Dear members and guests,
our Toastmasters District 59 (Continental Europe) publishes a regular newsletter magazine called The Clarion. Find the March 2011 release here:
http://www.district59.org/about-us/the-clarion/current-clarion-issue/
Bienvenidos a una nueva sesión del Club Barcelona Toastmarsters. Esta vez era un miércoles de fútbol, y se notó. Si señores, esta vez si. Nos encontrábamos en nuestra ya habitual flamante sala del quinto piso, y a pesar de contar con muchos invitados, sólo llenabamos la mitad de la sala (... es normal, de vez en cuando el fútbol se tiene que notar).
Djanira fué la toastmaster del día comenzando la charla cantando una canción "All you need is love" que todos tatareamos con ella. Nos propuso pensar en palabras relacionadas con el amor, que anotó en la gran pizarra: "ayuda mutua", "compartir", escuchar", "para siempre", "crecimiento".... para finalizar su introducción con una comparación entre estas palabras y nuestra estacia en Toastmasters.
Presentó al equipo que esta noche le acompañaría Patricia Vargas "timekeeper", Paul Talbott "Ah-counter" y Judith Permanyer "grammarian".
El primer speaker Marc Expósito, en su segundo discurso del manual de comunicacion competente nos habló de los principios gestálticos, detallando los 10 principios principales y como él los afronta en primera persona.
La segunda speaker de la noche también en su segundo discurso, Maria del Mont nos habló del Lindi Hop. Este fantástico baile tiene su origen en la sala Savoy de New York y fué llamado asi porque el primer vuelo cross Atlántico lo hizo Lindi, y en este baile en muchas ocasiones se hacen saltos en cierta manera acrobáticos y bastante largos. Ella es una gran fan de este baile, y nos animó a todos a participar alguna vez en los concursos e intercambios internacionales que se realizan en todo el mundo.
Los 2 siguientes discursos son del manual de Storytelling.
Maria Lozano en su speach numero 5 de este manual nos habló de Gandhi y de qué es ser un lider. Para ella un lider es alguien con mucha energía, que es capaz de transmitir su energía a los demás cuando encuentra su misión. Gandhi la encontró al darse cuenta que debía defender los intereses de los indios en Sudafrica, para luego volver a su pais años más tarde y seguir defendiendo los intereses de los suyos para echar a los británicos.
El último discurso de la noche, de Kai Steinbach nos hizo pensar en "qué es vivir en harmonía". Las diferencias culturales son fáciles de manejar cuando las esperas, pero cuando son impredecibles pueden hacer caer en la mayor tristeza si no las sabes llevar: como la diferencia de olor, lo que pare uno significa olor a Navidad proveniente de un incienso determinado que se usa en Alemania, para su pareja es olor a entierro, ya que es el incienso que se usa en España en esas ocasiones. Entender y aceptar las diferencias culturales en esas ocasiones sería la receta que nos recomienda Kai.
Los evaluadores Joan Fabregat, David Gonzalez, Cormac Walsh y Marina, en este orden realizaron su misión de dar feedback a los distintos speakers.
La table topic master, Marisol Cifuentes nos hizó viajar a un concurso de belleza con preguntas como "si pudieses viajar en el tiempo en tu reinado, a que tiempo viajarías" o "si fuese un personaje, qué personaje escogerías", o "si hubiese un incendio y tuvieses que salvar un perro o unos cuadros de un mueso, a cual salvarías?".
Finalmente el equipo de gramarian, contador de muletillas y del tiempo dieron sus informes. La palabra del día "smile" tuvo muy poca suerte, siendo sólo utilizada por el cuarto speaker. Y para concluir Peter Brenchley, el evaluador general, cerró la sesión, animada sobretodo por los 5 invitados, algunos de los cuales se atrevieron a salier en los table topics.
MA Garcías, nuestro presidente, nos informó en los últimos minutos de las proximas novedades: 23 marzo club contest, 2 abril area contest, 27 abril sesión en catalán, 25 de mayo ... sorpresa. Y por último, ultimísimo!! el 26 de marzo se está preparando una salida en Go Car, si alguien se quiere apuntar contacten con Joan Fabregat.
