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Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Visit our Website and drop in on a meeting or two...

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Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
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Fearless Speaking Means 75% Preparation

Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Visit our Website and drop in on a meeting or two...most people join after the third meeting. Bookmark this blog for exciting tips about public speaking!

Speaking is a lot like acting, or shall I say speakers are a lot like actors. The ties that bind you are 1. Audience 2. Content 3. Preparation.

Lenny Laskowski, an NSA member and speaker contends, "proper preparation and rehearsal can help reduce...fear by about 75%..." Want to learn the secrets of public speaking? Then Click Here!

After watching professional speakers and observing their style, I have asked how they remained poised under pressure and spoke so eloquently. One speaker told me that he practices his speech in front of a mirror until he has all of his "lines" down, observing gestures and matching them to his voice inflections. Just like actors. Wow!

You are your first audience. Practice your speech in front of a mirror to learn your content. Be prepared by matching your voice with your gestures. And I promise you that you will eventually conquer your fear of public speaking.

Check out this course and learn the secrets of Public Speaking now Click Here!

Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
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Area Contests Are In The Air

Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Visit our Website and drop in on a meeting or two...Contests are in the air!
Just in case you misplaced the information for Saturday's Area Contest, here it is again:


New Post. Just in from the President of Westside Toastmasters Club #638: Farlan Dowell

Saturday, October 10

8:00 a.m. registration and breakfast, 9:00 a.m. call to order

Cost: $8 if preregistered by October 5

$10 at the door

Location: Farmers Insurance Group

4750 Wilshire Blvd. (between Crenshaw and La Brea)

SW corner of Wilshire and Hudson

Free parking behind building

MORE INFO: Linda DeGiacomi (310) 264-0012 lindanorge@gmail.com

See you all there!
Farlan
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Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
Invite me on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/in/DazelleSteele
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Winner Trophy Snatch Back

Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Visit our Website and drop in on a meeting or two...

My visit to Cypress Communicators was a good one. I like how they started the meeting by giving an Innvocation and turning to the American flag, placing the right hand over the heart, and saying the Pledge of Alligiance. I miss that! I think ALL Toastmasters clubs should incorporate these items into their agendas. My former club TGIF Club ( a new name currently) in Palm Desert has always begun a meeting this way.

Hey! Oh yeah...I won a trophy for my Table Topics speech. Unfortunately, they recycle the trophies, so I did not get a chance to take it with me. Oh well. The topic was about rainbows and the word of the day was "stilted." I began the speech by relating rainbows to Skittles candies. A walking billboard. I know, right? I wove my speech and deflected from the original question about a mentioned book that I never read. It was masterful. Half of the stuff I spoke about I do not remember: members congratulated me on my victory. It felt great.

Funny, two out of three of the speeches were heart-felt humanitarian topics: animal rescue and people rescue. The third speech was about a member's trip to Boston, humourous at times and certainly biased.

Overall, I met some very welcoming and nice Toastmasters. But, I must say that I am partial to my club. Afterall, "Westside is The Best side!"


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Bloggers? I welcome Toastmaster related content to this blog.
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Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!

Dazelle Steele
dazellesteele@gmail.com
*******************************************************
Invite me on LinkedIn
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Take Away and Give Away

Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Click here to Visit our website and drop in on a meeting or two. We are located at the IHOP restaurant in Santa Monica, Ca. at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and 20th Street.

I challenge each of you to visit more than one Toastmasters' meetings. Why? Well, when you have an open mind and heart, you will get a well-rounded, birds-eye view of other meetings, its members, and guests, which will benefit you in many ways. There are many things that you can "take away" from other meetings and many things that you can "give away," creating a win-win situation for each participant.

For example, last night on Monday August 24th, I visited Sand and Sea Speakers Club #5983. They meet in the same location, but on a different day and time than Westside Toastmasters. I observed how well the meeting was run, various styles of speakers (from beginner to advanced) and how the timing was done: with color-coded flash cards. Now...the flash cards proved to be a challenge because 1. They were difficult to see 2. They appeared cumbersome to the timer.

