Newsletter-June 2013

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AMDAVAD TOASTMASTERS CLUB Fir" community club of Gujarat

May 2013

Monthly Insight into Weekly Club Life

The month of June, onset of Monsoon, did not only bring rains with it, but deluged Amdavad Toastmasters Club with many reasons to celebrate.

The club completed its First year and celebrated its anniversary with much pomp and joy. There was fun, food, music and games. The celebration was a result of cohesive efforts of all the Toastmasters and exhbited the dedication of its members towards the club.

When this was not enough, President of the Club - Biswajit Adhikari was elected as Division D Governor and Bibhu Panigrahi as Area Governor for Gujarat adding more feathers to its hat. We at ATM, are proud to have such distinguished members. I, on behalf of all the members of Amdavad Toastmasters CLub, congratulate you guys for achieving

such

spectular feat and salute you for your sincerity and dedication towards the growth of Toastmasters as a Team.

I wish for an unending growth of Toastmasters community and churn out better speakers of ourselves.

-TM Rishi Gupta

Biswajit Adhikari (Left) - Division D Governor Bibhu Panigrahi (Right) - Area Governor

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June 2013

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Presidents Message Pg 01 2. Photo Gallery Pg 02 3. Interview with Mr Prasad Sovani Pg 03, 04, 05 4. Opportunity Pg 06 5. The 6 People You Need Pg. 07 6. Great Thinkers‌ Pg.08

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Pr e s id VP E ent : du VP M cation : e it VP P mbership Rash Panda (C ublic enter m : i Ran ) Relat Treas P j a r a n sun K (Left) ions urer un : Pree : Secr ti Pat du etary ha : Serg Mani sh Kh k (2nd from R eant igh At Ar anolk Sanja ms : ar (Rig t) y h t) Rishi Gupt a (2nd from L

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From # Presidents Desk…

Dear Friends, The rejuvenation moment of the club has arrived … When a new set of leaders will assume the responsibility of the club and strive to make a difference to it. I wish them good luck! We all wanted our club to be the best club in the District 41 and let us continue to work towards that coveted goal. I am sure

Mission Statement

we can achieve the same. But before that let us define what we need to do to be counted as the best club in the district.

Let us pursue the goal relentlessly and create a new benchmark in the District for the other clubs to follow.

All of us have embarked upon this journey of Toastmasters with certain objectives. I just wish the journey is full of insight and a memorable one for each and every member who joins Amdavad Toastmasters. The journey will be a fruitful one if each one of you succeeds in picking up some of the vital skills like Communication, Listening, Giving

We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater selfconfidence and personal growth

Feedback, Leadership etc. leveraging this wonderful movement “Toastmasters”. But it requires commitment and perseverance as these skills cannot be developed over night. Just by joining it you can not avail all the benefits of this marvelous education program. Be regular, Be prepared and Be goal oriented, you will reap huge benefits for sure.

When I look back I realize that six months have gone by and I feel as if it is only a day…That is due to the sheer joy and pleasure that I derive being with my fellow Amdavad Toastmasters! Thank you each and every one as all of you together make a lively and vibrant team. The last six months the learning experience has been immense for me while playing the role of President and it outdid my learning experience as VP Education. Hence I encourage each and every member to take up the role of a volunteer and get enriched with valuable experiences. The volunteer roles are abundant in the club; it is not restricted to the club officer roles. Be it Webmaster, Newsletter Editor, Facebook Master, Membership Campaign Chair, PR Campaign Chair, Contest Chair, Special Event Chair…and many more… Go for the roles and unleash the leader within you….and earn the satisfaction of a volunteer!

I would like to thank each one of you as I sign off as the President of the Club. All of you worked together as a closely knit team and helped each other as well as the club. We created so many memorable moments for ourselves that we are going to cherish those for time to come. Good Luck!

Cheers!

Biswajit

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The Utterly Delicious Ca

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Happy Birthday to Toastmasters!!!

Varsha, Bibhu and Preeti couldn’t wait any longer for the cake !!!

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Manish trying his luck at yet another Table Topic !!!

The people who started it all...The Founder Member

KP received Lifetime Achievemen t Award

INTERVIEW DG PRASAD SOVANI, DTM Q. Why and how did you join toastmasters?

A: I was good in studies but weak in oratory. I had topped the state in Mathematics, and was good in languages as well—I had written poems at an early age --as early as 14--, and my essays were always liked by my teachers, so I was good in written communication but I could not communicate orally that well.

