Black Swan Newsletter March 2021

 

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The official newsletter of Toastmasters International District 17.

 

March 2021

 

Contents

District News
South West Workshop and Club Officer Training
Events
The Art of Online Judging Workshop – How to Pick the Winning Speech
HPL – Do you want to learn how to complete a High Performance Leadership Project?
Pathways Help
Club News
Chandrika leads Cockburn in a can-can!
New Club In Bateman
Sunday Sundowners Toastmasters Hybrid meetings
Vic Park Toastmasters – still suffering effects of Covid 19
Member Stories
Toastmasters Fosters Academic Journey
Submitting Articles to Black Swan

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Events

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South West Workshop and Club Officer Training

District Leaders traveled Down South to Bunbury for the weekend of 6 -7th February to share knowledge and ideas with members of Area S34. Members from Busselton, Donnybrook and Mandurah welcomed District Leaders and participated in the two-day workshop.

District 17 Leaders at the South West workshops

The first day of the workshop focused on dynamics between the clubs and the District, and understanding the best ways to support each other. The agenda was packed with a series of educational presentations as below, each session followed by question and answer from members.

  1. ”How to Organise an Open House” facilitated by District Program Quality Director, Tim Blackburn DTM.
  2. “Promoting Toastmasters in District 17” facilitated by Central District Director, Julie Dall DTM.
  3.  ”How to Convert Guests to Members” facilitated by Past District Governor Ross Wilkinson DTM.
  4.  “How the District Works” facilitated by District Director, Henry Yau DTM.

Following the workshop, members and the district leaders gathered at the Parade Hotel for dinner to chat informally and to share ideas and goals. It was great to be part of such an enthusiastic group enjoying each other’s company.

The second day was set aside for Club Officer Training.

An ardent Sergeant at Arms Andrea Peebles opened the day and kept everyone smiling. Area Director S34 Pat King directed the program and kept it on time as Toastmaster.
There were riveting presentations by Central Division Director, Julie Dall DTM, Past District Governor Ross Wilkinson DTM, Southern Division Director, Graham Watson DTM and a presentation on “Leadership Benefits” by Program Quality Director Tim Blackburn DTM. Members then went to assigned breakout Sessions.

Henry presenting Morrie with the Golden Star

During the closing ceremony, District Director Henry Yau presented Morrie Goodz with a Gold Star Achievement Award for his tireless work planning the District Conference. The weekend was appreciated by all and S34 members are hopeful it will become an annual tradition.

Pat King
Area Director S34

 

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Events

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The Art of Online Judging Workshop – How to Pick the Winning Speech

District 17 is organising a workshop to help members who have been asked to judge contests become effective judges at Speech Contests. If this is you, then this workshop is a must.

Good judges must be:

  • Accurate. Good judges are committed to making a correct decision. They complete the judging form correctly.
  • Fair. Good judges are totally impartial and don’t allow friendship, affiliation, age, sex, race, creed, national origin, profession, or disapproval of speech topics to interfere with their decision.
  • Trustworthy. Good judges realize that all contest participants have entrusted them with the responsibility of selecting the best speaker as the Winner. They live up to that trust
  • Knowledgable. Good judges know the current contest rules. They study the rules before each contest, and they make no exceptions to the rules. They are familiar with the judging form and know how to judge properly.
  • Good listeners. Good judges listen carefully to each speaker. They don’t become distracted.

In this workshop, you will learn:

  • How to select the winning speech every time;
  • Understand in detail the 3 key judging characteristics;
  • Learn how to overcome the 7 barriers to objectivity.

Registration is free. We look forward to seeing you in this online workshop.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday 7 April 2021
Time: 6.00 – 7:30pm
Venue: Zoom Online
Cost: FREE
RSVP: Tuesday 6 April 2021 to Register for the Online workshop here

Contact: Tim Blackburn DTM, timbtoastmasters@gmail.com


Tim Blackburn DTM
Program Quality Director
District 17

 

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HPL – Do you want to learn how to complete a High Performance Leadership Project?

 

“The best way to build leadership skills isn’t to read leadership books. The best way to develop as a leader is to test and grow your skills in the crucible of real-world leadership scenarios.”

That’s the essence of Toastmasters’ High Performance Leadership (HPL) program. The HPL project is designed to give you a chance to develop put into practice the skills needed for leadership.

