INSIDE THIS ISSUE CITY OF SYDNEY TOASTMASTERS BEGINNING OF YEAR MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT

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1 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Getting to Know Our Members Five Member Profiles Toastmasters Pathways Learning Experience Upcoming Contests Club Achievements and Members Milestones CITY OF SYDNEY TOASTMASTERS NEWSLETTER CLUB VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 JANUARY 2018 BEGINNING OF YEAR MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT Blanca Bastos CoST President The best of this world is, at the same time, the worst of this world and I am talking about us, people. The previous statement sounds hard, but it is worthy of analysis. People are capable to innovate, create, build, lead, communicate, save lives, and many more wonderful things to grow and serve others. The opposite is also possible and that balance between the positive and negative aspects of humans is what makes this world perfect, but we must choose one side, which side do you choose? I am sure you all, my fellow toastmasters, have chosen the side of growth and contribution and this is why you belong to City of Sydney Toastmasters (CoST) where we learn communication and leadership skills which are key to our growth. Your personal development is your absolute responsibility, nobody can do it for you. However, you cannot do it on your own. You must have heard or use the term teamwork hundreds of times, but you might not understand the definition of it. Teamwork goes beyond having a group of people with similar interests and working together to achieve certain goals. To make progress as a team, three important aspects need to be considered: 1. to really care about each other in the team and showing it by building more meaningful relationships among the members; 2. to have complementary skills and clearly identify each members skills; and 3. to be humble and learn from each other. As the President of CoST, I will continue working hard to maintain the quality of our club and to help our club members grow as toastmasters. In addition, I will introduce new strategies to strengthen our bonds as a team by implementing the three aspects mentioned above. CoST s ultimate goal for 2018 is to really work as a team and achieve more individual and group goals. As always, this is something that I cannot achieve on my own; I need each of you to make it happen. I have chosen the side of growth and contribution. Which side have you chosen? I wish you all a new year full of love, abundance, happiness and gratitude! Page 1 of 6

2 MEMBER PROFILES Slava Inberg community, not only at my club but the broader organisation as well. When did you join and what brought you to Toastmasters? I joined Toastmasters around March I joined the club because I didn't have much opportunity to speak publicly elsewhere. I had been a good public speaker before but had lost a lot of skill through misuse and wanted it back. What has made you stay with Toastmasters? I've remained at Toastmasters to continue building my skills and because it gives me a ready opportunity to have a crowd to speak in front of. What is your favourite part of being a member of CoST? My favourite part of being at Toastmasters is the Heggy Odeh I joined City of Sydney Toastmasters in One of my colleagues recommended it to me as I had told her that I was interested in getting into Learning & Development (L&D) and had a fear of public speaking. As L&D oftentimes involved presenting/facilitating courses, etc, my fear would be something that I would need to overcome. Joining Toastmasters was the perfect way to work on overcoming my fear. What has made you stay with Toastmasters? As many of you will have noticed, I have been MIA quite a bit in the last couple of years, however, I do not want to give up on my toastmasters journey just yet. As for the meetings that I do attend, I always come away learning something new that I can either apply to my work and/or personal life. Additionally, there have been many instances where I have gone away seeking a bit more information on a topic that has been presented in a speech at meetings because my curiosity has been piqued! I also love the variety of speeches that I have heard over the years. Considering that initially we are all working from the same booklet, it is fascinating to see how many different variations there are on each topic that is delivered depending on the person. I love that even though there is guidance on how to complete a project, there is the freedom to personalise it however you want, and that variety is definitely something that I enjoy listening to in the speeches. It is definitely something that ignites creativity! What is your favourite part of being a member of CoST? The diversity of the members and how it seems that this has been something that has come about organically. Also, it cannot be overstated how much of a supportive environment the club offers that has seen some amazing development of every club member. I really appreciate being asked to do this [contribute to the December 2017 CoST Newsletter] as it has reminded me of what I have been missing out on for quite some time. I hope to see you all more often in Season s Greetings and Happy New Year! :) Page 2 of 6

3 Ben Prasodo I joined in late 2016, probably in December. I was given the suggestion from my friend Binh Doan (also my English teacher!) to join a Toastmaster club to improve my English. I didn t know about Toastmasters before that and had no idea how Toastmasters could help me with my English. So, I joined a Toastmasters club located in the CBD and learnt that being part of the club provided me with: 1. regular contact, and intense communication, with others, which is essential to boosting my English proficiency, especially in speaking and listening; 2. an increase in confidence in using English because Toastmasters is a non-confrontational environment, providing opportunities for people to learn without fear of embarrassment or ridicule; and 3. materials and guidance to support me in undertaking my assigned roles, which in turn has allowed me to achieve my goal. After spending time with this club, I became curious about other Toastmasters clubs and wondered how different they were compared to City of Sydney Toastmaster (CoST). I undertook some research and made observations, finding that CoST provides me with more ways to achieve my goals by giving me with a relaxed-yet-adhere-to-the-program environment, and a mentor. What has made you stay with Toastmasters? I stay because I love the relaxed yet stay to the program meeting structure, and I ve made friends here. Unlike other clubs, there are opportunities to take plenty of roles and I love the encouragement to take roles by the Vice President of Education. It s still a long road for me to achieving my goal, therefore, I rely on this club to provide me with the feeling of inclusion, constant challenges and stimulation. What is your favourite part of being a member of CoST? Taking Table Topic questions, and interactions with members. Zoe Xu I joined about half a year ago. It was one of my teachers from the old days who told me about Toastmasters as her secret to success. Although English is not her first language, I saw an exceptional level of confidence and a highly effective public speaking skill mastered by a non-english native speaker. Watching her present each time was simply inspirational and undoubtedly enjoyable. Ever after that, I had always been looking for the chance to join Toastmasters. What are you hoping to get out of Toastmasters? I hope to improve my public communication skills in particular from taking in the feedback from the comprehensive evaluation process, which you do not get in everyday life. In addition, I hope to improve my skill in logically articulating myself in various conversation types. What is your favourite part of being a member of CoST? My favourite part of being a member of CoST is seeing impossible possible. It does not matter if it s a Table Topic role or a Prepared Speech role, you don t think you can do it when you see that someone else has done an extraordinary job in front of you. You think it s impossible until you give that resounding Yes and get yourself up there and pull yourself to the very end. Seeing how impossible becomes possible is my favourite part of my Toastmasters experience. Page 3 of 6

