Hola mis companeros de Toastmasters!
Jennifer Chan, our club President (Presidente) opened the meeting and introduced our guests, Noa Bornstein and Liza Tsapenko. Both Noa and Liza gave a nice introduction in Espanol.
By the way, Noa is a talented sculptor. If you would like to see some of her work, log onto: www.sculpturesgallery.com Liza on the other hand, is a seasoned Toastmaster so it was nice to have her visit our club.
For the Spanish Conversation (Conversacion en Espanol) portion we had four groups and this time had more fluent than non-fluent speakers.
Our first speaker (primer orador) was Dale Blagrove. Dale presented his Ice Breaker, Speech #1 from the CC manual. As many of you know, the Ice Breaker is a great way to introduce yourself to the club while gauging your natural speaking ability. Since Dale is a DTM - Distinguished Toastmaster, he’s an old pro. It shows terrific initiative that he’s taking the CC Manual challenge on again in Espanol. By the way, I took a look at his manual I had no idea it was available in Spanish. Feel free to order one from the TM site if you have not done so already. The title of Dale’s speech: “Not lost in translation” I think may make a terrific motto for our Fiesta TM Club.
Dale spoke about how learning English when he was a boy created comical and at times frustrating situations for him and his family. For example, his father’s mispronunciation of English words like saying tree for the number three. The time he got into an argument with his grade school teacher about the correct spelling of the word color, spelled colour in one of his storybooks. The funniest story however was about the first time he visited Spain as a teenager with his Spanish teacher and classmates and was pulled aside by customs because he inadvertently said (si) to all of their questions, including the one about carrying illegal drugs. Nice job, Dale!
Brad Shilling, our club Treasurer, was the first evaluator (primer evaluador). Brad really enjoyed Dale’s speech and he made some terrific suggestions, like that the speech could have been strengthened by having Dale go out on a limb with some additional Spanish words. I agree. Come on Dale, October 19th is right around the corner at Fiesta, we promise you won’t get into trouble for using more than the (si) word.
Our second speaker (segunda oradora) was our very own (Presidente), Jennifer Chan. Jennifer presented speech #3 from the Humorous Speaking manual. The objective of speech # 3 - Make ‘em laugh, is to present a speech that opens and closes with humorous stories. Her speech was titled “A day at the Motor Vehicle Department.” We all looked at each other knowingly, who doesn’t have a DMV story? Jennifer told us about the day her poor husband had to go to various windows and spend countless hours trying to accomplish the seemingly simple task of updating the state on his driver’s license. The conclusion of her speech: a day at the DMV can result in making a smart person feel stupid.
Jennifer’s speech was evaluated by two evaluators, (dos evaluadores) John Schaffer, a Spanish speaker and Tushard Deshpande, a non-Spanish speaker. Why two evaluators? John and Tushar had the terrific idea of sharing the role, in order to cover both the English and Spanish portion of Jennifer’s presentation.
John who has a fairly good mastery of Spanish (Espanol) talked about what a fun topic it was. It’s nice when we speak about topics we can all relate to and Jennifer certainly did that.
Two recommendations for Jennifer and all members:
1) if you are going to read large portions of your speech in Spanish you may want to add in more English. Reading reduces eye contact with the audience and it slows down the presentation which can result in the speaker going over time.
2) Until you become more comfortable with the pronunciation of Spanish words try memorizing just a few lines or use Spanish words through out the presentation instead of in large chunks. It will be easier for speakers and non-speakers to follow along, and more importantly will allow for TM elements like: eye contact, gestures, vocal variety, etc.
Tushar made an excellent point in his evaluation. Since he was unable to understand the Spanish portion of Jennifer’s speech he evaluated her solely on body language and gestures. He compared it to watching t.v. with the volume turned down. Great analogy Tushar! We have to remember that while we are up there sometimes our bodies speak louder than we do. In other words, we need to make sure our words are consistent with our gestures. Jennifer’s body language and gestures were effective despite the reading which reduced her eye contact with us.
Our third speaker (tercera oradora) was our VP, Membership, Marcia Melendez. Marcia presented speech #1 from the Speaking to Inform manual. The objective of this speech assignment is to present information in an organized and easy to learn format.
Did you know that there are just over 20 (veinte) trees that can be planted in NYC? I got that interesting bit of information from the sheet she was kind enough to distribute to all of us. The title of Marcia’s speech was “How to plant a NYC tree.” Marcia did a terrific job of presenting this unusual and interesting topic.
Would you like to have a tree planted in your neighborhood? Talk to Marcia or call the Mayor’s Assistance Line at 212-788-7418. However, before you call have your patience in check since we all had a good laugh when Marcia compared the NYC Parks department with the new Gestapo in town. Apparently, they can be a bit prickly to deal with.
A special thanks (Gracias) to Kenneth Oehlkers for stepping in at the last moment to evaluate Marcia’s speech. I think he spoke for all of us when he noted how fascinating a subject it was. Not many of us have given enough thought to how a tree appears along New York City streets. Kenneth did a great job of picking up on the strengths of Marcia’s presentation. Namely, the forms she brought in and the organized way in which she presented the various steps required.
