Images Newsletter of the JPKU Toastmasters Club, New Delhi

Vol. 4, Issue 5; December 2010

2010
Club No. 858173
DECEMBER Division C, District 82

The Editor’s Note

At the outset, I will like to wish each one of you a very happy new year. Hope you all
have the most amazing time and attain everything you set yourself for.
Mission of
In this issue, Club President Malkiat Bindra shares his vision for the club, DTM Ritu Toastmasters
Arora shares her expertise on what not to do while preparing a speech . Secretary Sangeeta shows the best dress To provide a mutually
code possible, SAA Vikas Malik talks about the resolutions which do not change every year. In the ‗Hyde Park‘ supportive and positive
section we invited some thoughts on having a separate tabletopic evaluator. Read about a brand new toastmaster, learning environment
Sushant Kakkar, in the ‗Know Thy Toastmaster‘ section. in which every individual
member has the
I will also like to inform the members that our club has completed five years of existence this month and a certifi- opportunity
to develop oral
cate for the same has been also displayed in the newsletter, I will always be open to feedback (if any). Hope you
communication
have a great time reading it!! and leadership skills,
which in turn foster
self-confidence
Akhil Sood and personal growth
 2 CONTENTS December 2010

Gone in Five Page 4

The Da Vinci dress code
PRESIDENT SPEAKS Page 3 On yet another checklist before speaking
Page 5
Presindent shares his thoughts about the club - DTM Ritu
-- Sangeeta Malik

The Resolution Page 6 Meeting Theme Of The Month Page 7,8&9

-- Vikas Kumar Malik Toastmasters of the month and meeting themes Know Thy Toastmaster Page 10
- DTM Ritu Arora
-Aneesh Jain
Let’s get to know the latest addition to our family
-Akhil Sood Sushant Kakkar

Club Contact Details Page 14

The Hyde Park Page 11 Certification Of appreciation
Improving the attendance in the meeting Page 12
 Vikas Malik, --Malkiat Bindra
 Sanchit Aggarwal

Acknowledgments Page 15

Best of the Month Page 13

Find out our star performers week by week.
3 PRESIDENT SPEAKS December 2010

I hope your holidays are going good and you are having a gala time with your family.

Not long back, I was pretty nervous about the job I had taken up; President of JPKU Toastmasters
club. Am I good enough? Will I be able to stand on all the expectations people have from me?
Will I be beneficial for the club? These were some questions which were banging in my head.

Well, I did not get the answer of those questions above, because life doesn‘t provide you answers,
but provides you with experience and the sense of achievement that you did not mess it up, that
someone gained from your presence. I walk away with that experience and that sense of achieve-
ment.

Now, six months after taking up that job, I see someone else being haunted by the same set of
questions. He also has the same goal in sight, just different members in the EC to help him realize
that goal. Yes, it is the new President, Vikas Kr. Malik. The time to change is here. The term of
old Executive Committee is over and the new EC to step in is here. I wish them all best of luck :)

It was a pleasant experience working with the EC I had. There was a lot to learn from all of the
members. Aneesh Jain (VP-Ed), Jyoti Narula (VP-M), Kanushree (VP-PR), Vinay Jain
(Treasurer), Sangeeta Malik (Secretary) and Vikas Kr. Malik (Sergeant At Arms). All of them per-
formed their role exceptionally well. I was blessed to have such an EC working with me. Also,
where else can you find 2 of your bosses work on even basis as you?

