Habitat For Humanity Fall 2009

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITY!

My employer, Chase Bank, has committed to build four houses this Fall and will schedule volunteers for this on Saturdays from 8 a.m. - 4 pm during the months of October, November and December. You do not need prior building experience to get involved. Habitat will teach you what you need to know!

Check your Calendars for your availability!
(I've removed week #5 since that's the TM Conference weekend!)

EMAIL ME: Kathy.g.corcoran@jpmchase.com
Since this is a Chase Bank event, I'll have to register you.
Let me know what date(s) work for you.

CARPOOL with ME: I will confirm your registration and provide all logistical details.

THE CHALLENGE: Can YOU get me to work for 7 Saturdays?
I will sign up for ALL DAYS that my fellow Toastmasters can volunteer.

Week #1 1/17/09 Project: Framing
Week #2 10/24/09 Project: Trusses
Week #3 10/31/09 Project: Decking
Week #4 11/07/09 Project: Roofing
Week #6 11/21/09 Project: Painting
Week #7 12/05/09 Project: Landscaping
Week #8 12/21/09 Project: Dedication

Congratulations to the Winners of the DSTM Fall Speech Contest!

Speech Evaluation:
First Place- Tifany Curtiss
Second Place- Priyanka Patel

Humorous Speech:
First Place- Tifany Curtiss
Second Place- Sharleen Taylor

Make Yourself Layoff-Proof

Serving your club as an officer may help you become "layoff-proof" by developing and strengthening your leadership abilities. In this post, I'll show you some of the opportunities offered by being an officer and a leader in our club.

The Toastmasters speaking program is designed to improve your communication skills. In an analogous manner, being an officer will improve your leadership skills with just a small amount of effort on your part. Before I start my examples, let me emphasize that leadership has nothing to do with the title of "officer". Having a vision of a better future and leading others toward that future is what makes a leader, not a title. What the title of officer does impart, however, is the authority to be easily accepted as a leader. If you're normally shy or reticent to express your ideas, you're given instant respect and an expectation to act.

Let's get to some opportunities as an officer:

• Getting good information while leading meetings, not as an emcee like a Toastmasters meeting, but among a smaller group where pulling ideas out of every participant is important, not just the few who always naturally speak up
• Performing long term planning, whether it's a membership drive, a website upgrade, an anniversary celebration, or even an organized sequence of blog articles ;-)
• Communicating your ideas clearly, generating support for them, and demonstrating your vision for changes that will improve the future
• Gaining experience with small working committees, breaking down large tasks into smaller tasks, scheduling and assigning them, and delegating the work to others
• Learning to get the best from each member of the team, providing support when they succeed and feedback when they fail, acting simultaneously as mentor and mentee to other officers

Sounds like work, huh? No, I mean really... This sounds exactly like what I and most employees do in their jobs every day!

And that's the point. As an officer, you will learn the same skills that are highly valued by your employer -- if you make the effort to identify improvements, speak up for your ideas, and work either individually or as a team to make your ideas a reality. That's what leaders do in all walks of life. Please consider your role as an officer -- and a leader -- and start layoff-proofing yourself as a Toastmasters officer.

Spring Contest Results

On March 12, Dallas Singles Toastmasters participated in the Spring Contest. Our Club President, Lee King was the contest master, and put together a great St. Patrick's themed contest. Many members participated, so the competition was tough. Contestants pictured: Kathy Corcoran, Tifany Curtiss, Brad Miller, Contestmaster Lee King, Allen Gorman, Katherine Compton, Susie Campbell, and Karen Lee. The Table Topics contest challenged the members to discuss 'green' in the springtime. Katherine revealed her leprechaun side by giving her Table Topics response while wearing a bright green wig! The International Speech contestants inspired us to get fit, improve our strategy skills, and be daring. Susie's speech reminded us that inspiration can be in the most unexpected places, even a tiny fortune cookie. After delightful display of oratory dexterity, here are the results:

Table Topics
1st place - Tifany Curtiss
2nd place - Kathy Corcoran
3rd place - Allen Gorman

International Speech
1st place - Susie Campbell
2nd place - Kathy Compton
3rd place - Brad Miller

The 1st and 2nd place winners went on to compete in the Area 33 contest on March 25. Here are the results from that contest:

Table Topics
1st place - Brenda Durant, Toast of Guaranty
2nd lace - Matthew Fogel, Leisure Speak

International Speech
1st place - Susie Campbell, yaaaay!
2nd place - Matthew Fogel, Leisure Speak

These contestants went on to compete at the Metro Division contest on April 18. Matthew Fogel won 2nd place in the Table Topics competition and went on to represent his club and Area 33 in the District 50 competition.

