ACS - 1st Advance Manual Project #5: Empowering to Excel

Advance Manual : 226-N Special Occasion Speeches
Project # 5    : Accepting an Award
Title          : Empowering to Excel
Delivered at   : PRTC Induction of Officers 2nd Term PY 2009-2010
Evaluated by   : ACB/ALB Roi Ontiveros
Target Norm    : Advance Communicator Silver

     *     *     *     *     *     *

Three thousand years ago, the young Alexander the Great set foot in Asia. In the next ten years, he conquered the entire known world and pave the way for the spread of western civilization.

Last June of 2009, I took the helm of leadership of PRTC – unlike Alexander, I was not young and certainly not great. There was a little part of me who was doubtful: Could I lead this great club? And that little part of me, wants to give up even before the challenge has started. Yet the larger part of me, saw the potential and strength of the team that stood by my side. That part of me shouted: If Alexander had his generals, I have the Executive Officers with me.

Madam speaker, Division Governor, Area Governor, fellow Toastmasters, guests, friends ladies and gentlemen, good evening!

When the Program Year started six months ago, four challenges stood in our way.

Empowering the Members to Excel

The first challenge was how to empower members to excel, if you have dwindling number of members. Get them involved!

By deeply involving the members, mentors and the VP for education in the planning of each meeting – we delivered over 100 speeches. By challenging each member to "bring-a-friend" – we increased the number of visitors to 238. By tapping the skills of the members as committee members – we were able to perform 6 major club activities, a number of leadership projects, and numerous fun-days and fun-nights.

I know we conquered the 1^st challenge because we have the numbers to prove it: We produced 2 CC, 3 ACs, 9 CLs, and brought in 22 new members. For that, we were given 8 points out of the 9 possible points for our DCP goals – all in six months.

Club members such as TM Ramed, TM Ron, and TM Richard went out of their comfort zones and carried the huge tasks of ensuring a successful 14^th PRTC Anniversary and Retro Party. It was an event to remember and yes, because of you… we made a legacy.

Empowering the Executive Committee Officers to Excel

I have always believe that without an empowered officers, our team will never succeed. That was the second challenge of our term.

With the help of our guru, TM Ron Jacobe, we started with a team building seminar, and then each member laid out their plans for their respective responsibilities. We decentralized the decision making and we strictly adhere to the parliamentary procedures. In just over a month, the fruits of our labor became eminent.

Our Sgt-at-Arm, TM Bong Nolido spearheaded in producing a second set of meeting materials and paraphernalia – a mobile set that the Sgt-At-Arms carries all the time. We could now conduct a meeting anywhere and anytime. Another initiative of our Sgt-At-Arms is the planning of the transportation requirements. Do we love it when TM Bong gives us an assurance that someone will pick us up and send us back home safe and sound?

Our Treasurer, TM Arnold also made a huge impact in our financial portfolio. You introduced innovative payment methods and made a steadfast effort to collect the membership dues and payments. Your efforts paid off by turning around the fiscal position of PRTC from red to stable black.

TM Meynard, our Secretary consistently reminded all the officers of our individual deliverables, deadlines, and you provided us with the much needed status update of our plans. TM Meynard, you assured us that no one is left behind sleeping in his job.

TM James, put back the PRTC name in the print media. You singlehandedly revived the PRTC newsletter, and through your initiative, you circulated the weekly meeting recaps. You also established excellent relationship with the TV media, the reason why the PRTC activities are always included in the Filipino News & Announcements. And yes, TM James you are reason why some of us became instant celebrities.

TM Willy, how can we forget your soft and convincing voice over the phone? As VP Membership, you never ceased to remind members of our meetings, activities, and you made us all feel that we are important. You initiated a very successful program "bring-a-friend" which brought in so many visitors to our club. I remember, there were times our guests outnumbered the members during meetings.

My good friend TM Roi. Your enthusiasm is infectious, your charisma is disarming, and your dedication unquestionable. Thank you for being there at all times when we needed help. As VP-Education, you have delivered so many CC, ACs, and CL… far more than our quota for our DCP goals. Your method of getting members involved in the planning of the meeting is classy and successful. Without question, it works.

Empowering the Club to Excel and help the Area and Division

Fellow PRTCians I am always proud of you.

We have members whom through their own initiative and projects, shared their skills, talents and dedications to help the Area and Division to excel. With leadership of our Area Governor TM Erick, you put a laurel on PRTC with the successful Quick Wit Marathon and the Judge & Chief Judge's Training. TM Ron, TM Jojo and the rest of the Area Council, in behalf of all the members, thank you and PRTC is proud of you.

TM James, thank you for stepping forward and taking up the challenge as the Division Secretary. PRTC is also proud of you.