¡Bienvenidos a una nueva crónica de la sesión del Club Barcelona Toastmasters!
Un miércoles más el aforo está casi al completo en una nueva sesión del BCN Toastmasters. Suerte que disponemos de la espaciosa aula del quinto piso, ya que hoy está repleta y nos acompañan hasta 6 invitados. De hecho, hay tanta gente que incluso Murphy, el famoso de la ley del mismo nombre, se ha apuntado provocando que, al inicio de la sesión, las agendas estuviesen todavía "gestándose" en la fotocopiadora. Aún así, la sesión se inicia por el Sergeant at Arms, Stefan Dissmer, que sustituye a Peter Brenchley esta semana y el “savoir faire” de nuestro presidente M.A. Garcías y de Marina Lussic en su rol de Toastmaster hacen que la sesión continúe puntualmente tal y como estaba prevista. En el equipo técnico de la noche están: Ana Villar (Time keeper), Marisol Cinfuentes (Grammarian) y Paul Talbott (Ah-Counter) y la palabra del día es: Escucha / Listening.
Y comienza el primero de los discursos preparados: Jose Luis Latorre con su segundo discurso "A humble speaker's experience" nos da a conocer más detalles de su personalidad y los retos y éxitos profesionales más recientes, complementando así su primer discurso, el Eisbrecher.
A continuación Lucie Arnaudies nos presenta su segundo discurso: "Una manera diferente de ver la estructura" en el que nos indica el proceso seguido para preparar la estructura de un discurso haciendo un símil con el famoso tango de la película "Perfume de mujer" protagonizado por Al Pacino en su papel de ciego, con vídeo incluido.
"Sorprende con una ensalada original" es el siguiente discurso, con el que Celine Quissac nos ilustra en el arte de la preparación de esta delicia culinaria. Se trata de su primer discurso tras haber completado el Manual de Comunicador Competente. Mmmmm...¡¡¡yo quiero la receta!!!
También ha finalizado recientemente su Manual de Comunicador Competente, David González. Y esta vez nos presenta su primer discurso de entretenimiento (The entertaining Speaker 1) titulado "Arreglando antenas", en el que nos relata varias de las anécdotas de su primera experiencia laboral como ingeniero de telecomunicaciones con elevadas dosis de humor.
Posteriormente, los evaluadores, María Lozano, Sue Chien Lee, Jose Taure y Judit Permanyer así como la evaluadora general de la sesión, Pilar De Obeso, presentan interesantes y muy constructivas evaluaciones de los discursos preparados a todos los presentes.
Y por fin llega el turno de los discursos improvisados, conducidos de la mano de Djanira Cortesao. Se presentan cuatro voluntarios: Marcos Mota, Xavier Rodríguez e incluso dos invitados: David y Franco, que deben elegir una papeleta en la que hay un número escrito. Uno a uno van surgiendo los más variopintos relatos relacionados con los números: 6, 21, 127... ¿alguien ha hablado de la soledad de los números primos?
Seguidamente, cada uno de los miembros del equipo técnico resumen el estado de la sesión en cuanto a control de tiempo, propiedad de los términos empleados, uso de la palabra del día y empleo de muletillas durante la sesión. Ahora que nadie me oye, tengo que admitir que me olvidé de cronometrar el minuto y medio de la evaluación escrita (gracias, Marina por el guiño).
No podía terminar la sesión sin premiar el esfuerzo y el reconocimiento de nuestros queridos compañeros. Así, nuestro flamante presidente, M.A., hace entrega de las correspondientes insignias y placas para premiar a:
Cormac WalshCeline Quissac
David González
Joan Fabregat
¡Enhorabuena a todos!
¡¡¡Porque ellos lo valen!!!
Pero los premios no terminan ahí.
¡Esto es mejor que la noche de los Goyas!
Gracias a nuestro Area Governor, Kai Stenbach, nuestro club ha sido distinguido con un nuevo galardón: el de Home Club of area governor. ¡Felicidades!
