January 2007

South Main Monthly Vol. 1 No. 1

South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609

January 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 *New Officers January-June 2007 *Anniversaries and Milestones Biru Yang Xiaodong Zhai Ashish Sinha *New Member Spotlight Jazon Samillano *Calendar of Events Magic Moments showing Tall Tales and International Speech Contests *Features "How I Ended Up in Toastmasters" by Ashish Sinha "What's in a Name?" by Renay Jacob "Tax Corner" by Sam Tsen *Ask the Master What do the Toastmaster acronyms mean?

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

President’s Corner Welcome Back! By Annie M. Ballatore, CL Welcome to the first edition of the South Main Speakers Newsletter, where the latest information, achievements, and goals of our club can be shared with both our club members and the community! This past year, South Main Speakers has shown a fraction of the enormous talent and potential it possesses. Over the course of 2006, our club grew to include 27 members, several of which earned educational awards. This steady influx of new members to our club has brought enthusiasm, new personalities, and an impressive array of different skills. Our club also retained seasoned members, including several DTMs as well as both area and division governors. These members continue to bring dedication, high educational levels, and invaluable knowledge of the intricate world of Toastmasters International. All in all, our club is now known throughout the district for its dynamism, friendliness, and achievements!

If you have any comments, contributions, or suggestions concerning this or future issues, please send them to [email protected]. Thank you for reading!

With such a wonderful group, in 2007 South Main Speakers hopes to continue to nurture our delightful club climate. Through more educational sessions, contests, and exciting meetings, our club will give each member the opportunity to develop his or her communication and leadership skills while simultaneously making wonderful friends and having loads of fun!

-Vivian Li, Editor

South Main Speakers, best wishes for a marvelous New Year!

New Officers January-June 2007 Congratulations to the following Toastmasters who were elected in November to serve the January-June 2007 term: President: Annie M. Ballatore, CL Vice President Education: Vivek Rajan Vice President Membership: Lu Yao Vice President Public Relations: Vivian Li Secretary: Brian Zhang Treasurer: Biru Yang Sergeant at Arms: Gary Chen

Anniversaries & Milestones Milestones

Calendar of Events January 21: Showing of Magic Moments DVD

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Congratulations to Biru Yang for earning her Competent Toastmaster (CTM) award last month! To achieve the CTM, the Toastmaster must complete the ten speeches in the Basic Manual. Xiaodong Zhai, CC, celebrates his one year anniversary with South Main Speakers this month. Goodbye and good luck to Ashish Sinha, who joined South Main Speakers in November last year. He will be moving back to India in early February. We'll miss you!

Learn what all great speakers know: the greatest speeches are built on a foundation of magic moments. David Brooks, Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking, studied speeches at the previous Toastmasters World Championship looking to capture the "magic moment" when a speech was outstanding in some special way. He then compiled them into a DVD with his commentaries. Watch and learn from Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking finalists who demonstrate dozens of specialized speaking skills.

February: Tall Tales Contest and the Toastmasters International Speech Contest Brush up your tall tales and your best speech! Next month, TM clubs all over our district will be conducting contests for the Tall Tales Contest and the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. Winners from South Main Speakers will represent our club at the district level. Stay tuned for more details!

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New Member Spotlight Please give a warm welcome to our newest member, Jazon Samillano, who joined after visiting South Main Speakers last week. In his own words to the club: My heart broke when I had to leave my Toastmasters club back in Fort Myers, Florida, but I had to pursue a greater job opportunity here in Houston. It is so wonderful to find a club here so welcoming and so devoted to achieving excellence in public speaking. Thank you so much for this new opportunity!

that he has joined a Toastmasters Club in order to improve it. Within a fraction of a second I realized that this is also one of my biggest weaknesses and wow – I have a solution too. My next dot com on my journey was Toastmasters.com.

How I Ended Up at Toastmasters – South Main Speakers Contributed by Ashish Sinha

Let me share with you the interesting sequence of events that led me to Toastmaster Club – South Main Speakers. While filling out an application, I was required to enter my three weaknesses. This is a commonly asked and dreaded question in interviews. I looked up my friend in need – google.com. After few clicks, I ended up reading message boards on Monster.com. Most people on the forum suggested stating a weakness which you are working on improving. I scrolled down further and found a gentleman commenting that his weakness is "Public Speaking" and

After a few more clicks, I was pretty much convinced that this is what I wanted. Thanks to the zip code and day of week based search, I was quickly able to narrow down the list of clubs; of course the South Main Speakers came on top of the list. Looking at the web pages and updated website made me further interested in trying it out. After attending the first meeting, I did not feel like trying out anything else. I think my wife and this Toastmasters club are the two things that I fell in love with at first sight. Although I have only a few more meetings left to attend in this club before I move on to a branch in India, the valuable experiences I gained here will be cherished throughout my life. My best wishes remain with this club. ************

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But I digress. The last name, Obama, is the tough part. It's not Adams or Coolidge. It's not even an anagram for anything remotely WASP-y sounding. Amoab? Too many vowels.

