NEWSLETTER TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL. Club News And Events. Message from the president. Division contest soon! # Brno Toastmasters

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1 TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER Club News And Events # Brno Toastmasters March 2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Division contest soon! Awards Your decision At the crossroads Extended Langue Tips by Milan Club Deadlines & Events Member's fee due New member David Brožík Welcome on board! Club Awards Adam Jirát (CC) Tomáš Brukner (CC) Congratulations! Message from the president Division contest soon! Fellow Toastmasters, I have great news for you! Our second club speech contest in this Toastmasters year is just a few days ahead. This time, we will be competing in International speeches and in Evaluations. According to the list of competitors, we can look forward to a great event, because it is full of great speakers and evaluators. The winners will go to the area level contest, which will take place in Olomouc at the end of March. And I believe that our members will win there too! The next level, the division contest, will take place again in Brno and this time it will be legendary! It will be one of the biggest Division contests in history of District59! We already have organizational team composed of members from all Toastmasters clubs here in Brno, and we are working hard to deliver an unforgettable event to you and to Toastmasters from all over the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. There will be plenty of interesting things you can enjoy there. You will have a chance to see the best speakers, speak with people from different clubs (and countries) and learn a lot of useful things. So just mark the date 20th April to your calendar, come and never forget! Radovan Plocek ACB CL Club president

2 Awards February 2013 was a fruitful month as we got two new Competent Communicators - Adam Jirát and Tomáš Brukner. Both fellows have been with TM since autumn 2011 and managed to do a great progress. Our new CC s are able to engage the audience easily and do not forget to include witty jokes in their speeches. Dear Adam and Tomas, congratulations on your awards and we are looking forward to your advanced speeches! Kristina Vankova Vice-president for Education 42 Members Club Statistic 2012/ Competent Communicators 3 Advance Communicator Bronze 3 Competent Leaders 1 Advance Leadership Bronze 10/10 DCP Goals finished Your decision Hello Brno Toastmasters!!! Yes, Greek mafioso is still around, this time through a newsletter! For those of you who haven't met me (what a shame!?), I was a member in lovely Brno till January, when I moved to lovely Vienna! This will be a short story about speaking, if you want to know a relevant embarrassing story of mine, keep reading! Would you believe me if I told you that I was a shy guy in high school? For more than a year, not only was I afraid to talk to more than one person, but others even called me "sovarulis" which is Greek for a little reserved boy"! The first time I heard this nickname used by someone, I was so hurt that it stuck in my mind, and I didn't speak even to my friends for a week or so. I made the mistake of letting this nickname affect me, I took it seriously, accepted it and "became" like this, although this is not my nature (obviously!). The more time passed by while I kept believing in this misled projection, the worse I represented my true self; I didn't want to go to school, I was late for classes and games, I shied away from opportunities and responsibility. One day, my sister noticed me while I was sitting with my head in my palms. She came quietly, sat down next to me and told me "hey, little brother, what's wrong?" I heard her, but stayed still. She held me gently and went on with a concerned but confident voice "hey, it's me. You know you can talk to me. What happened?" I gradually told her all about it. That it has already been several months like this, even my primary schoolmates stopped trying to save me and it was getting worse I told her about the nickname. She looked me in the eyes and said "And did you believe it?" I kept looking at her confused. It didn't occur to me before "Only you decide what you are and what you're not!" my sister carried on. "Don't you ever let anyone, not me, not mom and dad, no one tell you what you are!" OK?

3 Then it dawned on me. And then I knew what I had to do! Chrysosthenis Taslis Club Member At the crossroads Look at this man! Who is it? It's me. I drink to forget my problems. I am stuck. Stuck and dissatisfied with the course of the events. Let me explain. The first issue is... Alchemy I was deeply inspired by The Alchemist, the novel written by Paulo Coelho. Apart from this, I read quite a few books on alchemy. I warn you off going this way. This stuff is totally impenetrable. At a first glance, the goal of alchemy is transmutation of common metals into gold. On a deeper level, it is the very alchemist who is to be transformed into a higher, spiritual being. Although I didn t work in an alchemical laboratory, I experienced similar difficulties genuine alchemists used to face. My field of expertise was futures and forex exchange markets and I tried my best. How much time did I waste while trading? I really did take my time. It was about 10 years. How much money did I lose? I daren't tell you. The outcome was a complete failure. The final result of this learning experience is... Emptiness The fact of the matter is that there is a lot of emptiness in my life. My trading account is empty. My bank account is empty. My flat is empty. My curriculum vitae is empty as well. I am unemployable. I have nothing to offer to a potential employer. I know everything about losing money, which is hardly something that could revive my career. In addition to that, I am empty-headed. I have it from the horse's mouth. My girlfriend attested to that point. When leaving, she called me an empty head. She must have been in the know, since she was a medical student at that time. Strangely enough, all this emptiness somehow relates to...

4 Buddhism Buddhists do really appreciate emptiness. Just ask them. They will readily tell you that emptiness is the very basis reality. Moreover, Buddhists got a stamp of approval from quantum physicists. Quantum physicists have to deal with emptiness. Emptiness is what they find when they study matter. The deeper they go into the heart of the matter, the more emptiness they find. With regard to Buddhism, I am naturally inclined to opt for Zen Buddhism, more concretely, for the Soto school of Zen. The practitioners of this school have figured it out. All what is needed to become holy is to sit down, do nothing, and think about nothing. That is exactly what I've been doing for the last 10 years. I am an expert on doing nothing. Hence, it shouldn t be so difficult to become a respected Zen master. What's next? What a load of hogwash, you might think. If I don't talk sense here, the reason is that I don t know what to do. I am standing clueless at the crossroads of my life. In alchemy, the adept goes symbolically through the following phases: suffering, death and resurrection. I have suffered enough. That is for sure. Likewise, I have experienced agonizing financial death. What is remaining? Resurrection! Or, perhaps, could it be that I am just kidding myself? Be that as it may, it remains to be seen. Tomáš Weber Club Member

5 Extended language Tips by Milan "Your speech was great, really great." I hear sentences like that way too often in evaluations from people who want to express their appreciation. You can sound much more advanced when you learn how to use some more phrases when talking about things that were good about the speech you're evaluating or when you're delivering a prepared speech. Expanding your vocabulary range is crucial. Keep it up! / Keep up the good work. You have done a good job! It was a brilliant idea to incorporate Your ending was absolutely fantastic. The punchline was truly breathtaking. It was an excellent / amazing / outstanding performance We ve seen some superb body language. That part was splendid / terrific / wonderful. That was very good indeed. I appreciate the effort you put into Nice work! / Great stuff! I m impressed. / That was really impressive. That's an original / imaginative suggestion / idea! You have made a lot of / good / excellent progress. I was captivated by your voice from the very beginning I truly enjoyed the way you used your voice. Your improvement is definitely praiseworthy. Milan Navrátil Club Member

6 About authors Kristina Vankova As a Vice-president of Education Kristina leads a mentoring and development activities in Brno Toastmasters. Tomáš Weber Tomas is funny person, who can say joke from himself without any a sign of smile. Milan Navratil Milan teaches English at companies and he gives private lessons at a variety of levels, both general and business English. Radovan Plocek Radovan currently serves as a President of Brno Toastmasters club. Outside the club he is a freelance software developer. Chrysosthenis Taslis The perfect speaker from Greece, who moved to Vienna. We will never forget about his stories about mafioso guys. Peter Pecho Club # Brno Toastmasters