The two sides of a Toastmasters session

16/01/2016

Our last session of the year was full of lights and shadows, but also of surprises, emotion and good speeches. The opening, as usual, came together with our president Jelena, whose habitual cheerful mood wished us love, motivation and a positive attitude in our lives. Thank you Jelena, we wish you exactly the same!

Catalina was our Toastmaster of the session and the theme selected by her was “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde applied to Toastmaster's human duality”, an original and well-chosen topic that would allow us to think about our own dichotomies. Following the inspiration of the famous novel, she showed a little bottle with “a magic medical potion” that would let the Hyde part of each participant of the night to get out!

After that, she introduced the technical team of the session: Hugo as the timekeeper, Olga, taking care of the crotches, and Mariyana playing the role of grammarian, who introduced the word of the day: BENEVOLENCE.

Enrique gave his 5^th speech of the Competent Communication Manual, titled “By the face”. He explained us some aspects of how facial traits are related with personality, and gave us some tricks (perfectly illustrated with funny examples of famous people) of how to know more about people character just by observing their facial features. Nevertheless, Enrique reminded us that the most important will always be to get to know people by listening to them.

After that, Rayane came with her 2^nd speech of the manual Speaking to Inform, titled “How much do we know about our big neighbor”. She showed the audience that a lot of times, clichés are not only extremely simplistic but also false. She gave us precious information to eliminate some ideas people still have about Africa (it is not a country but a continent, nor a black or poor land, or a place where people living there are traditional or old fashioned).  She took us to a new Africa, much richer than the stereotyped one.

Then, we had a Xmas present: Kornel Doman, a great actor, came to give us an extra speech, and to explain us, that “less is more”. He told us about the power of silence and how to keep our presentations simple by giving some effective advices: Breathe, be yourself or take a pause at the scenario if you need it. There is no problem about it!

After this present, it was time to evaluate the speeches. Catalina motivated us to work on improving our evaluations reminding the audience that an evaluation can be “too Dr Jeckyll” (so soft that we won’t learn anything as speakers), or “too Mr Hyde” (so hard that we could get unmotivated). Fortunately, both Jelena and Judit, found the middle ground putting out positive aspects of the speakers as well as points to keep on working to improve.

The funniest part of a Toastmasters Session is always the improvisation part. Marc, as Table Topic Master, asked to Ambrós, Laia and Bea to talk for at least one minute about some dichotomies… not an easy task but all of them achieved it without problem.

The session was about to finish, but Catalina still had time for more: She put some objects on a table and asked us to select one, find a different meaning for it, and give it as a present to another club’s member.  A special conclusion for a special night. Finally, our General Evaluator of the session, Sandra, gave us very useful feedback regarding the performance of the session.

Bonus track: The final clasp of the year was the goodbye to the fantastic Committee that, during the last months, has done all the club work efficiently. Then, the new group was presented and welcomed. 

Nuestra gran pachanga

9/12/2015

La sesión del 9 de diciembre ha sido la segunda sesión en la nueva sede en la UB y todo el mundo se sentía ya muy cómodo en nuestra nueva “casa”.

Nuestra presidenta, Jelena, abrió la sesión contándonos que diciembre para ella es un mes de reflexión. Nos contó algunas cosas positivas que le sucedieron este año y nos animó a que hiciéramos un listado de las cosas buenas que nos han pasado también a nosotros, alertándonos que nos sorprenderíamos de que no han sido pocas.

Felipe, Toastmaster de la sesión, inspirado por las elecciones generales de este mes, eligió el tema: Democracia. Nos planteó la pregunta de si era de verdad democracia votar cada 4 años o de si existían otras formas de sistemas políticos que podrían ser con más precisión, más democráticos. Preguntó a su equipo y a los ponentes: “Si tuvieras que elegir un único motivo por el cual votarías a un partido u otro, ¿cuál sería?” Las respuestas variaron desde partidos que acabarían con la corrupción a partidos que instalarían aire acondicionado en las calles (Laia pasa mucho calor en verano).

Beatriz, con su discurso “Impacto emocional” logró que el público se implicara emocionalmente cien por cien en lo que nos contaba. Aprendimos que Beatriz llevaba 19 años en su empresa y compartió con nosotros las fases por las cuales pasó la empresa y el impacto emocional de decir adiós a sus compañeros de trabajo. Si algún día tuviéramos que pasar por experiencias similares, nos aconsejó de ser conscientes de esta emoción y recordar que cuando dejamos un trabajo, lo que nos llevamos con nosotros son las relaciones.

