Oct South Main Monthly

South Main Monthly Vol. 2 No. 4

South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609

October, 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 *Anniversaries and Milestones Brenda Thorne, Trevor Gor Jazon Samillano, Jane Shen Sam Tsen, Jian Wang, Weilie Pan Raghuram Arakalgud *Calendar of Events Oct 21: Division Q Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest Oct 28: Education Session *New Member Spotlight Shabnam Zangeneh, Hande Sahin, Mary Teng, and Mark Smith *Features How Toastmasters Can Help You By Mark Smith, DTM Make Full Use of Library Resources By Jian Wang, CTM Longwood Gardens. By Grace Hu, ATMB A Day on the Farm. By Bob Hu, ATMB *Ask the Master How to Prepare the Ice Breaker 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

President’s Corner Division Contest, Membership Growth and Club Elections By Vivek Rajan, CC Congratulations to Jazon Samillano and Jane Shen for doing a marvelous job at the area Q-50 Table Topics and Humorous speech contests. Jazon won the Table Topics contest and will be representing our club at the Division Q contest. The Division Q contest is going to be held at the Jungman Library (5830 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX – 77057), on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 2 p.m. Be there to support and cheer Jazon! Our club is growing! We got 10 new members in the last three months and our membership has touched an all-time high of 38 members! Kudos to all the members for keeping our meetings fun and educational! With fall in the air, it is time to think about the club elections. We will hold the elections in the month of November. Serving as a club officer is a great way to help our members grow in their personal development and to take our club to new heights, and in turn improve your leadership skills. Becoming a leader in life takes practice – so practice!

Anniversaries & Milestones •

Congratulations to Brenda J. Thorne, DTM, who celebrates her fourteenth year anniversary with South Main Speakers!

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Congratulations to Trevor Gor, who celebrates his first year anniversary with South Main Speakers!

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Congratulations to Jazon Samillano, who won first place in the Area Q-50 Table Topics Contest! Jazon will compete at the Division Q level on October 21.

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Congratulations to Jane Shen who stepped up to represent our club and did a wonderful job in the Area Q-50 Humorous Speech contest!

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Happy Birthday to Sam Tsen, Jian Wang, and Weilie Pan!

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Goodbye and good luck to Raghuram Arakalgud, who will be moving to Seattle due to job relocation. During the 4-month with South Main Speakers, Raghu has made tremendous improvement in his public speaking skills and won the recent Club Humorous Speech contest. Way to go, Raghu!

October October 21: Division Q Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest Who: Toastmasters and Guests When: Sunday, October 21, 2007 2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Where: Frank Jungman Branch Library 5830 Westheimer Houston, TX 77057 PARKING in front and back of Library DIRECTIONS: From the intersection of 59 and Chimney Rock, go North on Chimney Rock. Turn left onto Westheimer. The library will be on the right. http://www.houstonlibrary.org/branches/jun_home.h tml

October 28: Education Session Michael Plaks will share with us the video of the 2007 Toastmasters International conference in Phoenix and show the winning speech of International Speech Contest on October 28. Mark you calendar and don’t miss this great learning opportunity!

New Member Spotlight

South Main Speakers Toastmasters Club has been experiencing tremendous growth lately! With 4 newly added members this month, the club approaches a total of 40 members, representing about 30% growth rate in the last 3 months! Please give a warm welcome to our newest members, Shabnam Zangeneh, Hande Sahin, Mary Teng, and Mark Smith! South Main Monthly 2

New Member Spotlight “I am pursuing my PhD degree in Industrial Engineering in which leadership and communication skills play an important role. I found Toastmasters club while searching internet for some classes related to leadership in Houston. After being as a guest in three different Toastmasters clubs in different locations, I decided to join South Main Speakers, a friendly and lovely group in which I enjoy participating and sharing useful communication experience.” - Shabnam Zangeneh

“I am a 24-year-old student, pursuing my Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering. It inspired me to join Toastmaters that I can improve my analytical thinking skills while speaking and make people really listen to me. And the best part is that I can get instantaneous advice in a friendly environment without being graded or judged! I think Toastmasters will help me to become an influential speaker in my future professional life as well as in daily life.” - Hande Sahin

