Question the conventional wisdom.
Continue readingDare to Question the Norm – A Tale of Two Women
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Category Archives: Toastmasters
A toast to my daughter, the writer
Delivering a toast is one of the speeches I had to give as part of my Toastmaster journey to Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award. I chose to do it on an imaginary toast that I would have given at the launch of my daughter Anita’s book, Love Songs for a Lost Continent which was published in 2018. This short story collection won the 2016 Mary Roberts Rinehart Award.
Continue readingLet It Be
Image Credit: Screaming_Monkey, Wikimedia Commons
I confess. I am an impulse buyer. The other day, I went into Trader Joes to buy cashew nuts. Passing the bread and cookies aisle, I couldn’t resist buying a bag of iced cookies. Never mind that I shouldn’t be eating anything with that much sugar. If you tell me you are not an impulse buyer, I won’t believe you. We all buy something on impulse, only the degree of impulse buying varies. I say, let it be.
Own Your Customer Experience
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When you think about customer service, can you recall a memorable one you had? If I told you I had such an experience at the California DMV, a great one at that, what would be your reaction?
Music is a Necessity
Stand up, and sing along with Peter, Paul, and Mary:
How did you feel when you were singing? Inspired? Happy? Contemplative?
How many of you do your exercise while listening to music?
How many of you listen to music while driving?
Early Risers 2117 Toastmasters: Pete Carey, award-winning journalist
Pete Carey says:
“I joined Toastmasters to get a grip on public speaking, which, while I did a bit here and there, even before very large audiences, was almost always nerve-racking. I always enjoyed talking to groups – during and after, but not before! I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was my reluctance to speak before an audience that was the cause of my nervousness, for with repetition comes ease.
Toastmasters has given me a place to keep up my game, and – a dividend most non-members are probably unaware of – it has given me a little “leadership” experience – running meetings, chairing contests and so on. But there’s more!
The goal of Toastmasters is to make us better speakers. By working through a curriculum
and receiving evaluations by other members, I’ve learned to break some bad habits and have acquired a few skills that make for better presentations.”
Early Risers 2117 Toastmasters: John McGowan, CEO, Mathematical Software
John McGowan, CEO, Mathematical Software, who has been a Toastmaster since the 1990s, says:
“I joined Toastmasters in 1997 shortly after starting a new job at NASA Ames Research Center. I was looking for a way to meet more people at Ames outside my immediate work group. Ames had a printed newsletter which had a list of meetings of various groups. Ames has a program to sponsor extracurricular activities such as Toastmasters. I found Jetstream Toastmasters which dates back to the 1950s and started attending.
Early Risers 2117 Toastmasters: Stephanie Charles, President
Stephanie Charles who has been a member of Early Risers since 2000 says:
“I joined Toastmasters in 2000 because I was a docent at Henry Coe State Park and wanted to improve my presentations to the public. I checked out three convenient Toastmasters clubs and settled on Early Risers Toastmasters because the members were very diverse and very welcoming. I’ve been a member ever since.
Toastmasters
I have now been a member of Toastmasters for more than 18 months. My icebreaker speech was in June 2017. Since then I have delivered several speeches, have done several evaluations of speeches and fulfilled numerous roles in the weekly activities of my club, Early Risers 2117 in Palo Alto.
Pledge like a Toastmasters’ Club – Benefit of rituals in the workplace
Wikipedia explains “ritual” thus: “A ritual ‘is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence’. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized but not defined by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance.”
Shantha Mohan 