May 2008 South Main Monthly

South Main Monthly Vol. 3 No. 5

South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609

May 2008

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 self-confidence confidence and personal growth.

In This Issue

• President's Corner • Milestones

President’s Corner

Sam Tsen

• Humor Corner • Calendar of Events District 56 Conference Spring Picnic and Club Elections

• Features “Inaugural Grand Slam Results” by Vivian Li “Tomates à la Provençale” by Annie Ballatore

• Ask the Master Using humor in presentations

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! -Vivek Rajan, Editor

WANTED: A Few Good Men and Women By Vivian Li, CC Though the current Democratic race is really heating up, don't forget that we have our own elections coming up! Ok, it probably won't be as dramatic and drawn out as that one, but likewise we need a few good men and women to step up to this opportunity to serve this club. Following llowing tradition, our officer elections will take place at our annual spring picnic, this year on Sunday, Jun 1 at Hermann Park from 12:30-4 12:30 p.m. This club has grown tremendously since it's founding more than ten years ago. We have doubled our membership membershi since to 40 members! We are now known also for our special monthly education sessions led by the best speakers in our district. These sessions have drawn people from as far away as League City. And this July we will be awarded our President's Distinguished Distinguish 10 out of 10 award for excellence for the fifth year in a row! We have much to celebrate about our club, but we still have room to grow. Many friends have gone because of work or moving away. And many new friends have come. But regardless of the shifts, this club has continued to thrive and prosper because of dedicated members like you who are here to improve their public speaking and leadership skills as well as help others achieve similar goals. The beauty of this club is that it is like a family; we are a all in it together. Please consider nominating yourself or others for a position—President, VP-Education, Education, VP-Public VP Relations, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant-at-Arms—to to ensure the continued growth of this club and to serve its members better. Feel free f to contact me if you have any questions about these roles at [email protected].

Anniversaries Sam Tsen, the founder of South Main Speakers, celebrates his 12th anniversary with South Main Speakers this month!

Region III Conference Decoration Committee South Main Speakers along with Day Breakers Toastmasters club have taken up the responsibility for decorating the courtyard for the Toastmasters Region III conference! And decoration committee is lead by one of our creative members – Erika Parrish! If you are interested in being a part of this, please contact Erika.

Humor Corner Three Doctors are discussing which types of patients they prefer. Doctor Watson says, “I prefer librarians. All their heir organs are alphabetized.” Doctor Fitzpatrick says, “I I prefer mathematicians. All their organs are numbered.” Doctor Ahn says, “I prefer lawyers. They are gutless, heartless, brainless, spineless, and their heads and rear ends are interchangeable.”

May 16th and 17th: District Conference The district spring conference is coming up this month! District conferences are filled with educational sessions on communication and leadership. If you have been to one before, you know it’s value, and if you haven’t been to one, it’s well worth it! The conference also includes the district-level level International Speech and Evaluation contests. If you are interested in registering for the conference, you can visit http://www.toastmastershttp://www.toastmasters d56.org/doc/Spring2008_Agenda_Registration.pdf. The whole conference is $150, which includes all the sessions, but you can also register for individual sessions! It’s only $20 if you are interested only in attending the contests! June 1: Spring Picnic and Elections Come enjoy the nice weather at our annual Spring Picnic from 1 - 4 p.m. and located at Hermann Park’s Bayou Parkland Pavilion, 6520 Almeda, Houston, TX 77021. At the picnic, we’ll have a regular toastmasters meeting along with food, games, and lots of fun! And on the same day, the officer fficer elections for the next term will also be held, so get more involved by becoming an officer! Please email Vivian Li, [email protected] if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else as an officer.

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South Main Speakers Speakers’ Inaugural GRAND SLAM! By Vivian Li, CC

We couldn’t have asked for a better inaugural Grand Slam event! Perfect weather, perfect form, and perfect camaraderie! Many thanks to our players and cheerleaders, in no particular order: Francis Athappilly, Erika Parrish, Bob Hu, Grace Hu, Ernie Hermano, Jian Wang, Vivek Rajan, Mary Deng, Annie Ballatore, Jeanne Jacob, Renay Jacob, and Vivian Li. Thanks alsoo to Mary for pumping us up with an excellent meeting and warm warm-ups beforehand as Toastmaster, and Bob and Grace for their hospitality and for making this event possible. The winners of the Grand Slam tournaments are: Mixed Doubles Tennis 1st place: Grace Hu and Jian Wang 2nd place: Mary Deng and Vivek Rajan 3rd place: Bob Hu and Ernie Hermano Wii Tennis 1st place: Vivek Rajan 2nd place: Grace Hu 3rd place: Mary Deng We also had two special awards for excellence: Best Teamwork: Erika Parrish and Francis Athappilly Best Cheerleader: Renay Jacob

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Pre-game powwow around the food

Mary helping to get our groove on with pre-game pre warmup exercises

Renay shows the benefits of eating more vitamin C Grrrr…more pain more gain

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh “This is how you should hold a racquet”—Bob racquet” giving team Erika and Francis some tennis lessons

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And that is the foul line

You mean I’m supposed to hit the ball?

I think that’s out “And then we never heard from him again…”

Take that! Cheerleaders keeping their cool on the sidelines

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Wii Tennis Tournament winners Best Teamwork Awardees Francis and Erika

Renay proudly wears his Best Cheerleader laurels It’s all over! (Mary relishing in her silver beads)

Doubles Tennis award ceremony, Olympic style

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Tomates à la Provençale By Annie Ballatore, ACB, ALB

This warm weather reminds me of a favorite dish my mother used to make in the summer time: “les tomates à la Provençale”. ”. It is a delicious dish, easy to make and full of healthy nutrients.

