Toastmaster of the day (TMOD) script - Chennai Articulator’s Club – Meeting #1

Chennai Articulator’s Club – Meeting #1 
Toastmaster of the Day Worksheet

Date: 10th April 2014
Word of the Day: beachhead
Theme: New Beginning

1. Accept control from President and thank him/her for the introduction.
2. Introduce theme of the day and word of the day. Encourage the speakers to use them during the meeting. Ask the audience to applaud when the Theme of the day and word of the day is used by the speakers.

• 70,000 babies are having their new beginnings in India, every day
• Approximately 3 new clubs are having their new beginnings every day in Toastmasters International
• Today, is the “new beginning” of Chennai Articulators Club. All of you are part of this historical meeting… and give a big round of applause for yourself.
• “New beginning” is the theme of the day, today
• The first Toastmasters club in Chennai was established in the year 2003. Starting Chennai Toastmasters Club, became the  beachhead for Toastmasters movement in Tamilnadu
• Beachhead - an initial accomplishment that opens the way for further developments

3. Explain the flow of meeting and the 3 segments (Prepared speeches, Table Topics and Evaluation) for guests.

April marks the new beginning for the Financial Year 2015.
For any “New Beginning” to be successful, there should be 4 things: (1) plan/ preparation (2) execution with commitment and passion (3) ability to handle impromptu situations and (4) continuously fine tune the strategy based on feedback.
• Prepared speeches – Provides an opportunity for members to plan & prepare their speeches
• Table Topics – Provides teaches members how to handle impromptu situations
• Evaluation – Provides members an opportunity to improve, through feedback from peers

4. Introduce the General Evaluator (based on the meeting theme) and ask the General Evaluator to introduce his/her team:

Introduction:
1) Work at TCS Siruseri as a Systems Engineer.
2) Been with Toastmasters since March 2012
3) Internship with Duke of Edinburgh - It began his journey across Asia and India in discovering stories of social entrepreneurship.

Please join me in welcoming the General Evaluator for today TM Rahul Shankar

5. Regain control from General Evaluator.
6. Inform the audience that you are starting the prepared speeches segment.
7. Prepared Speeches

Speaker #1 TM Srinivasan
Project Details Manual: CC
Project #: 9
Project Title: Persuade with Power
Speech Title: Sometime for yourself
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)
1) Tech trainer (Internal) for 12 years, DGM Training in S&N Hayakawa Enterprises Pvt. Ltd Chennai
2) Been with Toastmasters for the last 1 year
3) New Beginning: The day I started doing my Technical Training, and realized that it is my real "calling" from inside

Before I call TM Srinivasan to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech TM Vishnu to read the project objectives?

Speaker #2 TM Mahendra Varman
Project Details Manual: CC
Project #: 10
Project Title: Inspire your audience
Speech Title: Belief
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)

1) Working in Real estate industry i.e building promotion and land promotion
2) With Toastmasters for 3 years and has already completed CC/CL
3) New Begginning : Serving as Conference Chairman Division M Conference

Before I call TM Mahendra Varman to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech TM Paul Baskar to read the project objectives?

Speaker #3 TM Nandith Durga
Project Details Manual: ACG – Entertaining Speaker
Project #: 3
Project Title: Make them laugh
Speech Title: That Night
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)
1) CA in the Final stage
2) Has been an active member of TM from 2 years and has played club officer role in Vishakapatnam TM Club
3) New beginning: Life in Chennai
Before I call TM Nandith Durga to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech DTM Suganthi to read the project objectives?

8. Ask the timer if any of the speakers are disqualified due to time. Ask the audience to vote for the Best Prepared Speaker.

9. Introduce the Table Topics Master (based on the theme of the meeting):

Introduction:
• Working as Analyst IT Quality Assurance working with Verizon
• Has been with Toastmasters for the last 2 years and has served several officer roles in the club
• Memorable New Beginning: First day in my Job with my previous organization Alcatel lucent it was a start of a dream career in Telecom industry

Please join me in welcoming the Table Topics Master for today TM Christopher

10. Signal the Table Topics Master to end the session when the time limit is reached / exceeded.
11. Regain control from Table Topics Master.
12. Ask the timer if any of the speakers are disqualified due to time.  Announce eligibility. Ask the audience to vote for the Best Table Topics Speaker
13. Invite the General Evaluator TM Rahul Shankar to conduct the evaluations segment
14. Regain control from General Evaluator.
15. Final remarks (try to end with a BANG). Not exceeding 1 minute.

