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Wednesday 30 September 2015

Area contests conclude: E7 and E9

What a time of it! There's been giggles and snorts all over the Wellington region. On Thursday night (24th September) it was E7's turn to add a few more.

Turbine Talkers hosted a combined Table Topics and Humorous Speech event at St Matthews Church. (Thank you! The half-time supper was lovely.)

Russell Turney chaired the Humorous Contest and Rose Wyse the Table Topics.

In the Humorous Contest we were captivated by a broad range topics given more than a slight tweak to reveal their funny sides.

Deborah Lambie reflected on the mixed pleasures of being a morning person working through the night in a hospital delivery suite, Ella Kahu deliberated whether to choose a red car over a toy boy to sidestep her next midlife crisis, Paul Beres begged for empathy and understanding of his All Black addiction disorder during the ongoing World Cup season, Chris Woodhouse bravely bared his soul revealing the limitations of his DIY Man GPS, Miranda Struthers put her 7.3 seconds worth of TV celebrity fame in perspective and Khorshed Irani examined the merits of three items on her bucket list.

Area E7 Toastmasters Wellington NZ Humorous Speech Contest
E7 Humorous Speech Contest: L-R Ella Kahu, Paul Beres, Deborah Lambie, Khorshed Irani, Miranda Struthers, Chris Woodhouse, Contest Chair Russell Turney.
The contest was won by Ella Kahu (Island Bay). Deborah Lambie was placed second and Chris Woodhouse, third.

Area E7 Toastmasters Wellington Humorous Contest winners 2015
E7 Humorous Contest place getters: L-R Area Director Mike Mckee, 2nd place  Deborah Lambie, 1st place Ella Kahu, 3rd place Chris Woodhouse, Contest Chair Russell Turney.
Five table topic contestants gave their considerably varied opinions as to whether "we should return to the old ways of teaching".

We learned from Pamela Snow that we should not: that we should extend and celebrate interactive exploratory teaching. Jill Skinner figured that as she hadn't turned out all that badly, it was a reasonably good idea to retain some of that methodology. John Lowe confessed he had no recall of 8 years worth Latin taught the old way and remembered instead an ogre of a teacher. Patrick O'Rourke demonstrated the benefits of rote learning and Kate Roberts thought bringing back the cane would solve attention difficulties in the class room.

E7 Table Topics Contest: L-R Kate Roberts, Jill Skinner, John Lowe, Pamela Snow, Patrick O'Rourke, Contest Chair Rose Wyse.
The contest place-getters were: 1st Kate Roberts (Island Bay), 2nd John Lowe and 3rd Pamela Snow.
Area E 7 Toastmasters Wellington NZ Table topics contest winners 2015
E7 Table Topics Contest Winners: L-R Area Director Mike McKee, John Lowe (2nd place), Kate Roberts (1st place,) Pamela Snow (3rd place), Contest chair Rose Wyse. 

Over in Area E9, the Table Topics contest was hosted by Terrace@12. Contest chair Peter Scholtens challenged contestants with the question "Whose responsibility is it to teach life skills - schools or family?". While some responses emphasised the importance of family, others argued that "it takes a village to raise a child". Contest winner Rose Austen-Falloon (Terrace@12) pointed out that schools are already doing plenty with their standard curriculum, and adding life skills as well would be a burden.

E9 Table Topics placegetters: L-R 2nd place Raymond Kemp, 1st place Rose Austen-Falloon, contest chair Peter Scholtens

In the very last Area contest of the season, the Area E9 Humorous contest was held at Victoria University Toastmasters. The audience was entertained by two contestants, who held our attention with ruminations on hiring and firing, and the strangeness that sometimes creeps into an ordinary day. The contest was won by Raymond Kemp (Five Crowns).

Area E9 Humorous placegetters: L-R 2nd place Zaine Mitchell, 1st place Raymond Kemp, contest chair John Stapleton

That concludes this Area contest season. See you all at the Division conference, where we can watch all our winners compete to find the Wellington champion!

