the beacon
DESCRIPTION
Newsletter of LCTCTRANSCRIPT
3
Agenda
My Journey towards Servant Leadership path
4
I am extremely happy and excited about the first newsletter from Logica
Chennai Toastmasters Club.
This is an interesting and exciting journey we are on. While I was
thinking of this journey, what struck me is the famous quote below by Napo-
leon Hill.
“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by
helping others to succeed.”
This is so true of the supportive and encouraging environment in Toastmasters
to transform ourselves as better communicators and leaders by helping each
other. Every club meeting or event adds some element to your total personal-
ity refining you further into a better personality.
I greatly enjoy and appreciate the value of Toastmasters and invite you all for
this interesting journey too…
Here we present few snippets from fellow toast-
masters who would like to share their Toastmaster
experiences. I hope you will find this newsletter
interesting and exciting!!
Enjoy reading and exploring yourself in
Toastmasters. !!!
I also take this opportunity to thank the
support from management and the divi-
sion which enabled us to scale greater
and greater heights together with
founder president and initial
members who paved the way
to chartering process in Jun 2011 with Toastmaster
International.
From President’s Desk Radhika K
Serendipity
5
It was June of 2010 when I first heard
from our HR department about a club
called “The Toastmasters Club”. There
was a mail circulated about the Toast-
masters Club. At first glance itself I as-
sumed it to be a club for people with cu-
linary interest especially in preparing
toast. However, surprisingly it men-
tioned about improving leadership and
communication skills. I wondered how
this group was going to help with com-
munication and leadership. With a tinge
of mockery I closed the mail. We subse-
quently received few other mails about the club. However, since the subject al-
ways mentioned Toastmasters it was very easy for me to ignore the mails. Co-
incidentally, my cubicle neighbor happened to be the selected President of the
club in Logica Chennai. One day we were casually talking, and happened to
talk about the club. Then he explained to me briefly about the club. He even
insisted that I attend the first meeting of the club. Honestly, till then I still did
not believe that the club could be a serious club. ”How can a „Toastmasters‟
club improve communication?” I asked myself.
You know, as it is said “First impression lasts long”. But somehow I
thought of attending the meeting. I casually walked into the meeting
hall few minutes before the meeting was to begin, just like I would
have for any other meeting. To my surprise the room was filled
with all the top management people from the company. My
first impression shattered there and then. I immediately re-
alized “Oh! This is some serious stuff.” As the meeting
went on, I was amazed by the way few people car-
ried themselves to stage. I was inspired and
decided that I am going to speak like that
one day.
Niranjan K
Serendipity
6
From then on I attended the meeting on regular basis. In no time Toastmasters
became a part of my weekly schedule. It has been almost two years now and it
is still going on. It has been a journey of immense learning for me.
One peculiar specialty about Toastmasters club is that the importance of the
club may not be much evident in first few meetings. Obviously there is always
something to take away from each meeting though. However, the club has
much more to offer which will be evident after few months of regular atten-
dance. For me, the encounter with Toastmasters was serendipitous and its
grandeur was evident from the very first day. I have experienced the joy of
learning in the club. In fact the joy has been so intense that I have become ad-
dicted to the club. Logica Chennai Toastmasters Club has become a part of my
life. This has created a two way platform for me to learn things as well as
share the knowledge that I have. And trust me there is nothing more satisfying
than the joy of sharing. Embark on your journey to the club and experience the
joy of sharing.
Niranjan K
140 Heartbeats without Treadmill
7
Toastmasters?? What is in it for me??? I
have a decent vocabulary. I can speak
well too. These were the opinions I had
about myself until I attended the LCTC
club meeting for the first time!!
One smart dressed gentleman started
the meeting and it was completely for-
mal from then on. People were shaking
hands, smiling, exhibiting confidence
and above all delivering some stunning
prepared speeches!!
“It‟s time to taste the real flavor of
Toastmasters” announced a witty smart
fellow who introduced himself to be the Table topics master (TTM) for the day!
(The one and only privileged person who can come completely prepared for an
unprepared session is the TTM). I was sitting calmly in my chair observing eve-
rything and everyone around me until the TTM said, “For the last topic of the
day let me welcome our guest, Vijayalakshmi”. Thunderous applause followed
and I felt the limelight on me!! When I stood on the podium and glanced at the
audience it was like 140 heartbeats without Treadmill.
The topic was carefully chosen for the first timer and I could speak for a
minute. The moment I said “Thank you “, everyone cheered for me until
I took my seat. The dutiful Ah-counter for the day announced my
name with a double-digit number of fillers I had used in just a min-
ute of my speech. It made me feel embarrassed. Soon it was all
wiped off when TT evaluator praised my courage to step on
the podium and take up a topic on day one!! People
cheered again. I felt warm.
