Top of Texas Toastmasters Club Spring Contests

The International Speech & Table Topics Contest are coming to Top of Texas!

Make plans to join Top of Texas Saturday, March 11th from 9am - 10am to see who wins!

                                                    Then ... (drumroll)

These winners will go on to compete in our Spring Area Contest!

New Officers December 2017

Congratulations to the New Officers to Begin in 2017

&

Congratulations to Top of Texas

 Celebrating 15 years on February 4^th

Top of Texas Club Officers
Office	07/01/2016 - 12/31/2016
President	Ken Dorsey
VP Education	Anne Brown
VP Membership	Dudley Mecum
VP Public Relations	Shannon Watenpaugh
Secretary	Ana Ortega
Treasurer	Lina Choun
Sergeant at Arms	Marcus Mitias

Club officer training has also begun!

You can check the District 25 website calendar for officer training dates here: http://d25toastmasters.org/tli/index.htm

Tips from Tops of Texas

How To Start a Youth Leadership Program within Toastmasters

One of the strengths of Toastmasters is learning the value of communication and competent leadership.  It’s such a great idea and offering that Toastmaster makes available to anyone interested in helping to start a Youth Leadership Program.  Since getting started and taking that first step is always one of the hardest things we encounter….let me take that first step for you and help you know what to do to get started. It’s really not that hard!  

Here is where you go on the TI Website to get the material:  Click Here

Once on the site, assuming you are sure you want to start a Youth Leadership Club, then the Youth Leadership Kit is what I recommend you grab to start with.

PLEASE NOTE: this kit only serves to supply enough materials for 5 students.  

 Here’s a link directly to the Youth Leadership Kit ç start here – this has the forms and info on what you will need to submit. The kit itself is $17.00

  

…and depending on how many students, the way to start I would think is get the kit, then go back to the material and get what additional materials you need for any additional students once you have a better grasp of the program.  The limit for any Youth Leadership Program in terms of size is 25 members.

Here is the description that can be found on the Toastmasters International Website as of Dec 2016:

........................................................................................................

Youth Leadership Program

The Youth Leadership Program is a workshop consisting of eight one- to two-hour sessions that enable participants to develop communication and leadership skills through practical experience. The program is presented during or after school, or on weekends. Participants learn to:

• Evaluate present speaking ability
• Organize and give speeches
• Give impromptu talks
• Control voice, vocabulary and gestures
• Give constructive feedback and more

Each Youth Leadership Program group is limited to 25 people. Participants are selected by the sponsoring Toastmasters club or by a cooperating organization (such as a school).

A local Toastmasters club serves as sponsor and provides a coordinator to present the program. The individual coordinator attends each meeting, where he or she will lead most of the presentations and counsel participants. The coordinator assigns an assistant who can fill in for the coordinator should he or she be unable to attend a meeting. Meetings generally follow a format similar to that of a Toastmasters club meeting, including an announced agenda, practice in parliamentary procedure, and the selection of presiding officers.

  ……..............................................................................................

Once you have received your kit from TI, start first by using the Coordinator Manual.  It provides what you need to submit to form your Youth Program with explanations. 

Please note that you really do need to get the Youth Leadership Kit from the link provided above to really get the materials you need to get started.  I’m emphasizing do this first. 

I also recommend you visit this website below as it will help you gain a better understanding of the program while you’re waiting on your kit to arrive.

Check Out This Website   <= after looking at several sites, I thought this particular site stood out as being one of the best and most helpful.

Then here are some other links I found that I thought might be useful:

PDF  <= PDF on “How to start a Youth Leadership Program”

Here’s an old Youth Leadership Guide from District 25, although some of the links no longer work. Still, the material is very helpful: Old PDF Guide

Check out this copy of a Youth Leadership Workbook in PDF form for reference.  Please note that I don’t know if this is still the most current workbook, but I’m sure they are similar and should be useful in giving you a visual idea of what you will be receiving in your kit to work with.  Go to: Workbook

Finally, a video interview on the Youth Leadership Program I found that isn’t atrociously long and has some content coupled with a nice show and tell.  Actually very useful and visually shows many items. Check out this Video

In summary,  here’s the order  I’d recommend be followed to get started with a Youth Leadership Program

1. Order the $17.00 kit from TI – this has the Coordinator Manual                                                        

2. Watch the video... it’s a little fluffy, but it also gets you familiar with what you’ll get and need to do

Then…

3. Dive into the Website I sent you above.  I think this has what you need to help you really get started once you get your kit.

4. Look thru the other links, and spend a moment with the one showing the workbook. These links should offer some ideas / formats and a look into the Youth Leadership Program further before you get your material.

5. Final point - as you read and watch and get your footing and understanding, I would recommend going ahead and getting whatever else you may need for any additional students only after you had a chance to receive and review your kit.  It will take a little time to get the forms in place, and it won’t take long to get the additional manuals to begin – and – this way you can be sure of exactly what you need once you’ve had a chance to rummage thru your kit further.  Just a suggestion.