What I took away from the group was the delivery of a couple of the speakers, who were quite good I might add. Steve Evans impressed me with his speech about change and cited a book called "Influencer." Of course, Mike Gochin, wowed me with his speech about the dangers of tobacco and obesity, offering product solutions for each.

I liked how each speaker walked out in front of the Lectern, rendering it powerless. Many new speakers stand behind the lectern, clutching its sides and their notes simultaneously, giving away their power. The videographer taped the entire meeting; and is in fact a featured role. My favorite video camera is The Flip. You can Kop it here along with free shipping. Video tape your meetings and establish a YouTube account and promote your website. Awesome!



The Flip Mino camcorder combines remarkable video quality in a pocket-sized package that's designable. Free Shipping Order Here!

What I gave away was a little advise about the timing mechanism. Our club uses lights: RED, YELLOW, and GREEN. In fact, they are exactly the same used by judges during various Toastmasters International contests. My point was well received. I also gave away in the form of a Table Topics question, my opinion about the pros and cons of seeking medical treatment outside the United States. Whew! I didn't win a ribbon for my response, but I did win affirmation.

Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
Invite me on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/in/DazelleSteele
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Invite me on Facebook.com/Dazelle.Steele

What motivates you to become a better speaker

Good Evening Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

The Theme tonight is Laughter and the word of the day is Jovial.


Roy Smith, the Toastmaster for the evening kicked off the meeting by cueing us to laugh for 30 seconds. The room just exploded with various types of canned laughter. All of the speakers, evaluators, and the functionaries performed their roles with the utmost proficiency.


What motivates you to want to become a better speaker? Are you pushed by an employer to better your communications skills? Do you have a need to explain your profession, or provide a value proposition for your brand? Perhaps you want to feel more at ease in social settings? Could it be that you want to improve your personal relationships by communicating better. Are you an aspiring Speech Writer and want to hone your skills?


Either way, you have come to the right place. Westside Toastmasters Club #638 welcomes you!


After reflecting inward for a few minutes, I came up with a few answers to some of the questions which I have asked you. Years ago, as a sales professional, I recognized the importance of improving my sales presentations. You see, not only was I charged with communicating technical information such as network topology, WAN and LAN provisioning, or API specifications to integrate with my client’s proprietary software, for example. In a nutshell, I could have made the presentations simpler by discussing in simple language the Internet and software compatibility.

You see? I probably lost half of my audience of CFO, CEOs, and other chief executives in the room whom were probably more interested in how my presentation would affect their bottom line [will it cut cost or help save them money?], not how it would impact their networks or whether bandwidth would burst and at what rate. Jargon.

Technical Jargon. Any Jargon in your industry needs to be communicated or translated so that EVERYONE in your audience understands the value of what you propose to deliver to their company.

My grandmother use to say that “nothing beats a good understanding.” I understand this at the most basic level now. Toastmasters International has helped me with skills to communicate any topic to various audiences: to persuade, to motivate, to get your point across.


The Guests and their reason for attending tonight:

George S: "I have been planning to attend Toastmasters...I came here to check this out."

Jean Baptist: Jean is from France, works in the U.S. and wants to improve his speaking.


Jennifer Lee: "I was a member a few years ago for five years. I talked to Gary about the meeting."

Sue Hart: Recently relocated to California from Florida. "I founded a TM club in Clearwater, Florida."

Three speakers demonstrated various levels of speaking techniques, from speech two to advanced manual bonus speeches.

And the winners are:

Best Speaker: Ed Coffey, DTM
Best Table Topic: Josh
Best Evaluator: Mike Casey

Overall, the meeting delivered just what it does always; fun, challenge, and talent. Join us for the next meeting on Wednesday June 10, 2009 at the IHOP in Santa Monica, all the way in the back of the restaurants, in a meeting room. Hope to see you there! And by the way, remember to stand and tell us know what motivates you!

