Goodbye Toastmaster Mars

His speech number 8 was one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered in the club. He demonstrated how to cook leche flan and provided not just audio-visual, but also gustatory enjoyment. I still remember how good it was and how Boom licked the llanera clean. If I had known then that Mar would leave us prematurely, I would have fought Boom to have more. If I had known that the last time I saw him would be his last time in the club, I would have asked him to deliver one more table topic speech, to giggle once more in that endearing and subtly naughty way he used to giggle, to stay a few more minutes as we sipped coffee at Starbucks. Because really, the sad thing is I haven’t had enough of Mar.

I wanted to write a journalistic obituary for the newsletter, to stick to the five Ws, but how could I write about Mar’s sudden departure as simply a matter of fact?

The facts are that Mar was born on December 16, 1965 and did not live long enough to see his 44th birthday. He passed away on May 28, 2009 when he was supposed to be recovering from a long bout of lung disease. In between those two life events, he went to high school at San Sebastian College, then to the University of the Philippines, Manila to take up Political Science, and to the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. The facts also include a career in life insurance that included stints in Ayala Life, Asialife, Prulife, Medserv, and Mapfre Insular.

The fact is that he was one of the charter officers of Butter N Toast TMC and that he has been instrumental in the success of the first ever HR Philippines Conference.

The fact is that somebody once said that he was one of the pillars of this club, having been one of its most active members. The fact is that he was a Competent Communicator and was taking his sweet time before he tackled the Advance Communicator manuals. Consistently an officer of Butter N Toast TMC, he also took on roles in the district and served as Governor of Area 16 from July 2006 to June 2007. He also mentored the new club, Diplomatically Speaking.

The facts on his Friendster profile include his love for comic books, his hatred of spam (the electronic kind, not the meatloaf variety) and chain letters, his preference for esoteric books along with cookbooks and mysteries, and his search for somebody mature, friendly, witty, down to earth, honest, and funny.

The fact is that he left this earth too early.

His Facebook wall points out that he was well loved when he was alive and will be sorely missed now that he’s gone.

The members of this club, still reeling from the shock, move on. But not without wistfully saying goodbye to a friend, a confidante, a leader, a supporter, a mentor, a distinguished time master, a table topic monster, a man we can rely on, a fellow lifelong learner.

We console ourselves with the fact that part of his short, precious life was spent with us, that we had the chance to hear his voice, to know him and the man he was. – Gege Sugue
.

Eager Speakers at BnT

by Gege Sugue

"The culture has changed." BnT Vice President Ed Ebreo says it best when he talks about a shift in BnT. Previously, members had to be forced to deliver speeches. And the VP Education's worst fear was having zero prepared speakers in a meeting.

We must be doing something right, because that has changed. Gone are those days when officers had to bribe, coerce, emotionally blackmail members to speak. Now, it's a fight for the mic. Members and even guests are scampering to grab a speaking slot. Some, sadly, have to be turned away to give way to other speakers. New members are signing up with an eye on a date for an icebreaker speech. We are booked up to June, Ed Ebreo says with a mix of exasperation and glee.

Add to this the fact that BnT's membership roster is at a record high with 32 members. Sorry if we sound like we're bragging.

It's a happy problem, but a problem nonetheless that has to be addressed.

Here are some creative solutions that we came up with:
- Quarterly special meetings (Read the next post.)
- Club hopping (Ask Alvin and Gege about this.)
- Short term and long term scheduling (Check out Ed's multi-color rainbow MS Excel file of the Meeting Roles Schedule)
- Scheduled speakers to advise VP Ed of cancellations at least 1 week before the meeting
- Back up members to be ready to take over canceled slots.
- Speech Carnival (What is this? Let's wait for Ed's announcement.)

Inasmuch as increased membership is helping us with our goals and adding some badly needed funds into our coffers, we also recognize that this brings on more challenges. Our members pay for this club to help them in their personal and professional goals. As officers, we have the responsibility to help them with these goals while ensuring that the quality of meetings don't suffer. Implementing the solutions listed above will help us face the challenges.

We need everyone's cooperation to make it happen.

As always, our cry is Make the Most of Butter N' Toast!

