South Main Monthly
Vol. 3 No. 3 South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609
The mission of the Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually
supportive and positive learning environment in which every
member has the opportunity to develop communication and
leadership skills, which in turn foster self
growth.
In This Issue
• President's Corner
• Milestones
Jeanne Jacob
South Main featured in newspapers
• Calendar of Events
Survivor Membership Contest Begins
Area-level
level International Speech and Evaluation Contest
• Features
“For Charles & Thomas, Love Mom” by Erika Parrish
“How did I start a new Toastmasters Club" by Brenda
Thorne
“Life Strategy 20/20” by Ernie Hermano
“10 Ways to Protect the Environment” by Jane Shen
• Ask the Master
Good PowerPoint Design
The South Main Monthly is a monthly publication of the
South Main Speakers Toastmasters club. We meet every
Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in 10305 South Main Street
(Houston Chinese Church), Room 411. For more
information, please visit our website at:
http://groups.msn.com/southmainspeakers
If you have any comments, contributions, or suggestions
concerning this or future issues, please send them to
vrajan@gmail.com. Thank you for reading!
-Vivek Rajan, Editor
March 2008
self-confidence
confidence and personal
President’s
Corner
It Pays to be a Toastmaster
By Vivian Li, CC
Congratulations to all who participated in the Evaluations and
International Speech Contests last month! We had a good
number of contestants for each one and were able to learn
from each others’ evaluation and speaking strengths. Please
support our representatives Jian Wang and alternate Francis
Athappily at the area level for the Evaluation Contest and
Michael Plaks, me and alternate Brian Zhang for the
International Speech Contest. Come out and wish us u all good
luck!
We all know that being a Toastmaster has numerous
benefits—the
the opportunities for improving our speaking and
leadership skills, learning how to be a team player and
motivate others, learning how to think on your feet,
feet and
meeting great people and have a fun time with them every
week! Starting this month though, South Main Speakers is
adding another incentive to o being an active Toastmaster:
CASH. In order to thank those who participate in our club, to
build camaraderie, and to encourage new members to join over
the next 3 months, our “Survivor”--themed Spring Membership
Contest will reward $100 to the winner, $30 to the runner-up,
runner
and $15 to the third place winner. If you are interested and
would like to find out more details, email Madame Contest
Chair Erika Parrish at parrish1968@yahoo.com.
parrish1968@yahoo.com
 Milestones

Congratulations to
Jeanne Jacob on
earning her Competent
Communicator award!
She finished her ten
speech projects from the
CC manual last month to
achieve this award.

Our club was featured in two Chinese

Newspapers! One was a local newspaper and the
other one is the Southern Daily Newspaper. You
can find a copy of the articles at:
http://groups.msn.com/SouthMainSpeakers/south March 1: Survivor Membership Contest Begins
erndailynewsarticle.msnw.
Win over $100 in CASH by participating in the
membership contest! The contest is based on the
New Member Spotlight reality TV show, Survivor. First place winner will
receive $100,, second place winner will receive
Last month we have had two new members join
$30, and third place winner will receive $15. If
our club! Please give a warm welcome to our
newest members – Francis Athappilly
pilly and you are interested in participating, please contact
Steffan Golt. And a brief introduction of Steffan in the contest organizer – Erika Parrish
his own words: (parrish1968@yahoo.com).

March 29: Area Level International Speech

and Evaluation Contest

A big congratulations to Jian Wang and Michael Plaks

for winning the evaluation and international speech
contest respectively at our club! As Michael won at
“II was born in Belgrade, Serbia in 1961. I another club and will
ill be representing them at the area
immigrated to Canada in 1992 and as a Canadian contest the runner-up,
up, Vivian Li, will be representing
moved to Houston in 1997. I currently use my South Main Speakers at the Area-Q50
Area contest. Please
Mechanical Engineering degreee as a vehicle to come and support Jian and Vivian as they advance to
change countries and obtain different citizenships.
the area-level! The details for the Area-Q50
Area contest
But my passion is helping people to help
themselves to be more effective in being happier as are as follows:
the Option
®
Process Certified Mentor-Counselor.
Counselor. I am not a 30 p.m. on March 29th
When: 8:30 a.m. – 12:30
shrink, but I am an expert on beliefs
efs and belief Where: University of Houston
systems. I love to teach and facilitate groups by Farish Hall Building 587 - Room 101
using basic and advanced polling techniques as a 4800 Calhoun Rd
way to allow a group to grow and teach Houston, TX
themselves.”

