COT TRAINING AND PATHWAYS

At COT training in Singapore, Saturday afternoon 2019, Jan 12.
Venue ITE.

Anand showed us the old system and the New Pathways.
He showed the advantages and disadvantages of both systems at each level. Then he asked us to vote.

Later we had Q and A.

It emerged that older members were unable or unwilling to transfer to the new Pathways.

Younger newer members were left without guidance and evaluators.

I was shocked to learn that
1 Toastmasters international knows that older members will leave.

2 This does not bother them. They have invested millions in the new system. Every other business from banking to tax is going online. Toastmasters is keeping up with the trend and expects its leaders and members to do the same.

The solution seems to be for the older and younger members to pair up for what I call mutual mentoring. The youngsters help with the tehcnical online website matters. The oldtimers evaluate creation of speeches and performances of speeches.

Venue
Buses stop outside, about 3 stops from the MRT station, not Am Mo Kio but Yio Chu Kang. First you see the bus station outside the MRT you leave, then the tower of the Grassroots Community club. Then the large building of Nanyang college, with ads all over the front.  Then the futuristi curved white ITE building. I went to get off but the driver told me to stay on to the next stop which was outside the ITE front door.

Leaving you have to cross the overhead bridge to the other side of the road.

Food
Inside are a food court (mosts stall not open on Sunday before lunch time). I got chicken rice. Signs said two prices, for ITE people, or visitors.

Usual food. I looked at sandwiches in the convenience store.

Supermarket next door had pineapple tarts and Yusheng for Chinese New Year.

Timing
I had arrived early.

The Toastmaster was late. He phoned to say so.

The ITE has two campuses so the directions systems might send you to the wrong one.

This delayed me.
Luckily I was still one of the first to arrive.

Timer
I was timer, jointly with a senior person.

Gave me time to ask for the lights - none - and cards.

The chairs have pull-out ledges, no adjustable, crush you in and papers slide off.

I needed clipboard (I left mine at home - too much weight to carry.).

Learned locals say clip-bod and don't understand board.

Organizers should bring a box of bits including the cards, clipboards and pencils. HOD in London meets in a room with a cupboard, in which these are easily to hand.

I asked about using meetup for several groups at the same venue, or same Area. The responder suggested joint meetings, of all clubs in area (as done at area contests) which then share the advertising on Meetup.

Afterwards I chatted to my mentor. He pointed out that I was moving from giving speeches to training. Although training can be one to three hours, instead of just 7 minutes to 30 minutes or at most an hours, training is not necessarily more tiring because you are getting the audience to be involved which is how they learn better, They could be in pairs or groups. You must give them questionnaires, or quizzes as well as acting out activities and discussions.

How To Run A Meeting, GREETING, And Announce Timing And Disqualification

GREETING

The formal greeting would be used in large clubs and any large meetings and any special occasion. (Used in most large clubs and international contests.)

 If you have a small group who all know each other you might wish to be less formal. To avoid constant repetition of the greeting, you can then shorten the greetings except for the first speaker or two at the start of the evening. 

FAREWELL

Many people say as a speaker you do not thank the audience because you in speaking have done them a favour and the Toastmaster of the evening should be thanking each speaker. 

To say Mr Toastmaster at the end tells everybody in the audience you have finished and warns the Toastmaster to jump to their feet.

Length of Greetings
If your meeting is short of time, abbreviate the greetings. Don't say, 'let's move on'. Just move on.

Humorous Contests
To improve the atmosphere at a contest where contestants may be nervous, you can use the warm up character. In addition, or instead, the contest chair, instead of merely reading the rules, should joke all the way through, or at least end with a joke.

 TIMING

The timer should take the opportunity to make his potentially dull introduction to timing both informative and fun. If he does not do so, the Toastmasters of the meeting can thank the timer for whatever he did (such as demonstrating traffic lights or coloured cards; then add an explanation as to why timing is necessary:

1 In real life outside meetings when people have to leave to catch trains, allow time for the next speaker before the venue is closed (especially if you are paying for the hire of the room by the hour!)

In one Toastmasters meeting, in Harrow, a London suburb, we were running over time, so a ballet class of excited, chatty little girls kept trying to come to change into their togs.