Malkiat Bindra
President, JPKU Toastmasters Club
 4 Gone in Five!!!
DTM Dr. RITU ARORA
How many times have you been a spectator at a
contest and thought, ‗hey, I could have done
that‘ or ‗I could‘ve won‘. Most people fall in
two categories, winners and losers, mostly and.
Jokes apart, here are the sure shot tips of losing
any contest. In my 4 year stint with toastmasters
I have made a sort of a record of losing contests.
No, I don‘t think I qualify for the Guinness
Book of World Records yet, but I have lost more
contests than most people, and here‘s what I
know.
When Chendil shoved me into my first toast-
masters‘ contest, he asked me ―What have you
got to lose?‖ I didn‘t know the answer then, but
now I am wiser. The contest to begin with, but if
you wait until you definitely win, you will never
enter. The best way of getting better is to be bad,
besides you get a lot of sympathy, popularity, and experience. You also get to be Ar-
nold Schwarzenegger, and can do your best ―I‘ll be back.‖
Here come 5 golden rules, a list of things you can do to ensure you lose the Contest,
the trophy and a lot of body weight, by crying mostly:
RULE 1: The Sieve Principle:
What the audience hears is not what you meant. What gets sieved through is com-
pletely different. The message you want to convey gets lost because of information
overload, too many parameters and an absolute lack of transitions. This is a must. No
one must know what you intend to say. Never have a clear message and resist the urge
of repeating your message.
December 2010
RULE 2: The Jargon Principle:
Jargon will make you feel included, and your listener feel excluded. It‘s like a private
joke with yourself and the audience has no clue. It also proves you are the anointed
brethren, an excellent opportunity to show off, and confuse the audience.
RULE 3: Avoid Recording:
Do not let anyone record your speech, and do not attempt to record it on your own.
Even if your new mobile phone comes with a 12mp camera and a brilliant recording
feature. Are you kidding me, by recording, you are giving people an opportunity to re-
view your speech and help you improve it. Also, you get to see how you did, your key
strengths, and your weaknesses and points of improvement. Prime rule of losing a
contest, recording is a strict NO!
RULE 4: Hijack:
Never use your own stories or experiences to make a speech. Plagiarise; hijack some-
one else‘s story/ experience or material. Something you read recently on the internet, a
common joke, they work wonders in getting you disqualified. Even if no one protests,
rest assured some of the judges will have heard it before and you will lose marks for
originality.
RULE 5: Humour Leads to Tumour:
...especially when you want to lose a contest. It‘s okay to have a bad sense of humour.
You see, humour gets your audience hooked, so avoid being punny. Even if you are
naturally funny, avoid it like plague, and yes never smile or laugh.
One person wins the World Championship of Public Speaking every year, the rest fif-
teen thousand contestants lose, so you‘re in good company. Learn how to lose a
speech contest in 7 minutes by following these 5 golden rules. See you at the
next contest season, I‘LL BE BACK !
 5 The Da Vinci dress code
By Sangeeta Malik
―Why not?‖ said a young man, ―Do we all dress up appropriately to enhance our
appearance and personalities? Do we give ourselves that extra edge to make our-
selves more effective? Dressing right is more than just putting few pieces of cloth-
ing together.‖
―Saying that dressing well is not important is just like saying a good birthday cake
does not require the icing?‖Another young girl added.
Well, I have often asked this question “Do clothes make a man?” We are all
aware that all that glitters is not gold. It is the inner personality that matters …the
outer appearance, jewels and diamonds may attract for a few seconds but the inner
strength, character and personality matters the most.‖ But can you imagine Ami-
tabh Bhachan sitting in Kaun Banega Crorepati and wearing the casual rugged
jeans with ragged appearance, a faded unkempt shirt and bathroom slippers …
dragging his way up to the platform?
On second thoughts I do agree that clothes do send a powerful message about
our economic status, occupation and values. Above all, they affect the way others
perceive us and the way we feel about ourselves. .
Clothes that don't fit well can make a person look uncomfortable, unkempt and
disorganized.
Clothes are overtly casual, worn or wrinkled, may make others think that one does-
n't care enough about himself or herself. It leads to a thought that if you don't care
enough to look professional, you won't do professional work.
People with good clothing sense generally reflect more confidence and capture at-
tention easily.
Dress well to feel good. The days when we dress up in clothes and colours that we
perceive as suitable to us, we not only feel but also exude confidence.
December 2010
So what does it mean to be in a dress code at
Toastmasters?
A well groomed appearance that is comfortable with a
professional feel about us.
Spotless polished and an immaculate look.
Professional/conservative shoes do add a class to a per-
son.
Even casual clothes jeans and T shirts worn with a taste
of aesthetics add a special look to your personality .
Not to forget… a big no to strong perfumes, co-
lognes….and of course a bigger one to body odours as
well.
Minimal jewellery ladies…nothing worse than dangling
earrings to distract the attention from your speech.
How do we dress up?
Dress up for your own for individuality, with an individ-
ual expression, create your own style, and give yourself
an extra added cache.
Dress up for success. You will never get a second chance
to make the first impression.
Dress up for professional touch. Whether we like it or not
40% of rejections in jobs are due to the outward appear-
ance.
Dressing well also includes good grooming. ..Clean
hair… hands with nails cut…fresh breath…
And don‘t forget an important positive image to go along with your attire.
Most importantly,
You don‘t need to spend time but a thought to dress up well.
Clothes don‘t need to be expensive but need to enhance your persona.
Also, you don‘t have to follow the brands but you should be a brand in yourself.
 6 Resolution December 2010