Empowering the Club to explore into New Horizons

The last and the scariest challenge we have was to walk onto the unknown territories. And I am proud to say, we also conquered this challenge, too

With the leadership of our Parliamentarian, TM Ramed, last December 2009 we successfully completed at Al Taj International School the largest Youth Leadership Program in the Kingdom. We have touched the lives of over 145 participants whom we believe will someday became leaders of the society.

Again, with TM Ramed on the lead, PRTC sponsored three projects for the SMYLe – an Ayala Foundation project that aims to train & support Mindanao Youth Leaders. The beneficiaries will be the youth leaders in Bongao Tawi-tawi, Saranggani, and Sultan Kudarat.

Arise, Conquer and Excel

If I may borrow Edgar Allan Poe's famous quotation "To the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome"

The my term was like Greece. We walked on new grounds, we started new things, we initiated new ideas, and we fought new battles.  And when the dust settled, we emerged victorious.

Your term, President Roi, is Rome. 

You are destined to steer PRTC to accomplish great things in the near future.  In your term PRTC will no longer just navigate on new territories but rather, PRTC will Arise from our experiences, Conquer new territories and Excel in generating bright ideas that will be copied and envied upon by other clubs.

You term will be the building block of PRTC to cement its legacy as the Best Toastmaster Club in the Division.

After all, we are PRTC and we are the best!

ACS - 2nd Advance Manual Project #2: The Color of Light

Advance Manual : 226-B  Speaking to Inform
Project # 2    : Resources of Information
Title          : The Color of Light
Delivered at   : PICPA Riyadh Toastmasters Club
Evaluated by   : ACB/CL Roi Ontiveros
Target Norm    : Advance Communicator Silver

     *     *     *     *     *     *

Note:  

*  The speaker is a professional photographer and currently teaching photography classes

*  Actual speech delivered may significantly from the prepared speeches.  

* Use the slides below to follow the context of the presentation.

<<Slide 1>>

Good evening fellow toastmasters!

Of all the technical innovations in the 21^st century, would you agree with me that the digital camera is one of the most excited inventions?   Technology made it possible for almost everyone to have access to camera:  be it cell phone cam, web cam, up to the professional DSLRs. 

And for a professional photographer like me, I often encounter questions such as:

·         What is the best brand of camera in the market

·         What model of camera should I buy

·         What accessories do I need to make me a better photographer.

I usually don’t answer the question.  Instead I give them a wicked smile and wink.  But there are those who are persistent who would start talking about ISO, Aperture, Shutter and all the techie stuff.  I politely shut them by asking “Do you know the color of Light?”

Baffled, they would reply back “Why? What’s the relation?”

Fellow Toastmasters, the reason why I am a good photographer is because I understand the very basic foundation of Photography and Printing.  And one of these basics is understanding the Color of Light.

<<Slide 2>>

If you remember in your high school physics, assuming you were not sleeping that time, if you put an object in point A, and put a lens in point B, a reflection of the object will be formed in point C.  

 Example you have man in point A, an inverted reflection of the man will be seen in point C.

 

<<Slide 3>>

Apply that in photography, you can record the reflected image if you put a film or digital sensor in point C.  Basically, what we see as picture is just a reflection of the actual subject that we see.

Take note… it is just a reflected image.

<<Slide 4>>

Going back to the question what is the color of light, the answer is “White”.

White light, when beamed over a prism produces millions of colors which are the shades of Red, Green and Blue.  

<<Slide 5>>

Let take for example: we have red object.  When a white light is beamed on the red object, all the colors will be absorbed or disperse except for the color red which will be reflected towards you.  The same principle applies to rainbow, trees, and all other tangible objects.

The pinkish cheeks of TM Sheila for example is a reflection of the shade of blue & red.

 

<<Slide 6>>

What is the relationship then of light & photography?

Light, we know is a medium that reflects the pattern of color of a given subject/object.  That reflected pattern is what we “see” as color.

Photography on the other hand is defined as drawing or writing using light.

If we use our eyes to “see” the color, camera uses the film or sensor to draw/write the color.  In essence, everything that our eyes can “see” or the sensor can “record” is just a reflection of light.

You control the quality of light, you control the quality of color that is being reflected.

<<Slide 7>>

Talking about quality of light: there are dozen properties of light but we will only narrow down to three qualities that is applicable to photography.  These are Hue, Brightness and Saturation.

If you tried adjusting your monitor, you may see these and you play around with the toggle without fully understanding how it works.

Let’s take a look at the details.

<<Slide 8>>

Hue is the actual color that is reflected by an object.  In our elementary days, we were thought of the seven basic colors of the rainbow – ROYGBIV.  

