Area 1 Contest - February 21, 2008

Hello all Area 1 Toastmasters! I can now officially announce the Area 1 International Speech & Table Topics Contests!

What: Area 1 Toastmasters International Speech & Table Topics Contest
When: February 21, 2008
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (if you are a contestant or judge please arrive at 6:30 PM)
Where: Elk's Club - South Miami, 6304 SW 78 Street, Miami, FL 33143
Cost: TBA

The contests will be held in the Hut to the side of the actual lodge. It is air conditioned and rustic and will be able to accommodate all of us!

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Did You Make Your Toastmasters Resolutions? (By Phyllis May)

As we begin a new year, it’s the appropriate time to feel pressured…feeling like you’re un-American If you don’t make some pesky resolution. Yet, how many of you make the same, or a variation, resolution every year? Yet, within a short time, most of the resolutions are forgotten until the end of the year when they ceremoniously re-surface.

According to AARP, women are more likely to make a resolution but men are more likely to stick to it.

I am not one of those women. It’s been many years since I made a NYR.

Why? After so many years, I was pretty sure that it was just an exercise in doing what was expected but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t accomplish it.

But, I constantly set goals and I constantly accomplish most goals I set. It doesn’t have to be at New Years but whenever you do it or whatever you call it, there are certain keys to successfully accomplishing your outcome.

• Be realistic and practical. Know that what you’re hoping to achieve is doable and reasonable for you so that you’re not defeated before you start.
• Identify the big goal but you’ll be overwhelmed if you don’t break it down further
• Break down the goal into smaller ones and then break those down even more. The smaller you can break things down, the more likely you will accomplish the big one.

Rory Cohn, author of “Take Ten”, says that only spending 10 minutes a day on your mission is a commitment that will ultimately lead to the completion of your action.

How does all of this affect you as a Toastmaster? Our Toastmaster year is now half over. Our club has set goals so that we will continue to receive the Distinguished Club recognition. Our club goals, however, are dependent on your personal Toastmaster goal(s). We can’t achieve our club goal unless you carry through with what you indicated you would do. Meeting your personal goal give you personal growth…the reason, I assume, that you joined. But meeting your personal goal then helps out club (which helps our area, division and district). Every level has a goal but they all begin with YOU.

How are you doing with your goals?

There are only 12 meetings left for you to finish.

Have a plan. When that clipboard comes around, sign your name in a place that will help you. I, for example, set the goal of completing the CC manual again and another leadership manual. I have 4 more speeches to give and looking on my grid inside my leadership manual, I know exactly what roles I have to do in the next 12 meetings.

I will accomplish my goals. They’re doable, realistic and can be broken down into smaller “chunks”. Checking off the “chunks” will eventually mean I accomplish my goals. Those goals then help the club become a Distinguished Club. Our club’s success helps the area success and on and on. But it started with me setting two personal Toastmaster goals.

What about you?

Spring Contests - International Speech & Table Topics

Hello Area 1! It's that time of the year again...time to begin thinking about the upcoming contests. This year, the District has bumped everything up a month as to accomadate a visit from our new International Director. Because of this, all of the club, area, and division contests are also getting moved up. Right now the Area 1 Contest is tentatively set for February 21 (this is a Thursday) at the Elks Club on South Dixie!

Here are all the guidelines for each of the contests:
- International Speech Contest
- International Speech Ballot Form

- Table Topics Contest
- Table Topics Ballot Form

Please let me know when you are planning your contests! Have Fun!

Just A Quick Note

Hello Area 1! Just a quick note, if you elect officers every 6 months, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure that you update the list on the TI website so you get credit for the Distinguished Club Program! If you keep the same officers just update it with the same names again!

Thanks!

Add a Jokemaster...For Built In Humor (Written By Phyllis May)

Promoting the power of humor in our speeches is constantly emphasized but using humor successfully is a skill that, to many, does not come naturally. Providing a place for your members to hone their skills is easy enough…add a Jokemaster to your duty roster.

Adding a Jokemaster, while not an officially recognized functionary, provides one more opportunity during a meeting to give a member a speaking role…and unlike others…a role that calls for preparation and practice.

Telling a joke successfully is a skill that many people don’t feel they have. How many times have you heard someone tell a joke and totally mess up the punch line? Have you ever been in a situation where someone is killing time and says, “Does anyone want to tell a joke?” Most people cringe because they know they just can’t pull it off with the finesse that telling a joke calls for. And, volunteering to embarrass ourselves is not something most of us want to do.