Sincerely,


Dazelle Steele




Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
Invite me on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dazellesteele
Follow me on Twitter.com: www.twitter.com/dazellesteele
Invite me on Facebook.com: www.facebook.com

An Article by Michelle Page "Urban Chickens"

Written by,
Michelle Page

‘Westside Toastmasters – The Westside is the Best Side!’

Sometimes it seems a little corny, but as a newby to Toastmasters this slogan seems to fit.

If you ever want a constructive criticism of your public speaking with no discernable agenda behind it, you could not do better -- even with your own family. This group, without exception, has been welcoming and helpful.

The other night I gave my 2nd speech in the Competent Communicator Manual – Organize your Speech.

Everything seemed to be going well. I practiced my speech in front of myself, then my husband, a neighbor and myself again. I tried to organize it.

Since I had been out of town the week before setting up an exhibition (camping in 60 mph winds in a tent, no less), I foolishly hadn’t been in touch with Maarten, my mentor. I think 30 minutes with him would have helped immensely. Penny wise, pound foolish applies to preparation as well as anything in life. Sometimes those clichés are truisms. I should have called Maarten!

I was a bit surprised that many commented on the odd nature of my subject: ‘Urban Chickens I have known’, as it was specifically chosed to fit into the Earth Day theme.

Next time, I promise to try to wrap my speech up more effectively. I did learn not to move around so much, taking to heart my ‘Ice Breaker’ comments.

My first time out, in the ‘Ice Breaker’ speech, I was lucky. I had a public speech coming up that related to my business and the Toastmaster’s experience was invaluable. I even had the luxury of performing the same speech two nights in a row before two different clubs! Perfect for me as it turned out I had to give a speech at my exhibition twice as well.

________
Doggedly,

Michelle
____________________________________________

My new Blog: http://nepaldog.typepad.com/danger_dog_blog/

For a link to my interview on PRI's "the World" go to:
http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/18399&answer=true

The complete Los Angeles Times article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-dogs24apr24,1,2996307.story

Go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/ampage1/2008Dogs

Go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/ampage1/LatestDogs


A Michelle Page
DANGER DOGS FROM NEPAL

http://www.nepaldog.com/
310.828.7745

David Fetterman Gives The Real Zenith of District One's Conference

Fellow Toastmasters (and all other dedicated readers of the Westside Toastmasters blog), This Saturday was the District One Spring conference, and I’d just like to share some of the highlights of the experience. The conference basically had three purposes: to elect the district officers for next year; to recognize various achievements during the last year; and to host the Tall Tales and International Contests.

The elections were largely uncontested. Sandy Dunning, DTM, will be our District Governor next year. She is a remarkable woman who embodies the Toastmasters spirit; frankly, I am surprised that she hasn’t sought the District Governor job before. This year, she was Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training (LGET), the 2nd-ranking position in the District. She has been a Toastmaster since 1988 – the year, perhaps coincidentally, that her husband Bob Dunning served as District Governor. There was a battle for the LGET post between Giovanna Dottore, DTM, a veteran Toastmaster who chairs the Speakers Bureau, and Ron Edwards, who served as Lieutenant Governor of Marketing this year.

Both candidates addressed the assemblage briefly but enthusiastically. Giovanna, the “Lean Queen,” ran on the platform, “Dimmi chi pratichi, e ti dirò chi sei.” While only a few people of Italian descent might possibly have understood her, she concluded by saying “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse,” and I personally believed her. Ron’s campaign theme was, “If I were you, I’d vote for me.” Giovanna won convincingly, although Ron made a respectable showing. Three candidates faced off for Lieutenant Governor of Marketing. Joan Lewis, DTM, won on the promise of using technology to make the district’s marketing efforts more effective.

As a techie geek myself, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what plans Joan has for leading District One into the future. The only other contested office was for the governorship of Division B, which is the division that Westside Toastmasters happens to be in. Chiuhing Casey, previously B4 Area Governor, defeated Johnny Truong. When the eight new members of the District Steering Committee stood at the front of the room, I suddenly realized – they were ALL WOMEN! This is not necessarily a bad thing…it was just a little startling, considering that Toastmasters didn’t even ADMIT women until 1973.