Laia, con su energía y optimismo, nos contó por qué es importante trabajar nuestra marca personal y convertirla en una marca relevante. Nos dejó 4 pasos claros para atraer más oportunidades de negocio, captar  nuevos clientes y ser más conocidos.

1.       ¿Quién soy? – Descubrir puntos fuertes y debilidades personales

2.       ¿Qué hago? – Definir posicionamiento y no ser generalistas

3.       ¿Cómo lo hago? – Buscar recursos únicos, aportar valor diferencial

4.       ¿Cómo lo cuento? – Comunicarlo con un mensaje potente (Como ejemplo nos dio la respuesta de Enrique, quien a la pregunta  ¿A qué te dedicas?, le dijo: “Soy recogedor de billetes de 50 euros”)

Paul nos planteó situaciones que muchos toastmasters han tenido que pasar en algún encuentro social: la inevitable pregunta ¿De dónde eres? Aprendimos las inquietudes de su propia experiencia al haber nacido en México pero habiendo vivido en el extranjero, de sus apellidos de origen de la España del siglo XV, de que sus amigos mexicanos le llaman “el español” pero los amigos españoles le llaman “el mexicano”, de las asociaciones que la gente crea al escuchar una nacionalidad (los mexicanos, por lo que me entero, se asocian a una marca de tomate). Paul utilizó un lenguaje florido y visual para concluir al final que  “Uno no es de donde nace, sino de donde pace.” Nos pidió que evitáramos la maldita pregunta ¿De dónde eres? para no crear estereotipos y a su vez, aceptar que cada persona es “un libro por descubrir”.

Siguieron unas evaluaciones muy potentes de Jorge, Teresa y Rayane y unos “table topics” divertidos preparados por Catalina. Olga, Marc y nuestro invitado Tomás nos explicaron más teorías sobre democracia y nos convencieron de que convertirían nuestro país (y por qué no, nuestro Barcelona Toastmasters Club) en una potencia mundial en 2016.

¡Feliz viernes, ya que nuestra fiesta de navidad será una gran pachanga! (la maravillosa palabra del día)

Olga Coscodan

Our new home

2/12/2015

After a couple of months moving from one place to another, we finally have our new home. And, as our president Jelena said, “I am very excited because our new home is in Barcelona´s University!” A great room and new home for the Barcelona Toastmaster Club.

Georgiana was the Toastmaster for the session and the theme selected by her was “Out of the box”. What does this expression makes you think of? What means for you thinking outside of the box? And to what thinking outside of the box leads, as a result?

Georgiana went on with the agenda for the session and the presentation of the Technical team – the word of the day was HOME – it had to be this word.

Olga C. presented her Ice Breaker, her first speech – “Identity is relative”.  Olga told as that she is from Moldova and talked about the national identity issue in her country and the confusion due to the relation with Russia and Romania. A great history lesson that she shared with us, combined with personal anecdotes. Great first speech from Olga and very enlightening. Well done Olga!

 Merce presented her third speech – “Everybody hated your presentation. Now what?” Merce talked about an experience she had in her new job 3 years ago, when she was asked to do a presentation, in front of the whole company, in English and about herself. She did not feel confident and told us that is was a complete failure. She learnt from the experience and took note of 3 things that helped her to confront similar situation in the future: control your feelings, be open to receive constructive feedback and not being afraid to make changes. We can always learn and improve.

Merce is now an official member of the Club and she can start giving feedback to the speakers. Congratulations Merce!

And the third speech of the day was performed by Rayane. It was her first speech for the “Speaking to inform” of the Advance Speech module - “Read the stars”. Rayane introduced a subject for which people may have completely different opinions, the horoscope. She explained where it comes from, within the astrology and astronomy world, and what are the different parts that need to be taken into account: the sun, the moon, the ascendant and the descendent. She explained that it is a tool that can help you to know yourself better and use it for self-improvement. But, at the end of the day, it is your choice to use it or not. Congratulations on your first advance speech Rayane!

After the speeches, we went through the feedback provided by the evaluators:

-          Laia evaluated Olga on her Ice Breaker, mentioning that she had natural body language and eye contact, she had used a very descriptive vocabulary and had shared personal anecdotes.  

-          Paul evaluated Merce, confirmed that the objectives had been met, using a very descriptive personal story, using the rule of 3 and calling to action in the conclusion of the speech.

-          M.A. evaluated Rayane, starting by saying that she had introduced the topic very well by challenging the expectations, providing an effective structure and proposing to use the horoscope as a tool.

In all cases, the evaluators identified the positive points and also raised those things that can be improved and that always help us to continue growing. In all cases, they provided specific examples of how to improve.