Experiencing Toastmasters Competent Leadership Manual

If you first became a Toastmaster within the last couple of years, that means you received two manuals. Both manuals are equally important in your Toastmasters career. But the Competent Leader Manual takes longer to complete. So I encourage you, and if there's a way to force you to I would, to bring your Competent Leadership Manual EVERY MEETING. So you can get credited for every role you play. And also so you can perform your role better.

I can't force you to start working on your Leaderhip Manual, but I hope that Jean Hogle's article will inspire you to do so.


Experiencing the Competent Leadership Manual
from: http://www.toastmasters.org/ToastmastersMagazine/ToastmasterArchive/2007/December/Articles/CLManual.aspx


"Since starting to use the manual as intended, I have found that not only am I doing a better job in each role, my speeches are better."

By Jean G. Hogle, DTM


Why is the Competent Leadership manual important? Why should we use it?

In January 2006, a new member joined my club. Of course, this meant he received two manuals: Competent Communication and Competent Leadership. The new member came to me, the president, and asked how to use the Competent Leadership manual. As the advanced, experienced Toastmaster I am, I gave him the highly articulate answer of “Huh? Duh, ah, well, gee, I don’t know. But I hear it’s only 10 projects.”

Wanting to be a good leader, I immediately ordered the manual and studied the projects. When I saw that each project consists of doing multiple roles, I panicked. How is anyone supposed to complete this? However, I began bringing the manual to each meeting and asking for an evaluator to fill in my required assignments. It was a slow process, but the roles started to gather checkmarks.

The First Ever BnT Toastmasters Club Awards

Speech Project: Advance Speech No. 4
from the Speeches for Special Occasion Manual
Speech Title: Cheeseburger!
Speaker: Gege Sugue

Good evening Toasties! Tonight is a special occasion not only because we are celebrating Christmas but because we will have the first ever Butter N Toast Toastmasters Club Awards Night. And it's about time, isn't it?

In the past years I've been a Toastmaster here in this club, I have been witness to so much talent, personal development, innovation, and genius. In the past six months that I have been President of the club, I have found myself dwelling on how this club has been true to its vision, mission, and values, how we have been providing a fun and motivational environment for continuous learning. And it's about time, the club and its members and officers are honored. So Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first BnT Cheeseburger Award!

Why Cheeseburger? Well, because we're Butter n Toast. Okay, aside from that absurd reason, there is also this line or slogan popularized by a fast food chain. Most of you know this. It's a line that is uttered to somebody who has achieved something, won something, or has done something particularly well. Friends, what is this line?

Pa-cheeseburger ka naman is a way of congratulating somebody for a job well done.

And our first awardee has indeed done well in his job. He occupies a job that is not considered a critical post here at Toastmasters. It's not as critical as let's say, the President's job, or that of the Vice President for Education, who spearheads the efforts at achieving our DCP goals. It's a post that's easy to take for granted or even forget. But our awardee did not take his job for granted. He knew he had to contribute to building up the club. So he thought out of the box and looked at a promotional tool that we have but we have allowed to stagnate -- our blog site. He invested time, effort, creativity, and painstaking attention to detail to revamp the club and make it an effective tool to increase hits, and bring in potential members. But more than the numbers it makes, the site has provided a venue for our community to meet and interact beyond the usual twice a month meetings. The blog became a home for sharing ideas with each other and with the rest of the world. It has served to bond and build us. So, let me just say to our first awardee, "Well done!" To go down in history as the first ever BnT Cheeseburger awardee is Vice President for PR, Advance Communicator Bronze, Ed Ebreo! A warm round of applause, please. Join me in saying, "Ed, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!"

Our next award is called the Fresh Fries Award. No, I did not mispronounce that. I really meant fresh fries. Because this award goes to freshly minted Toastmasters; in other words, new members. It was tough to choose the best new member because I'm particularly proud of our new recruits. Most of them found us on the Internet. That means that they were not convinced or coerced by current members. They came here on their own volition believing that becoming a good communicator would help them in their personal and professional lives. The person I chose to be top among the club's fresh fries is somebody who impressed me with his drive. Driven in his career. And driven as a Toastmaster, delivering at least one speech a month. Excellent speeches at that. He also went beyond the comfort zones of MSE and showcased his talents in the recent Rookie speech contests. It gives me great pleasure to present the Fresh Fries Award to Toastmaster Ton Villanueva! Ton, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

