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TM Insider: Becoming a Mentor

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There is a tradition in every Toastmasters club to have mentors for new members. Mentors are usually senior members who will help show the ropes to new members or member show need extra help in their Toastmasters journey.   At times, not so senior members can also become mentors if they are keen.   All they have to do is volunteer. There are a number of benefits mentors have to the new member (mentee), club and mentor themselves. For the Mentee 1) Mentees have someone to guide them.   Every new Toastmaster can tell you that the first few times they walk into a meeting, they have no idea what is going in.   They don’t know how far they can go, the many terms that are used and they don’t know the hierarchy of clubs, area, division and district.   The mentor’s role is to explain to them the big world that is Toastmasters. 2) Mentees have someone to help them prepare for their assignments.   New members may take forever to do their first speech, not know if it’s
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Leadership Series: Where You Are vs Where You Want to Be

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We're days to the end of the year and it's time to take stock of the year so far. We all know that most people don't keep the resolutions they set for themselves anyway - but if you do, good for you! - nevertheless, it's still good to take a look at how this year has shaped your life and led you to where you are right now. So rather than look at goals and the percentage of what you have achieved (your boss makes you do enough of that already), let's take a look at things from another angle. 1) What Are You Grateful For? Counting your blessings is always a good way to start the process.  It will put you in a positive frame of mind.  Make a list and don't just limit yourself to the big things.  Small things can have a big impact as well. Here are some examples: - the lessons (both good and bad) that this year had taught you - the new people (both good and bad) that have come in and out of your life - the people who gave you the opportunity to touch
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Public Speaking Tip: Let's Propose A Toast!

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Many people have the misconception that toasting is an art form that only the most eloquent   are qualified to lead.   Naturally one will be hard pressed to find willing volunteers for this seemingly monumental task. However giving a good toast is not that hard, as long as you adhere to some simple common sense and logic. There are quite a few misconceptions about performing a toast such as: It is for formal occasions only.   This couldn’t be further from the truth.  You can offer a toast on any occasion for any reason.  It can be as simple as the rare moments when a few friends can spend some time together over coffee, for instance is good enough. You need to use very big and formal words for a toast.   Again, this is not necessarily true.  It all depends on the occasion.  If like above, it’s just a casual get together amongst friends, then there is no need for any formality or pretentious big words.  You may need to use a different tone for formal occasions, though.
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Leadership Series: It’s My Fault Because…

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People have many misconceptions when it comes to working in a team. First of all, is that the onus of whether the team achieves its objectives or not lies solely with the leader.   Not so.   The team leader steers the direction of the team, but ultimately, everyone in the team needs to play their role so that they can achieve success. The second misconception is that each individual is only responsible for their own little part of the team.   Again, this couldn’t be further from the truth and a very myopic view of the big picture. Your job may only encompass a very small part in the team, but nevertheless it is still crucial and at the end of the day, will affect the team’s performance. Think of it like a clock and each individual person in the team is a part of the clock.   Even if a tiny screw is missing, it will make the entire clock stop working. So definitely, when your team doesn’t perform it is your fault. It’s your fault because you only saw your
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Think Outside the Box

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How innovative are you?  As shared by our VPE during the recent meeting, with Industry 4.0 in full swing, being innovative and doing things outside the norm is very important to ensure you stay competitive. Otherwise, you could one day potentially, find yourself being replaced by robots. Going round the table during introductions, it was clear that our participants for the night have very creative ways to think outside the box in their daily lives. And with only one speaker attempting the prepared speech for the night, we had to think outside the box to give value to our participants by asking or own professional speaker, Hayley James to conduct a mini seminar. Hayley conducting her seminar on "How to Enhance your Stage Presence" Hayley's seminar was all about enhancing your stage presence.  She started off by walking the audience through her process of getting everyone's attention to focus on her.  Then once she has everyone's undivided attenti
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Public Speaking Tips: Are You Neglecting Your Delivery?

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We see it all the time in new speakers especially.   They stress themselves so much over the content of their speech that they forget the other equally important part – the delivery. We get it, presenting a speech for the first, second or even third time is very intimidating.   You’ll have all eyes on you for that 7 minute period of time that seems to stretch to forever.   The worst thing that can happen to you is that you forget what you want to say. WRONG! The worst thing that can happen is that you remember everything you want to say but still deliver a below average speech because you’re so caught up on the content that you neglect how you’re going to deliver the content. So you end up rooted to the same position, using very little hand gesture and body language, you speak in a monotonous voice and you avoid looking at the audience because you’re afraid that they might throw you off track. A lot of people often forget that it doesn’t matter how good your co
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Leadership Series: Four Crucial Leadership Characteristics

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If you study any great leader, you will find they have many characteristics that contribute to their success.  Below are four that are the most fundamental.  Start with these first and build upon them. Leadership Characteristic #1: Compelling Desire When you take on a leadership role in any project or organization, you must have a goal, a vision of the end game that you want to achieve.  That goal must be driven by a compelling desire for it to happen.  Why do you want to achieve this?  For everyone, it’s the pain/pleasure factor – to get away from a pain or to gain pleasure.  Simple as that.  What is yours? For example, you take on a leadership role in your Toastmasters club because you want to see the club membership grow.  Why?  So that it will be easier to fill roles?  So that your club can achieve the DCP goals? Ask yourself the reason until it becomes so compelling that nothing will stop you from achieving it. Leadership Characteristic #2: Firm Belief So you have t
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