Dec South Main Monthly

South Main Monthly Vol. 2 No. 6

South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609

December, 2007

The mission of the Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

IN THIS ISSUE: *President's Corner *Calendar of Events December 16: Education Session Table Topics 101

President’s Corner Time to Celebrate by Vivek Rajan, CC

*Editor’s Note *New Member Spotlight Huang Tang Josefina MARTOS-MUNOZ * Member News A Note of Thanks by Renay Jacob & Jeanne Button *Features Les Oreillettes: A Scrumptious Childhood Memory by Annie Ballatore, ACB, CL *Ask the Master How to Evaluate a Speech?

The South Main Monthly is a monthly publication of the South Main Speakers Toastmasters club. We meet every Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in 10305 South Main Street (Houston Chinese Church), Room 411. For more information, please visit our website at: http://groups.msn.com/southmainspeakers If you have any comments, contributions, or suggestions concerning this or future issues, please send them to [email protected]. Thank you for reading!

– Judy Yan, Editor

It’s the holiday season and it's time to celebrate! As our custom, we will be celebrating the white elephant gift exchange in the meeting before Christmas (December 16th), and being Toastmasters we will have to give a 1-2 min Table Topics speech on what the gift means to us and if we like the gift or not. On the very same day, the 2007 Table Topics Champion, Jim Hamilton, will be giving an educational session on how to prepare for Table Topics as well! So bring a small gift on December 16th and celebrate the white elephant gift exchange with us. And don't forget to wrap your gift very well! With the Toastmasters’ term coming to an end, it's time to see where we stand. First off, our club is growing tremendously, we currently have 36 members in our club, and it's growing every month! We have 5 points towards the Distinguished Club Program and expect it to reach 8 points within the next few weeks. And we'll be well on our way to be President's Distinguished once again. A very BIG thank you to all the club officers for having done a fantastic job in taking our club to great heights, and an even BIGGER thank you to all the members for your enthusiasm and for making our meetings fun! My congratulations to the incoming officers! Being an officer has been a very rewarding journey for me, and I'm sure you'll learn and grow just as I did. By giving, you will receive. Wish y'all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Have a safe holiday season and celebrate it every moment!

Editor’s Editor’s Note As 2007 draws to a close, so does my term as Editor of South Main Monthly. I want to take a moment and say thank you to all of you who have supported our newsletter. Specifically, I would like to thank the following members who have contributed articles during my term (in order of publication date): Vivek Rajan Jane Shen Renay Jacob Annie Ballatore Vivian Li Ranjith Poduval JR Reynolds, Jr. Mark Smith Jian Wang Grace Hu Bob Hu Jeanne Button and the following new members who have contributed to “New Member Spotlight”: Ronald Seo Erika Parrish Alvin Chenier Jeanne Button Shabnam Zangeneh Hande Sahin, Mary Teng Mark Smith Huifang Li Josefina Munoz I would also like to give my special thanks to Annie and Vivek for your encouragement, Vivian for showing me the ropes, Art and Renay for your constructive feedback, `and many of you for your kind words and support! Truly, without you, my journey as an editor would not have been smooth sailing or as enjoyable. Thank You! – Judy Yan

December

December 16: Education Session on Table Topics Jim Hamilton, 2007 District Table Topics Contest Champion and 2007 District International Speech Contest Champion, will share tips on how to handle Table Topics – the most intimidating part of a Toastmasters meeting for many of us. Followed by a Holiday Party!

Happy Holidays

New Member Spotlight

We have never stopped growing! South Main Speakers added another two new members this month. Please join me to welcome our newest members, Huang Tang and Josefina Munoz!

“I am from Barcelona, Spain. I spent one summer in The Hague, The Netherlands. I did not know many people, and making new friends was kind of tough because everybody was speaking in this strange language called Dutch. So, I searched for activities to do with English language speakers, and, here it comes, the Toastmasters in The Hague. They told me it was going to be a friendly, fun and educational oriented event, just the three things I live by. I joined, and it did not disappoint me. So, now, as I realized that there must be toastmasters here in Houston, I do not want to miss the opportunity of joining the club and enjoying this magnificent experience.” –Josefina

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Member News A Note of Thanks by Renay Jacob & Jeanne Button Fellow Toastmasters at South Main Speakers, Jeanne and I are very grateful for your love and support for our “Big Day.” Your Roast and Toast meeting during our semi-annual picnic certainly caught us by surprise. It was full of fun, advice, memories, and well wishes. A little bit about the wedding and reception . . . We had the wedding ceremony at 4:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Houston on November 17, 2007. The ceremony lasted about 35 minutes, with a reception afterwards at The Houstonian Hotel.

Jeanne and I entered the reception hall and immediately did our first dance. We danced a cha-cha to Michael Buble’s version of Sway. After a delicious seated dinner, the lively band (“The Works”) got our guests out on the dance floor. We paused to have a slice of our chocolate wedding cake and to chat with friends and family and then danced until 10pm.