We then started with the Table Topics, guided by Felipe, who reviewed the process to get ready for an improvised speech.

The 3 speakers in the Table topics were real volunteers, this time. Brave people our colleagues. The first one was Catalina, who had to talk about “Mediocre talent shows make half revenues”. Our second table topic was done by one of our guests, Sean, who had to come up with an answer to “Is knowledge more important that wisdom?”  And the last improvised speech was also perform by a guest, Dani, who had to provide 3 reasons to “Why people should listen to his speeches?”

After the table topics, Georgiana explained to us why she had selected the theme of the day. She explained that people are so focused on what they have in their heads that they do not listen. She called to action by telling us to do things differently – we make the line of the box and we can break that line.

The General Evaluator was Gerard, who made a very good summary of the session and provided feedback to the people that were doing different roles during the session. This feedback helps us to improve.

Jelena closed the session with a reminder for the Christmas party that will take place on December 11^th.

By Beatriz

25 de noviembre…Último miércoles en el exilio…

La sesión del 25 de noviembre prometía emociones fuertes: era la última en la Casa del Cine antes de trasladarnos a nuestra nueva sede de la Universidad de Barcelona, se notaba un run run de ganas de pasarlo bien y aprender… y vaya si aprendimos…dejadme que os explique:

Enrique con su ironía habitual abrió la sesión, dando paso a Jelena, quien nos planteó si la felicidad era una búsqueda o un estado. En su opinión, contra más intereses y actividades tengamos más oportunidades de felicidad tendremos. Para profundizar en ello nos recomendó el libro “La conquista de la felicidad”.

Rayane, Toastmaster de la sesión, nos presentó el tema de la sesión: Consejos para hacer un discurso. El equipo técnico explicó sus roles con eficacia, y nos dieron ideas para mejorar nuestros discursos:

-          Felipe  propuso utilizar buen humor en los mismos.

-          María Luisa  es partidaria de documentarse y utilizar anécdotas personales.

-          Olga C., a su vez, prefiere identificar un problema y proponer una solución.

-          Ramón  aconseja no estudiar el texto de los discursos, sino las ideas de los mismos. Cuando nos quedamos en blanco, es porque nos olvidamos el texto; si no hay texto no nos podemos olvidar del mismo. En cambio, las ideas no las olvidamos. Un tipo raro el susodicho Ramón.

En cambio, Olga P. prefiere inspirarse en las conversaciones cotidianas y en otros discursos. Olga nos regaló su cuarto discurso “Consejos de anciano”. Olga nos reveló que no conoció a sus abuelos y siempre le ha asaltado la duda de cómo hubiera sido su vida si los hubiera conocido, puesto que sus consejos facilitan una mejor calidad de vida por su experiencia y valores.

Olga nos dio siete consejos para mejorar nuestra vida:

-          Dejar de preocuparse tanto.

-          Pensar en pequeño.

-          No sacrificar las relaciones de pareja por los hijos.

-          Tener como pareja a alguien con valores parecidos a los tuyos.

-          Comunícate con tu pareja desde el principio y a menudo.

-          Haz como si fuera para siempre.

-          Tómate el tiempo para construir una historia de vida.

Concluyó el discurso con una pregunta. ¿Esta tarea, tener calidad de vida, nos lleva toda la vida conseguirla?

Llegó el turno del 4ºdiscurso del manual avanzado de entretenimiento de Paul, denominado “Que costumbre tan salvaje…”. Paul propuso utilizar las anécdotas como fuente  inagotable de ideas para discursos y seguir el Método Ramonet.

Tengo que reconocer que cuando apareció Paul vestido de negro luto, serio y con cara de malhechor… tuve un poco de miedo. Pero cuando empezó a hablar de la muerte pasé a tener pavor!!!  … pero 12 minutos después casi estaba convencido de que esto de la muerte tampoco está tan mal.

Paul nos relató como se convirtió en el Rey de los Velatorios (aunque estoy seguro de que preferiría ser como Lorenzo Lamas: El Rey de las Camas). Resulta que en Méjico el entierro de los muertos es un ritual peculiar. Paul acompañaba a su abuela a los velatorios, que eran todo un espectáculo con el actor principal (el muerto en traje de madera…), los apenados sinceros, las señoras aposentadas en las esquinas de la sala, la gente de compromiso… y los arreglos florales…enormes y ostentosos…con un tamaño proporcional a la culpa que sentían los oferentes o a su nivel de hipocresía. Los muertos, según Paul, deberían levantarse de la ataúd para preguntar a los asistentes “¿por qué lloráis?“.

