Developing your Leadership Skills at Toastmasters

The majority of new members who join our club do so in order to develop their public speaking skills. At Toastmasters, there are actually two skill sets we develop. The first skill is obviously public speaking with the second being to develop a member’s leadership skills.

As a new member, you are provided two manuals. The first manual provides information on developing your public speaking skills and the second to develop your leadership skills.

Many new members of our club focus their efforts on their public speaking skills and tend to ignore their leadership development. I make an effort to remind our members not to ignore their leadership development. I believe the two skill sets augment one another and should be developed simultaneously in order to gain the maximum benefits from being a club member.

The leadership manual consists of ten projects focusing on many aspects of leadership.  Each of the ten projects focus on developing specific leadership skills that include listening, critical thinking, providing feedback, time management, planning and implementation, organization and delegation of tasks, facilitation, motivating, mentoring and team building.

The majority of these projects have the club member taking on various roles during our Toastmaster meetings. The meeting roles include being the Toastmaster, General Evaluator, Speech Evaluator, Grammarian, Table Topics master and Timer.

These meeting roles allow you to develop new leadership skills while also developing your communications skills, providing the opportunity to participate at a meeting even when not giving an actual speech. You will also be supporting our club as a valued member of the team.

Several of the projects develop organizational skills outside the Toastmaster meeting roles for example, organizing a club speech contest, working on a public relations team or becoming a mentor for a new or existing member.

This may all sound very intimidating to you but remember there are many club members, including myself, who are more than happy to mentor you along the way. When you join our club, you are among friends who share the same club goals and values.

By developing our communications and leadership skills simultaneously, we become stronger as individuals and as a club.

Remember that no club member is an island. We all become better members when working as a team together!

I hope to see you at one of our future meetings!

Paul Horvath

Cedar Hill Toastmasters Club

Sergeant at Arms

Meeting Minutes - December 17

Paul as SAA, started the meeting.

John was Toastmaster for the evening and gave the meeting an unusual twist. Prior to the meeting, John passed out a questionnaire to everyone with about a dozen questions such as the number of years you've been in Toastmasters, an animal you'd like to be, the best and worst Xmas gifts you've ever received, an age you'd like to stay at, etc. Then as Toastmaster for the evening, everytime he (or anyone else) introduced someone, John then gave an introduction for that person using the information from the questionnaire.

Joyce gave the word for the day which was nemoplilist.

Kevin stepped up to do a joke.

Anna gave her second speech entitled, "Christmas Eve Polish Style." She informed us of the customs in Poland practiced on Christmas Eve such as looking for the first star of the evening as well as the variety of foods eaten.

John, working from an advanced manual, practiced introductions throughout the evening.

Paul did Table Topics asking questions related to the Christmas.

Larry was grammarian noting some unusual "double ands" by Joyce and Kevin but noted Anna's expression of exclamation was perfectly fine.

Paul gave the timer's report.

Elizabeth as General Evaluator called the evaluators up to give their reports. 

Kevin evaluated Anna's speech giving her a few points to improve upon.

Larry evaluated John's work (speech) with almost everything noted as "excellent."

Elizabeth noted how much she enjoyed Anna's speech since she too was Polish. She also noted there was some "whispering" in the background during the meeting but overall it was a great evening.

Mike brought in a bowl of apples and mandarin oranges for everyone to enjoy.

The meeting actually ended early- about 8:23PM.  The next meeting will be January 7, 2016.

Respectfully submitted,

Joyce Boncal

Meeting Minutes - December 4

Great night at Cedar Hill - lots of laughter and learning in a very supportive environment. 

The meeting was started by Paul, Sergeant of Arms, who reminded everyone about the upcoming winter in spite of a warmer weather pattern that we had been experiencing lately. 

Kevin was the Toastmaster and did a great job moving the meeting along and explaining each section of the meeting since we were honored with a presence of a guest. 

Anna gave the Word of the Day - otiose. Then, Larry brought some humor with the Joke of the Day. 