Later I joined workforce and was topper in sales as well as in sales management.

I could handle meetings of about 10 team members, but not larger than that.

When I started working in Singapore, I realized the need for excellent communication skills all the more and started looking for opportunities to learn.

I was walking along a road one fine night after dinner at a friend’s place on occasion of Diwali, and saw a banner that said, “Learn Public Speaking, Join

To a s t m a s t e r s C l u b ” o u t s i d e t h e community centre right opposite my friend’s home. I noted down the phone number and called the next day. They had a meeting the next Tuesday and I was invited. It was club level speech contest. I was scared I may have to participate in it!

But once I went there, I found the folks very friendly and encouraging. There was a lucky draw contest for the audience about matching results with the judges and I got my 1-2-3 spot on with that of the judges. That made me realize that it was a fair contest! See how things go! If the contest is judged well, the guests may feel like joining!

I was short on money but realized that I want to join this. I was not sure if my company will continue my visa beyond 3 months and was hesitant to pay more than first three months of fees. I was assigned a mentor on day one and he mentored me for the rest of my life! He asked me to write my Ice Breaker and fax that to him. (Both of us did not have an e-mail ID then). He invited me for coffee and helped me edit and then asked me to rehearse my speech in front of him 2-3 times. He suggested some jokes in my speech as well.

The day of Ice Breaker arrived. I had rehearsed it well in front of a mirror at home and fine tuned the script even timing myself well.

The rule in our club was that those on agenda would not be invited to be Table Topics Speakers, so I was relaxed in that session, but the new Topic Master that day invited me to speak! I was terrified, but I thought, that this might serve as a good warm-up for me. My attempt in Table Topics was mediocre that day, but I had started my journey! My Ice Breaker was received

extremely well and the General Evaluator (a visiting TM) commented that I was the next big thing for the club and wondered why his club never attracted such talent!

Imagine hearing these words and tell me “Won’t you feel motivated?”

Q: How was your experience of enhancing Toastmasters movement in Singapore?

A: I did reasonably well in my first project speech and volunteered to be the timer the next meeting, but was shocked when the VPE of my club called me to put me as Toastmaster of the Evening for the next meeting. Again I accepted the challenge thinking, “So what!”

Again, I was mentored well and they helped me prepare the agenda. I was also mentored on how to speak with each member (e.g. addressing each one with Toastmaster, Competent Toastmaster, Able Toastmaster—as the titles were known those days and establishing rapport etc) and what works with some of them. I dialled 23 numbers that day and got friendly with 23 members! All were very warn when I spoke to them and encouraged me to do better. (e.g. comments such as “I heard you had a great Ice breaker the other day. You are a new find for our club etc.)

I did extremely well as Toastmaster of the evening and never looked back since then.

I delivered one speech every alternate meeting. When it came time for renewal, my company was about to close down and I was not worried about losing job, I was more worried about not completing 10 project speeches to earn my title Competent Toastmaster (equal to current CC) that time.

The company closed down with me on Speech # 5, but my friends in Toastmasters helped me with my visa and I managed to stay in Singapore just so that I can complete my CTM. By then the club had elections for the next year and I had been elected as Vice President Membership since I was in sales and marketing. Gea Ban Peng was the new President and he mentored me on that role as well. When I attended COTP (Club Officers’ Training Programme), I realized that I can be better than the rest and the competitive spirit in my got rekindled.

My performance as VPM was good and I contested for the post of President. There was actual election and I was the only non-Chinese in my club, but again, my faith in Toastmasters became stronger when I was elected to the post of President. Ban Peng had mentored me for winning elections. He told me he had mentored the other guy as well, but I learnt better! I remember the election process which was very fair and each of us was asked to speak for 2 minutes and then asked questions about past experience of leadership and then again, asked to answer in one word what made me better than the other guy! My answer “Performance” stole the show since I had delivered as VPM while the other guy contradicted his statements in that answer!

I led my club well with mentoring from Past Presidents. The club was not doing well that time and some of us were worried about the club dying. Ban Peng as President had resurrected it to some extent. But we needed vision to move forward from the stalemate situation.

I inherited a club with 23 members and allowed the paper members to NOT renew. I was positive that I could ‘sell’ Toastmasters to the outsiders and started selling in each meeting.

Each meeting day, I used to make 50 phone calls to invite friends, contacts, guests to attend the meeting that day.

