I pledged for a Safe & Eco Friendly DIWALI…… Did You..?

La Excelencia October Edition

2014

Qualitative v/s Quantitative Growth – Namrata (TCS Bangalore Toastmasters Club)

Talk To Yourself – Suneel Agarwal (Area Governor, D3 & Conference Convenor Oration 2015, Mumbai)

Observations Of A Toastmaster – Ekanto Ghosh (TCS Bangalore Toastmasters Club)

7 Reasons Why To Join Toastmasters – Smriti Dutt (HR)

Editorial

Upcoming Events – Sonal Sisodia

Find Out Who Is Who..? – By Naveen Yadav

TCS TM’s Wishes- District 41/ 82 – By Neha Attri

5 Things Only A TM Can Understand – DTM Akshita Aggarwal ,

SDTM

Who Made This Happen..?

Just as a single lamp is capable of lighting several other lamps

without affecting its own light, experiences shared by few

experienced TMs can help others in implementing those

strategies in their own club to take their club to newer heights

- shielding them from certain hard situation, others faced

within their own clubs...

It is said "sharing knowledge and experiences can seem like a

burden to some, but on the contrary it is a reflection of

teamwork and leadership" This, in fact, resembles (or states)

the mission of Toastmasters International.

So, in this festive season, let's spread the light of learning

experiences & observations of few TMs, working in TCS, from

different parts of District 41 through this edition of

La Excelencia Hope you all had a safe Diwali.... :)

The month of October has marked the onset of the festive season with Navratra Celebrations, Dushehra

festival, Durga Puja and finally Diwali when every house is lit up with oil lamps, candles and colorful

electric lights. But what is the significance of lighting a lamp? There are numerous answers to this

question like it symbolizes the destruction of all negative forces, it illuminates the darkness of ignorance,

but the one I believe is that it is through this light that the beauty of the world is revealed and

experienced. It is an energy that makes us feel happy and confident from within.

E

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Dear Readers,

As the chief editor, I have tried to

ensure that each page would help

you learn from the experiences of

others Toastmasters.

Also, I would take this

opportunity to thank my

team for their time and hard

work to make the 4th Edition

(October) of “La Excelencia”

a success...

Please provide your valuable

feedbacks & help us to

improve..!!!

- Neha Attri, CC, ALB

Smriti Dutt (HR , TCS)

Tom Peters, the famous American

writer said: “Join Toastmasters.

Oral communication skills count.

Enormously. A lot of managers

aren’t bad at public speaking. But

“aren’t bad” aren’t good enough,

not if you’re wise – and especially

these days, when jawing with the

same old gang from year to year is

becoming rare. Height and hair

color may be in the genes. Public

speaking isn’t. It’s a skill that can be

studied, polished, more or less

perfected.”

I. You’ll have the opportunity to develop

valuable communications skills & leadership

skills. TCS value, seeks out, hire and promote

people who communicate effectively. Customers

are also drawn to good communicators.

Toastmaster provides you with an opportunity to

take advantage of a range of leadership

opportunities. You can do so within the club from

week to week (e.g. Chair, Toastmaster of the

day, and General Evaluator).

II. You’ll have the opportunity to develop

valuable teamwork skills. Teamwork skills are

extremely important. How do you inspire and

motivate people to achieve a collective goal?

How do you pull a team together to implement a

vision? You can learn that in Toastmasters and

implement it at your workplace.

III. You’ll have the opportunity to develop

listening and interpersonal skills. A good

Toastmaster is a good listener. He or she learns

to be sensitive to team member’s needs. As a

TM Evaluator, you also learn to be tactful in

giving CONSTRUCTIVE feedback to your

colleagues.

IV. You’ll have the opportunity to make some

great contacts … and some new friends! As

an HR I believe that associates confine

themselves to their projects and specific group

of friends’ .Through Toastmasters, you will have

a chance to meet people from various walks of

life – people you probably wouldn’t have had the

chance to meet otherwise

V. You’ll have the opportunity to gain valuable

feedback on yourself. Accepting feedback in

not an easy task. One needs to be in accepting

mode when one wants to become more aware

of how others perceive them & can help them

build a good reputation within the project.

