DGTC VOICE 2015 release 3

Discovery Garden Toastmaster Club # 2991308 Area 5 Division F District 20

DGTC VOICE 2015

The Discovery Garden Toastmaster’s News Letter April 2015

The MISSION of a Toastmaster Club : We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

Release 3 1

April 2015

Featured Programmes: Club Anniversary :3.1.2015 Annual club contest :21.2.2015 Golden Jubilee Meeting :7.3.2015 Area 5 Club Contest :11.4.2015 Division Club contest :17.4.2015

Chief Editor’s Column The first quarter of 2015, has been an exciting journey for all of us. We had a

fantastic club contest with an unprecedented level of participation in

February. The enthusiasm of all the members produced some exemplary performances,

which I am sure also left the judges judging the competition in a state of turmoil. We

reached a second milestone of celebrating a “Golden Jubilee” of meetings.

As the club marches on from strength to strength, wining more accolades and

recognition with every month, we are bringing out the third edition of our newsletter. There are some very

interesting and inspiring articles covering a variety of topics – from philosophy to Self-development. Simi-

lar to the spring season when the first blades of grass , break through the layer of soil, there have been the

first articles for the season. I am sure all of you will now contribute to make this newsletter a success.

Cheers,

TM Manoj Raghavan,CC,CL

Discovery Garden Toastmaster Club

President’s Column We always say “I wish”. We should stop saying “I Wish”, instead, we should start saying “I

will”. In life, if we continue to take a passive stand, wishing for something to happen, it may never happen.

Instead if you believe that it’s going happen as we planned, it will happen that way

only. It is not the will to win but the readiness and our level of preparedness defines

the success.

We all know, if something is important for us, we will get it. All human beings are

blessed with the ability to continuously grow & give to others. Also, if what you

believe becomes your reality, then believe that you are a success always.“I will persist

until I succeed. Always will I take another step.

If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is

not too difficult…

I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.”-Og Mandino

Cheers,

TM Deepa S. CC,ALB



DGTC VOICE 2015

Release 3 2 April 2015


DGTC VOICE 2015


VP-PR’s Column

Wherever you go ,No Matter what the weather,

Always bring your own Sunshine.

I would like to share a story which inspired me a lot.

“I was cycling and noticed a person in front of me, about 1/4 of Km. I could tell he

was cycling a little slower than me and I decided to try to catch him. So I started

cycling faster and faster and every block, I was gaining on him just a little bit.

Finally, I caught up with him and passed him by. On the inside I felt so good. “I

beat him" of course, but he didn't even know we were racing.

After I passed him, I realized that I had been so focused on competing against him

that I had missed my turn, had gone nearly six blocks past it and had to turn around

and go all back.”

Isn't that what happens in life when we focus on competing with co-workers,

neighbors, friends, family, trying to outdo them or trying to prove that we are more

successful or more important? We spend our time and energy running after them

and we miss out on our own paths to our destinies.

The problem with unhealthy competition is that it’s a never ending cycle. There will

always be somebody ahead of you, someone with better job, nicer car, more money

in the bank, more education, a prettier wife, a more handsome husband, better be-

haved children, etc.

Take what Life has given you, the height, weight & personality. Dress well & wear

it proudly! You'll be blessed by it. Stay focused and live a healthy life. There's no

competition in DESTINY.

Run your own RACE and wish others WELL!!!

Cheers,

TM Dineshkumar



DGTC VOICE 2015


Annual Club contest 2015 Had a Fantabulous Club contest Held on 21.2.2015 ,for category :International ,Humorous ,Table Topics ,Evaluation. Winners will represent DGTC in area level.

Winners of DGTC International Speech contest 2015. TM Priya Winner of International Speech contest. TM Mugdha-Runner up for International Speech contest

Winners of DGTC Evaluation Speech contest 2015. TM Ganesh Srinivasan Winner of Evaluation Speech contest. TM.Priya 1st Runner up for Evaluation Speech contest ,TM Manju -2nd Runner up for Evaluation Speech contest

Winners of DGTC Table Topics Speech contest 2015. TM Indumathy Winner of Table Topics Speech contest, TM Manju - 1st Runner up for Table Topics Speech contest ,TM Nisar -2nd Runner up for Table Topics

Winners of DGTC Humorous Speech contest 2015. TM Rajisha Winner of Humorous Speech contest, TM Indumathy - 1st Runner up for Humorous Speech contest ,TM Nisar -2nd Runner up for Humorous Speech contest

Thanks to HANCO for sponsoring the Trophies & Gifts


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Area 5 contest 2015 Winners of Area 5 contest 2015:- Congratulations to TM.Rajisha(Humorous contest) ,TM Indumathi(Table Topics) ,TM Ganesh (Evaluation contest) ,TM Priya(International speech contest). We are Proud & Loud to say that AREA 5 winners in all the 4 category are from DGTC..Wow..what an exciting moment...It's a New Milestone of DGTC. Thank you Speakers for Outstanding performance which made DGTC really Proud. All the very best for the Division contest.