By Vikas Malik
Resolution to renew all my old resolves,
And add a few that are new.
Resolution to keep them as long as I can,
What more can I do?’

The tradition of the New Year‘s resolutions is ancient and goes all the way back to 153BC. Janus, a mythical king
of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and
forward to the future. Janus is the ancient symbol for resolutions and first month of the year is named after him.
At midnight of December 31, Janus is looking back at the old year, its mistakes, its shattered promises, joyous
moments and simultaneously is looking ahead at the new upcoming year with the hope to get over all past short-
comings and starting with a new beginning.

New Year's Time is a time of celebrations and a time to make promises - promises to myself. But we are not
strangers to these resolutions; actually we make them on daily basis. The urge to 'do better next time', is always
there and in all those broken resolutions, it is only this urge which is constant.

But, there is a way out for making quality New Year resolutions. I discussed with a friend how to make sure that this year I shall stick to my resolutions. Here are few tips:

1. Be Specific: Vague goals like better health will not help. Resolution must answer better when? Better how? And most importantly better why?

2. Don't go over the roof: Most resolutions fail because we dream too big. Rather, if we dissect those big dreams into small baby steps with timelines attached with each of
them. It will look more achievable and hence more effective.

3. Don't overwhelm with thousands of resolutions: Dont' try to do EVERYTHING all at one time. Rather make it a commitment to focus only on top 3 of your long list of
to-dos. Commit yourself to your plan for at least 20 days (3 weeks) to make it part of your habit or daily routine.

4. Don't give up: The day we miss on our resolved commitment, we give up on it and put it aside for the next year. Rather take it easy and restart it again tomorrow .

May this New Year bring you many opportunities your way, to explore every joy of life and may your resolutions for the days ahead stay firm, turning all your dreams into re-
ality and all your efforts into great achievements
7 MEETING THEMEs OF THE MONTH December 2010

Reverberations 2010 was behind us, but JPKU Toastmasters was still reverberating, the reflections continued even on Saturday
the 4th December 2010. This was surprising, for one would associate a club with ―Always Ahead‖ as its slogan to be associated
with pre-echo, rather than reverberations, but that was the order of the day. The meeting began with the Toastmaster talking about
the recently held Semi- Annual conference.
The suggestions from the Hyde-Park section and how they reverberate i.e. are incorporated into the meetings and general func-
tioning of the club, formed the high point of the meeting, and this was brought into the limelight by the two pillars of the club,
President Malkiat Bindra and VP Education Aneesh.
The previous meeting had seen only three members and a guest, and with something as interesting as videos planned, it had been
quite unexpected, the SAA Vikas sobbed. It was interesting to note that two of our ―ild ka chand‖ members (read as I make a
guest appearance once in a while so that you know I exist), namely Deepak Dewani and Rahul Soni were not only present, but at
their roaring best during the meeting.
The real delight was to see new members taking up roles, doing the talking, incorporating what they recently learned, and put it
to make their speeches better. Akhil Sood, our home grown Harry Potter had a wonderful take on Project 8, that worked like
magic and mesmerized the audience. Pity, it mesmerized Mr.Potter himself as well, and here someone ran out of time. Perhaps he
should try the ‗rabbit in the waistcoat with a pocket watch‘ next.
Table Topics Master Vikas had lovely topics up his sleeve, which everyone was able to speak on for atleast a minute or so. The
General Evaluator Malkiat Bindra, for those of us who know him, and for those of us who dont, was both seen and heard.
The toastmaster ended with the remark that the human touch Toastmasters has to offer makes it a wonderful place to be in, and a
tremendous opportunity to touch lives. You only need to attend a meeting to know. Let the reverberations continue...
Dr.Ritu Arora MDS,DTM

