York Toastmasters

50 Years and Counting

2008-05-07T21:23:00.002-04:00

Wow, I cannot imagine what the Toastmaster's meeting must have been like 50 years ago. Our club is getting ready to officially celebrate its 50th year. What an accomplishment! We will have current members and member from our past joining to walk down memory lane, and set a path for the future. Stay tuned as we share some of those moments. I think what makes the last 50 years so exciting is the fact that we are ready for the next. It's time to continue making history.

What I learned at Toastmaster's officer training

2008-01-13T17:08:00.000-05:00

We attended a wonderful officer training program in Lemoyne, PA. The keynote speaker was Dr. Dilip Abayasekara, Ph.D. He had a lot to say. What really struck me was his comment on learning leadership skills. The best place to do it? In a volunteer organization. We have all heard that learning to speak at Toastmasters is a good idea, since you can mess up and your boss will never know. But learning leadership? Well, in the working world if you are the boss, employees will do what you tell them, because their paycheck depends on it. With volunteers, you have to make people want to help you, make them share your dream and vision.

In organizational behavior, there is a lot of talk about theory X and theory Y. In brief, Theory X employees work to avoid punishment and Theory Y employees work because they love to and enjoy their job. The real world is in between. In Toastmasters, we have only the carrot and not the stick. Being a club president or other leadership role, can help anyone learn the art of positive motivation.

Ice Breakers

2007-10-18T19:34:00.000-04:00

We have quite a few new members so we are going to have an Ice Breaker meeting. I love when that happens. For the new Toastmaster's it is a daunting task. They need to put their lives in to a neat little package that last 4 to 6 minutes. I recently ran across a quote that I love that really spoke to me about what Toastmaster's does for it's members.

"It's not so much what you get from goals
that matters, it's what you had to become to
get it that's yours forever."
~ Jim Rohn

How to appologize for huge mistake? an example

2007-09-27T12:08:00.000-04:00

What does Thomas the Tank Engine (r) have to do with Toastmasters? Communication.

Two months ago, RC2, the importer of wooden train toys from China, issued a recall of 1.5 million red painted wooden trains and accessories, due to unacceptably high levels of lead paint. These trains are played with by children 1.5 to 5 years of age - children who may put the trains in their mouths and ingest the lead. Lead exposure is implicated in irreversible lowering of IQ, ADHD, and lifelong behavior problems. Clearly, RC2 corporation made a big mistake. Taking immediate action was needed not just for legal reasons, but to minimize damage to the "brand identity".

Here in York County PA, Thomas the Tank Engine means a lot to families. Kids go on the "Day Out with Thomas" at nearby Strasburg Railroad. They see the TV program on PBS. And the wooden trains, at $10-$15 each, are treasured possessions that parents work hard to buy. A lot of tears were shed for the first recall. A lot of kids woke up in the morning to find James, the red engine of Sodor, missing.

June 13, 2007 recall:

"The trust you have placed in the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway brand is very important to us. We want you to know that we fully understand and share your concerns and are dedicated to safeguarding your children and that trust. Since our recall announcement a few weeks ago, we've focused on three primary objectives:

Recovering products subject to the recall
Determining what happened
Conducting a thorough review of our processes and procedures to prevent it from happening again

We are making progress on all three objectives, and we deeply appreciate your patience and loyalty during this time."

The RC2 response of September 26 makes 3 main points:

We are sorry, we will send a replacement
We are taking action to prevent it from happening again
We are "casting a wide net" to identify any other lead paint affected toys

Here is a sample:

"Dear Concerned Parent,

On behalf of everyone at RC2 let us apologize for the worry a new toy recall may cause you and your family. We understand how painful it can be to take a cherished toy from a child. Nevertheless, we urge you to immediately check for and return any of the newly recalled toys to us.

