What you wouldn’t have seen was the Hannah that I knew several months ago, part of a group of local junior and senior high school students that I was privileged and blessed with leading through the Toastmasters International Youth Leadership Program (YLP)(http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/MemberExperience/SatellitePrograms/YouthLeadership.aspx).

That was a different Hannah – one that seemed unsure about her own quiet voice and not comfortable speaking in public.   Over the course of the 16-week program Hannah discovered her voice and was provided an opportunity to lead  class meetings.  Turns out, not only can Hannah boldly speak about important topics such as injustice and responsibility, but her peers naturally look to her for leadership!

Hannah’s experience is one echoed by students and adults around the world who find the courage to join a Toastmasters International program to help them conquer public speaking fears, and soon discover that the fear has turned into a passion for communicating and leading.

How does this happen?  The YLP curriculum  is  designed to help our young people of today become our leaders for tomorrow.  It is based on the traditional Toastmasters International program for public speaking, a model for discovering and developing communication and leadership skills.  Through the program, Hannah and her classmates learned how to combat nervousness, organize their thoughts into a speech format with an opening/body/ending, make their speech content purposeful and focused, and incorporate gestures and visual aids.   They learned the difference between speaking to inform and speaking to persuade.  They practiced speaking at every meeting (builds innoculation to nervousness), learned to provide effective feedback, spoke  ’impromptu’, and organized and lead class meetings.  This is the same outline of the Toastmasters International club agenda that serves myself and my fellow club members of TASC Toastmasters (#3130).  I would also like to share my appreciation to the Executive Committee of TASC Toastmasters: not only did they encourage my desire to lead a Youth Leadership Program (YLP), but they also backed up that encouragement with the club’s financial support for all class materiatls.  The club’s support led to breakthrough moments for each student in the course! 

If you are a Toastmaster and are passionate about helping prepare our leaders of tomorrow, or are interested in Toastmasters and know some students who would benefit from learning how to speak in public, please consider the Youth Leadership Program.  Like Hannah told us that evening, there is a generation coming up that has much to contribute, a generation of visionaries, leaders, builders and artists, and it is our responsibility to help this new generation ‘find their voice’!

Open House Flyer

Click here to download the flyer

You are invited to join TASC Toastmasters on 2 June 2010 as we host our next Open House.  The event will be held 11:30AM - 12:30PM at the club’s regular meeting location in the Independence Center building (Rm W1213), 15036 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, Virginia, 20151. 

The agenda includes the presentation and evaluation of prepared speeches by Toastmaster’ members working through the Toastmasters International (TI) curriculum, a challenging round of ‘Tabletopics’ to help participants discover and develop impomptu speaking skills and an explanation of how the world’s largest non-profit communication and leadership development program works.  

Lunch will be served; come spend your lunch time with us to find out how this program can help you meet your personal and professional goals!

For details, please contact Frank DiBartolomeo at 571.522.5037 or frank.dibartolomeojr@tasc.com.

Help us spread the word by posting a flyer! Download it by clicking this link.

Due to Spring Break weeks and other scheduling conflicts, The TASC Exec Comm meeting is postponed from Mon, 5 Apr 10 to Mon, 19 Apr 10. Please review the minutes and action items from the last meeting in Mar 10 and have agenda item inputs proviced to Frank DiBartolomeo NLT Fri, 16 Apr 10.

(The monthly TASC TM Exec Comm meeting is held to provide club officers an opportunity to coordinate club business and is always open to ALL members!)

Thanks to all who attended this week’s 2010 International Speech and Speech Evaluation club contests! We appreciate your support and participation. An announcement of the first place winners:

International Speech Contest 1st Place: Tanya Masiello
Speech Evaluation Contest 1st Place: Frank DiBartolomeo

Congratulations, Tanya and Frank! You can view these results and results from other club contests (i.e. our club winners’ competition at the Area level) by going to our District 27 web page.

The next contest level will be our Area I3 contest next Friday, March 26, down the street at 15000 Conference Center Drive (where we have held previous Area contests). Details can be found here.

Please attend the Area contest and support Tanya and Frank!

International Speech contestants need to have completed six projects from the basic manual (you have this week and next, and you can reuse a previous speech for the contest!) AND be a member in good standing.

Evaluation contestants need only be a member in good standing – everyone in the club is qualified for this contest.

Everything in Toastmasters is designed to help us members gain confidence and skills in communication and leadership, and speech contests are part of that design: participating in a speech contest is a great way throw your skill development into overdrive. Although you will be competing in front of much of the same audience that you see on a weekly basis, the contest is carefully conducted in compliance to an international rule set – this formal environment seems to kick in an effect similar to speaking in front of a larger audience. As you win, you move up the tiers of contest through the organization – each level provides a bigger stage (pun intended) to compete and develop – and further increase your skills.

If you are not planning on competing (we hold two speech contests a year) then please plan on attending. The contest has an agenda and meeting roles – your presence will not only greatly help the Contest Chair (Toastmaster of the Day), but the contestants will really appreciate your support and encouragement. See the related article on our website (http://www.tasctoastmasters.org) for more details!

It seems that there is some early St. Patrick’s Irish magic afoot: our March 17 Open House has been mysteriously turned into a club speech and evaluation contest!

While we investigate this trickery, we are left with no choice but to announce that TASC Toastmasters will host the 2010 Spring International Speech & Evaluation Contest on Wednesday, 17 March 2010, 1130-1300.

Contests are fun, entertaining and provide a friendly competitive environment, and are a significant piece of the Toastmasters educational program for several reasons, including:

• presents an opportunity for speakers to build contest experience;
• provides an informative demonstration to visitors;
• affords members who aren’t participating an opportunity to learn from competitors.