Vijayalakshmi.S
140 Heartbeats without Treadmill
8
I went home, thought about this club and its people for a long time.. From the
next meeting I was no longer a guest but a regular member of the club..Every
time I am stunned by the quality and amount of mentorship and constructive
feedback I receive for all my projects.
You feel hundreds of butterflies in your stomach every time you stand on the
podium. But that never stops us from attending toastmasters. That‟s addiction
and that‟s LCTC!!!
Vijayalakshmi.S
A TOAST TO LCTC
Any anthropologist who can tell be-
tween the authentic Neolithic arrow-
head and a fake will also be able to tell
between the passion of the English and
the obsession of an Indian towards the
language that has come to define our
social being. Many of us feel intimidated
and dwarfed by those who are masters
of the language. To most in the world
English is just a language that helps in
communicating with the world, but for
many Indians English is a potent weapon that could possibly win battles and
differentiate between the mundane and breathtakingly celestial. The impetus to
learn, command and master the language and the art of communicating in
English is therefore almost an obsession for many.
Yours truly faced many an embarrassing moment earlier, while still grappling
with the subtleties of the language; moments that provided the nudge to gain
proficiency in the language. It is said that the journey is more important and
tasteful than the destiny, but I guess the people who said it did not really
reach the destiny at its apotheosis. As for me, I found the LCTC (Logica
Chennai toastmasters club) and here I found salvation. LCTC is a place
worthy of worship for many of us. We find bewitching sorcery, that turns
the sand into silver and sometimes the mundane into breathtakingly
celestial.
When I joined LCTC it was 1 session old and yet I call it as be-
ing at its model best! One might wonder what adjective I
would use now when the club is 90 weeks old and has
become an integral part of the lives of many, well
all I would say is, its difficult to change some-
thing that was already perfect!
Raghavan .S
9
The essence of LCTC is its unchanging, unwavering commitment towards pro-
ducing better speakers, better communicators and better practitioners of the
English language. It is said that the Toastmasters club gives you a platform to
fail, yet get cheered, how unmatched in spirit! The potential of a cheer in moti-
vating you cannot be underestimated and truly LCTC has stayed true to the
spirit of the Toastmasters and provided its members with unflinching support
and encouragement.
I have been around since the inception of LCTC and today I puff out my chest
and say I am a part of LCTC. The difference in me when it comes to effective
communication over the last year and a half is almost palpable and it is due to
LCTC alone. Every week we meet, learn, perform, applaud and encourage each
other TOGETHER and that is perhaps the most important aspect of the Toast-
masters. Much of what the LCTC has done, to many of us members, is too
priceless. It has armed us with the most important virtue needed to be suc-
cessful - “Courage”. And armed with this secret ingredient the Toastmasters
from LCTC will conquer this world and others too!
I am sure in the pages that follow/precede you will read more about the LCTC
but when my article ends here, it sends with a request, a friendly nudge, come
be a part of LCTC and stand tall among equals!
A TOAST TO LCTC
10
Raghavan .S
Never Ending Journey
11
It is said that the Fear of Death is the fore-
most Fear in the world. Public Speaking
Comes Next! As a Fellow Toastmaster puts
it, it is not the fear of speaking, but the fear
of public embarrassment that makes us
most scared of public speaking. Shivering
hands, parched throats, twirling tongues,
are all symptoms of the disease “Stage
fear”. To cure this disease there is a re-
nowned clinic that people visit and it is
called the Toastmaster Club!
But what about people who don‟t have all
these symptoms! Who don‟t fear Speaking
in public! “Why should I join Toastmasters
International? I don‟t need it!” many say.
It was the same with me till my induction at Logica. During the Induction, when
LCTC (Logica Chennai Toastmasters Club) was introduced and the presenter
Madam Toastmaster Viji invited one of us to come and give an Ice breaker
Speech, I volunteered. Speaking comes easy to me, or so I thought till I re-
ceived my first feedback.
It was a blow to the belief that I was a Good Speaker. Keeping my Hands
in the Trouser Pockets was always my style statement, which was the
first to be pointed out as bad practice.
“No you can‟t put your hands in the pocket, it is not a style state-
ment, but shows you are hiding things!” was the Feedback I
received. Later on the during weekly meetings, I came to
know that there were other things like Ah counting,
keeping tracks of the filler words like ums and Ahs
Saravanan . S
Never Ending Journey
12
that we use, Time management, grammatical inconsistencies and many more
that needed perfection to be a good speaker. Speak well, speak within time.
What an important lesson! I learnt that the public speaking was not just about
speaking on stage but it involves a lot of other aspects like body language, ges-
tures, facial contortions, voice modulations and more. From the Toastmasters I
learnt a lot of new things on the nuances of public Speaking. I have now em-
barked on a new Journey, one where learning never stops!
Saravanan . S
Meets Every
Wednesday
Between
03:00 PM to 05:00 PM
Logica Chennai Toastmasters Club