|
The
Latest Word Newsletter
of The Last Word Toastmasters Volume 8
– |
|
Lee praises Carlene In
a congratulatory speech, newly elected President Lee Yates, praised outgoing
President Carlene Falvey for all her hard work and dedication to the Last
Word TM club during her tenure in 2000-2001. Under Carlene’s leadership the
club achieved President’s Distinguished Club status. The Last Word is one of
only three clubs to achieve this distinction in our division, which includes
118 clubs. During her presidency,
Carlene emphasized the importance of meeting educational and leadership
goals. She herself achieved an Advanced Toastmasters Bronze award while at
her post; no easy task in such a time consuming position. Carlene set her sights high. The club had a
record net gain of 9 new members during the club’s calendar year! Carlene
has no intentions of remaining idle in her retirement. She has become the
Area Governor for Area A. She wasted no time in her newly elected position,
inducting club officers into their new positions. Officers elected were: VP of Education: Rosemary Henchey VP of Membership: Joan Turnberg VP of Public
Relations:
Samba Nadella Secretary/Newsletter
Editor:
Ellen Stanford Treasurer: Tim Cannata Sergeant at Arms: Jennifer Fallon In
appreciation, Carlene was presented with a gavel inscribed with a memorial of
her departing position and poker chips to enjoy her favorite
pastime…….gambling! Happy “retirement,” Carlene! Thank you for a great year! |
Frank Cormier to Represent Area A4
at Division Humorous Speech Contest Frank Cormier won the Area 4A Humorous Speech Contest
held at the Burlington Public Library on September 20th. Since Frank first joined the club in
January of this year, he has consistently demonstrated his outstanding
speaking abilities. At the Club and
Area contests we laughed with him as he described his less than outstanding
athletic performances during his high school career. Frank will be representing Area A4 at the Division
Level on October17th at the Haverhill Public Library in Congratulations, Frank! Milestones…… In
a heartfelt dedication to his three idols – Jackie Robinson, his father and
his mother – Leonard
Daniels introduced himself to the members of the Last Word
Toastmasters in his Ice Breaker speech. Leonard, who grew up in |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Page
2 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
In
her Ice Breaker speech, Marilyn Mahoney told us “What I did on My
Summer Vacation”. Marilyn headed out west to We
saw a more serious side of Tim Cannata in a wonderful tribute to a good
friend’s father during his Ice Breaker speech. Tim was very proud that he could repay the
generosity of his friend’s family by offering the father a tour of In
her Ice Breaker, Sally Willard shared with us the three things
she feels she needs in order to meet her personal and professional goals:
Patience, Passion, and Persistence. Sally, who is the founder of an Internet
based business, recognizes that with a bit of luck and plenty of the 3Ps her
next entrepreneurial venture will involve two of her personal passions, golf
and cooking. In
a two for one night, both long time members Cheryl Walsh and Teddy
O’Connell achieved their Competent Toastmaster awards. Cheryl had
postponed her CTM so that she could dedicate her time to being club President
for the 1999-2000 year. Even with his busy traveling schedule, Teddy still
found time to enlighten us on his philosophy of happiness and the fine art of
wine tasting. Both plan on pursuing advanced educational awards and see their
achievement as a stepping stone to better public speaking. Joan
Turnberg
tugged at our heartstrings as she completed the 10th speech in the
Communication and Leadership Manual for her CTM. We all held back tears as
Joan described the inner peace she felt upon forgiveness of a loved one.
Joan, herself a long time member of the club, plans on continuing her TM
career following the leadership track. Her next goal is to achieve a
Competent Leader award. Congratulations to all our members
on their important milestones! |
Society News On
September 6th, the Burlington Public Library sponsored a book
fair. Our own Ruth Farrey volunteered
her time to the event. Ruth said it
was a big success, the library taking in over $3000! All money made from the sale goes to
sponsor future events and activities for the library. On
Saturday, October 20th from Last
Word TM member Laurie Agrillo had left her heart in __________________________________________ Once a Toastmaster, Always a
Toastmaster! After
a brief absence (it seemed like an eternity to some of us), Rich Levesque has returned to redeem
his title as club motivator. Rich, who
owns a commercial cleaning service, was spending his Thursday nights
literally cleaning house. Welcome back, Rich, your enthusiasm has surely been
missed! Former
Last Word member Margaret Fogel
made a guest appearance at one of our meetings over the summer. Margaret and her husband had moved to Long
lost TM Nick Woebke returned to
the Last Word after a 3 year sabbatical. Nick originally joined TM in August
of 1998. Like many TMs, he found that
life interrupted his aspiring TM career.
