No table of contents entries found.

An opportunity to listen to Daren LaCrox

All of us need to be inspired & seek guidance. All of us share the desire togrow by learning from veterans in our field. Friends, Toastmasters is notonly about learning & practicing techniques of public speaking in our clubsalone. Toastmasters has brought an opportunity to listen to Daren LaCrox.

Daren LaCrox is a winner of 2001 International Public Speech contest. He isa key note speaker, author, and a comedian. He is a keynote speaker since1994, & his clients include IBM, Fidelity investments, Sheraton Hotels,Motorola to name a few. You may visit Daren LaCrox’s website by clickinghere.

Where & how you can avail this opportunity? Toastmasters International,District 41 Annual Conference is being held in Hyderabad from 17th to 19thMay 2013. This event is widely known as Oration 2013.

Along with District level International speech contest & table topics contest,Oration 2013 provides excellent opportunities for learning & networking.

So what you are waiting for? You can get more information about Oration2013 & register online by clicking here.

Let’s grow together in Hyderabad.

District:41Club Number:01141787Club Name:

Toastmasters Club ofPune (TMCP)

December/2012

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1 Opportunity to listen to

Daren LaCrox

2 Presidents Musings

3 Leading a brand newclub? Insights from CC,CL Jaideep Solanki

4 How Division works? AnInterview with Division IGovernor Krunal Akojwar

5 Facing problems incompleting CC Manual?CC Nagappan shares hisexperience.

6 Evaluate to express &not to impress –Interview of District levelevaluation contest winnerTM Shalini Sharma

7 News from the Club

8 Contributors

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL

NEWSLETTER

President’s Musings

“On my tenth speech I felt I was doing my first. I don’t think I haveimproved.” It is sad to hear a Toastmaster say this; but then the reality isthat it happens.

The prescriptive format of Toastmasters has every ingredientneeded to make one a confident speaker. However, there is one componentthat we tend to forget resulting in such debacles. You need that someonewhom we call a mentor to hold your hand when you wade through therapids of public speaking.

Mentoring has always been an integral part of Toastmasters. Amentor brings in his experience and wisdom to your speech. The mentor-mentee relationship is a special equation where there is a commitmentfrom the mentee to learn from the mentor’s experience and the mentor, tounconditionally guide him. After all, a mentee today is a mentor tomorrow.

Sadly, most clubs do not have a functional mentoring program. We oftendiscuss it, find solutions; but they never get executed. So where are wegoing wrong? Is it the mentee’s embarrassment to ask for help or is it thementor’s lack of concern? Either way I feel we must meet somewhere inthe middle and make it a fruitful relationship.

ToastmastersClub of Pune

(TMCP)

Executive Committee

President:Deepa Das

Vice PresidentEducation:Gaurav Nagpal

Vice PresidentMembership:Vaibhav Mehra

Vice PresidentPublic Relations:Umesh Agashe

Hon. Treasurer:Alok Vij

Hon. Secretary:Dhvanika Shah

Seargent-at-Arms:Prasad Sovani

My own experience as a mentor has been deeply inspiring. Working over a speech with the mentee, getsme to introspect about my own follies and guide him away from them. As the speech grows, we begin toshare the adrenalin rush and when finally delivered, I share the thrill as though I had made the speechmyself.

I assure you that there are many experienced members in our Club who can mentor when you start yourToastmaster journey. Initially, they will give you the confidence that you need. Subsequently, they willhelp you to craft your speeches to meet the objectives. Finally, they will infuse you with the skills thattransform you to a speaker who owns the stage.

Add a companion to your Toastmaster journey today and make it more meaningful and effective.

Partnership was a theme ofthe meeting to celebrate aspecial occasion. Recently,Toastmasters Club of Pune -Central, & Toastmasters Club ofPune – West celebrated their25th & 75th chapter meetingtogether in a grand celebration.

Any new journey is always fullof surprises & experiences. In asmall period of timeToastmasters Club of Pune –Central has achieved manyawards & has active memberstrength of 30. They arelooking forward to be the bestclub in the District next year.

