebrate 10 years as a district? If anyone is even thinking of stepping forward, please do not hesitate to contact me – or even if you would like to nominate someone I should ring and present this amazing opportunity: please do let me know.

Finally, I want to finish with some well-deserved recognition. This month, Debbie Williams, Immediate Past Club Growth Director has been awarded her Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award. This is the highest award that Toastmasters International can give in the educational program. It represents not only humourous speeches but also proof that the member has gone well ‘beyond the club’ and has made a significant contribution for the good of our organisation.

Many, many congratulations, Debbie Williams DTM.

I will see you in October (well at least through the newsletter).

Steve Vear MBE DTM
Program Quality Director, 2023-2024

Convention News

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Annual Convention Hall of Fame

Districts 71 & 91 were both celebrated at the Hall of Fame at the Annual Convention in Nassau. Elizabeth Jordan and Diane Richardson each received the “District Program Quality Award” for achieving Smedley Distinguished status for numbers of distinguished clubs and Rupa Datta received the “District Club Strength Award” for strengthening average club size by 14.4%.

 

District Trio at Annual Business Meeting
District Trio at Annual Business Meeting

Last month was the Annual Toastmasters International Convention. During the convention there was the Annual Business Meeting. During this meeting various announcements were made. I think it is worth sharing a few key points with you as you may have missed them elsewhere. The news was mixed but based on the data it has, the International Board is confident that we have turned the corner and the organisation will start to grow again.

Unfortunately, the reduced costs during the pandemic were insufficient to cover the reduced income from membership, which is why the subscription increases couldn’t be postponed any longer.

In District 91 we have a higher percentage of clubs meeting in person clubs than the worldwide average. Worldwide 60% of clubs are still holding hybrid meetings, 20% in-person and 20% online.

The higher-than-average number of clubs meeting in person has helped us grow our membership in the past year as globally in-person clubs recruited an average of eight new members and online clubs five new members. The average club size grew from 17.2 members per club to 21.2 around the world last year.

The number of paid clubs world-wide fell by 3.2% last year, although there are encouraging signs of progress. This year 47 districts chartered 68 new clubs in July, compared to 28 clubs in July 2022. Whilst we didn’t charter a new club in July, we charted a new club in August. Many congratulations to the sponsors of Sustainable Speakers in Area B9.

A new customer service team has been recruited to extend the contact hours to as near 24/7 as possible and to improve service levels at TMI HQ. The location will be revealed after the team have been trained. This will help clubs receive a quicker response from Toastmasters International and the District team obtain answers on your behalf if we can’t answer them ourselves.

District 91 is part of region 10 which covers the whole of Europe and parts of North Africa. Currently there are nine regions in the North American continent and five in the rest of the world. Following the huge growth of Toastmaster clubs in India, Africa, and Asia, to ensure that each region has fewer than 15% of clubs, from 1st July 2024 the regions will be split seven in North America and seven for the rest of the world.

 

District 91 member David Henson delivering an educational session at the Toastmasters International Convention
District 91 member David Henson delivering an educational session at the Toastmasters International Convention

Reformation of District 71 and 91 Postponed

At our District Council meetings in May 2023 both Districts 71 and 91 agreed that the District Directors should write to the International Board of Directors to request that a joint reformation committee should be established to examine the possibility of establishing a third district in the UK & Ireland.

On 14th August, Distinguished Toastmaster Matt Kinsey (International President) and Dan Rex (CEO) wrote to the current and past trios of both Districts to inform us that a decision to reform both Districts had been postponed to March 2024 at the earliest as neither district had reached its expected club growth target of 200 clubs for D71 or 170 for D91.

Membership Renewals

A quick reminder that it’s renewal time during September. Despite the subscription increase, the cost of Toastmasters membership is still fantastic value for money. For $10 a month which is a lot less than many people spend on coffee each week in cafés. It is also great value for money compared to short term public speaking courses which can often cost a lot more. Toastmasters has the added advantage that continued membership offers continuous training, so you develop the equivalent of Public Speaking muscle memory, and great friendships.