¿Y las procesiones al cementerio? Son ominosamente patéticas: carroza del fallecido + autobuses de los familiares + inicio del entierro + colocación de la caja en el fondo del agujero + paletadas de tierra para que el muerto no salga + banda sonora de lloros y sollozos….

Paul se mostró innovador al respecto y nos preguntó si no sería una buena idea cambiar estas costumbre por crear Casas de Reposo para los muertos… con música y buen ambiente… más de un muerto se levantaría para vivir.

Paul, vivito y coleando, dio paso a Tobías Rodrigues con un espléndido Educacional sobre resolución de conflictos. Tobías dice que para conseguir un buen discurso nada mejor que una charla con un amigo con una copa de vino tinto… Mucho vino tinto me debía haber tomado servidor de ustedes porque no fui capaz de entender los rasgos biográficos de Tobías… me resultó tan complejo entender donde había nacido, vivido, estudiado… tanto él, su familia, como su mujer… que desistí en ello, y me concentré en lo que realmente importaba: que lo teníamos en TMT BCN y lo teníamos que disfrutar. ¡¡¡ Y vaya si lo hicimos!!!

Tobías, a partir de lo necesario para hacer un buen café, nos convenció que para resolver conflictos debemos tener energía… tenemos que “enchufarnos”. Y para ellos debemos hacer dos cosas:

-          No personalizar: Separar persona y conflicto. Delante de un conflicto “la persona no es el problema, el problema es el problema”, de esa manera hacemos el problema pequeño. Además hemos de pensar que la persona con la que tenemos el problema tiene amigos, familia, gente que le quiere y admira… como uno mismo. Ello nos identifica con él y ayuda a separar a la persona del conflicto.

-          Reducir la ira y la frustración: para ello hemos de “quejarnos” lo mínimo imprescindible. Sólo nos quejaremos si:

o   Queremos y podemos cambiar la situación.

o   Si además tenemos una alternativa mejor.

o   Tenemos una persona para desahogarnos y que nos de otra perspectiva.

Es decir, no hemos de pasear nuestra “basura emocional”, nos consume la energía. La conclusión final es que delante de un conflicto, depende de nosotros la solución: enchufarnos.

Las evaluaciones mantuvieron el alto nivel de la sesión.

Oliver opina que la interacción con el público y salir de la zona de confort son las claves de un buen discurso. Para Oliver lo mejor del discurso de Olga fue el humor, la estructura, los elementos retóricos, la llamada a la acción, la presencia escénica y los silencios poderosos.

Como área de mejora propuso el no tomar tanto riesgo con el volumen de información y tener un poco más de movilidad en el escenario.

Catalina cree que lo importante para un buen discurso es escoger un tema que te apasione y que contaríamos a nuestros amigos. Catalina valoró del discurso de Paul la excelente descripción visual de los hechos y su experiencia personal al respecto. Como área de mejora propuso dramatizar un poco más el discurso y dejar un espacio de reflexión cuando Paul lance preguntas a la audiencia.

Hugo presentó los Table Topics. Cristina defendió como vivir colgada en una cabaña en medio de la naturaleza. Jorge nos hizo su peculiar y divertido “regreso al futuro”… pero lo que nunca podremos olvidar  fue como Isabel intentó poner a bailar a Gerard… digo lo intentó, porque sinceramente…. de buen rollo Gerard… no te enfades… ya pasó… tienes otras virtudes que puedes potenciar… pero bailar lo que se dice bailar…en mi humilde opinión… no cogiste el ritmo (soy generoso…) Eso si, tu buen humor y simpatía permanecerán indelebles en nuestra memoria.

La Evaluadora General, Laia prefiere buscar un tema relacionado con el objeto del discurso. Laia evaluó la sesión con rigor y disciplina. El equipo técnico hizo su informe pertinente y tras la intervención de nuestra presidenta Jelena, Enrique dio por cerrada la sesión y el exilio, citándonos con orgullo y satisfacción para el próximo miércoles en la Universitat de Barcelona.

Ramón Matabosch

Colors, hangers, and mystery

Jelena began the previous session highlighting the power of differences, and showing how something as simple as a work email can lead to cultural differences that we don’t expect. And cultural differences is what we could find in the three new guests that introduced themselves; coming from Russia, France, and Barcelona.

The past Toastmasters session flowed around the topic of movies. Maria Luisa, the toastmaster of the day, asked us about our favorite film and actor/actress. This is a part of the session that I always really like. In my opinion, hearing the answers of the different people in the room helps us to know them better. After that, she introduced the team that would take care of the time, the crotches, and the grammar during that session: Hugo, Enrique, and Claus, who, making a joke about The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, presented the word of the day: Nevertheless.

