TCS Maitree Champions Toastmasters Club Club # 2560653 – Area G5, Division G, District 82

Hosts its meeting Every Thursday at

2.30 PM In

Tata Consultancy Services,

200 Ft, Pallavaram Ring Road, Thoraipakkam,

Chennai.

For Details Contact:

TM Vaishnavi Vice President – Public Relations

@ 9003156123

Write your feedbacks to:

champions.toastmasters@gmail.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. A Note from the Division Governor………………………………………..4

2. A Note from the Area Governor…………………………………………....5

3. Editor’s Desk…………………………………….……………………….....5

4. Club Election-Executive Committee for January to June 2015…………….6

5. Club Achievements…………………………………….…………………...7

6. Champions of the Champions Club (awards filed from 01.10.2014)……....8

7. Educational Session at a glance: DTM Asha Verghese-THE CATALYST..9

8. Common mistakes we do in Table topics- TM Gautam…………………....11

9. Resonating reminiscences of Reverberations 2014………………………..13

10. Ovations 2015………………….………………….…………………….....14

11. What’s next? ………………….………………….………………………..15

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1. A note from the Division Governor:

Dear Toastmasters,

Greetings from your Division!

I am happy to get an opportunity to address the members of this club through the newsletter,

which has been meticulously prepared time and again by the editorial team. This new year, let us continue our learning - I would like to point out and reiterate how Toastmasters has been of immense

help to me and to fellow members - by allowing us to progress through the educational program at our

own pace and taking a step forward with the help of our peers. The effective feedback from our

evaluators, mentors and fellow members is the step we use to climb to our success. I must congratulate the executive committee and members for stepping up every time both for your club and to support

activities beyond the club. The last six months have been of immense learning for all of us - albeit

through contests, conferences and our weekly meetings.

I hope to see this continue and the

members of TCS Maitree Champions

Toastmasters Club to end on a high note at the end of the Toastmasters Year. My hearty

congratulations to you on achieving the

Distinguished Club status within four months of the start of the educational year!

I greatly look forward to members

stepping out of the comfort zone, enjoying the learning process and always progressing

upwards!

All the best & Wish you all a very

rewarding New Year!

Warm Regards,

Rahul Shankar,

Division G Governor (2014-15) District 82

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2. A Note from the Area Governor:

Having worked with this Executive committee and the club members closely for a year, I am a

little confused whether to write an Area Governor’s address or a thank you note to them. Every single

member of TCS Maitree Champions Toastmasters Club has shown significant improvement in their respective speaking and leadership career and thereby increasing the standard of the club. The number

of awards filed in the last 6 months stands a testimony to this fact. The first thing I want to do in this

note is express my sincere thanks for all the support they have rendered.

Looking at the commitment of the

members, I see a lot of positive Vibe in the

club. From an ex-comm centric club where everything depended on the executive

committee, it has become a member centric

club where every member takes ownership of tasks and volunteers himself/herself to

help the ex-comm.

With this energy and enthusiasm, I am sure that TCS Maitree Champions will

continue to rock and become presidents

distinguished at the earliest.

-Thanks and regards,

Gautam Sharma, Area Governor, Area G5

3. Editor’s Desk:

Learning has been remarkable in TCS

Maitree Champions Toastmasters Club with

many members awarded for completing their goals. The club also saw many

members reaching out to the semi-annual

conference of our district 82 which provided more learning opportunites and camaraderie.

This edition of iToast themed

"Transformation" will give you a glimpse of

all that happened in our club since October'14. The transformation that

happened to everyone in the club, is here to

set new benchmarks.

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TM Vaishnavi, Newsletter Editor, iToast9.

