DIABLO TOASTMASTERS CLUB 598 NEWSLETTER

“WHAT’S GREAT IN 598”

The Diablo Toastmasters Club

is a community Toastmasters

Club that meets every Thursday

at 7 PM at Denny’s Restaurant,

1313 Willow Pass Rd., Concord,

CA.

Volume 20, Number 2 February, 2017

The mission of a Toastmasters

Club is to provide a mutually sup-

portive and positive learning envi-

ronment in which every member

has the opportunity to develop

communication and leadership

skills, which in turn foster self-

confidence and personal growth.

Publisher: Cindy Johnson, CC, ALB, President

Editor: John Peterson, ACG, ALB

CLUB SPEECH CONTEST

It’s that time again! February 23rd is the date

set for Diablo 598’s Table Topics and Interna-

tional Speech contests, and we always send

good contestants on to the Area-level event.

So dig into your memory bank or your files and

come up with something you can bring to the

contest! And, for future reference, the Area B-6

contest has been set for Thursday, March 9th

at the Contra Costa Water District offices, 1331

Concord Avenue in Concord. Mark your calen-

dar now!

P.S. Even if you decide not to compete, there

are lots of openings at both events for timers,

judges, ballot counters and other high offices

such as Chief Judge and Toastmaster. Contact

Contest Chair Priscila Cobangbang regarding

your interest in helping with either of these con-

tests. But whatever happens, do plan to attend

both events — you’ll learn a lot and you’ll be

glad you did!

Welcome to our new members:

Camille Miller, Ronjon Sen

Please support Camille and Ronjon in every

way you can on their Toastmasters journey!

New Club Officers Take Charge at Diablo 598 Effective January 1st, a new slate of club officers

took over control of Diablo 598’s affairs for the

six-month period ending June 30th, 2017. Fortu-

nately, they very much resemble the outgoing

team, so that a smooth transition is assured!

Continuing as President is Cindy Johnson, and

also continuing are Vice President for Education

Ashley Harkness and Vice President for Mem-

bership Jerry Hurd. Others continuing are Bar-

bara Hughes as club Secretary, and Dan Randle-

man who brings his past officer experience to a

new role as Sergeant-

at-Arms. The new in-

coming officers are

Martha Patt as Vice

President for Public

Relations and Irving

Joe as club Treasurer.

Pictured above cele-

brating their installation are Martha, Cindy and

Barbara in front, with Jerry and Ashley behind

them. Unfortunately absent for the photo op

were Irving and Dan, but their faces are already

familiar to all our regular club members!

Congratulations and thanks are due to all, for

stepping up and assuming these important roles

to guide us forward for yet another successful

six-month term! We urge all other members, es-

pecially new ones, to see these leaders as role

models and be ready to step up themselves

come next July!

Big Changes Coming In Toastmasters Programs At the regular meeting on January 27th, club

members present were privileged to hear an

hour-long presentation on major changes com-

ing to Toastmasters clubs worldwide. These

changes, generally termed the “Pathways” pro-

gram, are being rolled out on February 7th to

clubs within District 57 — the only District world-

wide chosen to be the first to try them out.

Aren’t we lucky!!

The presentation was given by Stani Peycheva,

an official “Pathway Guide” for District 57. Stani,

pictured at left with club

President Cindy John-

son, is a member and

past club President of

Word Weavers Club

400 in Concord. Stani

gave us an outstanding

overview of the pro-

gram, complete with a brief but very informative

video. Thanks, Stani!!

Essentially, the Pathways program will bring the

Toastmasters communication track into the 21st

century. (It has not been updated since the

1970’s!) Importantly also, it will renew the focus

on “leadership” in the leadership track. In com-

bination, these improvements will provide Toast-

masters the opportunity do develop additional

skills they can use not just in their club but in

their jobs and community activities as well.

The many benefits to members will include:

A learning experience tailored to their per-sonal and professional goals

The opportunity to develop many skills rele-vant to an evolving global marketplace

Recognition of educational achievements that will come earlier and more frequently

New technological resources to improve speeches and support meeting roles

Online access to educational materials

Videos that model the skills they are learning

The Pathways program has been designed to

keep club meetings at the center of the Toast-

master experience, so our club’s meeting sched-

ule and routine will stay in place and you can still

expect the same support from your fellow club

members. The biggest changes you’ll experi-

ence are the new opportunities to grow more

skills and master additional competencies.