“I’m excited to be a new member of South Main Speakers. I’m not new to Toastmasters nor to Houston. I lived in Houston from 2002-2006 and then moved to Utah for one year to complete some job training. While in Salt Lake City, I joined a Toastmasters club, primarily with the goal of preparing for an important, national oral examination in her field. (I passed!) I enjoyed the friendships and speaking skills I developed in her Toastmasters club in Utah. Soon after returning to Houston, I sought out a fun, friendly, diverse, and accomplished Toastmasters club and found all of those things at South Main Speakers." -Jeanne Button (Joined South Main Speakers last month)

Mark Smith is an advanced speaker. He recently received his DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) award. DTM is the highest recognition a member may receive. Congratulations! Mark has been a member of over 20 Toastmasters clubs in Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Texas, and Indiana, and a visitor of 100-200 Toastmasters clubs. He is a former District Public Relations Officer and Area Governor for District 77 and P-2 Area Governor this year. Mark received BS/MS/PhD in Chemical Engineering, MBA, P.E. He worked for over 45 years in more than 25 industrial. He started up, designed and constructed multibillion dollar chemical/petroleum/defense/process plants. In his spare time, Mark enjoys sports and finance. He is an expert snow skier and a Marathon runner. He can instruct snow skiing too. (Anyone interested?) He lifts weight daily and cycles 140 miles a week.

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How Toastmasters Meets Your Needs Established in 1924, Toastmasters International uses time-tested programs that are continually updated to meet participant’s needs.

How Toastmasters Can Help You By Mark F. Smith, DTM1

Your success in business is based on how effective you are. Through participation in the Toastmasters Communication and Leadership program, people from all backgrounds learn to effectively speak, conduct a meeting, manage a department or business, lead, delegate, and motivate. How Toastmasters Works As your improved communication skills become obvious within the workplace, increased visibility, recognition and promotion will follow. Your improved presentation skills will win you the respect and admiration of your colleagues and employees - and make them wonder what you did to change! Leadership skills acquired through participation in Toastmasters will increase your management potential. As a Toastmaster you will acquire an increased ability to motivate and persuade, making you more effective as a supervisor or manager. Members of Toastmaster Clubs have access to a wide range of educational materials, including books, audio and videotapes, and seminar programs available at reduced cost through the Toastmasters International Supply Catalog.

Self-paced programs allow you to progress as rapidly or gradually as your needs dictate. The hands-on Communication and Leadership program provides the "how-to" and the practical experience so critical to progress. Toastmasters Clubs meet at various locations in the morning, at noon and in the evening. You'll be sure to find a Club that fits your needs. The Toastmasters program is cost effective, especially when compared to seminars charging hundreds of dollars per day. There is a $20 new member fee and $27 dues every six month. Clubs may also assess local dues to cover local expenses. An atmosphere of professional camaraderie makes your Toastmasters Club a unique learning environment -informal, yet dedicated to learning. The Toastmasters program can be tailored to meet your personal objectives. Whether you desire improvement in prepared or impromptu speaking, greater skill in the use of visual aids, experience and knowledge is to be gained in the areas that most interest you. How the Program Works The Toastmasters program exposes each participant to a wide range of communication experiences. Each new Toastmaster receives a New Member Kit. The kit features a copy of

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DTM – Distinguished Toastmaster

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the basic Communication and Leadership manual, general orientation materials and information regarding skill improvement in areas such as speech evaluation and the use of gestures. The initial prepared speeches, as outlined in the basic Communication and Leadership program manual, are designed with the new Toastmaster in mind. A variety of assigned speeches help the participant develop competency in areas such as organization, voice inflection and persuasiveness. After giving a prepared speech, each Toastmaster receives a constructive speech evaluation. This process recognizes speakers for their strengths and provides valuable insight into problem areas. During the meeting's Table Topics session, members learn to think on their feet by delivering short impromptu speeches, lasting one to two minutes. Upon completion of the basic Communication and Leadership program, Toastmasters may participate in the Advanced Communication and Leadership program. Participants may choose from specific business oriented topics such as Speeches by Management and Technical Presentations. Workshop style Success/Leadership programs are also available, offering opportunities for further skill development in areas such as leadership, public speaking and conducting business meetings. These programs are especially effective as in-house training and can be tailored to meet the needs of your company.