Then, the speakers began with their awesome speeches. Words full of hope, of motivation, of power, begin to fill the room.

The first speaker, Isabel, showed us how to rock a first speech, the Ice Breaker. She really broke the ice opening herself about her nervousness of being there, her personality, and the color that matched the several parts that compound it, creating a full color palette. 

Julia, the second to speak, remind us something that sometimes we seem to have forgotten: that Impossible is nothing. Through her own story about a summer-job in a store, she advised us on how to deal with difficult people, about being the order in the chaos (a really nice expression, by the way), and, at the end, we all learnt how to correctly hang training clothes.

For the third speech of the evening, Oliver played with our curiosity and brought a Mystery Box. Using several visual aids, he spoke about mystery, and summarized three points that define it: Reality, Challenge, and a final Twist at the end. Using his own strategy, his final twist was showing us how a small box can contain a watermelon.

After that, the evaluations came. This part is, at least for me, a very enriching part. You can learn a lot from other people’s speeches and from the comments they receive; not just about how to be a better communicator, but also about giving your evaluation in a nicer way, being always respectful, and remembering that there are no good and bad things, but good things and things to learn from.

For the Table Topics, M. A. brought us a “Karaoke” session. Nevertheless, this karaoke did not have cheesy songs from the 80s, but slides with random images with any relation at all between them. The brave “volunteers” did it really well, with slides about gigantic fishes, Maziner-Z, and Chinese people in motorcycles. Moreover, despite of the surrealistic mix, their speeches had a general motto, which encouraged us to enjoy life and learn from experiences.

At the end, the general evaluation was given by Catalina, who reminded us to use the “I technique”, not saying what people have done, but what we think about it. Last but not least, Jelena reminded us about the Christmas party (yeeeei!) and closed another great session.

By Maria 

Una noche de regalos.

Para los miembros; para los invitados; para los que  asistieron, para los que no pudieron, para los que participaron, para los que rieron; para todos. Y es que la sesión que vivimos el pasado 11 de Noviembre vino cargadita de regalos que hoy recordamos desde aquí, no sin cierta  NOSTALGIA (palabra del día obsequio de Laia).

Y es que fue una sesión REDONDA. Una sesión de esas con sabor especial, con una atmósfera agradable y una complicidad en la que todo encuentra su lugar.

El primer regalo llegó de la mano de nuestra presidenta Jelena Vetockina, quien nos obsequió a todos los presentes con una valiosa herramienta de autoconocimiento: LA RUEDA DE LA VIDA, técnica que consiste en dibujar una rueda (o círculo) con aristas en su interior. Cada arista representa un aspecto importante de nuestra vida.  Una vez hecho esto, hay que preguntarse: “¿cómo va este aspecto de mi vida?”, para después poder asignarle una puntuación del 1 al 10. Tras haber repetido este procedimiento con todas las aristas de nuestro círculo, podremos evaluar si con esa rueda, nuestra vida puede seguir rodando… o algunos aspectos importantes se quedan un poco “cojos” y por consiguiente tendremos que trabajar en ellos.

Tras este poderoso regalo que nos dejó un poco absortos, llegaría nuestro Toastmaster del día, Gerard Vidal, tablet en mano y con voz firme y potente, para hacernos volver de nuevo a la sala,  guiar maravillosamente la sesión y presentar el tema del día: el AUTOAPRENDIZAJE. Y es que, ¿Somos conscientes de en qué momento comienza y en qué momento termina este proceso? Los límites los ponemos sólo nosotros y quizá, a Toastmasters Barcelona venimos para que ese autoaprendizaje no pare nunca.

Los discursos preparados no se hicieron esperar, y desde luego no dejaron indiferente a los oyentes: Comenzó Enrique Álvarez, con su cuarto discurso del Manual de Comunicación Competente, “No te preoucpes”, para traernos una reflexión sobre las preocupaciones del día a día, innecesarias muchas veces. Además, nos dio algunos valiosos consejos para no dejarnos llevar por esos pensamientos destructivos que son, en muchas ocasiones, las preocupaciones.

Después llegó Nacho Tellez, con “la evolución siempre gana”, tercer discurso del Manual Avanzado Hablando con Humor, para regalarnos a todos un speech sobre la evolución del ser humano y las diferencias entre sexos. Con él en el escenario, las carcajadas inundaron la sala.

