Sept South Main Monthly

South Main Monthly Vol. 2 No. 3

South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609

September 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 Vivian Li Jazon Samillano Raghuram Arakalgud Renay Jacob *Calendar of Events Sept 29: Area Q-50 Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest *New Member Spotlight Erika Parrish Alvin Chenier Jeanne Button *Features Member News Release by JR Reynolds, Jr. “Let's Think Outside the Box of Bad Clichés” by Renay Jacob, ACS “South Main Speaker’s Fall Contests” by Vivian Li, CC

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 Area Contest, Library, and District Conference By Vivek Rajan, CC Congratulations to all the humorous speech and table topics contest participants! The winners of the contest, Raghu and Jazon, will represent our club at the area contest. Let's all go to the area contest on September 29th and support them. South Main Speakers now has a library! The library has three books (yes, it's small, but it's a start ☺), and they are: 1) The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters – by Dr. Brad McRae and David Brooks, 2) Using Stories and Humor - Grab your Audience – by Joanna Campbell Slan, and 3) Writing Great Speeches – by Alan Perlman. The library also has three sets of audio CDs and one DVD set – 1) Elements of Eloquence - David Brooks, 2) Speaking Secrets of the Champions –World Champions, 3) Connect With Any Audience –World Champions, and 4) Magic Moments 1 &2 – David Brooks. You can borrow the books and CDs for two weeks, and there is small fine of one penny for the first late day, double that for the next late day, and the fine keeps doubling each day until you return the book. If you do the math, the fine adds up to over ten million in a month ☺, so don't forget to return the books on time! The District 56 fall conference is coming up in November. The registration is now open, and I strongly recommend everyone to register for the conference. I have attended the last two district conferences, and they have been very educational. Besides various educational sessions, you will also get to see the humorous and table topics contest at the District level, which includes the Greater Houston and Galveston area. Don't miss this great opportunity to learn!

Anniversaries & Milestones •

Congratulations to Vivian Li, CC, who celebrates her first year anniversary with South Main Speakers this month! **********

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Congratulations to Jazon Samillano and Raghuram Arakalgud, who are the winners of Table Topics and Humorous Speech contest, respectively, and will represent South Main Speakers at the Area Q-50 contest on September 29!

September 29: Area Q-50 Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contest Who: Toastmasters and Guests When: Saturday, September 29, 2007 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Where: University of Houston Farish Hall Building 587 4800 Calhoun Rd., Room 101 Houston, TX 77004

Don't miss this great opportunity to learn while having fun!

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Congratulations to everyone at South Main Speakers! We are now qualified for the Smedley Award! **********

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Happy Birthday to Renay Jacob, ACS, whose birthday is on the 7th of this month!

Smedley Award

The Smedley Award commemorates the founding of Toastmasters International on October 22, 1924, by Dr. Ralph Smedley. One person initiated a program that would go on to affect millions of people. In his honor, if your club can add five new, dual, or reinstated members between August 1 and September 30, you'll receive a Smedley Award ribbon to display on your club's banner. Your club will also earn a choice of one module from The Better Speaker Series, The Successful Club Series, or The Leadership Excellence Series.

District 56 also challenges any individual Toastmaster (not club), who recruits five (5) new (not reinstated or dual) members between August 1 and September 30, will receive free admission to the 2007 Fall “Round Up” Conference. In addition to the free admission, those same outstanding Toastmasters will be individually recognized at the Fall Conference. South Main Monthly 2

New Member Spotlight South Main Speakers Toastmasters Club has been experiencing fast growth this year! The club added 3 new members in both this month and last month! Please give a warm welcome to our newest members, Erika Parrish, Alvin Chenier, Jeanne Button!

This wife and mother of three joined Toastmasters International so she can think quick on her feet. "You ever had an argument with someone and had speaker's remorse. You know what that is, we've all experienced it. That's when you replay that conversation over and over in your head and think to yourself," Oh, I should have said this.." Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a fight, I'm just looking for the right words to say at the right time!” -Erika Parrish

Alvin Chenier is a native born Houstonian. This father of two has been married for 20 yrs and is in the shipping industry. He joined Toastmasters so it can help him become a more professional and dynamic speaker.

Member News Recently our club member, JR, was promoted from the rank of Captain to Major in the US Army. Congratulations, JR! In his letter to our club, he wrote:

“ Toastmasters, I also had to speak for a few minutes about the promotion. I had to use my table topics skills and have remarks for 1 - 2 minutes.” Like JR, many of our members have experienced how practice in table topics and prepared speeches has helped them improve communication skills in both their professional and personal lives!