Por último, M.A. indica que la participación y colaboración forma una parte importante del espíritu del Toastmasters y recuerda que se necesitan voluntarios para participar en el concurso de discursos y evaluaciones que tendrá lugar el 23 de marzo en nuestro club. Anima a todos a colaborar y a apuntarse con Marion, que se encarga de las tareas de coordinación del concurso.
Las palabras de nuestro presidente para fomentar la participación calan en mi tan hondo que, al final de la sesión, me ofrezco voluntaria para hacer de blogger por esta semana ;-)
Felicidades a todos por una sesión con un increíble nivel por parte de todos los participantes en la que, una vez más, hemos podido aprender disfrutando de un rato divertido en tan agradable compañía ¿Qué más se puede pedir? Hasta el próximo miércoles,
Ana
Dear fellow Toastmasters and friends,
Once again, we’ve had an amazing meeting this week! First because, thanks to our dear President M.A., we had the priviledge to meet in a new and bigger room! Furthermore, we appeared all more organized: for example, the persons who were supposed to talk were sat at the front which made the whole reunion more dynamic. Peter was close to the door so that he could control everybody arriving late (and maybe reprimand them as well).
The most important was that I finally got my badge!!! I felt good and proud the whole session!! ;)
It’s Wednesday, the 2nd of February. 8:00 pm, the reunion starts. Soon M.A. takes the floor and introduces cheerfully the guests, name by name. He follows with the presentation of the next contest, planned on the 23rd of March, the roles to fulfill and that he will send an email to all members to keep trace of all participants. After a week, if all roles are not fulfilled, you should all start worry… He will pick names from his magical Christmas hat and we’ll have no choice but to participate!
As the Toastmaster of the day, Robert decides not to prepare for the role since he wants to improve his spontaneous leadership!
After explaining each roles and introducing the speakers (the only parts prepared by Robert, since he cannot improvise on this), the objectives are repeated.
We have 4 Speakers tonight:
- Tanja, a very good IceBreaker, with no sign of stress and fluid (Peter’s evaluation). She presents herself, Germany - her native country, many trips around the World, some difficulties faced on her professional career (creation of a phone application company which did not work), her promotion in Barcelona and the love she felt at 1st sight. So now she is here, enjoying both Barcelona and the Toastmaster club!
- Liz’s speech is based on the “Slumdog Millionaire” movie. She exposes a well structured development using 3 “who wants to be a millionaire” questions related to her experience with the Senator Mr. Kennedy and 3 distinctive souvenirs: music, pets and science. What a surprise when she uses the “call a friend” option to respond to one of the questions: a brilliant Doctor of Science from Harvard who is no one else than Mr. Cormac, great fellow of our Toastmaster Club :)
- Stefan, another German friend, explains to us all the difference between the German and Spanish people in a meeting. I notice a lot of smiles from our Spanish crew… It probably means he is kind of right about that!
- And finally Djanira who is coming alive in front of us with her body and face gestures! She shares with us the story of her first days in Barcelona and how the difficulties that she experienced made her grow in terms of self-confidence, networking and marketing.
After the very constructive evaluations from Peter, Judit, Cormac and M.A., we finally arrive to one of the most exciting moments of the session (at least for some people…), the Table Topics. Tonight, it’s Marina in charge and she has chosen an interesting and useful topic: “the art of presenting news”… Thanks to you, Riccardo, Maria and Marisol, the information has been announced:
1) Gynecologist Riccardo announces to a father-to-be that he will not have 1 but 2 children and moreover not a babyboy - so that he can make him “socio” of the Barça - but 2 lovely girls! What a good strategy to present a club for girls in Barça where the growing babies can go later on.
2) Maria has to explain to parents that their child is a genius so he will never have a normal life like all the other kids of his age.
3) Marisol is in charge of delivering very bad news to a passionate ballet dancer that she is not going to enter the academy because of her size (a true story based on Marina’s sister) – the positive point is that she may easily become a model thanks to her beauty!
It’s now M.A.’s turn to announce his “interesting” news: from now on, if we don’t have volunteers for the Table Topic, we’ll use – again – the Christmas hat, full of the names of everyone with no role, and – again – no choice but to “talk” in front of the crowd.