There were three speakers presenting the prepared speeches. Lyn's speech entitled "Christmas" was quite entertaining as Lyn talked about different ways people approach Christmas preparations and gift giving. It was project 6 from the Competent Communicator, Using Vocal Varieties. 

Next, Martha presented a speech "Nutrition Traps", project from Speaking to Inform manual. She educated the audience about the consumption of sugar and how sugar is lurking into our food on a daily basis.

John gave a speech from Special Occasion speeches manual. He presented a "roast" speech in recognition of Cedar Hill Toastmaster member, Kevin. 

Eliot as a Table Topics master challenged the audience with the topics related to winter. We all know that winter will eventually arrive so this was a prelude to what we need to think about when the winter is here. 

In the educational section of our meeting, Larry evaluated Lyn's speech, Paula evaluated Martha's speech and Paul evaluated John's speech. 

Paul was the Timer and Anna was the Grammarian. We were reminded of bad habits, such as starting the sentence with these popular filler words, "so" and "now."

Finally, Joyce presented the General Evaluator's report praising the Toastmasters contributing to the success of last night's meeting. 

John, our President reminded everyone about the mentor program at the club and encouraged members to take advantage of it. 

The meeting roles for the next meeting were taken by Paula. Cedar Hill meets again on December 17. 

Respectfully submitted by 
Martha Danielewicz
Secretary 
Cedar Hill Toastmasters

Meeting Minutes - November 19

It was an interesting meeting at Cedar Hill Toastmasters with two guests in attendance, lots of great speeches and plenty of humor.

Paula as a Toastmaster of the evening did a great job explaining each section and function of the meeting so that the guests have a better understanding. Elizabeth cheered the audience with a great joke. Martha presented the word "exuberant" and it was used by some participants throughout the meeting. 

Elizabeth presented the speech from the Competent Communicator, project 8, Using Visual Aids. In her speech, she took us on a journey to Istanbul to some of the most popular tourists attractions and offered some treats consisting of an apple tea and Turkish Delight. 

Larry delivered a speech entitled "Dumb Kids Part 2" from the Entertaining Speaker series. He entertained the audience with funny stories of mischievous adventures from his childhood. 

Joyce as a Table Topics Master presented debate topics and challenged everyone to defend the position. For example, speakers 1 would be defending the statement that  growing fresh vegetables is the way to go and then speaker 2 would be challenged to defend the opposing statement - buying fresh vegetables is a better option. It was a fun and entertaining exercise. 

Paul was the General Evaluator assisted by the Speech Evaluators - Joel evaluated Elizabeth's speech and John evaluated Larry's speech. Paul also served as a Grammarian and presented some feedback on the meeting in general. Eliot presented the timer's report. 

John addressed some club business items by highlighting the mentoring program available to all members. Paula, VP Education will serve as a Mentor Coordinator and help John with this program. 

Paula took roles for the next meeting, which will be held on December 3. 

Respectfully Submitted by
Martha Danielewicz
Secretary
Cedar Hill Toastmasters 

Meeting Minutes - November 5

During the last meeting, Paul was the Toastmaster. Word of the Day was introduced by Larry - "xenogeneic". Paula made us laugh with the joke she presented. We had two amazing speakers. Anna, our newest member presented her Icebreaker. We learned a lot about her and her job as a court interpreter. Elizabeth delivered a speech "Acts of Kindness", project 10 - Inspire Your Audience from the Competent Communicator manual. Elizabeth truly inspired us to act kindly in everyday situations and make a difference one person at a time. 

The Table Topics theme, presented by Larry, was the fall and the holidays celebrated during this time. Thanksgiving, fall colors, favorite apples - topics that everyone could relate to. 

Kevin evaluated Anna's speech and Eliot evaluated Elizabeth's speech. Martha was the General Evaluator. Her evaluation team also included Joyce, the Grammarian and Paul, the Timer. Our Grammarian reminded of unnecessary use of filler words. Kudos to the members who used the Word of the Day. 