On another occasion a first time speaker ran over time. The other two speakers who had hoped to win ribbons with their debut speech found no ribbons were allotted. I was one of the other speakers, as well as the mentor of the speaker who ran over time. I'd spent ages helping him with his speech, but neglected to impress on him the importance of time.

At a club party the pre-dinner drinks and introductions were allowed to run over time. Therefore the toastmaster, being told to cut out a section, cut out my grammarian role, so my once a year chance to practise performing in front of an audience, shine in front of the Area, and my husband, was cut from the programme. I was not pleased.

CONTEST TIMING

In a contest the timing should not be announced to the judges before they have judged. Reasons: 

1 You may have a dispute about the timing so you don’t want judges influenced because the person they thought was over time might not be over time. The timing might be changed to allow for an interruption, a fully timing device, or many other reasons such as another speaker making a movement which counts as part of the speech time.

2 It’s a distraction. While they are worrying about the time, they don’t have time in their short judging time to decide the order of winners.

3 The timers’ job is to time; the judges’ job is to judge. The judge should not be asking the timers whether somebody was over time. This would cause embarrassment and disappointment to the speaker who went over time and could result in an argument in an important high level contest. You don’t want to have the judges later arguing with the timers. The timers’ and chief judges and contest chair and so on have the final say.

CLUB TIMING

4 However, at a club, usually the timing is given to warn the contestants that they have gone over time and are likely to be disqualified if they ever enter a contest. This is done before voting because if you have three contestants and one is over time there is not vote.

To be nice, the president may allow voting every if a speaker is over time, firstly to be kind to the speaker, second so that the other two speakers still have a chance of getting a ribbon. As a timer, I ask the president to decide.

The bell is rung after 30 seconds over time at a club contest, not at an area contest. (See rule book.)

I hope this helps.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.
Author of
Quick Quotations for speakers
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HOW TO RUN A MENTORING SYSTEM IN A CLUB

ADVANTAGES OF MENTORS

HISTORY OF MENTORS

The name Mentor comes from a Greek man named Mentor.

 When Odysseus went of to fight the Trojan war, he appointed his friend Mentor to be tutor and adviser to the Son of Odysseus.

PLAN CLUB MENTORING

You know the saying, you don’t plan to fail, you fail to plan. 

A club should plan to copy the action of Odysseus, and appointing a mentor to every new member. 

Why are mentors necessary? Newcomers are nervous and need encouragement. Meetings are often run by people who make mistakes because they have not been briefed to meet speech objectives, nor how to do roles such as timer. For years in the UK I avoided being timer. Firstly, I wanted to speak. Secondly, I was scared to operate the lights. 

HOW I LEARNED TIMING

Finally, in Singapore, I was one of three timers in a contest. The incentive was that in Singapore contest timers are given a small certificate of appreciation and a tiny gift from a pound or dollar store, such as a notebook. 

I had plenty of advice for other timers: Find a quotation about time. Check the timing on the agenda. Look confident so that speakers and visitors are confident. Don't ask what to do loudly in front of newcomers. Ask a committee member for advice privately in advance. 

Don't apologise. Don't say, 'Sorry, sorry'. Instead say, 'Thank you for that information', or, 'Thank you for that decision', or, 'Thank you for that update'. 

My mentor for this timer role was my good friend Carolyn who was in charge, taking the responsibility. She showed me how to use my mobile as a timer. 

I jumped from being the person who kept refusing to be a timer, to the one who wanted the timer role. I wanted to practise my new skill. I had learned how to use my phone to time my own speeches. I wanted the small free gift. I wanted to contribute because I was sharing in the free food at the contest, although I was not paying a club membership fee. I also wanted to complete my manual of roles needed for a Competent Leader certificate.

CHALLENGES

Problems Mentors Can Solve

1 Some new members join and never come to meetings or watch for 6 months, a year, even two years and never give a speech.

2 Old members drop out because speech slots are allotted to newcomers, ribbons go to newcomers, nobody is their mentor so they miss out on networking and friendship.

3 A person takes on the role of mentoring co-ordinator but gets disheartened and confused when members don't reply to emails and phone calls. 

