Back to the Top - 7th July

Fellow Toastmasters,

Well done to everyone who made it to the “MULTI-LINGUALISM” evening, you made the evening great. Iam sorry to say, to those who could not make it, you missed a lot – we had representatives of South Africa (Afrikaans + Xhosa), Switzerland, Lesotho, Italy and Holland.

Thanks to Butch and Linda for their assistance in organising the event – Oh! the delicious eats from across the globe, pizza, cheese, chocolates, “umncutshu”, you can name them.

Table topics were fantastic, we had a brilliant ‘ nursery rhymes’ session with everyone participating. Thanks to Win, who was the Table Topics Master and congratulations to Derek for being chosen as the best Table Topics Speaker.

Colin Davies, the incoming President, gave a marvellous and inspirational speech. He took us through a journey of where Protea is coming from, where we are currently positioned and what we need to do to get back to the top. Colin explained that although we are grateful for achieving the 2008/9 Prestigious President’s Distinguished Club Status, this also marks the point where another year starts. With no goals again we have to work our way to achieve the 9 or 10 goals in 2009/10 , hence we are going back to the top. Present members completed pledge forms as a sign of their commitment to embark on a journey to take the Club back to a President’s Distinguished Club in 2009/10. I will send out the form in a separate mail for the benefit of those who could not make it to the meeting.

The 2009/10 Club Officers were officially inducted at the meeting. The Induction occasion was led by Derek Myburgh.

Thanks to Nita, Jarl, Lucritia, Ramona and Chris for sending apologies for the previous meeting, we missed you and hope to see you on the 21st of July at our new Stirling venue.

The 21st July meeting is quite critical, because we are expecting a large complement of visitors from UTI, coming to see what Toastmasters is all about, in anticipation of Chartering a club at UTI in coming months. Derek and Robin (hoping to join the Protea Family anytime soon) are helping in forming the Club, thereby gaining credit for their Leadership programmes. I invite you (if not currently lined up to speak) to be a prepared speaker for the day, to ensure that we have a full programme running. Please let me know ASAP if you are interested.

Abisha (VPE)

The Mystery of Love - 23rd June 2009

Fellow Toastmasters,
Last meeting of the year, but first meeting in a new venue – What a wonderful meeting we had on Tuesday night, with Protea scoring two more goals in the same meeting - and thereby achieving the prestigious “President’s Distinguished Club” Status in 2008/9.

Shirley got the Table Topics off to a fun start as we introduced various artists and writers to the club.
Sigal inspired us to work better in teams, and Win gave us ideas on how to Relax.
Derek – thanks for trying to demystify the “mystery of Love” at the meeting and in so doing adding another goal to the Club – Dries you missed this one !!!

Abisha wrapped up the speaking by encouraging us to be motivators, and in doing so achieved his ALB. This goal also makes him eligible for the Tripple Crown Award! Well done!

The same meeting also marked the closure of the membership building contest. Special thanks to Derek, Chris, Win, Ramona and myself for bringing visitors during the campaign. The next membership building campaign will kick off on 1 August 2009.

Congratulations Chris, for attaining the Competence Communication award and for being chosen the best Table topics Speaker at the meeting.

The Official induction of the incoming Club Officers will be done at the next meeting and your attendance will mean a lot for them.

Compiled by Ashisha and Colin

A Sense of Excellence

Hi Toastmasters.

Please remember that we have a new venue - Stirling Conference and Events - 13 Beresford Road - off Old Transkei Road.

There will be a car guard to watch your vehicles, and there is street lighting.

The bar and refreshments will now be run by Stirling Conference & Events, and will now also include coffee.

This next meeting is very special as both Abisha and Derek will be completing their next educational goals. Not only is this a win for them as toastmasters, it is also a win for us as a club, as we then achieve President's Distinguished Club status - the highest achievement in Toast Masters!

You are invited and encouraged to come and be part of this exciting event.

See you at 18:00 on Tuesday.

Remember too, the meeting on the 7th July which is the induction of new officers and our multi-lingualism evening where we celebrate the diversity of our club.

