Beacon Septemebr 2004 - Lagoon...

www.lagoontoastmasters.com 1 BEACON

Quarterly Newsletter of Lagoon Toastmasters Club. (Supported by Skyline College, Sharjah)

Volume 3, Issue 1 Club: 6392 / 79 September 2004

Contents…

Presidents Message… 2 Focus, and Get it Right… 9 From the Editors Desk… 2 Education… 10 Office Bearer’s of 2004-2005 3 Mentoring… 11 Club Goals for 2004-2005 4 Activity Schedule for 2004-2005… 12 Sharing Experience… 5 Quest for Excellence + DCP Status. 13 Individuals Play the Game… 6 Women Power… 15 The Awesome Power… 7 YLP Report, Roll of Honour… 16 Be Yourself… 8 Photographs… 17


Presidents Message…

To tell you the truth, I was very scared to take up the role of President of Lagoon Toastmasters Club. The main reason – I knew it was difficult to emulate the performance of the year 2003-2004. What spectacular things did

we do last year? To name a few – 27 new members joined the Club, sponsored 2 new Clubs & 1 new Gavel Club, received many awards from TMI including the President’s Distinguished Club and became the Best Club for Membership, Best Club for Newsletters & the Best Club in the Area. Three months into our academic year, I am a very happy man. Even though many of us were on vacation during the peak summer, there are so many achievements that we can be proud of. We have identified a theme (Quest for Excellence), a set of goals and an activity schedule to take us through to July 2005. We already have 8 new members coming from different walks of life. Padmaja Ganesh became the first Competent Leader for this year. All our Club Officers and three others attended the Officers Training program. We also coordinated a YLP program for kids and had three educational sessions so far. This edition of Beacon is surely one of the achievements. Our brand new website www.lagoontoastmasters.com is also ready for use and I’m sure that you will enjoy surfing our website. Don’t you agree that we had a wonderful quarter? Yes, without doubt. But we have much more to do in the coming months. As you know we are attempting to achieve something difficult- excellence in all what we do. We have to improve the attendance in our meetings and take it to the magical figure of 75%. We also have to concentrate on improving the quality of speeches. For achieving this, we have to give more importance to the ‘Mentoring’ aspect of Toastmasters.

With the level of energy, commitment & dedication shown by all of us, I am sure we will definitely achieve all these. Wishing you all the best… Safeer Azeez Club President.

From the Editors Desk… Welcome back after a relaxing vacation for most of you and now back to business with all the assignments, commitments and dedications to achieve our Goals of this year. We live in a world of contests

and one of them is between the printed word and the visual media. With the internet mainstreamed into our lives, many prophets of doom have predicted that the printed word will soon be a thing of the past. But the passage of time proves that the printed word will continue to exist for all time. There is an unabashed preference for the printed word in all of us. I am pleased to be given the opportunity to celebrate the release of first issue of the News Letter of Lagoon Toastmasters Club. I am delighted that our club and all its members exemplify a unified commitment to a common goal that to provide high standards of quality, value added self development skills in a warm family atmosphere. The publication, “BEACON”, is a poignant reminder of our goals of this year. The events, incidents and experiences of the club are too many to be accommodated in this short paragraph, but I have tried my best to include these most interesting and beautiful literatures of fellow toastmasters to make this news letter a really interesting and good one. My appreciation goes out to the President and all toastmasters for their contribution in bringing out the enjoyable issue of “BEACON”. Enjoy the News Letter. Let us start our new year of Toastmasters with zest, commitment and dedication. Vipul Talati VP Public Relations

LAGOON TMC We meet on alternate Mondays at 7:30 pm at Nova Park Hotel, King Faisal Road, Sharjah. You are Cordially Invited to be Our Guest! There is no fee for Guests and no Obligation to Speak! For more information please contact: Vinod Nair (VPM) - 050 6269140 Vipul Talati (VPPR) - 050 5873950 Safeer Azeez (President ) - 050 7856961

www.lagoontoastmasters.com


Office Bearers of Lagoon Toastmasters for the Year 2004 - 2005

Name / Role Responsibilities

Safeer Azeez President

• Ensures fair play and transparency in all club matters • Guides the team and ensures maximum goals are met • Works towards the Distinguished Club Program • Promote the chapter in the area

