| Congratulations to three of our members, Janey Wassel, Lorna Speid, and very soon, Jane Schmitz for achieving the coveted Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) designation. This is an amazing feat for our SmoothTalkers club. We will now have a total of five DTM’s in our club. Steve Cicero received his in 2017 and I received mine in 2016. I would like to say a few words about my mentor, Janey Wassel, because I think there is some kind of record here for “Person who took the longest to get a DTM.” Yes, that would be my Janey. Many people thought she already had her DTM, because really, what’s it been now, twenty-six years? Our beloved Janey is our Club Historian and has a permanent position on our Executive Board as Mentor Chair. She takes this role very seriously and has become basically the Toastmaster mother of each and every one of our members. This is precisely why she did not achieve her DTM earlier. She cares more about seeing our new members get over their fears and achieve their goals than worrying about getting her own special designation. Her own mentees have achieved educational goals beyond hers. Just like me for example. I met Janey and SmoothTalkers in November 2011. I was so scared it took me three months to join the club. I immediately wanted Janey as my mentor because I knew she had been in the club the longest and she was also the oldest member. She was exactly the same age as I was. Our birthdays are a week apart. She guided and encouraged me to speak more often, but I was too afraid and wanted to quit after a year and three awful speeches. But she encouraged me to become a club officer and to continue doing functionary roles. Club officers are required to attend District officer training and there my eyes were opened to all the potential that is available in the Toastmasters program both within the club and beyond. I learned some tips and tricks to make speech preparation and delivery easier and, like Janey had been telling me all along, the only way to get better is to do it more often. I went back to the club re-energized. I gave speeches as often as I could and achieved my DTM three years later. I owe it all to Janey for insisting that I not quit. Now, I would never dream of quitting Toastmasters. I’m a member of an Advanced Toastmasters club and a mentor for many new Toastmasters myself. Thank you, Janey, for all the help you’ve given to the organization and to all the individuals you’ve inspired over these last twenty-six years. And thank you Steve, Lorna and Jane Schmitz for not giving up and for inspiring our members to continue to grow and achieve. Cindy Essary Distinguished Toastmaster | AuthorCindy Essary, DTM is a longtime member of SmoothTalkers. |
It has been quite a while since we’ve posted anything on our blog. Intentions are good but actions are better!
Since our last blog, we have a new group of officers, who we elect every six months. Many of us gathered at Todd Kaprielian’s house for our officer induction party on June 30th. We had delicious Thai food that our outgoing Vice President of Public Relations, Nancy Chu, ordered from Thai Pepper Cuisine on Sandrock Road. It was a hit, for sure. Nancy led a team to put the menu into place with Micah, Ning, Tom, Cindy, and Dien supporting her. Thanks also go to all the members who supplemented the menu with yummy desserts. Our new officers for the July-December term, sworn in by our new Central Division Governor C.J. Frey, are Micah Walala, Sergeant At Arms; Secretary, Steve Cicero; Janey Wassel, Treasurer; Scott McPheters, VPPR; Ashley Clark, Vice President of Membership; Cindy Essary, Vice President of Education; and Dien Vong, President. It’s great to have a few past officers do another term and it’s even better to have newer members step up and take on a leadership role. We never know how or where in life these roles may help us, but I know all learning and volunteering brings us new experiences and rewards. Kudos to Jane Schmitz for becoming our new Area 27 director. Jane is well on her way to becoming the club’s newest Distinguished Toastmaster (unless Lorna or I beat her to it first!) We have recently had to say goodbye to two of our strongest members, who also served on the board last term. They both had to leave us for employment reasons. They are Jacob Brody and Chaz Mathias. Jacob is particularly goal oriented. In only the two years he was with SmoothTalkers, he received his Competent Communicator (CC), Advanced Communicator Bronze, and his Competent Leadership awards, all while he also got a Master’s degree in business. Chaz gave many speeches towards his CC award and then switched over to the new Pathways program that we are all endeavoring to learn. We wish them well in all their future endeavors! But with their leaving, as well as a few other members for new jobs, come new members who will also fulfill their dreams of becoming better public speakers. We are a diverse group of ages, career paths, ethnicities, and talents. Whether you feel extreme anxiety at the thought of speaking before a group of people or you want to polish your presentation skills, come check us out every Monday night (unless we have a major holiday, in which case look at the “Schedule” tab). Visit us to see how we learn from each other, have fun, challenge ourselves, and get better and better every week. We’ve been busy at SmoothTalkers with new members to greet and established members achieving speaking and leadership goals. First, welcome to Pete O., Rajesh S., Merdardo C., and Ashley C. Pete and Raj already jumped in and gave their Icebreakers – way to go, guys, and well done!