El broche final a los discursos preparados lo pondría Paul, con un discurso muy motivacional: “Querer es poder”, noveno discurso del Manual Liderazgo Excellence. Con él reflexionamos de nuevo: ¿Cuáles son las motivaciones que nos incitan a actuar en nuestras vidas?¿Cómo podemos conseguir motivar a otras personas en nuestro día a día?

Llegados a este punto aún quedaba cuerda para rato, con la ronda de improvisados de la mano de Ramón Matabosch quien compartió con todos nosotros las claves del infalible “Método Ramonet para improvisar discursos”. Toma nota, que es de diez:

Para conseguir un buen discurso improvisado haz uso de…

RECUERDOS

ACTORES

MÚSICA

OBRAS

NATURALIDAD

EMPATÍA

TEMERIDAD

Dos de nuestros invitados, Juan y Joan Marc se atrevieron (como buenos voluntarios forzosos) a poner en práctica este maravilloso método, que pronto dará para escribir uno o dos libros.

Finalmente, las evaluaciones llegaron de la mano de Rayane Bachammar y un equipo técnico a la altura de las circunstancias: Beatriz como guardiana del tiempo; Laia  como gramática; y Marc como contador de muletillas.

Al final de la sesión, como siempre, sacamos unos minutos para felicitar a quienes cumplen con los objetivos, en este caso Paul y Nacho, recordar la proximidad de las elecciones y animar a todos los miembros a asistir a la cena de navidad de este año, que tendrá lugar en el Casino de Barcelona, el próximo 11 de Diciembre.

Isabel 

Present. Enjoy. Be happy.

What´s our club culture? This was the question that I made to the audience. As it was explained in one of the Toastmasters magazine (issue April 2014), the key factors that influence club environment are:

Fun Factor – learning should be fun!

Hospitality – how well do we welcome our guests?

Evaluations – do our evaluations elevate or deflate?

Bilingual club – the variety of sessions due to language difference

Let’s see if we meet these important standards! So far I can tell you that two factors are already fulfilled – guests are welcomed and invited to continue participating in the meetings. As well, our club is bilingual – variety guaranteed.

Meeting started with the provocative theme of the day that was chosen by our Toastmaster of the day – Felipe de la Cruz.  Politically incorrect questions and answers, situations in life and reactions, emotions, this is what the session was about. Our talented technical Team (Enrique, Rayane and Olga) provided their explanations of the roles and did a great job providing the reports after the session.

I was amazed by the variety of the speeches topics and inspiration of the speakers!

Maria Luisa explained us her vision of mindfulness. She presented her #3 project from the Competent Communicator – get to the point. And she did it. Are you multitasking? This is the opposite of the mindfulness. The great take home message that I remembered today when I woke up – the quality of life is the more important than the life itself. Present is the only thing you have, so let’s live and feel today, let’s be grateful and appreciate what we have - today.

Second speaker of the session – Georgiana with her #4 project of the Competent Communicator manual, with amazing speech – enjoy it! We did. We enjoyed this fresh energy, this amazing power of personal story, thanks for sharing with us! Georgiana engaged the audience since the beginning by improvising with lights and prepared meditation for the audience. Even in the hardest situations of life, the best thing that you can do is to learn and to enjoy!

Are you pear, strawberry or apple? The prepared speeches part was closed by our third speaker, Laia, with her #8 project from Competent Communicator manual, and she got very comfortable with the visual aids as it was one of her objectives for this speech. Thanks to her we are aware of the importance of the personal branding and how to make this astonishing and amazing look! Lots of interesting ideas shared by Laia, even half of her own wardrobe was used to provide us tips on how to get most of our look.

Evalutions – our next quality standard.

All evaluators used the strategy of sandwich, when the positive points of the speaker’s speech are pointed out at the beginning, then followed by the points for improvement and finally, evaluator is motivating the speaker to continue with the journey of competent communicator. The main points for improvement from Gerard Vidal, who evaluated the speech of Maria Luisa – ensuring that power point is projected properly before the speech, enhance interaction with audience and add more humor to the speech. Our second evaluator, Paul Conde, who was evaluating the speech of Georgiana suggested to improve transitions, to make call to action more powerful and explain the audience the purpose of the challenging questions during meditation. Finally, our last evaluator of the session, Mariyana Tasheva, suggested the following points of improvement to Laia – stronger introduction, improvement of the slides shown – to avoid so many information, that can be destructive to the audience and to show the visual aids (clothes) without wearing all of them.

No doubts, that another quality standard was met as well – helpful and positive evaluations.

Fun factor?