Basically, under Pathways there will be 10 differ-

ent learning “paths” a member can select from:

Motivational Strategies

Presentation Mastery

Leadership Development

Innovative Planning

Visionary Communication

Strategic Relationships

Dynamic Leadership

Persuasive Influence

Effective Coaching

Team Collaboration

Each path is made up of five levels of increasing

complexity. The program is designed this way so

members are always building on what they’ve

learned in the previous level. The levels are:

Level 1: Mastering Fundamentals

Level 2: Learning Your Style

Level 3: Increasing Knowledge

Level 4: Building Skills

Level 5: Demonstrating Expertise

Pathways will offer the flexibility to learn on-line

or in print. We’ll have access to engaging learn-

ing tools, including videos, interactive quizzes

and activities, feedback and recognition, useful

tips and more! Or, select paths will be available

in full-color, professionally-bound print materials.

More details on Pathways can be learned by go-

ing to www.toastmasters.org/pathways, and

they’ll be made clearer to us at future club meet-

ings as well. Meanwhile, let’s celebrate the fact

that Diablo 598 has the opportunity to be at the

forefront of the rollout of this tremendous oppor-

tunity! By harnessing the powers of modern

technology it’s bound to make us better commu-

nicators and leaders, while still enjoying the ca-

maraderie of our club’s meetings and events!

CINDY’S COLUMN

By Cindy Johnson

“What’s Great in 598” is the publication of

Diablo Toastmasters Club 598, Concord, CA.

Publisher: Cindy Johnson, President

Editor: John Peterson

Assistant Editor: Martha Patt

It’s contest time again! In the Spring we have the International Speech contest and the Table Topics contest. It starts with eve-ry club having their own contest to produce a winner and a back-up in both categories. They go on to the Area contest for their ar-ea, with those winners going on to their Di-vision contest, and finally with the Division winners “duke-ing it out” (so to speak!) at the Division 57 Spring event on May 6th.

Our club contest is set for February 23rd, and Priscila Cobangbang will be our contest chair. I really want to encourage everyone to participate in either the Speech or the Ta-ble Topics contest! There’s nothing quite like it to help one grow as a self-confident speaker, far surpassing ordinary club events in that regard!

If you don’t want to participate as a contest-ant, Priscila needs timers, vote counters and judges for the event so please volun-teer for a position with her. The Area B-6 contest will be March 9

th at the Contra Cos-

ta Water District building in Concord.

On February 7th we’ll also have the official launch of the new Pathways program, as described on page 2. I encourage everyone to log into www.toastmasters.org and read more about the Pathways system. A lot of the Pathways program will be online, so be sure to add the page to your favorites!

Finally, our club online schedule, located at

www.diablotoastmasters.org, has now been

filled in through April. Please be sure to re-

view it and send me a note if you can’t full

fill a role assigned to you. THANKS!!

Priscila was born in the Philippines, the country known as the “Pearl of the Orient Seas.” Coming from a brood of eight chil-dren (four girls and four boys), she mas-tered the art of “pleasantly getting along” very early! She obtained her bachelor’s de-gree in business (major in Marketing) from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and pursued a career in banking. Her ex-perience included marketing stints with Mellon Bank and the Manila offshore branch of Union Bank of California.

Priscila met her husband, Jose, through her best friend who was Jose’s co-worker. A friendship developed which eventually bloomed and resulted in marriage after five years. Although they were happily settled in the Philippines, Priscila missed her Mom and seven siblings who were already in Cal-ifornia. In 2003, after careful consideration, Priscila and Jose gave up their jobs, packed their bags and with their two sons (ages 10 and 17) migrated to the U.S. to join her fam-ily in San Francisco. They’ve all adjusted beautifully, and are now happily settled in the East Bay.

Priscila is currently making the most of a “forced vacation” and exploring new career opportunities, having lost her Associate Program Manager position at McKesson when they laid off 1,600 employees! In her spare time she reads, gardens, and experi-ments with cooking and home decorating. She travels whenever possible and has been to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Priscila learned of Toastmasters through Jose, who is a member of Diablo 598. She came as a guest and was hooked! Since English is her second language, she feels strongly that in joining the club she will en-hance her communication and presentation skills while developing new friendships and having fun. Welcome aboard, Priscila!

Priscila Cobangbang