The competition was very challenging, and contestants at every level should be proud of their participation. For those of you who missed out on the thrill of competing, start working on your humorous speeches now! The fall contest will be here before you know it!

AWARDS!

AWARDS!!!

For those of you who may have missed a meeting, or others who may want to once again relish the victory of winning a shiny ribbon, here's a breakdown of awards for several weeks:

February 5, 2009
Best Speaker - Tifany Curtiss
Best Evaluator - Tammy Esselman
Best Table Topic - Susie Campbell
Best of the Big 3 - Dagan Newland

February 12, 2009
Best Speaker - Kathy Corcoran
Best Evaluator - Tifany Curtiss
Best Table Topic - Marty May
Best of the Big 3 - Susie Campbell

February 19, 2009
Best Speaker - Jonathan Gonnet
Best Evaluator - Dagan Newland
Best Table Topic - Vonda Walker
Best of the Big 3 - Katherine Compton

February 26, 2009
Best Speaker - Tifany Curtiss
Best Evaluator - Brad Miller
Best Table Topic - Heather Hartman
Best of the Big 3 - Jing Wang

March 5, 2009
Best Speaker - Brad Miller
Best Evaluator - Heather Hartman
Best Table Topic - Tifany Curtiss
Best of the Big 3 - Mark Schroeder

March 12, 2009
Spring Contest: More on that later!

March 19, 2009
Best Speaker - Mark Schroeder
Best Evaluator - Tammy Esselman
Best Table Topic - Kathy Corcoran
Best of the Big 3 - Tifany Curtiss

March 26, 2009
Best Speaker - Allen Gorman
Best Evaluator - Vonda Walker
Best Table Topic - Kathy Compton
Best of the Big 3 - Earl Esquejo

April 30, 2009
Best Speaker - Lee King
Best Evaluator - Susie Campbell
Best Table Topic - Mark Schroeder
Best of the Big 3 - Vonda Walker

Congratulations to everyone!

There are a few weeks missing, and this list will be updated once I have gathered the information.

DSTM JANUARY NEWSLETTER

Just in the nick of time (okay, maybe not), it's the January newsletter for Dallas Singles Toastmasters! Hello fellow Toastmasters, my name is Tifany Curtiss and I'll be your VP of PR for this term. In this month's newsletter, you'll find information on:

-Our NEW MEMBERS!

-TLI report

-Officers' goals for this term

-January meetings

Dallas Singles began 2009 with the addition of three members. Please welcome Kathy, Jonathan, and Miranda! Take some time to get to know them.

In lieu of our regular meeting format, we met at the TLI (Toastmasters Learning Institute) session on January 22. I am proud to announce that all of our officers attended TLI this term! That earns our club 1 DCP (Distinguished Club Point). We also had two enthusiastic new members attend the training session. Susie, Heather, Kathy and I attended the "Advanced Officer" training. This session emphasized the importance of teamwork within our clubs. We learned some methods for keeping our meetings fun and enriching.

WIth the new year, Dallas Singles Toastmasters inducted its new officers:
President: Lee King
VP Education: Earl Esquejo
VP Membership: Vonda Walker
VP Public Relations: Tifany Curtiss
Secretary: Dagan Newland
Treasurer: Karen Lee
Sergeant at Arms: Suzie Campbell and Tammy Esselman

At the Officers' Meeting on January 31st, the new officers stated their goals for this term. You can look forward to some changes to make our website easier to navigate, and a monthly newsletter right here in our blog. March will bring our spring contests; Table Topics and The International Speech Contest.

At our January 8th meeting, Allen completed his role as Toastmaster for the very first time with confidence. Jin completed her very first speech: The Icebreaker. We got to know her passion for researching the eye, and her fondness for figure skating. During our January 15th meeting, I told you how I was tackling my new year's resolutions. Mark shared some tips for getting happy, and Marjori described just how comfortable we can feel at Hotel Lumen.

If you have any information that you'd like to see in the February newsletter, please let me know at the next meeting!