Images Newsletter of the JPKU Toastmasters Club,

New Delhi

Vol. 5, Issue 3; March 2011

MARCH 2011 Club No. 858173

Division C, District 82

The Editor‟s Note

Mission of
Toastmasters
To provide a mutually
supportive and positive
Staying in Delhi we all know the importance of the spring season. This month, just like the
learning environment
spring, we have a lot of interesting things in store for you. in which every individ-
We have Articles from International Speech Contestants of our club, take of a teacher about ual
importance of communication and regular feature theme articles. member has the
Apart from many interesting articles, we have three ―Know thy toastmaster‖ – two from new opportunity
to develop oral
members and one from a reinstated toastmaster. Also we have our very own ―Hyde park‖ sec- communication
tion. and leadership skills,
Hope you have a spring time reading this month‘s newsletter which in turn foster
self-confidence

Nitya Ranjan
Vice President Public Relations
JPKU Toastmasters Club
 2 CONTENTS March 2011

Toastmasters Benefits Page 3 Club Contact Details Page 24

Message from LGM & President Page 4 Acknowledgements Page 25

Unleash Your Potential Page 5 Club DCP Report Page 22

“The Expert Way to fine tune your speech” Important Announcements Page 23
- Deepak Menon

Communication Page 6 Best Of The Month Page 21

“The War of Words “ “Find out our star performers week by week”
- Sumit Dora

Training Ground Page 7 JPKU Through Camera Page 19 & 20

“A training without guns and grenades” “Area & Division Level Contests, Nitya’s Birthday, Dinner
- Akhil Sood Party, ”

Speaking to Connect Page 8 Toastmaster of the Year 2010—11

“Confessions from a teacher’s mind”
- Sangeeta Malik Page 18

The Day I Reached The Stars Page 9 Hyde Park Page 17

“The division conference through a contestant’s eye” “Thoughts of members over 300th Meeting Celebrations”
- Sanchit Aggarwal

My Story Page 10 Meeting Theme Articles Page 14,15 & 16

“The journey of purpose and appreciation” “Another chance to express the thoughts”
- Sumit Dora - Akhil Sood, Rahul Soni, Goonjan Mall

Know thy toastmasters Page 11, 12 and 13

“Let’s get close and personal with our new members of the club”
- Rahul Mittal, Nripen Mishra, Goonjan Mall
3 ABOUT TOASTMASTERS March 2011

What is Toastmasters
Features/Benefit/Value Chart
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that
teaches communication and leadership skills through a worldwide network of Features Benefits Value
“We Have ...” “It Will ...” “Which Means ...”
clubs. The organization currently has more than 260,000 members in over Better teamwork
Workshop-based communication skills Improved communication
12,500 clubs in 113 countries. Since its founding in October 1924, by Ralph training skills
Improved morale
Increased productivity
C. Smedley in Santa Ana, California, the organization has helped more than 4 Overcome anxiety and fear Self confidence
Company-sponsored training program
million men and women lead and communicate with poise and confidence. of public speaking Career advancement
Reinforce lessons learned Skills learned are used and re-
Today, organizations around the world recognize the value of incorporating Weekly meetings
continually tained
Toastmasters training to help employees improve their communication and Improved management and in-
Opportunity for leadership roles Improved leadership skills
creased productivity
leadership skills.
Welcome everyone to benefit
Low cost/very economical Great return on investment
from the program
Mutually supportive training environ- Enhances teamwork and mo- Decreased turnover and im-
Toastmasters Facts ment rale proved customer service

No of Toastmasters Club: 12,500+ Train employees/person how

Effective meetings and better
Prepared speeches to structure presentations for
Worldwide Membership: 2,60,000+ communication with customers
maximum effectiveness
Women Members: 130,000 (52%) Teaches how to think fast Enhanced confidence and poise
Table Topics
Members with College Degree: 205,000 (82%) and react to crises under pressure
Improves ability to coach Smoother team functioning
Industries in which Toastmasters are employed: Critical evaluations
and help teammates better performance
 50,000 (20%) Sales, Consulting, Self Employed A key benefit for all employees
Enhance your job satisfac- Employee retention
tion and career Career enhancement
 45,000 (18%) Management
Improve enjoyment of your People who enjoy themselves will
Meetings are kept lively and fun
 37,500 (15%) Government job perform better

 37,500 (15%) Finance & Insurance Opportunity to meet fellow employees

Enhance diversity and team- Improved productivity
from other areas of the company/People
 30,000 (12%) Education work Less absenteeism
from other professions

About JPKU Toastmasters Club Work at your own pace

Adapt with flexibility to em- No disruption or loss of produc-
ployee/company schedule tivity

JPKU Toastmasters Club is one of the leading community toastmasters club Training on how to properly conduct a Improve quality and results Increased productivity and mo-
meeting of meetings rale
in New Delhi, India. It was established on 2nd December 2005. It is located Assist employees to learn by
Better teamwork, morale and
in Safderjung Development Area. We hold meetings every Saturday at Active participation in the training doing with help from fellow
productivity
club members
12:30PM. Drop in to know more. Directly improve leadership Reduced ―churn‖ and better
Leadership development programs
skills managers
4 LGM & PRESIDENT SPEAKS March 2011

