Toastmasters in Bhubaneswar

(Click the poster above for details)

Toastmasters now in Bhubaneswar.
“Boy, do people look at their watches when you’re speaking? Or worse, do they start shaking them to make certain they are still working? Have humming, hawing, and hesitation become your “graces” while speaking?” Well then…….

A Toastmasters Club could just be your solution!! After all, even the lion needs the “roar”! Toastmasters will not only give you the “roar”, but we at times suggest the lion the right places to use his claws as well!

A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing session! Participants practice their speaking and leadership skills in a friendly supportive atmosphere. Typically, a club has 20-30 members who meet weekly to practice public speaking techniques. Members are given responsibilities and asked to lead - no lectures here! Further details are available at www.toastmasters.org or the wiki article here.

So pals, for better speaking, thinking and listening skills, check out our Bhubaneswar Toastmasters Club. You can attend as a guest and observe how we learn to communicate effectively in a fun-filled, supportive environment.

We’ll be holding the launch session of Bhubaneswar Toastmasters on the16th of Aug '09, Sunday and if you are interested, we would request you to fill in your details in the form here. (It just takes a minute!)
Time : 4-7 PM. Guests are advised to be there 15mins in advance to register
with a session fees of Rs.30 only.
Venue : RoboticWares Pvt Ltd
N4/F25, IRC Village
Near I.D Market
Bhubaneswar - 15

For further details visit our blog here and if you have any queries, then we’re just a call away at the numbers given below.
We sincerely wish your reply would be in the affirmative.

Best Regards,
Preeti Pooja
Core-Team
Bhubaneswar Toastmasters
9853878546, 9853856918,9437933035
bbsrtm@gmail.com

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Past Imperfect. Present Tense

I will be delivering my first project speech at Hyderabad Toastmasters Club tomorrow. This is the speech!

Update: I delivered the speech. And the audience laughed. To an extent that inspite of many senior speakers, I was nominated the best speaker for the day. :)
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Please be rest assured. I am not going to give you grammar lessons today. Past Imperfect. Present Tense in short epitomizes my life.
For the Icebreaker session, I pondered if I have anything worthwhile in my life to share. Since, I have been a damp squib all through my life.
But before that let me give you glimpses of a confused yet kaleidoscopic growing up years.

So, after being tired a doing somersaults for 9 months in my mothers womb I decided that its time to come out and set the world on fire. 21st October 1981, a momentous day in world history. A star is born. Aah not star. Tubelight would be more appropriate. It sputtered, it clicked and it did glow sometimes.
But the moment I am pulled out I find myself held by an ugly looking doctor with big eyes, bigger spectacles and bushy eyebrow. One look at him and I was so shocked that I couldn't speak for the next two years.

Fast forward 8 years hence, long after I had begun talking. Class 5, Sec E, DAV Public School, Bhubaneswar. Time is 11:30 am. The lunch bell rings. I open my bag, get hold of my tiffin box, rush to the dustbin, empty my tiffin box in the dustbin and rush down the stairs on to the field. Following me are other classmates running . And we reach the end of the field, below that banyan tree . The boys from Section B are already there. My name is called and from the other section the other boy's name too. We both circled by the noisy crowd. For the next 20 minutes follows kicks and boxes, and rolling in ground. 20 minutes later I stand up with panting and puffin in soiled clothes, bruises on my knee and elbow, but nevertheless a triumphant smile on my face and adulation from boys of my section. That was the fight club in my school.

Fast forward 4 years hence. Class 9 Section D. corridor of DAV Public school. A group of girls coming from the opposite end. The moment I see them, I freeze. I sense I am the only guy there. I get the urge to turn back and walk the other way. But I dont. I look down and walk shakily and crossing the giggling girls never ever raising my head. The confident and mischievous young lil boy of class 5 inexplicably grows to become a shy, bumbling, and awkward lad who cant see a girl eye to eye.


Fast forward 2004. Scene Barista. A spanky new mall in Gurgaon. Sipping coffee along with his first date. The awkward guy of class 9th had learnt to ask a girl out. Thanks to the outgoing girls in call the centers of Gurgaon.
That pretty much sums up my external metamorphosis.

But lemme share some deeper aspects of my personality.
A below average student all my life, a real worry for my parents if I could at all make a life out of myself. I never won an award in school. Did not have any achievements to boast of. But there was one thing me that I am always proud of myself. I always made my presence felt wherever I went.

I would occasionally show sparks of brilliance, but never made my mark. Just as a tubelight

During my engineering days, I developed a fancy towards the English language. In the third year, I along with a few junior friends formed a youth magazine, AKANKSHA, sub titled Dreams Drive Us.

It was here that I learnt a real skill. But then I had mastered the art of converting proud moments into moments of great embarrassments. I was called up on stage to deliver a speech on the magazine unveiling ceremony. I climbed up with pride swelling my chest and faced the audience. The 100 odd crowd multiplied by two number of eyes staring at me. I was frozen. Blank. I mumbled, I muttered and hardly spoke. Just like a tubelight.

Fast forward 6 years hence, and my greatest fear of facing an audience is conquered. Thanks to Toastmasters.