Paula, VP Education took roles for the next meeting on November 19. 

Respectfully submitted by
Martha Danielewicz
Cedar Hill Toastmasters
Secretary

Cedar Hill TM members "Walk the Walk."

Recently three members of Cedar Hill Toastmasters strolled the 5K "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk in Hartford

to raise funds to fight breast cancer. A fourth team member was a breast cancer survivor. From L-R, Lizzie Legs, Boncal Buster, Marathon Martha.

Meeting - October 15

The meeting can be summarized as - Cedar Hill rocks!!! We had one guest in attendance last night.The meeting began with the introduction from Paul, Sergeant in Arms. He shared his grandmother's gardening tips on how to preserve the pansy plants over the winter.

Martha served the role of a Toastmaster and moved the meeting along. The word of the day "abstruse" came from Paula and many  skillfully used the word in the course of the meeting. Eliot as the Joke Master entertained with some light humor. 

Lyn, who is the recent winner of the Table Topics contest for Area 24, was the speaker of the evening. She presented her speech "Koo Koo Kangaroo" as project 5 - Your Body Speaks from the Competent Communicator manual. Lyn's was very entertaining in her story about attending a concert of Koo Koo Kangaroo group. As she demonstrated some of the dance moves from the concert, she got almost everyone jumping and stomping along with her. 

Kevin provided an evaluation of Lyn's speech. 

Joel stepped into the role of a Table Topics Master. He challenged everyone with a topic relating to hosting a guest from a foreign country as he was describing his recent experience with the Australian guests from the Friendship Force International. 

Joyce was the General Evaluator. She introduced her evaluation team consisting of one technician, Paul who served as a Timer and Grammarian. Paul kept track of time and those filler words that we tend to use. Joyce concluded her evaluation by recognizing each meeting participant individually with a Toastmaster cookie highlighting their contribution to last night's meeting. 

Paula, VP Education took roles for the next meeting on November 5.

Also, she reminded everyone about the upcoming Division Speech Contest on Wednesday, 

October 21.Our club member Lyn will be representing Area 24 in the Table Topics category at this contest. Please come out on Wednesday to cheer for Lyn. Congratulations and good luck to Lyn on this round of competition! 

Respectfully submitted by 

Martha Danielewicz

Secretary

Cedar Hill Toastmasters

The Winner

Lyn Wojik did us proud tonight. She won the Table Topics Area Contest held in Wallingford. She goes on to the Division contest to be held October 24 at Eversource. Come out and support her.

Winners

. . .  and the winners are

Fall Speech Contest at Cedar Hill Toastmasters

Last night was the Fall speech competition at Cedar Hill Toastmasters. Although, the attendance was low, we still managed to conduct the club contest featuring the Table Topics and Humorous speech. 

Paul was the Contest Master and ensured that the contest rules were announced and he moved the contest along. Paula was the Chief Judge. 

We had three contestants in the Table Topics category - Kevin, Eliot and Lyn. Each of them was given 2 minutes +/- 30 seconds to answer a question " If you were given one wish that would make a big difference. What would that be?" Lyn emerged as a winner of the Table Topics competition. 

Humorous speech contest featured one contestant - Kevin who presented a speech, an imaginary tale of King Arthur intertwined with some humor. Kevin was unanimously declared as a winner of the humorous contest. 

Congratulations to all participants. Lyn and Kevin will represent Cedar Hill Toastmasters at the Area 24 speech competition on Monday, October 12. Good luck to Lyn and Kevin. 

Also, Area 23 Director was in attendance as he was conducting the club visit and he helped cover one of the contest roles. 

Respectfully submitted by
Martha Danielewicz
Secretary 
Cedar Hill Toastmasters

Meeting - September 17

We had an interesting meeting, full of opportunities for everyone to speak and we also had lots of laughter throughout the evening. Kevin was the Toastmaster of the evening making sure we remain on track with the meeting agenda. Also, he reminded us to get credit on the meeting roles in the Competent Leadership manual.