Communicate and Lead

The # 1 fear in the world is not dying, but public speaking. Yes, After Fantastic February and Marvelous March, April began on
more people are afraid of being asked to speak in public, than they astounding note. India is the well deserving winner of Cricket
are of death. Yet, it remains the biggest irony of life as in today‘s World Cup and our enthusiastic members have not left any stone
globalized world, communication has become a basic necessity for unturned to write some unforgettable stories in Area and Divison
survival. One has no choice than to master this skill, if one has to Contests.
survive and thrive. Whatever the industry, profession, role or level, a JPKU Contestants managed a clean sweep in Area C2 Interna-
person has to have at least a basic level of speaking abilities. All tional Speech Contest held on 13th March 2011. Sanchit Aggarwal
work today is team-work. And teams become effective when the and Akhil Sood secured first and second position in Area C2 In-
members communicate. Surveys reveal that just about 25% of our ternational Speech Contest. Nitya Ranjan emerged as winner in
students are employable. And the basic employability skill is the ability to effectively com- Area C2 Table Topics Contest.
municate in the language of choice. In short, people who communicate effectively, get
ahead in life. Carrying on with the success at Area Contest, JPKU winners contested in the fierce battle
of Titans at Divison C contest held on 03rd April 2011 in Fortune Institute of Interna-
Dear Members, membership in Toastmasters in never static, members keep on moving for tional Business. Sanchit Aggarwal emerged as the Second Runners Up in International
various reasons be it personal or professional. Most of you are new, who have been with Speech Contest. On the other hand, Nitya conquered the Divison Table Topics Contest
the club for less than a year. At present we have about 30 clubs in the National Capital Re- and made JPKU Toastmasters proud. Wish her every success at Ovation 2011 to be held
gion of Delhi. Let me take you about 11 years back when we had only 1 club i.e. Toast- in Mysore from 12th to 15th May 2011. I urge all of you to be part of this gala event of
masters Club of New Delhi. Some of its members thought of helping others by branch- combined District 82 to experience the best, to cheer for our club and testimony of bifur-
ing out and that is how we got our JPKU club. cation of District 82 into two separate Districts.
JPKU Toastmasters club inducted five new members in the month of February and
One of those leaders who helped form our club indirectly helped us to develop effective March 2011 and is eligible of ―Talk Up Toastmasters Ribbon‖ from Toastmasters Interna-
oral communication. Let it not stop here, we should also spread the word around and en- tional. I am sure variety of profile of the club members will ensure quality interactions
sure that we are able to touch one life, add one member to the club. during the meetings.

