Volume 1, Issue 8 Jan - Jun 2012

The Smedlian
Smedley Speakers Society
Say YES to Speaking!

Club No. U848580

Message from President Bhavna Hiremath HIGHLIGHTS

Someone once said The tide recedes, but leaves behind bright seashells in the sand. The sun goes down, but its gentle warmth still lingers in the land. The music stops, and yet it echoes on in sweet refrains.For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains. We store in our memories a lifetime of experience. And my experience this term triggered something within me that will remain forever. The Club received its first break at a Cricket match in Hebbal Veterinary Grounds when all of us got together more as a team than to win a match. The camaraderie built there as a first brick continued to build up with more bricks, adding on to build a strong wall. Smedlians began with a big bang in February this year, when we initiated a SpeechCraft session at Sasken (Inner Ring Road, Bangalore). We got together to hone, learn and unlearn our own public speaking skills while helping Sassiens (as Sasken employees call themselves) to become better public speakers. Some straight from the heart appreciation from the very enthusiastic Sassiens pulled us through in believing that we could be the best in whatever we do. All we need to do is Apply ourselves to it. With half the Club members being on the Committee, the Club continued to rock on with a joint meeting as the next big thing. In April, Smedlians spent one harmonious meeting with Bangalore Toastmasters Club members and there was a clash of the titans from both the Clubs and we all had some great fun. And then came some serious business when Archana Shetty swept away the awards at Division Level contest by being the runner up at International Speech contest and Table topics contest. So, just to note, it was serious business carried with ease. If we know to take ourselves seriously then we also know to unwind ourselves a bit and arent we Smedlians known for it? We did exactly that at Cubbon Park at our second Outdoor meeting when our usual rockstar Francis Gama was there with a Guitar and to add to it was Pramod Shankar with his Djembe. So while we Djembed with joy to the Kerala numbers, we soon realized it was time to take stock of members and business at the Club. We had 15 new members join us this term! Sadly we may also lose some of the, Id say, blue eyed boys (long time members) of the Club to their career paths but I wish them the very best that life has to offer. To add a feather to the cap of Smedley Speaker Society is currently the latest achievements of our very beloved members Gauri Seshadri and Aseem Purohit who will soon take on the mantle as Division Governor and Area Governor respectively. AND of course, as per a Smedlian norm we celebrated and rejoiced with so much happening, at a party at Blue Waves in Church Street. Totally a fun term with a few hiccups here and there. But who says life for a Toastmaster is always a smooth ride? Challenges have stood tall and we have built brick by brick our wall, so let me just say that we stood by our theme, tried to rediscover ourselves against every challenge and therefore I reiterate - The best is yet to come. And we will always vie for the best at our Club! Amen.

Jan 8th: Installation ceremony

Jan 29th: Smedlians participation at Nexus Toastmasters cricket tournament

April 22nd: Joint meeting with Bangalore Toastmasters Club

April 25th: SaskenSpeechcraft graduation ceremony

May 13th: Smedz oudoor meeting at cubbon park

June 16th: Smedz nite at Blue waves

HAPPY READING!!!!

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A Community Toastmasters Club Your Crash Course in Networking

