Push Your Boundaries • Spring 2016 Conference • Toastmasters District 53

Dave Elliott Dave Elliott is a Peak Performance Coach,

the owner of coaching firm Mpower Unlimited and a former senior leader in the Anthony Robbins organization.

Dave travels around the nation serving thousands on professional and self-development, and has been an

active Toastmaster in Baltimore.

Darren LaCroix Darren LaCroix, no stranger to most Toastmasters, is

the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking, a speech coach, author and well-known keynote presenter. Darren

inspires audiences globally with his lessons about speaking and using humor effectively.

Featured Speakers

Two dynamic featured speakers will be presenting at the District 53 Spring Conference!

Both presenters will host entertaining and inspirational sessions that will help you push your boundaries and develop as a speaker and leader!

How To Push Boundaries Without The Pushback

You can’t have a conference about pushing the boundaries and getting outside your comfort zone without acknowledging

one glaringly obvious fact. Human beings are born with a built-in need and a conflicting desire for comfort and security. So how exactly do you set yourself up to stand out if your fear is screaming “step back!?” In this content-rich presentation,

Peak Performance Strategist and Relationship Coach Dave Elliott will share his expertise in human motivational psychology to teach you how to master your mindset and

take your public speaking to whole new level. He’ll help you learn how to nurture excellence instead of surrendering to an old disempowering nature. Plus he’ll set you up to win and

overcome any limiting beliefs that may be holding you back. If you want to break through the barriers that stop you from reaching your full potential on stage or in any aspect of your

life, this is one presentation you absolutely must attend.

How well do you speak under pressure? What if it was easier?

What if you knew the secrets of the World Champion Speakers?

On August 25th, out of 25,000 contestants from 14 countries, Darren LaCroix, was crowned the

2001 World Champion of Public speaking.

As a result of winning Darren has presented to Toastmasters in Malaysia, Taiwan, and Oman, and has left his day job of 11

years to pursue keynote speaking and coaching full time.

You will walk away with specific strategies that you can use in your very next speech!

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Push Your Boundaries • Spring 2016 Conference • Toastmasters District 53

Morning Breakout Sessions (11:30 AM – 12:15 PM)

Fast Track Your Speaking Skills by Competing in Speech Contests (Michael Aron)

Are you afraid of competing in a speech contest? Learn three reasons why people don’t compete and why you shouldn’t let those reasons stop you. Gain the confidence to compete by learning about topic selection, adding humor to your speeches and how to prepare for Table Topics and Evaluation contests.

Michael Aron has been a Toastmaster since July 2000. He has served in various club and district officer positions including club president, Area Governor, Division Governor, club coach and club mentor. Michael has produced his own TV Show called “Toast of the Town” in West Hartford Community Television. Michael loves to compete in speech contests and has competed over 70 times, coming in first place 49% of the time. In November of 2009, Michael won first place in the District 53 Humorous speech contest. In May of 2011 he won first place in the District 53 Tall Tales speech contest. Michael is a member of two clubs, XL Catlin Hartford Toastmasters in Hartford, CT, and Keene Toastmasters in Keene, NH.

Pull Their Hearts: Connecting With Our Audience (Henry Greene)

This seminar is intended to help Toastmasters step up from being competent communicators to becoming engaging, motivating and inspiring communicators. Once a Toastmaster has developed his or her skill in organizing and writing speeches, controlling nervousness, developing vocal variety, gestures and facial expressions, it is time to develop techniques to reach out and grab the audience’s attention. This seminar will describe some useful techniques for connecting with the audience. The techniques will be discussed and demonstrated by the presenter as well as volunteers from the audience. The primary purpose of the seminar is to inspire Toastmasters to go beyond the content of their speeches and purposely plan speaking techniques that will deliver their message effectively, cognitively and emotionally.

Henry Greene, (ACG and ALB) has been a member of Toastmasters since 2009. He is currently serving as an Area Director for Area 53. Henry has also competed in several Toastmaster speech contests. When he is not participating in Toastmasters, Henry serves on the faculty at Central Connecticut State University, where he is a professor of marketing. He has taught 165 college level courses, which translates to 7,000 hours of presentations. Henry enjoys training people and watching them develop. Henry has also given presentations at academic and industry conferences, and sales meetings.

Live More Fearlessly (Annick Magac)

Do you feel like you could do more with your life? Are you unhappy with your job and/or relationships? In this inspiring and interactive talk, author Annick Magac explores ways to break out of your comfort zone to achieve the success you desire in your life. Annick will define reasons you hold yourself back and share unexpected ways to build confidence so you can live the life you want.

Annick Magac is an Amazon Best Selling Author, Motivational Speaker and Lifestyle Coach that helps people get CLEAR™ by aligning their environment, health, and mindset to support the success they desire in their lives. Based in the Hudson Valley of NY, Annick often travels for work or pleasure; spending a lot of time in airplanes, cars and on motorcycles. In the rare moment that she is in one place for any length of time, you’ll find her training in a gym, visiting a museum or immersed in a creative project.

Getting Members to Step Up for Leadership Opportunities (Heather Turner)

This session will explore how to get members to step up for club leadership roles, and show members the benefits of participating beyond the club level and getting out of their comfort zone. Learn how to motivate members and develop a strategic plan to find and nurture new officers. Incoming officers need to be selected, groomed and trained well in advance of the club-year turnover. You can learn how to analyze your members’ strengths to assemble the best officer team possible. This will cover a suggested timeline as well as evaluation techniques to make sure you are selecting a good incoming officer team.