Let‘s Communicate and Lead. Let‘s achieve greatness together. But this is not enough, there is still more to be achieved and I on behalf of EC seek your
constant feedback and support in the path ahead. Our 300th Meeting is nearing and I
Happy Toastmastering! need your support in making it a grand success.
Vinay Jain Regards,
Lieutenant Governor Marketing - District 82N
Vikas Kumar
President—JPKU Toastmasters Club
5 UNLEASH YOUR POTENTIAL
DTM Deepak Menon is Immediate Past District 82 Governor and has been nominated as Region 13 Advisor for 2011 - 12 term. Professionally, Deepak is a Partner of J.P. Ka-
pur & Uberai, Chartered Accountants firm in Safderjung Development Area.
You have a speech to deliver at your Club
in the next meeting. You have worked hard
at selecting a speech topic, doing research
for it and then, painstakingly, writing it out.
You have discussed your speech with your
mentor and your mentor advises you to re-
hearse your speech. Each time you re-
hearse, you miss some portion of your
written speech and you have to refer to
your notes to get the words just right. Fi-
nally, you feel you have rehearsed it often
and are reasonably assured that you will re-
member the speech as you wrote it.
The day of the speech dawns and the activity of butterflies in your stomach, multiplies.
You feel queasy and somehow will yourself to go through the speech. After all, you are
a Toastmaster! You arrive early for the meeting, run through the notes once again just to
reassure yourself that you remember every word and every nuance of the speech. You
are flooded with best wishes but at this time all you want is the meeting to get started
and the Toastmaster to invite you to speak.
Sure enough, it is your time to speak. After a glowing introduction by the Toastmaster,
everyone is waiting with anticipation. You step up smartly (not that you feel very smart)
and start speaking. You race through your speech, fearing that if you slow down, you
just might forget. Mid way into the speech, horror strikes. A word that you wanted to
use, which conveyed all that you felt needed to be communicated, suddenly eludes you.
You fumble, you use a ‗filler‘ – but, despite all the practice, your brain just refuses to re-
call that crucial word. You somehow manage to move on and complete the speech but
feel that the impact, as you had planned, is gone. Dejected, you step back to your seat.
Your evaluator commends you for the structure of the speech, the meticulous research
and vivid wordplay. She recommends more energy in the latter half of the speech and
suggests that perhaps you could have rehearsed a little more. You wonder if any more
rehearsing would have altered the outcome. We have all, at some time or the other, faced
March 2011
this situation while presenting our speeches. If not, stop
reading beyond this point as this article is not for you!
So, how can you overcome your reliance on the written
word and learn to speak with confidence? The three
steps described below worked for me. However, you may
wish to experiment and explore other options before de-
ciding which is best for you.
The first step is to recognize that the written word is
a leash around your neck. The moment you forget
even one word, the leash stretches and threatens to
choke you and prevents you from speaking further.
The second step is to discard this leash. Do not write out your speech or at least not
the whole speech. Just jot down the structure and the main points of your speech. Use a
bulleted list for the sub-points, anecdotes, examples and statistics that support the main
points.
The third step is to rehearse your speech. Flesh out the points that you have jotted
down using words that you feel comfortable with. These will be easy for you to speak
and for the listener to understand. You must use a stopwatch while rehearsing to ensure
that you finish your speech on time. Each time you rehearse, the speech will be a little
different but each time it becomes a little better. Polish it until it is ready for the final
take.
Now that you have avoided writing your full speech, you can relax and be more sponta-
neous while presenting your speech. Your delivery will improve and you will never falter.
You have freed yourself from a self-inflicted yoke. Remember that even if you forget
some portion, only you know about it and not your audience. Do not fret about it and
smoothly move on to the next point. You will feel more confident at the meeting and
wish for more speech slots to develop your new found freedom!
Its now time to unleash your potential!
6 COMMUNICATION
Sumit Dora is a commerce graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce. His first job was at NDTV
his job, he completed two levels of CFA, USA and is currently working as a Knowledge Specialist with McKinsey & Company.
As living beings we need to interact with our-
selves and the environment around us. Thus
the urge to connect internally and externally
gave rise to different forms of communication.
It includes everything from audible, visual and
intuitive modes. In today‘s world with help of
technology, we have been to broad base our
communication to a larger audience, reduce de-
livery time and made it interactive.
Communication has been the very basis of human progression. From the time a child is
born to the time people forget about the dead soul, communication helps the being in
various ways. Here are some
The first and foremost is expressing emotions, through words and gestures. Later it
takes complex forms such as art, craft, painting, music and dance. As we start express-
ing we begin to disseminate information and share ideas. Today thanks to social net-
working sites, we have been able to harness this ability and reach out to the world for
reactions, comments and suggestions. Further as we continue to disseminate informa-
tion, we build relationships that facilitate dialogues, a feeling of community belonging-
ness. Communication in a relationship can take forms like intuition and mutual under-
standing. It doesn‘t matter what you say or do, ultimately its how you make a person feel
leaves an impression and creates a bond between individuals. In India, you cannot do
business if you do not have good relations (read contacts). So communication can help
develop a community and also make money.
The western world has primarily focused on external communication for heightened
awareness, while eastern philosophy suggests that internal communication is the key to
higher forms of consciousness. Internal communication includes how we deal with our
thoughts and beliefs. Praying to God is part of internal communication to strengthen
our beliefs and passing all the unprocessed information collected to the almighty. It‘s
like if you don‘t have enough space on your laptop drive, you transfer it to server.
March 2011
as business reporter. Along side
All in all, communication in our day to day lives is
the key to growth. Having said that, it is not easy to
communicate the way we want or to the people we
want. There could be a number of barriers that
hamper our ability in this field. Let‘s take up the first
one, people are often misunderstood because of
choice of words, tone and expression. There is a
quote – ―The meaning of the message is the re-
sponse you get‖. Style of communication is a multi
purpose tool. It can be used in a way that would put
your audience to sleep (most of our professors are
masters in this) or it could ignite fire in the hearts
of people so as to die for a cause. Other set of bar-
riers that prevent us from communicating effec-
tively include language, cultures, gender and finally
our own courage to speak up.
Another aspect of communication is ‗debate‘ – in more formal terms and ‗argument‘
quoted informally. As Toastmasters we have all heard healthy debates and contests, but
in our day to day lives, thanks to inflated egos, fifty percent of communication is argu-
ment. We just don‘t agree to another viewpoint. There is a funny story on communica-
tion between two greatest creations of God. The title is ‗The Silent Treatment‘. A man
and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent
treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake
him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to
break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00
AM .' He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up,
only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to
go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the
bed. The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM . Wake up..' Its clear never challenge a woman in an
argument, she can win it without speaking.
7 TRAINING GROUND March 2011

Akhil Sood is Vice President (Education) of the club and is known for his meticulous planning and enthusiastic approach towards everything. Professionally, he is an entrepre-
neur and runs his own coaching academy in Faridabad Area. He is very passionate about Cricket.

Years and years earlier, The moment I heard nothing related to the speech, but
the word training and I could only think about the question was will we get up in
guns and grenades. I had always associated it time and reach the venue and gladly
with the militants In Kashmir. Today, the dy- we managed to do it.
namics of the changing world has reshuffled
my thoughts as much that the militants don‘t Tough it was, But that was the way
even feature in my ideas, after listening the Sanchit and I prepared for the Area
same word ―training‖. We all have undergone contest and since we both won, there
different training therapies at both personal
are no complaints. Considering the
and professional levels but the latest work-
shop I attended was completely different. phenomenal success rate we
achieved, we are back to our training
To begin with, it wasn‘t organized at a swanky hotel. Wait a minute, as I just remem- ground, just in time for the division
bered, everything related to the training was miles from being called organized. It took contest. Feel free to join us there, we will do well with some more trainers.
place at the residence of our club president Vikas Kumar. The training timings were
peculiar. It did start on weekend but it was post dinner. The person addressing the audi-
ence was a trainee and the audience was the trainer. The trainee had to show the stage
presence and there was just two people watching him, placed comfortably in each cor-
ner. The only sophisticated technical devices used in the entire session were mobile
phones and television. The phones were used to make calls, send messages, sometimes
to time the speeches and make videos whereas the poor television was just there to
show us the last three deliveries that Ashish Nehra bowled to Robert Peterson, Well it
could be the last three deliveries he ever bowled in an international match.