We are happy to have you back with us! Once a TM, Always a TM! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Page
3 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I
had posed this concept of “Once a TM, Always a TM” to Bob Kehoe, who recently joined our club after being a member in
TM for almost 20 years. My initial question to Bob was “why did you return to
TM?" I had expected an almost automatic response, instead his reply was
both sincere and profound. The following is the email I received from Bob: The ‘purpose’ I
joined TM is different than the ‘reason’ I joined TM. The purpose of
joining TM was to conquer the fear of public speaking. That fear in most of
us causes an adrenaline rush that tends to ‘cloud’ our speaking ability. We
typically rush from speaking (separate from TM) because we become more
visible in public speaking and appear less capable than we really are in that
‘fight or flight’ normal-response excitement-filled event. We say we join TM
to learn speaking skills and dull the adrenaline ‘flight’ impulses. To make
the event seem more in the usual, than in the unusual. But in reality I
think the ‘reason’ we join TM is because the strong social interaction and
bonds of friendship, out-weigh the ‘dangers’ in the fear response. Even at
our meetings I see veteran TMs up there still nervous and shaking. I expect
the fear will never go away. But why I joined, and rejoined and rejoined is
that the social aspects have out-weighed the challenges. I joined TM way back
in 1983 because all my friends were going. It’s fun to see the foibles of my
friends as they searched for words and vice-versa. I rejoined back in 1998 (was it) because my friend and I were
willing to go back. I joined again because I expect to meet still other friends
and continue new friendships beyond TM. Without the friendship side, folks
will tend to sway from attending and continuing TM. The number one
documented reason why people quit TM is ‘other people just don’t care.’ It’s their
perception and shows that the social aspects have failed in their important |
counter-balance to
the fear. Once a TM always a TM – no. But if we can counter-balance the fears
of public speaking with social enjoyment, we can always bring a good TM
back. Bob ______________________________________________ Club Officers Attend TLI First
time newly elected club officers Samba Nadella and Tim Cannata got their
first glimpses of TM leadership when they attended the Toastmaster Leadership
Institute training held in June. Other
club officers Lee Yates, Rosemary Henchey, and Carlene Falvey were also
present. Officers attended workshops
on obtaining membership, public relations, and maintaining financial records.
Though officers did obtain useful information, all seemed to come back with
the same impressions……our club is already doing great work! ______________________________________________ We all screamed for Ice Cream! In an attempt to beat the heat,
Cheryl Walsh tempted us all with frozen treats as she presided as Toastmaster
at the August 9th meeting.
Participants were asked what flavor of ice cream they would be if they
were ice cream. With the 90-degree
heat, I think we all wished we were ice cream! ______________________________________________ Bet you didn’t know….. Being
able to listen well is an invaluable skill for effective speakers. Each of us has bad listening habits that
can be overcome with training and practice.
Here are three of the most common bad listening habits: » Psuedolistening occurs when you
only go through the motions of listening.
You look like you’re listening, but your mind is miles away. Correct this by really focusing on what the
speaker is saying. » Self-centered listening is when you mentally
rehearse your answer while the person is still speaking. It’s focusing on your own response rather
than on the speaker’s words. Correct
this fault by letting the other person finish speaking before you begin to
frame your answer. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Page
4 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
» Selective listening happens when you
listen to only those parts of the message that directly concern you. For instance, during a business meeting,
you may let your mind drift away until you hear your name, your department’s
name or some specific information that is directly relevant to your
concerns. You’ll be a more effective
communicator if you listen to the entire message. (taken
from Idiot’s Guide to Speaking in Public with Confidence) ______________________________________________ From the President’s desk…… Roster: A new club roster
dated September 27, 2001 is now available.
Please check your own address and other information. If changes are
needed, please notify Ellen Stanford and/or Tim Cannata. Theme meetings: When it’s your turn to be the
Toastmaster, you might like to hold a theme meeting. This means that you
choose an overall theme for the meeting, and all the speakers try to come up
with topics related to that theme. For example, Susu Wong chose “Caribbean Night”
as the theme for her meeting. The speakers talked about the Caribbean, the
tropics, vacations, travel, and fun in the sun. Everybody found a lot to say!
You could choose just about any theme. Your goal is to
help speakers find good topics. For example, you could try a seasonal theme
(how about a Winter Carnival?), a holiday theme (but not a religious
holiday), famous people, Hollywood, sports, childhood memories, or something
related to the TV series “Antiques Roadshow.” If you'd like to try a theme meeting, here's what to
do. (1) Discuss your theme with other club members and see what they think.
Will it inspire some good speech topics? (2) Notify our VP of Education,
Rosemary Henchey. IMPORTANT: You must announce your theme at least 4 meetings
in advance so that everyone knows about the theme before they sign up as
speakers. (We put out signup sheets 3 meetings in advance.) It would be fun
to have two or three theme meetings in the coming year! |
Calendar The
Last Word Toastmasters club usually meets at 7PM 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. Reminder:
Only one meeting in November and December! Upcoming
meetings of The Last Word:
Snow cancellations: In the event of snow, meetings are canceled only if the Burlington Public Library close | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||