Dr. Ritu Arora DTM

 8 MEETING THEMEs OF THE MONTH contd.. December 2010

The moment, I sat down to write this article (as always at the eleventh hour), every word I spoke during the meeting on December 11,
2010, came back to haunt me. Unsurprisingly, the preacher was not one of the followers. All the talk about planning and sticking to
time-lines, seemed like useless mumbo-jumbo, and all that remained was yet another ‗last minute scramble‘.

The preparations for the meeting on December 11 started perfectly on time. Most of the meeting roles were taken up in the meeting
on December 4 and a few others were auctioned off in the following couple of days. Life seemed to be moving as per plan, but who
would have guessed this was only the lull before the storm? The first scheduled speaker backed out the day the draft agenda was
floated. The other three followed suit within a span of two days. By the day before the meeting, despite all the planning, all the sched-
uled speakers had cancelled their speeches, the Toastmaster was still not ready to face the crowd and the Table Topics Master had
gone missing, and thus began a last minute scramble to find the role players for the meeting with the theme – Last minute scrambles.
Somehow, by some divine intervention, everything fell into place at the last moment! Two members stood up to deliver speeches, the
Toastmaster gained enough confidence to face the crowd and a Table Topics Master was found…

We do not live in the most punctual nation of the world. Delays are a common sight and last minute scrambles for meeting strict
deadlines are an accepted reality. Wedding ceremonies usually run late by two hours, while business conferences by only half an hour.
Construction of roads and bridges usually takes ten years more than the allocated time, if in case they ever get ready. We as a nation
have learned to accept these minor delays and take them in our stride. It helps that as individuals we don‘t have much faith in plans
and even lesser in ensuring their implementation, so either we are extremely comfortable extending deadlines or taking part in last
minute scrambles, burning the midnight lamp and somehow getting the work done.

Some might argue that these last minute scrambles make the entire process of working more interesting. I couldn‘t agree more! Some others
might argue that these last minute scrambles test your attentiveness and intellectual capabilities to the limit. I totally agree! But what about
getting the work done on time? Or what about delivering work of a certain minimum quality standard?

The last minute scrambles cannot be totally done away with, like in the case of getting the role players for the December 11 meeting, but
Aneesh Jain
certainly better planning and sticking to time-lines can ensure that the construction of roads and bridges doesn‘t go on forever.

We had two speakers – Sushant and Ritu, during the meeting on December 11, and both of them were equal to the task. Akhil tried out a
nouveau Table Topics style, forcing the speakers to debate on the impact of last minute scrambles. Akhil also doubled up as the General
Evaluator for the meeting. In the end, both Ritu and Sushant were voted the best speakers, Aneesh was voted the best Table Topics speaker
and Ritu walked away with the award for the best Evaluator.
 9 MEETING THEMEs OF THE MONTH contd.. December 2010

I was a sixth grader and my geography teacher had cut one mark in my first term examination because I had invented a new spelling of
mountainous. Such was the focus on using the correct language and spelling that even a geography teacher could reinforce her superiority
over English. Today, it seems as if a hundred years (if not a thousand) have passed since that precise moment. Those were the times when a
mobile phone was the most ultimate symbol of luxury. We all understand the fact that we have got busier than ever before and there is no-
one in the world who can be slightly as busy as we are and that unsatisfied desire to save time along with the invasion into the luxury pro-
vided by a mobile phone has invented a new language ―SMS- lingo.‖

How do you feel when you are looking to recruit and the person answers a simple question

Q) How did you come to know about my company?