South Main Monthly 2

 For Charles and Thomas
Love, Mom
By Erika Parrish

Mommy is having a baby, not just one, but two!

This news was more than we could chew!

This is such a special gift sent from the good Lord above
I feel so unworthy of

He will give us strength for the longest day

And He will always be there to show us the way.

At last the big day had arrived

37 weeks I survived
I couldn’t wait to meet you both
Finally my tummy can stop its rapid growth

Twenty fingers and twenty toes

Two pair of eyes and a set of cute little noses

There’s two to kiss

Two to wash
Two to dry
Two to cry
And best of all,
There’s two to love

So much work and so little sleep

I am so behind in my housekeep

One needs changing and the other to be fed,

The laundry to be done while you’re in bed

Double the bottles

Double the toys
Double the diapers
Double the joys

Each passing day is better than the day before

Maybe it’s because I am able to snore

So much alike, forever linked,

And yet you’re very quite distinct
You share a birthday and a name,
But moods and tempers aren’t the same

Some days seem endless

My patience grows thin
Why was I chosen to be a mother of twins?

The answer is clear at the end of the day

I’m able to laugh it all away

And when people ask, “How do you cope?”

I simply answer, “God sent a blessing and lots of hope.”
South Main Monthly 3
How Did I Start a
New Toastmasters
Club?
By Brenda Thorne,
DTM
As you progress
through the
Toastmasters
program, you are asked to accomplish
certain things in order to achieve a particular
award. For the Competent Communicator
(CC) award, you have to deliver 10 speeches
from the Basic Competent Communication
Manual. For the Advanced Leader Silver
(ALS) award, you have to serve 1) as a
district officer (area governor, division
governor, etc.) 2) as a club mentor, sponsor
or coach among other things.
I served as an area governor
overnor for Toastmaster
year July 2004- June 2005 under the
leadership of District 56 Governor, Max
Rasquinha (currently running for
International Director of Region 3). I was
the servant leader of 6 clubs, which included
South Main Speakers. Just as we hahave a
Distinguished Club Program (DCP), we also
have a Distinguished Area Program (DAP).
To be a President’s Distinguished area, one
must have a net gain of one club.
I gave a speech in early 2004 on “How to
Dance the Rumba in 12 Minutes.” It was a
demonstration project in the Speaking to
Inform advanced manual. The members of
South Main Speakers wanted to stay after
the Toastmaster meeting in order to learn
rumba. We had a ball! They wanted me to
give them dance lessons from time to time.
It was also at this point in time that my
dance instructor, who previously owned the
Fred Astaire Dance Studio franchise in
Houston, encouraged me to form a dance
club. He thought I had organizational skills.
He promised to throw in free dance lessons
from time to time.
August 2004, the club decided to participate
in the District 56 celebration at Golden
Corral at Loop 610 at 5:00 p.m. that Sunday.
District 56, our district, ranked number 11 in
the world in the Distinguished District
Program (DDP) for its accomplishments
accomplishment
during Toastmaster year 2003-2004
2003 (during
which I served as assistant area governor).
What will the club members do from 3:00
p.m. to 5:00 p.m.? Grace Hu suggested that
Brenda and Renay teach us dance. Our
Division Q governor, Eddie Merla, visited
the club
ub that day. I asked him if he thought
having a dance and Toastmaster
combination for a club was a possibility. He
said “yes.” Hence, the formation of a new
advanced Toastmaster club started. The
group liked the name, Dance and Toast
Masters, proposed by Bob Hu. South Main
Speakers and Dining Out Toastmasters were
the sponsoring clubs. Carol Hsu and Renay
Jacob served as club sponsors while Brenda
Thorne and Steve Siegal served as club
mentors. See How to Build a Club manual
for administrative details.
Steve
teve Siegel (South Main Speakers
president, who led South Main on its first 10
for 10 President’s Distinguished club status),
Renay Jacob, Grace & Bob Hu and I (all
from South Main Speakers) together with
sixteen Toastmasters from various clubs
became charterter members, December 2004.
The birth of Dance and Toast Masters
helped my area, Q-50 50 become a President’s
Distinguished area. My President’s
Distinguished Q-50 50 area contributed to
Division Q becoming a President’s
Distinguished division, which in turn
contributed
ntributed to District 56’s achievements.
District 56 became a Select Distinguished
District, the 7th highest ranking district in the
world for Toastmaster year 2004-2005.
2004
South Main Monthly 4