Answers For What Mentors Can Do

Co-ordinating mentors sounds simple but involves a lot of briefing and chasing. It's too much work to add to other committee members.

Your club needs a specific Mentoring co-ordinator helped by two others, a committee of three. 

If any member or mentor is absent for more than two meetings they must ask another person to take over their role.

You need one mentor to ensure first timers give a first speech which fulfils manual objective.

You need a life coach mentor to ensure the mentee is fulfilling their aim, whether it's to complete a specific project such as a wedding speech or funeral speech. 

You need a mentor as a life coach to ensure that the speeches add up to a set on a theme presenting the mentee as an expert who can become a professional speaker to businesses or as a fund raiser for charities. 

Mentors need mentees to complete project 8 of the CL manual. This offers two options: Mentor a new member's first three speeches. Mentor an existing member.

A member can have more than one mentor. In fact every member should have a backup mentor. And every mentor should have a second potential mentee. Why? Because often a member toes on holiday or is away on business. Younger members drop out because they move house, get a job in another area, or have a baby. Older members drop out because they become carers for a parent, go into hospital, retire overseas.

You can cling onto your former members and mentors by keeping them on a list of backup mentees and keep in touch by email and Skype.

MY FIRST MENTOR, INDRA

I’m going to tell you about my first mentor, Indra, my mentee . 

My first mentor, Indra Sikdar taught me to use props.

Later, I went to Singapore and mentored Martin Doe on Skype.

Indra was my mentor when I first joined the club. He came round to my house the weekend before and listened to my speech. He arrived promptly at 11 and left at 12. 

You can be a mutual mentor. Every member.

MY FIRST MENTEE - WARREN SHENG

I was away in Singapore when I was emailed that new member Warren Sheng had requested me as a mentor. I was immensely flattered. Warren Sheng is of Taiwanese origin. I must have spent several hours listening to his life story for his first speech, condensing the stories, identifying what is most interesting to an English audience. he rewarded me in two ways, with a present and with praise. He took me to a musical for which he had free tickets. He praised me at every meeting for months, years afterwards. Just as I still praise Indra for inspiring me to use props. 

If the president and VPE are busy, 

CLUB MENTORING CHECKLISTS

1 Keep a mentoring list. Start with giving the mentoring co-ordinator a list of members. Inform them of the name and email and phone number of new members, the new members experience in speaking, their fears, and hopes or aims.

MEMBERSHIP PR

At the start of every meeting, PR / President / Membership / meeter and greeter should tell newcomers if they are planning to join a club, think of who they would like as a mentor, who they would like to mentor, what kind of progress they want (using props and slides, adding humour, structuring speeches, finding subjects or expertise.

Those who join a club for fun, to make friends, might be aiming at being entertaining. They could be directed to mentors who are good at humour, to watching videos of humorous speeches.

HOD'S MEMBERSHIP MAN MIKE

In HOD we found trouble matching up mentors and mentees. Firstly, some mentors were not confident in mentoring advanced speeches. Our revised system was to appoint an expert for each type of speech, one for visual aids, one for props, one for humour. Mike, the membership secretary who dealt with new members, had already been mentor for a couple of new members, so he became mentor for all new members. That had the advantage of getting all the new embers started. Nobody had to exchange information or keep lists. He already had the members details. He already had rapport.

Any disadvantages? In some clubs the president mentors all the bright, young, pretty girls. Other members are offered as mentees the challenges, those who cannot speak or write English, so you spend two hours trying to work out what they mean, listening to long explanation, offering three alternatives for every sentence. Those absentee members who are overseas or away sick. They never complete three speeches needed for the mentorship project 8. Other new members are fussy, picky, dissatisfied, keep falling out with people and  / or keep changing mentors. Emails are not answered by people who are too busy. Some people will happily chat on the phone but won't answer emails. The productive, busy people have a large inbox and ignore non work emails. The shy ones are scared to open the email, write and re-word every email thirty times, then never send the reply. 

Whose Job Is It To Phone?

The busy people are impatient, "I never got a reply to my email. I'm not wasting any more time. It's up to the mentee to contact me!"  