I do a lot of things in my regular life. Since I want to compensate for all the shy years in college, I do just about anything shamelessly. I read good books, as they provide me solace from the madding world outside. I walked on the ramp in a fashion show in my company. I shook a leg in a choreographed dance last year in Bangalore. I travelled alone to the Himalayas and surrendered myself to the mountains for 15 days this September. My life is a canvas, I just want to keep filling colors of all sorts.

Well achievement or no achievement. Success or no success. I do not care. I just know one thing, that I want to lead a creative life.

I heard someone say, that when you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes. Make it worth watching.
I have been trying to do that lately.

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I am the new President of my Toastmasters Club

So, I was selected to be the President of the Sun Talk Toastmasters club, a corporate Toastmasters club of Sun Microsystems. Am I happy?
Of course I am. I am elated. I am charged up. Though I was reluctant at first, because I was not prepared for such a responsibility, I am slowly pacing myself for it. So, what does it mean to be a Toastmaster club president?

Before that, for the uninitiated, let me take this privilege to talk about Toastmasters.



What is Toastmasters?

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.

Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization has nearly 220,000 members in 11,300 clubs in 90 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience.


What Toastmasters Can Do For You

Your potential is limited only by your excuses.

Whether you work in a corporate environment or from home, whether you are a student or retiree, Toastmasters is the most efficient, enjoyable and affordable way of gaining communication and leadership skills.

Become a Better Speaker
\Toastmasters will give you the skills and confidence you need to effectively express yourself in any situation. By learning to formulate and convey your ideas, you open a new world of possibilities. You will be more persuasive and confident when giving presentations and you will improve your one-on-one dealings with others.

Become a Leader
Leadership is the art of persuading others to do what you wish. To succeed, you need to communicate, and you need to work as a team. In Toastmasters, you’ll do both. And you’ll find out how to vary your approach to suit the needs of different people, be they the audience for a speech, the committee for a fundraiser or your coworkers and managers.

It Really Works!
Don’t worry! Everyone in a Toastmasters club was once at the level you are now. The environment is friendly and supportive, and the self-paced program allows you to build confidence with each speaking assignment.

And you’ll love the applause! Constructive evaluation is the heart of the Toastmasters program. Each time you give a speech, an evaluator will point out strengths and suggest improvements.

What Happens When I Join?
With more than 225,000 members in 11,000 clubs in 90 countries, you’re sure to find a meeting near you. Most groups meet weekly or biweekly for one to two hours. The meetings are organized so that everyone will have a chance to speak, should they want to. You schedule your own speaking assignments a few weeks in advance, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare.

You’ll be assigned a mentor to help you settle in and get through your first speaking roles. Speaking assignments vary and your first will be an “ice breaker” – a four- to six-minute speech to introduce yourself to the group. As you grow in confidence, your assignments will grow with you.

Whenever you stand up and speak, you receive encouraging, helpful feedback on how it went and how you can improve next time. This proven method will help you build your confidence and skills quickly and affordably!


I had written my experience sometime back with Toastmasters here:

http://mon-voyage.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-were-winners.html

Hope to see you at a local Toastmasters club. There 20 clubs within Bangalore.

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The Supernatural

I was to speak on my project no. 4 speech for my Toastmasters club today. I wasn't able to think of a topic that suited project 4 objectives. Finally I picked up a topic just the night before. The objectives of speech no. 4 were:

• Select the right words and sentence structure to communicate your ideas clearly, accurately and vividly.


• Use rhetorical devices to enhance and emphasize ideas.


• Eliminate jargon and unnecessary words. Use correct grammar.

Time: 5 to 7 minutes.

THE SUPERNATURAL

Have you ever been forced to believe that there is a world beyond which our eyes cant distinguish, that there is a world beyond which our mind cant perceive. That there is a world beyond which our senses couldnt sense. Yes, I am talking about the supernatural.

Fellow Toastmasters and esteemed guests, today in the presence of this august gathering, I will share with you certain experiences that I encountered in my life that came like a blot from the blue. Experiences that baffled me, confounded me and forced me to look into life in a new light altogether. A world which always looked rosy with the pink tinted glasses in my eyes. A world that was all about sunshine and shimmering stars. I realised that beneath what meets the eye, was a darker truth, a sordid world, a world that questions what is normal. The world of the supernatural.

It was a balmy summer afternoon at my maternal native place called Bilaspur, a sleepy town in the state of Chattisgarh. I was a small boy of eight. So were my cousins. And it was an annual family gathering. Since we kids started making a ruckus, the elders forced all kids into an outhouse to sleep. The outhouse bore an eerie look. The room was ill maintained and was infested with cobwebs. And soon the chuckles dimmed to murmurs and then ebbed to deep silence. The children were in deep slumber. The only sound that prevailed was from the leaves rustling from the banyan tree outside the window, the curtains swaying with the afternoon breeze. And then there was another sound. An old pendulum across the wall was ticking. Tick..tock..tick.. tock... Soon seconds gave way to minutes...minutes to hours... In couple of hours each one of us got up one after another. And proceeded towards the house. Soon everyone had left excpet me. I was still sleepimg long after everyone had left. Suddenly a chill passed down my spine. i woke up and sat on my bed. Dreamily I rubbed my eyes and opened them. What I saw in front of me froze me in horror. I saw a wizened old man completely in white near my feet staring at me. I went pale and cold at the sight. In the next instant the image in front of me moved away and dissapeared. I gathered my guts and scampered my way out shouting ans wailing.Tripping and falling in the process I reached my parents.
I was howling and shaken with words hardly being decipherable. But soon they were able to make out what had happened. They knew who the apparition was. They explained to me that it was my grandfather who had come to see me. They said he loved me a lot and wanted to see me before passing away buy couldnt.
Years passed after that inexplicable incident. With passing years the incident faded from my memory. But as if to reinforce my faith on it, one fine day I met him again. I will share this story some other time.