Mathew Jacob VP Education

• Plan successful club meetings • Assign role-plays to members ensuring fair play to all members • Motivate members to perform to the best of their abilities • Ensure progress, however small that maybe, with each member

Vinod Nair VP Membership

• Conduct ongoing membership building program • Achieve all the three special membership awards from TMI • Promote the cause of Toastmasters in liaison with VPPR

Vipul Talati VP Public Relations

• Promote the club to the local media • Produce and circulate the club newsletter • Create & Maintain the Club Website • Promote membership program in liaison with VP Membership

Rohit Tharamal Secretary

• Maintain membership roster and distribute list with particulars to all members • Liaise with Treasurer and President with semi annual report • Attend committee meetings, write relevant minutes and distribute • Read abridged form of minutes at the next regular meeting

Hareendralal A G Treasurer

• Prepares budget for the coming quarter and ensures adherence to planning • Collects due from members, on time • Send gentle reminders to defaulters • Maintain books of accounts properly and neatly

Jessie D’souza Sergeant @ Arms

• Arrives at the venue of meeting at least 30 min. prior to commencement • Ensures that necessary equipment and supplies are in place • Special requests from members are provided • Starts the meeting on time

CTM Rajan M K Abdul Ravoof Sujatha Suresh Imm Past President Webmaster Librarian


Club Goals for 2004-2005

QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE

No: Item

1. Achieve President’s Distinguished Club Status.

2.

Improve the Quality of Speeches and Club Meeting. To achieve this, we will :

• Add variety to the regular meetings and make it more enjoyable. • Strictly follow the objectives of each project during preparation & evaluation. • Give due importance to Mentoring during all phases. • Strictly adhere to time limit for each & every role. • Get commitment from members regarding their personal goals & plans for the complete year. • Encourage the members to do at least 4 Projects, 4 Evaluation, 3 Table Topics speech’s, 1

Toastmaster & as many roles as possible during the year. • Display the Club Progress Charts, DCP Status, Activity Schedule, Club Goals. • Regularize the roles of Grammarian / Ah Counter / Tip master. • Invite other TM’s to do ‘Quality’ projects in Lagoon and encourage members to attend other

club meetings. • Conduct at least 8 educational sessions (by members & others) from the Better Speaker Series,

Successful Club Series & the Leadership Series.. • Recognize achievements of Members both inside & outside the club. • Get regular feedback from members & guests regarding quality of Club meetings using a

questionnaire or during business meetings. • Improve the attendance in club meetings to at least 75% of membership.

3.

Achieve all three club membership awards from Toastmasters International. To achieve this, we will :

• Enroll at least one new member per month. • Organize Membership contests / campaign. • Conduct guest meetings in August, February & May

4. Conduct at least one YLP / Speech craft and help in the formation of at least one new club.

5. Publish Club Newsletter in each quarter and take part in the Best Newsletter Contest at District level.

6. Redesign the Club Website with more information regarding the club and links to Public Speaking / Personality Development Websites

7. Improve and maximize the usage of our Club Library by adding informative books, quality speeches, audio/video tapes etc.

8. Have representation in all the contests at the Area / Division / District / International (Taped Speech) Levels.

9. Introduce Semi Annual Awards for Various Categories. Viz. Maximum Attendance, Membership Contribution, Newsletter Contribution, Best Toastmaster, Best Speaker / TT Speaker / Evaluator.

10. Increase interaction between the family members. By organizing at least one Family Get together / Picnic / Family Meeting.