In summary, the decision to start a new
Toastmaster club is driven by both achieving
a goal in the Toastmasters program and the
interest of a core group of persons to form
one. The mission of the District is to
enhance the performance and extend the
networks
ks of clubs, thereby offering greater
numbers of people the opportunity to benefit
from the Toastmasters educational program.
* •
Life Strategy 20/20
By Ernie Hermano
It is said that life is
fragile, full of
challenges, uncertainties,
worries and the like. And most people say
that life is relatively short, and that we need
to make the most out of it. Given this
realization, I thought of coming up with a
kind of roadmap or plan on how I intend to
manage my life productively. ively. To create a
spark for myself,
self, I came up with a title for
this purpose and dubbed it as "Life Strategy
20/20". There are three words here here: "life" is
understandable,ble, and the word "strat
"strategy"
gives more substance to it— a "planned
life." "20/20," is a borrowed
rrowed term in the field
of optometry, then simply making the phrase
mean "a life in proper perspective" or a
focused life so to speak.
Related to this subject, I'm quite sure most
of us have somehow come across words of
affirmation or wisdomm similar to those found
in the so-called DESIDERATA (Latin:
something desired as essential) by Max
Ehrmann
rmann circa 1927. Some of its interesting
lines are as follow:
* Disclaimer: Due to editor’ss misplacement of Ernie
Hermano’s actual picture, picture courtesy of Jim Henson
Company
• "Go placidly amid the noise and
haste, and remember what peace
there may be in silence."
• "If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter..."
• "Exercise caution in your business
bu
affairs, for the world is full of
trickery."
• "Keep interested in your own career,
however humble..."
• "Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of
the youth."
"You are a child of the universe, no
less than the trees and
an the stars..."
• "With all its sham, drudgery and
broken dreams, (God forbid) it is still
a beautiful world."
• "Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."
Again, may this sort of overview of what
life is, reinforces or establishes relevance to
the following details of my piece "Life
Strategy 20/20". It has five key areas or
dimensions as far as my personal vision,
mission and interest in life are concerned.
Life Strategy #1: Physical or Health
Concern
There is need to give importance to our
health because after all, "Health
"He is Wealth.”
If we don't take care of our health,
health then how
can we be productive, happy and enjoy our
bits of success? Even though it's quite hard
to be a vegetarian, a little awareness and
discipline of what we take are still worth
considering. In most food labels,
labels for
example, in grocery stores, it pays to check
how much a processed item got in terms of
saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol,
holesterol, and
sodium
odium among others. Of all these,
cholesterol, which is most likely a "bad
cholesterol," is the most harmful of all in the
long run. Sweets,
eets, artificial ingredients, and
South Main Monthly 5
soda among others should be part of the
watch list.
Exercise pays a lot, as what Jeanne Jacob
shared with us in her latest speech. A person
can be 10 years younger "biologically" than
his/her "chronological" age. Healthy food,
food supplements, healthy lifestyle, and
clean environment complemented with
mind-conditioning or some forms of
meditation help a lot for sure.
Life Strategy #2: Mental and Mindset
Enhancement
This has something to do with sustaining the
level of our sanity and soundness of mind in
any situation. Yes, may it be on a day-to-day
basis or in times of stressful situations. Or,
simply enhancing our way of thinking and
mental condition at all times.
Thus, we may consider the following points:
• Nurture the power of "positive
mental attitude and positive outlook"
• Do away with any negative or
unhealthy thoughts.
• Nurture mindset and practices of
economic, attitudinal and time value.
• Inculcate helpful slogans and
proverbs like—"We don't always
need what we want (luxuries for
example) and "Forgive and Prosper,"
among others.
Life Strategy #3: Emotional Intelligence
and Well-Being
This has something to do with our emotional
quotient (EQ) so to speak, or the way we
respond to any stimulus that touches our
emotion. Most often irritants, stressful
conditions, pressures, pains and failures are
the most common ones. Or, simply the way
we carry ourselves with proper posture,
poise and the like.
Thus, the following steps should make sense:
• Nurture the power and wonder of
Patience, Self-Control, Self-
Confidence, Self-reliance, Good
Courage, Handling Pressures, and
Frustrations.
• Identify and pursue noble Vision,
Mission, and Goals in life with
persistence.
• Establish and sustain Strong Family
Ties, Quality Circle, True Friendship
and Lasting Relationships.
• Enhance Sense of Humor, Happy
Spirit and Harmony in any situation.
Life Strategy #4: Business/Professional
Undertaking
We need to choose wisely business or
professional undertakings that would