We have an exciting evening lined up and will be introducing the new District Theme and our own Club theme for the next Toastmasters year.

Have a laughter & fun filled day!

Colin Davies

Starting from the Knees Up ! - 18th November 08

So many things went through my mind when I listened to Luthando saying "my knees are in fellowship" when he delivered his Ice Breaker on 18 Nov.

He meant that his knees were trembling (of nervousness) due to it being his 1st prepared speech!! I thought back to when Toastmasters started, in October 1924. When Ralph C. Smedley created an organisation which today serves over 230,000 members in 92 countries through 11,500 clubs. I think about how many knees (mine definitely included) have been in "fellowship" during those long minutes of an Ice Breaker and how many lives it has changed in the following years.

I recently saw a great TV advertisement for a Fund Management company where a boy meets a girl, and sees how beautiful the mother looks. The message is "look for potential and then have the patience to wait for the perfect end result".

It made me think how much can be gained if any visitor could just gather enough courage to come to a meeting and then trust Toastmasters to deliver a perfect end result. All it requires is some potential and the patience to accompany it.

So often we see new members not being patient enough to apply the basics and work their way through the speech manuals. Famous saying- "you really CAN get everything you want if you are willing to wait for it". Just like the boy in the advertisement! Public speaking is a skill, to be acquired by listening, learning and applying a measure of patience. The end result is always well worth the wait.

To all Protea TC new members, we want to ask you to follow the steps, don't hurry it too much while you enjoy the process of learning , having fun and you will be richly rewarded over time.

Luthando, I trust you (and your knees) will always cherish that 1st speech date because very soon your knees will be ably supporting the body of a confident public speaker, positively influencing many others to follow in your speaking path.

Tuesday 21st

Our Tuesday meeting was a real hit. Lusanda did an outstanding job for his first assignment as Toastmaster of the evening - that in spite of a number of late cancellations due to illness and work deadlines. We are looking forward to many more meetings MCeed by Lusanda!

We had the privilege and pleasure of welcoming 6 guests on Tuesday, and we hope to see you again soon.

Our quaint word of the day must have been inspired by Dries' line of businesses. How often do you use the word quaint in your daily conversation? But 2 people managed to get it into their speeches, so well done.

Dries' Table Topics focussed on the furore around recent events in SA rugby. By the way, who is Luke Watson?

Gary inspired us with his first speech by likening life to a river. His passion for exploring rivers around the world was kindled early in life, and his approach to life has certainly helped him live his passion.
Linda then enlightened us on "opportunity cost". Everything is a trade-off. Even coming to Toastmasters has its opportunity cost - you could stay home and watch TV!
Finally, Abisha gave a well researched speech about plants that eat animals. His interest in nature was clearly evident. We were all relieved when he reassured us that the largest animal that plants eat are only the size of rats. So we have little to fear when walking in the bush - well at least not from the plants!

The evening was wrapped up with the evaluations - as always, superbly done by Abisha, Nita & Josef.

From a business point of view, Chris has stepped down from Sergeant at Arms - thanks Chris for your commitment in the past, and we look forward to having you back soon. Abisha has taken over the position, and he is doing a fine job with setting up and making sure we start and end on time.
See you all on the 4th.

Wish upon a Ribbon :

Or maybe it's a case of pure Ribbon Ecstacy! Picture this- when we received our President's Distinguished Club ribbon, the envelope and letter arrived, but NO ribbon ! We are talking about a mere weeks before our Special DCP Celebratory Spring Dinner on 16 Sept. So both Colin (previous President) and myself sent urgent emails to World HQ and the District Gov, respectively. The internal gears of this great International organisation started grinding. So, just guess what happened next? During the afternoon before the dinner, 2 envelopes arrived at Colin and my own mailboxes, containing a ribbon each !!! So, in Protea TC first year of taking part in DCP programme, we achieved no fewer than 2 (yes, TWO) Pres Dist Club ribbons!!

Oh yeah, baby, life is as sweet as a Langkloof watermelon!! Needless to say, only one ribbon was subsequently stitched to our club banner (temptation did not get the better of me, in case you are wondering).