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Make Full Use of Library Resources By Jian Wang, CTM2 Book is the origin of knowledge, information and wealth. We all love reading books, either for fun or to gain more to advance our career. However, sometimes we are warded off by the skyrocketing price of some books. Well, in this article, I would like to offer you a tip to get around this barrier: make full use of library resources. The first place I would recommend you to go to is the Google books website. Once you entered the title, key word, or author information, a list of your favorite books will appear. Following the link, you can find the table of contents, introduction, and even excerpts of the books. Due to copy-right limitations, Google can not put all contents of all the books on its website. However, there is a very useful link to each book: “Find this book in a library”. Once you click through this link and provide your zip code, you will be amazed to find all the libraries in the world where there is a copy of this book are listed. I think that we are very lucky to live in such a big metropolitan city as 2

CTM –Competent Toastmaster

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Houston. There are many public libraries around for us to find our favorite books. Here we have the University of Houston libraries (the main campus, downtown campus, clear lake campus, and etc), Rice University library, Houston Public Library, Harris County Public Library, as well as other local colleges’ libraries. Most of these libraries would allow you to register a library card with your ID. Given such an ample source of libraries, I do not think you will have difficulty in finding your favorite book. And you can also pick the closest library to check out the book. Isn’t this amazing? Recently I have been immersed in reading some interesting books. And I was surprised to learn that almost all of the books, even including some latest releases, are available in the libraries. Right now I am checking out books from Rice University, University of Houston libraries, as well as the Houston Public Library. Some books that I am reading include: “The world is flat” (Rice University library), “Make your contacts count – Networking know-how for business and career success” (Rice University library), and “Think like a billionaire by Trump” (Houston Public Library). Not only did I use these great library resources to learn the topics that I am interested in and expand my knowledge base, but I have also enjoyed reading those books in my leisure time. As a toastmaster, we all know that stories have the paramount power to convey the message in our speech. The biggest hurdle, however, is to obtain great stories. I think these libraries provide the greatest sources of information that can empower us with a vast reservoir of stories, which can be incorporated either into a prepared speech or a Table Topics speech. Why

not check out some books from these library resources to make yourself better equipped? Here are the links to the books and library information mentioned above: Google books: http://books.google.com Rice University library: http://www.rice.edu/fondren University of Houston libraries: http://info.lib.uh.edu/ Houston Public library: http://www.houstonlibrary.org Harris county public library: http://www.hcpl.net/index.htm

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Longwood Gardens By Grace Hu, ATMB3 I took a little time off to visit the beautiful Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia when I was on a business trip during Labor Day weekend. Longwood Gardens is dedicated to preserving the spirit and beauty of the early twentieth-century gardens of Pierre S. du Pont who was once the chairman of the DuPont and General Motors companies. Longwood is a display garden promoting the art and enjoyment of horticulture for the public, while 3

ATMB – Advanced Toastmaster Bronze

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providing opportunities for research and learning. If you are in Philadelphia area, you ought to visit the Longwood Gardens!

A Day on the Farm By Bob Hu, ATMB On our recent trip, Grace and I visited a retired couple, Dave and Rebecca, living on a farm about an hour north of Dallas. It was quite an interesting experience.

Blooming lotus flowers in Longwood Gardens

Their two story house is probably 80 years old, comes with a barn and a 200 acre backyard. On the farm they have about 50 heads of cattle, 6 horses, 3 donkeys, and maybe a dozen chickens. Dave proudly showed us around the farm, pointing out the newborn calves, horses that they rescued, and the hens hatching eggs. The animals knew Dave too, comfortably eating out of his hand. Some of them were quite friendly, as you can see from the picture. One of the horses walked right up to Grace and Ping-ting, a former member of South Main Speakers.

Natural Beauty in Longwood Gardens ☺

************ We did not know much about raising livestock and maintaining a farm. Grace had always lived in a city, while I could only brag that we had a chicken coup in our yard when I lived in Taiwan. We can see now it is a lot of work to feed the

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animals, mow the grass, fix the fences, and repair the farm machinery.

Ask the Master Dear Master,

Did I mention that they also have three dogs? I didn't mention them because they are almost the "family". The dogs have the run of the house; they can come in and go outside as they please. They each have their place at the foot of the dining table, as well as their individual sofa in the living room. Below is a picture of me bonding with the pack.

I just joined a Toastmasters club. I am excited yet anxious to give my first prepared speech –the Ice Breaker. It is like many things in life it's not as easy as you think! Do you have any tips on how to talk about yourself without boring everyone to tears or revealing too much? How to find good topics and “break the ice” with ease? —Miss Ice Breaker Dear Miss Ice Breaker, Do you know that even experienced speakers who join a Toastmasters club find their Ice Breaker assignment nerveracking?4 Do you know what they do? Ask the master! You have come to the right place.