The HPL is a mandatory module on level 5 in three paths: (1) Effective Coaching, (2) Innovative Planning and (3) Persuasive Influence; it is also an elective in all other paths.

Sounds great? So how are you going to plan your project? This workshop can help you.

At this workshop, you will:

  • brain-storm and come up with a list of HPL and DTM project ideas;
  • Learn from experienced members:
    • How to get started
    • Understand how to plan your project goals;
    • How to deliver your project goals;
    • How to analyze your results.

Register now!

Event Details

Date: Thursday 25 March 2021
Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm
Venue: 901 Albany Hwy, East Victoria ParkCost: Free
RSVP:  Register click here by Wednesday 24th March 2021

Contact: dtmpathway@gmail.com


Tim Blackburn DTM
Program Quality Director
District 17

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Pathways Help

Since the launch in February,  the Pathway Pop-In Sessions are going well.  We’ve helped a number of people get started with Pathways, sort out their progress and apply for their free path (by the way, this offer expires 31st March, 2021 – so if you haven’t redeemed your free path yet, you might like to pop in and we’ll help you do it).

We are going to introduce some education sessions into the Pop In Sessions.

The session times are 7 pm to 8 pm, with the educational section running 7:15 to 7:45.

Date Topic
Tue, 9 March 2021 Level 1 Explained
Wed, 17 March 2021 Focus on Base Camp Managers
Thu, 25 March 2021 No educational session, individual help only
Mon, 5 April 2021 No educational session, individual help only
Tue, 13 April 2021 Team Projects, HLP and DTM Project ideas
Wed, 21 April 2021 No educational session, individual help only
Thu, 29 April 2021 Focus on Base Camp Managers
Fri, 30 April 2021 Panel Discussion

 You can still drop-in any time using the zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2356893717 (Passcode: Pathways) to receive one-on-one help and support.  If you are interested in the education session rather than just asking questions, please log in by 7:15 pm.

Any questions, email Julie Dall at julie_dall@outlook.com

 

Event Details

Date: 1st Monday of the Month, 2nd Tuesday, 3rd Wednesday, 4th Thursday and when there is one 5th Friday
Time: 7.00 – 8pm
Zoom Link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2356893717
Password: Pathways
Contact: julie_dall@outlook.com

 


Julie Dall
Central Division Director

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Club News

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Chandrika leads Cockburn in a can-can!

Cockburn Toastmasters Club has enhanced members’ club presentations by supporting VP Membership Chandrika Akilan in fundraising towards the purchase of a multimedia projector.

In organising her level 4 pathways project, Chandrika initially planned to hold a sausage sizzle at the local Bunnings. However due to recent COVID restrictions this was no longer feasible. Adapting quickly, Chandrika put out a call to members and family who then generously provided plastic, glass and aluminium containers which were recycled at the Willetton Containers for Change collection point on the 19th of February.

A whopping 863 containers were collected, resulting in $86.30 now donated into Cockburn Toastmasters Club coffers. Chandrika said ‘I was so excited when they gave so much money, this is inspiring especially for kids to get pocket money.’

In a further act of generosity new Cockburn member Wilmer kindly donated his spare projector to the club allowing finances to reach even further.

 


Damien Williams
President
Cockburn Toastmasters Club

 

 

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New Club In Bateman

A new club is being formed in Bateman to cater to the community in the surrounding areas. The club is the brainchild of the Association of Malaysians in Western Australia (AMWA), hence the name AMWA Toastmasters. Although it was mooted to build capability among the Malaysian community in Perth, the club has been extended to include anyone interested in developing their communication and leadership skills and of course in the truly Malaysian spirit – network and have fun (and some snacks!).

We have just completed our second meeting and we can already see members progressing along their way in becoming better speakers and emerging leaders. A shout out to our new member Reena Manoj who delivered an excellent ice breaker on how she overcame adversity to scale to commendable heights in her career and how she hopes to reach even higher leveraging off her Toastmasters skills.

AMWA Toastmasters is sponsored by Murdoch Southsiders with experienced members attending the meetings to support the emerging clubs. Khash Afshar has taken on the role of Mentor for the club, working with sponsors Vijay and Kutty VK to ensure the success of the club and the development of its members.

The next meeting will be on the 25th of March, and we welcome anyone who is interested, especially new toastmasters, to attend and participate.