Sushil Balan S
A 19 year old lad bubbling with energy and seeking to learn from the adults around him. A 65 year old gentleman mesmerising everybody with his humour and witty words. A young woman in her late 20s whom the older folk look up to and accept as a mentor. A 50 year old gentleman who brings so much creativity to the table. A 24 year old young man stepping into a bright career. A middle-aged woman whos been there and done it all. Another gentleman in his late 40s who is cool as a cucumber showing no signs of pressure from a mix of family and corporate life. This is no Hollywood film trailer. Im talking about your community Toastmaster club The easiest place to build a network of talented and motivated people. Everyones got their own story. Every speech a person delivers speaks volumes of his or her personality. There is a lot to learn from each individual. If you need some help to accomplish something and are looking for the right person to contact, your best bet at finding a suitable solution would be a Community Toastmasters Club. Rajesh was looking to change his job. Sharan intimated Vikram about openings at his office. Vikram liked the profile and gave it a shot. Vikrams new job was fixed within a couple of weeks. Amit was looking for an internship. All his classmates toiled hard until they found one. Amit instead contacted Praveen, a senior member at his Toastmaster Club who was running his own company. Amit was able to confirm his internship in no time. Sunil was looking to start up a new venture. He realised the necessity for a variety of skills and talents. Even friends and Facebook could not help him find the right people. And then he realised, why not ask some of his fellow club members at Toastmasters. Today, not only members from his club but members from other Toastmaster clubs as well are part of the venture. While all this networking is going on, the original objectives of Toastmasters are also met. Spending a good amount of time in Toastmasters infuses the desire to take part in more public speaking and leadership activities. Watching fellow members turn from introverts to charming speakers makes you want to change your story as well. Bangalore has many Community Clubs which can suit your flexibility in terms of time and location. Give a Community Toastmasters Club a shot and see if it can help you help yourself. Giving it a shot is absolutely free!!! Here are three simple steps to attend a meeting: 1) Google for Toastmasters Clubs in Bangalore 2)Contact a club which is convenient to visit and let them know you would like to attend a meeting 3) Bring yourself to the meeting on time to understand every aspect of Toastmasters Good luck!!! Smedlians at Nexus toastmasters cricket tournament

Sushil Balan, wicket keeper at Nexus toastmasters cricket tournament

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

The Smedlian

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LOVE
Vandana Raman
Yellow skies, Love is the resounding laughter of your friends. Red skies, Love is the foxy grin and sensuous perfume. Blue skies, Love is the serendipitous pictures you click, that bring you joy when you later see it. Brown skies, Love is the egoistic compelling football match you just played with your rival. Pink skies, Love is the super expensive shoes you and your girlfriend giggled over. Purple skies, Love is the family time you had and having been missing for so long. Green skies, Love is the last time you smelt the soil and the watched the sun set. Beige skies, Love is the soft fluffy coat of your dog. Black skies, Love is gradually replacing hate. White skies, Love is time you smiled back at the mirror.

A womens smile a day keeps doctors and devils away

Sasken Speechcraft - Graduation Ceremony

Volume 1, Issue 8

Evaluation of Speeches
Aseem Purohit
It was a cold winter evening in 2003. I had just joined Toastmasters and was delivering a speech on Project 2 from my CTM (now CC) manual. This was one speech I had prepared well, had incorporated the tips I got from my mentor in my script, and was ready to conquer my fear of public speaking. Yet when it came to the delivery, my speech was not as impactful as I thought it would be. My evaluator while praising my preparation, highlighted areas where I could have done better and rounded it up by saying I should repeat the speech. I was crestfallen and pleaded with my evaluator to pass the speech since it had taken enormous preparation for me to deliver it. He told me I can pass the speech but how will you learn then to deliver your speeches with a clear opening, body, and conclusion. This message has stayed with me forever. In the world we live in, many a time we hope people will give us their un-biased feedback. However it is a rare commodity, with either people holding back their feedback worried about how we would feel or giving us a colored feedback by keeping their vested interests in mind. But at Toastmasters it is different with fellow club members more than willing to tell us where we did well and where we could have done better in the role played or speech delivered.

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Eight years of my Toastmasters journey has taught me the significance of good evaluations and the real life benefits one derives when the feedback is right and delivered encouragingly. I can see a world of difference in me from where I was in 2003 and where I am now. A lot of credit goes to the hundreds of fellow Toastmasters who evaluated many roles that I essayed at innumerable I now use many of these tips I got from my Toastmasters meetings and to all my evaluators and mentors over the years mentors CK, Francis, Pramod, and Gauri. when I evaluate speeches. What works best in my view while evaluating speeches Evaluate to Motivate is the mantra that I is the Sandwich Evaluation methodology have seen most evaluators follow and it has of toastmasters talk about good points, worked extremely well for me. I remember improvement areas followed by good once while delivering my Project 4, I forgot points, Suggest specific ways to improve my speech, I stood there paranoid trying to once the improvement area is highlighted remember from my script and did not utter by you as an evaluator and always a single word for over one minute. Then Evaluate to Motivate with dollops of slowly I muttered some sentences haltingly encouragement. and finished my speech, and a thundering applause from the audience followed. As they say advice is commonplace but feedback is priceless!