The third award of the evening is the Big Mac Award. This goes to the person who takes his job as a mentor seriously. He finds the time to coach, counsel, coerce his protege to deliver great speeches frequently. So inspiring is this mentor, that he was able to convince his protege to join a contest even as a newbie. Furthermore, he brought his mentoring skills outside BnT by sharing the love and skill of public speaking to other organizations. He spearheaded our Speechcraft project at Moldex. By now you know who I'm talking about. Competent Communicator, Division B Triathlon Champion, Boom San Agustin! Boom, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

And finally, our last award for the evening. The Happy Meal Award. You know what a happy meal is. It's a complete meal package with an extra goodie, like a toy. Our next awardee goes the extra mile. She does her duties. And does other people's duties as well. Sometimes she takes on the role of VP for Membership as she promptly answers emailed queries from potential members. She also helps the other officers, for example, helping out in the production of the meeting programs. When there's an emergency situation, when there's something that needs to be done, I can count on her to pitch in the best she can. She makes my job as President easier. She makes me happy. So she deserves the Happy Meal Award. Join me in congratulating our Treasurer, Competent Communicator, Competent Leader Sheila dela Cruz. Sheila, pa-cheeseburger ka naman.

There you have it -- the first ever BnT Cheeseburger awardees. I truly wish to give out more awards to more people who deserve them, but I read recently that to award all is to award no one at all. So, I picked those who I thought went beyond expectation to deliver jobs well done. These 4 awardees exemplify our values. I hope that they inspire you to do more, be more, achieve more, and to make the most of Butter N Toast!

Talking about BnT Toastmasters Club Values: THE DIVERSITY THAT IS BNT

Different Jokes for Different Folks

American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead has this to say about diversity: "If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.” I’d like to think that BnT is a club where a gamut of potentialities exists and that in this melee of personalities, temperaments, worldviews, and talents, every member finds a fitting place.

One of my favorite parts of a BnT meeting is the part that happens after the meeting. When a motley group of people who still have not had enough of each other gather round little tables at Starbucks. Sheila orders some exotic, minty tea; Ed grabs something more substantial, which combines carbohydrates and protein; Mar digs into something sweet; and Boom has his order and a bit of everybody else’s. Such diversity also sparks jovial ribbing, with some undeserving person becoming the butt of jokes. But once in a while, we rise above the chatter and come up with great ideas to make our club better. No one holds a monopoly of bright ideas as one adds on to another’s suggestion. Then brilliance happens. That chemistry is something close to magic. And one of the main ingredients of the magic brew is diversity. One of the many things I love about BnT.

The new members that come in are not mini-me’s of the old ones. They are people who probably would not be my friends in a different milieu, mainly because they’re more than a decade younger. But I’m glad they’re in the club. They give me hope and visions that this club will survive many years because it provides a fitting, motivational place to house a gamut of potentialities.

NASA Astronaut Donald Williams talks about seeing the Earth from space: “The experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.” In a way, BnT is a microcosm of that world that world Williams describes. Different folks overcoming differences, sharing the love of learning, public speaking, leading, and joking around.

- Gege Sugue

Toastmasters to meet tonight at the Makati Stock Exchange

I RESPECT DIFFERENT FOLKS.

Another fun night will be had by all tonight, 7PM at the Penthouse of the Makati Stock Exchange. See you all for the last regular meeting night for 2008. It's been a fun and fulfilling year! And tonight will be a celebration of the different folks who make BnT special.

The Value of Values by BNT President Gege Sugue

Writer, speaker, and success coach Dr. Philip E. Humbert says that organizations succeed when values and goals are in agreement. In 2006, BnT officers and members worked together to craft its vision, mission, and values statements. It was an exercise that helped us define who we are and what we want to achieve as a club and as individuals.
And we have achieved much.

In BnT’s charter year, we earned a Select Distinguished Award. Since then, we have consistently improved, hitting more goals every year. Last year, we met ten out of ten DCP goals, earning President’s Distinguished honors for the second year in a row. All this while also doing well in the area and division contests. This current term, we reach district level as Boom San Agustin represents our club at the Bacolod midyear convention.

There are a number of factors that contribute to this good performance. And one of them is being clear about what we want and what is important to us. In other words, knowing our values help us reach our goals.