Sharing Experience: Way to Excellence - M K Rajan, Past President

‘Toastmasters: Changing Lives, One at a Time’ is the theme selected this year by our new International President, DTM Jon Greiner. In his ‘Viewpoint’ column of ‘The Toastmasters` this month he writes about the spectacular change that took place in the life of a Hungarian Toastmaster, Art, after joining the Toastmasters. In the first issue of our Newsletter last year, I remember writing about some of the changes our

members underwent after joining the Club and the positive effects these changes brought in their lives. Jon firmly believes our organization helps change the lives of people for better and by sharing these benefits with those around, people experience more life changing benefits! It is indeed a great thought and a valuable lesson to all. As Norman Douglas wrote, ‘A man reformed himself has contributed his full share towards the reformation of his neighbor.’ No doubt, in Toastmasters we are constantly sharing our experiences and benefiting through mentoring, educational sessions, trainings, speeches, evaluations etc. I believe growth and success of a Club greatly depend on this give and take and now I understand the milestone achievements of Lagoon last year were due to nothing but this successful sharing of experiences. As Joseph Collins said ‘A prudent person profit from personal experience, a wise one from the experience of others.’ Last year was definitely a turnaround for Lagoon. From nowhere we became Presidents Distinguished Club, won all awards for membership from TMI, won 4 Area Awards and excelled in almost all areas. I am proud to say that all these were possible only due to the whole-hearted co-operation extended and the absolute dedication shown by you members. I cannot forget the fantastic teamwork of a wonderful team of Club Officers who, like an oiled machine, worked tirelessly and went all out to achieve the Club Goals set for the year. I thoroughly enjoyed being your President last year and thank each one of you for actively participating and thereby contributing towards the success of the Club. I am also thankful to our Mentor ATM CG Ganesh for guiding us by sharing his valuable experiences. I am sure under the dynamic and charismatic leadership of TM Safeer the Club will continue this sharing process and reach new heights. I wish him every success in his new endeavor and his Quest for Excellence.

GIVE YOUR PERSONALITY A LIFT, YOU LIFT THE WHOLE WORLD Quotes – Sunil Kumar YOUR HOME SHOULD BE THE CENTRE NOT BOUNDARY OF YOUR AFFECTION YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE NOT WHAT YOU DESIRE A STONE THAT IS FIT FOR THE WALL IS NOT LEFT IN THE WAY THE WAY TO GAIN ANYTHING IS TO LOSE IT IT IS DIFFICULT TO FIND HAPPINESS WITHIN ONESELF BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND ANYWHERE ELSE.


Individuals Play the Game, But Teams Win Championships

- Sree Valsan, Area Governor, Area 8, Division B This above phrase goes well with Lagoon Toastmasters Club. Past President CTM M.K. Rajan and his office bearers did a wonderful job during the 2003-2004 tenure. Lagoon Club achieved an excellent growth in membership, released quality newsletters, two well-conducted speech craft for KERA, which resulted in the formation of Creek Toastmasters and Burj Toastmasters, Presidents Distinguished club award, some good education sessions for members and so on. Wow! So teamwork makes the dream work, Lagoon Club became the champions of Area 8. I am sure that under the leadership of TM Safeer and his present committee, Lagoon will again achieve the goals for 2004-2005. To help you in this, I would like to share some points written by ATM S. Spencer in the year 2000 TMI magazine on Team Work. HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR IT SAID THAT IN ANY TEAM EFFORT, 20 PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE DO 80 PERCENT OF THE WORK? If this formula rings true in your Toastmasters experience, this may be a good rule to break. Whether you are risking burnout by doing too much, or surrendering to boredom by being more of a spectator than a participant, you can empower yourself and create a healthier balance in your Toastmasters activities. Look at the ideas below and consider how they might help you maximize the educational value and personal enjoyment within our participatory program. Take charge of your activity level in your club through some simple, practical ways. IF YOU WANT TO AVOID BURNOUT:

Play hooky: It is stressful when a key player is unable to attend a meeting (unless a backup member has been assigned). Ask newer members to serve as alternates for your key roles. Whenever possible, find a reason to excuse yourself (but give timely notice) so your alternate can benefit from the experience of filling your shoes for a day.

Identify your blind spots: Without looking at a membership list, jot down the names of fall your club members. Note the manes you missed or those listed near the bottom of the page. These are the untapped resources you have unconsciously been overlooking. Commit to selecting these people when you are delegating important meeting roles.

Become a mentor: Mentors aren’t teachers; they are coaches. The best way to mentor members is to give them challenges and coach them as they perform. Assigning your most time-consuming or important responsibilities to your mentee gives you a break and lets someone else learn the ropes.