My mentor CK walked up to me during the break and said, the best thing I liked is that you did not leave the dais mid-way. He also gave me a wonderful tip dont try to remember your speech word by word as there is a chance that you may forget but instead remember the overall outline and use cue cards if you need to. The encouraging talk by CK ensured I completed my CC successfully, did not try to escape the situation by quitting Toastmasters in a huff then and gradually worked on to improving my public speaking skills.

Smedz outdoor meeting at Cubbon Park

The Smedlian

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CELL-ing Out!
Nithin T: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.

Malora Fernandes
Last week, my nephew celebrated his 18th birthday. It being such an important milestone in his life, I decided to make a day of wishing him. Before he left to school in the morning, I sent him a text message with a colourful background of balloons, cake and candles. Around noon, I posted a funny quote and a personal greeting on his Facebook wall. And in the evening, I wrote him a nice long email recounting many amusing moments we had shared over the years. By night-time, I was quite happy with myself. I had set out to make a day of wishing him and I had succeeded. I was mentally patting myself on the back when my sister walked in and asked me what I was smiling about. I told her and waited for her to applaud my thoughtfulness. Instead, she looked at me rather quizzically, and asked Thats great but, did you CALL to wish him? For a minute, I was stunned and looked a little blank. You would think a phone call would have been my first choice for wishing him. But it wasnt. It never even occurred to me. I did a quick mental rewind. How could I have not thought even once to make a phone call? I have a cell phone. Its with me all the time. Anyone who knows me will say the phone has to be surgically removed from my hand. So why then did a making a call seem so foreign? As I thought it over I realised that I use my cell phone for just about everything. I wake up to its alarm, I listen to music on it while I travel, I use it to check my email, set reminders, make notes and even watch videos on it once in a while. Like I said, I use it for just about anything. The sole exception being I cant remember the last time Ive used it to make a phone call. Receive one certainly but making one when I can just text instead seems like a foreign action lately. And isnt that just sad! The human race has come so far. And every day we seem to be going further, making the impossible possible. Pushing the limits of what cant be done to how many times we can safely do it. And for us living in the here and now, we are the privileged ones. We have witnessed firsthand, change of epic proportion. We have gone from televisions, radios and VCRs to entire home entertainment systems. We have seen the birth of the first computer and the transition from clunky desktops to nifty tablets, we have seen all sorts of transport for land, sea and air - become available. We have even seen men shot to space and return, unharmed yet armed with new information about potential for life on other planets. We have seen change but in the process we have also changed. Maybe in some cases for the worse? We have become more accustomed to relying on technology instead of relying on ourselves and our brains. Sometimes for the better, when technology advances in health and healthcare help prevent, predict and manage medical conditions. Better or worse? The change that technology has created in us is not a simple one to answer. I just know that my nephew recently turned 18 & I remembered to text but forgot to talk. The thought of it makes me very sad. So from here on out Im going to be re-evaluating some of my lifestyle choices. I believe that a little less technology replaced with a little more humanity is my best approach.
They say less is more. For me, from now, that will mean less Facebook and more Facetime!

Anonymous - Vivek John

Archana Shetty: God created man before women because you need a draft before the masterpiece

Smedley Speakers Society

NIPM Hall, 2nd Floor, Blue Cross Chambers, Infantry Road Cross, Near Safina Plaza, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. VP Education: Selvakumar Sakthivel Phone: 9845809927

WHERE LEADERS ARE MADE

Smedley Speakers' Society is a Toastmasters' Club based in Bangalore, India. We at Smedley's are committed to the vision of Toastmasters International's founder, Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, to help individuals achieve excellence in public speaking and leadership.
www.facebook.com/SmedleySpeakersSociety www.smedleyspeakerssociety.toastmastersclubs.org www.smedleys.org

Incoming Officers
President : Vice President - Education : Vice President - Membership : Vice President - Public Relations : Treasurer : Secretary : Sergeant At Arms : Mahaveer Jain Selvakumar Sakthivel Sushil Balan Burhanuddin Pithawala Jitendra Shetty Vandana Raman Rohit Rao