We talked with President of theTMCP – Central club CC, CLJaideep Solanki to learn fromhis experiences.

You may share your thoughtswith him atjaideepvsolanki@gmail.com

Leading a brand new club?

Insights from

CC, CL Jaideep Solanki

Q: Tell us something about yourself. How did you come to knowabout Toastmasters & since when are you a member?A: I am Jaideep Vasant Solanki, born and brought up in Pune. I amMechanical Engineer and a MBA in Marketing. I have worked for TATA’s,TOYOTA, ESSAR and currently with an Auto Logistics Company, a JV ofMSC (world’s largest shipping company) and “Groupè CAT” of France.

Q: Although Toastmasters is all about communication, its tag linesays “Where Leaders are Made”. How has Toastmasters helpedyou enriching your leadership qualities?A: A very apt question indeed. If you look at the structure of theToastmasters program, it just not involves speaking; rather you areengaged with tasks more than just delivering speeches.

Let’s put it in this way, as a leader, let’s say, the few qualities to beimbibed are

A Good Listener: as an evaluator, ah counter, grammarian andgeneral evaluator.Leading by example: as a speaker, as a Toastmaster of theday (TMoD) and also by taking various roles and initiatives setexample for other members to follow.Time manager: as a time keeper, as a TMoD, as a speaker oras a general evaluator, you always have time limits and toadhere to the same you learn the skill of time management.Disciplined: for regular attendance of the meetings one needsto be in formals & on time.Providing apt feedback at the right time: as an evaluator oreven as a spectator you always give a genuine feedback to fellowToastmasters. This garners and fosters an environment of mutualsupport.

We have seen above how taking up various roles in Toastmastersenhances leadership skills of any individual.

Q: How & when did the idea of leading a brand new clubgerminate?A: Here, I should give the credit to our very own and especially my dearLGET, DTM Prasad Sovani. It was in Feb 2012 I had requested forresponsible roles in the Toastmasters fraternity, which eventually I hadforgotten. However, Prasad had this very much on his mind and when inApril the idea to float a new club in the central part of the city was out, Igrabbed this opportunity with both the hands.

Q: The very idea of leading a brand new club might have appeared overwhelming, what wasyour first reaction?A: To be very frank, I have been a TM since 2008, however I have taken up roles up to the level ofassistant to a VP and was helping TMCP VPE then, but then when I was asked to don the role of aPresident and that too of a BRAND NEW CLUB... I was already on cloud nine... and with a mixed feeling...will I deliver or is that something I can easily do it. But overall my reaction was "Wow" and the very firstcall was to my wife and mother to let them know this...

Q: What are the initial challenges you encountered as a President of a brand new club?A: I was absolutely naive and all I had with me was zeal and will to just do it... specifically the challengesfaced as a new club were

Location for the meetings.How to get the charter strength of 20 members?How would the new members be trained for conducting various roles?Club administration.Attendance for initial meetings.

But eventually, I had a great and unstinted support from veteran toastmasters. Mandar Bapat scouted fora place and sowed the beans at SP College, in the mean while Prasad got a make shift location at GopalHigh School. But the best one was our first meeting, which was held at TM Chandrashekhar Luniya'soffice.

For attendance, we had selfless supporters, TM Mandrekar's, TM Umesh, TM Gaurav Sathe, TM ManishKulkarni, TM Shailesh, TM Mandar, DTM Prasad... and all dear Toastmasters who were eager to support usin our maiden venture.

Q: As a President, you must have received all the assistance from your Executive Committee.Tell us in brief about Executive Committee of TMCP-C. & learning’s from EC.A: Being a new club we had absolute new committee and absolute new members donning the roles. Theyhad been the ones who made us get 6 out of the 10 DCP in 5 months itself. With their help we had all excom and members creating a max attendance for a new club at the JTP and OTP program in June 12.

Our VPE TM Alok and our secretary TM Sameer Naik have had valuable contributions to take the club tothese levels. Needless to mention the contribution of our VPM TM Ajay Wagh, VPPR TM Shivshant, SAA TMManish Kalburgi and Treasure TM Madhavi Phadke.