Another (me) says, "But a new, shy member joining to gain confidence needs hand-holding and baby-sitting." Is the mentor's job to instruct, direct the mentee to manuals and websites? Or to listen to somebody's life story and and nod whilst the mentee talks through the options and makes their own decisions? 

A controlling mentor can frighten off a potential or actual member. I've heard people say, "If they don't want to contribute we don't want them in our club. They have no right to turn up for a competition and put us on their CV and do nothing for other members." 

However, others say, "It's the members who pay and don't turn up who keep our club financially afloat."

On the other hand, strict timekeepers, the judgers (on the Myers Briggs personality typing system) can be good at getting the shy to take action and give a speech. Indra actually drove me to the first meetings. No chance of being late or deciding at the last minute I couldn't do it. A mentor can smile and nod and rehearse a speech at the venue so the mentee walks on stage with the speech clear in their mind to give without notes.  

MEMBERS' AND MENTEES' MOTIVES

Those who join a club for career advancement (in house clubs) might be more interested in informative speeches, or adding humour to their dull presentations, or correcting their pronunciation, plus spelling, grammar and layout of slides.

Tell newcomers that they will be given a mentor, It’s not an option. They may already be an expert and just want feedback on their next project from an audience. Their first feedback is from an audience of one, the mentor. 

MENTORS' GAINS INCLUDE GRATITUTE

The mentor is not only doing them a favour. 

The mentee reciprocates by hearing the mentor’s speech.

He asked if i would listen to his speech. I could not say no.

Your club mentor tells mentees: You get two manuals.

The mentor should ensure the mentee signs up for roles, learns how to use the club website. The mentor is the go between. The mentor watches that the mentee starts. I’ve heard people say, I was a member for a year before I gave my first speech. When you go to school, everybody in the class is expected to attend every lesson and take the exam at the end of the year. Every club members should

Martin we had to send large files through Dropbox, not email. He won the competition and was voted best speaker.

PUBLIC RECOGNITION

Finally, in Singapore at one successful club they hold an induction ceremony. The mentee pledges in front of all the members to turn up on time, prepare speeches. The official photographer photograph the mentee with their mentor, usually a set of three or four pairs. 

Later, if a mentee wins a ribbon or contest, they might thank their mentor (like an acceptance speech at an Oscar ceremony by film stars I'd like to thank my mentor ...."

To Summarise

Any questions? (When training I would ask:)

"Who has a mentor? Who doesn’t have a mentor? Only the two visitors. Join the club and you get your manuals, and a mentor!"

HOD Experience

Mike Freedman of HOD has successfully mentored all the first timers at HOD after we found that it was complicated to organise lots of different mentors and we needed to get first timers on the right track. The membership sales person was already in touch with new members. This keeps up momentum. Sigh disadvantage that other would-be mentors might get overlooked. 

(One guy, the mentor, gets to meet all the pretty girls! Spreads the opportunities since in some clubs full of young singletons, usually the single club president gets to meet all the eligible girls.)

I think we shall have to create the rule that anybody who drops out of any role, whether a speaking slot at a club meeting, or a club officer training, has to find a substitute. You don’t have to do a job yourself. You just have to see that somebody does it. 

This is done in Singapore where a large proportion of members are working and the president cannot fill several slots at the last minute. People are often away working, so they send an email to half a dozen people, sometimes on what’s ap, asking 'who can replace me. I got lots of opportunities from people who dropped out. In this case Lorna may have been taken by surprise. In future we could set up a kind of buddy system, including mentors and mentees taking over each other’s roles.

TIPS

Thanks to mentors and speakers (my helpers Lorna and Ruth from Harrovians, both on holiday) for telling us in good time that you can’t make the 2017 meeting or training date and sending in your accounts of your experiences. 

Thanks to Lorna for the good idea about guidelines for mentors and mentees. 

Action points:

1 Mentors’ committee/workshop ; Create 10 commandments

Create not just a handout to mentoring organisers but also we should create a ten commandments for mentors and mentees.

For Future Mentor Training In Club or In Area

 Would anybody else extravert from a club committee like to take the mentor's slot?

If not, ask somebody from another club. 