Friday 25 September 2015

Area contests continue: E2, E3 and E10

The past week has been a very busy time for contests, with areas E2, E3 and E10 each holding a pair of successful contests.

The Area E2 Table Topics contest was hosted by Capital Chatterers and chaired by Matt Easton. Seven contestants responded to the question "What is the most important high school subject?". Some speakers fondly remembered their own high school education, and others shared stories from their children's experience, as they argued for a whole range of different subjects - maths, English, history, even PE. Contest winner Kevin Plant (Capital Breakfast) argued that the most important subject is the one not taught at school - life, and especially how to get along with people in the real world.

E2 Table Topics contest: L-R contest chair Matt Easton, 3rd place Alastair Finlay, 2nd place Sarndra Flay, 1st place Kevin Plant.

Business Breakfast Club hosted the E2 Humorous contest. Five humorous speakers, chaired by Sarndra Flay, entertained the audience with topics ranging from elevator etiquette and journalistic hijinks to personal ads and Shakespeare. The contest was won by Alastair Finlay (Vodafone Capital).

 E2 Humorous contest: L-R Area Director Amanda Hillock, 1st place Alastair Finlay, 2nd place Katie Boyle, 3rd place EJ Willmot, contest chair Sarndra Flay.

The Humorous contest in Area E3 was hosted by Up Top Toastmasters. Contest chair Rachel Pointon ensured the meeting ran smoothly as the audience was entertained by two speeches about the unexpected things in life (what do sloths have to do with language difficulties? I'll leave you to guess). Billie Searle (High Noon Bankers) won first place.

E3 Humorous contest: L-R Area Director Sam Masters, 1st place Billie Searle, 2nd place Alex Carr, contest chair Rachel Pointon.

The Area E3 Table Topics contest was hosted by Taxing Toastmasters. After noting that it was "a battle of IRD vs bankers", contest chair Peter Anderson challenged the four contestants with the question "What are the reasons you choose to live in the Wellington region?". Contestants highlighted their favourite things about Wellington, including the accessible outdoors, the wildlife, and the cafes and theatres. The contest was won by Colleen Daymond-King (BNZ Harbour Quays) with her response about the joy of finding little blue penguins under her house.

E3 Table Topics contest: L-R Greer Mitchell, Federico Iglesias, 2nd place Dionne Needham, 1st place Colleen Daymond-King, contest chair Peter Anderson, Area Director Sam Masters

Advanced Wellington hosted contest night in area E10, with a well-attended meeting at which Denis McCord chaired both contests. Humorous contestants entertained the audience with speeches about the oddities of family life, the flag referendum, goat farming, and even failing eyesight. Deepshikha Vyas (Te Aro) won the Humorous contest.

E10 Humorous contest: L-R 1st place Deepshikha Vyas, 2nd place Lynne Russell, contest chair Denis McCord

After a break for some very good supper, E10 moved into the Table Topics contest. Five contestants were asked the thought-provoking question "Do you agree that the food you eat determines the way you live?". Responses were varied, ranging in emphasis from the pleasurable aspects of eating delicious food, to the importance of good nutrition. Contest winner Mitchell Bidois (Mid City) focused on the ways that well-planned meals can help to save time.

E10 Table Topics contest: L-R 3rd place Clark Ehlers, 2nd place Kerry Hilligan, 1st place Mitchell Bidois, contest chair Denis McCord

To catch up on the other Area contests, see the contest timetable and the Areas E6 and E1 contest writeup. And don't forget to register for the Division conference to see your winners in action!

Monday 21 September 2015

What really makes a successful club?

What is success? In Toastmasters, success is clearly defined for us: successful clubs are Distinguished in the Distinguished Club Program (DCP). That means they achieve at least five goals (PDF) and also have at least 20 members by the end of the Toastmasters year.

But how do clubs become successful?