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Club Anniversary Celebration DGTC’s 2nd Anniversary celebration held on 3rd January 2015. Chief guest DTM Sujit Sukumaran , Lt. Governor-Education and Training, District 20

DGTC’s Anniversary celebrations with Special Cake cutting.

DGTC’s Anniversary celebrations : Chief guest DTM Sujit Sukumaran Lt. Governor-Education and Training, District 20 with Club President TM Deepa ,Cutting the Cake.


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MY JOURNEY IN TOASTMASTERS TM Mugdha is a dedicated toastmaster who is participating in all activities with passion .In this Article ,TM Mugdha is sharing her Journey in Toastmasters.

A bumblebee’s body is too heavy and its wing span too small. Aerodynamically it cannot fly. But the bum-blebee doesn’t know that and it keeps flying. When you don’t know your weakness you can surprise yourself. You always wonder you have limitations but they are self-imposed. Do not limit yourself to education. In my journey of toastmasters, I have enjoyed good amazing moments with Discovery Gardens Toastmaster Club. I started my journey from a timer and since then every role has been something worth learning. I still remember my life without toastmasters where I used to be nervous as ever to even ask or answer in public. It was difficult for me to even face the audience, leave aside convincing them my opinion. Although I am a teacher by profession, teaching in a kid’s class is very different in its own way. The fear of facing the audience, the fear of being speechless, the fear of being thoughtless, drying of mouth, cold feet etc.always persisted. I thought public speaking was worse than even death. Later I heard of Toastmasters from my friend, but I was still hesitant as I thought I wouldn’t be able to even learn the tactics of public speaking. It so happened that my son joined the junior’s toastmaster club i.e. Legacites and I could see changes in him distinctly. I drove my inspiration from him and wanted to give it a try. Learning by doing was indeed helpful. The fear of public speaking slowly got curtailed and I started enjoying all my roles in the meeting. So friends, throw out your self-imposed limitations and enjoy your path in public speaking just like a bumble bee who believes in herself.

This article is all about career – analysis, approaches to take, transition etc. I have been seeing lots of people really confused on how to approach a career transition. Most of us get into a confused stage thinking whether we should switch the job or not. If yes, where do you want to go? To answer the first question on whether you must switch the job or not – let me put some thoughts around that. I have seen people really unhappy about their current jobs, talking negative and still doing nothing about it and being in the same state for a decade or more. In my opinion, each one of us should make sure that we love our job – if we don’t, we have a situation. It is always good if you analyze your current situation in the organization. This can be broadly classified into 4 stages. 1. Stage 1: Win – Lose. Example is a situation where you just joined the organization and you are extremely moti-vated about your job, Organization is not greatly motivated (reason being you are new- need time to pick up). You would be attending training, preparing for new role, meeting new people etc. Here you are winning and organization is losing (to an extend) 2. Stage 2: Win-Win – You are motivated and the organization is motivated about you as well. This is called the ideal stage because here it is WIN – WIN. Example is you being a star performer and getting right rewards and appreciation from the employer periodically. Also you see potential growth opportunities. 3. Stage 3: Lose-Win – in this stage, your organization is highly motivated about you , but you are saturated and the job is no more challenging you. Hence you are demotivated. Example is you being a single point of contact (or failure) for many cases. Not getting full support from the management, job is not exciting and most importantly you have hit the roof – no more opportunities to grow in the current function. 4. Stage 4: Lose-Lose – This is a non-existent stage – neither the organization nor you are motivated and this demands a termination. I would recommend each one of you to immediately determine which stage you are in. In my opinion, you should try to get from stage 1 to 2 within 3 months of joining any organization. Once you are in stage 2, you need to maintain that – at times you might get slipped into stage 3 – but seek new challenges/roles/assignments to bring you back to stage 2. Despite practicing these tricks to come back to stage 2, you might still end up being in stage 3. The moment you realize that you are in stage 3 and is assured that you cant move back to stage 2, please look for alternate options. Let me not talk about stage 4 here – because there is no point in talking about that stage :-) So that brings a conclusion to phase 1 – now you are clear on whether you need to switch or not. Let us move on to next phase – assuming that you have decided to switch – next questions is what kind of employer you are looking for. First thing you have to remove from your mind is a generic approach that says – “I will choose whatever comes my way”. That’s not the way to look at things – You need to ask yourself on what kind of role you like so that you will not get into the current situation again in another 6 months. Once you have this, you need to plan the transition. Start preparing – understanding what the potential future employer would be expecting from that role – work backwards. Start meeting people (you could use LinkedIn as a good plat-form) who are in the same domain or it could be professional recruiters. Start attending interviews (If you are not get-ting interview calls, please relook at your skills and work on that)and gauge yourself. Once you attend 4 -5 interviews, you would be in a position to realize where you stand and which areas would require improvement. Here the Top challenge any one (especially the ones who have spent more than 7-10 years in a single organization) would face is – accepting or embracing change. Unless you are okay to do that, you would be worried so much in ap-proaching this which would not give you the confidence in attending interviews. If you think you fall in that category, what I would suggest here is read a simple book-“Who moved my cheese” by Dr. Spencer Johnson – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F This is a short book that would help you to deal with change. Other important element to note here is that you don’t give a feeling to the current employer that you are frustrated and is looking out – that would create unnecessary friction in the relationship. Put all your efforts to make a smooth exit – you may need references in future. There could be situations that you are not in a position to inform the current employer on where you are going – still If possible, I would suggest you to inform them about your future organiza-tion. PS: I have assumed multiple factors while writing this. I very well understand the fact that situations would be very different for individuals – hence I would be interested to hear from you if you have questions on specifics. All the very best !!

