Download - Division N Newsletter November 2014
you haven’t witnessed one
of Cliff Peterson’s smooth
and insightful evaluations,
the master class is now in
session — get ready to
take notes.
I hope you'll take full ad-
vantage of the inspiration
that the Fall Conference
can provide for jumpstart-
ing your motivation. Let’s
start now to ensure a
strong finish to the first half
of the 2014-2015 Toast-
masters year for our dis-
trict, our division, our clubs
and ourselves. The long list
of October educational
awards on page 5 is proof
that great things are hap-
pening in Division N! We
are truly a division with
Noteworthy Energy.
What will you accomplish
now while everyone else is
waiting for later?
“Ambition is the path to
success. Persistence is the
vehicle you arrive in.” -Bill
Bradley
November is the time of
year when attention natu-
rally begins to turn away
from our professional to-do
lists and toward our familial
to-do lists. Soon there will
be gatherings to plan, par-
ties to attend and trips to
pack for. The closer the
end of the calendar year
gets, the easier it is to say,
“I’ll accomplish that goal in
the new year.” But what if
you started the holiday
season with a sense of
purpose instead of a sense
of waiting?
If your clubs are anything
like the ones I belong to,
things start to settle down
at the end of fall as priori-
ties shift, and meeting at-
tendance gets sparse at
times. What a perfect op-
portunity to be ambitious
and a little selfish — identi-
fy the roles you need to
complete a CL so you can
volunteer when an opening
arises, or be prepared with
one of your speech pro-
jects so you can fill in on
short notice when a speak-
er cancels. Or do you want
to accomplish an advanced
project like an HPL or an
ACG workshop that you
have been too busy to sit
down and plan for?
Attending the Fall Confer-
ence on November 8th is a
great way to get re-
enthused for the work we
do as Toastmasters, and to
reorient ourselves toward
purposeful action. From the
keynote speaker to the ed-
ucational sessions, you’ll
come away with so many
ideas for your club and
your personal growth. I still
practice and share specific
skills that were introduced
to me at my first confer-
ence.
Educational value aside,
one of the best reasons to
attend the conference is to
root for our Division N Hu-
morous Speech and Evalu-
ation contestants as they
go head-to-head with the
rest of the District’s best. If
you haven’t yet had a
chance to hear Ritesh
Chhabra’s winning speech
about his arranged mar-
riage, you’re in for a lot of
laughs (you may also want
to bring a tissue). And if
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Talking Heads
Toastmasters
Sweep Division
Contest
2
Meet Your
Division N
Champions
3
Vocal Variety 3
Photos:
Division N
Contest
4
Hall of Fame 5
Division Events 5
District Events 5
D I S T R I C T 5 6
T O A S T M A S T E R S
D I V I S I O N N
Division N Notes N O V E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 4 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 5
By Amber Fessler, ACS, ALB, Division N Governor
P A G E 2
Talking Heads Toastmasters Sweep Division Contest
In a rare occurrence, two
standout members of the
Talking Heads Toastmasters
Club, Ritesh Chhabra and
Cliff Peterson, recently won
both the Area and Division
contests. Chhabra was
awarded first place with his
humorous speech titled ‘My
Lovely Arranged Marriage,’
and Peterson earned first
place by impressing the judg-
es in the evaluation contest.
The Talking Heads Toastmas-
ters Club was founded in
1985. The club is affiliated
with BP but club membership
is open to the public. The
club meets weekly at the BP
Westlake Campus in Houston.
The Club has an enthusiastic,
motivated membership. It has
earned the President's Distin-
guished Club, Select Distin-
guished Club and the Distin-
guished Club awards. Its mem-
bers have served in Area and
District leadership roles. The
Club is proud to have members
who have achieved the Distin-
guished Toastmaster award.
For more information, please
visit:
talkingheads1530.
toastmastersclubs.org
or contact:
Vlad Trygubenko:
vladimir.trygubenko@
bp.com
Mark Sweet: msweet@
boundlessnetwork.com
Amy is the President and Mark
is the VP Public Relations of
Talking Heads Toastmasters in
N-20.
D I V I S I O N N N O T E S
By Amy Xu and Mark Sweet
Meet Your Division N Champions!
P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 5
I am the Vice President for BitsOfCode, a Houston-based innovative company that develops cutting-edge software for challenging in-dustry applications. I joined Talking Heads Toastmas-ters Club with the intent of polishing my communication and leadership skills. Cur-rently I am serving as a Sec-retary of the club and active-ly working towards complet-ing my CC and CL manuals. Somehow Toastmasters tend to attract really nice people who are always ready to encourage and help you. That is the main reason I look forward to the weekly meetings.
