Catch Ups

WELCOM E TO OUR NEW

MEMBERS

During March we have had 2 new members join our club. Remember to introduce yourself to them and make them welcome when you see them.

Cherry Lawton

Dayani Perera

To our new members Welcome to Canning Vale Toastmasters and congratulations on taking that first step in your Toastmasters journey.

Every member is willing to help you at any time and we will all support you with your progress towards your goals.

To make the most of your membership, be sure to read A Toastmasters Promise in your Competent Communicator Manual.

We all look forward to watching you become the speaker and leader you want to be.

Inside this

issue:

Special points of

interest:

CANNING VALE

TOASTMASTERS

April 2012

Volume 1, Issue 7

April Theme

This month I have chosen the theme of Humour

for our newsletter. I have included some articles

that will help you bring a little humour into the lives

of your listeners.

As you probably know, there is a whole advanced

manual dedicated to humour, Humorously

Speaking. There are also several other projects

which require you to include humour in your

speeches.

Though humour can be difficult, it's even more

difficult to imagine an accomplished public speaker who can't make an audience

laugh out loud now and then. The good news: you don't have to be as funny as a

professional comedian to liven up your speeches with a well-timed joke or a

humorous anecdote now and then.

I hope you have some laughs as you read this edition because we all know that

laughter is very good medicine.

Let‘s face it. Humour is hard! Even experienced speakers struggle with knowing how to (appropriately!) tickle

their audience‘s funny bones. We all enjoy listening to a funny speech –the problem is, we typically don‘t think

of ourselves as being funny speakers. Members of Toastmasters are no different; that‘s why we have

assembled a wide range of resource material on this topic. Toastmasters exist to help your audience laugh

with you, not at you!

Humour has many benefits. It can:

Help establish a bond with the audience

Win over a hostile audience

Keep the audience interested

Emphasize or illustrate a point

Help people remember you

Here are some tips:

Be yourself. Think about what types of humour you appreciate, then create a library of such items. Don‘t like

jokes? Try a humorous anecdote or a witty observation from your own life.

It’s OK to be mildly amusing, rather than eye-dabbingly funny.

Use humour sparingly, like a spice. At first, try using a humorous opener to your speech. A quote or offhand

observation can be a good icebreaker.

Keep it relevant to your speech topic.

Avoid retelling jokes found on the Internet. Chances are good that others have already heard or seen them.

Keep it clean! Humour is supposed to make people feel good – not embarrassed, insulted or offended.

Make it readily identifiable as humour. But in case no one laughs, prepare a comment in advance or just

move on.

Keep it appropriate to the audience and the situation.

Self-effacing humour is safe –a little of it goes a long way. The audience would rather hear about the time

you fell on your face than when you won the race.

Work on your delivery. Practice using vocal variety and gestures.

Timing is everything! Pause before the punch line.

Mastering the Laugh

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Two First Timers!

You won’t

croak if you

tell a joke!

Recently we have had two members of our club become first timers! They are not new members. In fact one is a Charter Member and the other joined our club two weeks after we Chartered. They are of course, our President John Cecchi and our beloved butt of all the Charter Member jokes, Peter Jordan. Can you believe it? These two very experienced members—First Timers! At what? You may well ask and I am excited to tell you but you will have to turn to page 6 to find out.

PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY

Volume 1, Issue 7 Page 3

Bob Hooey Workshop—Speaking for Success: Applying mastery to your message

and power to your presentation. Saturday April 14th, 2012

Bull Creek Community Centre, Hassell Cres., Bull Creek

1pm—4pm Investment $20 pay at the door.

Register NOW! toastmasterross@hotmail.com

Our 200th Meeting—This will be the party of the year for all out current members, the

past members we can contact and the members from other

clubs who helped us ‗In the beginning‖. Fiona and her team are

planning a huge celebration full of fun. Don‘t dare miss it!

Tuesday May 8th, 2012 6.30pm

District 17 Convention — Vitto, Vino, Voci at the Vines Saturday and Sunday May 26th and 27th, 2012 As the historic Swan Valley is synonymous with good

food and wine, what better place to hold the inaugural

District 17 Convention than at The Vines in the Swan

Valley. Add to this, the voices of Western Australia‘s

Toastmasters, and we have Food, Wine, Voices at

the Vines. Join us for a weekend of FUN.

ROLL OF HONOUR

Communication Award

Fiona McLean—CC

Humour is a wonderful tool. When

you are skilled at using humour, it

can rescue you from dire situations

and turn negatives into positives.

John Kinde, veteran Toastmaster,

described in the March 2006

Toastmaster magazine, how

humour saved him in his article,

―Humour to the Rescue,‖ .