Every time one of the trainers moved, the trainee was distracted and he had to make a
fresh beginning. The moment the cameraman looked up over the camera, the trainee
was dead. May be he had committed the crime of his life whereas it was just the case
that the cameraman was relaxing his neck muscles. The speeches were repeated so many
times that all three of us knew both the speeches well enough. It was like watching a
thrilling murder mystery again and again and sit through it with most innocent looks
when we knew the climax pretty well. All it took was three hours of hard work each
night after dinner to get the nod from our President and the other trainer. It meant we
were ready for the contest and when we retired to bed, the only concern we had was
8 SPEAKING TO CONNECT March 2011

Sangeeta Malik has been the past Secretary of JPKU Toastmasters Club. She is a Teacher by profession and is employed with Delhi Public School, Vasant Vihar which is a pres-
tigious school in South Delhi.

Raise your right hand‖, said the teacher. ―The is an element of surprise as she steps into a new realm
right hand is the one with which you write.‖ of knowledge. A mystery unfolds as the facts are dis-
The student raised her left hand and said ―This covered, and as the day progresses the effective com-
is my write hand .I write with it.‖A good ponents of communication emerge victorious with
teacher speaks but a great teacher communi- desired results at the end of the day.
cates and connects.
Such an important aspect is not dealt in the regular
How many of us still recollect those ‗Arm B.ed. and the other teacher training courses. I wish
chair Teachers‘? I can still visualize them sit- they could all have a toastmasters training to help
ting behind the table, acting as a superior be- them to evolve as an effective speaker by speaking in a
ing, letting out a volley of words, transmitting clear, concise manner using short simple sentences
an array of facts, and shooting out wisdom of and express themselves with good body language, im-
knowledge accumulated through years of repeated voyages through the leaflets of pressive pauses, phrases, words and voice modulation.
books.
Going down the memory lane, I do remember a handful of them who were a class And above all …Enable the teachers to speak to in-
apart. What made them special was that they knew how to talk so that the kids listened dividuals in a group and also speak to a group as
and to listen so that the kids would talk. they are an individual.

‗Do this project by Friday‘ the teacher commanded. Fifteen of forty students failed to
do it. The teacher said, the students heard, but the communication failed. It just ended
in an illusion or an imitation of communication. Proper Communication occurs only
when it produces the desired results. If the speaker and the listener move forward to-
gether then the learning can take care of itself.

For students, Communication may be subject specific, or may help expanding their vo-
cabulary, may be to enhance their value, or interactions with others, but one thing is cer-
tain – Teacher‘s talk can bring about a positive or negative influence on their little
minds. They may be growth stimulators or growth inhibitors .Their impact on masses is
massive. Their body language, intonation, expression are all part of the communication
impacting a whole being of the future generation. On the flip side, lack of communica-
tion can turn people with remarkable knowledge into virtual disasters and failures.
Just close your eyes and imagine a teacher whose passion and enthusiasm reflects as she
unfolds a new topic. She uses voices that ebb and flow as the new story opens up. There
9 THE DAY I REACHED THE STARS March 2011

Sanchit Aggarwal is present Sergeant at arms of JPKU Toastmasters Club. He completed his graduation from NSIT Delhi. He is a gadget freak and loves reading about tech-
nology. He works as a Technology Consultant with Abus Security Center, which is a video surveillance firm.

I am not a very old member of Toastmasters

club. It‘s been only 8 months since I started
my journey at JPKU Toastmasters club. It
has been a ride, which never had any lows. I
have just gone higher and higher. My last
high was Division C contest. It was a new
kind of experience altogether. Best of the
best were present there, and I was participat-
ing. A room filled with toastmasters from
Punjab, U.P and of course Delhi.
For every participant it was a challenge. It
was the time to face the crowd; to look into the eyes of people and speak; to
convey their message to every person sitting in the room. I don‘t know about
anyone else but I was nervous. I had never faced such a big gathering before.
Chits were picked and I was speaker number 7. Contestants started speaking
one by one. Each one had the message better than the other; unique than the
other. I started shivering more as the time passed. Finally when I was called, I Somehow, I won that day; not the first prize, nor the place in the next level
felt as if the time had stopped. I could just feel everyone looking at me. All of contest but an acknowledgement that someday I will be a good speaker.
the nervousness went away in a flash, when I heard the applause, climbing the
stairs of the stage. I think I did okay presenting my speech. I was happy when
the speech ended, people applauded again and I was back on my seat.
Finally, it was time for the results. For
table topics, Nitya, as expected, bagged
the 1st prize. But for the international
speech contest, it was a tough race.
There were some excellent speeches
delivered that day. My mind was full of
permutations and combinations. I was
trying to picture myself in the top 3
places but it was not easy. Finally, 2nd
runners up award was declared and it
was me. I couldn‘t believe it. For the
first 5 minutes, I was not even sure
that I was awake or asleep. That was
one of the finest moment of my life.

