Day of the Kings

This is just a reminder that the EAE is closed on Jan 6th 2010, and hence the first January meeting is on the 13th.

The Club Committee

You might know that in a Toastmaster club each member has equal rights, because no one "owns" the club. For practical reasons we elect a committee on regular basis, to have just a hand full of people assigned to some roles, as primary points of contact. These leaders will do most of the decision making during their term, such as how and where to invest the money that is left after paying all the running expenses.
Despite the nomination of just some individiuals every member should feel as responsible about the club leadership and management of our club and its weekly meetings as the VP Education or the Sergeant at Arms, just to name a few.

If you wonder who the current committee members are, you should find their names on our Easy-Speak club page. If you'd like to assist them directly, or simply find out what it is they are doing - please get in touch.

Toastmasters international has more information on what the standard committee roles are about.

2009 News Update

Dear blog readers,
this is just a quick update to say that the club is doing fine.

This blog was left untouched for a while, and that's OK. All along 2009 we concentrated on what is fundamental to Toastmasters, and we are all really proud of the results. We have a club which is growing, a great mix of advanced speakers and new members filling all the speaking slots at our weekly meetings, and no problems worth mentioning. We even have some speakers queuing up. Wow! Nice!

While I'm typing, let me send a big thank you to everyone who is part of this success. Every meeting participation, every preparation, every call or SMS just to confirm a role, every thought how we can run things smoothly, every opinion raised, all these little and big things sum up and make Toastmasters what it is. And every effort is appreciated so much.

December 16th we have a normal meeting, followed by tapas for everyone in the nearby restaurant Nájera-2 (C/ Aragon 67). See you there, or see you in 2010. All the best to you and your families for the festive season ...

Regards,
Kai Steinbach. Club President of BCN TM 2009-2010.

Llega la primavera

Llega la primavera,

y con ella,

los toastmasters despiertan,

de su letargo invernal,

empiezan a afinar,

sus voces melodiosas,

y así empieza una explosión,

de talentos y cánticos sublimes.



Joana

Toastmasters 2008/12/03

Fellow Toastmasters,

Maria, wearing her Sargent-at-Arms hat, opened the meeting handling the word to our President, Cristine, that announced a cozy meeting: there were less than 10 people in the room when we started, although we ended up being 12 members and guests.

Cristine's opening was longer that usual, since she had to ask for candidates for the officer positions that need to be filled. After she described them, these were the candidates
* VP Education: no candidate
* Secretary: Lourdes
* Sergeant-at-Arms and assistant SaA: Joana and Maria

Maria, now with her Toastmaster hat on, announced the Word of the Day: "Help". An obvious choice, given the number of hats that she had to wear during the meeting! Celine volunteered a joke about some less than exciting effects of marriage, and our efficient multitasking Maria, about how having neighbours is not always easy and how the effect of changes and expectations is always subjective.

Cristine, another efficient multitasker, conducted the Table Topics, related to Egypt. Alberto chatted with Tutankhamun even if his choice would have been meeting with Cleopatra. Joana gave us some advice about how to deal with stubborn camels. Celine told us what not to do with delicious desserts, something that hopefully we will remember during the Christmas meals. Yoeri showed that the Rosetta Stone is not the only one that makes smart people ask insightful questions about stones. Jose showed his willingness to do whatever was needed in order to visit Abu Simbel.

Caroline gave the only speech of the day: "Your voice tells a lot of you". She used lots of funny examples that allowed her to display her vocal variety, and ended up mentioning his friend Ezra, a French beatboxer, and invited us to youtube him (not her words... but has this become an accepted verb, à la "to google"?). Alberto evaluated her speech, praising it but, at the same time, providing good advice on ways to improve.

Caroline's speech and Alberto's evaluation got both good grades from our General Evaluator, Lourdes. Her assistants, Xavier as timer and Yoeri as Aha-counter, reported their notes, that showed that our guest José did the best job using the time allowed during Table Topics, and that Maria was clearly the Queen Of The Word Of The Day. Lourdes praised Yoeri's use of the hammer, and the hammer itself.

Lourdes latter asked us to take full advantage of the forgiving and friendly Toastmaster environment as a safe sandbox to learn-by-doing and improve our leadership and team-playing skills; it was not just an abstract request, but an invitation to volunteer for meeting roles and officer positions.

Lourdes also asked future Table Topic Master's to always have at least ten questions ready, so that we can have nice meetings even when there are last-minute cancellations of scheduled speeches.

If we had something like a Hero of the Day award, no doubt it would have been given to our guest José. He doesn't understand a word of English, but managed to enjoy the meeting! Lourdes and Theresa helped him to follow what was going on, so they would get the Heroine Team of the Day award. The Leader Team of the Day award would go to Dave's newborn twins, because, despite their young age, managed to make Dave miss his scheduled speech. Fortunately, Caroline jumped in with her speech: Heroine of the Day would definitely go to her. Congrats to Dave and the rest of heroines and heroes!

