VP Public Relations
New officers for the new toastmaster year
Another Toastmasters year has begun on July 1. The Stuttgart International Toastmasters Club has entered the 41st year of its storied existence.
On June 30, 2011, the club has elected the following new officers:
President: Gisela Plieseis
Vice president of Education: Rudy Moralez
Vice president of Public Relations: Max Dynin
Vice president of Membership: Joerg Marquardt
Secretary: Dominique Lutzke
Treasurer: Wolfgang Ulmer
Sergeant at Arms: Herve Marcy
The club would like to express its thanks to the outgoing officers, who so ably led the club last Toastmaster year:
President: Herve Marcy
VP, Education: Kelly Brown (acting VP Education: Rudy Moralez)
VP, Membership: Monique Raster
VP, Public Relations: Joachim Schwarz
Secretary: Dominique Lutzke
Treasurer: Gisela Plieseis
Sgt. At Arms: Greg Stephens
Fall Speech Contests
This fall there will be a speech contest for Humorous Speech and Table Topics. There are several levels for this contest. The first part will take place at the club level and will be held on September 16th at our normal meeting location and time.
The next level is the Area F1 contest and has been announced for October 16th in Karlsruhe and will take place in the restaurant Kleiner Ketterer. Adlerstr. 34 – 76133 Karlsruhe
It will be followed by the Division F contest which has been announced for October 30th.
Finally the District 59 contest will be held November 19-21 in Barcelona.
Take this chance to build up your courage and step a little bit out of your comfort zone and participate in either or both contests!
Toastmasters district 59 conference in The Hague
Kelly, our president attended the district 59 conference in The Hague, Netherlands. Here is his report:
First of all, it was a very enjoyable, educational, and inspiring conference. As luck would have it, the weather completely cooperated with us, which made it even all that much more fun as the conference hotel was located directly on the beach!
The speeches in the International Speech Contest and the evaluations in the Evaluation Contest were all superb. Our own Amy Hamilton competed in the Evaluation Contest. She of course did very well but unfortunately did not place. It is still a noteworthy accomplishment to be competing at that level. The educational sessions that I attended were very well done. It is always good to get some input and guidance from other accomplished Toastmasters.
The business portion of the conference was pretty routine. It was noted that District 59 is ranked number 7 in the world, which is quite an accomplishment. They also have hopes of getting to number 6, which would make the District as President´s Distinguished. The other thing I would like to pass along is the results of the District Officer elections as I think it is important for you to know who is representing you in the Toastmaster organization.
District Governor – Benjamin Bruehl
Lt. Governor, Education and Training – Barbara Hoerger
Lt. Governor, Marketing – Didier Dehem
Public Relations Officer – Tuire Vuolasvitra
Division F (our Division) Governor – Christian Manteufel
The Area Governor will be appointed at a later date.
The next District 59 Fall Conference will be in Barcelona, Spain on November 19-21. Next year´s District 59 Spring Conference will be in Lisbon, Portugal on May 20-22. If you have an opportunity to attend any of these conferences, I would highly encourage you to do so.
Important meeting dates – Start time changes !
Please note the following meeting date and time changes for the Stuttgart International Toastmasters:
The June meetings will take place on June 17th (normal third Thursday meeting) and June 24th (out of sequence meeting on the fourth Thursday). This is due to the holiday on June 3rd.
EFFECTIVE JULY 1, THE MEETINGS WILL START AT 19:30. From the recent survey and from other comments and communication, it was clear that an earlier start time for the meeting was desired. Of course, it is also understood that this new start time might not be the best for everyone. But the officers decided to try out moving the start time up 30 minutes. Let´s see how it goes. Please note that the meeting on May 20th as well as the meetings in June will start at 20:00.
Division F contest: Success for Stuttgart International Toastmasters !
Amy, Gisela, Joachim, Monique and Kelly had the privilege of attending the Division F International Speech and Evaluation contests in Wiesbaden yesterday. It was a very full but enjoyable day. There were seven speeches in each of the English and German International Speech contests as well as six contestants in the English Evaluation contest and four contestants in the German Evaluation contest. It was fun, interesting, and educational to see so many great speeches! It was also very nice to get to interact with so many other Toastmasters from different clubs.