DGTC VOICE 2015


Career Planning TM Gopan is a dedicated toastmaster who is participating in all activities with passion. In this Article ,TM Gopan is sharing his thoughts about Career Planning.


90 TIPS FROM TOASTMASTERS 1. Know your material. Speak about a topic you’re interested in and know a lot about. Reinforce your message with facts and statistics, if possible.

2. Make it personal. Use humor, personal anecdotes and conversational language to make your speech engaging.

3. Practice makes permanent. Rehearse your speech aloud using any equipment and/or visual aids you’ll use during your presentation. Rehearse as often as you can.

4. Time yourself. Time your speech every time you rehearse it to ensure you don’t go over the five- to seven-minute time limit.

5. Pace yourself. People tend to rush when they’re nervous, so practice keeping your speech at a calm, steady pace.

6. Arrive early. Give yourself enough time to get acquainted with the stage or presentation area, and test the micro-phone and any visual aids you’ll be using.

7. Relax. Breathe and stretch before taking the stage. Pause for a few seconds, smile and count to three before speak-ing.

8. Visualize your success. Imagine yourself giving your speech: your voice is loud, clear and confident. Imagine hear-ing the audience’s applause – it will boost your confidence.

9. Trust your audience. The audience isn’t your enemy - they want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

10. Don’t apologize. If you make a mistake, there’s no need to say you’re sorry. Pick up where you left off and keep going.

11. Use humor when things go wrong. If something goes wrong during your speech, tell a quick joke to help put you and your audience at ease. For example, if the lights go out, a good joke might be: “Who forgot to pay the electric bill?”

12. Gain experience. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective communication. Joining a Toastmas-ters club can provide the experience you need in a safe and encouraging environment.

13. Eliminate filler words. Using umms and ahhhs in your speech will distract your message. Briefly pause to gather your next thought, or take a sip of water.

14. Ditch distracting mannerisms. Nervous fidgeting or gestures will detract from your message. Use purposeful gestures to give your speech more impact.

15. Keep your notes in check. If you need to use notes, be subtle and do not read your speech.

16. Test your volume. Before your speech, ask a friend or colleague to listen to you from the back of the room to ensure you’re speaking at the right volume.

17. Enter contests. Entering contests is a challenging and fun way to improve your skills. Toast-masters offers various speech contests throughout the year.

18. Enjoy yourself. Choose a topic on something that is important to you, and that you feel pas-sionate about. Your commitment to the topic will help sell the speech to your audience.


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90 TIPS FROM TOASTMASTERS

19. Use visuals. Make sure your visual aids reinforce your message and don’t distract from it.

20. Embrace your unique style. Don’t copy the style or gestures of other speakers, as your audience will sense a lack of authenticity. Be yourself; no one does that better than you can.