Families returning one or more of the affected Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway toys will receive a replacement for each recalled item, as well as a free gift. This website offers help with identifying, returning and ordering shipping labels (September 2007 Thomas Wooden Railway recall) for the affected toys. Customers with U.S. based returns will receive prepaid shipping labels. Customers with Canadian based returns will receive preprinted shipping labels and reimbursement for postage at standard Canadian postal rates. You may also email recalls@rc2corp.com or call RC2's Consumer Care Center toll-free at (866) 725-4407.

We deeply regret the burden that recalling toys creates for parents, but we believe parents deserve to be assured of two things: First that the Thomas toys they already have are safe, and second that the new toys in stores are safe.

To assure that the toys families already have are safe, more than 1,500 individual Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway toy styles were retested. By casting this wide net, we discovered that five additional toys were potentially unsafe and they are being recalled, in full cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission."

In MBA school, the Tylenol Crisis of 1982 is mentioned as a successful example of corporate disaster response. Johnson and Johnson issued a nationwide recall of Tylenol products - 31 million bottles, with a retail value of over US$100 million. The company also advertised in the national media for individuals not to consume any products that contained Tylenol. When the company acted immediately and decisively, consumer confidence was restored.

Will Thomas the Tank Engine fare as well? What other communication steps can RC2 take?

Online Resources For Preparing A Speech

2007-09-24T20:58:00.001-04:00

Here are just a few of my favorite resources when I am doing research for a speech:

Searching for a good quote to add to a speech:
http://www.quotationspage.com/

Word searching tools:
http://www.allwords.com/
http://thesaurus.reference.com/
http://www.fun-with-words.com/
http://www.m-w.com/

The Top 100 speeches in USA ... find them here!

2007-09-24T20:15:00.000-04:00

American Rhetoric.com
Martin Luther King
FRD, JRK, Malcom X ... find them all here!

District 38 Fall Conference

2007-09-24T20:09:00.000-04:00

2007 District 38 Fall Conference
Your Connection to Humor
Hosted by Division A

November 9 - 10, 2007

Holiday Inn - Morgantown
Morgantown/PA Turnpike Exit 298
6170 Morgantown Road
Morgantown, Pa 19543

Keynote Speaker:
Darren LaCroix
2001 World Chamption of Public Speaking

Contacts: Lori Trimmer, John Brown, and Rei Fuller

Toastmasters in York County PA

2007-09-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

Club#	Club Name	Website	Location
2435	York Toastmasters Club	Club Website	York 17402
5287	White Rose Club		York 17404
790787	Hanover Area Toastmasters Club	TI Link	Hanover 17331

Note: York Toastmasters meets Tuesday evenings at 6:45 pm
White Rose is a daytime club.

District 38 Toastmasters web site

Humor, ticks, and Lyme diease... can they mix?

2007-09-24T12:41:00.000-04:00

The biggest challenge for me in Toastmasters is staying within the time limits on my speeches. The second biggest challenge - use of humor. I decided to make it really hard on myself and try to incorporate humor into my talk about ticks and Lyme disease.

A small sample:

"...Send the kids outside with pants tucked into socks ...I call this SAFER SOCKS."

Yes, its hard to find jokes about ticks. So my next talk I did on trains, and a certain train-obsessed little boy:

Benefits to having a train instead of a little boy:

I can spot my son in any crowd – he’s the one with the blue and white striped engineers cap.

Its so easy to dress a train in the morning …

Mommy: “come here, look I have a train shirt for you.”

R: “Thomas!”

When I need help with laundry – “come here R___, take this cargo to the sock depot.”

When I need help cleaning up: “come here R___, park your toys in their sheds.”

Tips for successful humorous speaking:

after making the joke, wait for the laughs
be sure to have the person introducing you signal that humor will be involved
put your best 2 jokes in the intro and conclusion

Learning begins with the first speech

2007-09-24T12:12:00.000-04:00

I did my icebreaker with York Toastmasters in May, 2007. As an experienced Toastmaster (3 past clubs) I knew what to do - start off with where I came from, and end up with who I am now. And somewhere along the way, explain why I first joined Toastmasters and why I am re-joining 6 years later. An easy 5-7 minute speech about a subject I know well ... me. The title was something dull like "all about Claire". The organization of this is chronological, making it easy.