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Drizzle the rest of the olive oil. Set the oven at 350F and bake for 45minutes.

Your kitchen will soon be fragrant from the enticing aromas of the South of France cuisine. Serve this exquisite dish with a green salad for a light dinner.

Ask the Master Dear Master, I have heard good speakers use humor effectively to make a point, and that makes their presentations entertaining too. Could you please give me some tips on how to use humor in my presentations? — Wannabe Funny

Ingredients: 6 ripe tomatoes 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil 6 cloves of garlic a bunch of Italian parsley freshly prepared breadcrumbs salt and pepper •

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Wash and dry the tomatoes. Cut them in half and brush each half with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Peel the garlic cloves. Mince the garlic; mix it with the bunch of parsley and mince again until the mixture is very fine. Spread the garlic – parsley mix on the tomatoes, covering the cut surfaces. Sprinkle with freshly prepared breadcrumbs, preferably made from a crunchy french baguette. Add salt and pepper.

Dear Wannabe, Using humor in presentations ions is a skill that can be learnt with some practice. Here are some tips that might help you to add humor to your speeches: Humor can help. It can also backfire. Used skillfully, humor can help establish rapport with your audience. It can ease tension and help in responding to a hostile question. It can help underscore a key point or message. It can help to keep your audience's attention, increasing interest in whatt you're saying. It lets your audience see your human side. And information conveyed with humor is more likely to be remembered. But be careful. If you use humor poorly, it can sink your presentation and harm your credibility.

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Humor and jokes are not the same. Humor is found within the context of your presentation. Jokes, on the other hand, invite an on-demand response from your listeners. You needn't be a comedian to use humor effectively. You don't even have to be good at telling jokes. You need only a sense of humor. The best humor springs as anecdotes from personal experience. As such, they're easy to tell because you've lived the experience; they spring from ordinary, real-life experiences that audiences can easily relate to.

appear to be trying too hard, and your joke will serve only as a distraction. People tend to resist when they think you're just trying to make them laugh. Take pains to avoid offensive humor. It should go without saying: never use ethnic, racist, sexist, or off-color humor. Follow the rule: when in doubt—even the slightest doubt—leave it out. Also avoid sarcasm. People almost always feel uncomfortable with a speaker who demeans others. Even when you use humor skillfully, don't expect your audience to convulse in laughter. There's no laugh meter and you're no standup comic. Your audience did not come to be entertained.

Make it relevant. Make your humor relevant to your presentation. Use humor to make a point, one that advances your overall objective. When you do, your listeners—even if they don't find your humor funny—will get the point you intended to make and will appreciate that. You can also use humor to provide a brief diversion from your subject matter. But, again, make it relevant.

More tips. Any humor you may use should be determined while you're preparing your presentation. As a rule, just two or three instances of humor in a 15-to-20 minute presentation should be ample.

Make your humor relevant to your audience as well. That presumes you've done your homework. You know the demographics. You know who is in your audience. You know their background, their tastes and biases. You know how they're likely to respond. This becomes more of a challenge when you're dealing with different cultures. Remember: not all humor is universal. What works in one culture may not work in another.

Don't laugh at your own humor.

Things to avoid. Don't start with a joke for the sake of a joke that has nothing to do with anything. You'll

If you do use humor and you get no response, keep going. Humor, if it fails, has no consequence, unlike jokes that fail.

Keep it short. Humor itself is not the point. It's a means to an end, not the end itself. Remember: the degree of overt audience response does not matter as much as the overall success of your presentation. Ask yourself: Will humor help clarify a point? Will it help hold your listeners' attention? Just what purpose do you have in inserting humor at this particular point in your presentation? Some good sources of humor. There are many types of humor and

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humorous devices. And with a little imagination, there's no end of source material. The anecdote is among the more common devices. This simply is any interesting story based on a real incident or event. You can reach into your own experience to find anecdotes. You can relate a story you know from someone else's experience. Or you can track down collections of anecdotes involving people who are well known. The test is whether you can relate to it yourself. If you can't, it probably won't work. You might also toss in an occasional analogy—a comparison that allows you to make a point quickly. The like word almost defines the analogy, as in, "I feel like the deceased at a wake. I'm not expected to say much, but you can't start this meeting without me. So I'll be brief."

use an analogy, an aside, or a quote. It doesn't much matter which of the many available devices you use, as long as they're in good taste, they're relevant to your presentation and your audience, and they help to illustrate or convey a key point.

Wouldn’t it be GREAT ...if you could just take a pill,

You can also use an aside—a thought that's seemingly thrown in as if something you've just said reminds you of a related thought. An aside must be short, allowing you to jump back into your original train of thought. Another standby is the quote—usually but not always attributed to someone whose name is instantly recognizable. Quotes can come from anywhere. In this age of the Internet, there's certainly no shortage of sources. You may want to couple your Web search with some of the standard reference books. It's also a good idea to start your own collection, filing away quotes you come across that strike you as memorable or likely to be useful later. Even cartoons and comic strips may contain humor you can apply to real-life business situations. While not everybody can tell a joke, anyone with a little practice can tell an anecdote, or

and no longer be terrified to speak in front of groups?

Come to South Main Speakers Toastmasters Club, we supply them!* It costs nothing to visit our club, and there is no obligation to join

Visitors are ALWAYS welcome! We meet every Sunday, 1:30-3 p.m. 10305 South Main Street @ I-610 For information visit http://groups.msn.com/SouthMainSpeakers * Disclaimer: Quantities are limited. First come, first serve.

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