Contest Winners!

Congratulations to our contest winners! They are as follows:

Dave Ellison CC, CL for best Tall Tale

Laurie Rangel ALB, ACS for best International Speech

You both did a great job and have made our 

Cottonwood Toastmaster's Club PROUD!

Good luck to you at the next competition. 

We are cheering for you!

Cottonwood Toastmasters every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

*A special thank you to the internet world for our often used images! 

February 14th Facts

This past Monday one of our Cottonwood Toastmasters gave a speech as she is working toward her Distinguished Toastmasters award. Her speech was so interesting that I asked if I could put it in this blog. Since it is the 100th anniversary of Arizona's Statehood, I thought it was appropriate. Thank you to Laurie for sharing with us. The following are some of the facts we learned about in her speech:

On February 14, 2012 many of us will be celebrating St. Valentines Day. I started wondering "Who is St. Valentine?" According to the Catholic Dioceses of the United States, Saint Valentine is not one saint, it is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome, fourteen in all.

Saint Valenitnes day is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other. This celebration first became associated with romantic love in a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer . According to his biography, this poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Ann of Bohemia.

Squidoo states that on Valentine's day, nearly one hundred and fifty million cards are exchanged and fifty percent of these cards are purchased six days before Valentine's Day. They also mention that forty thousand Americans are employed at chocolate companies....

Here are a few more bits of trivia to entertain your mind:
-In 1556 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was declared a heretic
-In 1778 Stars and Stripes arrive in France for the first time
-In 1794 the first US textile machinery patent was granted to James Davenport of Philadelphia
-In 1848 James Polk became the first president in office to be photographed (by Matthew Brady)
-In 1887 the Cubs sell Mike King Kelly to Boston for a record $10,000
-In 1010 the United Parcel Service was formed, now commonly known as UPS
-In 1929 According to the Chicago Sun Times in a garage in Chicago, seven gangsters and one dog were killed in a gang war between the North side Irish led by Bugs Moran and the South side Irish led by Al Capone. This has become known as the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
-In 1962 the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts a White House tour on television
-In 1971 the movie "Ben Hur" was first shown on television
-In 1989 the worlds first satellite skyphone opens


As for Arizona:
*On February 14, 1912 Arizona was admitted to the Union as the 48th state. The state motto, which is on our state seal, is DITAT DEUS, which means God enriches.

Happy Birthday Arizona!

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Thank you Laurie!

Cottonwood Toastmasters recently held a three week long Speech Craft. We would like to thank Laurie and her committee for doing a magnificent job. We all had a lot of fun! 

 Taken from the Toastmasters International site:

Speechcraft in Brief

Build your Toastmasters team

What is it?

• A short, seminar-style presentation that teaches basic Toastmasters skills: speaking and evaluating

Why do it?

• Toastmasters members build their meeting management skills by leading the seminar.
• It’s a great way to attract members to an existing club or begin forming a new club.

        Participants:

• Get a chance to see what Toastmasters is all about
• Enjoy the camaraderie of a Toastmasters group
• Gain confidence and training in their communication skills
How it works:
You can choose how you want to do the presentation!
• Do sessions in four, six or eight weeks
• 1-2 hours per session
Speechcraft may be:
Presented as part of the Toastmasters meeting which makes it easer for participants to become members at the conclusion of the presentation.
• Invite 5-10 people
• Devote 30 minutes of each meeting to presenting Speechcraft
Presented as a seminar-style presentation (outside of club meeting):
• You can invite more people
• Can be tailored to any group or company
• A great way to form a new club

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Bravery

For the month of January our Cottonwood Toastmasters Club has been holding a Speech Craft with the theme and goal of teaching valuable interview skills. This past week we had a volunteer, not a member of Toastmasters,  bravely stand before us and give a speech, terrified as she was. We would like to congratulate her on doing a marvelous job! She incorporated interesting information about herself, reasons why someone would benefit from her services and skills, asked valuable questions, and stood confident in her desire to learn and grow.