We have learned and had lots of laughs with engaging themes like Tending Bar (who knew we had an expert in our midst?) and Snakes & Spiders. This author found it v-e-r-y interesting that some of our manly men had no glossophobia sharing their ophidiophobia and arachnophobia stories with us. Again, who knew? We’re all about improving our public speaking and leadership skills at SmoothTalkers. Congratulations to everyone who has stretched into a new role, who has challenged themselves to up their game in an “old” role, who has said “yes” to being a club officer in the new term (July-December), and who has accomplished a major milestone. Our latest Competent Communicator, Dien V., inspired us and energized us this past Monday with her engaging story about her transformation to live with intention. I know the club looks forward to Dien’s passion, her vulnerability, and her continued growth as she challenges herself with the advanced manuals. And as she does that, we all grow stronger. It doesn’t get any better than that. We are having fun and enjoying the camaraderie, food, and drink at The Bistro after the meetings along with our deeper evaluations, inspired by Todd K. last month. Lorna S.’s recent email to the group sums up what most have said at the meetings: "I just want to say how much I enjoy our Toastmasters meetings. I feel that the atmosphere has become even better in the new location than it was before.” Who knew that was possible when we were looking for a new venue?  Jacob B. (on the right with President Todd T. on the left) has been in Toastmasters only eight months.
On Monday, to complete his CC, he spoke about believing in love. You would think, with a title like that, this would be an endearing speech about romantic love, but he surprised us by not only sharing a touching personal story but by creatively weaving in the themes of his previous nine projects and how these nine challenges, goals, and insights led him to lay down the brushstrokes of the man he is today. What an inspirational speech! Well done, Jacob. We all look forward to what you next metaphorically paint on your slate. After three and a half years at Hologic, we started meeting at the Courtyard Marriott tonight. The room is smaller, more intimate, but the food is so much better! We are giving this a trial run of five weeks. Because we meet at the dinner hour, we hope that our guests and our members will enjoy the Bistro food and beverage choices in this cozy atmosphere. If you place your order before you walk into the club meeting, Danielle will ensure it is ready for you to eat either during the meeting or at 7:30. Bon appetite!
If our first meeting at the Courtyard is any indication of future success for SmoothTalkers at this location, it is a good omen. In spite of the very heavy rain, we had a terrific turnout with two guests - Cory decided to check us out (thanks, Cory!), and Pete O’Neal submitted his membership application. Our VPE, Todd Kaprielian, conducted the meeting flawlessly with a theme about “Elevators” no less. We had an inspiring reading by Risa Shibata of President Obama’s farewell speech and a civics lesson by Steve Cicero doing a 30-minute project on leading a team. Cindy Essary and Mike Norris also gave speeches in support of Steve’s presentation entitled “Freedom is the Key.” For the term January 1st through June 30th, our Sergeant@Arms Nancy Stoll decided to step down. In her place, Jacob Brody, one of our newer members who is in hot pursuit of achieving his Competent Communicator (only one more to go!), said he would take on this position, which is his first official leadership role at the club. Welcome, Jacob, and thank you Nancy for your service!
 Why do you, as “just” a member, care about the DCP (Distinguished Club Program) goals? You care because if you are working the Toastmasters program, you are not only improving your speaking skills and working the CL manual, but you are contributing to the club’s strength, vitality, and diversity. And isn’t that what attracted you to join our club?
How, you ask, does that work? Every time you do a manual speech or fill the various roles on the agenda (except Ballot Counter or Educational Moment) thereby completing your CC and CL manuals, you strengthen yourself as well as the club, because those goals are part of the Distinguished Club Program. The club’s vitality and diversity comes from you showing up each weekWe want that same strength, vitality, and diversity to attract new members so they can gain the benefits of becoming better public speakers, gain confidence, and improve their leadership skills. Woo-hoo! If you haven’t seen Cindy for a while, congratulate her on achieving a huge milestone. She received her Distinguished Toastmaster this summer! Cindy knows the manuals and the projects like no one else in the club; and as our Treasurer, she knows her way around the Toastmasters website better than anybody, so she can answer most questions you might have related to Toastmasters.
We are so proud of you, Cindy, for setting this high standard for yourself and for helping the club achieve the Presidents Distinguished Club award. As of July 1st we have a new round of officers. Our incoming president is Todd Trevisan. Beverly Barr served us well for two terms as president, making us a Presidents Distinguished Club, meaning that we met 10 of the 10 DCP goals. Thank you, Beverly, and your teams for your two terms, which ran from July 2015 to June 2016.
Todd’s team for this new term consists of the very creative Todd Kaprielian, VPE; inspiring SmoothTalker Stephen Towne, VPM; enthusiastic SmoothTalker Dien Vong, VPPR; long-time Toastmaster Steve Cicero, Secretary; our one and only Distinguished Toastmaster Cindy Essary, Treasurer; and our ever-gracious Nancy Stoll, Sgt@Arms. Thank you, all, for stepping into these roles, serving SmoothTalkers, and leading us with all you do as officers. |