{"id":940,"date":"2016-07-18T13:16:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T13:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.bcntoastmasters.com\/holiday-sport-and-relax\/"},"modified":"2016-07-18T13:16:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T13:16:00","slug":"holiday-sport-and-relax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.bcntoastmasters.com\/es\/holiday-sport-and-relax\/","title":{"rendered":"HOLIDAY, SPORT AND RELAX!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last Wednesday July 13th, we had a short but very exciting session: holidays are almost here, we are happier than usual\u2026 and somebody is making tourism in a very different way: visiting a Toastmasters Club in another city.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
In this session we had the chance to have with us 2 guests from the Toastmasters Club of Warsaw and one guest from the Toastmasters Club of New York.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Sandra, our dear President, warmly welcomed the guests, who were really happy to participate to our session in Barcelona Toastmasters Club and exchange new ideas with us.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Bea<\/b>, who was the Toastmaster of the day<\/b>, started the session explaining that <\/span>during the weekend Murray won the Davis cup and Portugal won the European Championship. They all deserve now relaxing holidays, resting from all that effort.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Now we also start our holiday season, and many of us use this period of time to do more sport than what we normally do during the year. Bea, for example, loves taking relaxing walks on the beach every morning and do some stretching.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Some of us will do different sports during our holidays: it can be swimming, running, trekking or even \u00absofing\u00bb or \u00absiesting\u00bb! They have great benefits \ud83d\ude42 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Whatever sport we choose for the summer, it\u2019s important to live at our best during the holidays, relax and have fun, in order to come back in september with enthusiasm and new energy!!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
This was the fantastic technical team<\/b> of the session:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Maria Luisa – Sergeant at Arms<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Gerard – Ah-Counter<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Sean – Grammarian<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Enrique – Timekeeper<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Raffaella – Blogger<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The 3 speeches of this session were very inspiring. Here\u2019s a short summary of each speech: <\/span><\/span>

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FIRST SPEECH<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cRead your audience\u201d \u2013 Marc<\/b><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
(5th speech of the Competent Communication Manual \u2013 Your Body Speaks)<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
Marc started his speech describing the situation of a public speaker, who was training for hours and hours his presentation, training every single movement in front of the mirror and learning by heart every single word, to prepare a perfect speech.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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When the speaker is finally making his presentation on the stage, he suddenly can see that the audience is\u2026. sleeping!!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The speaker had learned his speech by heart, but he didn\u2019t connect with his audience, he didn\u2019t adapt the speech.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cSome speakers say that their audience is apathetic\u201d \u2013 explained Marc \u2013 \u201cBut they are focusing too much on themselves and not on their audience!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Marc suggested to personalise our speech, by interacting and asking questions to the audience and listening to their reaction. It\u2019s not something strange, we actually do it everyday in our conversations with our friends and family\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The last tip: \u201cRead the body language of your audience, which is the most powerful language!\u201d <\/span><\/span>

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SECOND SPEECH<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cNO\u201d \u2013 Mariyana<\/b><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
(6th speech of the Competent Communication Manual \u2013 Vocal Variety)<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re young, you want to do everything\u201d \u2013 started to explain Mariyana \u2013 \u201cbut there\u2019s only one word that you don\u2019t want to hear at all, and this word is: NO\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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We tend to see the word NO in a negative way, we normally prefer to say YES.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
But the word NO can actually protect us in different situations:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
1 \u2013 We can use the word NO to save our values and principles. For example, we can say NO if something that we\u2019re asked to do doesn\u2019t respect our values.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
2 \u2013 We can use the word NO to protect ourselves from the exploitation of our kindness. Mariyana explained that a friend of her asked her credit card number to buy a flight, in order to travel in a specific date just for pleasure. She said NO, because her friend didn\u2019t need any help, she was travelling for pleasure, not for an emergency, and she was trying to make an exploitation of Mariyana\u2019s kindness. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
3 \u2013 We can use the word NO to better focus on our goals. For example, if we\u2019re trying to find a job and we want to succeed in our goal, we\u2019re not going to say YES every time that some friend is asking us to go out! The new job won\u2019t fall from the sky, we have to make an effort to find it, and the word NO helps us to focus on our goals.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWhen you say NO, think about the following!\u201d \u2013 concluded Mariyana \u2013 \u201cAnd ask yourself: if I say NO, am I closing the door to something, or am I opening the door to a bigger YES for tomorrow?\u201d <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The word NO is a treasure that protects ourselves today and opens the door to new opportunities for tomorrow.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/span><\/span>THIRD SPEECH<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWhat would it take to change the world?\u201d – Miguel, from New York<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
(9th speech of the Competent Communication Manual \u2013 Persuade with Power)<\/span><\/i><\/span>

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<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat would it take to change the world? Love? Peace? Kindness?\u201d \u2013 asked Miguel to the audience and continued: <\/span><\/span>
\u201cIt would take compassion to change the world! Compassion, which is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another human being who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
During the speech Miguel gave us the examples of Mother Teresa and Helen Keller, who both were very compassionate and wanted to help people.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Mother Teresa asked to help people even when she was in the hospital, and Helen Keller was able to smile even if she was blind.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cHow can we develop a mind frame of compassion?\u201d \u2013 asked Miguel, inviting us to take responsibility of our life. We can\u2019t always say: \u201cIt\u2019s fault of this, or that\u201d. <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Life happens to us, life is a story, \u00ab…b<\/span>ut you can tell the story in your way, in a compassionate way!\u201d \u2013 emphasized Miguel. <\/span><\/span>We can just start from the simple things. <\/span><\/div>\n
Miguel concludes his inspiring speech with a \u201ccall to action\u201d that we all can practice: \u201cSmile, like Mother Teresa!\u201d<\/span><\/span>

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EVALUATION OF THE SPEECHES<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
1 – Rayane evaluated Marc\u2019s speech \u201cRead your audience\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Marc\u2019s performance was great, with nice body language and great eye contact. Marc did a really nice speech!<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Rayane suggested to improve the conclusion, by making a little summary of the speech and ending up with a strong conclusion. She also recommends to personalise the examples of the speech by involving people from the audience, like saying: \u201cFor example, if Jelena and Bea do this, the consequences will be: A, B, C\u2026..\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
2 – Sandra evaluates Mariyana\u2019s speech \u201cNO\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Sandra appreciated Mariyana\u2019s strong opening with a question, which could catch our attention from the very first beginning, as well as her \u201ccall to action\u201d during the speech.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The speech was well structured, with a strong opening, the body, were Mariyana explained 3 different concepts, supported with practical examples, and a nice conclusion.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Sandra suggested Mariyana to exaggerate a little bit more the vocal tone in the questions, making some pause and accompanying the speech with a more \u201cdramatic\u201d body language.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
3 \u2013 Paul evaluates Miguel\u2019s speech \u201cWhat would it take to take the world?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Paul appreciated Miguel\u2019s speech, not only for the speech itself, but also because he is from New York and he decided to share the speech in Barcelona Toastmasters.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The speech was really appealing, and the great thing is that we all have the power to smile and change the world! <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Paul suggested Miguel to adapt the examples to the audience: many of us didn\u2019t know Helen Keller, who is better known in USA. We could have felt more involved with examples like the refugees of Syria or other examples that are closer to our context in Europe.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Paul also suggested to pay attention at the structure of the speech, which has to change if the speech is inspirational or persuasive.<\/span><\/span>

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GENERAL EVALUATION \u2013 by Jelena<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
The session started and ended on time, the guests were warmly welcomed and the organisation was great!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The performance was also great:<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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