The Latest Word

Newsletter of The Last Word Toastmasters
Burlington, Massachusetts
Club 5525, Area A4, District 31

Volume 6 – February 22, 2001

 

Tom Brien leads TLI

Tom Brien, DTM, a longtime member of The Last Word, has won high praise for his role as Dean of the District 31 Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) conference held on January 13 in Milford, Mass. TLI meetings are held periodically to train current and potential club officers for leadership roles. Guest speakers presented sessions on topics such as youth leadership, speech contests, and mentoring. For the first time, a session was also offered for new Toastmasters.

 

Last Word members Al Rowe, Cheryl Walsh, and Rich Levesque took an active role in TLI as presenters of breakout meetings for officer training, with Al and Cheryl offering the session for Presidents and Rich leading the Sergeant-at-Arms session.

 

Club officers Ellen Stanford, Joan Turnberg, Susu Wong, Carlene Falvey, and Lee Yates, who attended TLI, all report that they found the meetings exceptionally informative and enjoyable.

Last Word earns Distinguished Club award

President Carlene Falvey announces that The Last Word has earned enough points for recognition by Toastmasters International as a Distinguished Club for the year ending June 30, 2001.

 

The Distinguished Club program recognizes clubs that achieve certain goals, such as enrolling new members; having members earn CTM, ATM, CL, and other educational awards; and sending club officers to training sessions. Carlene reports that the club has a strong chance of earning enough additional points before the year’s end to win a Select Distinguished Club award or even the highest award, President’s Distinguished Club.

Contestants sought for March 8 speech contest

The speaker list is still open for the club-level round of the International Speech Contest to be held during the club’s March 8 meeting. The winner of the club contest will advance to the Area contest; the winner there will proceed to the District contest; and so on up to the final round at the International level.

 

Any club member who has completed at least 6 speeches from basic manual is eligible to participate. You may choose any topic. For more information or to sign up, see Ellen Stanford, Vice President of Education.

 

The twofer: Your contest speech can count as one of the speeches from your manual. Just let Ellen know so she can assign an evaluator.

 

Who, me? Why not!

Why enter the contest? Because…

…in this contest, everyone is a winner.

…it’s fun to get in there and give it a try.

…you’ll be very proud of yourself.

…those who don’t compete will envy your spunk.

…you’ll have an excuse to leave work early. “Bye! I’m going to be in a SPEECH CONTEST tonight and I have to rehearse. Wish me luck!”

…the sooner you begin competing, the sooner you’ll be ready to try for the International title!

 

Membership soars to 32

The Last Word is proud to note that with the recent addition of five new members – Ruth Barragan, Tim Cannata, Frank Cormier, Bill McGowan, and Pam Moffat – membership has grown from 21 at the beginning of the club year to a new high of 32. Welcome, all!

 

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New members give Icebreaker speeches

Several new members have recently given their Icebreaker speeches. Here are some of the highlights.

 

Jenn Fallon narrated several episodes in her continuing quest for The Perfect Job. During one period, she was commuting daily between Boston and Rhode Island!

 

Mira Kaselj introduced the audience to her homeland, Croatia, and told about the childhood interests that led her to come to America to pursue a career in science.

 

When Frank Cormier was a schoolboy he drew up a list of seven goals for himself. He completed the last, most difficult goal – earning a college degree at night while working full-time – with the encouragement of a special person in his life.

 

Samba Nadella introduced the Japanese word kaizen, meaning “continuous improvement,” a concept that helps him make the transition from life in eastern India to his new home in America. He explained that his given name, Sambasiva, combines the names of his grandmother and grandfather.

 

Hearty congratulations to Jenn, Mira, Frank, and Samba on reaching this important milestone!

Did you know

After you earn your Competent Toastmaster award by completing the 10 speeches in the basic manual, you can begin making speeches from the advanced manuals.

 

Toastmasters International offers a choice of 15 advanced manuals, each with 5 speeches. They are Communicating on Television, The Discussion Leader, The Entertaining Speaker, Humorously Speaking, Interpretive Reading, Interpersonal Communication, Persuasive Speaking, The Professional Speaker, Public Relations, Special Occasion Speeches, Specialty Speeches, Speaking to Inform, Speeches by Management, Storytelling, and Technical Presentations.

 

After earning a CTM, a member is eligible to receive two advanced manuals at no charge. The club owns a complete set of these manuals for members to browse before making their choice.

Calendar

The Last Word Toastmasters club meets at 7 PM in the Burlington Public Library, 22 Sears St., Burlington MA on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month except for holidays. Guests are welcome at every meeting.

 

Snow cancellations: In the event of snow, meetings are canceled only if the Burlington Public Library closes early. Before coming out on a snowy night, please phone the library (781‑270‑1690) to make sure they'll be open.

 

Upcoming meetings of The Last Word:

 

March

March 8 – International Speech Contest

 

 

 

 

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Last Word officers

President/Newsletter Publisher: Carlene Falvey, 68 Water St., Woburn MA 01801,
781-935-4149

Immediate Past President: Cheryl Walsh

VP of Education: Ellen Stanford

VP of Membership: Rosemary Henchey

VP of Public Relations: Susu Wong

Secretary/Newsletter Editor: Lee Yates, 37 Shawsheen Road, Bedford MA 01730,
781-275-3294

Treasurer: Teddy O’Connell

Sergeant at Arms: Joan Turnberg