Some came, some didn’t. I used to call them the next meeting day again, as if nothing had happened the previous meeting. They used to feel guilty and come. Once they came, they got sold. My club used to meet fortnightly then, but due to growth that we managed, we started to meet thrice a month by October, Weekly

by January and twice a week by the end of the term!

I had announced that my club would be number 1 in Singapore and I remember one joke about this. We were at OTP and president of another club commented that he dreamt of making his club so good that they could take on Kota Kinabalu TMC someday. (Kota Kinabalu was the best club in Asia that time and they were ranked # 7 once and # 6 once in the world). In a jest, I commented “When you do that you could be ready to take on Braddell Heights!” It was similar to some new young cricketer commenting, “When you break Bradman’s record, you can be ready to compete with me!”

But it put huge responsibility on me and the expectations were high! The District Governor told me that my club is doing well on points and I can actually aim at top 5 ranking in the world. In those days, only the top 5 clubs in the world used to get the President’s Distinguished Club status. There were points for new members, points for CTMs, ATMs (Current AC) etc.

We realized the importance of this achievement and started working towards that. Our announced goal was to be number 1 in Singapore. We were 16th out of 23 clubs the previous year and we were in the bottom half in the world (5000+ ranking amongst 8000 clubs). So the first goal was to be # 1 in Singapore. We achieved both!

We became the first club in Asia to be ranked in top 5 in the world! The mindset changed after that. Like Roger Bannister’s mile run, several other clubs managed top 5 ranking in the next 2-3 years. My own club did it twice more before TI changed the point system and brought in the current DCP system.

The club grew from 23 members to 82 members in my year of Presidency and we earned the award for highest growth that year as well. We started dominating every event in Singapore. We were the largest population in any Area/ Division event in Singapore. I gave a new mantra to my members. We needed good PR, so they should announce, “I am ABC and I am from the most enthusiastic club in Singapore, Braddell Heights TMC!” We never claimed quality because until I won the Area Contests, no one from my club had won anything beyond the club level. We claimed enthusiasm and enthusiasm is contagious!

I became known as a man who walked the talk and was made Area Governor the next year. I had to sacrifice contests though I had a great chance to win the next year with my experience and fame. I chose to volunteer to be the conference chair for Singapore National Speech Contest(SNCS). (3 Divisions had their contests together) I was a finalist the previous year and had felt that this event can be sold to more tha n 200-250 Singaporeans who usually attended this. I thought of hosting the event in Singapore indoor stadium but the committee did not approve that and after negotiations, I got approval to dream big, but not so big!

Even the approved hall--Victoria Concert Hall had a capacity of 904 and I managed to sell more than 1200 tickets for SNCS-which was actually 3 contests of 3 divisions in one.

That year, the LGM of District 51 came to Singapore and asked the 3 Division Governors what will be their target of new clubs. I got angry when they started giving 1 or 2 as their growth target per division. I stood up and said, I will alone give you 5 new clubs-more than the commitment of the other 2 divisions! That left everyone shocked.

Even the LGM asked me,”How?” and I said, “Singapore has potential for over 100 clubs but we are only at 30 right now, why not work with a vision to have 100 clubs and form a separate District? “ The LGM asked everyone to re-think and the targets for 3 divisions was set as 10 each. I achieved a growth of 5, my division of 10 and even the other two divisions did well so we took number of clubs in Singapore to 50+ or so in that year. (70% growth.)

I became a legend in Singapore with stories of ‘Prasad says this’ and ‘Prasad says that’ getting circulated. I used to ask two questions often. “So what?” and “Why not?”

I d e c i d e d t o re p a t r i a t e a f t e r I completed my term as Area Governor and earned my DTM. But I wanted this exposure to each important aspect of Toastmasters so that I could spearhead the movement in India.

My family did not like my spending so much time with TMs and they banned me from forming a club in Pune for 5 years. My wife, parents and in-laws got together and managed to ‘tame’ me! I did serve that ban and started my second innings with the formation of TMCP.

Q: How was your experience of enhancing Toas tmas t er s movement in Pune?

I served the ban, and started the work o f s p r e a d i n g To a s t m a s t e r s i n Maharashtra. I visited cities as far as Amravati, Nagpur & Chandrapur to create awareness about Toastmasters. I had a neighbour who worked in a very senior position in TCS and I talked to her about.Toastmasters, since TCS already had 2-3 clubs in cities such as Hyderabad, Bangalore and NOIDA that time.