Kinde has survived all kinds of

mistakes, such as forgetting

clients‘ names in important

business meetings. He learned not

to become defensive or come up

with excuses. And he didn‘t try to

ignore a mistake. He readily

admitted the error and had some

fun with it. He discovered that

laughter, in these cases, can truly

be the best

medicine.

For example,

what does

an e-zine

editor do

when it‘s

discovered

that a glaring

blunder has just been sent out to

people in 60 countries – who all

received blank magazines? That

happened to Kinde, and his article

describes that the best way out was

humour. This humour expert turned

his technical glitch into a ―Blank

Book Title‖ contest – a very

successful moment of inspiration.

Everyone loved the idea, and he

received 350 submissions. Some

of his favourites include:

The Greatest Story Never

Told

Much Ado About Nothing

The Sequel to The Last

Word

Gifts Greater Than Life

Be alert for humour opportunities

and use them to further your

career, safeguard you from

mishaps, and make you a stronger

leader and speaker. Sometimes, a

joke is a genius‘ stroke.

From an article in the Toastmaster

magazine by John Kinde, DTM, AS

On March 19th Canning Vale Toastmasters turned four years old. As we meet on Tuesday nights, we celebrated on Tuesday March 20th with a superb meeting and as always the delectable supper afterwards.

Our Toastmaster, Fiona, began the night with some astonishing in-sights of the future. Did you know that in 2024 a product known as ―Heal Aid‖ will be patented, in 2064 the first President of the Mars col-ony will be elected and in 2020 everyone will finally realise that

Kevin Rudd‘s Summit promises were exactly that– just promises and absolutely nothing will be achieved from this?

Jean, our Table Topics Master, had a fine looking box which contained a framed photo of a mystery person. The speakers were asked to describe the person in the photo without revealing the name. It gave us some insights into the secret dreams of these speakers.

One of our VERY new members, Cherry, presented the Tonic where she described Europe as a Jigsaw which she can now connect easily because she has visited much of it.

The speeches were varied and particularly interesting. What better way to celebrate our birthday than to have an Icebreaker speech from one of our newest members? Alex told us all about how Toastmasters is helping him to train those butter-flies in his life. You know the ones

you had when you first started Toastmasters, which now fly in formation? We then heard about Michele‘s terrible fear before her first confession which later became a comparison game between her and her girlfriends. John Cecchi related his hooning activities in Scania trucks in Victoria. I guess boys will always be boys! Our final speech from Kuranja brought us back to reality when he informed us all about Schizophrenia and its effects not only on the patients but on their family and carers.

This was all polished off with tea, coffee, watermelon, Bob‘s scones and a stunning birthday cake. Three of our Presidents cut the cake and we shared an amazing achievement together.

Watch out for our bigger, better celebration soon when we hold our 200th meeting on May 8th, 2012.

We’re 4 Years Old

Humour to the Rescue

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Can you see which of the black shapes below is identical to the red

one? Hint: There may be more than one answer.

USELESS INFORMATION

Every act that has had a

Billboard Top 40 hit whose title

included the name of a different

recording act, that other act had

at least one Top 40 hit at the

same exact time.

Here‘s some examples (not a

complete list):

1964: The song We Love You

Beatles by the Carefrees was on

the charts while The Beatles had

seven songs of their own in the Top 40.

1984-85: Rick Springfield had the

minor hit Bruce while Bruce

Springsteen was charting himself with

Born in the U.S.A.

1987: Both the ABC song When

Smokey Sings and Smokey Robinson's

song One Heartbeat were in the Top 10

at the same time.

1992: Weird Al had the hit Smells

Like Nirvana at the same time that

Nirvana had the hit Come As You

Are.

Puzzle Corner to keep your brain active

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfa-ther.. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Question: If you could live

forever, would you and why?

Answer: I would not live

forever, because we

should not live forever,

because if we were

supposed to live forever,

then we would live forever,

but we cannot live forever,

which is why I would not

live forever.

Miss Alabama in the 1994

Miss Universe contest.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

Quirky Quotes

Volume 1, Issue 7 Page 5

What phrases do these pictures

represent?

Answers next month

Catch Ups Page 6

These items are available to help you add humour to your speeches. The first three are from the Toastmasters

International Store on the website. Here‘s a link

http://www.toastmasters.org/MainMenuCategories/Shop/ManualsBooksVideosCDs_1/Books/Humor.aspx

Using Stories and Humor

By Joanna Campbell Slan (paperback)

Demonstrates how professional speakers use stories and humor, and shows how readers can

use these elements in their own speeches and presentations. A wealth of step-by-step ideas.

