Chris Arning

Welcoming the World to Toastmasters

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By Tina Plamadeala

City of London, Open House, 17th January 2023

The City of London Toastmasters held a successful Open House event on the 17th of January, which drew over 150 attendees who were interested in improving their public speaking and leadership skills. The event was organized by a dedicated team of Toastmasters members and the committee, who worked tirelessly to ensure its success. The speakers at the event demonstrated a clear commitment to their personal development, each bringing their unique style and perspective to the event, making for an engaging and diverse line-up. For a flavour of the venue and the great atmosphere and vibrancy of the event we have made a take away video which you can view here:

What Made the Open House a Success?

Teamwork

The success of the Open House can be attributed to the collaboration and teamwork between club members and the committee. By working together, the team was able to ensure that the event ran smoothly and effectively achieved its goals of attracting new members and promoting the club.

The team was composed of members with diverse skill sets, such as marketing and promotion, event planning, organisation, and public speaking. Having a positive and supportive team dynamic, where members encouraged and supported each other, shared ideas and skills, and worked together to overcome challenges, helped build a strong and cohesive team.

Effective Communication

Communication was key to the success of the Open House. Effective communication within the team helped ensure everyone was on the same page and that tasks were completed efficiently. Clear and concise communication in promoting the event on social media (including this eye catching graphic) helped attract more guests. Effective communication also created a welcoming atmosphere, providing attendees with information and guiding them as needed.

Execution

The execution of the Open House was critical to its success. From setting up the venue to welcoming guests and promoting the club, careful planning and attention to detail were necessary for a successful execution.

Free Pizza!

Providing refreshments and creating a comfortable and engaging environment also contributed to a positive experience for attendees.

Converting Guests to join us…

What we try to impress on Guest attendees is that a Toastmasters club in your local area has so many benefits, a few of which include:

  1. Improved Public Speaking Skills: Joining Toastmasters community provides the opportunity to improve public speaking skills in a supportive and encouraging environment. Members can practice speaking in front of a group, receive constructive feedback, and build confidence in their speaking abilities.
  2. Personal and Professional Growth: Toastmasters not only helps improve public speaking skills, but also provides opportunities for personal and professional growth. Members can develop their leadership abilities, enhance their communication skills, and improve their listening and feedback skills, leading to increased confidence and opportunities for growth and advancement.
  3. Sense of Community: Being a part of a Toastmasters community provides a sense of belonging and a supportive network of individuals who share a common goal of improving communication and leadership skills. Members are encouraged to support and encourage one another, fostering a positive and uplifting atmosphere.

At City of London Toastmasters we strive to create a safe and supportive place for personal and professional growth. The Open House gives us the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that and to invite Guests to come back and eventually to join us and be part of a community dedicated to improving communication and leadership skills. We hope that the success of our Open House inspires other Clubs to organise similar events to welcome potential Members in their area.

If you’re already a Toastmaster but in London want to join us here’s our Club website : https://cityoflondontoastmasters.org/faq/

Tina Plamadeala, VPPR, City of London Toastmasters

If you want to find out more about how Tina promotes her Club then you can check out this interview with D91 PR Manager, Chris Arning.

The Laughing Toastmaster: All You Need is LIKES. Love in the Age of Social Media

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Love in the Age of Social Media

When my boyfriend asked me what I wanted for Valentine’s Day I didn’t hesitate, ‘Can you get all your office colleagues to LIKE my page’?

Yes Toastmasters, it has come to this, I don’t want to be loved, I want to be LIKED. Boyfriend can send cards and flowers, but that won’t make me feels as loved as 50 new LIKES. As the Beatles’ song would say now, ‘LIKE, LIKE me do’.

This isn’t me talking. Experts say social media is changing our concept of love and in the future our self-worth will be measured by the number LIKES, FOLLOWS, FRIENDED and LITTLEHEARTS we get. Guess I’m just ahead of the times! With 7.63 billion people in the world, the opportunities are endless!