4 Faith Lu I joined in the first week of November Three years ago, I was part of a club in Adelaide and I am now hoping to return to Toastmasters. club is indeed working towards its mission, and I can achieve my goals in this club. What are you hoping to get out of Toastmasters? There are two reasons for joining: 1. I work for a large multinational and one of my long-term goals is to develop an effective personal style for public speaking suitable for all levels of the stakeholders of the organisation. At the moment this means small team meetings, small-scale presentations, chairing gatherings and, in the future, this will mean speaking in front of key stakeholders or large crowds; and 2. I love beautiful stories and would love to be able to tell stories myself. What is your favourite part of being a member of CoST? CoST has a warm and uplifting energy. The meetings are conducted with precision. During meetings, I am either learning something new or I am laughing from a funny speaker or from chatting during the breaks. From a guest shopping around for a good club to becoming a new member, the transition is made super easy from the work of Mathew and Maggie especially [our Vice President of Membership and Vice President of Education!]. I like this effective style. I have been assigned a mentor Shelly who is knowledgeable and has been kind in sharing tips to help with a successful first speech. I have confidence that the TOASTMASTERS PATHWAYS LEARNING EXPERIENCE It s time to choose your path! Pathways launched on 6 December 2017 This means you can now get started in Pathways! Log in and take the Pathways Assessment, choose your path and begin working on exciting new projects. Learn and be inspired by interactive content featuring engaging videos, skill building activities and powerful tools to track your progress and growth. Finding the path that's right for you is just a click away. Just go to the Pathways Start Page and log in: Page 4 of 6 Upcoming contests! International Speech Contest 19 February 2018 Contestants present a five to seven minute speech on any subject they choose. To participate in any level of the International Speech Contest, a member must have completed at least six speeches from the Competent Communication manual, or two levels of a path from the pathways program, prior to the club contest (the only speech contest with a minimum manual-speech requirement is the International Speech Contest). Evaluation Contest 5 March 2018 Contestants observe a five to seven minute test speech and then present a two to three minute evaluation of the test speech. An educational presentation will be delivered soon for all members to have more clarity about these contests!

5 CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS MEMBERS MILESTONES CoST remains a President s Distinguished Club in , and received a Smedley Award ribbon Left: Maggie Lu CC, Vice President of Education, presents Yvonne Chan with her certificate and badge! Right: Luke Baker receives his certificate. Blanca Bastos, CoST President, and Margrit Fisher, DTM, present CoST s President s Distinguished Club ribbon Congratulations to Yvonne Chan & Luke Baker for completing their Competent Communicator manual! And Congratulations to Joanna Villaroman for completing her first 5 speeches! CoST added five new members between 1 August 2017 and 30 September 2017, and qualified to receive a Smedley Award. Here Mathew Chong, CoST Vice President of Membership is presented the ribbon on behalf of our Club by President, Blanca Bastos Joanna Villaroman is presented with her certificate by Maggie Lu, CC, Vice President of Education Page 5 of 6

6 MEMBERS MILESTONES Congratulations to Will Cummins, Kostia Kim & Joao Bazan for completing your icebreaker speeches! Will: I really enjoyed the preparation and feedback from the group with my Ice Breaker speech, especially the feedback from my mentor Margrit Fisher. For the presentation, I practised in front of the mirror and my wife. During the speech, I felt quite nervous at first but after a few minutes relaxed and enjoyed the experience. Below: Kenneth Nguyen presents Will with his icebreaker ribbon Top: Shelly Dhaliwal, Sergeant at arms, presents Kostia with his icebreaker ribbon Right: Joao with the new Pathways feedback form for his icebreaker speech Joao: The icebreaker was an enjoyable experience putting me out of my comfort zone. It s interesting to see how critical on ourselves we can be and how differently the crowd perceives us. Definitely a good start and more to learn. Kostia: I didn t know what I was going to talk about up until a couple of days before the meeting. When I started preparing, I found it challenging to write and speak about myself. When I was invited to speak during the meeting I was extremely nervous and couldn t restrain my uncontrolled smiling. However, shortly after I started, I felt relived and managed to deliver my speech as planned. The audience was very supportive and my mentor Mathew provided me with some invaluable tips afterwards. CONTACT US CITY OF SYDNEY TOASTMASTERS Level 3, 50 York Street, Sydney City Website: cityofsydneytm.org.au Join us at one of our meetings! We meet 6:30 pm on the first and third Monday of each month at Level 3, 50 York Street This Newsletter is published quarterly by City of Sydney Toastmasters, Club # We need your feedback and contribution for the next issue please suggestions to: cityofsydneytmclub@gmail.com Page 6 of 6