Adding a Jokemaster to your agenda is a terrific and fun learning opportunity.

While telling a joke you are actually giving a short speech. Adding vocal variety, gestures and carefully choosing the words, expressions and timing are all aspects of crafting the telling of the joke.

Very few of us aspire to be stand up comics but, if you want to tell a joke and tell it to your club, try these ideas:

§ Like any other presentation, before selecting your topic Know Your Audience. Toastmasters is not the place for off-color selections. Keep in clean and inoffensive.

§ Few people can pull off telling a long, complicated story with a hopefully funny ending. Unless you’re a professional, you’ll lose people and the ending will be anti-climactic. Until you’re experienced, stick with short, easy for your audience to follow dialogue.

§ Personalize it if possible. For example, you might find a joke about lawyers. Your club includes a member who is a lawyer. If he/she is a good sport, substitute the person’s name. It’s easy to hook your audience into thinking you’re telling a real story…until you get to a ridiculous ending. That often makes it funnier when they realize they’ve been had. Or, make it your story.

A joke might start like this: “A group of lawyers were having lunch….” You could adapt it by saying, “I don’t know how many of you heard what happened recently to John but he and some of his lawyer friends were having lunch when….” You’ve immediately grabbed the attention of your members, who all know him. They know you’re up there to tell a joke and suddenly they’re going to be privy to a funny and perhaps embarrassing story about John. You continue to reel them in to the story and finish with a strong punch line.

§ Be sure to rehearse the punch line…especially if it’s complicated or a tongue twister, easily confused. Your joke telling success all rests right there in the delivery of those words.

Being able to tell and joke and then see and hear a genuine appreciation for your success if a terrific feeling for everyone who says, “Oh, I could never tell a joke.”

Our past President was afraid to ever sign up as Jokemaster and only did it reluctantly when no one else came forward. She dreaded it but did it, on occasion. At our Division Officer’s Training, she stood up on the stage, holding a microphone and successfully told a joke to about 100 attendees. Her obvious pride at knowing she had overcome one of her biggest fears made all of us who knew the challenge this was, ecstatic.

One caution…if you add a Jokemaster, provide expectations from the beginning. Signing up for that role and then walking up and READING internet jokes is a waste of meeting time, an insult and definitely a wasted learning opportunity. Nip that in the bud!!

There’s no evaluation opportunity for the Jokemaster other than whether or not people laugh or the joke falls flat. The General Evaluator could comment briefly in the wrap-up.

Most of us have a great admiration for the social skills that are enhanced with joke-telling abilities. Add humor to your speeches and presentations and if it’s a new skill to you, start small. Learn to tell a joke and enjoy the laughter that follows. While we suggest that members have a “speech in their pocket”, all of us could have a “joke in our pocket”…not just for our meeting but to surprise people the next time someone says, “Does anyone have a joke?” You might surprise yourself!

Phyllis May, AC-G, is a former Area Governor and President of Key West Toastmasters in Key West, Florida. (Contact info: 305-295-7501)

Introducing...

Well, hello all Area 1 Toastmasters! This past Wednesday I had the honor and privilege to unveil the brand new Area 1 Logo and Slogan at the West Kendall Toastmasters Meeting! As far as I remember Area 1 has never had their own logo or slogan, so I said, why not?

Now going along with the idea of this blog and creating a space where we as Toastmasters can comment and talk, this year's Area 1 slogan is "Speaking Up & Speaking Out." It is exactly as it sounds...I want to hear your voice, your comments. Over the rest of this year, I want to know what is going on with you in your clubs. Sure, I will visit and get to meet many of you, but before I even show up, I want to know about you and your club, so Speak Up & Speak Out!

And now, without further ado, the logo for Area 1 Toastmasters:

District 47 Conference & Contests

Howdy y'all? You broncos and belle's ready to go back to the Wild Wild West? Well then come on up to hottest corral and saloon in town...the District 47 Conference & Contest.

The District 47 Conference will be held in Lake Mary,FL from November 9 to November 11

Come and support your Division E contestants as they take on the best in Florida & the Bahamas!

Registration can be found at District 47 Conference Registration

Please make sure to register by the deadline & I look forward to seeing everyone up there!