I do not want you to believe my story. Neither do I want to state something here. Some things are best left unexplained. Since they do not have any rationale for explanation. They are supernatural.

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We were the winners!

No. We didn't bag the prize at the Entertaining Speech Contest organized by the Infosys Toastmasters Club day before yesterday, but we put up a gritty show and made our mark there. And thus we were winners in our own might. A briefing on how things unfolded at the Infy campus...

A week before the contest when Sun Toastmasters club was invited to participate in the 175th anniversary meeting of Infosys Toastmasters club, I was excited but was unsure whether I was prepared to take part in competitions outside. A couple of days later Prasanna, our President, gave me a call to ask if I would be interested. He had already registered himself by then. I agreed without having the slightest idea of what was coming my way. He put a stern word of caution, “If you commit, you cannot chicken out in the end”. I warily said, “yes, I commit”. The topic to speak upon was “I wish I could...”. This looked an interesting and easy topic to speak upon. But the kind of born procrastinator that I am, i was not ready till 2 days before the competition. The guidelines mentioned that weightage would be given for innovativeness and humor. I tried my best to prepare the content and when I thought I was ready, set up a time in the morning of the D-day with Prasanna to have a mutual rehearsal. Prasanna's speech was good with some humor. But he had more serious content in the later half. I asked him to make it a little more humorous. He added a bit. He had the same advice for me. I thought mine was ok and I felt confident.


D Day, 5:40 pm, Infy campus

We were late by more than half an hour. We found our way to the MC hall and the moment i opened the door, my heart was in my mouth. It was a grandiose hall appearing like an arena with around 60-70 odd people. Big digital screens displaying slides and video transmission. The competition was yet to begin and other formalities were being done. I remembered Prasanna's words, “You cannot chicken out”. I moved out of the hall and went to the loo to pick myself up. (This is the most effective trick followed world wide. When you are nervous or are in a trying situation, go to the loo and have a little self talk in front of the mirror. It works like magic). We went back and settled comfortably in the third row from the front. The contest began. First contestant was called. He delivered a thumping speech. The audience were laughing with his wit. He was the man in control. I thought he is definitely taking a prize today. The second contestant was called. He was even better. Third speaker. She was as good and impressive. The audience was being treated to some classy speeches full of humor and wit. I myself was laughing out loud. These people knew the art of holding the pulse of the audience. I panicked. Winning was never in my mind after I heard the first speech. But now what was bothering me was that my speech had to be in the same level of quality with humor. It happens when an audience is treated with back to back great performances, their expectations stay high and anything less than that would be a disaster. I could sense that Prasanna also sensed the same. I saw him scribbling down notes. I had no clue what. We were the last two speakers.

After about eight speakers, Prasanna took the podium. I was glad that his opening remark threw the audience in splits. He asked the audience what the time was. And then admitted that was just to check if they were awake. What followed next was what shocked me. Prasanna had scrapped his entire prepared speech and was speaking impromptu. And the notes he was scribbling all the while was his new content. And the audience did laugh at his witty stories and innuendos. I lauded his confidence. I could never risk that, at least at this level. His later part of the speech turned a little serious. And I think that is what did him. Otherwise he would have been a strong contender. He admitted later that he ran out of humor content in the end. But he was a winner in every sense.

Next was me. All this while I had kept saying myself, “ I would do great if I could complete the whole speech in a single go without fumbling”. My name was called. I took the podium. My heart was pounding. I ran my eyes through the crowd. 70 odd people looked like 7000. I blurted, “I wished I could (this was the topic) reduce to the size of an ant and vanish from this hall. This is what pressure does it to you”. I could hear the chuckle from the audience. This gave me the confidence to carry it ahead. What amused me was that i too was experimenting with my speech and straying a bit here and there from my prepared speech to add humor. It was working. Then came a point when I went blank. I had strayed. I didnt know how to move next. It was only for a second or two. But it felt a long longtime. I somehow found a way. I finished my speech. I had a prepared witty ending. I delivered it. Audience laughed again. I felt satisfied. I came back to my seat. Prasanna complimented saying it was so humorous more than what he had heard me before while rehearsing. I had delivered a completed speech first time in my life in front of such a big audience. On such a big platform. I had won in all respect. I was the winner.

Thank you Toastmasters. It was because of you that I finally overcame my stage fright. All these days of association had it fruits delivered.

Thanks,

Ravi

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