Joan wants to have a word too in this exciting moment of giving news and presents a potential future event: a GoCar day! Thanks to Paty who can give the club a good discount, we will be able to discover our Barcelona city in a new style: with wheels and a voice coming out a little yellow car, describing the neighborhood.
At the very end, M.A. asks a volunteer to write on the blog… Because I am kind of scared of the diabolic Christmas hat, I volunteer and raise my hand. I am now in front of the screen, a white empty word page, relying on my memory in order to write down a summary of the session… Next time, please M.A., ask for volunteers at the beginning so that we can take some notes!!
Cheers everyone and see you next week!
Yours, The blogger of the day
I'll go into details of the meeting in a second, let me just give you the big news first:
- January 26th is a special meeting for club officer training
- next normal club meeting is February 2nd,
- next renewal in March will be 36 Euros for 6 months (rather than 72 for 12 months)
- no more members will be accepted until April
- no more new guests will be invited until April
I'll come back to this new members/guests topic towards the end.
We started on a different note: our new President MA was giving a nice introduction to another PACKED room of this week's SPANISH meeting. He explained once more that the TableTopics (TT) have moved to after the prepared speeches and speech evaluations, simply because we keep a moment of suspense, as well as managing better our time that we spend on TT. (Side note: maybe we should update the timer's template sheet, and put TT on the bottom there, too.)
Then MA called upon myself, Kai, Treasurer of the club, to present the report of 2010 and a special proposal. Last year we spend slightly more money than we took in, yet we still have healthy club finance because during some years with a weak dollar rate the club had quite some surplus. One change for 2011 is that we will have renewals in March and September, for 6 months each time. The special proposal was to help the new BCN Pride Toastmasters Club with 400 Euros sponsorship + 400 Euros loan for their initial spending, and this has been approved by vote of all active members attending.
During the presentation of Roles Marina explained how important the timing is, also in foresight to the Toastmaster competitions that are held twice a year: 30 seconds after the red light means you get disqualified. Laura's word of the day was Expert. TME Pilar also shared with us a very personal story on how her dad in Mexico beat her to become a Competent Communicator after the 10 first speeches from the CC manual - and she was there over Christmas to watch it - and evaluate his speech. Wow!
We then had our own first prepared speaker, an Icebreaker by DTM Dale, in Spanish. I really liked how he used a Toastmasters flier and had put notes inside, so that he could hold it up and read from there rather than from the notes on the lectern. His speech "En las Nubes" - in the cloud - was talking about his TM past, his relocation to Barcelona, and how is now looking for a job with the help of the cloud, LinkedIn for example.
Second Speaker Patricia was answering if becoming your own boss might be "¿Una buena idea?" - a good idea? She talked about teamwork, leadership skills and long term (financial) benefits of running your own business.
Third up was Rob with his speech 3 - "Tengo un problema", talking about obesity and giving great recommendation on how this problem needs to be tackled.
Our forth speaker had quite an impact on the whole room, when she asked what she and Kurt Cobain would have in common. This was a very informative talk with many different sources of information, all wrapped into a packing personal story that many of us will remember ... Wow!
Our evaluators were kind, as always. Maria commented on how brave Dale is to face a Spanish speech delivery, while obviously he is still struggling with grammar and vocabulary after living here just 3 months. Djanira recommended that Paty could as well work without notes, as they were not used, and that body language could help reinforce a great speech structure. Jose T was giving recommendations on transitions, and Kathryn confirmed that Sue had reached all our hearts and minds, while recommending to work on organisation to avoid any dead moment.
Antonio then presented his Table Topics, and his volunteers were Jose Luis (on the Catalan "Caganer", Lucie selling some magic drops, and Laura counting cows instead of counting sheep.
On the other reports and General Evaluator, let me point out how well Laura highlighted both great use of words, as well as suggestions for alternatives - this is very useful especially for foreigners like me, since we learn public speaking and improve our Spanish at the same time. GE Joan pointed out how important it is that everyone that has a rule on the agenda should arrive between 30 and 15 minutes before the start - otherwise those that are there already will be busy looking for alternatives ;) Another suggestion was that the Ah-Counter report should be compacted, so that it doesn't get boring.