Of course, many people moan and say it’s the end of romance and that getting an e-card is like drinking decaf coffee, you don’t feel anything and it’s sad. Millennials on the other hand will cry, ‘You want a PAPER card?’ and accuse you of personally destroying the Amazon, the forests, the eco-system, the planet, the universe, the future, their livelihood, the-possibility-of-ever-buying-a-home-I-resent-you … you old fogey.

Being an old fogey myself (defined as someone who still uses Facebook), I admit it’s difficult for these youngsters-doomed-to-live-with-mum-for-the-rest-of-their-lives…to comprehend what went on in ‘fogey times’.

  • When ‘strong or weak’ did not refer to passwords, but traits of your future husband.
  • A hashtag (#) was the first step to playing Ticktacktoe, not a way to communicate with as little effort as possible. #IluvU
  • Click-through Rate (CTR) was how many times your husband changed channels on the TV remote control and Conversion Rate (CR) was strictly for religions.
  • If you FOLLOWED someone it was stalking and GOING VIRAL was a pandemic waiting to happen.
  • Lastly, a HANDLE was attached to a door and PLATFORMS were reserved for 1970 shoes.

Please understand, I’m not against social media, on the contrary! I believe it comes with love-enhancing opportunities that us ‘old fogeys’ would have relished!

Let’s start with dating. Remember those blind dates your well-meaning friends hooked you up with? The date would turn up with the personality of an amoeba and more dandruff than a tax inspector? Then it turned out he WAS a tax inspector? Now you can google them to death and then check Tinder, Grinder and REMINDER to swipe them left. Forever.

Equally reassuring are ‘dinner dates’ which today consist of sharing pics of your Deliveroo while texting ‘Yummy’. What a relief not to worry about stupid chit chat or having to drown your burps while eating that enchilada.

Remember those love letters people wrote? (Ok, I wrote). So long and convoluted they made War and Peace look like a Tweet? Such a waste of time! I never got any action anyway. Nowadays just send an inappropriate pic of yourself and you’re in!

Then there’s the ‘Wedding Scene’. Gone are the days when you picked the bridesmaids because they were your friends. Now you choose them because they’re photogenic. No budget for your wedding? No worries! Get married in front of a green screen background and post a Bahamas wedding! Because what’s important are not the vows, but … you guessed it, the LIKES. Never mind your honeymoon includes sending round-the-clock pics to your 801,702 followers, because if you don’t post, it’s like it never happened. Today Descartes would claim, ‘I POST, therefore I am’.

Now you’re married and it’s all about ‘puppy love’. Not that pimply, prepubescent love of yesteryear. Today it’s about your puppy in a Cupid Costume with hubby and you in the background kissing. #AdorablyCute. A billion LIKES!

Finally, its break-up time, better known as #HateUDivorceU. Millennials have it so easy! No more awkward moments when friends you had as a couple have to pick sides and say things like, ‘Let’s stay in touch!’ and never talk to you again. Social Media allows you to take the initiative and DEFRIEND, DELETE, DEFOLLOW, DE-LINK, DEHANDLE, DECLINE. #NeverLikedYouAnyway

What a LIKE-able time to live!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to target the 7.63 billion people in the world, starting with the 280,000 Toastmasters in 144 countries who I’m hoping will LIKE, FOLLOW, FRIEND and LITTLEHEART me back.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sonia Aste is an engineer, writer and comedian. She’s a Toastmaster and member at Riverside Communicators Club.
More from Sonia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Distinguished Clubs, Educational Awards, Contests

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Congratulations!

Congratulations to the 47 clubs who have already renewed 20 or more members until September and have 5 or more Distinguished Club Points (DCP points) already. These 47 clubs are the first of many to gain Distinguished Club status. Another 16 clubs are close already to achieved distinguished status, they need just one or two more members to renew or one additional educational award.

