SAP Toastmasters

D I S T R I C T 4 , A R E A C 3 , C L U B 5 9 6 0 6 9 N O V . 2 0 0 9

DISTRICT 4
SOCIAL MEDIA:
“Can You Tell a Good Story?” - A Testimonial I thought I would find Toastmasters
people have the most basic, yet useful in my professional life. However,
by David Brutman crucial, skill - to communicate in a
Facebook recently I used my skills in a very spe-
Linked In clear, interesting and inspiring cial speaking opportunity. I volunteered
way? A friend told me this story to make a presentation at my son’s
Twitter
which to me encapsulates the class about a famous composer. I
YouTube essence of Toastmasters. thought about the audience and simpli-
fied the topic for their level, structured
I joined Toastmasters as I believe the session to make it easy to follow,
that many aspects of success de- started with a story to get the kids’
pend on communication skills. I attention and had plenty of visual aids.
have witnessed, on many different The kids responded very well, were
occasions, how miscommunication highly engaged, learned a lot and
between parties leads to negative seemed to have fun.
outcomes. I was impressed by the
professional, comprehensive and I believe that the tools of Toastmasters
“You have an impressive resume unique techniques taught by Toast- and the effective preparation were the
with all the ingredients to be masters to address the topic of main reasons for the success of this
accepted to this honored insti- communication. I also became presentation. I am looking forward to
tute, but do you know how to instantly comfortable with the getting more experience in Toastmas-
tell a good story?” thought the members of the SAP Toastmasters ters as well as finding new ways in my
INSIDE THIS admissions officer for one of the club. It is the perfect place to im- professional and personal life to use
top-ranked business schools in prove your speaking skills with these skills. I want to answer the ques-
ISSUE:
the country. He saw many excel- solid guidance and true role mod- tion: ” .. but can you tell a good story?”
“Can You Tell a 1 lent resumes, but beyond the els in a very supportive environ- with a solid answer: “Yes”.
academics, social service, hob- ment.
Good Story?” -
bies, etc., he wondered: do these
A Testimonial

Division ‘C’ Con- 1

test—A Report

Member News

Club
Calendar
2

2
Division ‘C’ Contest— A Report
By Donna “DJ” Vigil, CC, CL remember Henry as a guest at
Club 2 the club’s summer DCP celebra-
Information Over 100 Toastmasters and
tion. From ProToasties Toast-
guests attended a very well or-
masters in Foster City, Pat
ganized Division C Fall Speech
Obuchowski, a certified life and
Contest on Friday, October 23rd.
professional coach, gave a rousing
The event was hosted by the
test speech for the evaluation
Area C5 club Securely Speaking in
contest on the importance of
VeriSign’s Mountain View head-
“Playing Your Bigger Game”.
quarters. It featured enticing
raffle prizes, excellent Indian food Bill Copeland, member, SAP Toastmasters Club
While there were no members of and C3 Area Governor, opens the Div. C contest
and entertaining evaluations and
SAP Toastmasters competing in (Photo: Courtesy Robert Tang, District 4 Photographer
humorous speeches. District 4
the contest, several members had & Videographer)
Governor, Henry Miller
key contest roles. Bill Cope- ernor) was the SAA who got the
(DTM) was the contest’s guest
land (ACS and Area C3 Gov- contest started and kept things
of honor; SAP Toastmasters may
under control – Toastmasters
can be a rowdy bunch on a
Friday night! Donna “DJ”
Vigil (CC, CL and club
President) was a gracious,
smooth (and modest) Evalua-
tion Contest Toastmaster. At
her 4th Division Contest of the
season, Birgit Starmanns
(ACB, ALB and District PR
Officer) helped present
awards to the contest winners.
John Mackey filled the impor-
tant role as one of the contest
judges.
The contest winners were both
from Lee Emerson Bassett
Club in Palo Alto - David
Kohls (Evaluation Contest) and
Sean Arthur (Humorous
Contest). Pallavi Padala of
Toasters R Us came in second
place in the Evaluation Contest
which took place exactly one
month before the due date of
her first child. Gopinath
“Gopi” Neelambaran Kal-
layil, a past guest speaker at
SAP Toastmasters and mem-
ber of the “I am Feeling
Chatty” club, was the second
place winner of the Humorous
Contest.
Contestants from sister clubs
in Area C3 took third place in
the evaluation (Brett Cottle,
HP Hilltop Toastmasters) and
Birgit Starmanns, member, SAP Toastmasters Club
humorous (Dennis Hussey, & District PR Officer, with the Evaluation Contest
move on to compete in the Dis-
Electric Toasters) contests. winner, David Kohls ((Photo: Courtesy Robert Tang, trict Contest in Santa Clara on
District 4 Photographer & Videographer) November 20th and 21st. Details
Club members are strongly on this event can be found at
encouraged to see the winners of the Division C Contest http://www.d4tm.org/.

Member News more information.

Have an idea for a
contribution?
Send it to us, this is
YOUR newsletter!
Two new members joined
SAP Toastmasters in Octo-
ber: Devendra Saxena and
Alin Jula. Welcome to the
team, Devendra and Alin! A
letter from our member
Birgit Starmanns appeared
in the “Letters to the Edi-
tor” section of this month’s
issue of Toastmaster maga-
zine. Well done, Birgit!
Nov. 11: Joint Meeting w/
VMWare’s Virtual Speak
Club — This meeting will be
held at the VMWare campus.
Contact Rahul Kabra for
more information.
Dec. 09: Joint Meeting
with EPRI’s Electric
Toasters — This meeting will Club Calendar
be held at the VMWare cam-
pus. Contact Rahul Kabra for

Club Information
Toastmasters International
http://www.toastmasters.org
District 4
http://www.d4tm.org
SAP Toastmasters
http://saptm.freetoasthost.net
Club Meetings
Wednesdays, 12:00-1:00 pm
SAP, Building 2
3412 Hillview Avenue
Room: Lombard (2nd floor)
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Officers Newsletter Editor:
Amitabh Mishra, ACS
President: Donna “DJ” Vigil, CC, CL amitabh.mishra@sap.com
VP Education: Rahul Kabra, CC
VP Membership: Sri Govindarajan Newsletter Committee:
VP PR: Amitabh Mishra, ACS Niyati Bedekar
Secretary: Mohini Wettasinghe, CC Birgit Starmanns, ACB, ALB
Donna (DJ) Vigil, CC
Treasurer: Mario Herger, ACB
Sergeant-at-Arms: Fariya Ali Page 1 photos: David Brut-
Video Officer (honorary role): man, Robert Tang
Ingo Sauerzapf Page II photos: Robert Tang,
Birgit Starmanns