Q: Tell us about achievements of the Toastmasters Club of Pune – Central.A: We as a club boast about our achievements coz we have worked for it, to name a few

Beat the Time award.Smedley awardIn the 5th month of inception we had already achieved 6 of the 5 DCP Goals to become adistinguished club.We stand a chance to be a Golden Gavel club and we will definitely be one.As of today we have active member strength of 30 members, which in itself speaks a ton about theclub.

Q: What is your VISION for Toastmasters Club of Pune Central?A: To be the best club in district for the next year.

Q: You have talked specifically about how Toastmasters would help people who areprofessional trainers. Please elaborate on that?A: Yes and at length. That's a reason behind, since I am in touch with quite a few Trainers and upcomingtrainers in Pune, I have got many opportunities to showcase Toastmasters to the trainers fraternity.

In fact in the recent past, I had the opportunity of attending the Western Region Conference on "Trainingto Learning - creating excellence in training" being conducted by Indian Society for Training andDevelopment. Here I could very well convey about Toastmasters to not only the trainers but also to fewcorporate who were part of the conference. To name a few, WNS, Tata Motors, Thyssen Krupp, VW Indiaand Suzlon.

Q: Tell us what are the 3 things we can do to propagate the brand of Toastmasters?A: Following things would surely help us spread the brand of Toastmasters

Create more awareness among youngsters so that when they start working they appraise the needfor effective communication and hence be a part of the TM Fraternity.Strict Mentor Mentee relations. We generally end up adding members, but then do they really getwhat they are here for? When knowledge is shared it’s always a win-win situation, in this case boththe mentor learns leadership skills and the mentee learns about various aspects unknown aboutcommunication n leadership.Experience of interesting meetings is what one takes back. A meeting that leaves a TM motivatedin all aspects is what I foresee.

CC Nagappan Palaniappan is

working as Sr. DeliveryManager at NTTDATA GlobalTechnology Services Pvt. Ltd.

He has extensive experienceof working with Japanesecustomers in domains asvaried as Retail, OperationsManagement, & ProductDevelopment Areas.

He recently completed 10projects from CompetentCommunicator manual. Weare sure that his experienceof completing CC journeyassists & inspires others tocomplete their CC.

He says that CRC approach ofspeech evaluation (feedback)is helping him in hisprofessional life, and he hasbecame more louder &audible from stage afterjoining Toastmasters

You may write to him atpalanagappan@gmail.com

My CC Journey

CC Nagappan PalaniappanThe journey begins:

Way back in 2005, I heard about Toastmasters through my colleague.When I asked him about Toastmasters he suggested that, it will be good ifI experience that as a guest, rather than listening to his narration of thesame.

In the year 2012 I got a chance for the same. In my first session as aguest, I gave the feedback that I want to join Toastmasters. I liked theway how the meeting was conducted including strict-usage of onlyEnglish, Grammarian and Ah-counters to monitor our speeches and theconcept of Table topics.

This article is a retrospect of my CC journey and I have summarized mylearning’s.

My CC Journey

First 4 Speeches – Fundamentals of Public Speaking

The main objectives are delivering a speech, speech organization, havinga purpose for the speech and selecting the words to present the speech.

Suggestions for Toastmasters

1. If you don’t have a mentor, please get a mentor assigned for you.

2. Prepare your speech in a document, preferably point-by-point.

3. Read your own speech a number of times and make sure the flow isorganized well.

4. Practice before your mentor and concentrate on clarity of words & pauses

5. Discuss with the mentor and based on his suggestions improve further.

6. Practice at least 5-times before delivering on the stage; record your practice speech.

7. Get your live speech recorded and compare that with your preparation-speeches, to understand thegap.

Next 4 Speeches – Technical Aspects:

Now you have started delivering the speeches and by now you might be good in the fundamentals. In next4 speeches you will be learning the technical-aspects like Body-language, Vocal-variety, Researching yourtopic and getting comfortable with Visual Aids.

