miércoles, 30 de julio de 2014

Entertaining and Informative

Barcelona Toastmasters club can be remembered for their friendliness, humor and energy. My second ever experience with a Toastmasters club was very positive; the first being with the same club, about a year ago, and equally as pleasant. Who would have thought that public speaking could be so enjoyable?

Like many people, I’m terrified of public speaking. That said, I know that in life, whether in a class, a business meeting or for those who have aspirations to reach the masses, the ability to speak in public - to connect with the audience and do so with poise - is a must. Toastmasters Barcelona is the best environment to develop and practice this ability. Members are welcoming to new people, encouraging to the speakers and have many opportunities to practice public speaking - progress in becoming a better speaker as time with the club goes on is noticeable.

My favorite speech of the night was “Traveling Abroad... and coming back alive.” As a traveller myself, I was curious to hear what the speaker had to say and he had me laughing! He told us a number of stories about trips to different countries, we got to know him, and he did a great job of involving the audience. The speech was based on the chapter in the Toastmasters manual “your body speaks”, and for me, someone interested in the messages of the body, I was excited to see this as part of the Toastmasters “curriculum”. He definitely embodied a great public speaker.

The club format moves quickly and the club is very punctual - the hour and a half flies by. Various members have roles and four members have prepared speeches to present, one from a different chapter in the manual and done in a progressive manner. There are opportunities to practice leadership, impromptu public speaking and prepared speeches.

One of my favorite parts of the night is the impromptu. The scenarios are interesting and the stories that people come up with are hilarious. This kind of on the spot public speaking definitely pushes beyond my comfort zone, but again, it will happen in real life, so this is a great way to practice.

What I liked most about the prepared speeches was hearing their personal stories. What this tells me as a beginner, is that I’m in a room with real human beings, with a past of ups and downs, and dreams for the future. Their courage to do this gives me courage. There’s a sense of openness, ease and support. But the best part is that there’s a lot of humor. What’s doubly awesome is that this group is bilingual (Spanish and English). As a native English speaker, I was impressed by the English of the non-native speakers. I left 100% inspired that I too could become a better public speaker, not only in my native language, but also my second - a challenge and a great opportunity.

The only negative is that there is a waiting list to become a member of the club, which of course only speaks to awesomeness of this group.

A future member of a Toastmasters club

lunes, 21 de julio de 2014

FELICES LECTURAS DE VERANO

16-Julio-2014


Todavía no se había desvelado la palabra de la noche y ya se podía percibir en el ambiente…incluso antes que Ramón, el Sargento en Armas, iniciara la sesión…abrazos, risas, exclamaciones invadían la sala.

Cuando Ramón le dio la entrada a Catalina, presidenta por un día, ambos seguían transmitiendo una sonrisa positiva a la audiencia…y seguíamos con el enigma de la palabra pero creo que si nos hubiéramos propuesto adivinarla hubiéramos acertado por mayoría.

Catalina hizo que tanto los miembros del club como los invitados de la sesión nos sintiéramos como en casa, y con una cálida bienvenida dejó que Regina nos explicara brevemente su experiencia de ocho meses en Miami…y en especial en Toastmasters Miami… Siempre es bueno tener referencias de otros clubs no obstante es en Barcelona TM dónde ella tiene sus raíces y la calurosa bienvenida que recibió por parte de todos le hizo olvidar el “jet lag”…pues no hacía ni 24h que había aterrizado y ya estaba con todos nosotros.

Paul, el anfitrión de la noche (Toastmaster) nos sedujo con el poema “Espero curarme de ti”  del poeta mejicano Jaime Sabines, y así conocimos la temática de la noche: LECTURAS DE VERANO. A lo largo de la sesión descubrimos los libros que nos acompañarán este verano. Al final del texto encontraréis una relación de los destacados por los asistentes. Resaltar que Paul, no sólo dirigió la sesión con eficiencia sino que además destacó por su figura como facilitador, recordando los objetivos de cada una de las lecturas.

Marcel (cronometrador), Enrique (contador de muletillas) y Regina (gramática) nos explicaron sus roles con un toque de humor y mucha alegría y es que por fin salió a la luz la palabra de la noche…FELICIDAD… Más adecuada no podía ser ya que no tan sólo fue utilizada por todos los participantes sino que se respiraba en el ambiente…creo que perdimos la cuenta de las veces que la nombramos.

Ramón nos hizo estallar en carcajadas con su chiste de la clase de anatomía forense, otra evidencia de felicidad y buen humor.

El primer orador de la noche fue Miquel con “Polvo de estrellas”, su tercer discurso del manual de comunicación competente con el que consiguió iluminar el escenario y a la audiencia. Además al final del evento recibió el certificado de miembro oficial de Toastmasters por parte de Catalina y una ovación de reconocimiento de todo el público.

¡Enhorabuena Miquel, ahora además de seguir evolucionando con tus discursos ya podrás ser evaluador y mentor!
 