Roles still available for Wednesday's meeting. Follow Lourdes' advice and go and get one!

-Xavier

Toastmaster 26/11/08

Queridos Toastmasters:

Dieciséis personas, tres de ellas invitados que venían por primera vez, hemos disfrutado de la sesión que ha conducido nuestra Toastmaster Rosa. La frase del día que ha propuesto, "trabajo en equipo", ha tenido un éxito inusual a lo largo de toda la sesión.

Al igual que la semana pasada, una agenda poco apretada nos ha permitido arrancar la sesión presentándonos uno a uno. A continuación, Lourdes y María nos han hecho reír con policías, cruzados y loros.

Para los Table Topics, Xavier ha abusado de miembros del club e invitados, solicitándoles consejos sobre sus propios problemas. Alberto ha demostrado que sabe cómo hablarle a un jefe. María, que se pueden resolver disputas familiares sobre la tele a la hora de cenar inventándose sesiones de Toastmasters infantiles. Joan Carles, que para hacer una charla, basta con proponérselo y poner una fecha. Yoeri, que no hay como ir a comprar ropa con la propia madre para que la plancha no se interponga en la armonía familiar.

En la única charla del día, Caroline nos ha hablado sobre lenguaje corporal, tanto con palabras como con su cuerpo. Aunque nos ha confesado que no es la reina de la batucada, todos estamos seguros de sus futuros progresos. La evaluación de Lourdes a buen seguro que también le facilitará su progreso en Toastmasters.

Kai, el evaluador general, ha pedido a sus ayudantes, Judith y José, que nos contaran cómo habíamos llevado las muletillas y los tiempos, respectivamente. Después nos ha hablado de otros clubs Toastmasters que ha conocido en Las Vegas. En uno de ellos, hace cincuenta años que se reunen en el mismo local ¡a las 7:30 de la mañana! También nos ha mencionado prácticas interesantes, como que sea el evaluador de cada charla quién presente los objetivos de la charla que evaluará, o que los asistentes tengan unas papeletas para votar sobre la mejor charla, la mejor improvisación y la mejor evaluación.

Cristine, nuestra presidente, nos ha indicado que la última sesión del año será el 17 de diciembre y la primera del 2009 el 14 de enero. También nos ha anunciado que Dave ha tenido gemelos y que serán necesarias nuevas incorporaciones al comité del club. Después de preparar la agenda y de preguntar su opinión a nuestros satisfechos invitados, ha dado paso a María para que cerrase la sesión.

-Xavier

Toastmaster 19/11/08

Fellow toastmasters,

Ten members and one guest enjoyed today a meeting where the last last-minute change was in the word of the day: Dave, our Toastmaster, changed from his planned "hope" to "improvisation".

We had an unusual opening for the meeting: everyone introduced themselves to the rest of the audience. This was a suggestion from Lourdes, our General Evaluator for the day: a nice improvisation in a day where one of the two scheduled speakers could not make it to the meeting.

Lourdes and Prudenci volunteered some jokes before we moved to the Table Topics. Mariela, on her first time in the role, conducted them and made us travel: we learned about Juanma's didjeridu purchased in Amsterdam during his band's European Tour, about Joan Carles' experiences in Asia, and that Isa, our brave guest that volunteered for the Table Topics, does not care much for museums.

Lorena gave us a brilliant speech about pregnancy and professional life, that Xavier evaluated. Lorena has to deliver the very same speech tomorrow in front of a scarier audience, and we were left with no doubt that she'll do a terrific job.

Lourdes asked for the Aha counts from Celine, and the times form Judith. No important issues, but no big success for the word of the day. Lourdes' evaluation was very educational.

Then the meeting was closed without any mention to next week's meeting, and without any one of us very sure about what should be done with all our gear. We sure missed Cristine and Maria in their usual roles of meeting chair and Sargent at Arms.

Go and get your role for next week!

-Xavier

Toastmaster 02/07/08‏‏‏‏‏‏

Dear Toasties,

Probably like all of you, I've noticed a high level of improvement in our club recently. If I had to describe it in three words, I would say accuracy, excellence and freshness. All of that reinvented in natural manner, with participation and sense of humour!! I only have to show gratitude for sharing with you these sessions.

Last wednesday was leading by our veteran Toastie Enric, who manage very well with the appropiate comment in each case. Unexpectedly, we had three jokemasters!! Juan Carles, Toni and Marnee delighted us with their humour, even in English!! Then, General Evaluator presented her attentive and hard-working team.. With high technology!

We had two exceptional speeches from Marcin and Toni, who were evaluated by Marnee and Joan Carles, respectively. Marcin showed to the audience who he is, explaining how important are casualities in our life if we can notice them and make the right decision then. Congratulations!! Toni, as always, was very professional in manner and content, with her fluent English and her variety of vocabulary.. For me 8D was like a training!!

Finally, after accurate evaluations, Cristine and her reports team closed the session!