In the improvisation part I think this is more than covered! Our amazing Table Topic master – Beatriz initiated politically incorrect situations where volunteers were caught with strange questions and situations. Beatriz reminded us that it’s important to follow the same structure during the impromptu speech as well – short opening, body with three main points and conclusion. Great job!

Finally, our talented and charismatic General Evaluator of the session, M.A. Garcia reminded us on the points that can make our club even stronger – check presentation beforehand, in order to avoid technical issues, to avoid too long scenarios explanation during the Table Topics, do not forget – to shake the hand after leaving the stage – this is toastmaster’s spirit!

We can proudly say – we met all 4 standards of the good club – fun, hospitality, good evaluations and language variety. But the most important is that we stayed focused, we enjoyed the moment and we continued in the bar…. (ok, this might be not that important, BUT – this is where another fun part starts, so be sure you are not missing it next time!).

Present. Enjoy. Be happy.

Jelena 

The people

Enrique, in his usual high spirits mood, was the first person to start this toastmaster special session.

Secondly, Jelena, our exquisite president, told us that in this session there would be an evaluation exercise. She also told us that the most important in toastmaster was its people. It made us feel proud!

Following this, Jorge, whose, role was toastmaster of the session explained to us the theme of the session, the timetable and the program of the session.

Amoldar was the chosen word for the session.

Jordi did a brilliant speech whose theme was: about your life...you decide. In his speech he talked about mountains which were his favourite place to be. He also managed to incorporate in his speech personal elements. He finished with one thing he found out: each one enjoys the life as one wants and that you can’t delegate your limits into other person.

The second speech of the night was told by Jelena with the title moments of true. Firstly Jelena told us what kind of true was going to be revelled. Following this, Jelena added that to see how successful the club was, we were going to do an evaluation exercise. This would allow us to see the good points and the points that we could improve. All toastmasters’ members and guests had to participate.

According to our president there are six critical moments of true. The following were: the first impression; membership orientation; fellowship, variety and communication; program planning and meeting organization; membership strength and last but not the least, achievement recognition.

The class was divided in six separate groups and each group had six standards to evaluate in 10 minutes. After finishing this exercise each group had to share the report with the rest of the audience. Each report had to include the standards the club currently met and the recommendations each group had for improvement or change.

When this workshop finished it was time for Rayane to evaluate Jordi’s speech. She remembered the audience its objectives. Then Rayane commented on the things that she enjoyed and after that she recommended her points of improvement. She concluded by saying that she liked the history because she herself could identified with it plus and she too likes mountains.

After Rayane left the stage it was time for Laia with a very accurate evaluation of the entire meeting, focusing in what went well and what could be improved for further sessions.

Our president gave the news that we were going to have a temporal solution for the next toastmaster session room. Her last message was that for her what was the most important in toastmaster were its people.

Our brilliant Sergeant of arms, Enrique, finished the session.

We all are superheroes!!

October, 21th

Last session, it was amazing!!  Discover all we have learned!!

Jelena, our astounding president, warmly welcomed us and the guests. 

Paul introduced the session talking about superheroes and he compared these heroes with our technical team and speakers.

Merce with "Paris, December 2015" talked about Climate change. Her speech was very well organized with an introduction, three points and a strong call to action. Her strong opening revealed the mystery of her speech's title with a question and then she gave us three practical advices for contributing to avoid the climate change.

Hugo talked about entertaining and technology, giving us a long list of examples from different resources.

Rayane explained why we have to call to a radio program when we have a broken-heart. Yes, It could seem quirky, but she really persuaded us with fantastic non-verbal communication, connecting with the audience thanks to different anecdotes, humour, singing... and with an awesome conclusion.

MA did a demonstration talk about mindfulness, with a strong opening, telling he is an addict to something that we also were: thinking. He also mentioned the speech of Jorge from last week, introducing spontaneity to his speech and at last, he guided a practical exercise for experimenting mindfulness.

About evaluations from Gerard, Oliver, Doriana and Catalina, we have learned about the importance of giving a motivational feedback, joking with the speakers and the importance of giving reasons and examples when we talked about the improvements.

Jorge introduced table topics about superheroes too, with enthusiasms and humour. Sandra, Isabel and Ambros accepted the challenge and their speech were well structure, funny and using emotional vocabulary for engaging the audience.

Enrique, Maria Luisa and Olga were the technical team and they clearly gave their rapports. Marc, as general evaluator, explained his opinion about the performance of the session justifying his reasons.

Next Wednesday, we will have a special session with a surprise. Don't miss it!!

By Laia

Nueva sede, nuevas aventuras!

