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Agenda

My Journey towards Servant Leadership path

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Raghavan .S

Never Ending Journey

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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

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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