Winning at the Club, Area and Division Humorous Speech Contest came as a pleasant surprise. Preparing for the contest motivated me to aggressively work on my speaking skills. I realized that the trick is to practice so much that you don’t have to worry about the speech con-
tent. Once that happens, you can focus more on your stage setting, ges-tures, vocal variety and other components of speech delivery.
It feels great to have the opportunity to participate at the District Contest. Re-gardless of the result, it will be an amazing experience. I am looking forward to November 8th.
power of words and its
proper arrangement in a
speech. I’ve reduced the
usage of any word or sound
as a crutch, as the Ah coun-
ter is making a note of
them. Now when I use ges-
tures in a speech I am very
thoughtful of how to use
them and incorporate them
with facial and body lan-
guage.
Toastmasters has helped
me tremendously in en-
hancing my leadership skill,
Vocal Variety is a monthly
column which features
members’ viewpoints and
success stories. Submit
yours!
Growing up as an orator and
winning all the competitions
and awards, I always
thought that I had somewhat
mastered the skill of Public
Speaking...until the day I
joined Toastmasters club
where I found that the art
has a lot more in it. Toast-
masters helped me learn the
wherein it taught me to
conduct a successful meet-
ing. I learned how much
effort it takes behind the
screen to organize a cam-
paign, contest, or just a
meeting. Being a past Sec-
retary and a VP Education,
I learned that the Toast-
masters organization is an
ocean of wealth and we
can keep digging in and
learn new things day in and
day out. The website and
the educational awards
department at Toastmas-
ters International are a
Vocal Variety: Rulan Patel, CL wealth of resources. I en-
courage our fellow Toast-
masters to use it extensively
for personal growth.
Rulan is the VP Education at
CITGO Voice in N-20.
Currently, Cliff works for BP as a Financial Analyst in the Gulf of Mexico region. Before that, he served four years in the Air Force as a Space and Missiles officer and two years in the Army National Guard as a Finan-cial Manager.
He lives with his lovely wife, Kay, and their demanding cat, Cali. When he's not at work or home, you can usu-
ally find him on a racquetball court or at a card table. The best way to bribe him is with dark chocolate.
Goals for the future include traveling and living abroad, writing a book, and owning his own business.
Ritesh Chhabra, Humorous Speech Cliff Peterson, Evaluation Contest
Join your fellow Division
N Toastmasters at the
Fall Conference on
November 8 as we cheer
Ritesh and Cliff to
victory as they compete
to be recognized as
District 56’s best!
Register for full or a la
carte admission at
tmd56.org.
P A G E 4
D I V I S I O N N N O T E S
Clockwise from left: Cliff Peter-
son accepts Evaluation trophy;
Evaluation contestants Cliff Pe-
terson, Michelle Perzan, Robert
Smart & Rico Simantov with
Contest Toastmaster Jim Har-
rington; Ritesh Chhabra accepts
Humorous Speech trophy; Hu-
morous Speech contestants
Ritesh Chhabra, Neha Sinha &
Judy Pappas with Contest Toast-
master Jim Harrington.
Chief Editor: Amber Fessler, ACS, ALB
Phone: 832-247-3940
E-mail: [email protected]
Respect Integrity Service Excellence
Division N Team, 2014-2015
Division Governor: Amber Fessler, ACS, ALB
Area N-20 Governor: Raul Rivera, ACG, ALB
Area N-21 Governor: Uriel Armey, CC, CL
Area N-22 Governor: Kim Muckleroy, CC, ALB
Area N-23 Governor: Max Lopez, CC, CL
Area N-24 Governor: Rick Bogue, ACB, ALB
Area N-25 Governor: Andy Paultanis, CC
District 56 Toastmasters
Division N
Upcoming Division N Events Area Governors complete all Round 1 club visits
Clubs with 6-month officer terms should hold elections in November so in-
coming officers can begin shadowing outgoing officers and attend December
TLIs.
Upcoming District 56 Events November 8: Fall Conference (all day,
Hilton Houston Southwest)
December 6: First Winter TLI (watch
tmd56.org calendar for details)
HALL OF FAME
J O S E H A R B , C C
J A M E S H A R R I S , C L
S H A L A H M O H A M M E D , C L
J U A N O R T I Z , C L
S I V A P A M A R T I , C L
S U B B A R A O P A V U L U R I , C L
W E N D Y S A L A H U D D I N , C L
B R I A N S E L I G , A L B
C L A Y T O N S I M O N S , C C
J U A N V A L E N Z U E L A , C C
E A R N A N Y E D U C A T I O N A L
A W A R D I N N O V E M B E R T O B E
F E A T U R E D H E R E N E X T
M O N T H !
More on district news, information and
events: www.tmd56.org
“We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle
Did you know the January
TLI schedule is already
posted on tmd56.org?