In the Toastmasters International Members Group on Facebook (which is an excellent discussion forum that I highly recommend to new and experienced Toastmasters alike), conversation is often focused on how clubs can build membership and achieve goals. Recently the District Statistician from District 57, George Marshall, posted some very interesting figures linking club success to meeting frequency and to meeting duration.

Being an economist, I couldn't resist working with those figures to produce a few simple charts.

Chart showing membership and DCP goals for the 2014-15 Toastmasters year for 15,080 clubs, categorised according to the number of days between their meetings.

Chart showing membership and DCP goals for the 2014-15 Toastmasters year for 3,882 clubs, categorised according to the number of minutes of club meeting time per month.

It looks as if a club that meets more frequently has more members and achieves more goals. Similarly, clubs devoting more time to meetings each month are more successful than clubs with less meeting time. But what does that mean?

A club with more meetings provides more speaking opportunities, meaning it can support more members and achieve more goals. And a club spending more time in meetings can get more speeches in. The argument goes the other way, too: a large club with lots of members needs to meet often and for a reasonable length of time in order to provide all those members with the opportunities they need to meet their goals. Otherwise the members could become disillusioned and leave the club, taking their educational awards with them.

Supporting members and achieving DCP goals takes time. After all, it takes 100 minutes to achieve a Competent Communicator award (7 minutes of speech plus 3 minutes of evaluation, for 10 speeches). That means it takes 400 minutes of meeting time to achieve the first two goals on the distinguished club program. To fit that in, the club has to spend a reasonable amount of time in meetings. For advanced communication awards and leadership awards, the time requirement could be even more!

So is it as simple as increasing your meeting frequency to weekly from fortnightly to get extra goals on the DCP this year? Probably not. If the members of your club are accustomed to achieving at a certain rate - say, one speech every six weeks - they'd probably prefer to continue at that rate even if there are more meetings. But that's only if they are happy with the meeting time as it stands! What if they'd be just as happy meeting more often, or for longer? Why not ask them? There could be untapped potential there for your club, which you could unlock just by having slightly more meeting time each month.

Success in Toastmasters is narrowly defined as achieving DCP goals and membership strength. But where do those things come from? They come from having active, engaged members who are happy achieving their goals. Happy members recruit more members, give speeches, achieve goals, and make your club Distinguished.

There's no magic formula - supporting your members means meeting as often and for as long as works for them. If they're achieving their goals, your club will achieve its goals. Are your members happy with their current rate of achievement? Ask them!

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Levitation

Gary found public speaking quite uplifting.
*Thanks to Strictly Speaking for the pic.

Monday 14 September 2015

Division E Conference

Division E Conference, October 2015 Toastmasters, Wellington


Book your place. Mark your calendars. And spread the news.

It's time to get ready to come together to share the final event in the series that's kept us giggling and talking up a storm through winter.

Who will come out on top in the Humorous Contest?


Who will demonstrate their superior prowess in Table Topics?


Conference planning is well underway.

Download a conference flyer


Click this link to download a conference flyer

To Register now


Register now to save. ($12 now. $15 cash on the day.)

Two step Early Bird payment details:

  1. Deposit $12 to BNZ 02-0100-0666790-002 using your name and "Div E Conf" as the reference before Friday 2nd October.
  2. Email area_e2@toastmasters.org.nz with subject line "October Conference Registration". In the body of your email please include your name, phone number and club(s).

Key conference details


  • Date: 10th October, Saturday
  • Time: 1pm start - 4.25 wrap up
  • Location: Saint Catherine's College, 14 Upper Bourke Street, Kilbirnie, Wellington
  • To Register: Please see above.




Keep up with the play



The battle for a place in either of the Division Contests is far from over.

Check this handy calendar of Area Contest events. As of today there are 8 still to run!

Results so far


E6 and E1 have had their contests. Click to see who you'll be seeing at the Conference.

Taking the plunge: Wellington Risk Toastmasters expand their horizons

Neil Passey knows a good thing when he sees it. After visiting a Toastmasters club just a few times as a guest, the senior manager at ANZ Wellington decided to take the plunge and bring Toastmasters into his workplace.