Suggestions for Toastmasters

1. Please continue preparing your speech in a document with bullet-points or numbers.

2. Get your speech reviewed by your mentor.

3. Speak before mirror (or video-camera , mobile-camera) and review your speech by yourself

4. After each speech understand the areas-for-improvement and work on them.

5. Make sure that you have taken-care of the improvement-points suggested in the previousspeeches, and also improve your speech by reviewing the recorded-copy.

Last 2 CC Speeches – Persuasion and Inspiring:

When you reach this category, you have already learnt the basics of public-speaking as-well-as technical-aspects and so you have reached the level of persuading and inspiring others.

Suggestions for Toastmasters

1. Draft the message with sufficient content to persuade others.

2. Include relevant anecdotes, try to personalize them.

3. Please make sure that you use all the traits of public speaking you learnt in previous projects.

4. Technical aspects like vocal variety & body language play important role in delivering a speech thatinspires the audience.

All the best for your Competent Communicator Title!

Have you ever wondered

who ensures that clubs areperforming as perexpectations, & providingmutual supportive &learning environment to allthe members?

We talked with DivisionGovernor (Division I) CC,ALB Krunal Akojwar tounderstand functioning ofa Toastmasters Division,roles & responsibilities of aDivision Governor.

Krunal strongly believesthat every club shouldensure that every guestfeels comfortable in aclub. And his personalpreference is on quality ofeach club instead ofquantity of clubs.

You may share yourfeedback on his views atkrunalakojwar@eaton.com

Develop a leader in you at Toastmasters

CC, ALB Krunal Akojwar

Q: Tell us in brief, when & how did you join Toastmasters?A: I was first introduced to Toastmasters in 2007 while I was in TCS Mumbai.I attended one meeting as a guest in Mumbai suburbs. I still remember thatday. It was a funny experience back then, hearing people calling everyoneelse with the title …”Toastmasters”.

I held myself back to postpone my turn of speech in Table Topics and missedit. Well! You don’t get anything before time, so I guess I was not meant tojoin Toastmasters then. I could blame it to travelling required to attendmeetings as meetings used to be spread across different locations in Mumbaifor which I had to take a local. Or I could simply be honest and tell I was notso aware of TM and benefits and hence was less motivated.

But, you can’t skip your destiny and I landed up in Pune to work with Eatonin 2008, I kept on hearing about Toastmasters but never got any properlead. I again held back till some time until finally in December 2008 Iattended meeting as guest and immediately made up my mind to joinToastmasters.

I think the reason I joined this time was the comfort level I felt in this club.Hence it is very important to make your guest feel comfortable in theinitial meetings. Most clubs forget to do that.

Then coincidently I completed my CC exactly in 1 year. I wish I hadn’t heldmyself back, I would have had 1 more year of experience with TM.

Q: Toastmasters Tagline says “Where Leaders are made”, tell us howToastmasters has helped you to hone your leadership skills?A: I believe Toastmasters is nothing but a platform, and you learn by way ofpractice and performance. Let me tell how I relate to this tagline.

The famous 70/20/10 rule of learning apply to TM as well

10% of learning happens from formal training.20 % from feedback and from observing and working with role.70% from real life and on-the-job experiences, tasks and problemsolving.

This is the most important aspect of any learning and development plan. InToastmasters you get all of this. In TM we get plenty of roles, which directlyprovide opportunity to practise leadership skills.

A real example could be of VP PR role. I could successfully launch clubnewsletter and with that experience I was asked to join editorial team of ITnewsletter at Eaton. I interviewed some big-shots in Eaton and it wasopportunity to interact with senior leaders and learn from their wisdom.

Similarly I took this experience of hosting meeting to a bigger level by taking up roles in area levelconference, and then I got opportunities to host entertainment night in Resonance 2011. I hosted coupleof Annual day parties at Eaton, it all started with a small step to host a club level meeting. There aremany more examples where TM has given me leverage and visibilities at various levels.

Q: Tell us in brief, composition of Division I?A: We have total 13 clubs as of now , 4 college clubs at Raisoni Nagpur , 3 community clubs viz. TMCP ,TMCP West , TMCP Central and 6 corporate clubs in TomTom, TSYS, Symphony, Emerson and 2 clubs inEaton.