Apart from International Speech Contest there was also Table Topics contest,
and I sincerely thank god that I was not participating in that contest. It was
not possible to win that day from Nitya. She has always been an excellent Ta-
ble topics speaker but that day she was on a roll. She delivered such an ex-
traordinary speech that by the end of her 2 minutes, everyone knew that today
she will walk away with the 1st prize.
10 MY STORY March 2011

Sumit Dora

Scared of speaking, far from preaching, for he has been moulded like hot molten iron.
always found himself as the audience in
a meeting Proud to be a Toastmaster,,
now he can stand for a cause
So content in life, and the audience doesn't miss an applause
had always adhered to his mother,
teachers and wife Toastmasters had transformed his life
for it had offered a stage not so high,
Long ago he had forgotten, yet enough to make elephants fly
his ability to frame opinion and express
had rotten

But like a candle wicking in a storm

stood this desire to speak, influence
and perform

Who on the earth was willing to help this guy,

all he could say..Can I try?

Forget addressing a crowd,

he could not speak out loud...

His early mentors shook their heads…

Rethink your desire...for you lack that fire

Then came Toastmaster, it was an elevator

not only to go up but to move faster

Today the guy stands in front of you roaring like lion,

11 KNOW THY TOASTMASTER March 2011

Rahul Mittal is an engineer by education and a consultant by profession, He is currently working with TCS. Lets hear from
the horse‘s mouth...

Q1 How did you get to know about toastmasters? How is the journey so First signs are usually a false alarm.
far? No need to worry. I will rather advise
not to spend your whole wealth, we
I learned about toastmasters from Poonam Jain. The journey so far is excit- will survive.
ing. This provides a forum to meet wonderful people and hone communica-
tion and leadership skills.
Q5 What are the areas where toast-
masters can help you?
Q2 Working with TCS has made you travel far and wide. Please share Being a consultant, communication is
the best trip you had something which is my bread and but-
ter and Toastmasters can definitely
Working with TCS and previous firms have certainly made me travel. I have help me in enhancing it further along
over 2 million flying miles under my belt. Best or rather most interesting trip - with honing my leadership skills.
Flight from West Palm Beach, FL to Altanta, GA takes 2 hours but for one of
my trips I ended up spending over 12 hours - 2 hrs of flying from West Palm
Beach to Airport over Altanta, 1 hr circling over Altanta (due to bad weather
flight could not land), 1 hour fly back to Greenltalville, SC (as flight finally
could not land in Atlanta due to extremely bad weather) and finally rented a
car and drove 8 hours to reach Altanta. I was supposed to reach home in Al-
tanta at 2 pm but reached at 2 am instead.

Q3: What is Rahul passionate about?

Passionate about everything that I do. Can't survive without it? It is a blessing
as well as curse for me.

Q4: Its 9 months for 2012 and the first signs are showing. What is your
take on this?
12 KNOW THY TOASTMASTER March 2011

Nripen Mshra is an engineer and is currently working with POSOCO (Power Grid Corporation of India Limited). Lets get
close and personal with him.

Q1 What brought you to Toastmasters? walon ke hum hain anari‖ But joking
aside, I am always very puzzled when
Evan Esar said “Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two- this question pops up. From what I
hour vocabulary.‖ However, that is exactly the kind of speaker I want to avoid becom- understand Passion is something
ing. Public speaking has always given me jitters, more so when it is impromptu. I have which you absolutely love doing. My
participated in debates, and have been giving presentations. And haven‘t done too badly hobbies/interests have changed radi-
at either, but I want to be better and not only at speaking but also learn about stage cally over the years. I have experi-
presence, audience appreciation, and delivering content and concepts in a distinctive mented with lot of new stuff, trying to
style of my very own. figure out the right combinations. But
And, the best way to overcome thy fears is to face them head on. It has been just on a second thought, despite all the
around one month since I joined the club and despite attending just 4 meetings, I feel a confusion and chaos- reading books,
difference. power system markets (yes, I am an in-
veterate geek) and soccer are a few
things that I have always loved doing
Q2 How will you like to sum up your experiences at Toastmasters?

My perception about Toastmasters has changed over the last month. Like most other
members, I joined the club to hone my public speaking, leadership skills blah blah blah.
But frankly speaking, it has been much more fun. Here, you learn but not in the conven-
tional way.
Q3: Tell us something about the Nripen whom we don‟t know?
Q5: Any Closing Remarks?
For me, the one thing that makes Toastmasters stand out is its incubative and enabling
environment. Whether it is a role play or table topics or prepared speeches, everyone
gets an opportunity to participate and learn at every step. The positive and constructive
feedback which is an integral part of the mission as well as style of functioning of the
club, are commendable indeed.

With me ‗what you see is what you get‘. I love challenges and tend to get bored when
things get monotonous. New roles and assignments keep me going. Rest I would ‗reveal‘
“We are all apprentices in an art, where no one
in my Ice Breaker speech.
ever becomes a master”
Q4: What is Nripen passionate about?
-Ernest Hemingway
The title song of Hindi film legend Raj Kapoor‘s movie ‗Anadi‘ very aptly puts every-
thing in one phrase: ―Sab kuch seekha humne, Na seekhi Hoshiyari; Sach hai Duniya
13 KNOW THY TOASTMASTER March 2011

Goonjan Mall is a passout form BITS Pilani and is currently working with Bain & Company and has just joined the club af-
ter a stint with Bangalore Toastmasters Club. He is passionate about chess, cricket and entrepreneurship .

