Laughter Is The Best Medicine Come Laugh, Applaud and Cheer for Nancy Bateman & Uttara Sawant. The Verbal Express. Toastmasters Faith

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1 The Verbal Express VOLUME 17 (# 8) SEPT 2010 Newsletter for Verbal Expressions A President s Distinguished Toastmasters Club CLUB #5736 AREA 44 PLAINS DIVISION DISTRICT 50 Meeting Day and Time 3-Story Building w/barrel top 2201 Lakeside Blvd, Richardson TX Every Thursday 11:45am to 1:00pm Laughter Is The Best Medicine Come Laugh, Applaud and Cheer for Nancy Bateman & Uttara Sawant As they represent us in the Area 44 Contest Friday, September 24, 2010 A few volunteers are needed! Registration: 5:45pm Contestant Briefing: 6:00 pm Contest starts promptly: 7:00 pm Ricker Retirement Specialists 6600 Naaman Forest Blvd Garland TX Toastmasters Faith By Yibing Lin, CC What is faith? Faith is the confident belief or trust of a person, concept or thing. Everyone needs a little faith: there are always unseen difficulties ahead while one pursues his/her goal. Without the faith for what one is pursuing, he/she will be defeated before reaching the goal. In order to make your faith strong you know what are the ingredients of a strong faith? Here are the ingredients for the faith of Toastmaster: Desire - you need a desire to improve your public speaking skills. Vision - you need to have a vision of what your speaking skills looks like in the future, it is the goal you want to reach. Trust - even you just start to participate Toastmaster meeting, you know there are plenty people who have joined Toastmaster club got the results. So you believe you will be one of them. Humility - Admit you have room to improve your public speaking skills. Without a little humility yourself, you have no chance to improve further. Practice - Action speaks louder than words. Lack of action means you don't have the real faith for what you are doing. Get help - When you truly believe what you are pursuing will benefit your future, you will not hesitate to seek help from the others. Help others - every faith has its virtue and only the noble goals have power to persist. When your faith in the Toastmasters process is noble, you will automatically be willing to help others to reach their goals. Do you have all the ingredients for faith in Toastmasters? If you have, congratulations! If not, identify which ingredient is missing and add it! Come one and come all! Let's all reach our goals together! Most importantly, come to our weekly meetings to achieve your goals. September 2010 Page 1 The Verbal Express

2 The President s Page Hello my Verbal Expressions, Our club is evolving...like every other aspect of our lives, w face challenges and we tackle them straight up and keep going. As a club, over the past year, we have addressed charter strength membership issues and grown well past it. Well!! yes...challenge #1 solved. But now we are currently facing challenge #2, which is attendance and participation on a consistent basis. As officers we have tried to remind a few times. And, I do not like to overdo it. Our reason for being in a public communication and leadership club is to better ourselves and be strong leaders in all aspects of our lives. Hence, I believe drive should be internal to everyone. As your humble club president all I urge is that, if you can, you consistently participate - besides self betterment, you'll be providing a great ambience and audience to other speakers. I understand we all have schedules, deliverables etc to make. So, please make an effort from this Thursday onwards to be there. Because, when you plan for success - anything and everything is possible... Cheers, Sai See you on Thursdays & Bring a Friend!! A FUN TIME IS PROMISED!! Distinguished Club Plan for Verbal Expressions Toastmasters for the plan year July 2010 through June 2011 Status as of September 21, Two CC: ½ - Uttara Sawant CC, George is close, Nancy is close 2. Two more CC 3. One AC-B, AC-S or AC-G: Sam & Carolyn are close for ACB 4. One more AC-B, AC-S or AC-G: 5. One CL, AL-B, AL-S, or DTM: DONE Calvin King ACS CL 6. One more CL, AL-B, AL-S or DTM: Sai close for AL-B 7. Four new members DONE -Sushma Shankar, Reggie Miggins, Dave Jancan, Vilma Rusto 8. Four more new members: DONE George Makaye, Vidya Basavaraju, Mukund Onkar, Richard Shaw 9. Minimum 4 officers trained each training period ½ - all 7 officers attended training this fall 10. One semi-annual statement and one officer list submitted on time: DONE Officer list submitted on time. Our Goal is to continue to be Presidents Distinguished. To receive recognition, at year end (June 30th) a club must either be at 20 or more members, or end the year with a net membership increase of 5 over their starting (July 1st) membership total. September 2010 Page 2 The Verbal Express