MENTORING COMMITTEE

Who should be on the mentoring committee?

Any member who does not have a committee role but wants to be involved with the fun and responsibility of helping the committee and running the club.

People often have two opposite kinds of skills. One loud extravert person can talk but not plan. 

Another quiet introvert can make plans and lists but is afraid to speak. Pair them up into a mentoring committee. 

One person has agendas and ideas. 

A second person lists action points. 

A third person hands out information, posts the list.

1 The talker is the mentoring PR, the go-between who pairs up the mentor and mentee. 

2 The record keeper lists mentors and mentees, checks that every new member has a mentee. Every experienced or advanced mentor gets a mentee to complete project 8 in the leadership manual which is vital to finishing the manual and getting the CL award.  

whichA third person is called upon to observe and backup, and takes over automatically when one of the others is on holiday. Ask mentors and mentees to notify each other and the mentoring co-ordinator.

GUIDELINES

Thanks to Lorna for suggesting guidelines. Each club can set its own guidelines. For example:

Mentoring co-ordinator Guidelines

Attend club office training. Obtain feedback from those who cannot attend. Give assistants guidelines. Meet other members at the committee meeting or club meeting. Update membership list and ask President to send all members the contact details and system for mentoring. 

Checklist:

1 Appoint committee.

2  Get their emails and phone numbers. 

3 Or connect on What's Ap.

4 See club membership list on line. (In UK on Easyspeak.)

5 Check each member has a mentor.

6 Make announcement at meetings about obtaining a mentor, eg before break time. Tell those needing mentors and mentees to go to a place, such as to the right of the food table to meet the mentoring committee.

7 Have photos of mentors and mentees. (This helps ensure that everybody in the club is paired, not one person mentoring everybody.)

8 Arrange a mentor thank you session for end of year, when mentees thank mentors and mentors thank mentees.

Mentor

Email mentee saying whether you can speak on phone (which hours), email, or Skype. Phone or email to discuss goal and year plan and first project, either a speech or a meeting role such as timer.  (Some members like to do roles first, and hear more speeches before doing their own ice breaker first speech. They also need time to prepare the first speech. Also some presidents, such as Sushil of Harrovians, like new members to do two roles before doing their first speech. Other clubs require all members to alternate speeches and roles.)

Mentee

Respond within a week, ideally within 24 hours.

LEARN FROM SUCCESSFUL MENTORS AND CLUBS

If the system doesn't work, try something new. 

CROSS-CLUB BUDDIES

Find another club and pair up mentors. Sometimes a member doesn't like to admit to other cub members that they need help, or other club members are doing different roles and are busy. 

If you need any help in my clubs (HOD, HARROVIANS in the UK, or BRADDELL HEIGHTS ADVANCED Club in Singapore, or any other club worldwide, please email me.  I am doing Mentoring as a High Performance Leadership Project and would be glad to help you. Don't hesitate. Contact me. I shall be glad to hear from you.

AUTHOR AND SPEAKER ANGELA

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, CL, ACG.

Author of ten books by mainstream publishers and ten self-published through print on demand company Lulu.com:

Wedding Speeches and Toasts. (Ward Lock/Cassell.)

How to be the best man. (Ward Lock/Cassell.)

Quick Quotations. (Lulu.) One line easy to remember quotations.

Who Said What When. (Lulu.) A quotation for the day of the year, somebody who was born, died or gave a famous speech on that day.

(I use quotations from my books if I am asked to quickly brief/mentor a member at a meeting. You can take a free look at the books of quotations on line or if you meet me. If you want to keep a hard copy you can pay for it and the postage and packing on line. Or buy a signed copy from me at meetings. 

Prices range from £6 to £20, depending on the thickness of the book which reflects first, how long it took to research, write and edit - a year, 18 months or two year, and secondly the cost of printing, thirdly plus posting cost which is affected by the weight of the book plus the discount offer from the printers at the time I ordered the books. I can also sign the book and create a quotation as a personalised dedication for you based on your name and skills.

To find my details or contact me within the UK you can use the UK club co-ordination system Easy Speak.

On Facebook general comments are public, but if you become a friend you can also message me privately through the messaging system.