Q: Please tell us roles & responsibilities of a Division Governor?A: As a division governor, my job is to lead and support the division through the supervision and supportof the area governors. One of my primary goals as division governor is to ensure that each club achievesits mission and fulfils its responsibilities to its members.

Responsibilities of a Division Governor:

Provide motivation, guidance, and supervision to area governors to help them fulfil their roles andresponsibilities.Serve as division council chair.Achieve Distinguished Division status & Coordinate division speech contests.

Q: We are sure that a team of Area Governors must be assisting you. Please brief us about yourteam?A: I am blessed with this wonderful trio to assist me as Area Governors. TM Vijay Waghmare looking afterarea I1, TM Manish Kulkarni governing area I2 and TM Ajay Patil leading area I3. All the 3 AGs are highlyknowledgeable about TM, always ready to help and super dedicated.

Q: DTM Prasad Sovani always says that we are growing more than our capacity to handle it.What’s your view on this?A: I believe in maintaining balance. Starting new clubs is necessary to take this privilege to more andmore people who could get benefited out of it. This also helps you cover new territories where the clubnever existed. But more important thing than starting a club is to sustain it and to maintain quality.

If the club meetings are of poor quality, attrition will increase and slowly the club would die, even worse?People would totally turn their backs to Toastmasters. One poor club can impact brand Toastmasters. So,as it is said …. ‘Growth is life’ but only as far as you can manage it.

We can open clubs in corporate where we have enough employee strength, we can open community clubsin corners of city which are untouched, in order to do that we have to make new leaders who can leadfrom front and ensure good quality of the clubs and areas. This would not happen with a magical wandand spell. So we need to take balanced approach. Build new leaders and then let them need new clubsand slowly we will grow with maturity.

Q: How can we develop new leaders faster?A: We cannot develop any one, never! We can just provide the platform, give the opportunity and shareour feedback. Finally to develop or not is individual’s choice and desire. I believe leadership skills can betaught and leaders can be groomed. So what we should try to do is enhance the quality and expand thereach of this platform.

Doing proper PR would increase the awareness about Toastmasters and more dedicated members wouldincrease the membership base. Conducting quality meetings would provide good environment to learnnew things. So you first provide opportunity to learn, and then provide platform to practise those learningand last but not least ….keep motivating.

Q: How often do we change composition of a Division?A: This depends on growth and geographical spread of the clubs. This decision is taken by districtleadership in consultation with division governors. Basically when you grow to such an extent that it isdifficult to manage it effectively then that unit is split, or if certain clubs are in closer proximity to anotherdivision, you realign them.

Q: What is your vision for Division I?A: My agenda is simple. Every member in my division should feel that he or she got enough opportunitiesto learn and then the platform to leverage that learning. My personal preference is on quality thanquantity. So, we add 5 new clubs but members are not happy with the meetings, not good! But we add3 new clubs to Division and members are happy with the quality of meetings and the learning that theyare getting, we made it!

We need to increase our presence in district events, train more members to compete in contests emergeas champions. Every member should be confidently able to admit that Toastmasters brought a positivechange in him.

Q: What are the three things we can do to propagate the brand of Toastmasters?A:

Every member is a brand ambassador of Toastmasters. So we all carry this tag of TM wherever wego. Keep your elevator speech about TM ready. You need not be VP PR or VP M for that. If youhave been benefitted by this forum and you can articulate that to a non-toastmaster, you are awalking and talking billboard of Toastmaster.Only talking does not help. You have to walk the talk. Hence you have to exhibit your TM learningin other realms of life. For example, 1) take up lead in organizing a meeting or event in yourorganization and show your organization skills, 2) present confidently, speak flawlessly in your dayto day conversations. If people look up to you and understand that TM helped you improve, that’sit! You don’t need to convince or follow-up with them to join TM, they will follow up with you. Ihave seen many managers in my organization supporting TM movement as they saw TMs beingbetter communicator and leaders.Now you got the new members, ensure that they get benefited from TM. Befriend the newmembers, mentor them, ensure high quality meeting. You are nothing but developing new frontline leaders and building your army of TM Brand Ambassadors who can now carry the baton. Andthis process continues like a domino effect.

