South Main Monthly

Vol. 2 No. 6 South Main Speakers, District 56, Club 8609 December, 2007

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-confidence and personal
growth.

IN THIS ISSUE: President’s

*President's Corner
*Calendar of Events
December 16: Education Session
Table Topics 101
*Editor’s Note
*New Member Spotlight
Huang Tang
Josefina MARTOS-MUNOZ
* Member News
A Note of Thanks
by Renay Jacob & Jeanne Button
*Features
Les Oreillettes: A Scrumptious Childhood Memory
by Annie Ballatore, ACB, CL
*Ask the Master
How to Evaluate a Speech?
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
judycyan@gmail.com. Thank you for reading!
– Judy Yan, Editor
Corner
Time to Celebrate
by Vivek Rajan, CC
It’s the holiday season and it's time to celebrate! As our custom,
we will be celebrating the white elephant gift exchange in the
meeting before Christmas (December 16th), and being
Toastmasters we will have to give a 1-2 min Table Topics
speech on what the gift means to us and if we like the gift or
not. On the very same day, the 2007 Table Topics Champion,
Jim Hamilton, will be giving an educational session on how to
prepare for Table Topics as well! So bring a small gift on
December 16th and celebrate the white elephant gift exchange
with us. And don't forget to wrap your gift very well!
With the Toastmasters’ term coming to an end, it's time to see
where we stand. First off, our club is growing tremendously,
we currently have 36 members in our club, and it's growing
every month! We have 5 points towards the Distinguished Club
Program and expect it to reach 8 points within the next few
weeks. And we'll be well on our way to be President's
Distinguished once again. A very BIG thank you to all the club
officers for having done a fantastic job in taking our club to
great heights, and an even BIGGER thank you to all the
members for your enthusiasm and for making our meetings
fun!
My congratulations to the incoming officers! Being an officer
has been a very rewarding journey for me, and I'm sure you'll
learn and grow just as I did. By giving, you will receive.
Wish y'all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Have a safe
holiday season and celebrate it every moment!
 Editor’s
Editor’s Note
As 2007 draws to a close, so does my
December
term as Editor of South Main Monthly. I want to
take a moment and say thank you to all of you
who have supported our newsletter. Specifically,
I would like to thank the following members who
have contributed articles during my term (in
order of publication date):
Vivek Rajan Jane Shen
Renay Jacob Annie Ballatore
Vivian Li Ranjith Poduval
JR Reynolds, Jr. Mark Smith
Jian Wang Grace Hu December 16: Education Session on Table Topics
Bob Hu Jeanne Button Jim Hamilton, 2007 District Table Topics Contest
Champion and 2007 District International Speech
and the following new members who have Contest Champion, will share tips on how to handle
contributed to “New Member Spotlight”: Table Topics – the most intimidating part of a
Ronald Seo Erika Parrish Toastmasters meeting for many of us.
Alvin Chenier Jeanne Button
Shabnam Zangeneh Hande Sahin, Followed by a Holiday Party!
Mary Teng Mark Smith
Huifang Li Josefina Munoz

I would also like to give my special

thanks to Annie and Vivek for your
encouragement, Vivian for showing me the
ropes, Art and Renay for your constructive
feedback, `and many of you for your kind words
and support! Truly, without you, my journey as
an editor would not have been smooth sailing or
as enjoyable. Thank You!
– Judy Yan
Happy Holidays
New Member Spotlight We have never stopped growing! South Main Speakers added
another two new members this month. Please join me to welcome
our newest members, Huang Tang and Josefina Munoz!

“I am from Barcelona, Spain. I spent one summer in The Hague, The Netherlands. I did not know many people, and
making new friends was kind of tough because everybody was speaking in this strange language called Dutch. So, I
searched for activities to do with English language speakers, and, here it comes, the Toastmasters in The Hague. They
told me it was going to be a friendly, fun and educational oriented event, just the three things I live by. I joined, and it
did not disappoint me. So, now, as I realized that there must be toastmasters here in Houston, I do not want to miss
the opportunity of joining the club and enjoying this magnificent experience.” –Josefina

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 Member News

A Note of Thanks
by Renay Jacob & Jeanne Button

Fellow Toastmasters at South Main Speakers,

Jeanne and I are very grateful for your love and support for our “Big Day.”
Your Roast and Toast meeting during our semi-annual picnic certainly caught us by
surprise. It was full of fun, advice, memories, and well wishes.

A little bit about the wedding and reception . . . We had the wedding ceremony
at 4:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Houston on November 17, 2007. The
ceremony lasted about 35 minutes, with a reception afterwards at The Houstonian
Hotel.

Jeanne and I entered the reception hall and

immediately did our first dance. We danced a
cha-cha to Michael Buble’s version of Sway.
After a delicious seated dinner, the lively band
(“The Works”) got our guests out on the dance
floor. We paused to have a slice of our
chocolate wedding cake and to chat with
friends and family and then danced until 10pm.