4. Club Elections-Executive Committee for January to June 2015:

President – TM Srishti Aggarwal (+91 – 9003106753)

Vice President – Education – TM Manikandan Balasubramanian (+91 – 9791800444)

Vice President – Membership – TM Gurunath Mitikela (+91 –9092546142)

Vice President – Public Relations – TM Vaishnavi Ramadass (+91 – 9003156123)

Secretary – TM Aishwarya Ravi Shankar (+91 – 9176616233)

Treasurer – TM Sabarish (+91 – 9789002197)

Seargent – At – Arms – TM Aravamudhan (+91 – 9791067650)

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5. Club Achievements:

Distinguished Club (2014-2015):

An award recognizing the high performance of the club that achieved 5 Distinguished Club Points in a toastmaster’s year.

Smedley Award (2014-2015):

Recognition for adding 5 new members to the club in the Period of 1 August 2014 to 30 September 2014.

DCP Status: (as on 03-January-2015)

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6. Champions of the Champions Club (awards filed from 01.10.2014):

Clockwise from top -

TM Dheepan- Competent Communicator & Competent Leader

TM Gautam- Competent Leader

TM Srishti Aggarwal- Competent Leader

TM Vaishnavi-Competent Leader

TM Raghunathan- Competent Leader

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7. Educational Session at a glance: DTM Asha Verghese-THE CATALYST:

D TM Asha Verghese conveyed how important the toastmasters’ promise was by addressing each one,

in detail.

To attend club meetings regularly.

Each one comes to a meeting to learn something. Being regular makes it possible.

To prepare all of my speech and leadership projects to the best of my ability, basing them

on projects in the Competent Communication manual, Advanced Communication

manuals or Competent Leadership manual;

By contributing to the fullest, we get to improve from where we stand to where we wanted to

be.

To prepare for and fulfill meeting assignments;

The responsibilities we have in our roles have to be fulfilled.

To provide fellow members with helpful, constructive evaluations;

Constructive evaluations make the speaker realize the need for improvement than the blame

game.

To help the club maintain the positive, friendly environment necessary for all members to

learn and grow;

By doing so, we show them that we care for them and we are here to learn together.

To serve my club as an officer when called upon to do so;

This being the Election day, we should take up roles and serve for the club that helped us grow.

To treat my fellow club members and our guests with respect and courtesy.

We should respect the members and guests and abide by the human values.

To bring guests to club meetings so they can see the benefits Toastmasters

membership offers.

We should bring guests, by which we make them aware of this movement and also we are

giving them an opportunity to improve themselves.

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To adhere to the guidelines and rules for all Toastmasters educational and

recognition programs.

We should follow the rules set by Toastmasters International for all the educational programs.

To maintain honest and highly ethical standards during the conduct of all

Toastmasters activities.

Being honest and following good conduct will make the efforts fruitful.

We all have joined toastmasters for a reason, to fulfill that reason is our duty.

She compared this with an amusement park where you go to enjoy the rides and not

to take care of the bags. Enjoy the ride of Toastmasters!

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8. 7 Common mistakes we do in Table topics- TM Gautam:

Butterflies in stomach, bouncing between exhilaration and euphoria, increased energy, racing

heart, accelerated breathing, anxiety, panic and excitement - if you are toastmaster with all these

feelings, you are not in love, but on stage, facing table topics.

Table topics give you a wonderful opportunity to improve your quick thinking skills. All of us

are naturally good table topics speakers. Our quick thinking skills come into picture in situations when

we are caught by a traffic sergeant for violating traffic rules, when we are caught by our professors for

not completing the assignments, when we are caught by our boss for coming late etc. However, while

delivering a table topics speech on stage, there are few mistakes that we commit knowingly or

unknowingly. I have listed below a few of those mistakes that we make often.

These are some of the mistakes that I have done and witnessed people doing them, especially in

regular club meetings and club level contests. However as the degree of contest increases from club to

area to division to district, we only see seasoned speakers on stage and these mistakes won't be seen. It

is good to avoid them right from regular club meetings and practice well as it might be of great help

during contests.

1. Topic Please!!: At times speakers start delivering their speech and somewhere in

between they lose track of the topic and they ask the Table Topics master - "Could you please repeat

the topic". This will strictly not be allowed in a contest. It’s better to speak with whatever we have

understood out of the topic when we hear it twice. By chance, if someone from the audience prompts

the topic in between, it will lead to an invalid contest and hence it will commence from the beginning.