They wanted a club that can survive, so I conducted training in Public Speaking to gauge the level of interest. We started the first club in Pune in TCS and I tried to support that but I went to Latin America on Rotary scholarship and that club died during my absence. I star ted work on the community club after that and got a few friends interested at first. I ran some public batches of training in Oratory to get interested folks. I met leaders from Bangalore and they had leads in Pune and they helped start clubs in Infosys, Kanbay and I2IT around that time. The work on community club went on for a while but things were moving slower than my expectations. A few friends wanted Saturday, while some wanted a weekday and we did not have a firm venue. But I set a date randomly of 15th September 2007 since it was the next public holiday and it turned out to be Ganesh Chaturthi. And I felt that we could get going on this day since that Lord is associated with auspicious beginnings. I managed to get a venue for a start with my contacts and wrote a mail to over 1000 Puneites I knew. About 30 gathered because of 100 odd phone calls in addition to that mailer. When I asked who all can be members of the executive committee, about 10 hands went up. (In reality those 10 did not even join later on, but they boosted my confidence). I persuaded my Rotary club to lend me their venue when they did not meet.

We started meeting at that venue (Scout Ground) and got the first 10 odd meetings there while I looked for other venues. We reached the magic number of 20 members in January 2008 and sent the charter forms.

The club was officially chartered on 15 February 2008 and we never looked back

since then. There was a big challenge of time commitment, since I was the only experienced guy that time. It put lot of pressure on my business and family commitments. But I had decided to get going and was willing to put in whatever was needed.

The club thrived and I went on to serve the club as President for 22 months. (Sept 2007 to June 2009) and then Ajay Mathur assumed responsibility as President and I focussed on my Rotary Presidency 2009-10. nd we faced challenges of renewals and fell back to 30-35 every semester. So we decided to change that and give exposure to more leaders to lead a club nearer their homes. So we announced we will form new clubs in Kothrud and Magarpatta. Luckily we had capable leaders like Chandana Erande and Mario Rozario to lead those new clubs.

Membership grew to about 70 due to that and we split to form those clubs giving away 10 senior members each. Each new club had 2-3 senior members at CC+, 3-4 members at Project speech 5 to 9, and 2-3 members at 2-3 projects but with experience of 1 year+ of membership.

All 3 clubs did well after the split of 2010 and we repeated the split in 2012 when we formed clubs in City Central and Camp areas. All the clubs except one earned the Golden Gavel last year. The model of forming more clubs by splitting existing clubs has worked fine for Pune and I am sure Amdavad TMC can be the torch-bearer club in Amdavad!

I got opportunities to serve as Division Governor first and then LGM, LGET and now DG.

Others such as Sabari Girish, Ajay Mathur, Chandana Erande, Deepa Das, Manish Kulkarni, Ajay Patil, Mario Rozario, Beena Mandrekar, Jaideep Solanki served / are serving as Area / Division Governors. I must mention here that this model has worked fine for us and many districts in the world asked me about this and want to implement this. We had TMND (TMC of New Delhi) and GTMC (Gurgaon TMC) follow this model and add a club each in June 2013

Q. What are the three tips you would give to a new Toastmaster?

1. Participate in Table Topics 2. Give one speech a month and play all

the other roles in between two speeches 3. Bring more friends in Toastmasters!!!

But do all these things with passion!

Volunteer to be club officer, attend training, attend demo meeting and start with the objective to serve and give to this movement! I always remember a quote of Mahatma Gandhi, “Service rendered without joy, helps neither the servant, nor the served!�

All the best Amdavadis!

O&o'unity

BY TM BIBHU PRASAD PANIGRAHI

When we fail to achieve something or we feel we are stuck in a rut, we often wonder, “How is it that I did not make it while those seemingly less deserving than me have been able to make it?” This is a very harmful question, but the answer that we give ourselves is even more harmful: “I did not get the right opportunity.” This answer need not always be false, but it is harmful for sure.

One day, after a disappointing event, the above question and answer came to my mind too. But I immediately realized that it is harmful and decided to challenge it. “On what basis do I assume how deserving others are? Is there nothing I could have done to get a different outcome?”

What is the best line of thought when you want to analyse an unwanted situation? It is as futile to look for ultimate causes as it is to find lame excuses. The best line of thought that I know of is introspection, a search for hidden answers deep within one’s own psyche. Some people think it is a “spiritual” thing, a word that I have not yet come to terms with. For me, introspection is the most scientific way of thinking.

There are three kinds of people Those who can count and those who can't.

42.7 percent of statistics are made on the spot Light travels faster than sound.

Thats why many people appear bright until you hear them speak.