Plan your own obsolescence: What dream could you fulfill if you applied all the time and energy you now use to maintain your club? Make that dream your new priority and start delegating all burnout-producing club commitments today. As other4 members see you pursue your educational goals, it will inspire them to grow. Lead by example and manage upward, rather than downward.

See yourself as a talent scout, rather than a talent: Cherish the recognition you’ve already received and start looking for the newer stars on the horizon. If you pass the effort and the recognition to the next generation, you’ll soon find yourself applauding their successes while enjoying your own accomplishments.

IF YOU WANT TO AVOID BOREDOM:

Volunteer: You may be fooled by the finesse of your experienced members; they always appear to have the meeting under effortless control. However, there is usually a lot of last-minute pressure and detailed work, which they would love to share with a thoughtful volunteer! So offer your assistance. You’ll be amazed at how enthusiastically that offer will be received and how much you will learn about effective meeting facilitation.

Contd…


Share ownership of the meeting: After you’ve attended a few meetings, you should be accustomed to the format and rhythm of the activities. Did you notice that the gavel is missing or someone forgot to close the door? Anything that you can smoothly fix will enhance the meeting for everyone.

Call your mentor: Reach out and ask for ideas on how to become more active. You don’t have a mentor? Then get one! Select at least one experienced member whom you admire and ask this person to be your mentor. This member will give you plenty of ideas and projects to keep boredom at bay.

Attend officer meetings: Did you know that club executive meeting are open to all members? Occasionally, the officers may need to address sensitive issues in private, but most executive meetings focus on accommodating all members’ needs. Non-officers can provide fresh opinions and suggestions to enrich the discussion. Ask to attend the next executive meeting as an interested observer. Your presence will be welcome!

Visit other clubs and local Toastmasters events: You’ll see and hear fresh ways to approach programs and return with valuable insights that will benefit your fellow members. Soon, you’ll be a vital part of the creative and supportive atmosphere that attracted you to Toastmasters in the first place!

THE AWESOME POWER TO BE OURSELVES - J.K.Nair, PRO District 79

When I was a child, I remember one day, the school was closed because a person in our neighborhood passed away. I asked my father why close the school because he died? The answer was that he was a powerful man who owned a factory in our area. Isn’t this how many of us think of power- the richest man in the town, the man who can control others.

But I believe that being oneself is the greatest power one can possess. Some of the examples that come to my mind are Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and H.E Sheikh Mohammed What do these individuals have in common? They all spoke and acted as themselves resolutely standing up for what they believed. They were “ authentic”. What does this authenticity do to us? It gives us a sense of direction; self generated energy, helps to inspire others, & shows us the power of self-love & the spirit. Striving for authenticity is not so easy, but here are some tips to begin your journey

a. Pay attention to what is going on in your life, inwardly & outwardly. b. Accept the idea that nothing is wrong with being different from others. c. Spend time with yourself.

As with the splitting of the atom, the opening of the self gives us access to a hidden power & as a true toastmaster we experience this power. Authenticity is a sensitizing & blessed power. It comes with the feeling at home with oneself, & therefore at home in the universe. It is the greatest power in the world- the power to be ourselves. My message to all the Lagoon Toastmasters is that be yourself & experience this awesome power. Keeping in line with the theme of the District Governor- “Let TeamWork Make Our Dreams Work”, Lagoon Toastmasters have personified this statement in every activity within the club & may this teamwork of yours be an example of others to follow.