My two goals for the wedding reception were to make our first dance a show
that people would remember and to be ready with a rebuttal, if needed, to the toast by
the Best Man. I’m glad to report that our premarital dance lessons paid off and that
the Best Man provided a humorous, clean toast. People at our wedding were
surprised to hear that I did not have a bachelor’s party. I mentioned to them that few
couples get a genuine Roast leading up to the wedding, and it was an honor to
receive it from our caring, Toastmasters friends.

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Les Oreillettes: A scrumptious
Childhood Memory
by Annie Ballatore, ACB1, CL2
As Christmas approaches, my thoughts
turn back to the delights of my childhood.
I remember the delicious desserts that
were traditional of my native Provence3
and of my home. One of my favorite was
les oreillettes, crisp, light beignets,
delicately flavored with orange blossom
water. My mom used to make them every
Christmas. Just thinking of this delicacy
makes my mouth water! So let me share
this simple recipe with you.
necessary to obtain a smooth and firm
dough. Knead the dough briefly.
2. Cover the dough with a damp cloth
and let it rest for one hour.
3. Roll out the pastry to a ¼ inch
thickness. Cut the dough into triangles,
squares or ribbons. The ribbons can be
left flat. They can also be knotted; the
knotted pastry looks like “little ears”
which is exactly the English translation
for oreillettes!
4. Heat cooking oil in a skillet. Drop the
dough into the skillet and fry until golden.
Remove the dough from the skillet and
transfer to paper towels to dry. To serve,
sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Now dust out your rolling pin and make
this delicious dessert from the hills of
Provence. Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:
500 grams flour
250 grams butter, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
(found at Middle Eastern stores such as
Droubi’s)
4 to 5 large eggs
cooking oil (corn, sunflower or peanut oil)
powdered sugar

Preparation:
1. Pour flour into a large mixing bowl Christmas Eve in Provence
and make a well in the center of flour.
Add the next 4 ingredients and 3 eggs.
Mix slowly, and add 1 or 2 more eggs as

1
ACB – Advanced Communicator Bronze
2
CL – Competent Leader
3
Provence - a historical region and former
province of southeast France bordering on the
Mediterranean Sea.

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Ask the Master
Dear Master,
I have been focusing my effort on giving
a good speech and haven’t paid much
attention to how to evaluate a speech.
After being on the receiving end of many
evaluations, I have come to realize how
important it is to give a good evaluation
on a speech. I wonder if you could give
me some pointers on how to evaluate a
speech.
—Evaluator
Dear Evaluator4,
You probably have noticed that there is
no instructor in a Toastmasters club - we
are our own teachers. We take turns
evaluating each other so we all improve
our skills.
For the speaker, an evaluation is a
powerful learning aid as it provides
direct feedback following the speaker's
presentation. A good evaluation helps the
speaker find specific areas for
improvement and encourages growth and
learning.
For the evaluator, an evaluation provides
an opportunity to help others develop
4
Modified based on Toastmasters’ online
learning materials.
valuable speaking skills. While in the
process, an evaluator can also learn by
observing the speaker. So, an evaluation
is truly a two-way street in terms of
learning. It helps both speakers and
evaluators learn to key on critical
elements in a speech. Additionally, an
evaluation develops effective listening
skills as it requires the evaluator to
carefully listen to the presentation so that
he/she can express a meaningful
impression of the presentation to the
speaker.
When you given an evaluation, whether
verbal or written, formal or informal, you
are giving your impressions of a speech -
you are not judging. Most importantly,
you are helping the speaker improve. By
helping a speaker improve, you are
helping yourself improve.
What Should I Evaluate? An evaluation is
your impression of the speech - what
most impressed you about the speech or
areas where improvement is necessary.
To be of value, an evaluation should be
specific and offer useful suggestions and
observations. Here are some useful tips
for giving an effective speech evaluation:
1. Take notes from the beginning
2. Opening
• Did the speaker use proper
protocol to address the audience?
(e.g., Toastmaster of the meeting,
Table Topics Master, Fellow
Toastmasters, Guests)
• Did the speaker use a "hook" to
engage the attention of the
audience?
3. Appearance
• Posture, confidence, appropriate
visual aids?
• Body language and gestures?
• Good eye contact?
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4. Organization
• Introduction, body of speech,
conclusion
• Was the purpose of the speech
clear?
5. Voice projection
• Could everyone in the audience
hear the speaker?
• Vocal variety?
6. "Sandwich approach"
• Start with something positive
• Suggestions for improvement
• End with something positive
7. Overall Points:
• Focus on the positive; minimize
the number of suggestions for
improvement (give 1-2 concrete
suggestions).
• Make it clear that your evaluation
is your perception of the speech,
rather than a general statement of
right or wrong. Example: "I was
confused about..." or, "It was not
clear to me ..." or, "My reaction
was..." (rather than "You were not
clear").
• Minimize or avoid restating the
speech and try to summarize the
speech.
• Minimize or avoid telling your
own story about the topic.
8. Study the Toastmasters advanced
manual for "Effective Speech
Evaluation”.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your

next evaluation!

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