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Member News Release - John (JR) Davis Reynolds Jr. was promoted from the rank of Captain to Major in the US Army on 03 August 2007. For this US Army Major’s promotion board of 2007, over 2100 Army Captains were considered and reviewed for promotion to the rank of Major and only 62% were selected. John Davis Reynolds Jr. AKA J.R. has been involved with Toastmasters since 1992. Currently he serves as the area governor for District 77 Division B Area 7 and vice president of membership for his home club is 7177 Calhoun County but also is a member of a club in Atlanta, Georgia Herzing 7789 and the South Main Speakers Club 8609 in Houston, Texas. John has spent considerable amount time in other clubs around the country and the world in leadership positions and actually conducted meetings in Afghanistan with the assistance of District 49 (Hawaii). His toastmaster training has set him up for success in his current job at the Jacksonville State University as the assistant professor of Military Science and chief of recruiting operations. His major duties include teaching, recruiting, retention, scholarship management, and enrollment of students at Jacksonville State University, Talladega College, and Gadsden State Community College. John is working on his advanced leaders with goal of becoming DTM in 2008-2009. Previously to rejoining the Army on active status and accepting an assignment with JSU Army ROTC, John has spent time in teaching and administrative positions at the University of Notre Dame, University of Toledo, and Central Texas College. John has also spent time working in business with National City Corp – National City Bank in Trust and Private Client Services and Detroit Edison in Human Resources and Training. John served a tour in Afghanistan in 2005-2006 that led him to make a decision to leave business and return to higher education and training. He is currently working on EdD at the University of Alabama and looks forward to starting his

own college and obtaining the rank of General in the US Army Reserves. John is a native of Toledo, Ohio and resides at Fort McClellan, Alabama. He loves working with youth and assisting people in career management. He is on the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Toledo, Ohio and assists the Leadership Toledo and Youth Leadership Toledo program as well the United Way on its speaker’s panel. In his spare time, John runs road races and travels. He also has found time to serve as a volunteer deputy sheriff for Lucas County (Ohio).

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Let's Think Outside the Box of Bad Clichés By Renay Jacob, ACS1 As a student at the University of Houston Bauer School of business, I read several essays and reports from my classmates. One of my pet peeves concerns the many trite or inaccurate phrases students rely on to express themselves. When I read the reports, one of the phrases I hate most is "It goes without saying," in response to which I scribble on their essays, "Then why write it?" Another favorite of students is "It's not for me to say," to which I jot down, "Then why continue writing?" I also despise the phrase "Who can say?" to 1

ACS – Advanced Communication Silver

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which I reply, "You! That's who! That's the point of writing an essay!" Sometimes the clichés are simply redundant, as when students write of a "mass exodus." Can there be a "small" exodus? "Exodus" implies a mass of people. Other times the expressions defy the rules of logic. A student in an accounting class writes that reconciling financial statements "bores me to tears." But if something brings him to tears, it's certainly not boring. I also fear that most students don't know what they are saying when they write that a question "boggles the mind." Does every problem in finance really boggle the mind? What does this mean? Students aren't the only ones guilty of cliché abuse. The language of medicine confuses patients' families when physicians write, "On Tuesday the patient was declared brain dead, and on Wednesday life support was removed." So when did the patient really die? Can people die in two ways, once when they are declared brain dead and second when their respirators are removed? Better to write, "Physicians declared the patient dead by neurological criteria and the next day removed his respirator."

And are we sure that the sun shone on the day he was caught? I sometimes read about a "bone of contention." I imagine two animals fighting over a bone from a carcass. But, do writers want to convey that image? And how can we forget about the "foreseeable future" (versus the "unforeseeable future?") and the "foregone conclusion" (versus the "non-foregone conclusion?"). Spare me jargon from sports, such as being "on the bubble" for something. I'd also rather do without other jargon, such as "pushing the [edge of the] envelope." And has writing that we should "think outside the box" become such a cliché that it's now in-side the box? Some of the worst phrases come from the business world. Because of my profession, I read a lot of essays on engineering, ethics and money. So I must endure endless strings of nouns acting as adjectival phrases, such as "facility finance administration official business." Even authors of textbooks on business and hospital administration use such phrases; no wonder that students use them, too. And in these fields and others, can we do away with "take a leadership role?" These days, can't anyone just lead?

All of us repeat trite expressions without thinking. The TV weatherman sometimes says, "It's raining cats and dogs." Should I

Can we also hear more about the short arm of the law (versus its "long" one), about things that sell well besides "hotcakes" and about a quick tour other than a "whirlwind" one?

call the Humane Society? Where did this silly expression come from? Another common mistake involves "literally." I often hear people on election night say, "He literally won by a landslide." If so, should geologists help us understand how?

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, I'd like to leave no stone unturned in grinding such writing to a halt, saving each and every writer’s essay in the nick of time. But I have a sneaking suspicion that, from time immemorial, that has been an errand of mercy and easier said than done.

Then, of course, there's the criminal who was caught in "broad daylight." I guess he could not have been caught in "narrow" daylight.

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South Main Speaker’s

Fall Contests Table Topics & Humorous Speech By Vivian Li, CC2 After months of preparation and special coaching from two very special guest speakers, Yolanda Bynum and our own legendary Michael Plaks, some of the best and brightest among us stepped up to give their all in the Table Topics and Humorous Speech club contests on August 19. Congratulations to all who participated in making this season’s contest another memorable one and good luck to Jazon and Raghu who will represent South Main in the Area Q-50 Table Topics and Humorous Speech contests, respectively. Come support them at the next Area Q-50 level on Saturday, September 29, 9 a.m., at University of Houston, Farish Building 587, 4800 Calhoun Rd., Room 101.

The Line Up: Annie interviewing the Table Topics contestants. 2

Raghu accepting humorous award from Jim Capers, Area Q-50 governor

Jazon accepting table topics award from Jim Capers

Our proud Table Topics and Humorous Speech contestants (l-r): Jane, Jazon, Judy, Mark, Eda, Raghu, Ranjith, and Jian.

CC – Competent Communicator

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