Since we were running a bit short on time, our Table Topics session was held round robin style. We all created a story by adding in any element from the three speeches presented. We began with “September is the month for... (Septiembre es el mes de...) fill in the blank. It was great fun and everyone in the room had a chance to say whatever came to mind.
Our General Evaluator was John Schaffer, thanks John for doing double duty at the meeting!
A quick note on evaluations, please remember that in addition to stating the strengths of every speech, evaluators need to point out the areas for improvement. A club is only as good as it's evaluations. If we don't point out where we need to improve how can we grow? Continue being kind and supportive, that's a wonderful attribute for us to share with one another, but make sure to point out areas for speakers to work on so they can improve.
For club business, we all need to log onto: www.sandyeast.com This is the easiest and fastest way to sign up for meeting roles and participation. Also, Brad has sent out an email about membership dues so make sure you get yours in before September 30th.
A special thanks to Liza Tsapenko for participating as Ah Counter (contador de muletillas), Camille Dyer for being our Timer and finally to Julian Hernandez, our club Secretary, for being our Grammarian and presenting the word of the day, "excellent" (excelente)! Julian also pointed out a few grammatical errors made during the meeting. He even caught me on one, thanks for that. One additional note Julian made which I was not aware of, if you are using an electronic translation gadget, at times you may not get the translation you intended, so best to check with a fluent speaker before presenting.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing you all in future meetings.
Hasta luego,
Marina
VP, Education Fiesta TM Club
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
08-23-10 Fiesta Club Meeting Recap
Hola mis companeros de Toastmasters!
At our last meeting we held our club Table Topics and Humorous Speech contests and even managed to fit in two entertaining presentations.
Jennifer Chan our club (Presidente) opened the meeting and welcomed both of our guests, Eamonn Shaw and Jeremy Courage.
Jeremy is a member of my home club, Bryant Park Toastmasters and he stopped in to present an advanced speech on interpreting poetry. Jeremy is working towards his Distinguished Toastmaster - DTM designation. He read a poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer titled “The Invitation” (La Invitacion).
The Invitation begins with these beautiful and inspiring words: “It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.”
For both contests, perhaps due to the Summer season we only had 2 contestants, myself and Kenneth Oehlkers.
Humorous Speech Contest:
Contest Chair: Julian Hernandez Chief Judge: John Schaffer
Kenneth was the first contestant. He presented an entertaining speech titled “Days and Nights of the Living Dead” He shared a funny story about receiving a consolation letter from Discover Card services about his recent death. Apparently, there exists a Death Master File where 22,000 people were erroneously listed as deceased within a 2 year period. It took Kenneth lots of patience and the ingenuity of bringing to the Social Security office a recent picture of himself at a Toastmasters event, obviously alive and well. Kenneth summed up his experience by letting us know that it takes about 4-8 weeks to be brought back to life on paper and that his Toastmasters participation literally pulled him back from the grave. Bravo Kenneth! All of us at Fiesta and I’m sure in all the circles you travel, are happy to have you here with us alive and funny.
Yours truly was the 2nd contestant and it is very difficult to be objective about my own contest speech. The title of my presentation was “NY - A State of Minds.” My speech was about the strange/bordering on insane things people sometimes do in the big apple and about how direct we tend to be in our communication. I had a great deal of fun sharing mini vignettes about incidents I witnessed or read about. For instance, while waiting on the check out line at a local CVS, I listened as a disgusted and agitated cashier said or shouted to the only other customer in the store “Mister! I can’t give you Viagra!...No...You have to go to a doctor....I don’t know any doctor! As I mentioned in my speech, it’s sad that the Viagra company slogan is “This is the time for Action!” Clearly at 8pm, on a Friday night, with no prescription, you can count only on - no action! I shared a couple more stories about Steven Slater, the flight attendant hero and a bagel brawl at a Manhattan Starbuck's. I concluded my speech with the realization that NY is a state made up of enthusiastic, direct, often connected and at times not so connected minds.
Table Topics Contest:
Contest Chair: Karthik Paladugu Chief Judge: Julian Hernandez
Kenneth was the first contestant so I did not get a chance to hear his response to the Table Topics question, which was: tell us something we don’t know about where you come from?
Since I can’t add Kenneth’s answer I think it is only fair to leave out my own.
Next up, the ballot counting during which Betty Pickett presented Speech #4 from the Competent Communicator manual.
Betty’s speech was titled “Heat Wave” (Sol de Infierno). It’s always great fun to watch Betty present. She has such a big wonderful smile, that lights up her face and lifts the spirits. Betty made some significant improvements since her last presentation. She introduced us to another character, Rosa and in her speech Rosa was the Spanish speaker so that blended beautifully with our new approach to use both Spanish and English in our presentations. Betty’s speech was about the hot Summer in August of 1866 where 10 days of a heat wave killed 1,300. Although that is a morbid fact, Betty gave us much to enjoy. Bravo Betty!