Educational Awards

Unfortunately, 53 clubs have yet to record a single education award, yet I know from having visited some of these clubs that members are doing speeches and completing Pathways Levels. Please ask your Club President, VPE or Club Secretary to record your level completion after you have completed it. If you are unsure on how to complete a project, we will be continuing to run the new member drop in over the next few weeks, which will give both new and longstanding members who are unsure about how Pathways works. The next session with experienced Toastmaster Craig Moss will be at 5:00 pm on Sunday 23rd April, you can register via the link here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItfuGsqzgiGd0GtYFZdes1czpHG3-q9KLQ

Contests – A quick reminder

A quick reminder that if you are competing in any of the contests that you need to ensure that your club has paid the membership fee to Toastmasters International, otherwise you may not be eligible to compete in the Contest as officially you are not a member of Toastmasters even if you have paid your club. Again, with the International Speech contest your level 1 & 2 Pathways certificates must be registered with Toastmasters international.

1-21-100 – Trifecta

You may have seen some of the PR around the 1-21-100 incentive. Trifecta is another name that we are giving to the aim of 100%, 21 and 1 since it is like a sporting event with three elements to it. Debbie Williams our Club Growth Director is explaining in this blog post what the 21 means, but it is worth explaining why we have 100% and 1 as our two award criteria.

Why 100%, Why 1?

The aim at Toastmasters is to offer a great experiential learning experience using Pathways. This is why aim for 100% Pathways enrolment as it will help you strengthen your communication and leadership skills as you grow toward personal and professional success—all while having fun with others in the process! I often find that working withing a loose set of boundaries helps me to be more creative when developing ideas or writing speeches, rather than having unlimited options. Which is why we want all members to enroll in pathways.

The easiest way to demonstrate to others that you “the member” is benefiting from membership of Toastmasters is for you to show your progress by showing your educational certificate award, especially in corporate clubs where it may be an individual’s KPI. One award per member also encourages members to take a full an active role in each meeting they attend, rather than be a passive spectator, as it helps create fun and energetic meetings and brings about a faster learning experience .

Diane Richardson,

Program Quality Director, 2022-2023

The Laughing Toastmaster: New Year’s Resolution: Enough is Enough!

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I still have a massive hangover. It’s not my fault! I didn’t invent the ‘All-You-Can-Drink-Marathon’ that sums up December. Yes, I drank too much, ate like an ‘oink-oink’ and spent so much money on ‘auto-gifts’ (gifts for myself) that Santa charged me for excess baggage.

How did this happen?! I’m a Toastmaster! I’m supposed to have self-control, self-discipline…some willpower? Well, I don’t. It appears my will power reserves are as empty as my bank account.

Now before you raise your eyebrows in polite disapproval, let me state that I was not alone. Millions of people around the world partied so hard it made Bacchus look like a teetotaller. Who can blame us? There is so much NOT to look forward to. The climate crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, the not-over-yet-corona-crisis. Even those who don’t like alcohol (due to some deficiency in their DNA) had a drink!

As they say, ‘Escapism is best served with a MOJITO’.

But all good escapisms must come to an end and it’s time to face depressing, dreary, downcast January. I’m miserable! My dog’s miserable! Everyone’s miserable! Even positive people (aren’t they exhausting?) are going around with smiles as fake as my Gucci bag.

Why is it that on the gloomiest month of the year we decide to start resolutions? Surely that’s not good for our wellbeing. Recent studies show that only 2% of people who made New Year’s resolutions are successful! So, on top of feeling miserable, 98% of us will also end up feeling like total failures. It’s enough to drive you to drink! Except one of the main NYR is not to drink!

In fact, the top 4 most common resolutions are:

  1. Exercise More
  2. Lose Weight
  3. Drink Less
  4. Live Life to the Fullest

And there lies the problem! NYR are incompatible! Because dragging yourself to a swampy, sweaty gym, eating kale and quinoa (yuck!) and drinking H2O in pure form is certainly NOT living life to the fullest. It’s Living Life to the Dullest.

What can we do? Well, I’ve done some research and if you take a look at the five billion self-help books out there, watch the three trillion TED Talks and pay the £1000 an hour life coaches, they all say the same thing. If you want to achieve fulfilment and happiness, you have to accept yourself as you are. You need to say:

I AM ENOUGH.

Wow! Is that all?? What a relief! It’s not me that has to change! It’s other people who are NOT ENOUGH that need to take on those New Year Resolutions.

And who are these people? Well, I’m sure you all have your favourites, but here are my top 10 (in no particular order).