somehow, "bring out the best" in us, and at
the same time, satisfy whatever vision,
mission and goals we have. So that at the
end of the day, we can say before man and
God that, "we did our best" whatever is the
outcome!
Personally, I want to engage in a socially
responsible business as part of my Life
Strategy #5.
Right Attitude, Skills, Knowledge and
Mindset are all part of equipping efforts in
this regard.
Life Strategy #5: Humanitarian and
Community Service
This makes all of the strategies complete
and/or holistic in its totality. This is
especially true or imperative as far as I'm
concerned, when you have enough to give
South Main Monthly 6
back to the community in need. The reason
why this key area is closely
ly linked to life
strategy #4—asas part of my motivation or
objective to excel in my business
undertaking.
Thus, depending on one's level of success,
establishment of a charity foundation,
involvement with humanitarian
organizations as well as supporting ministry
initiatives, are all part of that noble and
holistic endeavor. Best wishes to ev everyone's
journey in life!
10 Ways to Protect the
Environment
By Jane Shen
I think a lot of
people know that in
early February a
heavy snow storm
slammed southern China
and stranded millions
illions of people at stations
during Chinese New Year. Later,, snow
storm happened at other places all over the
world. Ecologists
cologists said the snow disaster
disasters
more or less are the impact of environmental
pollution on human behavior. Nowadays,
owadays,
environmental pollution and global warming
have become more and more serious
problems and they draw attention all over
the world. In facing these problems, what
can we do to protect our earth? T There are 10
things we can do to protect the environment:
1. Use a cloth bag instead of a plastic bag
to carry home your groceries..
2. Adjust your thermostat up two degrees
in the summer and down two degrees in
the winter.
3. Keep your water heater at no higher than
120℉.
4. Unplug electronic devices as they may
use electricity even when turned off.
off
5. Use compact fluorescent bulbs and LED
display lights instead of regular bulbs.
bulbs
6. Change your home air filter as
recommended by the manufacturer.
manufacturer
7. Only run your dishwasher when it is full.
8. Use less hot water by installing a low-
l
flow shower head and wash clothes in
cold water.
9. Minimize packaging and recycle more of
your household waste.
10. Plant a tree to help absorb carbon
dioxide.
Probably, for some reasons we may not do
everything listed above,, but at least we can
try our best to do some of them and affect
other people’s behaviors to make our world
clean and beautiful.
Ask the Master
Dear Master,
I have heard that
using PowerPoint
is a crutch for
presentations. But
it is mandatory that
I use it at my
workplace, so I would
like to know if there is anything that is
called a good PowerPoint presentation.
prese
— Awful PowerPointer
Dear Awful PowerPointer,
Occasionally, I'm asked by friends to send
samples of "great slides" or "good
PowerPoint." I usually hesitate to send
examples of slides since my answer to the
South Main Monthly 7
question, "what does a great PowerPoint
slide look like?" is "...it depends." In a world
which often thinks in terms of absolutes —
"this is good, that is bad" — "it depends" is
not the most popular answer.
Context matters
However, as far as design is concerned, it is
useful not to think (judge) in terms of "right
or wrong," but rather in terms of what is
"appropriate or inappropriate." That is, is it
appropriate or inappropriate for a
particular context? "Good" and "bad" are
indeed terms we use when talking about
design — including PowerPoint slides —
but I'm personally cautious of this dualistic
thinking, especially when judging a design
without its full context available. So much
depends on how the visual is placed within
the context of the presentation, and the
content and objectives of that particular
presentation are of paramount concern.
Without a good knowledge of the place and
circumstance, and the content and context of
a presentation, it is impossible to say this is
"appropriate" and that is "inappropriate."
Simple but not simplistic
If there is one important precept worth
following, it is the idea of simplicity. The
best visuals are often ones designed with an
eye toward simplicity. Yet, this says nothing
about the specifics of a visual presentation.
That will depend on the content and context.
For example, even the best visuals used in
support of a presentation for one audience
on, say, quantum mechanics, may appear
complicated and confusing to a different
audience.
Simplicity is often used as a means to
greater clarity. However, simplicity can also
be viewed as a consequence. A consequence,
that is, of our careful efforts to craft a story
and create supporting visuals that focus on
our audience's needs in a clear and
meaningful way. Ok, simplicity is great you
say, but how simple? What is the formula for
simplicity? If you can't give me concrete
examples, you might say, at least give me a
formula for making powerful, simple visuals.
But do static formulas for achieving
simplicity exist?