As stated in the headline, the members of the Stuttgart International Toastmasters club were very successful at this contest. Here are the highlights:
Amy Hamilton – 1st Place English Evaluation Contest
Joachim Schwartz – 2nd Place German International Speech Contest (even though he was representing the German club, we are still proud of him !)
Monique Raster – 3rd Place English International Speech Contest
Amy will now represent Division F for the English Evaluation Contest at District 59 Conference in The Hague in June. Of course we all know that she has a very good chance of winning there, and we wish here much success. Kelly will also be attending the conference in The Hague, and there is still time to register if you would also like to go. It would be well worth the trip.
Area contest videos
Here are the videos of the participants from the Stuttgart International Toastmasters Club.
Kelly and Amy evaluated a speech of Victoria (not shown here)
Interview of Gisela
After the interview of Olivier, we have interviewed Gisela, one of the most senior members of our club and holding the officer role of treasurer.
Stuttgart International Toastmasters Club: Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Gisela: I was born into a middle-class family in Passau where my father worked as a lawyer. After leaving grammar school I found a job as an au pair girl in London. That was the time when I discovered my love for the English language. After taking my degree in English and Geography I taught those subjects at various grammar schools in Bonn and in Böblingen for 35 years. I loved my job, although teaching unruly children can be very straining being the head of the language department was not much easier either. When in the year 2000 I was sent into retirement that I had more spare time.That is why I looked for an opportunity to speak English and found it with Toastmasters.
SITC: Who told you about Toastmasters?
Gisela: A former colleague told me about Toastmasters. I accompanied her to a meeting and liked it.
SITC: What do you like best at Toastmasters?
Gisela: I like the mix of people best in our club, its international character and the fact that people from all walks of life meet there.
SITC: What were your expectations when you joined the club?
Gisela: All my life I had had problems to overcome my nervousness when speaking in public. This was my chance to learn how to overcome it.
SITC: Have you made progress? In which field?
Gisela: Yes, I have made progress. I am still not completely relaxed whenever I speak in public, but I am much less nervous now. In the field of leadership there was not so much need for improvement because I had practised those skills daily at school.
SITC: Do you have an example of a situation in your personal or professional life when your Toastmaster skills were helpful?
Gisela: Time and again I can use my toastmaster approach of expressing my thoughts from a positive point of view e.g. telling my private students what they have done well or negotiating over money with the IBMKlub treasurer.
SITC: What do you think is required to become a successful Toastmaster?
Gisela: Becoming a successful Toastmaster requires a lot of practice. I think that also attending the meetings regularly and taking over roles is of great importance.
SITC: Which officer roles have you held so far?
Gisela: I started as Sergeant of Arms, continued as VPEducation for several years and was President twice.
SITC: Which role did you like best?
Gisela: I liked the role of VPEducation best because I like organising and I want to make sure that our club is successful for the good of all of us.
SITC: What would you tell a person reading this article hesitating to come to a meeting?
Gisela: I would tell that person to come and see what our meetings are like. Furthermore I would explain how much more I could have profited in my work if I had heard of Toasters earlier.
Thank you Gisela for this wonderful interview !
Division F conference details
The Conference will be held on Saturday, May 8th in Wiesbaden
Restaurant “Alt Wiesbaden”,
Kurt-Schumacher Ring 17,
65197 Wiesbaden
10:00h – 17:00h
Please do NOT sign up in Easyspeak but on an external agenda
Please note that I have been informed that a Demonstration will take place around the main train station on that day.
Attendance Fee
0 EUR but you need to pay for your own drinks and food
Agenda
10:00h Gathering, Registration, Wake-Up-Coffee
10:30h Welcome – Dirk Löffelbein, Division Governor
10:32h Keynote Address – Alexandra Olsson, Lieutenant Governor Marketing of District 59, flying in from Gothenburg / Sweden to be with us
10:47h Briefing for English Language Contests
10:55h English Speech Contest
12:15h lunch
13:00h English Evaluation Contest
14:15h German Contests Briefing
14:20h Deutscher Redewettbewerb
15:45h Deutscher Bewertungswettbewerb
16:40h Award Ceremony
17:00h End
Please contact the officers, carpooling will be organized. We are looking forward to seeing you there !
New edition of the Clarion
The Clarion is the newsletter of the District 59 Toastmasters. Enjoy the last edition !