Joyce challenged us with a work of the day - "palindrome". Just in case you did not know, there are also palindromic sentences, and Joyce exemplified a couple of them. Several members were very creative in their use of word throughout the meeting. 

Eliot put some humor into the meeting with the Joke of the Day. 

Before we moved on to the speaking part, Kevin asked John, club President, to announce the changes to the timing procedures at our club. Specifically, John introduced the new rule requiring the timer to make the red card conspicuous in the event the speaker was going over time. 

Larry as Speaker 1, presented a speech entitled "Political Smorgasbord" from the Entertaining Speaker series. Larry entertained us with his humorous opinions on several presidential race candidates. Joel stepped up as Speaker 2 with an impromptu speech "The Year's Biggest Story" in which he introduced us to the controversial issue of Patriots' deflated footballs and challenged some of the opinions on this issue. 

Both speakers were very passionate about the topics and there was no doubt that they had drawn the audience's attention and sparked a lot of enthusiasm. 

Larry's speech was evaluated by Eliot and Joel's speech was evaluated by Elizabeth.  

Larry was also the Table Topic Master and gave a chance to the members to express their opinions about the presidential candidates. Each Table Topic participant would draw a name from the bag and then the fun began. 

Paul was the General Evaluator, John performed the task of Timer and Martha presented the Grammarian report. 

Paula, VP Education, reminded us about the upcoming speech contest at our club on October 1. The featured categories are - Table Topics and Humorous Speech. Members are encouraged to participate in the contest. 

John concluded the meeting with the club business items. He informed that based on the latest officers' meeting, our club will make an effort to start and end the meeting on time. Also, he announced that he will be coordinating the mentor program and strongly encouraged members to take advantage of it. 

It's time to submit the club dues. They are due October 1. Please contact the Club Treasurer, Kevin, to take care of dues. 

Respectfully submitted by 

Martha Danielewicz

Secretary

Cedar Hill Toastmasters

Meeting - September 3

Hello Fellow Toastmasters, 

Yesterday, we another great meeting at Cedar Hill Toastmasters, with great attendance. Two guests joined us along for with the reporter from Newington Life publication. 

Paul was the Toastmaster for the evening. With some guests in attendance, he took the time to explain the roles performed in the meeting as the meeting went on. Elizabeth presented an invocation, a new addition to our meeting format. We shared an inspirational thought of bringing improvement into our lives by making small steps that eventually get us closer to the completion of a goal. 

Mike, the Word Master, encouraged us to use the word of the day "equivocal" in a sentence during the meeting thus building our vocabulary. 

Larry presented a great joke and got us all laughing. 

Then, we moved to the speaking part of the meeting. Speaker 1, John, delivered a speech from the Special Occasion speeches series. In his speech "A Toast", John was toasting to the Summer season and the beauty that it brings - the memorable moments with family and friends, fun times at the beach, games at the ballpark, etc. 

Speaker 2, Paula presented the speech from the leadership series. She shared her experience with working on the High Performance Leadership (HPL) project that aimed at achieving the distinguished status for our club. 

Speaker 3, Ilir gave his second speech from the Competent Communicator manual. In his speech "My Life in America" we learnt about his experiences in this country and how they shaped his vision on life and perseverance during the hard times. 

During the Table Topics session, Prend, our Topic Master, gave us a chance to practice impromptu speaking by answering simple, but often challenging questions. Prend asked everyone to vote for the best Table Topic presenter. Once the votes were counted, Kevin emerged as a winner. 

During the Evaluations, the evaluators analyzes the speeches and provided the verbal and written feedback to the speakers. Joyce evaluated John, Kevin evaluated Paula and Elizabeth evaluated Ilir. 

Eliot performed the role of General Evaluator. Paula delivered the timer's report and Paul as a Grammarian was keeping score of our grammar and the use of filler words. 