VI. You’ll have the opportunity to think through

issues – and a captive audience to get things

off your chest! The act of preparing a speech is

a wonderful way to focus the mind. What better

way to vent your thoughts and share your

passion than Toastmasters…!

VII. You’ll feel better about yourself – and you’ll

be making a difference to those around you.

Toastmasters does wonders for our self-

confidence and self-esteem. You will come to

appreciate yourself more and will feel self-

motivated. Those around you will begin to look

at you as a mentor and a leader.

March and September are the

months that usher in the aureate

ambiance for the world but for the

better part of the world, it’s time for

the renewals of Toastmasters

membership.

“Submit October or April renewals on

time (both required)” , “Add Four

new members” , “Add Four more

new members“ and 3 out of 10 goals

are achieved for the Distinguished

Club program (DCP) .

Namrata has been an active member

of TCS-Maitree Mumbai TM Club ,

(Division D) for the past 2 years .

She works as an ITA in TCS. An avid

reader and a passionate Toastmaster.

She loves to travel and meet new

people.

Follow at: @namrata814 Blog Name:namrata814@blogspot.com Namrata Srivastava , CC,CL District 41 Newsletter Editor

Retaining the quantity of members, especially in a corporate club, is a real test for the club

and for the VP-Membership in particular. While increasing the membership strength is a

challenge, levitating and maintaining the quality of club sessions is an equally strenuous

task.

In order to achieve the DCP goals or the coveted Golden Gavel, at times the clubs start

focusing on reaching goals rather than achieving the objectives. But we must not forget that

a club’s standards for service must reflect the quality and reliability of the Toastmasters

program. Talking about quality, it is the standard of something as measured against other

things of a similar kind. It is also about meeting the needs and expectations or it simply is

the fitness to the purpose.

Following are the key points that I would suggest for every club to follow in order to raise its

quality bar:

1) Plan your meetings well in advance. 2) Take on leadership roles 3) Mentor new members. 4) Use Toastmasters designated processes and educational material. 5).Add new members constantly to ensure inflow of fresh views and new ideas. 6) Do not count on past achievements to ensure continued success. 7) In addition to speeches give weightage to evaluations and feedbacks as well. 8) Introduce elements of innovation and surprise in sessions to ensure sustainability of members and guests. 9) And finally create a positive and encouraging club environment.

Toastmasters’ annual measure for successful clubs is the Distinguished Club Program but the sessions, role plays, speeches, training programs and workshops also should align with the mission statement of Toastmasters International which states “Empowering members to become better orators and leaders, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth”. A well planned and executed meeting will inspire audience to join and will ultimately lead to the Club’s growth. And let’s not just keep adding members or keep increasing the frequency of the sessions, let us also focus on the qualitative growth of the Club where members do not rush towards achieving the awards, instead put an effort towards becoming a better leader and a better orator with every delivered speech and role they undertake. As Winston Churchill said, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others”. Your courage in championing high-quality meetings will result in achieving your goals to become a better speaker and leader, and the club’s goal of becoming “Distinguished”.

.

I feel it is more to do with boredom which includes the boredom from the events, the surroundings and, above all, from the people.

Before the advent of devices that allowed to fiddle with them, people faced similar situations of finding themselves all by themselves. Some grudgingly, some silently, and some enthusiastically found ways of ‘passing time’ in such situations.

This tolerance has gradually seen a downward spiral and has reached a point of desperation.

No other sector has experienced the same explosive growth as the computer and video game industry. The animation and gaming industry has shown resilience in the face of the economic downturn, growing by over 20 per cent during 2008. According to a forecast by Gartner, mobile games are the fastest-growing segment in the global markets, with revenue set to nearly double between 2013 and 2015 from USD 13.2 Bn to USD 22 Bn.

In India too, the research conducted by KPMG-FICCI a few months back, has predicted that from the current size of INR 560 crore, the mobile gaming segment size will become more than triple to INR 1,800 crore by 2017. But what begs attention is the reason for the growth. Has this gaming caught the fancy of people, have they, albeit late, discovered a latent talent which is now finding a way out to express itself.