Delivery of that ribbon was effected a touch to close to the finals. But then (to quote an Unknown Author) -"it it was'nt for the last minute, nothing would get done".

So where does that leave us , now that the party is behind us and the 2007/8 ribbon is attached to the Protea TC banner? It leaves us in very much the same position as it did Tia Hellebaut and Andrey Silnov. Yes, fellow Protea Toastmasters, they won gold in womens/mens high jump at the Beijing Olympics. What do they do when they have achieved a personal goal? They RAISE THE BAR !! And that, dear fellow Protea Toastmasters, is what we need to do with immediate effect. We need to forget about the previous ribbon, RAISE THE BAR and strive to improve and get even better. Whether you are a member of the Protea leadership team or a club member of ancient or recent standing, you need to ask yourself WHY you have joined Toastmasters? Re-visit your own personal reasons/goals and take a minute to "tick your own personal check-list".

Very very few people are happy if they discover they still do/experience/am the same as they were 1, 5, 10 years ago. It is in our human nature to want to keep growing, improving and experiencing new things otherwise boredom robs us of the joys of life.

And so we reach the exact same moment and choice as Tia and Andrey did. What to do, what to do……….? Personal development and aspirations require that you raise your own bar.

Read the latest edition of the BKCOB Hi-Lite magazine where Mike Hendrikse wrote an article about his first visit to a Toastmasters Club. I have no doubt that Mike's very positive
article will convince a few visitors to visit Protea TC for a look-see-decide about whether to join or not. Should they join, then it effectivly means that they are challenging themselves to
try what is considered to be a very scary decison-to try their hand at public speaking! The other side of the coin means that current Protea TC members need to upskilll themselves into being mentors, setting an example to newcomers by regularly doing speech projects i.e. RAISING THEIR OWN BAR !

After all, as human beings we were all blessed with endless possibilities and potential, why waste any of it by NOT raising our own personal bar by a centimetre or more? I know Tia and Andrey would have!

Let's create memorable conversations.
Derek Myburgh
President : Protea TC

Wise words from Michael

I travelled in some rush hour traffic this morning, listening to Michael Buble's song "you are not alone..... I'm always there with you...." and that was when I suddenly realised how much I miss all of you. I missed the last meeting and suddenly the month is too long before we get to the next meeting date ! So many times in life, all we need is someone to say to us : I'm always there with you. And that is the magic of Toastmasters and my wish is for it to be no different at Protea TC over all the years to come. A massive family connection although we are not related, friends forever and mostly assistance when you most need it. As Toastmasters who have been around for a while we sometimes forget what it is like for a newly joined member to prepare for that first time when they have to walk up to the lectern and start with ..Toastmaster of the Evening, fellow Toastmasters, visitors, my name is ... and the title of my first prepared speech is.... What a daunting and almost impossible task if it was not for the fact that YOU ARE NOT ALONE, We'll always be there with you. As the first time speaker you forget that your mentor is in the audience and possibly just as nervous as you, but certainly just as proud as you are after you've returned control to the TME and you return to your seat.

Most places in life people get to the top by pushing others down, but Toastmasters want others in their club to succeed just as much as they want to succeed themselves which is why we are always ready to help anyone else in the club improve themselves. Life is all about a Helping Hand. And that my friends is the reason why You are Never alone in this organisation or in our club. Why do we want to become better/excellent public speakers? A little bit like climbing Everest, for some of us? Because it's there, because we want to show that we can, whatever your reason, it is a lot easier knowing that You are Not Alone in all of this.

It was so very special to have (Protea TC member) Pauline Li attend the last 2 meetings when she visited SA recently. Pauline phoned me yesterday while she waited at Jbrg airport for her flight to Canada and her last words were that she will follow our comments and progress on Protea TC website. No matter where you are , you are never alone. Thanks to Colin for the many hours that went into creating this website, it is already adding value to our lives.

Come to think of it, those words would have made an excelllent President's vision/motto for the club for this coming year!

Look after one another.
See you soon.
Regards
derek

Ps. Spare a thought for Dries, his laptop was stolen off his desk last week. I know exactly what you're going through, my friend!