HANDOUT 
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What I learned from Buona Vista CC Toastmasters Club About Meeting Timing

Buona Vista club meets at Buona Vista Community Centre. I arrived early and the people in the office downstairs told me I was early. I asked if there was anywhere I would wait in air continuing. (I thought they might say, yes, you can sit in this room.) They said I could go up to the rooftop, but no air con. Most people follow instructions, simple instructions, unless and until things go badly wrong. So I went upstairs. The view from the roof is pleasant. The toilet gets less use than those downstairs which could be more crowded. I went downstairs to find the room and although I was half an hour early the group was already setting up. I had phoned and offered to do a role on the program. I was told the program was full. Never mind. I want anyway. I often get asked to speak, even though I have not given much notice, and the programme is already full. Sometimes somebody drops out. Other times one of the committee members magnanimously decides to give up their slot as evaluator so that everybody can benefit because he/she or the club would like the opportunity to hear from somebody new. I was amazed by the number of speakers. The meeting started at 7pm and went on until 10 pm. Regarding timing, the timer is sometimes given a chance to explain the timers role. Here, it was obvious. Signs in the lifts wanted that that lifts and staircase doors would close at 10 pm. If you are running over time, you risk getting locked in, not being able to use lifts for heavy equipment, and older people who have trouble walking. Clearing Up Time If you meet in premises where you have the key and can stand around chatting, networking, socialising, until you decide to go, you cannot envisage a situation where the caretaker is glowering at you still for being in the room at three minutes after ten, or even fifteen minutes after ten. It is a rush, when you have to dismantle a loudspeaker system, unplug computers, roll up screens, wipe information off whiteboards, stack chairs, clear up leftover food, give your business car or club card to newcomers, pick up dropped pens, lost and left bags and jackets, offer lifts to those miles from home, direct others back to the MRT station, or ask everybody to follow you to the nearby coffee shop or hawker centre, giving directions to those leaving earlier or later than you are. Disputes Entailing Chaining Venue I have also read about clubs which changed venue 'because we did not get on with the management' of the premises. It spoils the meeting if the building staff are looking sour, turning off the lights in rooms and toilets, locking doors to the car park, making announcements over loudspeakers that the building is closing, either on time, within five minutes, or ten minutes early. Other club presidents and sponsors go to great efforts to please or placate the staff, offering them leftover food, chatting to them and asking after their families, like a close friend.

Harrovians Speeches on A Wake Up Call and a Boring Presentation

President Seema welcomed us with a motivational story about how Mr Honda suffered several setbacks to his business, from 1938 onwards, including a bombed production line during WWII, and an earthquake. The lack of gasoline (petrol) for cars led to his motorising a bicycle which he turned into a motorbike. He hired out bikes to others, changed the bikes from heavy, functional items for enthusiasts into lights bikes for the public, and went on to found a company which now employs 100,000 people in both Japan and the USA.

I understood: The moral is persist with your dream and concentrate on your goal, or choose another goal and persist with that one. Seema adds: "The moral of my story - make a decision and stick to the goal. The only thing that is dynamic is the process or means to achieve this goal."

TME's Theme
Jayanthiny was Toastmaster of the Evening, a role recently given the updated name of Event Organiser. She had devised a theme question for speakers on stage to answer: What have you learned from last year, especially in Toastmasters but also outside Toastmasters.

Timing with red, yellow and red scarves
 As timekeeper, getting ready to go to Toastmasters, I had thought of demonstrating the lights with three coloured cards, red, yellow and green.

Then I decided to wear a red scarf. I thought that although red is my colour, which suits me, and is stimulating, perhaps as timer I should wear an encouraging green scarf rather than red. I put on the green, leaving on the red, reluctant to remove it, then decided to add yellow or orange to demonstrate all the traffic light colours.

I demonstrated by waving the scarves in turn. (See the next post on scarves to demonstrate coloured lights for timing, on video.)

Timing Using Clocks
When I sat down my phone had been used to take a video which you can see on my next post. The Topics Master stood up and I started to time by using the clock, which might work if you have a clock with a second hand, or are timing a long speech over five minutes, but not sufficiently accurate when you have a clock without a second hand, the clock is the other side of the room and out of focus. However, with Ruth's help, we were soon back on track. That is why it is so useful to have two timekeepers, especially in competitions where one timer has the deciding vote on whether a speaker is within time.