Q1 What brought you to Toastmasters? I have a simple three step recipie –

Ah! It's the usual suspect. I was very scared to even stand up in public and even speak Think about a basic theme or style of
out my name. Whereas, my dad is a great public speaker. He kept on pushing me hard to table topic say, two person role play
go on to the stage and speak. With a will to overcome the fear and someday be like my Research (This essentially means
dad I decided to work on public speaking. If you start working on public speaking, ob- Google. And remember, I am a cham-
viously the first thing you come to know about is Toastmasters. I googled, read a couple pion in Googling!)
of blogs and went to the toastmasters website. And it was that very day, I decided to be Mix it, shake it and twist it. Add some
a part of this revolution. red chilies. And enjoy a good session
of table topics – served red hot!!

Q2 You are a reinstated Toastmaster. How will you like to sum up your experi- Q5: Team SRK or Team Aamir?
ence at Toastmasters so far at Bangalore Toastmasters Club and then at JPKU
Toastmasters Club? I am a perfectionist. And I admire
Aamir.
Well, you can‘t compare the two experiences. With an average attendance of over 80
people, ―Bangalore Toastmasters Club‖ is the Granddaddy of all toastmasters clubs in the Q6: Any suggestions for us?
District. And I have been very fortunate to start my Toastmasters journey at BTMC.
JPKU on the other hand is the friendliest club. The experience at JPKU so far has been Just one – continue what you are doing. And I am sure, JPKU will scale new heights.
fantastic. In fact, I get up on a Saturday morning only to come for JPKU meetings – to
meet friends and have fun! Cheers to JPKU. Cheers to us!! "I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
Q3 Tell us about your professional life and importance of effective communica- And life worth living
tion there? I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
I work in a consulting firm – Bain and Company. Do I now have to say anything about
how important communication is?
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
Q4: You seem to be a great table topic master. So where is that you design these No song unsung, no wine untasted"
topics?
- Les Miserables
14 MEETING THEME ARTICLES March 2011

Colors of life - Akhil Sood

Colors have seized a significant po-
sition in our daily lives. We have
been attracted to colors always and
that made the festival of Holi spe-
cial and appealing. Each of us de-
cides his favorite color. Each de-
cided color meant something in life
and the first traits of your personal-
ity are drawn. The colors keep fad-
ing as we grow up. One day you
conquer everything, the next day
receive everything which you didn‘t deserve the previous day. Welcome to col-
ors of life and they come with a warning that they change without the slight-
est notice. I urge each one of you to take a stand and don‘t let these colors
fade away. The brightness is important and please try to make it stay.

Let me take you back to an age which you all loved, when you were toddlers
and the only thing you loved was toddling. A couple of years later, when your The theme of the meeting was colors of life and it was decided to keep it as
parents decided you had enjoyed enough and the time was apt for you to plant the theme in accordance with the festival of Holi. The meeting had only one
the first seeds of learning. Next day, before you can realize, you find yourself speech by Akhil Sood and it was subjected to a panel evaluation, lead by San-
in a play school and the first reaction you had was never to let your parents chit Aggarwal. The tabletopics round was conducted by Vaibhav Vashihstha
leave. You didn‘t want to be left out but you are too small to make an impact and tested the present guests and members alike. It was a good fun meeting.
and you had to undergo the tortuous week by feeling the agony of your par-
ents leaving you deserted. A week later, however, the story takes an unprece-
dented U turn. You don‘t feel the agony, You are comfortable in your sur-
roundings, the first learning have been imparted, your first love has just taken “The color of truth is gray.”
shape. It was the colors, yes those joyfully bright and attractive colors which
indulged you for the most of your day there. There was no shortage of paper - Andre Gide
then, no lack of willingness to color. No wonder, why we find most of the
play schools in the brightest hues.
15 MEETING THEME ARTICLES March 2011

Communication - Rahul Soni

Why was Communication chosen as the theme of the meeting? I will begin to answer motivate and move one towards taking action? Can their
this with the Quotation I started my speech with and that is the basis for the theme. words help us fight the inertia that is making it difficult for
us to take the leap towards greatness? Well all that is at-
―The Single Biggest Problem in Communication is the Illusion that it has taken place‖ tended to during the evaluation session which comprises of
George Bernard Shaw. the listening section. Whoever said Communication is all
about talking and not listening? We start with the end in
All through my life I kept wondering communication is all about reading and listening mind, waiting for effective evaluation to help us become bet-
to whatever suits you. It was only in the last few years of my life I have had to unlearn ter and effective communicators.
and relearn lots of things about communication. As a concept, communication is a
work in progress. No one can ever say that I am an authority over communication. One
can master a particular aspect of it, but to master the whole of communication and sur-
vive in this imperfect world will be a real challenge.

We all travel every Saturday and fight our fears to stand in front of our fellow members
to gain that extra bit of confidence which will result in better articulation of our
thoughts when we step out into the world. Every time I have an important meeting
coming up, I try to keep it after Saturday so that the extra confidence I gain by partici-
pating in the meeting helps me sound and appear confident in front of the stakeholders.