John, the President of club, concluded the meeting reminding officers about the officers' meeting on September 17. Also, John reminded us about the upcoming speech contest at our club on October 1. The speech contest will be in two categories - Humorous Speech and Table Topics. Members are encouraged to participate in the contest. 

Everyone, have a great holiday weekend. 

Respectfully submitted by
Martha Danielewicz

Cedar Hill Toastmasters 

Meeting - August 6

Cedar Hill Toastmasters gathered for their first meeting in August last Thursday night. Prior to the meeting, Joyce took a picture of our club's officers to include on the website. We were honored to have a guest, a new member and a returning member in attendance. 

Mike as a Toastmaster of the evening was making sure that the meeting went as planned. Also, he explained some of the meeting rituals for the guest and the newer members to have a better understanding of Toastmasters meeting structure. 

Martha, the Word Master, introduced the word "merriment" and encouraged everyone to use the word during the meeting. Lyn entertained the crowd with the jokes in form of question/answer and she got some good guesses from the audience. 

First speaker, John gave a speech from the Special Occasion speech series, Presenting an Award. He presented the Advanced Communicator Bronze certificate to Kevin, praising Kevin for his accomplishments. Followed by that was Kevin's acceptance speech, in which he inspired everyone to keep working on becoming a better speaker by giving speeches. 

Carolina presented her Ice breaker speech with the minimal use of notes! We learnt a lot about her life and the dreams she holds. 

Then, Prend, our club coach, shared some new tips on how to be a more accomplished Toastmaster - 1) get involved in leadership roles outside the club - area governor or division governor, 2) organize a speech contest to help the club or area, 3) prepare reports for the meetings. 

Joyce put some twist into the Table Topics. The participants were required to act to Joyce's reading of      rhymes and the Cinderella fable. The participants displayed some great acting skills as they played
the role of Cinderella, Little Bo Peep, Humpty Dumpty or Tea pot to name a few. 

Prend evaluated John's speech, Kevin evaluated Carolina's speech. Paula kept track of timing and Larry was keeping track of grammar. Eliot was the General Evaluator who thanked the speakers for presenting the speeches and everyone else for contributing to the success of the meeting. Yes, it was another enjoyable meeting with some innovative ideas, a great environment for learning and improving while having fun. 

Our next meeting is on Thursday, August 20. Club officers will meet at 6pm to discuss the club business. 

Everyone - have a great weekend! 

Martha Danielewicz

Secretary

Cedar Hill Toastmasters

Meeting - July 16

It was another great meeting at Cedar Hill Toastmasters. Prend was the Toastmaster and he also introduced the joke. Paul presented the work of the day "Adjuration". 

During the speaking portion, the speakers presented the prepared speeches. They entertained us with the variety of topics. Elizabeth in her speech "A World Can Be a Better Place" persuaded with power to contribute to the charitable causes. Lyn's speech entitled "Extreme Couponing" was an invitation to become a coupon expert and use this skill wisely. The third speaker, Joel, presented a speech from the project - Research the Topic. Thanks to his speech "Passport to Adventure" we all learnt the steps to expedite a passport - very helpful tips. 

Next, Joel stepped up to perform the Topic Master's role. Inspired by his recent trip to Ireland, he asked challenging questions on topics related to travel. 

Paula was the General Evaluator and introduced the Speech Evaluators. Eliot evaluated Elizabeth's speech, Martha evaluated Lyn's speech and Joyce evaluated Joel's speech. 

Paul served both as Timer and Grammarian. Although members met their timing goals for the most part, the Grammarian report reminded the members to avoid using the filler words. 

Prend, as a Toastmaster and a club's coach concluded the meeting with the some tips - 1) Go outside the club by attending the Toastmasters conferences, speech contests or other events. 2) Give speeches - they will not only help the member grow but also help others in the process. 

3) Fill the meeting roles - involve all members in contributing to the meeting. Give everyone to opportunity to grow and learn. 