Member Price: $12.00

Humor is No Laughing Matter

By Ross Mackay (paperback)

Humor for all occasions whether in your speeches, your work or your life in general.

Humor is No Laughing Matter is an easy read that is sure to inspire you to incorporate more

laughter into your life.

Member Price: $15.00

Don’t Worry, Be Funny

By Malcolm Kushner (PDF on CD)

Don't Worry, Be Funny is an e-book that will allow you to be funny even if you can't tell a joke.

Dozens of websites that will automatically generate humorous material for your next presentation

are included, as well as how to use them.

Member Price: $15.00

Funny About That Funny speeches and monologues

Written and designed by JAMES TARIS

This book is an hilarious collection of funny speeches and monologues written as manual speeches

for Toastmasters, to advance through the Competent Communicator and Advanced speech

manuals. They were written over a 7-year period (1997-2003) and during this period, James Taris

reached the level of ATM Silver. Here‘s a link

Hard Cover

$29.99

Humour Helpers

Soft Cover Booklet

$9.99

eBook

$9.99

http://www.jamestaris.com/ebookFunnyAboutThat.htm

FIRST TIMERS AT WHAT????

It is exciting to know that these two very experienced Toastmasters have both recently become First Time Grandads. Here they are with their new precious babies. Mathew John Cecchi was born on October 11th, 2011 and Aiden James Maroney was born on March 2nd, 2012.

All Mums, Dads, Bubs and Grandads are doing well!!

Let‘s not forget Great Grandmother—Jean!

Congratulations All from all our members.

WE PUT CHERRY ON TOP!

Practice, practice,

and more practice

until you are

comfortable with your

speech and with your

speaking voice.

TOPICAL TIP

Д

Each edition

will highlight a

topical tip to

help you with

your

presentations

Ω

Volume Page 7

Area S31 Revue Night

For the first time in our four year history we have achieved the Talk Up Toastmasters Award for joining five new members during the months of February and March.

This year we had Alex, Anne, Venkat, Dianne and Cherry make up the five members required. We didn‘t stop there because we also had Dayani join our club in March. This means we have not just put Cherry on top, we have bubbled over with members.

Why is that? I believe it is because we have such a vibrant, diverse group of members who are always welcoming and helpful to guests. With all that happening, they can‘t wait to join us.

Humour was the order of the night as the

four clubs in our area ate, sang, performed

and laughed together

ARE YOU INTO SOCIAL NETWORKS?

Don‘t forget to follow us on Twitter

Why did you join Toastmasters?

I joined TM because I was late to motherhood, surrounded by talk of babies and little else, and was fearful what was left of my brain following child-birth would shrivel and die if it was not stimulated beyond bottles, nappy-rash creams and non-existent sleep patterns! I had done Public Speaking and Debating at school and had done well at and enjoyed it - TM was The Answer.

How long have you been a member?

I joined initially in 1991, took a 1-meeting break for Baby Number 2 in 1995, then a hiatus during the migration from Cape Town to Australia. I have been at CVTM since the first "Demo" meeting. You work out the years ...... :-)

What do you like best about Canning Vale Toastmasters?

My original TM Club (Good Hope TM) maintained very high standards, and CVTM met those standards. It is also close to home, and has a wonderful, friendly cross-section of ''locals".

What do you do for a living?

Work tooooooo much!! I have never worked as hard as I have since I came to Aus, but delight in being here. I work with the Gorgon Gas Project on Barrow Island (Remote Area Nurse) - 2 weeks on/2 weeks off, and also do 3 other paid jobs. I am an Emergency Nurse at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, a Clinical Nurse with the In-travenous Therapy team, also at Charlies, and teach (first aid etc) for MedicOne.

My other (unpaid) job is I am a Sea Scout Leader.This accommodates my love of camping, sailing, kayaking etc. In between, I am also an accredited 4WDriver and member of the Mitsubishi 4WD Club, and a Swift-water Rescue Swimmer with the Avon Support Unit.

How has Toastmasters helped you in your job?

I have always had the gift of the gab. The additional training has fine-tuned my communication.

What’s next for you in Toastmasters?

Hmmm - need to complete my DTM!! A bit of a time-squeeze with everything else that I do, but definitely going to happen.

Canning Vale

Toastmasters

We meet every Tuesday 6.30pm

Canning Vale College Library

Dumbarton Road

Toastmasters

Where leaders are made

Phone: 0448 166 422 John Phone: 0407 851 361 Robyn E-mail: president@toastmasterscv.net

A FEW QUESTIONS FOR……..

This month it’s …..the elusive Diana Veitch

CVTMPerth

and join us on facebook!

Canning Vale

Toastmasters

Diana hard at work, nothing out of the ordinary

CATCH UPS