2. Using the topic as a buffer: We sometimes tend to start the speech by repeating the

topic once again which gives us a few seconds to think. This can be used as a last option when we

don’t get any other thoughts to speak about. It is better to not start the speech by repeating the topic as

it would give an impression that we are using the topic itself as a buffer and thereby taking time to

think. But it is good to repeat the topic in the middle or end of the speech as it would give an

impression that we are remembering the topic well.

3. Delayed start: We often start with “The topic given to me is...”. Or we conclude by

saying “I would like to conclude my speech by saying that....”.Or at times we say something that

delays the actual start of the speech. I have seen speakers who give maximum respect to the audience

especially when the topic is difficult. They start the speech like this - "Good morning contest master,

fellow toastmasters, guests and everyone who is waiting to hear some scintillating speeches.

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A very good morning to each and every one of you present here. It gives me immense pleasure

to stand in front of such wonderful audience and deliver a speech". I have done this as well. All these

are not advisable in a contest. Remember, the learning from your CC#3 – “Get to the point”. Start with

a question, story, anecdote, or a striking fact. But if everything is in vain and your mind doesn't throw

any thoughts for you to start speaking, you can buy some initial thinking time by using these

techniques given by my mentor Distinguished Toastmaster Saro Velrajan. But again make sure that

the delay is not more than 5-10 seconds.

4. I am sorry: At times we start saying that, “I actually don’t know what to speak on this

topic, but let me talk whatever I know”. Or, we start with a sentence like, “I am actually a little

nervous. Am not very clear with the topic, but let me try”. Kindly do not admit on stage that you do

not know or you did not understand. Just speak whatever you know. There are times when speakers

say, "I am sorry. I am not very clear about this topic" and they end up giving excellent speeches. The

problem with admitting your weakness on stage is, the audience would shut their ears as you have told

them that you are not confident about yourself.

5. Quick conclusion: This is a mistake that I do often. The moment I see the green card, I

feel glad and contended that I am qualified for voting and I conclude my speech. Most often I receive

feedback saying that my speech was too short. So kindly try talking at least till the yellow card and

then start concluding.

6. Explaining the topic: If the topic is “Life is beautiful”. How much ever you try to

explain the topic, you will again end up in repeating the same point in different ways and varied

sentence structures. Eventually you will be beating around the same bush. Never do that. More than

trying to give a gyaan about the topic, give a supporting story, anecdote or an example to say why is

life beautiful for you. Always remember, we love our grandparents for the stories they tell us and not

the advice they give.

7. Introducing the technique: There are many techniques of giving a table topics speech

like telling a story, telling a joke etc. Almost all these techniques are very effective. But at times

speakers come on stage and introduce what they are going to do, by telling "I am going to tell a story",

"I am going to share a joke" etc. It is always good to start smoothly transitioning into and out of the

story/joke rather than telling the audience that we are going to do it.

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9. Resonating reminiscences of Reverberations 2014:

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10. Ovations 2015:

The next BIG event in our District that we will look forward to: Ovations 2015 at

Colombo, Srilanka. Loads of learning is in store for us, are you ready Champions?

Visit www.ovation2015.com for more details!

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11. What’s next?

Officer’s Training Programme: ( January 11, 2015 @ IITM Research Park)

For all Club officers and aspiring leaders to learn about the roles and responsibilities of a role in the

Club Executive Committee.

Judges Training Programme:

Learn to judge a speech if you are the judge, learn what the judges expect if you are a contestant, learn

what all can be done, if you are the audience.

Table Topics Contest:

Being the Home Club of the current District Table Topics Champion, we definitely have a huge target

to achieve!

International Speech Contest:

Do you have what it takes? Do you see something in yourself? Prove it here! May be you are the

World Champion of Public Speaking 2015!

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