President's Newsletter, July 2014 – Raising the bar

After giving my inaugural Presidential address at our meeting this month – inspired by Past President Simon's rendition of JFK's inaugural speech – it seemed only fitting for me to greet you all formally via cyberspace as well.

Welcome to the 2014/15 term at Excalibur Speakers!

The committee and I are excited about the year ahead and look forward to being part of raising the bar for the club both via own Toastmaster journeys and by supporting our members on theirs.

Our first meeting of the year got off to a good start, with speeches and evaluations that made us laugh, made us cry and, most of all, left us feeling inspired. You can see the meeting report here.

Looking ahead at the…

Next month at Excalibur

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 13^th August at the Fitzrovia Community Centre. Please arrive from 6:50pm for a prompt 7pm start. We still have roles available – please sign up via easy-Speak.

Also, on Saturday, 16^th August we'll be holding another session of

Excalibur at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. We are opening this event to members of other clubs via the London Speaker, so please do not delay in securing your speech or evaluation slot.

Please pack your manuals, your confidence and your picnics, and be there ready to kick off at 11.15. We will be easy to find – with our banner – on the north-east corner (Marble Arch end) of Hyde Park. Also we would greatly appreciate you indicating your attendance ahead of the event so we may keep an eye out for you on the day!

Distinguished Club Programme

The Distinguished Club Programme (DCP) is Toastmasters International’s framework of objectives that clubs should aim to achieve within the Toastmasters year, and different levels of recognition are awarded depending on how many of the ten criteria are met.

Excalibur has successfully achieved Select Distinguished Club for the past two years, gaining at least 7 out of 10 DCP points available. As part of this year’s challenge to raise the bar at Excalibur, I would like to see us achieving President’s Distinguished Club, which means that we need to achieve 9 out of 10 DCP points.

I will be providing you with a monthly update on our progress so as you can see where you might be able to contribute to the success of the club, and also to keep your committee on its toes! Here is how we are doing in our first month:

1. Two Competent Communicator awards: Not yet achieved
2. Two more Competent Communicator awards: Not yet achieved
3. One Advanced Communicator award: Not yet achieved
4. One more Advanced Communicator award: Not yet achieved
5. One leadership award: Peter G (ALB) – congratulations!
6. One more leadership award: Not yet achieved
7. Four new members: Quarter achieved – welcome Tony S!
8. Four more new members: Not yet achieved
9. At least four club officers trained at each of two training events: Half achieved (Cat, Karthik, Swarajit, Chinkata, Tony W)
10. On-time submission of club officer list and membership dues: Part achieved (club officer list submitted on time)

Total 1/10 (+ 3 WIP) – we have a little way to go, but we are only 1/12^th of the way into the year!

The Final Word

Whilst we channel a vast amount of energy at Toastmasters into ensuring our messages are clear, someone I work with used one of its antonyms last week and I thought it was such a delicious word that I had to share it with you:

ob·fus·cate

/[ob-fuh-skeyt, ob-fuhs-keyt]

verb (used with object), ob·fus·cat·ed, ob·fus·cat·ing.

1. to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
2. to make obscure or unclear: to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information.
3. to darken.

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus on the light."

~ Aristotle Onassis

Best wishes,
Cat Kipling
President, Excalibur Speakers