(Article by Jean Racine, as published in QCTOnline.com)  – The Quebec English Speaking Toastmasters (QUEST) club is proud to announce that one of its members, Mr Davender Gupta, recently achieved the level of Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM). In Toastmasters, the level of DTM is like a “PhD in communication and leadership”.

Davender achieved this qualification in only five years, committing himself fully to reaching this goal by being a member of two or three Toastmasters clubs at a time. He started his Toastmasters journey with the Club Toastmasters de Sainte-Foy (in French) in 2005, then joined QUEST in early 2006, of which he has been a member continuously since. Other clubs of which he was a member include Lévis and Optimates (French) as well as the Viewpoint (English) club in Beauport.

Davender has contributed to furthering the local Toastmasters movement by mentoring Quebec City’s first corporate Toastmasters club at Industrial Alliance, and contributing to the successful launch of the first Toastmasters club at Université Laval. He has served in several leadership positions such as Vice-President Education and Club President at QUEST, as well as Area Governor and Division Governor, responsible for the success of Toastmasters clubs in Quebec City, the Saguenay, the Beauce and Eastern Quebec.

The communication and leadership skills that Davender has developed in his quest for the DTM help him every day in his profession as a Business Leadership Coach and as an accomplished speaker and trainer. Davender is very active in the Quebec City business community as Secretary of the Board at the Centre local de développement (CLD) de Québec, as Past President of the Réseau META Québec-Lévis, and as an active member of the Quebec City Chamber of Commerce. Davender has also organized several business networking and learning events in Quebec City, in Montreal and elsewhere across Québec.

The Distinguished Toastmasters qualification requires that a Toastmaster deliver approximately 50 speeches, complete several leadership projects, and take on leadership roles at the Club and District level.

The QUEST Toastmasters Club is open to everyone and visitors are always welcome at the weekly breakfast meetings held on Friday mornings starting at 6:55 am, at Mikes Restaurant, 2960 boulevard Laurier, Sainte-Foy. For information, contact Sandra Holman- 418-573-1767, or Jean Racine- 418-623-0452

For more information

Image: Bobby Fielding

Original article on Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph Online (Dec 14, 2010):
http://www.qctonline.com/davender-gupta-achieves-distinguished-toastmaster

For a list of all Toastmasters clubs in Quebec City (Division I): http://www.toastmasters.org

For a list of all Toastmasters clubs in Quebec and Eastern Ontario (District 61): http://tm61.org

Main Toastmasters International site (info about Toastmasters and to find a club near you anywhere in the world):
http://www.toastmasters.org

If you say “yes”, is it a lifelong contract?

The situation you’re in when you said “yes” may change.  The commitment may not turn out to be what was promised. Things may not be happening as expected.

The key is to check your “happiness meter”.  Are you enjoying yourself in the commitment? You may be working hard, even struggling, but you still find meaning in the commitment, something worthwhile for you. Then by all means, stay committed. But if the commitment has lost its meaning, give yourself permission to rethink the situation.

Don’t be a martyr, doing something only from a sense of duty, or worse, coercion.  There has to be something in it for you, something that helps you experience what’s most important to you. If the commitment is not reciprocal, then it just empties you…this a problem both for you, and for others.

Because if you are not giving your best to the commitment, everyone loses.

It’s okay to change your mind, to say no.

Saying no takes clarity and courage. You will pay a price for breaking a commitment. Loss of trust, of income, of opportunities. Is the eventual upside for you, and for the other party, greater than the price? How you handle disengaging from the commitment is important. Take care of any unfinished business, and make sure to minimize the price of your decision to the other party.

If you’re not finding fulfillment in the commitment, the other party is orobably not, either. Maybe a “no” is the best thing for your both.

The bottom line in life is that things change, people change. Life goes on.

It’s okay to say “no”.

For more information

Commitment and trust are linked. See my article “Some Thoughts About Trust”
http://en.davender.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=31

I had a great interview this morning with Denis-François Gravel, an authority on how to use presentation technologies to improve your ability to communicate.

In preparing for this conversation, recorded for my French-language podcast “Radio Passion au Profit“, we had a whole list of topics. But we ended up going deep into one issue: Does PowerPoint kill or enhance our ability to communicate?

The biggest idea that I learned from Denis-François is that most people (including me) misunderstand the role of presentations technologies like PowerPoint, Keynote, and Impress: we try to make the presentation stand alone, and the presenter becomes a technician, instead of the other way around like it should be.

It turns out that the brain can learn well by paying attention to the spoken word alone, or the written word alone, but learning efficiency drops way off when trying to communicate using both channels at once.  I’ve seen this happen when I put up a wordy slide and all the eyes go to the screen instead of staying on me.

Denis-François recommends that the slides should use colourful pictures or clear graphics that complement the message delivered by the speaker. Let the audience focus on the speaker.

I’ve been trying this (without realizing it) in my last couple of speeches, using very simple illustrations or short messages on my slides. I find it looks more professional and I get fewer people squinting at the screen as I speak.  Plus it has the added benefits of making sure that I communicate my point clearly…and that the audience pays attention because -there-are-no-notes!

Takeaway: If your handout says it all, then why would the audience waste their time listening to you?

For more information:

Denis-Francois Gravel and his primarily English-language blog full of great examples and ideas about presentation techniques:  http://www.PRESENTability.com

Denis-Francois Gravel on Twitter: http://twitter.com/PRESENTability

Photo: Catherine-Eve Gadoury (Quebec City arts and media columnist) at the Quebec City PechaKucha (photo Denis-Francois Gravel)

Read Denis-Francois’s article on the event (great tips!) http://presentability.com/2009/12/04/7-speaking-lessons-from-pecha-kucha-quebec/

My interview with Denis-Francois Gravel on Radio Passion au Profit (French) and on YouTube (links coming soon)