My speech went well. The audience clapped. Then, fellow toastmaster Ash B. did the evaluation. Suddenly, I realized how the speech could be made so much better: a title to grab the audience's attention and draw them in. Here is the new title for my Icebreaker:

"How I started out to be a research scientist and ended up an entrepreneur"

Here is a small excerpt:

"I went to Penn State for graduate school, MS program in materials, I was "good with machines", but I was working with chemistry instead - I liked fixing the broken equipment more than the experiments. Graduate school was filled with boring lab work, and tedious classes, until I met _____, another student in the materials program. Then, my life got interesting. Two of the things he did for fun were Toastmasters International, and fire walking.

Which is scarier walking on hot coals, or public speaking? I promptly joined the Nittany Toastmasters ... not just cause I liked ______, but as a graduate student in a field with minimal commercial applications, it was really clear that communication skills would be needed for job interviews."

It's a New Toastmastering Year

2006-07-13T20:39:00.000-04:00

As we embark on the 2006-2007 Toastmaster Year, we take pause to think of all the Toastmasters that have come before us. I am always awe struck by the magnitude and the reach of this organization. In our club alone, we have hundreds of years of Toastmastering experience. Welcome Ray Branas as our new President. Already big things are happening. He is demonstrating amazing leadership. And he has rallied a great team. Come to the meetings and see what a few good people can do.

2005-08-12T22:41:00.000-04:00

Humorous Speech Contest!

Lia, Ash, Bill and Ruth after the York Toastmasters annual Humorous Speech Contest (Tuesday, August 9, 2005). Lia won first place in the Table Topics portion of the contest. Ash was the contest chair. Bill won first place in the speech portion. Ruth took second place in the speech portion. Not pictured is Sharon, who took second place in the table topics portion. The Area 22 Speech Contest is September 20, 2005 at 6:30.

York Toastmasters adopt a highway

2005-06-01T22:17:00.000-04:00

The York Toastmasters Club has voted to participate in the Adopt-A-Highway program! In the coming months, the club will be assigned a portion of nearby Route 24 as its adopted highway. Club members will meet throughout the year to collect trash and debris from the designated portion of the highway.

The project was spearheaded by club member and incoming Vice President of Education, Heidi Puente. "York Toastmasters Club feels strongly that serving the community is an important part of our mission as a club," said Puente. "This is simply another way we found to serve area residents."

2005-04-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

The Area 22 Speech and Evaluation Contest was
held on March 17, 2005

Front: Bill D. (2nd Place Speech), Lia A. (3rd Place Evaluation)
Sharon K. (1st Place Speech, 2nd Place Evaluation)
Back row: Dave F. (Area 22 Governor, Contest Chair),
Diane L. (2nd Place, Evaluation)

Sharon K. wins Area 22 Speech Contest!

2005-04-11T17:21:00.000-04:00

GREAT NEWS! Sharon K., a veteran member of Toastmasters, finished in first place at the Area 22 Speech and Evaluation Contest held on March 17. Her speech that night, "Roy G. Biv" was a sensational story of a young woman learning a valuable lesson -- one that would stay with her for a lifetime -- from her father. As a result of this first place finish, Sharon will represent Area 22 (and our York Toastmasters Club!) in the Division Speech and Evaluation Contest on Saturday, April 16 at the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. Oh, and one more thing. Sharon also took a 2nd place in the Evaluation portion of the March 17 contest. So, as an added bonus, Sharon will also compete in the Evaluation portion of the April 16 Contest. Go Sharon! Best of luck to all competitors...but we REALLY hope Sharon wins all the trophies!

York Toastmasters Spring Speech Contest

2005-04-11T16:14:00.000-04:00

The annual York Toastmasters Speech and Evaluation Contest
was held in February 2005. Pictured are, left to right, Bill D. (1st Place, Speech),
Lia A. (2nd place Evaluation), Marion B. (Contest Chair)
and Sharon K. (1st Place Evaluation).