CIS Toastmasters

A good measure of laughs, learning and lingo were the order of the day at CIS Toastmasters meeting on Tuesday March 12. After all the formalities were tended to, with Corne van der Nest as the evening’s toastmaster, Marc Rees, the grammarian, explained that the “words of the day” would be French terms/words that have made their way into spoken English. And after that, voila, the speeches kicked off with the table topics, led by Cyril Chessex. Subjects included “Is there such a thing as having too much money?”, “What would your ideal career be”, and “Is there a market in South Africa for another telecommunications provider?”. All the speeches were interesting, fluid and well handled.

For the prepared speeches, it was up to four femmes fatales. Nando Mohaule did her first speech since joining the club, the CC1 or Icebreaker, showing us her joie de vive in both speech and personality. Elise Roscoe followed with her 2nd speech or CC2, a fascinating speech about the language of dogs, and how to deal with them to ensure a happy pet and a good relationship with them.

For her 3rd speech, the CC3, Tanya Kovarsky spoke about cats, and their wisdom, intuition and intelligence. Deleen Levy, the club president, did an advanced speech from the television manual, ACB1, where she played the role of a newsreader and spoke about an Eskom-related issue.

The rest of the meeting showed much esprit with superb evaluations, many more laughs (and hugs) and words of wisdom. The best speaker award went to Elise Roscoe – felicitations! Everyone said au revoir… until the next rendezvous…

Popularity: 39% [?]

Leon Hazan is one the most popular speakers at our toastmasters club. He is a salesman by profession and has developed his own unique brand of humour in his speeches. Post your comments and questions on Leon’s speech below…

Download Leon Hazan’s Speech in mp3 file (1.2MB 5 mins)

Popularity: 69% [?]

Sean Stephenson delivers the first part of his keynote, Time to Stand. Listen to him carefully as he demonstrates excitement through telling a story. Afterwards he eventually gets into the purpose of his talk. Starting a speech with a personal story is one of the most powerful ways to setup the context for the audience.

This is really powerful because its not talking down to people in the audience. At all times Sean is confident, in control and talking directly to the audience. And my point in posting this video clip is to show you if Sean can do it, so can you…!

Any ideas why he keeps moving the wheelchair around?

Popularity: 67% [?]

CIS Toastmasters in very proud that our very own Rob Douglas has been recognised along with the following members with the Triple Crown Challenge during 2006/07. They were an incredible 14 members who achieved 3 or more Toastmasters qualifications during the year and hence were recognised with the Triple Crown Challenge.

List of Winners

1. Beth Thomas- Rainbow Nation Club, Div B
2. Craig Strachan- Cape Town Club, Div D
3. Frances Boshoff- Vital Communicators Club, Div A
4. Ian Bratt- Benoni Club, Div B
5. Karin Cremer- Umhlanga Club, Div F
6. Keith Bowen- Transformers Club, Div H
7. Lois Strachan- Cape Town Club, Div D
8. Ret Steyn- Taverners Club, Div D
9. Rob Douglas- CIS Johannesburg Club, Div H
10. Rod Taylor- Transformers Club, Div H
11. Susan le Roux- Vital Communicators Club, Div A
12. Trina McKinley- Rivonia Club, Div H
13. Vic Brits, President Club, Div A
14. Welma Ennsle- Windhoek Club, Div D

To achieve the Triple Crown Challenge, register any 3 of the following awards between 1 July, 2007 and 30 June, 2008: CC, ACB, ACS, ACG, CL, OCL, ALB, ALS, DTM

Popularity: 75% [?]

Many people have degrees and have done training in how to do their jobs. But anybody in business will tell you that your skills are only half the job. The other half is communicating with colleagues, suppliers and customers.

Toastmasters International offers what amounts to a masters degree in Communication and Leadership. The DTM qualification takes as long to complete as some MBA courses. But instead of focusing on case studies and theory, DTM students have to prove that they can communicate effectively and be inspirational leaders.

“It’s the most difficult kind of leadership there is,” says Keryn House.” DTMs have to start new Toastmasters clubs or rescue clubs in trouble. But unlike my day job where I am a manager and pay my staff a salary, at Toastmasters everybody is a volunteer. Only the most motivational and inspirational leaders can get things done under those circumstances.”