Good Grammar
Grammarian, Indra, had prepared the word salubrious, meaning healthy, from the Latin. He had three copies of the word on different walls. As GE Sanjay remarked we often have two words, but three is unusual.

Topic - sports
Spellchecker or autocorrect on this website wanted to turn the next speaker's name to viper so I shall spell it out with gaps.

V i p u l ' s topics were on the theme of sports. I was talking to Martina a guest, and wrote down her name in case I needed to name her when describing the times of table topics speakers. I found out that she came from Prague and her hobbies were two kinds of sports, including yoga and running.

 Finding that she was willing to be a table topics speaker, I called over the topics master to ask her if she wanted to do a speech. She asked if she could know the topic in advance. The topic is usually a surprise. He said he could tell her the topic was sport.

We don't often tell guests, not even visitors, the topic, just find out about them and pick a topic we think they could answer. However, this seemed a good chance to encourage a wavering speaker.
She won the ribbon for best topic speaker. Seema is on the left of the picture, Martina on the right, the club banner in the middle.

Martina won table topics with a speech on running. V i p u l told us his passion was cricket. Indra was challenged to explain how we would act as referee and his answer was diplomatic. Sanjay was asked to speak about technology and enthused about how technology befitted everything including Toastmasters. Warren enthused about how Toastmasters was reinventing itself with new manuals every ten years.

How to Use the Timer
As timekeeper I had expected to be provided with a stopwatch. When none was placed on the table, I rushed back to find the overtime bells but did not find the timer.

Ruth showed me how to use the timer on my mobile phone. You select the clock (by looking for the clock icon or picture).  Assuming you have a touch screen, choose the 'lap' mode by tapping on the word lap. Then press 'start'' and the numbers at the top of the screen start increasing. You have three pairs of numbers, minutes and seconds. When the speaker finished you tap on stop. Write down the time in minutes and seconds before you tap the 'reset button or icon.

If you forget to press the stop button, you will have to deduct the previous speaker's time from the new time total.

Using my phone as a timer prevented me from using the phone as a camera.

The first prepared speech by Thulasi was entitled A Wake-up Call. She told us how hearing that only ten percent of Toastmasters members completed the first ten speeches of the manual was a reminder that she should do so by the end of the year and how she vowed to complete her manual. She had learned that the system is flexible. You do not have to do the ten speeches in order. She had jumped to number 9, the persuasive speech, as it suited her topic of motivating us, acting as a wake up call to encourage us to finish our manual by the end of the Toastmasters' International year in June 2016.

Succinct Speech by Alex
The second speech by Alex was succinct. He had enthusiastically started his speech without receiving the instruction manual in time to craft a longer speech. But he gave us all the essentials about his job and his family, leaving us wanting to hear more about his interesting work in osteopathy, helping keep people and their bones healthy.

Warren's Successful Evaluation of a Short Speech
Alex's evaluator Warren cleverly said that Alex's brevity was both the source of a commend and a recommend. Warren amusingly said that on a first date Alex would be a great success, not talking non-stop and interminably about himself, like most people do. In real life nobody lets you speak for more than four minutes (without interrupting). A good listener doesn't bore you by talking for more than four minutes. A good listener is always adding value in Toastmasters' meetings and in daily life.

Warren also give a fascinating analysis of a speech. A joke, he said, does not have a conclusion, but a speech has a conclusion. If you do not reach a conclusion, you have (a joke or story but) no speech.

Warren has improved his humour to stunning heights. Where once he would damn with faint praise and sarcasm, bringing people down, he now uses his humour to be insightful, original and encouraging.

I think it would be useful to have a policy that when a novice speaker does not reach the minimum time the TME/Topics Master or audience should help by turning the remaining time into a Q and A session. I have seen this done successful at table topics sessions when an experienced TME helps a tongue-tied speaker. It's also the technique used by the Chairman when a speaker invited to give a one hour talk finishes early. The paid members expect to be given a one hour talk and the hotel has not yet got the tea ready. So the chairman has a few prepared questions. This helps and encourages the speaker to expand and use the extra available time to gain greater goodwill by giving an increased amount of information or additional stories to entertain the audience.