He is the Founder and

Chief Energizing

Officer of Parichay

Brand Consultants. He

is currently the Area

Governor of Area D3

and is a member of

Bombay Toastmasters

Club.

He is a Brand Architect, Business

Strategy Consultant, Business

Coach and a Serial Entrepreneur.

- Suneel Agarwal,CC

Today, a moment to yourself seems like a severe punishment of solitary confinement rather than a golden opportunity of spending time with yourself. A familiar sight is people calling colleagues and friends on reaching the destination ahead of others. ‘Where are you? How long will you take? Don’t you realize I have reached before you and I am all alone? What do I do?

In situations like waiting at a doctor’s clinic or to emplane at the airport, it is interesting to see the emotions of people. Some are edgy to a point of visible discomfort and waiting impatiently to be released from this jail of discomfort, some are reconciled to the situation, trying to find ways to pass their jail time. But there are only a few who relish the opportunity to spend time with themselves.

My father used to tell me that a person who is bored in his own company cannot be an interesting companion. Talking to the creative, the successful and the intellectual, I have found that they find their best ideas while talking, talking to no one but themselves. They cherish these opportunities as they have a reservoir of thoughts, ideas, and work-in-progress concepts that need such times to take them forward.

Notwithstanding technological advancements, there will always be situations when you will have to wait, bide your time, or pause between activities. And these situations can be whiled away or put to good use. But the use is not what is the concern, it is the lack of the bundle inside which encourages you to open, unravel and explore.

There will always be the times when you will be alone even in the company of people. There will be times when you will feel the stark loneliness of life, which reminds you that eventually, you are all by yourself, and have to fight your own battle. Rather than complaining, talk to a companion who is always interested in listening to you and that is you – yourself

So, just TALK TO YOURSELF.

5 things

Only

A

Toastmaster

Can

Understand

The Urge To Applaud: The first thing it has taught me is that when anyone comes to the stage you

must clap…well so I do. Even at a recent school reunion, when my principal invited the President of Alumni

Association, I applauded. Just that I was the only one in the entire hall applauded- in a hall that accommodated

five hundred alumni.. #oops

Respond to Every Good Evening: We have also learnt that we should say good evening in

response….well am sure many of you also end up saying that in response to any speaker on stage….so as a

speaker even I am quite used to a good evening response…but just imagine that half a minute of silence as I

waited for my audience to respond to my good evening at a gathering…but no one did. It was like..'Good evening

friends…and then this loooong PAUSE with no response….I thank all of you for having me here and giving me this

opportunity.’ #facepalm

Keep Counting The Ahs And Umms: The third thing I’ve learnt is that we shouldn’t use ahs

and umms. They are not signs of a good communicator. And this is exactly what I say when I listen to an

advertisement or a journalist reporting live.. “Yes sir I am umm reporting from ah the streets of Mumbai. People

Hello! First up, thanks for reading this article!

It's been close to six years since I joined Toastmasters

(since 25th Dec 2008). It initially began as just a hobby

class, till one day, our club mentor and charter member

decided to change the importance of South Delhi

Toastmasters (and ultimately Toastmasters) in my life,

and called me to rope me in as VP education. It was

from then that Toastmasters became more than just a

hobby class.

But it is today, that I realize TM has become a part of

me, part of my nervous system. Like a true TM I've

always stood by what TM has taught me. So what has it

taught me? What has it taught us? What are the things

only Toastmasters understand?

DTM Akshita Agarwal

A member of South Delhi Toastmasters for 6 years,

Akshita is a media practitioner, educationist and freelance photographer. An avid traveler, she believes that Toastmasters has played an important and revolutionary role in developing her personality.

here you know haven’t slept and as you can see umm behind me, its Sachin Tendulkar’s home, and umm “

To count 1 filler word and quite a few number of ahs and umms. #lol

Fear The Red: The 4th thing I have learnt from Toastmasters is time punctuality. But during college, as I sit

through my 3 hr long classes, I wondered who would be nice enough to show the teacher a red card, but our teacher

always got disqualified.. #guts

Love The CRC Sandwich: And my most favorite thing is that the teachers (and bosses) have

absolutely no idea of a sandwich called CRC which takes 2-3 mins to cook, and of course has a grace period of 30

seconds to become under cooked or over cooked!! They don’t commend us on anything we do, overcook their

sandwich by giving a 5 min long recommendation session and not caring about making the sandwich any delicious by

adding a flavor of commendation at the end.