Today is a new beginning … with bells and whistles ringing
Today is a new beginning ... with speeches still lingering
Today is a new beginning… with members from all over Chennai joining
Today is a new beginning … for Chennai Articulators Club to start running

16. Return control to President TM Vishnu

CC Speech #3: Get to the Point - One Step at a Time

Introduction

“Studies show that it takes 3 weeks to develop a habit, 6 months for it to become a part of your life and just 1 week to give up”.  Every year people take New Year resolutions. Do you know how many stick to it? Only 1 in every 10 people stick to their new year resolutions.
Today, I’m going to share with you a technique which you can use to successfully achieve our goals… a technique that you can use to stick to your New Year resolutions… One Step at a time.

Reducing Weight Example

What do we do when we take New Year resolutions? Let us take for example, a simple resolution of losing your weight and staying fit. The moment we take a resolution like that … We set our alarm clock to ring at 4.30 a.m in the morning … We start with Yoga for 1 hour. Then you sign-up for a costly membership in a nearby gym. We go to gym for another 2 hours. You stop eating anything that an ordinary human being eats. You start taking only salad… or cut fruits for your meal. I’ve seen people carrying a huge tiffin carrier to work before their resolution… but they start to carry a small Tupperware box after taking resolution.

You’ll do this for a week and or may be a month and give up because it is practically unsustainable. Who in the world would find 2 hours every day for exercising – unless your full time job is to maintain your body like athletes. Who in the world can sacrifice their cravings to eat food like pizza, icecream and cakes? After the 2 weeks, you’ll start getting philosophical thoughts “Saro! What is the purpose of living in this world… Is it worth sacrificing your sleep … Is it worth sacrificing good food… At the end of the day, everyone is going to die… and may be, you’ll die faster… Is it all worth it?”.

When you try to climb up fast… you’ll give up fast.

Toastmasters Example

Let me give you another example which is near and dear to all of us… Toastmasters. I’ve seen people joining Toastmasters wanting to be become DTM in 2 years… or Toastmasters wanting to master communication skills in just a year. They’ll start attending meetings of 4 clubs a week. Whenever they see a flyer that says “educational sessions”… they’ll be there. They participate in all contests. You can see them all over the place. And all of a sudden, they vanish. They delete their Facebook account… They stop responding back to emails… and they don’t even pick up calls from Toastmasters.
When you try to climb up fast… you’ll give up fast.

Saro’s story to become a Vegetarian

I have gone through the same set of challenges whenever I want to develop a new habit. I had tried to give up non vegetarian food several times in the past… but, failed miserably because I was trying to take “Too many steps at a time”.

It was the year 2001. I was young, charming and good looking … then.  I got a chance to read the book “My experiments with Truth”, by Mahatma Gandhi. Immediately, I got inspired and wanted to become a pure vegetarian like Gandhi. However, I didn’t become a “pure vegetarian”, the next day. At first I stopped eating meat – I continued to have eggs & sea food. It went on for a year or so. Then I stopped eating eggs and sea food… but, I continued to have milk and other dairy products. Later, I stopped eating Pizzas, I stopped eating cake, I stopped eating curd and ice creams - I became a pure vegetarian (aka Vegan). It took me about 5 years to transition from a non-vegetarian to a pure-vegetarian. If I had tried to stop eating meat, eggs and Pizzas on day one, I would’ve soon given up my quest to become a Pure Vegetarian.

One step at a time… for results that last for a life time.

Fellow Toastmasters… Be it reducing your weight… be it starting your own business… be it getting a good girl friend or a boyfriend … Achieving your goal… or sticking to your new year resolutions… is like eating an orange. If you try to eat the entire orange in one go, you can’t… you may probably get choked to death. If you try to eat one slice at a time… you can finish eating it soon.

I encourage all of you to take … One step at a time… for results that last for a life time.

Also read:

CC3 - Mitra - My little one (Get to the Point)

Speech Topic selection Ideas