House, who has an MBA and is working towards her DTM says that the DTM has taught her self-motivation. “There’s a lot of encouragement from other people, but it’s up to me to manage my time and my self-motivation to get this qualification. House credits her Toastmasters studies with helping her land her role at the Parkmore Community Association, as well has her job as the CEO of an NGO promoting call centres in Gauteng.
Only around one in one thousand Toastmasters qualify as DTMs in any given year. This award is recognized internationally among over 200,000 members in 10,500 clubs around the world.

Toastmasters Southern Africa will be hosting open days in shopping centres around the country on 27 October 2007.

For further information please contact:
Rob Douglas douglas.home@telkomsa.net
Cell. 082-773-5840
www.toastmasters74.org or marketing@toastmasters74.org

About Toastmasters International
For over 80 years, Toastmasters International has been and remains the undisputed world leader in public speaking, training, with over 10,500 clubs and more than 200,000 members in approximately 90 countries. Over three million people have benefited from its Communication and Leadership programmes world wide. In Southern Africa Toastmasters is represented in nine countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Toastmasters is a Section 21 company non-profit organization.

Popularity: 85% [?]

Trainer: D74 Chief Judge – Rod Taylor DTM.

Who should attend?

This workshop will definitely be of value to present and aspirant judges. Contestants will also benefit, as they also need to know and understand more about the judging process.

The workshop

1. Provide delegates with important skills and benefits.
2. Provide practical experience in Judging.
3. Provide an understanding of the differences between American and Southern African norms and their importance.
4. Deal with bias - its nature, identification and elimination.
5. Lead judges and contestants to an understanding of the factors that comprise a contest-winning speech in terms of the defined speech criteria.
6. Show that a speech should be judged as an entity, not merely the sum of its parts.
7. Illustrate the importance of the difference between quantity and quality in the elements of a contest speech, and the need for congruence among these elements.
8. Provide the delegates with feedback as to how their ability to differentiate compares to that of others.
9. Create an understanding of the meaning and value of the ballot in terms of contest placements.
10. Provide an understanding of the statistical nature of judging.
11. The workshop incorporates a practical exercise of about 60 minutes as well as theory and discussion. Videotapes of world-class speeches are included.

Don’t miss out on this exciting training opportunity. Booking is essential, so book now and avoid disappointment!

Confirm your booking by email francesboshoff@absamail.co.za or fax: 086 618 0904 no later than Friday, 24 August 2007 for catering purposes

Registration: 18:00
Start 18:30 – 22:30
Venue: Ernst & Young (The Oval), Wanderers
Cost: R100 – for Toastmasters, R200 Non-toastmasters
(Tea / coffee / sandwiches will be provided)

Payment:

Account name: Toastmasters District 74 TLI
Bank: Nedbank
Branch: Centurion
Account no: 1621 225 704
Branch code: 113805

Please email / fax proof of payment to francesboshoff@absamail.co.za or fax: 086 618 0904

Popularity: 100% [?]

On 14 August 2007, Douglas Kruger will represent 9 countries in Southern Africa for the third time in the World Championships of Public Speaking in the United States.Douglas hopes to make it through to the World Championships of Public Speaking on the Saturday 17th August at the 76th Annual Convention of Toastmasters International in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. This prestigious event is known as ‘The Olympics in Oratory!’ – it is attended by over 3000 Toastmasters from around the world.

Douglas is a professional speaker and trainer, author, and regular contributor to Sales Guru and Entrepreneur magazines. He has also been a radio talk-show host on SAfm, and Talk Radio 702.

A resident of Lonehill, and a member of Sandton Toastmasters, Douglas has already placed 2nd in the world in this competition before. In 2004, in Reno, Nevada, he attained the highest ranking anyone from Africa has ever achieved.

“It’s about time we bring this elusive trophy home to Africa,” Douglas says. “I’ve been working on two presentations, one for the semi-finals and one for the finals, and I believe that they are looking strong. Hopefully they have the right mix of humour, emotion and a strong message that the international judges are looking for.”

Asked if he was nervous, Douglas responded, “An audience of three thousand people and you only have to give the best speech in the world? What’s to be nervous about? Sure, the pressure is immense, and you rarely sleep before an event like this, but at least I’ve had some experience with it before. I have some idea of what to expect. And I think I know how to top my previous performance. I’m only asking to rank one place higher than I did in 2004.”

Douglas is accompanied by a team of supporters from the leadership of Toastmasters in Southern Africa. Rob Douglas, District PRO for Southern African Toastmasters says, “Douglas Kruger is an outstanding and highly experienced public and motivational speaker. We believe he stands a very good chance of winning the world championships – which would be the first time for a South African. We wish him every success.”

Popularity: 95% [?]