For example, the values of continuous learning and teamwork tell us that a mentorship program would help our new members have a headstart in developing their communication skills. Mentors also help develop their coaching skills. We do this because we want to help each other. But at the same time, this program indirectly contributes to the DCP goals in producing CCs. Valuing excellence to us means not sacrificing the quality of learning just to win awards. This means if somebody does not meet the objectives for a speech project, he or she does not move on the next speech. This may affect our ability to meet term goals, but in the long run, we are protecting our club. We are ensuring that BnT continues to be a club of excellence and continuous improvement.

This Term's Battlecry: Get the Most from Butter N Toast

Ralph Smedley said that Toastmasters is the only organization that takes care of the development of the self.

Taking my cue from Dr. Smedley, here’s what I want you to this term: BE SELFISH.

Yes, you read that right: Be selfish. Think of yourself and how you can:

Get your money back. – You have plunked in that 20 dollar initial fee and have since invested 5,000 pesos a year. By any standards, that’s a lot of money. And it’s just right and wise to get your return on investment. So make sure you get your money’s worth. 3 speeches a year is not going to cut it; that’s a pathetic ROI. So show up every meeting and get your rightful share of the pansit; hey, bring home some for the household as well. Take every advantage, every opportunity to get something from Toastmasters and get ahead of the game in life and in your career. Work hard and fast and earn that CC norm, so that you can soon get those FREE advance manuals, which are worth their weight in gold for all the learnings. Psssst, trainers, you invest so much in books; the monthly magazines and the free manuals can be converted to cash through programs you can develop out of the Toastmasters materials. And even if you’re not a trainer, read those magazines from cover to cover because, hey, you paid for them. Then, when you get your CC, wear that golden pin with pride, because by golly, you deserve them!

Get attention. – Be selfish and demand for your time on stage. Aim to be the center of attention by offering to play a role (or two) in every meeting. You and the improvement in your speaking skills get noticed, plus you get to complete your Leadership Manual in no time. Call Mar once a month to book your speaking schedule, and push away anyone who will stand in your way of being the best speaker Toastmasters has ever seen. Scream “My turn, my turn.” Don’t be shy – volunteer to join the contests and show them your stuff. Get every chance you can get to be the star of the show, because you are a great and confident speaker, and you’re getting better every time you speak. So you’ve just got to flaunt it. After all, you’re not paying 5,000 pesos a year to be permanently part of the clapping audience. Get in front and out there!

Get credit. – Don’t let anything go to waste. Get credit. Bring your Leadership Manual to every meeting so you can get evaluated every time you take a role. And of course, you want to feel good and feel proud to show off those fancy letters after your name like CC, ACS, and the ultimate prized letters – the DTM.Get loud. – Talk about yourself among your friends. Regale them with stories of how you blew the audience away with your amazing speech last Thursday. Tell them about how Toastmasters is making you a better leader and communicator, and thus deserving of a promotion. Get them curious and invite them to attend the meeting so that they too can benefit from Toastmasters.

Get connected. – In my first year as a member, a Toastmasters guest who worked in a multi-national company tapped me for a language coaching program; I quickly recovered my one-year membership fee. The network opportunities in the Toastmasters organization are tremendous. At Butter N Toast, go beyond the usual meetings. Join us at the after party at Starbucks where we can get free advice from the industry gurus and even get referrals for business contacts. Plunge into the bigger pond by attending district events like the officers’ trainings, the contests, fellowship parties, and conventions. Enjoying the diversity of people and being inspired by the testimonies of others are bonus rewards on top of building your network.

Toasties, ask the question, What’s in it for me?

I’m telling you what’s in it for you:

• Return on your Investment
• Rewards and Recognition
• Rapid Development

Be selfish. Don’t waste your money. Don’t waste your time. Don’t waste the opportunities. Don’t waste your talents.

Ralph Smedley said that, “Ours is the only organization I know dedicated to the individual. We work together to bring out the best in each of us and then we apply our skills to help others."

You have much to gain, and the world benefits from your gain too. Who knew how being selfish can be so good and so much fun?

So I encourage you, my dear Toasties, GET THE MOST FROM BUTTER N TOAST!

Gege C. Sugue
President, Butter N Toast TMC
2008-2009