 

Sebastià nos hizo reflexionar con su cuento del manual de comunicación avanzada “La administración de la felicidad”, y es que la moraleja con la que cerró su discurso no podía ser más coherente con la palabra de la noche.
No puedo obviar el eslogan con el que nos hizo reír: “Atún Tuntero…el mejor atún del mundo entero”
 

Teresa nos deleitó con la lectura interpretativa del manual  de comunicación avanzada “Disfrutar de todo lo bueno de la vida” de Omar Falworth. No tengo suficientes palabras para expresar todas las emociones y sentimientos que nos transmitió.

Y llegó el turno de los evaluadores, y como mencionó Gerard, en su papel de evaluador general, el mejor regalo del club es la retroalimentación de nuestros discursos. Cada evaluador, con su propio estilo, resaltó los puntos fuertes de cada discurso y aportó oportunidades de mejora para animar a los oradores a seguir evolucionando en sus próximos discursos. Rayane, distinguió entre la puesta en escena y el contenido del discurso. Óscar, recordó el objetivo del discurso e hizo una representación muy visual de sus propuestas de mejora  y M.A, también explicó el objetivo del discurso y dada la magnífica puesta en escena de Teresa, tuvo que agudiar su ingenio y le propuso un nuevo reto…la lectura de un prospecto de un medicamento… para ver como Teresa es capaz de darle la vuelta y que nos lleguemos a apasionar por dicho medicamento.

Jelena, como maestra de los discursos improvisados, nos acercó al “Alquimista”, de Paulo Coelho, con algunas citas del libro que sirvieron de punto partida para los discursos improvisados. Con su gran carisma no le faltaron voluntarios: Hernan, uno de los invitados fiel a las sesiones de TM Barcelona, nos contagió su alegría y nos dio su lección personal “La suerte es felicidad”. Joan Marc apostó por el humor y le dio la vuelta a su cita, con un tesoro y un camino particulares: “una multitud de chicas guapas que seguían su camino”. Andras, otro invitado de la noche no dudó en participar y narrarnos su propia experiencia descubriendo que “su mundo sobrepasa los límites de isla Martinica”. Finalmente, Ambrós nos brindó su gran espontaneidad y dotes de liderazgo y nos enseñó a “mirar con los ojos abiertos”.

Se acercaba el final de la sesión, la felicidad seguía fluyendo mientras escuchábamos las valoraciones sobre la gestión del tiempo, el poco uso de muletillas y los buenos conocimientos de gramática. Gerard acabó con la valoración general de la sesión destacando que la agenda se adecuó al idioma de la sesión y dado el alto rendimiento de todos los participantes propuso la introducción del segundo aplauso.

Y no nos podíamos ir sin el reconocimiento por los objetivos alcanzados, Catalina entregó el diploma de Toastmasters oficial a Miquel, a la vez que Jelena y Ambrós dieron la bienvenida a Enrique como nuevo miembro del club, quien ya está dejando vislumbrar su gran potencial como orador.
 
 

El cierre de la sesión concluyó con una “orgía de felicidad”.
Aquí tenéis algunas de  lecturas de verano que acompañarán a los miembros de Barcelona TM, temáticas para todos los gustos: “Otro recuento de poemas” de Jaime Salines; “Gracias por la propina” de Ferran Torrent; “Riding the blue train” de Bart Sayle;  “Los hombres son de Marte y las mujeres de Venus” de John Gray; “El cruzado” de Stephen J. Rivelle; “La vérite sur le affaire Harry Quebert” de Jöel Dicker; “Samarra” de David Moran; “Biografía no autorizada de Mick Jagger” de Philip Norman;  “El péndulo de Foucault” de Umberto Eco; “El hombre en busca del sentido” de Viktor Frankl; “El Principito” de Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; “Grammaire progressive du Français”.
Las obras de Khaled Hosseni, novelas negras o policíacas y biografía de alguien inspirador.
También os dejo dos de los títulos que me acompañarán este verano, uno es un clásico que no será ni la primera ni la última vez que lo lea: “Seda” de Alessandro Baricco, amor o desamor…queda a la interpretación del lector. Y otro más técnico, relacionado con el liderazgo pero con un enfoque y una historia diferentes es “Switch” o “Cambia el chip” de los hermanos Heath.

Y os garantizamos seguir disfrutando en la sesión del próximo miércoles 23 de julio.
¡No os podéis perder otra dosis de felicidad!
 
Cristina (otra fiel invitada y bloggera por un día)

domingo, 20 de julio de 2014

The Matrix, Evaluators reloaded & Table Topic Revolution!

09/Jul/2014

The session started with a long pause, sighs and some special delays , the agendas were not there... Maybe that was part of this TMT  Matrix, matrix reloaded and Matrix revolutions session ....
Even the order of the agenda change suddenly while the voluntary SAA Daniel Ramirez and Nacho Tellez Toastmaster were solving the agenda's delays, Catalina Maldonado opened the session giving the word to our president Mariyana Tasheva.

Mariyana introduce the guests, we had some frequent guest Hernan, Cristina, Enrique, some new guests Tommy, a Georgian visitor and Ibtisem a fellow member from Pride French club! To all of you Thanks for visiting us you are welcome to come whenever you want!!