Heather Turner is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has spent more than 20 years in the restaurant business. She trained under one of the PBS Series “Great Chefs of America,” Chef Yves Labbe at 4-Star acclaimed restaurant, Le Cheval D’or. She has been the Executive Chef at Bellini’s Restaurant, The Cliff House at Stowe Mt. Resort and Harvest Market in Northern Vermont and at The Olde Inn on Cape Cod. In 2003 she started her own business, which combines hospitality consulting with marketing for a variety of businesses. She writes a hospitality blog at https://chefforfeng.wordpress.com, is an accredited member (ACG, ALB) of Toastmasters International, and is a keynote and educational speaker at associations and conferences around the United States.

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Push Your Boundaries • Spring 2016 Conference • Toastmasters District 53

Afternoon Breakout Sessions (5:15 – 6:00 PM)

How To Activate Your Greatness (Tremaine France)

Experiencing “Greatness” is an ongoing process. Similar to a seed that must be nurtured to grow, the same can be said for one’s greatness. In this motivational, high energy and interactive presentation, participants will be encouraged and informed about the value of taking the necessary steps to activate their greatness. Participants will be reminded that the midst of life challenges and adversities is the perfect opportunity to develop their greatness.

Tremaine France is the Founder of HardWorkGrind, LLC and Co-Founder of Driven2Inspire, LLC. Tremaine is passionate about inspiring people to activate their greatness. Over the years Tremaine’s ability to put action to his dreams has birthed the nickname “Mr. HardWorkGrind”. Tremaine’s knack for establishing a rapport among diverse educational, ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds has created a motivational movement that is changing lives across the nation. His mission is to speak life and share love to individuals by helping them increase their self-worth through motivational speeches, training, and seminars. Tremaine’s motivational services focus on high performance within personal, educational, and professional development. Tremaine’s passion for life is contagious and his work ethic is second to none. You will find that “Mr. HardWorkGrind” brings a humble spirit and a fire that ignites the greatness within anyone he unites with.

Elevate Your PowerPoint Presentations from Boring to Brilliant! (Sandra Saavedra)

Do you feel like you lose your audience as soon as you begin a PowerPoint presentation? Do you watch faces become flat as you progress from slide to slide? Have you dreamed of moving beyond bullet points when preparing your PowerPoint slides? Have you ever wanted to jazz up a canned PowerPoint presentation? This session will apply neuroscience principles to teach you basic guidelines for visual presentations that will engage your audience at a physiological level.

Sandra Saavedra, CC, is an assistant professor at University of Hartford where she teaches and conducts research in Rehabilitation Science. Sandra has held several offices in the West Hartford Toastmasters Club. She won second place in the District 53 evaluation contest in the Fall of 2013 just six months after joining Toastmasters. Dr. Saavedra relies heavily on PowerPoint for her national and international level presentations with typical audience attendance ranging from 200 to 800. In her presentations, she must translate complex neuroscience and biomechanical research into applicable information for clinicians. Thus, she is a diligent student of visual presentation theory and is excited to share some of the basic principles for improving audience engagement, retention and action with her fellow Toastmasters.

PS101 – Innovation from the Ground Up! (Darryl Johnson)

Public Speaking 101 is an ongoing matter for all Toastmasters. This presentation will: 1) show innovation in basics from both famous & ordinary people 2) expand upon the speech structure process, 3) share perspectives on speeches to relieve stress and 4) show the importance of how to create speeches through personal experiences and activities such as volunteering, competing in several areas of life and helping others. You will learn how Toastmasters can speak in or out of Toastmasters functions and make a speech “your own,” even if it was assigned to you.

Darryl Johnson has been a Toastmaster for four years. He was a MSgt in the United States Air Force for 31 years. Among his accomplishments: He served for three Middle East Tours, has a BA in Economics from UMass, and is an avid diver who has explored the Andrea Doria and Empress of Ireland. He has an extensive history in Toastmaster speech competitions and is looking forward to sharing his knowledge of public speaking in his presentation. He currently works in the financial industry with a Series 6 license.

What Leads to Success (Neerja Purang)

You will learn the key elements of creating success through leadership, including the actions and mindsets that create success. You will understand the most common traits among all successful people and what drives them. In this workshop, you will discover the difference between a big goal and a vision. By the end of the workshop, you will be able to create a road map to success–a clear vision with supporting goals–for yourself, your organization or the projects and teams you are leading. You will do a case study to discover seven key components of a vision such as who, what, how, the promise, geographic focus, the big goal, and when.

Neerja Purang is Immediate Past District Governor of District 46. In Year 2014-2015 she led District 46 to achieving President’s Distinguished District. She also received “Excellence in Leadership” award for helping District 46 achieve Distinguished or better for 3 consecutive years. She has served all club officers roles multiple times including: Area Director, Division Director, Lt. Governor of Education and Training and Fall Conference Chair. In 2011, she received “Division Governor of the Year” award for her outstanding service as Division Director in District 46. In 2015, at the Toastmaster International Convention, she represented 135 district leaders around the world in a panel discussion with the International Officer Board. She knows firsthand how to lead and create success.

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