Ans Threw mah cosin who told me abt u

The person meant through but he has been using threw in sms and he had never been corrected. Its his fault, yes but he has been soaked in an
environment where language and grammar are unheard of and its going to ruin the generation unless we keep a check on it. The incorrigible
youth have to be made aware of the flaws and dangers they are creating for the language in general and the only feasible way is to dissuade
them form using such kind of languages or atleast stop the practice of getting this lingo to more formal modes of communication.

The theme of the meeting was decided to be SMS lingo and Akhil Sood was the toastmaster for the meeting. As toastmaster was late to the
meeting, his role was taken over by President Malkiat. There were three speeches during the day. Sushant talked about preventing disasters,
Sanchit guided the audience in choosing the right mobile for them and Akhil convinced them to donate blood. DTM Ritu Arora brought in a
new face of table topics as she gave a famous name to the speakers and the speakers had to give it to audience by describing the works of the
person they impersonated. Akhil walked away with the best speaker, DTM Deepak Menon got the best tabletopic speaker and Ritu Arora got
the best evaluator award.

Akhil Sood
10 KNOW THY TOASTMASTER December 2010

Sushant Kakkar was born and brought up in Delhi and did his schooling from LPS, Hauz Khas. He pursued Bachelor‘s
in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering and graduated in 2007. He is working as a field man-
ager in Schlumberger Ltd, an oilfield service company and is currently on a leave of absence and preparing for MBA ex-
ams. He developed an interest in traveling after joining Schlumberger, and has visited almost the entire North East, and 5
more countries in the last 3 years. His hobbies include embedded electronics, traveling, watching cricket & enjoying the
latest movies.

Q1: How did you react when you first heard about toastmasters and
how do you react now?
My first reaction was not at all an enthusiastic one. I thought of toastmasters
as just another club where people meet to discuss their problems etc. But
my first meeting was an eye opener. Toastmasters is an excellent platform
for anyone trying to get rid of the stigma, the nervousness & the low confi-
dence he or she experiences while addressing a crowd or handling tough
situations or speaking impromptu.
of my client‘s oil Well had become unstable. We were
called in and I was the lead engineer responsible for the
operation. I was scared as hell, but my job required me to
set up protocols of safety measures and use explosives to
control the well.. Well after around 10 hrs, the well was
brought under control and the field was saved. This inci-
dent made me stronger as a person.

Q2: What is Sushant passionate about?
Well, you may call me a nerd, but my passion, though affected by many
other activities that have taken up my time in recent years, was developed
during my engineering days. After successfully developing a few buzzer
systems for quiz competitions during college fests, I found a huge interest in
embedded electronics. I lead a team to develop a joystick controlled elec-
tric wheelchair with 1/4th the cost of the one available in the market. I held
several workshops to promote interest in students on embedded electronics.
So, if you have a microcontroller giving you a problem, I will be more than
happy to help.
Q3: Finally the guy had the courage to present the rose on the last day
of school!! Share some more courageous acts you had.
Haha. Well except for the rose, almost all my so called ―courageous‖ acts
have happened because I didn‘t have any other choice.
One particular incident, that made me realize what all one can achieve by
just acting courageously in the face of disaster, happened in early 2009. One
Q4: What are the goals that you want to achieve through toastmasters?
My primary goal through TM is to become a competent communicator. I have long realized
the importance of being able to deliver a perfect speech
Q5: Any suggestions about the general procedure of meeting and what else would you
like to change?
I really like the current TM format – prepared speeches, table topics, joke/word of the day,
evaluations etc. After delivering only two speeches, I feel I have already overcome many of
my fears.
If I were to suggest some change, I would like to see a section on ―prepared
acts‖ by two or more people. This may help them improve on their Voice
modulation & body movements, which I feel are the most challenging to
overcome.
 11 THE HYDE PARK— Tabletopic Evaluator December 2010

The Hyde Park in London is famous for its Speakers’ Corner, which allows anyone and everyone to speak on a topic for as long as they can unless the police finds it offensive,
and the Hyde Park police has had a history of being offended very rarely even on sensitive issues. As a salutation to the freedom of expression, we bring Hyde Park from Lon-
don to our newsletter, and invite everyone to publish their comments on a certain topic, which for this month is: “Shall we have an assigned tabletopic evaluator?"