What's in a Name? Contributed by Renay Jacob, ATMB

One of my favorite routines on Sunday morning is tuning into Sunday Morning on CBS (8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.). I've enjoyed the show for several years, and I like it because of its low-key with highbrow news stories. Each Sunday, a commentator provides his/her opinion on a topic du jour for 3-4 minutes. On December 17, 2006, Mo Rocca provided this light-hearted commentary on Barack Obama. I think you will find his creative play on words rather amusing, regardless of your political affiliations: Never mind Barack Obama's color. The real challenge will be getting Americans to vote for a guy whose name is Barack Obama. It's just so foreign sounding. Strange, maybe even dangerous. Ted Kennedy already slipped up and last year called the golden boy/junior Senator from Illinois "Osama." And they're in the same party! The first name isn't the problem. We've had Rutherford, we've had Grover, we've had the suspiciously-Muslim-sounding Abraham. Besides, he can always just go with the first initial followed by the middle name, like former FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover. That would make him B. Hussein Obama. Hussein's his middle name?! He'd be better off with Milhouse. Or, maybe he should just go with J. Edgar Hoover.

Yes, some of this would be mitigated if he were Caucasian, even Irish-Catholic. But would candidate Barack O'Bama have a much easier shot? Nope. And yet the name presents such possibility. There's just so much you can do with it. A gathering of Obama lovers becomes an Obamarama. A triumph at the New Hampshire primary? Obamatastic. Mothers for Obama? Obama-mamas. Star Wars fans will naturally call him Obama-Wan Kenobi. And followers of Emeril Lagasse who plan on voting for the Senator will be shouting "o-BAM-a!" (an example of what your English teacher might call Obamatapoeia). The mantra of his doo-wop supporters? I've got a candidate named Obamalamadingdong! Of course not everyone is an Obamaniac, marching behind their leader like some Obamaton. Certain Democrats even are probably downright scared. Just call it Obamaphobia. Mo Rocca continues to be one of my favorite humorists on radio and television. You can find a clip for the segment at www.cbsnews.com. ************

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deadline to October 15th. If you owe taxes, the extension to file does NOT change the payment due date. For sure, any unpaid taxes will accrue interest and penalties. If you expect to receive a tax refund, you may split it into up to three (3) accounts within up to three (3) different institutions. Tax Corner Contributed by Sam Tsen, CTM

Hello Folks – After you've enjoyed the holiday celebrations and made the 2007 New Year resolutions, now the inevitable realities of life including the compulsory date with the IRS requirements are around the corner. Sure, there is plenty of time you say … there is even another New Year's celebration (Chinese) before the deadline. Yet, this final moment inexorably moves towards you daily until the midnight bell, which in 2007, rings on Monday, April 16th. Of course, typical of the IRS, there are several changes for 2006 tax year and they may affect you. First, there is a NEW tax credit – the telephone excise tax credit. Also, each exemption is $3,300 and standard deduction has been increased: single or married filing separately is $5,150, head of household is $7,550 and married filing jointly is $10,300.

IRS prefers e-file (electronic filing) – it is SAFER and FASTER. If your tax declaration is simple, do it yourself. Otherwise, seek advice from a professional – it will save you money in the long run. More tax news, updates and advices will be forthcoming in the next few articles. Meanwhile, enjoy your New Year.

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Ask the Master Dear Master,

Several provisions earmarked for elimination in 2006 appear to be resuscitated by Congress and these may help you: deductions for state and local sales tax, higher education tuition and fees credits, and educator expenses.

What does all of those acronyms in Toastmasters mean? ATM, ATMB, CTM, CL, etc...what do they all stand for and is there any order to them? -Confused New Member

If you need more time to prepare your taxes, you may file an extension which moves the

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Dear Confused, The Toastmasters educational program is divided into two tracks-- a communication track and a leadership track. The core of the communication track is the Competent Communication manual, which is often referred to as the "Basic Manual." It contains 10 speech projects. The track continues with three Advanced Communicator awards. The leadership track starts with attaining the Competent Leader award, which focuses on leading people as a club officer, and the Advanced Leader, which focuses on leading leaders in Toastmasters.

Most of the acronyms you mentioned refer to the previous educational program that is being fazed out and replaced by the new educational program that new members follow. The new program is very much similar to the old one, though to better distinguish the communication and leadership tracks, the award names have changed slightly and an additional level was added to the leadership track. The left diagram below outlines the old program and the right diagram describes the new program.

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