I on the other hand, end up making the CRC sandwich in everything that comes my way. During my final viva (on the

street play we held), my professor asked me to critically evaluate our street theatre production. I told him “it was

great that the team stood together and divided work equally amongst those who could act and those who couldn’t.

Then I told him that in my opinion we could have performed better had we practiced a little more, and finally I ended

by saying that all said and done, I felt the one thing that made our group stand apart was the way we involved our

audience in the play.” #yum

There are not one but many commonalities in my life and a Toastmasters meeting. I look for topics of speech in

every hook and corner of my encounters in daily life. I used to dream of the next meeting, and often made my to-do

list in my dreams. And to top it all, I thought of writing this article one day while driving, wrote it in my mind while

bathing, and typed it while my mother thought I was working on an office report due last Monday!

Finally, dear readers, the last thing I’ve learnt from Toastmasters is to always be open to recommendations. So that

the moment and do write to me with feedback at akshita.tm@hotmail.com! #yayy

5 things

Only

A

Toastmaster

Can

Understand

Observations of a Toastmaster

Greetings to TCS Maitree Gurgaon Toastmasters Club. Gurgaon is the land of Guru Dhronacharya

and the concept of Toastmasters is in its own right a 'guru' or teacher.

Every TM would agree that their journey in TM has been a learning one. Toastmasters teaches us

not only the art of public speaking but also brings out the leader in us. In this article I would like to

put forward a few observations I have made during my journey.

Being a corporate club, to get the members at times may be like a cakewalk while at times it is one

of the most challenging tasks. When a big bunch of freshers, just out of ILP, turn up as guests, a

good quality meeting might convert many of those guests into members. Many times, when the

associates are so engrossed in their project work (usually the end of the financial year for clients

and the appraisal seasons), the members might forget to renew their membership unless the Vice

President-Membership (VP-M) keeps pestering. This is a learning experience for the VP-M who may

also be experiencing similar pains at work. As for the rest of the year, the biggest challenge is to

induct new faces into the club.

This in a way inter-links the efforts put in by

the Vice President-Public Relations (VP-PR).

The more number of guests the VP-PR is able

to get to the meetings, higher would be the

rate of the memberships and the VP-M’s job

becomes easier. Sometimes, there may be a

large number of guests we may get into our

meetings but that does not always guarantee

a sizable number of memberships; whereas, at

I am a member of TCS

Maitree Bangalore

Toastmasters Club

(TMBTC), and been a

Toastmasters for 2 years...

In this article I have tried

to put forward few observations that I have made during my journey.

- Ekanto Ghosh

times a small group of guests come in and all get converted into members.

Every guest that comes in, needs to be dealt one-on-one to motivate them to sign up as paid

members with Toastmasters. The golden moment is when a guest decides to join the club.

With some guests it takes extra effort to make them realize the true potential. For others they

get motivated by the end of their first Toastmasters meeting.

Another phenomenon I have noticed is that of 'Accelerated Start'. Usually, after joining, the fire-

brand TMs tend to deliver their initial projects (up to Project 4) in a great haste. This happens

maybe because, when they join the club, they are on bench or are in a relaxed phase of the

project. But, the Vice President-Education must ensure that these newcomers also focus on

evaluating and take up other roles. I agree, the program is self-paced but the VP-E and the

dedicated mentor have a huge responsibility of grooming the young member(s). The 'Accelerated

Start' slows down, when the member gets a project or the work load increases. At that point, the

VP-E and the mentor need to motivate and push the member to keep delivering their projects

Being a leader is no easy task, more so, if you are an office bearer at your club. The challenges for

EC officers are enormous. At times it helps for an officer to get help from regular members (who

are not in EC) as they get groomed for the role and feel important. As a club leader, the officers

have the additional responsibility to groom other members to take up roles in the EC, in the

future.