To summarize, spread the word, provide value and ensure quality.

This is an interview with

winner of District 41Evaluation Contest held inKolkata on 3rd – 4th Nov2012.

Shalini Sharma is memberof Toastmasters since last1.4 years, & currently sheis Hon. Treasurer ofDeloitte HyderabadToastmasters Club.

When we asked her acrucial question“Evaluation for impressingthe judges or expressingyourself?” she candidlyreplied that evaluation isfor improving the speech.

You may write to her atshalisharma@deloitte.com

Evaluate to express and not to impress

TM Shalini Sharma

Q: Tell us in brief about yourself? How & when did you joinToastmasters?A: I work for the Consulting practice of Deloitte and through campusinterview I got recruited for this profile.

In my Post-Graduate days I was an avid debater and visited many colleges totake part in Parliamentary Debates. That is where my interest in publicspeaking grew and I wished to continue it even in the corporate world.

Toastmasters came as a blessing when I heard about the Deloitte HyderabadToastmasters Club. It helped me keep alive my love for public speaking andalso provided opportunities to attempt forms I never thought I will.

I joined almost immediately, as soon as I heard about the club and I plan tobe a Toastmaster for a long time to come.

Q: How do you think that Toastmasters is helping in your personallife?A: Toastmasters is like one big family. Some of my closest friends areToastmasters.

Joy of meeting and getting to know people from different walks of life hasmade a whole lot of difference in the way I socialize and interact with people.I have imbibed qualities such as listening, rationalizing and evencommunicating better in my day to day life.

Q: How do you think that Toastmasters is helping in yourprofessional life?A: I can list many ways in which Toastmasters has made me a betterprofessional. Be it the confidence while giving presentations, the team-workthat goes into running the club, multi-tasking between club activities andclient work or the network of like-minded individuals, Toastmasters offers alot to learn from.

Q: How did you feel after your very first evaluation in Toastmasters?A: Delivering the first evaluation was unnerving without doubt. I wondered ifmy suggestions really helped the speaker at all. I remember taking feedbackfrom some of my fellow Toastmasters in the room after the meeting andeveryone encouraged me saying that with some practice I can be a goodevaluator.

One of the senior Toastmasters even suggested that I take part in theEvaluation contest. That was an encouraging start.

Q: Out of all the Evaluations you have done in the Toastmasters (Club-Meetings, variousContests), when did you feel that you had a major learning out of evaluation?A: One Evaluation that I learnt a lot from was the one at Division level (Divisions F and H). It introducedme to speaking in front of a large audience; I competed with some of the best Evaluators from Hyderabadand learnt a lot from observing the way they delivered their evaluations. It was at the Division level that Idiscovered the evaluation style that suits me best.

Q: How did you prepare yourself for the District-level Evaluation Contest?A: Right after I won at the Club level evaluation contest, I tried to do as many evaluations as possible. Iwanted to listen to as many different types of speeches as I could and analyze them in many differentways. I attended all the Area-level contests of Divisions F and H (except two) and observed the differentapproaches to Evaluation.

I watched videos online and spoke to some senior Toastmasters to get a perspective of how an evaluationmust be delivered and what aspects of a speech must be observed. Between the Division and District levelcontest, I shifted my focus from giving evaluations to what goes into making a good speech. I evendelivered a speech during this period.

Q: How did you feel when you were announced as the Winner of the District Level EvaluationContest?A: It was overwhelming. I was in disbelief for a few seconds but the cheer all around me helped meabsorb it almost instantly and it was an incredibly happy moment for me to walk on to the stage toreceive that trophy.

Q: Tell us which things one can do on a consistent basis for being a good evaluator?A: The primary aim of an evaluator must be to help the speaker to improve (even if it is just by oneaspect). It is important for an evaluator to identify the core purpose of the speech and the reason why itwas delivered to be able to suggest further improvements.