In the book Living Zen, author Robert
Linsen (in speaking on the simplification of
needs in everyday life) says that a
"simplification of existence" is a
consequence of an "effective experience of
Zen." In other words, as one discovers their
true nature, "needs" such as possessions or
status are reduced or seen for what they are:
superfluous. This begs the question then:
"What are the minimum or maximum needs
for an individual?" To this the author
responds
"No one can define them or draw up a
system around them. That is where we
should exercise our judgment....Use
depends for each one of us on the place
and circumstances. If we were to codify the
laws concerning it they might soon become
a great bondage for us."
Here the author is not necessarily speaking
of design and presentation visuals, of course,
but we can see how we can apply Zen
principles to everyday life including design,
even the design of slides and other visuals.
Simplicity is an important design principle.
But simplicity in design is as much art
(small "a") as science. It is, therefore, quite
difficult to offer up prescriptions or "rules"
for appropriate design. Without full
knowledge of the context and circumstances,
such rules could become "a great bondage,"
so to speak, leading to inappropriate design
choices or recommendations.
Visual makeover
Having said all of that, below are a few
South Main Monthly 8
slides demonstrating different visual
treatments in support of a single message.
The context is a presentation on gender and
labor issues in Japan. The purpose of the
slide is to visually support the claim that "72%
of the part-time workers in Japan are
women." This statistic is from the Japanese
Ministry of Labor. The figure "72%" is
something the presenter said she wanted the
audience to remember as it is discussed
again as the presentation progresses. So
how to design a slide that is subtle, simple,
memorable, and fits into a theme that is
appealing and attractive?
BEFORE. Top slide is the original slide.
The problem with the slide on the top is that
the clip-art used does not reinforce the
statistic, nor does it even fit the theme of
women in the Japanese labor market. The
background is a tired, overused PowerPoint
template. The text is difficult to read. And as
one trainee commented: "it's ugly."
The slide on the bottom was an effort to
display the same information in a pie chart.
Besides using an overused template, the
visual displays the pie chart in a distorted
and inelegant fashion. For the sake of
clarity, it is usually best to avoid 3-D effects.
Also, rather than giving the slide a title, a
declarative sentence that states the point
directly may be more appropriate.
AFTER: All the slides were redesigned to
match the theme above. The slide on the top
was the one used for the presentation. But
the one at the bottom could also be used
effectively. Notice that either slide
(especially the slide without any text) would
be virtually meaningless without the
presenter's narration. The handout that
followed the presentation expanded on the
relevance of the statistic and gave it context.
The five-page handout proved to be a good
reference for those who attended the
presentation and for those who did not.
South Main Monthly 9
Using a pie chart is also a good way to
represent this simple statistic. Here (top) the
large text at the top can be easily seen. The
text reads more like a headline — a
declarative sentence — rather than just a
title or category. The slide on the bottom is
another possible way to support the message.
In this case a completely different template
was used.
Should you design your slides to look like
this?
The design choices are many. The examples
above are just a few attempts at improving
the look & feel, impact, and effectiveness of
the original slides. Should you design your
slides to look like this? That's your call and
depends on your specific circumstance. Also,
this particular example does not deal with a
technical presentation. If your presentation
is on a less technical topic such as
leadership, HRM, marketing, etc. then
simple slides like these may be very effective.
If you are giving a very technical
presentation to a technical audience hungry
for data, then your slides may look quite
different. But even for a very technical
presentation, embracing simplicity of design
and striving for the greatest clarity possible
should still be the objective. How you do
that will depend on a great many things.
In the future I will show a design makeover
featuring more technical content. In the
meantime, if you have good examples of
visual support for very technical
presentation content, please feel free to
share it with me. I'd love to see your
examples.
Wouldn’t it be GREAT
...if you could just take a pill,
and no longer be terrified to
speak in front of groups?
Come to South Main
Speakers Toastmasters
Club, we supply them!*
It costs nothing to visit our club, and
there is no obligation to join
Visitors are ALWAYS
welcome!
We meet every Sunday, 1:30-3 p.m.
10305 South Main Street @ I-610
For information visit
http://groups.msn.com/SouthMainSpeakers
* Disclaimer: Quantities are limited. First come, first serve.
South Main Monthly 10