Here is a reminder to the officers about the upcoming TLI training. Please be aware that the training is open to all members, not just the officers. It's a perfect opportunity to learn more about Toastmasters. Please visit the district website for more information or to register. 

http://d53.toastmastersdistricts.org/Toastmasters_Leadership_Institute__TLI_.html

Our next meeting is on Thursday, August 6, 2015. Joyce will be taking the photo of the club's officer that evening!

Martha Danielewicz

Secretary

Do you fear public speaking? We can help !

There are many life situations that require public speaking. For example, giving a wedding toast or maybe a presentation at work.  Possibly extending well wishes at a birthday or retirement celebration or even giving a eulogy for a close friend or relative.

Have you ever faced a situation where you have been asked to speak before an audience but refused because you fear public speaking? 

If so, you are not alone. Many individuals feel uncomfortable speaking in public. After all, public speaking is a skill, and, like all skills requires practice.  This is where Toastmasters can help.

Toastmaster clubs provide the opportunity for individuals to present speeches and fill meeting roles within a friendly and supportive environment.  New members are provided instructional manuals for both public speaking and leadership development. 

The public speaking manual contains ten individual assignments. Each is designed to build upon skills learned in previous assignments. For example, you will learn the usage of body language, vocal variety, and other techniques to make you a confident and successful speaker. We can also provide a mentor that will assist you in developing your speeches and speaking skills.

The leadership manual contains information concerning the different meeting roles that new and experienced members volunteer to perform. The assignments contained within this manual help develop leadership skills including listening and team building. 

Have I peaked your interest? 

If so, I invite you to attend one or two of our meetings to see Toastmasters in action for yourself. If you enjoy the meetings, I encourage you to become a member. All members can develop their skills at a pace that is comfortable for them. We are all here to help one another!

I hope to see you at one of our future meetings!

Paul Horvath

Cedar Hill Toastmasters Club

Sergeant at Arms

                                                             Paul preps for the meeting.

July 2 Meeting

This was our first meeting in the new Toastmasters year. Outstanding attendance! We were pleased to have three guests and three new and returning members.

Our Sergeant of Arms, Paul started the meeting with a reminder of the upcoming 4th of July holiday. Martha who was the Toastmaster added to the festive mood by wearing the red, blue and white and asking trivia questions about 4th of July historical facts and celebrations and rewarding the correct answer with a candy.

Lyn presented the word of the day "ineffable" and many members met the challenge of using the word in their speaking assignments. Larry entertained us with a joke.

John delivered the interpretive reading of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" and Joyce acted out the trials and tribulations of Jonathan Seagull, a perfect analogy to Toastmasters' efforts to become better speakers.
Paula presented a speech entitled  "Nurse of the Year", a project from the Special Occasion speeches series. In her speech, she was recognized a nurse for her professional achievements with an award.
Kevin delivered The Icebreaker speech "Mad as Hell" and we got to know Kevin even more and learn about his health struggles and passion for Toastmasters.

Eliot entertained us with the Table Topic questions about the summer activities.
The evaluators provided feedback to the speakers along with the words of encouragement. Paul evaluated John, Prend evaluated Paula and John evaluated Kevin.
Kevin was the General Evaluator, Mike performed the duties of Timer and Joyce was the Grammarian.

John, our new President, reminded the club officers of the upcoming TLI sessions (see below) and the club officers meeting on July 16. 

TLI events are open to all members. The upcoming training sessions are as follows. 

·      July 11 (TLI2) – Hamden County Day School, Hamden, CT

·      August 1 (TLI3) – New Hackensack Reformed Church, Wappinger Falls, NY

·      August 8 (TLI4) – Manchester Church of Christ, Manchester, CT

Our next meeting is on Thursday, July 16. Hope to see you all there.

Happy July 4th! Stay safe!

Martha Danielewicz
Cedar Hill Toastmasters 

Secretary