You may also find that as you learn How to Start and Present a Youth Leadership Program that it would provide an EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY for a How To Informative speech. You could also perhaps invite others to help you out, form a committee and teach “How to Start a Youth Leadership Program” via an HPL project (High Performance Leadership) with the goal to get other clubs informed and more youth programs started within our District.

Top of Texas Nears Distinguished for 2016-17

Great Links to have in your Back Pocket

Everybody knows a few ... here are some for the speaker, writer, and Toastmaster to help out!

District 25

Toastmasters International

Stage West Annual Playwriting Contest

Poetry Society of Texas

Storyteller Night (Stage West - Fort Worth)

Benbrook Library

Pocket Sandwich Theatre

Toastmaster Manual Links

Carroll Creek Toastmaster Collection of Useful Links

50 Clever Ideas for Table Topics

Upcoming Area 56 Contest!

Congratulations to all our contestants and to Ana who won our Evaluation Contest and Wayne who won our Humorous Contest.

Both will be representing Top of Texas Toastmasters at our Area Contest in October.

We had a great time Saturday at our club contest and afterward, many of us participated in the Trinity Trash Bash!

Come join us each Saturday from 9am - 10am, Visit our website for directions.

Remembering the Speech of Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig's farewell speech has been compared to the Gettysburg Address by some.  The comparison is interesting, and while there are similarities, in researching Gehrig's last speech I was astounded to learn just how similar one could draw a parallel when looking at the circumstances.

Both Lincoln and Gehrig didn't feel well.  Lincoln was sick on the train ride to Gettysburg, and was said to be running a high fever; likely the flu.  Gehrig was suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and since pulling himself out of a game in April, now on July 4th just 3 months later, his teammates and the fans noticed a distinct difference in his body and the weight loss.  Because ALS attacks your muscles, Gehrig was afraid of the long walk out onto the field for fear of tripping; the acceptance of trophies for fear of dropping; and the fear of speaking for fear of not knowing what to say.  In fact, unlike Lincoln, Gehrig had not planned to speak at all.  In fact, it is said he asked his teammates and Babe Ruth to speak for him, insisting he did not want to speak.

Both men had a connection to July 4th.  The Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day where Gehrig would give his final speech was held on July 4th; and Lincoln's Gettysburg address spoke of our nations birth, and gave meaning to a battle that happened during the early days of July including July 4th in 1863.

Both men were said to be soft spoken, but articulate.  Both were not known for any oral skills at the time of their speeches, and both with some reluctance spoke last.  The crowd for Lincoln had listened to a famed orator for hours, and out of respect, but not interest, stayed to hear Lincoln.  The crowd for Gehrig wanted to hear him speak, but he had said that he wasn't going to and was heading back off the field.  The microphones were even in the process of being removed.  That is, until his coach pulled him aside.  We will never know what was said, but it was enough to encourage Gehrig to approach the microphone for what would be perhaps the most famous speech in sports, and what would ultimately be Gehrig's last speech.

The Gettysburg address was 272 words long; Gehrig's Farewell Address was 276 words long. Both limiting their dialog with simplistic everlasting beauty of word that touched a nation.

As Gehrig approached the microphone, knowing he did not want to speak makes the film we have of this day in 1935 that more interesting.  He looks down through most of the ceremony honoring him.  He takes off his hat and looks stoic but calm as he wipes his forehead before speaking into the mic.  Then he starts:

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.   

"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

"So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

Gehrig had recently turned 36 at the time of his speech.  Within months after the speech, to take a picture of him at his desk working, someone would have to close his hand around his pencil.  

Within months of that, he would not be able to raise his own head.

At the age of 37, he could not leave his house.

At the age of 38, just two weeks into what should have been his 38th year of life, Lou Gehrig died of ALS.

During his life, Gehrig did not want to say he had a disease, and doctors didn’t know how to treat him, and there was no cure for it, and they humanely offered a 50/50 chance for recovery when they knew very little about his chances at all.  And although he did not want for others to worry and avoided ever referring to his circumstance as a disease, today we know ALS as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

In ALS, nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control movement stop functioning. The condition leads to paralysis, and patients eventually cannot breathe or swallow on their own.

The disease afflicts about 350,000 people a year worldwide, and about half of patients die within three years of diagnosis.

However, according to WebMD, -- Researchers from Northwestern University are reporting a major breakthrough in understanding  ALS and think their discovery proves that different forms of ALS actually have a common cause and that this could lead to better strategies to treat the disease in the future.  

As a Toastmaster, I am more appreciative of the strength Lou Gehrig had, and his conquering of fear of speaking that day, and delivering a Farewell Address that will live on for the ages.  Lou Gehrig taught us about life, and the importance of living through his character, his courage, and the power of words.  God bless you Mr. Gehrig.