With the help of experienced Toastmaster Steve Preston, Neil organised a demonstration meeting to show his colleagues what Toastmasters is all about. Interest was strong and the prospective club began meeting regularly in July.

Wellington Risk Toastmasters now has 17 members. "There's a really good dedicated core of people," Neil said. "They're all from the risk department, which is only two floors [of the building]. If we opened it up to the whole office, membership would probably explode!"

Members of club in formation Wellington Risk Toastmasters

At one recent meeting, club members were entertained by an Icebreaker from new member Fiona about her love of travel. She confided that, after working in London for a while, she joined the "FILTH" - "Failed in London, trying Hong Kong".

After Fiona's Icebreaker, members discussed the CC manual and planned how they would work through the various speech projects.

Neil said that, when it comes to understanding the educational program, the guidance of other Toastmasters is invaluable.

"The local community support has been great... everyone wants to help. It's humbling."

As the club gets close to chartering, members are beginning to think about filling committee roles and getting some leadership training. Understanding the world of Toastmasters through educationals will be a priority. In the meantime, the club members are enjoying their regular public speaking practice and having fun getting to know colleagues in a different way through their speeches.

Sunday 13 September 2015

From speaker to trainer

Speaking v Training - what's the difference


Do you tell, do you show or, do you involve? Which is most effective?


And why should you care at all?


Because the ability to train, and train well, is an extraordinarily useful leadership skill to have.

Training is not the same as speaking.

As a speaker, we are mostly telling. We stand in front of audience and talk. We may share stories to enliven our speech and engage the audience, nevertheless we are still telling.

If we're demonstrating something, we're showing. That activity covers infinite possibilities: how to tie a tie, how to text, how to ... Showing generally implies an audience focused on an "expert", watching them move from one step to another to complete a task or a process. That is not training either.

What is training


Training is a synthesis of speaking, demonstrating and interaction. The trainer involves the audience. They work together, side by side through a carefully crafted series of steps to learn new skills. Good training empowers and builds community.

Learn to train - Go to the Speaker to Trainer Workshop


Give yourself another skill to use in your workplace or your Toastmaster club.

Steve Bullock, DTM, Toastmasters, New Zealand.Steve Bullock, DTM, and Past Distinguished District Governor is leading an important workshop to help you improve your club, speaking, and teaching. He is also a past Region Advisor and has helped with training District Leaders around the world.

The details are:

Date: 19th September, Saturday
Cost: Koha at the door, afternoon tea provided.
Time: 1:30pm-4:30pm
Location: Upper Hutt Baptist Church, Cnr Fergusson Drive and Milton Street, Upper Hutt, Wellington
To Register: Please visit Meet-up 

Steve says:


"Many business and other organisations have realised the importance of training. Properly trained people increase productivity and make fewer mistakes. Well-trained people can make the difference between a successful business or organisation, and an unsuccessful one. In Toastmasters, properly trained club and district officers can make the difference between a healthy, exciting growing club and district verses a weak, ineffective club and district. This interactive participative workshop will allow you to discuss and use the five steps involved in preparing and conducting a training program, understand the difference between a platform speaker and a seminar trainer. You can take the transferable skills you will learn into the your toastmasters or your workplace."

Gael Price Division E Director, Wellington, District 72, NZ

Gael Price (our Division Director) says:


"I ran a Speaker to Trainer workshop in June 2014. It was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done at Toastmasters. Acting as a trainer during Club Leadership Training when I was area governor, I managed to move for the first time from worrying about myself and my message to caring more about what the audience was getting out of it. Leading a Speaker to Trainer workshop was a way to share the joy of that experience with other Toastmasters. We designed mini-workshops based around some of the Successful Club Series modules, making use of training techniques and concepts rather than the usual lecture format. It was tremendous fun. For Toastmasters who maybe haven't stepped outside the club much before, attending a workshop like this is a great way to experience a totally different part of the Toastmasters educational program, as well as meeting other members and learning from an experienced Toastmaster."