We learned that she was trained by a Shaman named Blue Cloud and does a Reiki type of healing. We also learned that she has a CD available and offered to share it with her future employer. Her name is Reverend Linda Page associated with Liberating Perspectives. Our applause is for you! You did a great job and we thank you for sharing.

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Learning From Your Mistakes

Yesterday I gave a speech in our Cottonwood Toastmasters Club. It was probably one of the most difficult speeches I have ever given. That's a good thing! I learned the most from this speech because of the topic difficulty and the mistakes I made. The topic was "Interview Skills". This topic was assigned to me for the Speech Craft Series we are doing during the next three weeks. To make it more challenging, I wanted to give a speech out of my Entertaining Speaker Manual to assist me in my goal of Advanced Communicator. Whew, I tumbled thoughts around in my head for days, all the while asking myself "How can I make this speech informative and entertaining?" It wasn't until the night before my speech was to be given that I got a FLASH of an idea! 


I had recently read an article from Pine Tree Consulting Service "Things Not to Say at a Job Interview". They surveyed top personnel executives of 100 major American corporations and asked for stories of unusual behavior by job applicants. It is from this article that I chose to be the person of the "DO NOT DO'S" at an interview. It was a lot of fun being the wacky one, wearing the bold jewelry, kicking off my shoes, making insulting comments, talking on my phone, etc... The difficult part came when I realized I'd forgotten to pass out the hand out and had to do it during my speech, oops. And I ran out of time and didn't tie up my ending very well, which is something I pride myself on doing. Okay, so maybe it was a lesson in humility. I can take it!


How are you going to learn if you don't make mistakes, if you don't get up in front of an audience and speak? There are some club members I have not heard from in the year I have been in our club. I would like to extend this challenge to you of speaking at least ONCE each month. It is good for you, even though it hurts! I still get anxious before my speeches and often ask myself  "Now remind me why you are doing this Laina?" and the response is always the same, "It's good for you girl!" 

So how about it? Are YOU up to the challenge?

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Thoughts for the Day

At each of our Cottonwood Toastmasters meetings someone is assigned to give a thought and I have heard some great messages over the past year. I felt that it would be appropriate to devote this blog post to a few of the thoughts that have impressed me at different times of my life. There are so many, these are but a nibble of the great words that can inspire, humor us, or assist us in times of change.  Maybe you can use these in your Toastmaster meetings as well. I will start with our thought from this past Monday, which was: "Don't wait for people to be kind, show them how."

"Your mind will be like it's habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." 

 -- Marcus Aurelius

"Every good thought you think is contributing its share to the

 ultimate result of your life" 

--Grenville Kleiser

"The destiny of mankind is not decided by material computation. We learn that we are spirits, not animals, and that something is going on in space and time,and beyond space and time, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."

--Winston Churchill 

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow"

--Mark Twain

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." 

--Will Rogers

"If at first you don't succeed you're running about average." 

--M.H. Alderson

"All nature is but art unknown to thee, All chance, direction which thou cantst not see; All discord, harmony  not understood; All partial evil, universal good; And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. 

--Alexander Pope

"Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live."

--Goethe

To be continued...........................

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638

 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Speech Craft

Cottonwood Toastmasters is hosting a Speech Craft, which is a short, seminar-style presentation that teaches basic Toastmasters skills: speaking and evaluating, with a focus on interviewing skills. 

Please join us in this mutually supportive and positive learning environment, where every member and guest will have the opportunity to develop valuable communication and leadership skills necessary in seeking employment.

Where: Cottonwood Village

             201 E Mingus Avenue

             Cottonwood, AZ 86326

When:  January 16^th, 23^rd and 30^th  2012

          

Time:   12:00 to 1:00 pm 

Cottonwood Toastmasters:

Meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

HUGS!

Congratulations are in order to Tara for completing her third speech in our Cottonwood Toastmasters Club! We will miss you when you leave Tara. You have been a wonderful addition to our club. Hopefully you won't be absent too long, however we wish you abundance and joy in your new adventure!

Tara taught us how hugs are important to a sense of well being. Psychologists have done case studies on babies in orphanages to determine that if these children are not held they show a failure to thrive and usually die. In a study of monkey types, monkey infants chose an empty feeding bottle covered with soft terry cloth over a full bottle left uncovered. The need for touch, gentleness, comfort and softness was preferred.