We had two Ice breaker speeches lined up for the meeting out of which only one mate-
rialized. It takes a lot of courage for one to step forward, drop all the inhibitions, be
candid and yet maintain composure while delivering your maiden speech. That is when
one realizes that we all have a long way to go in order to assimilate our thoughts and
present them in the best possible manner. During the first speech, holding onto nerves
is all that non verbal communication is all about. Little does one realize that Non Verbal
Communication constitutes 70% of our verbal message. It is during uncertain moments
that our body language conveys more than our words do. Situations and Events erupt
out of nowhere and a near perfect response is expected out of you. How do we ensure
that we don‘t crumble and say what is to be said? That is the art of thinking on our feet.
That is where the real aspect of Communication as per me comes to the fore and
sweeps us off the ground.
All said and done, what is Communication? An easy assimilation is that Communication
is 20% of what one knows and 80% of how one presents it. Participants say what they
have to say, have they been able to convey the desired meaning? Have they been able to
16 MEETING THEME ARTICLES March 2011

Go India Go - Goonjan Mall

―Kill the Kangaroos. Kill the Kangaroos.‖
This is what the entire nation wanted from the Men in
Blue. And what did we do? We slaughtered the yellow Kan-
garoos.
What next?
It‘s time for the granddaddy of all matches. It‘s the ultimate and the Mexican waves in the stadium were mesmerizing!
arch-rivalry. It‘s Men in Blue v/s Men in Green. It‘s India
v/s Pakistan. On Wednesday, the world will stop!
And, the world did stop. Even Gods had their eyes fixed at tears in my eyes. Everyone had! The euphoria was just un-ending!
the PCA Stadium in Mohali.
Two very interesting things happened that day:
1.) India thrashed Pakistan. A splendid demonstration of will, skill and passion by us.
2.) Yours truly witnessed the match from the stands of Mohali. J
Yes! I was a member of the ‗Blue army’. An army of 40,000 tri-color bearers, being led
by 11 champions – the Indian cricket team.
The experience was electrifying. That feeling was un-imaginable. It was awesome!
Let me take you through my world.
PS: On 30th March, either I am on a vacation or I am sick! J
PPS: Please please please approve!
During the match: I was on the 7th heaven. To see the God him-
self at arm‘s-length, playing his classic straight drives and cover
drives was the experience of a lifetime. The magic, the madness
Post match: I was the most satisfied man on Earth. We won! I had
This entire episode had me thinking. They say – we are a cricket
crazy country.
But, are we? Na! I don‘t think so. We are an India crazy country. And, will always be In-
dia crazy.
We love India!
Go India! Go!!

Before I got the tickets: Ah! What‘s the point of going to a stadium to watch a match?
It‘s just too much trouble. And, you will miss the details. I am very happy to watch the
matches on TV. With replays. And commentary. My comfortable beam bag, cold drinks
and chips! What else do you need?
Then I got an email. It read – ―Congratulations! You have been selected in the ICC
CWC 2011 Ticket Public Re-poll Ballot for Semi Final 2-Mohali‖

Now I have the tickets: I was jumping – with joy! I can‘t wait for 30th March. My leave
request to my manager read –
Sir,
I got tickets for the Mohali match. I have to go. Kindly approve my leave on 30th March.
Thanks!
Goonjan
17 The HYDE PARK - 300th MEETING March 2011

The Hyde Park in London is famous for its Speakers’ Corner, which allows anyone and everyone to speak on a topic for as long as they can unless the police finds it offensive,
and the Hyde Park police has had a history of being offended very rarely even on sensitive issues. As a salutation to the freedom of expression, we bring Hyde Park from Lon-
don to our newsletter, and invite everyone to publish their comments on a certain topic, which for this month is: “Ideas for JPKU 300th Meeting Celebrations"

We can make 300 as our theme and contribute to learnings from the movie 300 300th meeting is an occasion of pride as well as joy. It should be a perfect fit between a
that can be applied in a Toastmaster situation. Top of my mind, here is what I systematic meeting and a fun filled party. I think the meeting can start with 2-3 modules
think taken by senior members and then we can have a small table topics session. It will not
only help our guests to better understand Toastmasters but it will also show the level of
Learnings from the movie
1. Know your surroundings, and choose the battleground that most suits your
excellence we have in our clubs. Rest of the evening can be like a normal party with
strengths dance and music with around 80-100 people.
2. The gods aren‘t always right, do what‘s best for yourself, above all else.
Keep your skill set sharp, cause you never know when you might have to defend
yourself. It has to be a grand celebration and hence Sanchit Aggarwal
special meeting
Applied to Toastmaster situation 1) Masquerade Ball
 Know your audience and select the topic and style that depicts you rather than 2) Dinner and dancing
copying someone else's 3) A day trip to some nearby place
 Mentors or Best Speakers are not always right...Develop the art to trust your (Nimrana) and back
gut 4) Color Theme (All members in same color)
Be ready with a joke, anecdote or a witty one liner...You never know when Ritu
will call you on Table Topics Ritu Arora

1. 300 Rs per person for the celebra-

tions :)
Sumit Dora 2. Lets Donate 3000 - collect money on
that day and make that as min target
The 300th meeting has to be special. So we  Meeting on Ho-Ho Bus Everyone speaks one joke each
should have a party-cum-meeting.  In-house Jam session.
We should focus the meeting on our achieve-  Inter– club celebrations
ments as a club.
Also it should be open for everyone in the NCR. Sameep Taneja
the meeting should have celebrations as its theme

Akhil Sood
Nitya Ranjan
 18 TOASTMASTER OF THE YEAR 2010 - 11 March 2011

JPKU Toastmasters and 50 others like this

Paramveer Nain Vikas is the sturdy pillar of JPKU Toast-

masters Club.

Sanchit Aggarwal Mr, Malik,, Mr. President, Mr. Toast-

master of the year for division C, Mr. Superman.