Be Yourself - Mohamed Murad, Imm Past Dist Governor, Dist 79

Do you know that you are the sum of all the days you have spent on the face of this earth? Yes, that and nothing else. As you are reading this article try to go through the different stages of your life and how each day impacted the next till the time you picked up this newsletter and started reading. Well, I have good news for you; this is just another event to add to your portfolio! If that is true, then is it possible for you to be anything else other than what the days have made you? Absolutely not. That is exactly what toastmasters has taught me, to be myself. Anyone who is consciously aware of this fact will infinitely reap the benefits. The core derivative is that when you communicate you have to be yourself. For only then will you be able to portray truthfulness and paint a vivid message in the minds of your audience. It is worthwhile to point out here that the learning has not occurred only through delivering speeches but on the contrary mostly through listening to other people delivering theirs. I have noticed that virtually every Ice Breaker speech is genuine and is accepted by the audience. But when a toastmaster advances, among the comments passed to him is “I have seen you delivering better speeches”, following are some tips that I find useful in delivering a genuine speech: Be sincere to yourself before others: Every speech has to be on a topic that you sincerely believe in. If you are pressed for time and are scheduled to do a speech, call it off well in advance, a job half done is like a job not done at all. Let sincerity flow from your mind as well as your body: Let your ideas be communicated properly through the use of the body language and vocal variety. Do not try to fake the body language by continuously practicing forced moves to match the speech, instead be conscious of the fact that there has to be body language present and let your body do the reaction to the words coming out. The same applies to vocal variety, do not try to match words to tones, instead let the words tone themselves through conviction. Deliver sentences as ideas not word by word. Organize do not memorize: Have a clear structure of the speech’s main ideas and sub headings, and practice talking to the audience not reading word by word from your mind by memorizing the whole speech. Think of the future: See yourself delivering 1 to 2 hour speeches, imagine the reaction of the audience then if you are not perceived as a genuine speaker, and by the way there is no way you will be able to memorize such long speeches. Reading may be an option, but the strength of the delivery will be drastically reduced. How many times have you walked out of the hall because the speech is not good enough, how many times have you got bored with the speaker even though the speech topic was of interest to you? Communication is about sincerity and belief, it is about rapport and understanding, there is no place for fake thoughts and actions. So the next time you deliver Zig Zigler, Anthony Robbins, Steven Covey, Ken Blanchard and many other internationally recognized speakers have not become good communicators before they recognized they have to be sincere and genuine.


Focus, and Get it Right - Balu Padmanabhan, Divisional Governor, Division B

- Moments after his educational presentation a couple of weeks ago, I had a chat with TM C. K. Jaidev, Area Governor - Area 21, and his comments about the Lagoon Chapter were not surprising. Over the past 12 months, I had made similar observations. When this chapter was formed a few years ago, many toastmasters were

sceptical about the success of Lagoon, because more than 90% of the members hailed from South India and almost all of them were engineers. Surely, wide ranging subjects would be limited; learning process would be slower; and educational sessions would appear to be a drag! Surprise! Surprise! Our fears were short-lived. Lagoon has grown into a force to reckon. Did this chapter do anything different from other community chapters? They simple got the basics right. We all took an oath when we were installed as members. We promised to attend meetings regularly, help each other, ensure friendly environment, etc. etc. Unfortunately, many of us forget this promise and soon find excuses not to attend our club meetings. Apathy and lethargy are rather contagious, and same goes with enthusiasm and commitment. Successful chapters are made of members who believe in the latter. So let’s remember the basics in toastmasters –

• Attend meetings regularly. • Adequate preparation for project speeches. • No last minute dropouts. • Good evaluation. • Inter-act well with fellow members. • Conduct educational sessions.

As the Division Governor, I am happy with the success of the Lagoon Chapter, and sincerely hope that they never lose their focus. So what did TM Jaidev tell me? He said, “This club is vibrant, members are committed and they show a high level of professionalism!”

1729 is known as Ramanujams number. One day Prof. Hardy was visiting the great Indian Mathematician who sick and taking medication in the hospital. Prof Hardy said to Ramanujam “ The taxi I cam in had a very boring number – 1729.”

Ramanujams face lit up and said no this is not a boring number in fact this the only number that is the sum of 2 cubes in 2 different ways.

