President's Newsletter, January 2015 – Start as you mean to go on

Happy New Year Exaliburgers, Fellow Toastmasters and Friends!

January marks new starts for many of us, with aspirations for slimmer figures and fatter bank balances. But just like improving our Public Speaking skills, these things don't come about without hard work!

We started our Excalibur year all the way back in July, and as such we are already half way through our next step on the club's journey. As a Committee, we are pleased with our successes to date but we don't want it to stop here!

If you too are starting the year as you mean to go on, how about you get stuck in early and be part of raising the bar at Excalibur Speakers through:

• Signing up to meeting roles well ahead of time
• Working towards your Leadership and Communication awards
• Competing in the upcoming International Speech or Evaluations contests
• Facilitating the contest night, as Contest Chair, Judge or functionary
• Considering a Committee role for 2015/16 (see here for more information)

As always, if you have any questions please do get in touch.

Looking ahead to...

Forthcoming meetings at Excalibur Speakers

Our next Regular meeting is this week, Wednesday 14th January, 7pm at the Fitzrovia Community Centre, Foley Street. We have a couple of roles available, so please log into easySpeak to sign up today.

Our next Speak Out meeting is on Thursday 29th November, 12pm at the Concert Artistes' Association, Bedford Street. Please note, this is unusually the fifth Thursday of the month. Speaking opportunities are available - log into easySpeak to secure your slot. 

Also, please mark your diary for the upcoming Excalibur Club Contests (Wednesday 11th March, 7pm), Division B Contests (Saturday 18th April, daytime) and District 91 Conference (9th-10th May, all weekend). Area 45 Contests are TBC, but most likely will be held on the evening of Friday 27th March.

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.

Here is our club's current DCP status:

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)
6. One more leadership award: Not yet achieved
7. Four new members: Tony S, Carl R, Marc L, Richard F
8. Four more new members: Mark M, Indra S, Bob F, Anton H
9. At least four club officers trained at each of two training events: Half achieved (Cat, Karthik, Swarajit, Chinkata, Tony W, Ken)
10. On-time submission of club officer list and membership dues: Achieved

Total to date = 4 achieved and 1 half achieved

Please let me know if you would like mentoring or support to help you to achieve your Toastmasters goals for this year, which will in turn help us achieve our goals as a club.

The Final Word

I have never been a fan of the phrase "new year resolutions". It conjures up thoughts of an activity that is bound to end in failure! In my view, it is simply about starting as you mean to go on, with happy and healthy new habits. 

Albert Einstein said, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If you're looking for a new approach, take a look at what Action For Happiness has to say on the matter:

Best wishes,
Cat Kipling
President, Excalibur Speakers