Before ending, I would like to stress upon the need for a TM to go beyond the walls of their club.

It is always a good practice to visit other clubs as it provides a break from the comfort of their

own club environment. . That is what public speaking is all about, the ability to face an unknown

audience. Also, you get to meet and network with new and other interesting souls. This gives you

some brownie points and trusts me that is how I know my own club and am honored to pen this

article, for all the readers.

Find out who is who????

6) She starts all the meetings (Hint: She was a part of International Controversy)

7) She had the courage to participate in the Evaluation Contest (Hint: Piggy Chops of the club)

8) He was the contest chair of Humorous Speech Contest 2014 (Hint: He can be called synonym of Sharukh)

9) She is the backbone of the club (Hint: She has recently recovered from a foot injury)

10) Always ready to jump in and take roles (Hint: Diwali cannot be complete without her)

11) She took our club to new heights (Hint: she left a mark just like the meaning of her name)

The game is simple there are few hints given and based on those you have to find the

name of that person in the grid. The names can be horizontal, vertical or

diagonal and can even start from right side.

Good luck!!!

1) Love me or hate me, you can’t ignore me (Hint: Most common name) – Example

2) Seen once in a blue moon (Hint: She publicizes the club)

3) He is the Finance Minister of the club (Hint: He is the reflection of God of cricket)

4) Who comes late and goes early in the meeting (Hint: She admires Angelina Jolly)

5) He likes to play with words (Hint : His flyers gave identity to the club )

For answers see the “Who Made This Happen” page

TCS TM’s Wishes – District 41/82 `

“A very happy & prosperous Diwali

to my fellow Toastmasters. May your

leadership & communication level

grow by leaps & bounds and you

become a DTM by next year.”

Mohit Chhabra, TCS

Maître Toastmasters club –

Mumbai, D41

“No matter how small the light is, it can still

illuminate a soul. This Diwali, I wish all of

us become the flag bearers of that light, that

change, which can illuminate every corner of

India.”

Shreya Ravipati,

TCS Be@t Gandhi Nagar, D41

“May this festival of lights bring in the

bright, colorful sparks in your journey of

learning, leading, growing and sharing.”

Srinidhi Dasaka,Div H Gov

TCS Maître Hyd TM club, D41

“A natchstick glows for a few seconds,

A candle glows for a few hours,

I wish your club glows forever & ever & ever!”

Indrajit Suryawanshi - TCS Maître

Toastmasters club, Pune, D41

May your life gets filled with excitement & thrill

like the one we experience while lighting a rocket,

and feel the happiness when it goes in the sky and

the stars and sparkles that it bursts into.

Virat Mehta

TCS Maître Chennai TM club,D82

“Let the festival of lights enlighten every corner of

our hearts and fill our lives with hope, happiness

and benevolence.”

Atrayee Bhattacharya, Area G1 Gov,

TCS Maître Kolkata TM club, D41

Upcoming Events

TCS Maître Gurgaon

Toastmasters Club

would be celebrating

its Meeting on

13 November 2014

How many you found

Less than 5 - You have to start socializing more. Try using Facebook. Between 5-10 - You have a fair knowledge of people around you. Perfect 11 - You are the Master, and should mentor others. Answers: (NAME (ROW, COL- ROW, COL)) 1) NEHA (1, 1-1, 4) H 2) KREETI (9, 7-9, 12) H 3) SACHIN (6, 2-11, 7) D 4) BHAVYA (2, 8-7, 3) D 5) NITIN (8, 12-12, 12) V 6) MONIKA (12, 4-12, 9) H 7) PRIYANKA (3, 1-10, 8) D 8) RAHUL (4, 11-4, 7) H 9) UPASANA (3, 10-8, 10) V 10) JYOTI (8, 2-12, 2) V 11) HINA (4, 9-1, 9) V

ANSWERS (WHO’S WHO)

Neha Attri – Chief Editor

Sonal S. Sisodia – Co-Editor

Naveen Yadav – Contributor

Who Made This Happen..?

Kreeti Bhardwaj – Contributor