3 Are You A.R.M.ed For Success? Uttara Sawant CC, Club Secretary The All Roles Mastered award recognizes Verbal Expressions club members who practice key skills for success in business and life by working through each of our club meeting roles to practice listening, observing, leading, speaking or giving feedback. Since our last report, and as of the club meeting on August 5th, the following club member has earned and been awarded an ARM AWARD: YIBING LIN and Uttara Sawant And these members are over half way to their next A.R.M. Award: Kamakshi - 12 (Thought) Calvin -12 (Gen Eval) Sai -12 (Posture) Maury -11 (Thought, TT master) Harry - 11 (Thought, Posture) Nalini -11 (Gen Eval, Evaluator) Sam - 10 (Thought, Grammarian, TT speaker) Sushma - 9 (Thought, Grammarian, TT master, Evaluator, Posture, Vote Counter) Carolyn - 9 (Toastmaster, Thought, Grammarian, TT master, Vote Counter) Simon - 9 (Thought, Grammarian, Ah Counter, Timer, Vote Counter) WIIFM? What s in it for me, you ask? For each skills building All Roles Mastered (ARM) award you receive a handsome purple ribbon! And, if that s not enough when you earn two (2) ARM awards, you receive a gift certificate towards club dues or Toastmasters merchandise. If you are interested in being ARMED FOR SUCCESS, you can sign up for specific roles with VP ED, Nancy Bateman, and you can volunteer for roles if they become available during the week. Strengthen your fundamental skills by proactively earning your next A.R.M. award! Nancy-10 (Toastmaster, TT Speaker, Vote Counter) A Key to Those Wacky Toastmaster Acronyms CC Competent Communicator, one who has completed the first 10 manual speeches from the Competent Communicator manual (formerly CTM) AC-B Advanced Communicator - Bronze, a CC who has completed 2 Advanced Manuals AC-S AC-Silver an AC-B who has completed 2 more advanced manuals + 2 modules from Better Speaker or Successful Club series AC-G AC-Gold an AC-S who has completed 2 more advanced manuals + 1 registered Success/Leadership, Success/Communication, or Youth Leadership program and mentored one new member CL Competent Leader, one who has completed the 10 projects from the Competent Leadership manual AL-B Advanced Leader- Bronze, a CL and CC who has served a full six-months as an elected club officer, attended district training, and presented 2 modules from Successful Club or Leadership Excellence AL-S AL - Silver, an AL-B who has completed the High Performance Leadership manual, served a full year as a District officer, and served as either a sponsor or mentor for a new club DTM Distinguished Toastmaster, an AC-G who has completed the AL-S Award. September 2010 Page 3 The Verbal Express