Adults will wait in line for hours to receive a hug. As an example, Tara once went to a lecture on Love by Leo  Buscaglia, a famous author and motivational speaker known as "Dr. Love"  who said he would stay after the meeting to hug anyone that came to him. Tara herself stood in line for forty minutes to receive a hug, others stood in line much longer.

There is a woman in India known as the "Hugging Saint", lovingly called Amma, which means "mother", who, according to Wikipedia, has hugged over thirty one million people throughout the world. People go to her to share their troubles. Amma holds them, wipes away their tears, and hugs them. This one woman's actions are evidence alone that we human beings desire hugs to assist us in achieving a sense of well being.

	"There is one truth that shines through all of creation. Rivers and mountains, plants and animals, the sun, the moon and the stars, you and I—all are expressions of this one Reality." --- Amma

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Did You Know About Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?

Rudolph came to life in 1939 when the Chicago based Montgomery Wards asked one of their copy writers, Robert May, to come up with a Christmas story they could give away in booklet form to their shoppers. Wow, look at what happened from there! Who would have imagined? This is something we learned in Toastmasters, which is not only a public speaking arena, but also an educating one. We learn all sorts of interesting tid bits of history. 

This past Monday we also learned about a horse named Robert who overcame his allergies to Roses and went on to be an amazing and heroic police horse! 

Fun and folktales at Toastmasters! 

It doesn't get much better than that!

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:00
at the Cottonwood Village  located at 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome.

For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638
or Dave Ellison at 634-6540

Elevator Speech

The following information is taken from the Toastmasters International Branding Manual:

What is an “elevator pitch”? An “elevator pitch” is an exceptionally brief (5 seconds/3-floors per statement), unassuming summary used to define the organization and its value proposition with the intent of simply getting the audience to ask for more information, ride another floor, request a business card, etc. Each statement of an elevator pitch lasts about five seconds, or three floors of an elevator ride.

Preparation is key. Be ready with three key things you can say about the Toastmasters organization. Your three key messages should be authentic; therefore, each pitch will be a little different. The only thing that should remain consistent is that you clearly explain what Toastmasters International does, and frame it in a way that relates to the interests of your listener. Stuck on what your key messages should be? Here are two ideas to get you thinking:
1. Describe three things that the Toastmasters International program
helped you accomplish over the past year and the impact of these
accomplishments.
2. Tell one great story about the work you do in Toastmasters that
is personal, compelling and representative of the Toastmasters’
organizational purpose.

Being prepared means being ready to go further. In other words, if someone is really interested in what you just told them, you need to be ready to expand on the conversation with more information. You also need to know how to help your listener find more information and contact someone who can guide them through a welcoming engagement.

Here is an example of a 250 word Elevator speech:

“For more than 86 years, Toastmasters International has been recognized as the leading organization dedicated to communication and leadership skill development. Through its worldwide network of clubs, each week Toastmasters helps more than a quarter million men and women of every ethnicity, education level and profession build their competence in communication so they can gain the confidence to lead others. The world needs leaders. Leaders head families, coach teams, run businesses and mentor others. These leaders must not only accomplish; they must communicate. By regularly giving speeches, gaining feedback, leading teams and guiding others to achieve their goals in a supportive atmosphere, leaders emerge from the Toastmasters program. The organization answers a new generation’s plea: Where can I go to become a better communicator and ultimately, a stronger leader?

Toastmasters continues to build on its legacy by providing a strong foundation for the future. Its proven educational program continually evolves to address the needs of the world’s communicators and leaders both today and tomorrow. Toastmasters members learn to tell their stories. They listen and answer. They plan and lead. They give feedback — and accept it. Through our community of learners, they find their path to leadership.”

Toastmasters International. Where leaders are made.

Cottonwood Toastmasters meets every Monday 12:00 to 1:15 at the Cottonwood Village, 201 E Mingus Ave. Guests are welcome. For more information call Laina Lloyd at 928-300-8638 or Dave Ellison at 634-6540