How many dogs do you see in the picture? (Hint: Bob was born in the year of the Dog.)

The purposes of your first prepared speech are:  

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To begin speaking before an audience To help you understand what areas require particular emphasis in your speaking development To introduce yourself to your fellow club members

This is a 4-6 minute speech, so you don't have very much time to say everything you might want to say. Instead you can only focus on a few highlights. Is there a particular subject that you can speak passionately about? 4

Roadrunners Toastmasters

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Sports Hobbies



Community service



Your career



Your family



Your aspirations

You wonder how to talk about yourself without boring everyone to tears or revealing too much. One way around your difficulty is to talk about yourself indirectly yet constructively. When you introduce yourself to a stranger, you don't go through your resume in chronological order from birth to the present. So why do it in your Ice Breaker? You can talk about a seemingly unrelated topic, and still fulfill the assignment objectives. One of the most thoughtprovoking Ice Breaker speeches I ever heard was about the sun. The speaker told us how, when he was a child, he saw the sun as a God-given fact; later, as physics major, he saw it as burning ball of gas in space. By telling us his views on the sun, he was indirectly revealing his life's events and how they shaped his personality. Remember, there are often stories behind how we see the world and how we make decisions and changes in life. When you find a subject, think of three different short stories that you can speak about on that subject. Telling personal stories is easy for many people to present and the audience tends to love hearing them. For example, if you like to camp outdoors, you might have one story about camping with your parents, a second story about camping as a single adult, and a third story about a camping trip with your spouse and kids. The focus is

on camping but it opens the opportunity to talk a little about where you grew up, what your family was like growing up, what you aspirations were as a young adult, and what your current situation is. A recommended format is the fiveparagraph speech. The speech would consist of an introduction of how important outdoor camping is to understanding who you are, three stories with a short transition between them, and then end with a conclusion which sums up your experiences. You could also give the club a short preview of what else they might find out about you in future speeches. To help come up with three stories you can look at the subject versus time, the subject from three different perspectives, or the subject from three different results, etc. 

Before, during, after



In the past, in the present, in the future



What my father says, what I say, what my son says



What I wanted, what my boss wanted, what the customer wanted



The first time I failed miserably, the second time I almost succeeded, the third time I was successful.

Alternately you could find three different stories that are unrelated except they involve you. Then look for a theme you can use to glue the three stories together, for example, a close relationship with a

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family member, a career highlight, and overcoming loss or disability. The glue may be simply what leads you to tell those three stories in particular. When talking about a place or other people in your speech such as your family, refer to them by name. These helps the audience connect with you and makes you seem much more approachable and personable. It also helps the audience to visualize your speech. For example, instead of "My husband" say "My husband, Dan." Instead of "I grew up on a farm." say "I grew up on a farm in Haxtun, Colorado." To further help them visualize with your speech you could include a description. "My husband Dan, is four foot eleven inches tall." "Haxtun, Colorado is on the dry plains near the north-east corner of the state."

Lean on your fellow club members for support. Every Toastmaster has been through the Ice Breaker experience; many will let you have a copy of their first speech or share how they approached their first assignment. Ask more experienced Toastmasters what they would change about it, or ask them to tell you about a particularly memorable Ice Breaker they might have heard.

productive because it will come across wooden and over-rehearsed. The right way to prepare is to be thoroughly familiar with your speech's outline and its major points. Then, when it's time to deliver, you can still be spontaneous within your speech's outline. Don't set your sights too high. No matter how well you have prepared, you will probably never feel completely ready to deliver your first manual speech. You will always feel that, with just a little more preparation. You can deliver a truly excellent speech. Remember, this is only your first assignment. You are doing it precisely because you are inexperienced and want to learn. Nobody is expecting you to be the next JFK or Martin Luther King, Jr. Just concentrate on eliminating "ahs" and "urns" and getting through it. The rest will follow, step by step. Now only one thing remains: Get out there and do it! Inexperienced speakers tend to make the same basic mistakes. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare! Speaking in public can be a terrifying experience; even old hands get nervous before an important speech. Through the ages, people have tried many ways of controlling their panic, but only one way seems to work -- excellent preparation. This doesn't mean learning every word of the speech verbatim in fact, learning a speech word-for-word is counter-

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