10^3 + 9^3 = 1729 AND 12^3 + 1^3 = 1729 – Sunil Kumar


Education - Mathew Jacob, VP Education

- Education scene at Lagoon is very encouraging. There was a time when members had to be persuaded to do projects, so that there would be a decent number of project speakers in meetings. But today, in most of the meetings, there are more willing project-speakers than possible speaking roles and we are forced sometimes to cut down on speaking roles. At the same time, I am keeping a secret desire (which I inherited from last year’s VP/Education) to

have a marathon speaking session in one meeting, where there will only be project speeches and that too so many of them. As has been said over and over again, our stress this year is on QUALITY and our theme is “QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE”. Let us try to reflect QUALITY in all roles that we play, especially in prepared speeches. If that means we need to delay a project speech by one meeting to have more time to prepare, so be it. It is better to do 5 quality projects in a year than somehow doing 10 projects. Somehow finishing projects may bring us CTMs, ATMs and DTMs, but when we do QUALITY projects, the effort we put in can bring out the best qualities within us. I would also like to stress the need to have a plan for each member. Prepare a plan for what you like to do for the whole year. You can decide whether to make your plan public or you want to keep it private. But if you let the VP/Education know about your plan in advance, we can assign roles accordingly. Another area where I would like to emphasise on is the mentoring. Each member who has not completed Project 5 has been assigned a mentor. Please use your mentors to your maximum advantage. Discuss your role-plays with your mentor. Show the texts of your project speeches to your mentor. Your mentor may not be the greatest speaker, but he are she may be able to suggest you some new ideas, may be able to point out some weak areas in your speeches. These individuals have committed to spend time for your development. Do make the maximum use of this. At least, it will do you no harm. In the Distinguished Club Program (DCP), we are on target to become the President’s Distinguished Club like last year. Let us try this year to achieve the points required to achieve the Presidents Distinguished Club status much ahead of the target completion date. The way, we are progressing, there is nothing to stop us.

The person who invented this sentence must be a vocabulary GENIUS. Why, Read the sentence below carefully !!! "I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality counterbalancing indecipherability, transcendentalizes intercommunications' incomprehensibleness". This is a sentence where the Nth word is N letters long. e.g. 3rd word is 3 letters long, 8th word is 8 letters long and so on.


Mentoring Mentoring plays a very important part in Toastmasters. It makes members feel they are not alone. It helps them to understand the format of Toastmasters. And it gives them encouragement, which can be one of the major components in turning out successful public speakers. Here are a few tips for both Mentors & Mentees… For Mentors…

• Sit with the new member at the meeting & explain what is going on, the customs and help the new member feel comfortable in the club atmosphere.

• Help him or her prepare the Ice Breaker Speech and other assignments. • Make the mentee aware of resources he might need to meet goals. • Offer positive feedback. • Explain the club responsibilities and encourage your mentee to participate.

For Mentees…

• Make use of the mentor as a resource. Call him; ask him to be present when you are doing something new.

• Should be receptive, ready to learn, open to suggestions and new ideas and be appreciative of the mentor’s time.

List of Mentors and Mentees as on: 31 August 2004

Mentor Mentees Mentor Mentees ANIL KUMAR TAJ K S RAJEEV T CHANDY GANESH C G NAIR B G SHIVRAJ BHATIA

SUJATHA SURESH N SAJISH VIJAYAN JESSIE D SOUZA

REEJA ROHIT ROHIT THARAMAL JIJU JALAL VIJAYAN AMPAT NAVED AL HAQ

JOY P D

SAFEER AZEEZ

PUSHPA KUMARA VINOD NAIR VIPUL TALATI CHANDRAPRAKASH P. VIPUL TALATI TARA M. MUDDAPPA ABDUL RAVOOF HAREENDRALAL A G

MATHEW JACOB

NISHAD ABDUL RAHIM BIPIN CHANDRAN VIRESH M SHAH KANNAN IYER

MUBARAK AHMED SUNIL KUMAR K P JESSIE D'SOUZA MUBARAK AHAMED

RAJAN M K

ANAND M JOSHI

VENUKUMAR B MATHEW VARGHESE K.