As the title indicates, there are actually two separate contests on the same day:

The event will start at 5:00pm on 22 October 2009 and will be held at 4801 Stonecroft Blvd, Chantilly, Virginia in the Northrop Grumman/TASC Westfields Cafeteria.  Attendees are asked to use the side entrance (flyers will be posted at the main lobby).

The agenda includes experienced speakers, a challenging round of impromptu ‘table topics’ and a multi-club panel of experts to explain the Toastmasters program and club mechanics.

Refreshments (drinks, sandwiches, snacks) will be served at 5:00pm with speeches beginning at 5:30pm.

This is a great opportunity to present the Toastmasters program to the public and for Area members to get to know each other.

To lean more, please contact Wendy Daunheimer at 703.961.8065 or wendydaunheimer@yahoo.com. 

Hope to see you there!

Area I3 Open House Agenda – 22 OCT 2009 – Final

Area I3 Open House Flyer – 22 OCT 2009 – Final

All members are welcome to attend!

Agenda will include current club activities, Distinguished Club Program/Club Success Plan, status of dues, reports from ExComm officers, and other club business.

(Officers, please confirm attendance with Frank prior to the meeting (leave comments here if desired!))

You knew that the Toastmasters program worked for you, and you have casually mentioned something about Toastmasters to a few folks you know, but you assumed what many new TI members assume: the VP of Membership is solely responsible for recruiting new members into the club.

This is a common misconception that many club members have when they first join the club, and it is easy to understand why. The VP of Education supports members with their educational goals and the VP of Public Relations promotes awareness and marketing, so one could easily think that the VP of Membership handles membership building. However, chances are you didn’t make your initial contact to your club through the VP of Membership, right? Chances are that someone you know may have been a factor in your decision to check out and then join Toastmasters. In fact, TI statistics show that most members have been referred by other members, which is exactly why YOU play an essential role in membership.

But, how do members go about finding new members? Where do you look? How do you ask? What do you say?

First, suspend your efforts to find new members.

That’s right – put that task on a shelf for a moment.

Instead, relax and focus on your own educational plan. Talk to your VP of Education and/or your mentor and lay out a plan to achieve your own development goals. What will it take for you to complete your initial Competent Communication (CC) designation? Could you commit to one CC manual project a month? Or, if working on your Advanced Communicator series (ACB, ACS, ACG), which two advanced manuals can you complete in the next year? And don’t forget about that Competent Leader (CL) manual – schedule yourself for upcoming meeting roles and map them to a CL project.

Next, start working your plan. Go ahead and give yourself two weeks to give the Ice Breaker. Don’t hesitate in ordering those two advanced manuals. You know you’ll have to volunteer as Timer, or Ah Counter, or Toastmaster of the Day sooner or later – take your CL manual with you and get credit for it! The sooner you start working the plan, the quicker you’ll build momentum that will help to complete it.

Now, back to the subject of this post: membership.

Your educational plan is in place and you are working towards your goals. Evaluators are providing constructive feedback and experienced members may have noted your growth. You have given a few speeches, have handled a few roles and no longer dread tabletopics. You can ‘see’ the program working by your own experiences. This knowledge begins to fuel self-confidence which serves to power-up your energy and enthusiasm.

Guess what? This is your story and it is all you need when communicating Toastmasters to others. Once people hear your story about what brought you to Toastmasters and how the TI program is helping you achieve your personal or professional goals, they are more interested in hearing how the program works.

What is your story? Consider the following:

1. What led you to visit a club for the very first time? Were you tired of feeling nervous when meeting people for the first time, or feeling nauseous when speaking to a group of people? Did your boss or teacher recommend Toastmasters? Did you join to learn parliamentary procedure or how to facilitate meetings? Were you looking to build leadership skills?

2. What was your experience at your first visit? What did you expect to find at the club? Were you surprised at what you saw and heard? Were the people friendly? Did you have preconceived ideas about Toastmasters but ended up saying “This is nothing like I expected!”?

3. What happened in the first three to six months of your membership? Were you assigned a mentor that walked along side you for your first several club roles and speeches? Did you notice a difference between your first (Ice-Breaker) and third (Get to the Point) project speeches? Did you find yourself stepping in to help newer members then yourself?

Your personal story about why you joined Toastmasters and how you have grown in the program is unique. No one has a story like you do, and your story is a powerful marketing platform. Your story starts with a problem that most can identify with and contains a solution that most can understand. You may not feel comfortable explaining how the communication and leadership tracks are connected nor may not be able to define the requirements for each designation (CC, ACB…), but you can tell your story like no one else can.

Your story, not a process description of the TI framework, is what captures the attention of those around you at work, at school, at church, in the neighborhood and in other organizations. You can tell your story, talk about how your skills have changed and describe a typical meeting. Once you tell them your story, simply invite them to an upcoming meeting, one that you know you’ll attend. (A personal invitation is much more effective than a generic flyer on a bulletin board.)

Once people hear your story they may start asking questions. Don’t sweat the details – let the great promotional literature provided by your club’s executive committee or offered on the TI website cover the specifics of the program. I usually carry a trifold brochure or two around, just in case someone wants to know more. Also, you can always offer to put others in touch with more experienced members for detailed answers. If they accompany you to a meeting, coordinate in advance with someone in your club’s Executive Committee to be available after the meeting to answer questions and introduce the membership application.

One final note: your story is not an ending – it is a beginning. Your story describes what will become a completely new adventure as you continue to overcome personal obstacles and achieve new goals. Your story will evolve along with your skills and confidence, and soon, you will be helping others to write their story.

So, what is your story?