My two goals for the wedding reception were to make our first dance a show that people would remember and to be ready with a rebuttal, if needed, to the toast by the Best Man. I’m glad to report that our premarital dance lessons paid off and that the Best Man provided a humorous, clean toast. People at our wedding were surprised to hear that I did not have a bachelor’s party. I mentioned to them that few couples get a genuine Roast leading up to the wedding, and it was an honor to receive it from our caring, Toastmasters friends.

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Les Oreillettes: A scrumptious Childhood Memory by Annie Ballatore, ACB1, CL2

As Christmas approaches, my thoughts turn back to the delights of my childhood. I remember the delicious desserts that were traditional of my native Provence3 and of my home. One of my favorite was les oreillettes, crisp, light beignets, delicately flavored with orange blossom water. My mom used to make them every Christmas. Just thinking of this delicacy makes my mouth water! So let me share this simple recipe with you.

necessary to obtain a smooth and firm dough. Knead the dough briefly. 2. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for one hour. 3. Roll out the pastry to a ¼ inch thickness. Cut the dough into triangles, squares or ribbons. The ribbons can be left flat. They can also be knotted; the knotted pastry looks like “little ears” which is exactly the English translation for oreillettes! 4. Heat cooking oil in a skillet. Drop the dough into the skillet and fry until golden. Remove the dough from the skillet and transfer to paper towels to dry. To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Now dust out your rolling pin and make this delicious dessert from the hills of Provence. Happy Holidays!

Ingredients: 500 grams flour 250 grams butter, softened 1 tablespoon sugar 1 pinch salt 1 tablespoon orange blossom water (found at Middle Eastern stores such as Droubi’s) 4 to 5 large eggs cooking oil (corn, sunflower or peanut oil) powdered sugar Preparation: 1. Pour flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center of flour. Add the next 4 ingredients and 3 eggs. Mix slowly, and add 1 or 2 more eggs as

Christmas Eve in Provence

1

ACB – Advanced Communicator Bronze CL – Competent Leader 3 Provence - a historical region and former province of southeast France bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. 2

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Ask the Master Dear Master, I have been focusing my effort on giving a good speech and haven’t paid much attention to how to evaluate a speech. After being on the receiving end of many evaluations, I have come to realize how important it is to give a good evaluation on a speech. I wonder if you could give me some pointers on how to evaluate a speech. —Evaluator Dear Evaluator4, You probably have noticed that there is no instructor in a Toastmasters club - we are our own teachers. We take turns evaluating each other so we all improve our skills. For the speaker, an evaluation is a powerful learning aid as it provides direct feedback following the speaker's presentation. A good evaluation helps the speaker find specific areas for improvement and encourages growth and learning. For the evaluator, an evaluation provides an opportunity to help others develop 4

Modified based on Toastmasters’ online learning materials.

valuable speaking skills. While in the process, an evaluator can also learn by observing the speaker. So, an evaluation is truly a two-way street in terms of learning. It helps both speakers and evaluators learn to key on critical elements in a speech. Additionally, an evaluation develops effective listening skills as it requires the evaluator to carefully listen to the presentation so that he/she can express a meaningful impression of the presentation to the speaker. When you given an evaluation, whether verbal or written, formal or informal, you are giving your impressions of a speech you are not judging. Most importantly, you are helping the speaker improve. By helping a speaker improve, you are helping yourself improve. What Should I Evaluate? An evaluation is your impression of the speech - what most impressed you about the speech or areas where improvement is necessary. To be of value, an evaluation should be specific and offer useful suggestions and observations. Here are some useful tips for giving an effective speech evaluation: 1. Take notes from the beginning 2. Opening • Did the speaker use proper protocol to address the audience? (e.g., Toastmaster of the meeting, Table Topics Master, Fellow Toastmasters, Guests) • Did the speaker use a "hook" to engage the attention of the audience? 3. Appearance • Posture, confidence, appropriate visual aids? • Body language and gestures? • Good eye contact?

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4. Organization • Introduction, body of speech, conclusion • Was the purpose of the speech clear? 5. Voice projection • Could everyone in the audience hear the speaker? • Vocal variety? 6. "Sandwich approach" • Start with something positive • Suggestions for improvement • End with something positive 7. Overall Points: • Focus on the positive; minimize the number of suggestions for improvement (give 1-2 concrete suggestions). • Make it clear that your evaluation is your perception of the speech, rather than a general statement of right or wrong. Example: "I was confused about..." or, "It was not clear to me ..." or, "My reaction was..." (rather than "You were not clear"). • Minimize or avoid restating the speech and try to summarize the speech. • Minimize or avoid telling your own story about the topic. 8. Study the Toastmasters advanced manual for "Effective Speech Evaluation”. Hope this helps. Good luck with your next evaluation!

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