A bank is a place that will lend you money, only if you prove you don't need it Knowledge is knowing that Tomato is a Fruit - Wisdom is not putting it in the Fruit Salad.

-T.M RISHI GUPTA

That day, instead of wallowing in the mud of excuses, I decided to clean up my head and think about my situation as objectively as possible.

The question of opportunity had intrigued me many times before, and yet I had never taken out the time to think about it deeply. But that day, as I was walking down Corporate Road in the hot sun, I decided to attack this question and finish once and for all.

“What do I mean by opportunity? Is it logically possible that others consistently get more opportunity than me?” Two great insights came out of this introspection, and that is what I want to share with everyone here.

Opportunity is not chance; at least not entirely. It depends on chance to some extent, but it also depends on how well prepared I am to identify it and how eager l am to accept it. For example, I always wanted to learn to play guitar, and to date I thought I could not do it because of lack of opportunity. But on deeper thinking I realized that I wanted to play guitar because one of my friends played guitar very well. At that time, I did not realize that it was a great opportunity for me to learn. He would have happily helped me learn the instrument had I been eager enough to learn. Probably, I was never keen on learning, and hence missed other opportunities too. Most of us nurture such false stories of lack of opportunity in our head.

Opportunity is also more abundant than we think. We all know how little things add up to something big over time. Our literature is replete with stories that demonstrate how a little progress everyday takes us a long way. Most of us practice it with money. We save a little money every month so we will have enough for the next big event or for our retirement. However, do we ever realize that the same principle applies to opportunity? Yes, it’s true even though it sounds crazy. Many of us are hard-wired to think of opportunity as an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but it isn’t so. Like wealth, love, happiness, and every other thing of value in life, opportunity also has to be built up little by little every day.

The other Big Bang type of opportunity is rare and not very useful. A study reveals that the majority of winners of huge lotteries in the US end up getting back to their previous economic status in less than a decade.

So the next time you are looking for an opportunity, don’t wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ or the resurrection of the Mummies of Egypt. That new neighbour may be your opportunity to find a friend for life; twenty minutes of mediation everyday may be your opportunity to find lasting happiness; and the next Toastmasters meeting may be your opportunity to become a great speaker and leader!

THE SIX PEOPLE YOU NEED AROUND YOU The Instigator Someone who pushes you, who makes you think. Who motivates you to get up and go, and try, and make things happen? You want to keep this person energized, and enthusiastic. This is the voice of inspiration.

Winner takes it all..

Meeting # 71 (9th June) Best speaker: K.P Jani Best TT Speaker : Mahesh Best Evaluator : Bibhu

The Cheerleader This person is a huge fan, a strong supporter, and a rabid evangelist for you and your work. Work to make this person rewarded, to keep them engaged. This is the voice of motivation.

The Doubter This is the devil’s advocate, who asks the hard questions and sees problems before they arise. You need this person’s perspective. They are looking out for you, and want you to be as safe as you are successful. This is the voice of reason.

The Taskmaster Meeting # 72 (16th June) Best speaker: Pannalal Best TT Speaker : Manish Best Evaluator : Ravi

This is the loud and belligerent voice that demands you gets things done. This person is the steward of momentum, making sure deadlines are met and goals are reached. This is the voice of progress.

The Connector This person can help you find new avenues and new allies. This person breaks through roadblocks into finds ways to make magic happen. You need this person to reach people and places you cant. This is the voice of cooperation and community.

The Example Meeting # 73 (23rd June) Best speaker: Manish Best TT Speaker : Sambit Best Evaluator : Varsha

This is your mentor, your hero, your North Star. This is the person who you seek to emulate. This is your guiding entity, someone whose presence acts as a constant reminder that you, too, can do amazing things. You want to make this person proud.

This is the voice of true authority.

-Contributed By TM Sambit Panda

By Jessica Hegy

GREAT THINKERS...

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

-Mark Twain Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

John F. Kennedy  I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.

Robert H. Schuller  You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Henry Ford

The Amdavad Toastmasters Club welcomes our new members*

Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.

Bradley Whitford

BY TM RASHMI RANJANA

1. Pravesh Chopra 2. Sajid Ghora 3. Kushal Lalwani

WHERE LEADERS ARE MADE Keep In T)ch...

Find us on Facebook : amdavad.toastmasters Follow us on Twitter : amdavadToastmst

*Members Joined after 1st June 2013

Write to us : amdavadtoastmasters@gmail.com Visit us : www.amdavadtoastmasters.org