21. Fuel your mental engine. Eat a light meal at least 20 minutes prior to your speech.

22. Burn off anxiety. Your body produces cortisol when you’re anxious or stressed, which limits your creativity and ability to process complex information. Be sure to burn off cortisol with exercise before any speaking engagement.

23. Be prepared for the worst. Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Be prepared by having print-outs of your presentation slides and a copy of your presentation on USB drive.

24. Pause. Before addressing your audience, pause for a few seconds. This will gain their attention and increase im-pact.

25. Ask a thought-provoking question. Capture the audience’s attention by asking a question they may not know the answer to. For example, “Do you know why the sky is blue? It’s a question many kids ask their parents as kids, and I’m honestly not sure I could explain it without a Google search. But I do know what will turn the sky from blue to grey, and that’s pollution.”

26. Share a startling fact. Everyone loves an interesting piece of information. Be sure to share something that audi-ence will find surprising.

27. Don’t overload your slides. Keep your slides concise; don’t overload them with too many talking points.

28. Repeat the audience’s questions. If an audience member asks a question, repeat it back so everyone can hear it and knows what you are speaking to.

29. Give your audience an immediate action item. Audiences love to come away from a speech feeling motivated. Take advantage of their current motivation and give them an immediate action item.

30. Push the envelope. Take risks, but know your audience and don’t present material simply for shock value. Have a point and the facts to back it up.

31. Seek opportunities everywhere. Public speaking doesn’t have to happen in front of an audience. Seek opportuni-ties to practice your communication skills, whether it’s sharing an idea at a work meeting or talking to people in pub-lic.

32. Be specific. Try to keep your speeches and discussion to the topic on point. Don’t convolute your message with too many stories that stray from the original purpose.

33. Be the expert. Make sure that you’ve done the appropriate research prior to your public speaking engagement. Explore the topic in depth so that you’re ready for questions and feel com-fortable speaking to your topic.

34. Speak to groups as individuals. While you may be speaking to a group of people, speak to them as though they are just one to make the speech feel more intimate and personal.

35. Learn about your personal leadership style. Everyone has a different leadership style. What’s yours? Learn about your leadership style and embrace the positive attributes and make an action plan to change the negative.


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90 TIPS FROM TOASTMASTERS 36. Find your strengths. Strengths include, voice volume and timbre, expert knowledge, comfort level and ability to think on the fly. Find those strengths and look for a way to capitalize on them.

37. Be passionate. Find topics that mean a lot to you. If you are asked to speak to a topic that you don’t feel connected with, look for a connection that interests you. Find something that you can take away from the message.

38. Have a positive attitude. The best way to fail at something is to think you will. Go into every public speaking situation thinking that it’s an opportunity to grow and engage.

39. Practice impromptu speaking. Test your skills in business meetings, speaking with a bank teller, or social events.

40. Encourage honest evaluation. The best speakers learn from each experience. Encourage your audience or inter-viewer to give you their honest critique of your presentation.

41. Use quotes, stories and anecdotes. They will help reinforce your message and entertain the audience.

42. Use “you” and “we”. While your speech may require personal stories or anecdotes, be sure to connect the topic with the audience as well. Circle around to explain why it’s important to them.

43. Don’t take things personally. Your audience may have strong opinions about a topic, especially if it’s controver-sial. Consider their responses educational.

44. Trust your instincts. With leadership and public speaking, it’s always important to trust your instincts. If your gut tells you to steer into another direction or bring up a certain topic, listen to what it says.

45. Distinguish your goals and targets. It’s important to know the goal of your message and WHY you are speaking to it. The best way to bomb a speech is to not understand the purpose.

(To be continued in Release 4)


DGTC VOICE 2015


We would love to introduce our new members joined in 2015 Jan. TM. Verginia :Confident and friendly person, with strong belief in being positive who Takes life’s challenge heads on. Working as projects officer in Agility logistics, Jebel Ali. Cherishes being a loving wife and a caring mom.

TM.Manu Mohan :Basically from ‘God own country’ -Kerala, India. Work-ing in Dubai past 7 years. Enjoy living in the peace & harmony of Dubai city. Hobbies are maintaining aquarium, bit of gardening, listening to music etc. Married & Blessed with 10months old Kid.


DGTC VOICE 2015


DGTC VOICE 2015 release 3

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