Next was the speech evaluation which I volunteered to give. I noted all of the strengths in Betty’s speech. The character, the language balance, the energy, enthusiasm, colorful content and solid organization. For improvement, in future speeches we will see Betty give us even more eye contact, perhaps she will try memorizing a few of the Spanish lines so she can feel free to use body gestures to reinforce her message. The last recommendation would be the use of pauses for making effective transitions.
I want to extend a special thanks! (gracias!) to all the members that helped run the contest. Jennifer, Marcia, Brad, Julian, Karthik, John, Jeremy and I hope I’m not missing anyone.
Lastly, I have the honor and pleasure of representing Fiesta Toastmasters club at the Area contest on September 9th at the Goldman Sachs building downtown.
May you all enjoy the long weekend ahead!
Hasta luego,
Marina
VP, Education
Fiesta Toastmasters
At our last meeting we held our club Table Topics and Humorous Speech contests and even managed to fit in two entertaining presentations.
Jennifer Chan our club (Presidente) opened the meeting and welcomed both of our guests, Eamonn Shaw and Jeremy Courage.
Jeremy is a member of my home club, Bryant Park Toastmasters and he stopped in to present an advanced speech on interpreting poetry. Jeremy is working towards his Distinguished Toastmaster - DTM designation. He read a poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer titled “The Invitation” (La Invitacion).
The Invitation begins with these beautiful and inspiring words: “It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.”
For both contests, perhaps due to the Summer season we only had 2 contestants, myself and Kenneth Oehlkers.
Humorous Speech Contest:
Contest Chair: Julian Hernandez Chief Judge: John Schaffer
Kenneth was the first contestant. He presented an entertaining speech titled “Days and Nights of the Living Dead” He shared a funny story about receiving a consolation letter from Discover Card services about his recent death. Apparently, there exists a Death Master File where 22,000 people were erroneously listed as deceased within a 2 year period. It took Kenneth lots of patience and the ingenuity of bringing to the Social Security office a recent picture of himself at a Toastmasters event, obviously alive and well. Kenneth summed up his experience by letting us know that it takes about 4-8 weeks to be brought back to life on paper and that his Toastmasters participation literally pulled him back from the grave. Bravo Kenneth! All of us at Fiesta and I’m sure in all the circles you travel, are happy to have you here with us alive and funny.
Yours truly was the 2nd contestant and it is very difficult to be objective about my own contest speech. The title of my presentation was “NY - A State of Minds.” My speech was about the strange/bordering on insane things people sometimes do in the big apple and about how direct we tend to be in our communication. I had a great deal of fun sharing mini vignettes about incidents I witnessed or read about. For instance, while waiting on the check out line at a local CVS, I listened as a disgusted and agitated cashier said or shouted to the only other customer in the store “Mister! I can’t give you Viagra!...No...You have to go to a doctor....I don’t know any doctor! As I mentioned in my speech, it’s sad that the Viagra company slogan is “This is the time for Action!” Clearly at 8pm, on a Friday night, with no prescription, you can count only on - no action! I shared a couple more stories about Steven Slater, the flight attendant hero and a bagel brawl at a Manhattan Starbuck's. I concluded my speech with the realization that NY is a state made up of enthusiastic, direct, often connected and at times not so connected minds.
Table Topics Contest:
Contest Chair: Karthik Paladugu Chief Judge: Julian Hernandez
Kenneth was the first contestant so I did not get a chance to hear his response to the Table Topics question, which was: tell us something we don’t know about where you come from?
Since I can’t add Kenneth’s answer I think it is only fair to leave out my own.
Next up, the ballot counting during which Betty Pickett presented Speech #4 from the Competent Communicator manual.
Betty’s speech was titled “Heat Wave” (Sol de Infierno). It’s always great fun to watch Betty present. She has such a big wonderful smile, that lights up her face and lifts the spirits. Betty made some significant improvements since her last presentation. She introduced us to another character, Rosa and in her speech Rosa was the Spanish speaker so that blended beautifully with our new approach to use both Spanish and English in our presentations. Betty’s speech was about the hot Summer in August of 1866 where 10 days of a heat wave killed 1,300. Although that is a morbid fact, Betty gave us much to enjoy. Bravo Betty!
Next was the speech evaluation which I volunteered to give. I noted all of the strengths in Betty’s speech. The character, the language balance, the energy, enthusiasm, colorful content and solid organization. For improvement, in future speeches we will see Betty give us even more eye contact, perhaps she will try memorizing a few of the Spanish lines so she can feel free to use body gestures to reinforce her message. The last recommendation would be the use of pauses for making effective transitions.
I want to extend a special thanks! (gracias!) to all the members that helped run the contest. Jennifer, Marcia, Brad, Julian, Karthik, John, Jeremy and I hope I’m not missing anyone.
Lastly, I have the honor and pleasure of representing Fiesta Toastmasters club at the Area contest on September 9th at the Goldman Sachs building downtown.
May you all enjoy the long weekend ahead!
Hasta luego,
Marina
VP, Education
Fiesta Toastmasters
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