Date: Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month.
Time: 6.30 – 8.00 pm
Venue: Mandala Hall, 1 Mandala Crescent , Bateman.

RSVP:  khashayar.af@gmail.com
or Kutty VK at 0412577220

 


Vijay Vijayaratnam
Club Growth Director
District 17

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Sunday Sundowners Toastmasters Hybrid meetings

As the VP Public Relations for Sunday Sundowners, the day after every meeting I create certificates for the winners of Best Speaker, Best Evaluator, Best Table Topics Respondent, and Toastmaster of the Meeting. I send all the certificates to members and guests. The members really like this! In fact all our guests really like it too. So much so, that they ask me where I get them from.  It is important to let members know when they do a superb job. That is why I believe the certificates are important.


Sunday Sundowners has regular hybrid meetings. During such hybrid meetings members based in Perth meet at the regular venue at St Mary’s church in South Perth, while members from Japan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, New York, and California meet on Zoom. It takes a lot of work to set up hybrid meetings, but they are very well run and extremely professional.

My husband and I live in Los Angeles (Simi Valley to be precise). We visited the club on our around-the-world tour, and we joined this club because it is so much fun!  There is quite the time difference too – for us the meetings start at 1 in the morning and finish at 3 am, but it is worth it. It is a long day.


Linda Mann, DTM
VP Public Relations
Sunday Sundowners

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Vic Park Toastmasters – still suffering effects of Covid 19

Back in July last year, due to Covid 19, Vic Park Toastmasters had to go on online meetings, and membership dropped to 8 members. It has been 7 months since weresumed to face-to-face meetings and we have had 8 new members join. Recently we have been struck with a run of further challenges. A few of the new members moved to country locations shortly after joining. One new member got sick, and another member had to stop meeting on Mondays due to other commitments.

Now that we are going through membership renewals, we are concerned about possible further declines which might reduce the club size to about 7 members. Fortunately, we have had a number of visitors in our recent meeting, and we hope some of them will join us.  The club is lucky that we have strong finances to carry on meeting for a couple of years without additional income.

However, the real challenge is to increase the membership and to ensure vibrant meetings where agendas are filled by multiple members each week. It’s a real battle, and the committee workload is getting heavier as we only have 4 committee members.  Through this article, we ask for the District’s attention and support so that we can restore the club’s energy and bustle. Let’s hope things improve this year.

 


Keith Green
President
Victoria Park Toastmasters

 

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Member Stories

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Toastmasters Fosters Academic Journey

Teachers have a fundamental role to play in society’s progress. But the most crucial part is how they communicate with their students both in the classroom and through a digital platform. As a first-generation researcher, I had the privilege to engage in teaching and workshop assistance at Curtin University. To make effective communication and engagement, required elaborate practice and the art of utilizing body language, slow and steady speaking, and voice modulation.

My academic journey would not be successful without the major assistance and support I have received over the last one and half years at Curtin Toastmasters club. In 2018 a Curtin Guild mentor told me about the club. Despite some hesitation, I joined the club in 2019. The friendly and engaging atmosphere and multicultural make-up of the club quickly convinced me this is the right club for me and I have never looked back. The decision to join the club changed my thinking perspective and allowed me to become an efficient learner of public lecture and engagement.

My nervousness in a group or one-to-one speaking soon wiped away and now I am able to make good use of the skills learned at our fortnightly toastmaster meetings. I have developed skills in networking, event organization, and moderating webinar events. Despite covid-related challenges in 2020, where learned we could deliver lectures and demonstrate tutorials via digital technology efficiently, thanks to the inclusiveness of the club. The journey at Curtin Toastmaster club is ongoing and I am even more focused to improve further with time.

 


Partha Pratim Mandal
Curtin Toastmasters Club
Partha Pratim Mandal – First-generation researcher

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Submitting Articles to Black Swan

Want to submit an article next month?If you have any news, stories and tips that would like to share with your fellow Toastmasters within District 17, write to us by the end of the month! Complete the Black Swan Submission Form and email to blackswan@toastmastersd17.org

 

  • Articles must have a relevant news category
  • Articles must be relevant or of clear interest to Toastmaster members.
  • Articles must reflect the TI core values; Integrity, Respect, Service and Excellence.
  • Length must not exceed 300 words
  • Please supply images with the best picture quality available
  • Supply names of people shown in images.


Mina Cho, DTM
Black Swan Editor
2020-2021

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