4 Table Topics Contest Tantalizes By Club Contest Chair Simon Cornelius, CC Lights, camera, ACTION! August 26th was certainly a day to remember - it's not that often that we we get to compete in a club contest. On this date we held the club Table Topics contest, and it was a BLAST! There was a fantastic turnout for the contest, with a full roster of assistants, judges, chief judge, Contest master and of course the contestants. The meeting was opened by Nancy Bateman who explained the judging forms, the purpose and how to fill them out. Even the Table Topics Contest participants on August 26, (L-R) Contestmaster Linda Rummans, DTM, Contestants: Maury French, Lisette Zounon, Vidya Basanavaraju, Uttara Sawant. contestants had a judging form so that they could benefit from seeing how they would be scored and make sure they hit all the areas of a successful Table Topic. Note, there is no requirement to use a word of the day in the contest, so that was one less item to worry about! Contest Master Linda Rummans explained the rules of the meeting, and then it was off to the races! Contestants drew for speaking order as follows: Maury, Lisette, Vidya and Uttara. All of the contestants except for the first one were escorted out of the room, and then the waiting was over - the Table Topics question was... "What is the difference between living and existing?" Every contestant delivered a brilliant response to the question. It was quite a thought-provoking question, and we received some really well thought out and insightful responses. Well, the judges busily marked their ballots, and while the votes were tallied, Linda ran the "Meet the Contestants" section. The results came in, anticipation was high. Alas there could only be one winner even though everyone did an outstanding job. Winners were announced in reverse order: Second Place was Maury French who would represent the club at the area contest in the event the winner could not attend. First place went to Uttara Sawant! Congratulations to all the contestants for a job well done as well as the timers, ballot counters and judges. We this contest was successful because of the help and contributions of many club members Kudos go to the following for their hard work: Contest master - Linda Rummans Chief Judge Nancy Bateman Contestants Vidya Basavaraju, Maury French, Uttara Sawant, Lisette Zounon Timers Harry Manley & Carolyn Cartwright Ballot counter - Simon Cornelius Sergeants at arms - Yibing Lin Judges Simon Cornelius, Harry Manley, Carolyn Cartwright, Mukund Onkar, and Sushma Shankar Contest Committee - Maury French, Nancy Bateman, and (chair) Simon Cornelius EXTRA WINNINGS FOR BEING A LEADER - Simon earned big time credit in the COMPENTENT LEADER MANUAL for being our contest chair. Thank you Simon and congratulations for completing this leadership role! All club members serving in timing, vote counting and meeting roles will get All Roles Mastered credit, too. September 2010 Page 4 The Verbal Express

5 Humor Speech Contest is Loaded with Laughter By Club Contestmaster Lisette Zounon On September 9th 2010 we held the club Humorous contest, and it was AMAZING! Although the turnout was low, we had fun, laughing, great assistants and judges, superb chief judge, contest master and of course two clever contestants. The meeting was opened by our Chief Judge, Linda Rummans, who explained the judging forms then Contestmaster Lisette Zounon explained the rules of the contest. Speaker order had been drawn before the meeting. First contestant was Uttara Sawant, with a speech entitled: Just en Texas! Uttara delivered a very interesting and funny story enacting and mimicking her favorite English writer from centuries ago on her space age travels to Texas in modern times. Though she kept who she was secret, Uttara s character marveled and commented on the oddities and modern conveniences of the 21 st century as she travelled about. Uttara used various characters and accents that added a lot of humor to her speech. This was a great speech with a lot of laughter from the audience. Second contestant was Nancy Bateman. Her speech was titled: Habits of a Highly Successful Marriage. Just the title enough of her speech made the audience chuckle and wonder and from that point on they paid close attention. Nancy shared childhood stories about her family and her parents, and provided tips on some of the habits for a success marriage! This was a great entertainment speech and very humorous as well. The judges marked their ballots and while the votes were tallied, Lisette ran the "Meet the Contestants" portion of the meeting. When the ballots were tallied, Uttara took second place. Nancy took first place and will be representing our club at the area 44 contest on September 24. Congratulations to all participants! Let s have a big applause for the contest committee - Maury French (chair) and Nancy Bateman & Simon Cornelius. And enormous appreciation for all our role holders and helpers: Contestmaster: Lisette Zounon Chief Judge: Linda Rummans Timer: Mukund Onkar Ballot Counter: Carolyn Cartwright Judges: Carolyn Cartwright, Kamakshi Kata, Mukund Onkar Linda Rummans, Lisette Zounon EXTRA AWARDS FOR BEING A LEADER - Maury earned big time credit in the COMPENTENT LEADER MANUAL for being our contest chair. Thank you Maury and congratulations for completing important leadership role for your CL and for the club s success. All club members serving in timing, vote counting and meeting roles will get All Roles Mastered credit, too. This info is from the website. Visit website for more information. AREA 44 CONTEST Friday, September 24 th evening PLAINS DIVISION CONTEST Saturday, October 23, 3:30pm DISTRICT 50 Conference and Contests Fri evening & all of Sat, November 12 & 13 September 2010 Page 5 The Verbal Express