RAJESH VED NUJUM NAVAZ

JOSEPH FRANCY SURESH E S

MUKUND KUMAR

SUDHAKARAN T K

What is the largest number that can be written using a 3-digit number? – Sunil Kumar Ans: 9^9^9 9 ^ 9 = 387420489 Nobody till date has the precise value of 387420489 ^ 9 however it begins with 428124773 and ends 89. The complete number will contain 369 million digits and take several years to read


Activity Schedule from July 2004 to June 2005

YEAR MONTH DATE EVENT RESPONSIBILITY

19 Executive Committee Meeting – 1 President & Secretary

June 27 Club Meeting 65 (Combined)

Induction of New Office Bearers Area Office

12, 26 Club Meetings 66, 67 VPED July

Prepare Budget Treasurer

09, 23 Club Meetings 68, 69 VPED

27 Club Officers Training VPED

Assign Mentors for all Members VPED

Form various Committees President

August

Smedley Membership Award VPM


Executive Committee Meeting – 2 President & Secretary

20 Newsletter - 1 & Website VPPR & AVPPR

20 Semi-annual Report to TMI President & Secretary

September

20 Quarterly Reports to Area Office President & Secretary

04, 18 Club Meetings 72, 73 VPED October

Youth Leadership Programme VPPR & VPM

01, 15, 29 Club Meetings 74, 75, 76 VPED November

Speech Craft VPPR & VPM



27 Newsletter – 2 VPPR

27 Family Get together / Picnic VPPR & VPM

27 Semi Annual Club Awards VPED

2 0

0

4

December

Audit of Accounts Treasurer / Auditors


Quarterly Report to Area Office President & Secretary

YEAR MONTH DATE EVENT RESPONSIBILITY

January 10, 24 Club Meetings 79, 80 (Contests) VPED


Talk Up Toastmasters Award VPM

Area Contest Area Office February

Club Officers Training VPED



21 Newsletter - 3 VPPR

21 Semi-annual Report to TMI President & Secretary

21 Quarterly Report to Area Office President & Secretary

Taped Speech for contest to TMI President & VPED

March

Divisional Contest Division Office


District Newsletter Competition VPPR April

Club Election Nomination Committee President & Mentor

02, 16, 30 Club Meetings 87, 88, 89 VPED

30 Club Elections for next year President

Beat the Clock Membership Award VPM May

GTAC 2005 – JORDAN All Members



13 Newsletter - 4 VPPR

13 Quarterly Reports to Area Office President & Secretary

2 0

0

5

June

27 Semi Annual Club Awards VPED


27 Installation of New Club Officers President & Mentor

LAGOON IN THEIR “QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE” - Vinod Nair, VP Membership

It gives me great pleasure to inform all of you that Lagoon Toastmasters Club has grown by leaps and bounds in the last one and a half years not only in head count but also in their achievements whether its their meeting attendance, quality of speeches, personal glory for members or community service (YLP, Speech Crafts etc). So Lagoon Chapter is already on the road to excellence. Now when we look ahead what is it that drives Lagoon Chapter -----what I have realized is members of Lagoon are dedicated and sincere in their efforts which is reflected in their various activities and encourages guests to become part of this wonderful Chapter and reap the benefits. Now when we join Lagoon Chapter we get the opportunity to excel in our Communication and Leadership roles because the seniors not only convince but force us to excel as is evident from our past records. The new session started with 8 new members and the Ralph Smedley award which shows the commitment of one and all and I am sure the way that we are growing coupled with ever improving meeting quality we may soon give birth to another club. I sincerely hope that each and every member of Lagoon Chapter excel in their professional and personal fields by utilizing the skills learned at Lagoon and promote the message of TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL.

Distinguished Club Program Status No Description Goal Actual Achieved 1 CTM 2 2 Additional CTM 2 3 ATM 1 4 Additional ATM 1 5 CL, AL or DTM 1 1 1 6 Additional CL, AL or DTM 1 7 New Members 4 4 1 8 Additional New Members 4 4 1

9 Officers Trained June - August Officers Trained December - February

4 4

7 0.5


10 Submitted on Time Semiannaul Report Submitted on Time Officers List

1 1

1

0.5

Total 4

WOMEN POWER – Jessie D’souza I saw the Toastmasters manual and observed 3 men and 3 women on the cover photo. I was handed an Opinion Leaflet, on it a young lady gestures to list, where as when I attended the Lagoon Toastmasters, I found only one lady TM.