Diane Richardson
District Director, 2023-2024

Steve Birch, DTM, 27th November 1953 to 23rd May 2023

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Steve Birch, who had an ongoing battle with cancer since 2016, lost his fight and passed away at home on Tuesday 23rd May 2023.

Former army colleague, fellow Toastmaster and long-term friend Rick Cooper summed him up like this:

“In a world lacking true heroes, Steve Birch is an unsung example of how one individual can make a difference to the lives of many without making a fuss or a claim. He has done more for the cause of Toastmasters in the District than anyone I’m acquainted with. As an ambassador he was without peer; as a mentor he was kind and shared his wisdom and experiences generously.”

Steve entered the army as a apprentice in 1970 and was educated at the Army Apprentice College in Harrogate from where he was posted to Worcester as a Lance Corporal in 1973 and thus began his attachment to Worcester and Malvern Hills.  He left the army in the early 1980s as a Sergeant and began his business career.  In 2016 he organised a Regimental Reunion in Worcester to mark the 40th anniversary of his regiment and their disbanding.  That he did it as his Toastmasters High Performance Leadership Project demonstrates how highly he regarded both organisations.

Steve was always a keen sportsman whether it was a team sport – his passions were cricket in summer and rugby in winter – sailing, or the solitude of fishing. This robustness manifested itself in his everyday life too.

His initial club on joining Toastmasters in 2009 was the newly chartered Cheltenham Speakers.  He said that he was initially very reticent to speak as he had a bad stammer that had stopped him from giving the eulogy at a family funeral.  It was 5 meetings before he would even do a table topic. Once he started, he soon got into the swing of things and took on more and more roles including joining the committee. He organised the demonstration meeting at Malvern in May 2013 and he led the meeting in his own inimitable style; that mix of fun and serious business. He was also a founder member of Worcester Speakers in 2019. He took Toastmasters into local schools through Youth Leadership Program and judging at school speech contests.

Steve was awarded “Toastmaster of the Year” in 2018-2019 by the then District Director Andy Hammond. Andy said:

“Steve’s energy and enthusiasm in supporting members was outstanding. In that year alone he was VP Education for both Malvern Speakers and Worcester Speakers, completed Level 4 in Presentation Mastery in the first year of Pathways on his way to a Triple Crown, and still made time to produce a number of YouTube tutorials on “Pathways for Dummies”.

Amongst the vast number of online tributes this from Jackie Graybill, Area Director J11, District 91 reflects the overwhelming feeling:

“The world has lost one of the best speakers I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Steve Birch, or “Birchey,” as we called him, loved speaking and he also loved mentoring others in the craft. When he had the stage, he brought his wit, cheeky humour and incredible wealth of knowledge to gift to his audiences. He was creative, fiercely intelligent, a bit snarky, and had a giant heart. I learned many things from Birchey, not least of which is not having to be acknowledged by others to know my worth and talent as a speaker. Birchey was humble and he seemed to take more pleasure in the success of those he mentored than in his own. I rarely heard him complain about feeling poorly, even though he was struggling with cancer he knew was terminal. He once showed me a Toastmasters speech he gave shortly after he received his diagnosis, nearly a decade ago. He called it, “Whilst I Can, I Will.” I think that title perfectly sums up how he lived. He helped as many people as he could for as long as he could. Thank you Steve, for living an inspiring life, and for how you inspired me and helped me become a better speaker. You will be missed. We celebrate the life you lived and all you gave us – the extraordinary legacy you left behind. We are better for having known you!”

Steve saw leadership as a service to others and that the membership experience came first.  Whether that was a new member taking their first steps, a club officer, or a district officer. He believed in using his experience and expertise to help other people become better people. His philosophy was fairly simple, he’d been given the chances and the support and so now it was time to pay it back.

Steve will leave a lasting impression on all of those who he gave his time to. There are many who would not be in Toastmasters if it was not for his enthusiasm and example of what they could become.

A final word from Rick Cooper:

            “We all have a huge pair of shoes to fill now. Or maybe Crocs. Missing you Mate.”

Andy Hammond
Past District Director, District 91