Speaker to Trainer is part of the Success Communication series.

"Tell me and I'll forget.
Show me and I may not remember.
Involve me and I'll understand."

Friday 11 September 2015

Area contests kick off: E6 and E1

The Area contest season kicked off in Division E this week with contests in E6 and E1.

The E6 Humorous contest was hosted by Toast Health and chaired by Diane Isherwood. Contestants entertained the audience with stories about their sartorial challenges, gardening woes, conspiracy theories and transport near-disasters. The contest was won by Marie Wright of Toast Health.

E6 Humorous contest: L-R Area Director Owen Winter, 2nd place Kathleen Murphy, 1st place Marie Wright, contest chair Diane Isherwood

The E6 Table Topics trophy went on the line at FearBusters, where contest chair Cathy Myers challenged contestants with the question "If you could go back to when you were 16, what advice would you give yourself?". Responses ranged from tips on career choices to exhortations to relax and worry less. Contest winner Peter Scholtens (Statistically Speaking) advised his younger self to "never go to sleep in a huff".

Area E6 Table Topics contest: L-R contest chair Cathy Myers, 2nd place Franco Pang, 1st place Peter Scholtens, 3rd place Tracy Wilkinson

Contest night in E1 was held at Public Service Toastmasters. The audience was thoroughly entertained by six humorous speeches, many of which made use of everyday life: middle age, marriage, driving, winter weather, and the internet were all subjects of humour for these contestants. The contest was chaired by Mike Lucas, and won by Kath Cherrie of Cupcake Communicators.

Area E1 Humorous contest: L-R 3rd place Nasser Ahmed, 2nd place Rob Julian, 1st place Kath Cherrie, Area Director Simon Lin

After a break for wine and cheese, E1 moved into Table Topics, where contestants answered the question "If you are going overseas for a holiday, where do you want to go?". After six engaging illustrations of wonderful holiday destinations, some audience members were tempted to get distracted planning their next holiday. Announcement of the results by contest chair Kai Chan quickly brought everyone back to the present. Aaron Hodder (Assurity Testmasters) won the contest with his response about visiting "the land of Twin Peaks".

Area E1 Table Topics contest: L-R 3rd place Brian Ventura, 2nd place Kath Cherrie, 1st place Aaron Hodder, Area Director Simon Lin

The next two weeks have contests scheduled in E2, E3, E7 and E10; check the Area contest calendar to see where you can catch your contestants.

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Where to find your Area contestants

Club Humorous and Table Topics contests are almost finished, and that means it's time for Area contests! Representatives of all Wellington's clubs will be competing in inter-club contests over the next few weeks, giving their best in the arts of humorous and impromptu speaking.


Here's where you can go to support your club contestants. (Note: times are approximate. For actual start times, check with your Area Director.)

Area Contest Date and time Hosted by
E1 Both Tue 8 Sep, 5.30pm Public Service Toastmasters
E2 Table Topics Wed 16 Sep, 7am Capital Chatterers
E2 Humorous Tue 22 Sep, 7am Business Breakfast Club
E3 Humorous Tue 22 Sep, 12 noon Up Top
E3 Table Topics Thur 24 Sep, 12.15pm Taxing Toastmasters
E6 Humorous Thur 3 Sep, 12 noon Toast Health
E6 Table Topics Tue 8 Sep, 12 noon FearBusters
E7 Both Thur 24 Sep, 7pm Turbine Talkers
E9 Table Topics Wed 23 Sep, 12 noon Terrace@12
E9 Humorous Wed 30 Sep, 5.30pm Victoria University Toastmasters
E10 Both Thur 24 Sep, 5.45pm Advanced Wellington

The seven Area winners in each contest will go on to compete in the Division contest on 10 October. See you there!

Saturday 5 September 2015

The pleasures of spontaneity ...

... generally better witnessed rather than directly experienced. (Wisdom straight from the rather large "Things I've learned" file.)



I prefer not thinking before speaking graphic