Some speeches are meant to be simple and some need exaggeration and recommendations should begiven accordingly. Evaluation is the best way to keep in touch with your analytical side.

Performing at least one evaluation a month will not only help in progressing in our CL tracks but also ingaining more experience as an evaluator.

Q: Who mentored you for the District Level competition? Apart from mentors from where didyou get help?A: I received help and encouragement from a lot of Toastmasters of Divisions H and F. Some of them areTM Rajnish, TM Sita, TM Muddassir, TM Shashank, TM Harsh, TM Padma, TM Rajasekhar, TMChandrasekhar, TM Anoop, TM Khalid and many more.

Even Toastmasters from other Divisions like Deepak Menon and TM Mario shared few words of advice. TheToastmasters from A.P. at Resonance were the biggest pillar of support. They helped keep my cool andcheered me on at every step.

Q: In a competition, what should one do? Should one evaluate to express himself/herself or toimpress the judges?A: Evaluations are neither for the evaluator nor for the Judges. It is always for the speaker to improve thespeech.

The notable difference between delivering an evaluation during a meeting and a contest is to focus on thedelivery. The level of analysis and recommendations require a lot of focus in every evaluation you presentbut for a Contest, an evaluation must be presented like a speech itself with a beginning, body andsummary and that is the only bit done to impress the speaker, audience and judges.

The content should help the speaker to improve. Keep it brief but specific and focus on the most importantareas of improvement.

News from the Club

Victory Speech of US President Barack Obama:

All the leaders in Toastmasters emphasize on quality meetings. Unique & distinct ideas of conductingmeetings always excite all the club members. In TMCP, we implemented one such idea in the month ofDecember. We conducted club level contest to evaluate US President Barack Obama’s victory speech.Event was managed by Toastmasters of the day, TM Vaibhav Mehra.

The meeting began with recorded victory speech of about 20 minutes. Then 7 members participated inspeech evaluation contest, & rest got the opportunity to participate in the Table Topics based on the samesubject. We wanted maximum number of people to participate & learn from each other. It was indeed acollective learning for all the participants regarding US Politics in general & speech of Barack Obama inparticular.

All the club members voted as we do in regular meeting. Winner of speech evaluation contest was TMMohit Gaur, & winner of the Table Topics was TM Azharuddin Khadri.

Toastmasters chapter meeting at the foothills of Sinhagad fort

On 22nd-23rd of December, Toastmasters from various clubs in Pune celebrated a motto “Together WeGrow” at the foothills of Sinhagad fort. We had Toastmasters meeting at a farmhouse “Gappangan” at theoutskirts of Pune city. 18 Toastmasters participated in this picnic to strengthen the bond we share.

We enjoyed the evening in a camp fire by singing songs, strumming guitar, sizzling barbeque, and playing“How is yours?”

Finish What You StartCompleting 10 projects from CC manual not only enhances your confidence but it also inspires others. Wehave two more success stories from TMCP club. CC Angad Singh, & CC Anand Kumar Gupta completedtheir Competent Communicator title. When we asked CC Angad Singh what one thing you learnt atToastmasters, he said it’s “Commitment”. CC Anand Kumar Gupta said that he has learned how toimprove voice quality and how to use it at different moments.

CC Angad Singh, you may write to him atmba.angad@gmail.com

CC Anand Kumar Gupta, you may write to him atgla.anand@gmail.com

ContributorsCC Umesh Agashe

Chief EditorLayout and designInterview Coordinator (CC, CL Jaideep Solanki, &CC, ALB Krunal Akojwar)Production

CC Nagappan Palaniappan

Co – EditorInterview Coordinator (TM Shalini Sharma)

ACB, ALB Beena Mandrekar

Co – EditorLanguage Evaluator

This is a monthly eNewsletter of Toastmasters Club of Pune. The sole purpose of this eNewsletter is toshare success stories of fellow Toastmasters, activities at club level & spread the brand of Toastmasters. Ifyou would like to contribute in eNewsletter or have an idea for content or suggestions for improvement ineNewsletter, you may write to agashe.umesh@gmail.com