Nearly everyone in the room of 300 attendees was asked at some point to stand up and receive thunderous applause for one achievement or another. Even I got to stand up - for volunteering on the conference organizing committee. Plus, I got a small bag of candy in appreciation for my tireless efforts. I would have preferred a discounted rate on admission to the conference, but I’m not going to complain.

But the real zenith of the conference was when they recognized the new crop of Distinguished Toastmasters (DTMs). All the DTMs in attendance (and there were quite a few, including our very own Ed Coffey) lined up at the back of the meeting room, and every new DTM got a hug from every person who had already achieved that monumental goal. After watching the “hug line,” I felt that my commitment to becoming a DTM someday was tripled, if not quadrupled.

Both speech contests featured excellent speakers, but Division D swept the top prizes. D’Andre Lampkin of D4’s Ethical Elite won the Tall Tales competition with “The Grammarian,” and Sherwood Jones of D3’s Grand Communicators won the International showdown. Our own Robert Mackenzie served as Toastmaster for the first contest, or as he put it, “the short male hosting the Tall Tales.” Newly elected LGET Giovanna Dottore hosted the International contest, but after her vivace campaign speech, her voice was running on empty and she kept her remarks brief.

The conference lasted over 10 hours, and I could certainly go on describing it, but I believe the red light went on for this article long ago. I’ll just close by saying I had a great time, and I’m glad I went.

David Fetterman VPE

What Does Public Speaking and Job Hunting Have in Common

Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Visit our Website and drop in on a meeting or two at our club Westside Toastmasters.

Interviewing for a job is tough enough. Now add in your ability to speak well or not. Communicating well is on the top of the list for many employers, it out-ranks talent and sometimes education. I've heard it over and over again from guests who gather the courage to pay us a visit. Many people visit our club because they want to work on their public speaking skills for either personal and often business reasons.

Committed guests eventually become members and begin the journey to not only improve their public speaking, but sometimes to land a great job or a job promotion.

Come and visit us this Wednesday, and see what we are all about!


Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
Invite me on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dazellesteele
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by Farlan Dowell

Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Toastmasters, fellow guests: I’ll save you the suspense of reading to the end of the blog entry and just tell you now, this was an Earth Day meeting, like no other, we had it all: Old School Toastmasters, Taupe suits, the unveiling of the new Santa Monica Place, anthropomorphic table topics…Robert, our wayward Grandmaster returning after a short hiatus with a beard! – I mean, what more can you ask for?

Nita Lane Smith, our distinguished President got us off to a superb start with her high energy, enthusiastic approach – and set the tone for the entire meeting.
Dazelle took the reins as our Old School Toastmaster after a heck-of-an-intro by Nita. Dazelle regaled us with her personal experience in Toastmasters, looking ever-so-professional in her Taupe suit, she talked about how she started way back in 2000, and has found this to be a wonderful group where people come together with a common purpose – to communicate, and this evening we come together to remember that we need to preserve and sustain the earth so we can pass that on to generation to come. She also chided us for being slackers – I’m not sure what that was all about, but I think it was directed towards David Fetterman, as we don’t receive nearly enough emails from him.

We had a knock-out lineup of evaluators: Richard Kim was timer (“Everything is timed because our time on this earth is finite”), Aye Aung was our eager grammarian, and gave an extremely thorough Grammarians report, and, uh, Karrie was our er ah counter. A fine job done by all, including Nita who kicked us off as JokeMaster.
Gary, our esteemed charter member, and the alchemist of club 638, was on point this evening providing a Table Topics session that even Mother Nature would have been intimidated by. The questions were actually a lot of fun, and everyone who was asked, was very creative and clearly had a chance to improve their impromptu speaking skills.

After a short break, we got underway with our prepared speeches, and had a great lineup: Bob talked about the Santa Monica Place and the trials and tribulations of building a 10 acre complex, which he is heading up, Alex, our second speaker, complained that there were no tennis courts in India (while spreading a very valuable message: take a risk, you never know where it will lead), Michelle talked about Chickens (not a typo) which was very informative, and Gary Binas, in preparing for the 2010 International Competition gave a fantastic speech about learning from your mistakes. Kudos to all the speakers on a great job! The level of speaking at our club continues to be second-to-none.