―Tabletopics‖ is the wonderful section which re-

quires one to think your feet and speak whatever
crosses one‘s mind. We don‘t know where did we
go wrong or what could we have said. This needs
to be evaluated thoroughly to give a clear picture
to the speaker of his/her speech. Therefore, I think
that there should be a separate tabletopics evalua-
tor, who can concentrate only on Tabletopics and
provide the speaker a better evaluation.
We should have a Table Topics Evaluation section in every meet-
ing. It could be played by an assigned evaluator or by General
evaluator depending on number of members present in a meet-
ing. We could have this as a more interactive section, where Sanchit AgGarwal
other members who didn't speak on a topic can contribute their
ideas about the same topic. This will enrich all members with di-
verse ideas (content) related to the topic

Vikas Malik
12 Certificate for completing five years December 2010
13 BEST OF THE MONTH December 2010

Here come Here come

the the
re- results!!!

11th December: Sushant Kakkar and Ritu

Arora
18th December : Akhil Sood

4th December: Rahul Soni 4th December :Nitya Ranjan

11th December: Aneesh Jain 11th December: Ritu Arora
18th December : Deepak Menon 18th December : Deepak
14 CLUB CONTACT DETAILS December 2010

Our Executive Committee Venue of Meetings

 Malkiat Bindra: President Vivekananda Vihar, Opposite J.P., Kapur & Uberai, Chartered
malkiat07@gmail.com Accountants, LGF C-4/5 Safdarjung Development Area,
 Aneesh Jain: Vice President, Education New Delhi—110016.
aneeshjain@gmail.com
 Jyoti Narula: Vice President, Membership
jyoti@jpku.com
Time of Meetings
 Kanu Shree: Vice President, Public Relations Every Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
kanushree84@gmail.com
 Sangeeta Malik: Secretary
sangeeta.malik@gmail.com
Whom to Contact
 Vinay Jain: Treasurer For all queries, please contact:
toastmaster.vinay@gmail.com Malkiat Bindra: +91 9811064605; malkiat07@gmail.com
 Vikas Kumar: Sergeant-at-arms Aneesh Jain: +91 9971119361; aneeshjain@gmail.com
vikask.malik@gmail.com Akhil Sood: +91 9810820409 skhil.aood@gmail.com
Sangeeta Malik: +91 9818051336 sangeeta.malik@gmail.com
Vikas Kumar: +91 9560690622 vikask.malik@gmail.com
 15 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS December 2010

Always Ahead…!

Curtains, not only to the newsletter, but also to 2010 and also to
the editor. We will have a new editor from next month but my
job will never be complete without saying a word of thanks to
Shreeja for managing the information while I was away and to
Malkiat, Aneesh, Vikas, Sanchit, Sangeeta, Ritu and Sushant for
valuable contributions. A very Happy new year!!

Images is published on the last day of the month. All contribu-

tors are requested to send in their entries to
skhil.aood@gmail.comby the 25th of the month.

Club No. 858173

No part of this newsletter maybe printed or reproduced
Division C, District 82 without intimating the JPKU Toastmasters Club. All enquiries
and requests should be directed to the club‘s public relations
Important Links: committee at jpkunews@gmail.com.

JPKU Toastmasters: http://jpkutoastmasters.bravehost.com

Division C members: d82Cmembers@googlegroups.com
District 82: http://www.t82.org/
Copyright JPKU Toastmasters Club, 2010