The meeting was then handed back over to our President for more club business. M.A. announced the role of the Blogger, which will be done by 1 volunteer each week, and doing this role twice will count for the newsletter assignment of the CL manual.
We then came to the most difficult topic: closing down the entrance to the club. VPPR Marina confirmed that those guests who were confirmed for this week had been waiting since November. I was able to add to this (as treasurer) that we went from 16 renewed members to now 59 signed up members in just 10 months. M.A. hence put the committee's suggestion forward to a general club vote, that we won't accept new members nor invite new guests until April, and this was carried: all 29 attending members voted in favor, 0 against, 0 abstentions. We'll monitor the situation, the upcoming renewal (many thanks Maria for paying 36 already), and how membership develops as soon as Pride charters. At the same time we are looking for additional rooms and a larger room for our Wednesday meeting.
Quick update from our last meeting before Xmas ... you see all roles on Easy-Speak anyway: 4 Table Topics about getting to know people, or getting rid of them again - Thank you, Maria del Mont! This was followed by 3 Icebreakers and 1 speech project #5. Marc told us why he joined Toastmaster, and in between we got to know a little about his work. Ana told us about the 3 most important decisions in her life: a European rail trip, going to London and going the Camino de Santiago. That last one must have been fun, because she met an interesting guy there, who would follow with his own icebreaker right after her: Riccardo from Italy shared some of his own adventures with us, closing the circle back to Ana, and sharing the link to his blog. Peter presented us The 7 P's = "Proper Planing Prevents Piss Poor Performance", a very nice, entertaining yet informative spin on the 5 P's of marketing. Our speech evaluators were full of praise, as always. Many thanks to Joan, David, Djanira and Dale. Among the learnings & recommandations for improvement, we heard how important it is to know where your hands are - ideally outside of your pocket, and how walking or pacing from left to right can give the impression of nerviousness, as well some hints on eye contact and facial expressions to compliment the body language that we project with your hands, arms and the rest of the body. General Evaluator Sue pointed out that we should try to have the chart with the TM Educational Tracks and the current DCP status visible. From the other reports I really liked Marisol's list of special words we use, which I as a foreigner still struggling with Spanish at times did indeed appreciate.
David closed of his 6 month of President, congratulating our 4 speakers who earned themselves a ribbon each (photo above). The Year 2010 has been the most successful in the club's history, so we can all be proud of our achievements. David will now be Immediate Past President, responsible for the nominations in preparation of the next elections. January we will welcome M.A. as our new President, who hopefully recovers from his cold ahead of Xmas ... you've been missed, Sir, thank you for making the extra effort to come to the committee meeting before the normal session!
Felices Fiestas, everyone. Yours, Kai.
On Wednesday Dec 1st our Club had the first of the two last sessions of this fantastic year 2010 for Barcelona Toastmasters. Almost 40 people attended the session so we had to book a larger room at EAE. Being it a completely reverse, upside-down session, the choice of the Word of the Day was totally appropriate: "Surreal" (thanks Sue!!).
The reverse session dynamics, carefully prepared in advance by our VPEs Cormac and Pilar, implied that we started the session by evaluating the session (M.A. the General evaluator using his crystal ball), then evaluating the Speeches, then actually doing the Speeches, next we did the Table Topics (thanks Liz and Judit for the name raffle), announcing the Table Topic theme (David had to make magic), finally Peter our SAA welcoming everyone to the session (please turn your mobiles offfff).
Both the evaluators (Djanira, Kai, Sue) and speakers (Pilar, María, Marina) had to guess and/or adapt their speeches and evaluations to what was coming next, making it all the more fun, and, surreal!
After that we all enjoyed a well-deserved Xmas dinner party at the Llar del Pa Torrat, our classic hangout after sessions. Adrian made some pics of the evening!
Have a great "pont",
Marina
VP PR, Barcelona Toastmasters