We then had evaluations of the speeches, which is always valuable in reinforcing what was good, and also pointing out opportunities for growth. Maarten, David, Robert and Farlan were evaluating this evening with the head honcho, chief evaluator Laverne, leading the evaluation team with an effective commentary on how the meeting went down, summary: it was all good.

And now to the news you really care about – the winner s of the evening: Jon won for best Table Topics, Robert for best evaluator, and Gary Binas for best speaker, who was kind enough to acknowledge the great job that Alex did on his second speech – and passed the ribbon to him! In a show of good faith, Jon gave his ribbon to the waiter, and Robert planted his ribbon into the earth – sending it back to its home. A bizarre twist, but apparently that’s how we roll over on the West Side. Happy Earth Day!
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By Farlan Dowell

Earth Day is Your Destiny

Hello Fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

Welcome to Westiside Toastmaster's Club #638 eNewsletter. Visit our Website and drop in on a meeting or two at www.WestSideToastmasters.com

The theme was Earth Day and the word of the day was Sustainability. A while back, our president Nita Lane-Smith declared April as “Old School Toastmaster” month. So tonight was my night. Weaving my experience as a Toastmaster into the Earth Day theme was easy. I began by being “down-to-earth” with my group; praising most for excellent teamwork, and “nailing” a few for not towing, myself included. All done in love, of course.

I reminded everyone that the Toastmaster for the evening is like a CEO of a corporation, setting the directive for their executives who in turn, disseminate that vision to their subordinates. All of this is done to create a strong cohesive group meeting. And that means, we should actively pursue the Toastmaster for that day via phone or email, and confirm any role for which we may have signed up.

Kerrie read some quotes about Earth Day and Nita cleverly rearranged the letters in EARTH to spell HEART. Everybody demonstrated heart that evening, from Table Topics, Evaluators, to Speakers. Even the Functionaries gave their heart, from Timer, (who kept the TM on my game), the Grammarian, to the Er/Ah Counter. My team certainly made me look good.

I shared the origins of Earth Day with the group as spelled out by Wikipedia. Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970, and is celebrated worldwide to create awareness of environmental issues. Earth is our destiny. It should be declared “Destiny Earth Day!”

We had a line up of four speakers for the evening who demonstrated various levels of speaking, as they closely followed the format of their manuals.

Bob Aptaker gave a speech about his development project in Santa Monica titled, “A Star is Born.”

Alex Yaftail talked about his life experience and journey through graduate school application process in a speech titled, “It’s the Little Things that Count.”

Michelle Page delighted us with a heart-felt story about raising chickens in a speech titled, “Urban Chicken.”

Gary Binas, our guest speaker from TM District #33 gave us a glimpse into his speech which he will deliver in 2010 at the International Speech Contest, it’s titled “The Little Town.”

I discovered wonderful information about things we can do now to make our homes green.

Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies, pp.44-53

1. Replace Your Old Appliances with New Energy-Efficient Ones
2. Buy a Water Filter instead of Bottled Water
3. Install Water-Saving Devices in Your Bathroom and Kitchen
4. Install a Solar-Powered Clothes Line (a.k.a., A Clothesline)
5. Insulate in Normally Forgotten Locations: Pipes, Water Heater, and Attic

Email me (dazellesteele@gmail.com) for the next 5 things we can do to make our homes green, or for an eNewsletter for Living Green.

And the winners were…..
1. Best Speaker: Gary Binas
2. Best Evaluator: Robert MacKenzie
3. Best Table Topics: Jon Meier

I enjoyed being Toastmaster for the evening, and will gladly pass the torch to Gary Crow; your Toastmaster for next Wednesday’s meeting on April 29, 2009.

Public Speaking is a Breath of Fresh Air!
_________________________________________
Dazelle Steele
****************************
Invite me on Linkedin.com: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dazellesteele
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