Nripen Mishra The hand that is rocking JPKU is also rul-

ing the Division C. He has taught us to speak as a frog is
taught to leap!!

Sameep Taneja A bright, young and energized Toastmas-

ter

Akhil Sood Vikas won the award, we are all happy but we
will be happier if you give a party.

Nitya Ranjan Vikas epitomizes un "ORGANISATION"

and he supports "PRINT EVERY DOCUMENT ON
EARTH‖ movement.
Vikas Kumar is currently President of JPKU Toastmasters Club. He is a Graduate from Sangeeta Malik The meeting in which Vikas is not pre-
Delhi College of Engineering and Post Graduate from Indian Institute of Management sent, shall not be counted.
Lucknow. He is currently working with Power Grid Corporation of India Limited. He
received „Division C - Toastmaster of the Year‟ award for 2010-11 for being the
most helping 'non-District official' across clubs and areas in Division C
19 JPKU THROUGH CAMERA - Contests March 2011

AREA - C2 International Speech & Table Topics Con- Division - C International Speech & Table Topics Con-
test test
13th March 2011 03rd April 2011
NDIIT, Kalkaji FIIB, Vasant Vihar
20 JPKU THROUGH CAMERA March 2011

Nitya Ranjan‟s Birthday Celebrations

Dinner Party
21 BEST OF THE MONTH March 2011

Here come Here come

the the
results!!! results!!!

5th March: Akhil Sood

12th March: Akhil Sood

5th March: Mala Malhotra 5th March: Vikas Kumar

12th March: Nitya Ranjan 12th March: Vikas Kumar
19th March: Pranshu Arora
26th March: Vikas Kumar and
Goonjan Mall
22 CLUB DCP REPORT March 2011

JPKU Toastmasters Club has achieved this milestone once

again. Congratulations to all members of the club.
23 ANNOUNCEMENTS March 2011

April Renewals:
Renewals for next term (April 2011 - September 2011) are due. Please
pay your dues as soon as possible to any Executive Committee mem-
ber. This will help our Club achieve ―Golden Gavel‖ Award.

Ovation 2011
Annual Conference of District 82 will be held in Mysore from 12 - 15
May 2011. Register for the event and be ready to have a life time ex-
perience in Mysore. (For Details: http://www.ovation2011.in/ )

300th Meeting
JPKU Toastmasters Club will celebrate its 300th Meeting on 28th May
2011 (Saturday). We need you help in ideas for the event, organizing
the event and participation for the meeting.
Akhil Sood and Sumit Dora are the MCs for the same.

JPKU TM Calendar - April 2011

Meetings:
MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT SUN
April 2, April 9, April 16, April 23, April 30
1 2 3
Please contact Vice President (Education) - Akhil Sood
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ( skhil.aood@gmail.com, 9810820409) to grab the roles for the next
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 meeting.
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Special This Month:
April 3: Division C Conference
25 26 27 28 29 30
24 CLUB CONTACT DETAILS March 2011

Our Executive Committee Venue of Meetings

 Vikas Kumar: President Vivekananda Vihar, Opposite J.P., Kapur & Uberai, Chartered
vikask.malik@gmail.com Accountants, LGF C-4/5, Safdarjung Development Area,
 Akhil Sood: Vice President, Education New Delhi—110016.
skhil.aood@gmail.com (Landmark: Behind SDA Market - Opposite IIT Main Gate)
 Shraddha Nakra: Vice President, Membership
Shraddha.nakra@gmail.com
 Nitya Ranjan: Vice President, Public Relations
Time of Meetings
nitya_swamidas@yahoo.co.in Every Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
 Sameep Taneja Secretary
sameeptaneja@gmail.com Whom to Contact
 Vinay Jain: Treasurer
toastmaster.vinay@gmail.com For all queries, please contact:
 Sanchit Aggarwal: Sergeant-at-arms Vikas Kumar: +91 9560690622 :;vikask.malik@gmail.com
Akhil Sood: +91 9810820409; skhil.aood@gmail.com
sanchit31@gmail.com
Shraddha Nakra: +91 9899010 702 shraddha.nakra@gmail.com
Nitya Ranjan: +91 9717937164; nitya_swamidas@yahoo.co.in
Sanchit Aggarwal +91 9810906089; sanchit31@gmail.com
Sameep Taneja: +91 9810053909; sameeptaneja@gmail.com

How To Join
Everybody is welcome to attend any number of meetings as a guest at JPKU
Toastmasters Club. When you are ready to join, simply ask for a membership
application form.
25 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS March 2011

Always Ahead…!

I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who contributed

to the newsletter. Thanks to Deepak, Vinay, Sumit, Akhil, Rahul
Soni, Sangeeta and Sanchit for their support. Finally, I would
like to specially mention the names of Rahul Mittal, Nripen, and
Goonjan for their prompt contributions.

Images is published on the last day of the month. All contribu-

tors are requested to send in their entries to
jpkutm@gmail.com by the 25th of the month.

Club No. 858173

No part of this newsletter maybe printed or reproduced
without intimating the JPKU Toastmasters Club. All enquiries
and requests should be directed to the club’s public relations
Important Links: Division C, District 82 committee at jpkutm@gmail.com.
JPKU Toastmasters: http://jpkutoastmasters.webs.com/
Division C members: d82Cmembers@googlegroups.com
District 82: http://www.t82.org/

Copyright JPKU Toastmasters Club, 2011