Sushil's Entertaining Speech on How Not To Be Boring
Sushil's talk entitled 'The Boring Presentation' started with asking us all to be silent and then say what we felt about the silence. Bored? Tired? Distracted?

Sushil said when bored we relive our autobiographical memory. Seeking excitement has a role in evolution.

Some people are easily excited. But some need more stimulation than others. Stimulation provides motivation and inspiration.

The call to action was introducing elements into our lives and speeches to keep our own attention and that of the audience. Methods might include challenges and problems to solve, variety, change.

Sushil won the best speaker ribbon. Ruth won the evaluator ribbon. She praised Sushil for his sophistication in using Powerpoint in a speech and his daring in asking for a minute of silence.

Guests
Before the break guests were welcomed and asked to introduce themselves and say a few words about why they had come to a Toastmasters Meeting and what they thought about it so far. We were pleased to welcome back two members we had not seen for some time, Maxine Allison, a former member, and Lola, plus newcomer Martina, Zara, and Pradip.

At teatime break in addition to the usual selection of assorted plain and chocolate biscuits, and Seema had brought back from Dubai a box of dates to share with everybody. Everybody was having such a great time talking that ringing the bells, in my role as timer, succeeded in summoning only half of them. In order to get them all back into their seats to keep the meeting to time I was obliged to turn the lights on and off.

Ruth is presented with a ribbon for the best evaluator.

President Seema, CC, ALB, presented the ribbons.

General Evaluation from Sanjay

Sanjay was General Evaluator and praised all the evaluators as well as coming out with points of his own, such as suggesting that evaluators should suggest action which could be taken to solve problems. For example, using a spell check to check slides. (In this case, as Sushil ruefully admitted, spell checker would not have caught bor-e-ing which is a legitimate spelling of a different type of action to boring.) Sanjay commended me for my original use of props, scarves as timers. 

Meeting Manager's Actions - Phoning Before The Meeting! 

I wrote in Jayanthiny's Leadership manual evaluating her role as TME/ meeting manager. I was stunned to see how the new title reflect the new responsibility of the former TME, who no longer simply links one speaker to the next. The manual clearly states that the evaluator must mark the Meeting Manager on whether they have briefed the evaluators in how they should communicate with the speakers. 

Essentially it is a chain of command from the 'TME' through evaluators to speakers, before the meeting, ensuring that the speakers are prepared and will actually turn up to the meeting. This advance delegation of chasing saves the TME from the embarrassment of last minute changes to the programme when speakers arrive late, without manuals, or forget, don't rehearse the speech and fail to turn up at all! 

Jayanthiny was really pleased to have learned from my evaluation, and my going through the manual explaining why I could not give her top marks for one item.  She was delighted to get help in the role, even though I could not give her full marks for doing something neither of us had previously realised were in the manual as part of the role. 

Her enthusiasm rubbed off on me. I was also very happy to see a sharp reminder of how preparing in advance is part of the system set down by the time-conscious Americans. (It was done in the early days of the Harrovians club but over the years we had become more casual and forgotten.) 

Ruth gave a lift home to two members including Lola who hopes to pass a driving test next month which will enable her to attend more meetings.

Next Harrovians Speakers' meeting as usual is a Monday, Jan 18th 2016. VPE Sanjay filled some of the speaking slots and roles for the next meeting but you still have an opportunity to pick your favourite from the website.

Mentors

Seema is mentoring Jayanthiny. Angela is to mentor Alex.

Dates for your diary:

Meetings every month, first third and sometime fifth Monday of each month except when bank holidays fall on a Monday. In those months in see club calendar on the Easy Speak website. Alternatively check through Toastmasters International Find A Club. To be sure the website is up to date, double check by emailing a club committee member through the Easyspeak website.  Harrovians also has a Facebook page

International Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest is in February. 

 on Monday 15th 2016. The winners of both contests will be in the Area Contest in February or March. 

Newsletter report by Angela Lansbury CL, ACG.