En esta sesión estrenamos nuestra nueva sede, situada en la calle Santa  Anna de Barcelona. En el Centre d'Estudis Politècnics. Tuvimos 3 grandes discursos:

Jorge Egea nos deleitó con una técnica que se remonta a antes que Jesucristo perdiera sus zapatillas! Jorge habló de la técnica del Palacio de la Memoria, encuñada por el sabio Ciceron. Resultó un discurso del todo útil, pues pudimos aprender como memorizar conceptos al crear estructuras mentales.

Laia Arcones no pudo tener mejor manera de empezar su discurso. Empezó contratando al público. De hecho, contrató hasta su madre! El contenido del discurso fue bien interesante para todo el mundo dado que trataba sobre estrategias para encontrar trabajo, basadas en la creatividad y la diferenciación del individuo. Nos regaló frases como: si eres uno más, eres uno menos. De Laia siempre podemos aprender de su optimismo, pasión y el buen rollo que transmite .

Nacho Tellez empezó su discurso avanzado con una potente reflexión sobre como ha cambiado nuestras sociedades. Si hace unos siglos la dicotomía filosófica que reinaba por excelencia era "ser o no ser", actualmente esta ha evolucionado bastante: "comprar o no comprar". 

El discurso se desarrolló con un role play bien entretenido sobre la venda de un ordenador portátil.

De Nacho podemos aprender que con il·lusión, esfuerzo y sacrificio, podemos conseguir progresar en el public speaking hasta el infinito y más allá!

La parte de los discursos improvisados fué bien divertida, en los que se invocaron a Rajoy, Michael Jackson y Brad Pit 

Como es habitual en nuestras sesiones TMT, nos quedamos con ganas de más y más!

By Gerard

Change is the law of life

                As John F. Kennedy said, we cannot avoid change. But what it is more important is how you tackle the changes in your life. Do you embrace the change or you try to avoid it until it crosses the road in front of you?

            In our club when a chance of change arose -we are changing the location- the Toastmaster of the evening, Sandra Duarte, did not let this opportunity pass without making us reflect about how we deal with all the changes in our life. The message and the vibe of the night were clear and present throughout the whole session: change is good, change is progress!

                I will continue the changes by focusing on the content of the evening and not on the messages given by the attendees. In this way we can learn or refresh important leadership and communication skills.

            We are very grateful for being in an amazing place: Nauart. Here a sneak preview:

And now about our session of the night:

               Our technical team worked on their listening skills as grammarian (Camilla) and ah-counter (Beatriz) and time management skills when timer (Luisa). The rest of the participants improved their critical thinking by being evaluators (Rayane, Madalina and Jelena) and general evaluator (M.A.), toastmaster (Sandra), speaker (Julia, Olga and Oliver- prepared speeches; Catalina, Geo and Isabel for impromptu speeches) and table topics master (Laia). 

These being just some of the abilities gained by being an active participant, because each role can help you develop multiple abilities. For example, being a grammarian helps for your listening skills, critical thinking, giving feedback and time management.

              We had 3 speeches during the evening: Julia-project 4-how to say it and Olga and Oliver-project no 5- your body speaks. Thus, we learned about how to deliver a message clear, accurate and vivid with correct grammar, but also how to use the body language to express ourselves when speaking.  

With Julia we learned how important is to use visual aids, other more than a presentation, for example a yo-yo, domino, and candies. Also, she guided us through imagination in her own experience, thus connecting with the audience and she used repetition to support her message. 

Olga started with a question in order to relate to the audience, used a lot of metaphors and great humor. She had 3 points for the body of her speech and a very strong conclusion: Life your life as you run a marathon! 

Oliver, put us to raise our hands if we have the same situation as him, technique used in order to connect to the audience and draw their attention. He also had different roles that he played in his humorous speech that made it very entertaining. 

 

               The evaluations during the second part of the session were very instructive. One of the main techniques used is the sandwich technique: 2 or 3 good points followed by 2 or 3 points to improve. Also, it is important to remind the objectives of the projects and if they have been reached or not. 

 

               Laia presented the table topics and she started with giving us a very good structure for the speeches, because even if it is a 1 to 2 minutes speech it still should follow a stucture: into-anecdote, body-2 points, conclusion. 

 

               Least, but not last we had a great general evaluation, where we learned about how the grammar was used, how many extra sounds were in the speeches, our timing and  what was great plus things to be improved for future sessions. 

 

               Ribbons were offered and our president, Jelena shared with us her thoughts on change and how we are managing the challenges as a group. 

 

               All in all, a great session with very good vibes that put smiles on our faces and motivated us to keep improving our skills and also face the changes in our life with optimism. Change feels good!

By Georgiana