NYR for those who are NOT ENOUGH

  1. OFFSHORE ACCOUNT HOLDERS: will deport themselves to their respective off-shores until they do the honourable thing and start paying taxes here.
  1. TRAFFIC WARDENS: will add a 5 second grace period before issuing a parking ticket.
  1. MYSOGENIST: will be required to wear pantyhose. Forever.
  1. SOMMELIERS: will stop asking me to do their job by tasting the wine. Save me the embarrassment of saying, ‘ahhh … lovely’ without knowing what I am taking about.
  1. DENTISTS: will stop charging an arm and a leg for a tiny tooth.
  1. OVERLY POSITIVE PEOPLE: Will be fined. Heavily.
  1. WESTMINSTER: will stop using tax payers’ money to eat and drink. Take a Tupperware lunch and spiked coffee in a thermos like everybody else.
  1. ROADWORKS: will need to get written permission from everyone who is planning to use that road before commencing. No exceptions.
  1. INLAND REVENUE: any money given back to the tax payer due to an error on your part will include interest and a ‘We’re sorry’ card. Flowers would be a nice touch too.
  1. TOASTMASTER JUDGES: will need to have entered 100 competitions (and lost at least 50) to be able to ‘judge’ what we competitors go through.

Toastmasters and honoured friends, enough is enough! This year remind yourself YOU ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH, ditch those stupid NYR and replace them with a list for those who ARE NOT.

Have a great 2023.

She’s a Toastmaster and member at Riverside Communicators Club.
More from Sonia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

COTs, the May Conference, Contest Eligibility and Club Elections

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COTs are Back!

We are already had 25% of the second round of Club Officer Training period done! A few Division and Area Directors have already started to plan their events in December and into January next year. In the first round 126 clubs had four or more officers trained which means they are still eligible for a DCP point to count towards Distinguished status if four or more club officers are also trained in the second round of training. Once again, the district is offering incentives if all 7 officers attend training! If a club has already won a set of club officer pins, they will receive a £60 voucher from the district, if a club achieves this for the first time, then we will reward the club with a set of club officer pins. As with the first time to encourage as many members as possible to accept leadership positions the seven roles must be filled by at least six individuals. The second COT training round ends on 28th February. If you do attend training in another district, then you need to let the organiser know that they need to contact me and confirm that their training session last for three or more hours.

The Corporate lunch time COT sessions have already started. Each session is between 12 and 1 pm, every day this week the last session is a Q&A session this coming Monday 12th December. To gain a training credit a club officer needs to attend 3 or more sessions. We are also running a Corporate Club officer Training session on the 16th December starting at 7:00 am.

Conference Date 13th & 14 May 2023

Please note that due to the coronation of King Charles iii on Saturday 6th May we have had to change the date of the D91 conference to 13th & 14th May 2023. We also have had to change the venue, but we are in final discussions with three Central London locations and should announce the venue next week.

International Speech Contest – Eligibility Rules

A quick reminder for everyone that the eligibility rules to compete in the International Speech Contest have changed this year. To enter the contest a member must have either a DTM including a “legacy” DTM or have Level 1 and 2 Certificates in pathways. The old qualification of 6 or more speeches from the Competent Communicator manual has been removed for contestants in this year’s rule book. When the PQD team did a survey in July we estimated that about two members per club would be affected.

Club Elections

A quick reminder to the few clubs in D91 who elect officers every 6 months that you must submit your new officer list by 31st December. Great to see that two have already done so but there are five clubs still to submit their list to Toastmasters International.

Area Director Visits – Thank You

A huge thank you to all Club Officers who helped their Area Director’s complete their visit reports. The trio reads each report, and it is encouraging to read that so many clubs are holding great meetings. In the first round of visits 161 reports were submitted. Please do take note of what you do well and keep doing that. Thanks, should also go to the Area Directors who took the time and trouble to write the reports.

Seasons Greetings

Finally with Christmas just around the corner I would like to wish every member season’s greeting and a relaxing time off and a happy new year. I look forward to collaborating with you all again in 2023.

Diane Richardson,

Program Quality Director, 2022-2023