Our president also gave some feedback from the committee meeting occurred last Monday and she explained that there are some vacant places for the trekking/kayaking plan and invited members and guest to attend, if you are interested please contact to Judith Permanyer, who will be happy to provide all details.

After some minutes the agenda came back to the reality, and Morpheus Nacho Tellez our Toastmaster started the journey he stated "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the toastmaster matrix  is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back" and he offered the members and the guests to choose between the blue pill and the toast master's red pill, both pills were located in each desk together with the evaluation sheets! Well done Nacho!

" You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe or You take the red pill and you stay in the barcelona toastmasters club session and He showed us how deep the rabbit-hole goes." the audience took the red pill and joined this adventure that was divided in three parts, the prepared speeches, the evaluations and the table topics or impromptu speeches.

Nacho introduced his technical team conformed by Marc Cypher Majoral timekeeper, who explained the importance of Time management, Joseph Apoc Beale Grammarian who explained his role using the world cup fever Brazil vs Germany style and introduce the word of the day SUBLIME. After that the turn was to Daniel Ramirez Who was the Ah-counter of the session and he literally made some matrix body language movements that did not have anything to envy to Neo and Smith's performance in the original Matrix movie.
Henry Obegi completed his second speech, triggers of happiness, Henry performed a great speech, he shared with the audience some ideas on how to increase your triggers of happiness .. Like starting your daily routine without any rush, he invited to set the alarm clock and instead of going back to bed or postpone your alarm clock, he suggested to try something different, E.G. drink a glass of water instead, small actions will change your daily routine, he proposed different examples of what's good or bad using some researches on what people think about who is going to heaven?
The results showed that most of the people was replying that they were ... He invited smokers to quit and gave some tips, his  message was clearly explained with supporting materials, he knows how to trigger at a time, who is not interested in improving your quality of life?... Small actions will create new habits and he encouraged to explore and improve our own triggers of happiness.
Gerard Vidal completed his third speech he took us in a personal journey that changed his way of thinking as a traveller, he lived a tragical comedy running from one place to another in a foreign country with a foreign language ... Serbian, but there in the most untypical situations love crashed on him, Gerard reminded us the importance to review the schedule and enjoy the life as it comes, full of surprises, As a good taking home message Gerard stated the journey not the arrival matters.
Rayane Bachammar performed an informative speech "just a normal woman" explaining the different controversial issues caused in EU due to usage of Headscarves by Muslim woman, she explained the traditions, that this accessory is a symbol of protection, she explained the main causes which make these accessory so popular nowadays and she invited the audience to quit the prejudices against woman that uses it.

Excellent visual aids as she used the headscarf herself and explained which are the main stereotypes and invited the audience to instead of criticizing the usage of it, next time maybe try to find some common interest between you and that person, to conclude she said you will find that they are "just a normal woman".

Catalina Maldonado, Judith Permanyer and Madalina Burghelea  were The three evaluators, one for each speech, the toasties completed the sandwich evaluators type in words of our General Evaluator Jelena Vetockina.
 The three evaluators gave positive feedback, mentioning the best points completed by the speaker, some improvement suggestions and a motivational phrase to continue in the communication career at toastmasters.
The table topics master was Iñaki, our Mexican fellow toastmasters from Agora Almeda and Sagrada Familia, lucky us that we have such talented visitors in our club! Thank you so much Iñaki for entertaining with some movies table topic.
Ambros was the first volunteer, he did it amazing he needed to describe how to conquered the heart of the lady in red! He used his imagination as he confessed that he didn't watch the film, the good thing is that our dear Ambros successfully completed this impromptu speech and when beyond the expectations! we are waiting to hear your future speeches.
I'm surprised by the active participation from our guests, Hernan our Argentinian, Tomy from Hungary and Enrique from Madrid, all of them were amazing, are you guests? Or members? I really doubt it not only because they are frequent guests in our club but also because of the way that they controlled their nervousness, the smile that characterized their performance and the natural fresh air that was perceived in the audience while they were performing! Good job Dear Guests!!
Finally was the turn of our oracle General Evaluator Jelena The Oracle Vetockina she gave positive feedback with the smile that always characterizes her, she mentioned some improvement suggestions and she liked the way that the session was switched in order to solve the last minute issues, she remembered the importance of wearing the badges and she introduced her technical team.
The reports were presented by our technical or technological team, in the toastmaster matrix they did it their best it was a SUBLIME team (Joseph Apoc Beale, Marc Cypher Majoraland, Daniel Dozer Ramirez! you are amazing) and each one of them gave the report, with the toastmaster spirit in a very enthusiastic manner they also provided some constructive feedback, mentioning the good and some improving tips.
Well that's all in this fantastic Matrix session and I'll conclude with the original last quote from the Matrix Trilogy... "Is this real?" Yes it was and you can come to enjoy our next meetings ... There are still some roles available, are you ready to improve your communication and leadership skills?

Catalina Maldonado