6 MEETING DATE Speaker (meeting objectives) BEST-OF RIBBONS Evaluator Table Topics August 12 Uttara Sawant Simon Cornelius Sai Kumar August 19 Humorous Speech Workshop Cynthia Brown, 2010 District Champion August 26 Table Topics CONTEST Uttara Sawant 1 st 2 nd Place Maury French September 2 Vidya Basavaraju Carolyn Cartwright Sai Kumar September 9 Humorous CONTEST Nancy Bateman 1st 2 nd Place Uttara Sawant September 16 Sai Kumar Yibing Lin Guest: Cindy French WE WANT YOU TO RENEW! Dues are Due! Club membership renewals are only $36 for the coming term October, 2010 through March That s a lot of fun & learning for about $1 a week! Please make your check payable to VERBAL EXPRESSIONS For the amount of $ or- bring exact cash! Give to Yibing, our club treasurer, or to any club officer at our club meetings. September 2010 Page 6 The Verbal Express

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8 Club Membership as of Sept 20th, Vidya Basavaraju 2 Nancy Bateman DTM VP Education 3 Carolyn Cartwright CC CL 4 Simon Cornelius CC 5 James Feigel 6 Maury French VP Membership 7 George Makaye **NEW MEMBER** 8 Dave Jancan **NEW MEMBER** 9 Kamakshi Kata CC 10 Calvin King ACS Mentor Coordinator 11 Sai Kumar ACS CL President 12 Petra Laws CTM 13 Yibing Lin CC CL Treasurer 14 Priti Mahale ACB ALB 15 Harry Manley ABC ALB 16 Reggie Miggins CTM **NEW MEMBER** 17 Samuel Muigai CC 18 Mukund Onkar **NEW MEMBER** 19 Vaishali Padghan VP Public Relations 20 Chakri Paila ACB CL 21 Josilen Price ACB, CL 22 Linda Rummans DTM 24 Ramana Rupangudi **NEW MEMBER** 25 Vilma Rusto **NEW MEMBER** 26 Uttara Sawant CC Secretary 27 Sushma Shankar 28 Richard Shaw **NEW MEMBER** 29 Mohan Tammana **NEW MEMBER** 30 Nalini Yerneni SGT ARMS - lead 31 Lisette Zounon Our Club Officers July - December 2010 President Sai Kumar ACS CL VP Education Nancy Bateman DTM VP Membership Maury French VP Public Relations Vaishali Padghan Secretary Uttara Sawant CC Treasurer Yibing Lin CC CL Sergeant-at-Arms Nalini Yerneni & James Feigel Mentor Chair Calvin King ACS Who will be our NEXT One of your friends?! One of your colleagues?! new member? Invite them! Share the Secret of Success Bring a Friend or Coworker to our weekly Club Meetings! About This Newsletter - The Verbal Express is published monthly by President Sai Kumar for the education and use of the members and guests of the award winning Verbal Expressions Toastmasters Club. The information in this newsletter is for Toastmasters business only and is not to be used for solicitation or distribution of non-toastmaster materials or information. The Verbal Express is also available on the club website at Articles about the club, club members, Toastmasters, District 50 activities and public speaking should be delivered to our club newsletter editor Vaishali Padghan at vaishali_1210@yahoo.com by or before the 1st Monday of each month. Please use MSWord whenever possible. September 2010 Page 8 The Verbal Express