If the world population is divided between male and female, half the population is female. Even in preschool, school and college both boys and girls are almost in equal numbers – it is the same syllabus for both genders and both are encouraged to participate and excel equally. And, it is so, until they graduate and step out of the academic field and thereafter, the ratio of women to men in the competing world, keeps shrinking. Where on earth do they disappear and how will women explore their talents? Who are their hurdles in exploring their strengths? Are they bound for serving their spouses and wards alone? Or are they themselves responsible for their present state of affairs. Of course there are a lot of reasons for this. Agreed it’s a male –dominated world but yet is it so difficult for women to make her own mark? When women give so much for their families why can’t men change their mind set and allow their spouses/sisters/daughters to explore themselves in any field that they have passion and skills. Don’t men think that they are partly responsible for crushing their potentials? Do men think that their spouses who were, once bubbly girls and topped academics, sports and extra curricular activities suddenly ran out of their potentials? No, it is the mind set of the society that she belonged elsewhere? Home making women certainly have much time on her hand which could be put to use, even after tending her children and spouse. Women have great potentials to prove their mettle and not utilizing them positively perhaps lead them to over utilize in home making and so, men find their over-caring behaviour as `nagging’, and their way of sharing information as `gossip’. Channelizing these energies in a manner in which they are to be, will turn their gossip into `knowledge’ and their nagging into `caring’. An advice for women, please do not wait for someone to take care of you and handle all your problems. Look for an equal footing, encourage the girls in your own families because it said women are responsible for other women. Parents play an important role as to how you treat your daughters because they will also pass on the same traits for the next generation. If you today discriminate between sons and daughters what do you expect! The cycle will continue and it is simply beating around the bush. Remember, Time waste is life wasted. John Gardener said ‘ I happen to pass through this world but once, any good that I can do let me do it now for I shall not pass this way again” so parents treat your daughters and sons alike, so women in future can grow without giving up their own identities.


True, it is the perception of the mind – they (women) are, how you see them. See them with enormous potential and bring them on the same platform as men are and see the difference in life.

Youth Leadership Program for children

Lagoon Toastmasters Club recently conducted an eight evening Youth Leadership Programme for children above 11 years of age. The program is designed by Toastmaster International, US, a non-profit making organization.

The workshop basically covered various aspects of public speaking on a do-it-learn basis. CTM Mukundakumar was the coordinator. Hareendralal & Sujatha Suresh assisted Mukund in coordinating the event. Educational sessions on Speak without fear, non-verbal communication, topic selection, speech organization, impromptu speaking etc. were also conducted by senior Toastmasters during the programme.

The final session was staged at the Al Futtaim Training Centre on 26.08.04 where the participants demonstrated their newly acquired skills in the presence of their parents and senior Toastmaster from U.A.E. They were felicitated by TMI Divisional Governor Balu Padmanabhan, District PRO J.K. Nair and TMI Sharjah Area Officers.

For more details and photographs please visit the news and events section of www.lagoontoastmasters.com

Roll of Honour

Achievements

Achievers

Competent Leader Award CL Padmaja Ganesh

Conducted YLP CL Mukund, Hareendralal, Sujatha

New members Chandraprakash, Tara Mudappa, Mathew Varghese, Joseph Francy, Pushpa Kumara, Reeja Rohit, Anand Joshi & Sajimudeen

Attended Club Officers Training All Club Officers, Farooq, Rajan & Mukund

Few Definitions.... – Vinod Nair DOCTOR - A person who kills your ills by pills, and later kills you with his bills. BOSS - Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early. TEARS - The hydraulic force by which masculine power is defeated by feminine power. ATOMIC BOMB - An invention to end all inventions. RUMOUR - News that travels more than the speed of sound. CLASSIC - A book which people praise, but do not read. DICTIONARY - The only place where divorce comes before marriage


Volume 3, Issue 1 September 2004

For more information about Lagoon Toastmasters, their activities, the Beacon Newsletter and to view the

previous editions of Beacon…

Please visit

www.lagoontoastmasters.com

And send your feedback to

[email protected]

Congratulations to all the Members of

all the clubs in District 79

For achieving the

‘PRESIDENTS DISTINGUISHED DISTRICT AWARD’

And becoming

THE TOP DISTRICT IN

THE WORLD

This Newsletter is for internal circulation only. For suggestions and feedback,

Please call TM Vipul Talati (VPPR), Tel: 050-5873950 or Email: [email protected].

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