In reality, there are millions of colors in the visible spectrum.  Our eyes can only see approximately 1.6 million, however the sensor of your camera can detect up to 26 million colors. 

Hue therefore is color of the object.

<<Slide 9>>

Let take a sample.  You went outside see a beautiful mango fruit. You take a picture of it, and display of the picture in your screen.  The hue was perfect: yellow-orange.

When you tried printing it in large format, you notice a difference of the printed picture compared to the displayed picture.  Did you experience this TM Reina and TM James?

The explanation is because your monitor display hue in its additive properties also known as RGB, while your printer “draw” the picture using the subtractive property also known as CMY.

The next time you print a photo, try converting it first to CMY to have an idea what the picture would like in paper.

<<Slide 10>>

Another quality of light is known as Brightness.  This quality is directly related to the amount of darkness or black on a particular object.

We describe a shirt as blue, dark blue, light blue but all these color as still blue except the degree shade differs.   A red object under the sunlight will appear light red but under a shade, it will appear darker.  Your camera will also see the same.  

To control that quality of light, you adjust the brightness of your camera.  Under the sun, you reduce brightness and under the shade, you increase the brightness.  That way, the red object will consistently appear red.

<<Slide 11>>

Saturation is another quality of light that is the amount of hue at the same brightness.   Imagine it as house paint:  You have a red paint.  You mix it with white paint to decrease the intensity of red.  Conversely you add more red paint to increase the intensity of red – which explains why painter would double paint a wall to give more intensity or saturation of a color.

How is this applicable to photography?

Example you are taking a picture of an African, you would like to reduce the saturation in your camera to make him/her appear “grayish” rather than black.  If you are taking a picture of a Caucasian, you would want to increase the saturation to add more skin tone and make your subject more “brownish” rather than pale.

For us Filipinos, we don’t have problem with saturation.  Our skin tone is just perfect!

<<Slide 12>>

Understanding the color of light and its qualities will already make a huge difference to your pictures.  Hue is the actual color, brightness to control the amount of darkness – imaging shading, and saturation as the intensity of color.

How about shutter, aperture and ISO?   My answer, set it to Automatic, let the camera worry the settings for you.

 

ACB 1st Advance Manual Project #5: Waterloo

Note:

• I have started three Advance Manuals at the same time; two intended for ACB and the other for ACS.    
• This is my graduation speech for the Educational Award of Advance Communicator Bronze

 

* * * * * *

Advance Manual : 226-K   Story Telling
Project # 4    : Bringing History to Life
Title          : Waterloo
Delivered at   : PICPA Riyadh Toastmasters Club
Evaluated by   : ACS/ALB Ramed Borja
Target Norm    : Advance Communicator Bronze

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Introduction
 

<<Slide 1>>

Have you ever heard of the idiomatic word “Waterloo”?   This is commonly used in an expression such as “and finally, he met his Waterloo”.    The idiomatic expression often means an unexpected defeat.
Good evening, fellow toastmaster and guest.

Tonight, let me share the story of the famous battle in Waterloo which marks the end of the Napoleon’s dream to become the grand emperor of Europe.

<<Slide 2>>

 June 15, 1815.   Napoleon Bonaparte was riding on his restless white horse. 

 
 
<<Slide 3>>

With him is the 105,000 strong French Grand Armee with General Ney commanding his left flank and  General Grouchy commanding his right flank.

   

<<Slide 4>>

On his right, he can see the small town of Ligny where the main force of the 89,000 Prussians is under the command of Field Marshall Blucher.   
On his far left, he can see the 68,000 British Allied forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington.

<<Slide 5>>

The strategy was simple: attack the two forces in between and drive them away from each other and defeat each enemy one by one.
June 16, 1815

Napoleon instructed General Ney to advance to Quarte-Bras to engage the Prince of Orange, to disable the encampment and establish their headquarters.

With General Grouchy, Napoleon speed off to Ligny and engaged Field Marshall Blucher in a bloody battle.   Blucher, upon realizing that he cannot win with too many losses, he retreated far north.

Napoleon won the battle of Ligny and overestimated his victory thinking he defeated the Prussians totally.  Little did he knew, Blucher moved northward towards Waterloo.

<<Slide 6>>

At 6pm that day, Napoleon match westward towards Quarte-Bras and found General Ney still fighting the Allied forces.  It took them until late evening before forcing the Allied to retreat at Mont St Jean, south of the town of Waterloo.

More than 12 hours of fighting took a toll on Napoleon’s Grand Armee.  They decided to rest on the 17^th of Jun, beside it was raining heavily.  A fatal mistake because it gave the Duke of Wellington enough time to march the entire British army to south of Waterloo.

<<Slide 7>>

Early morning of 18^th June,

Napoleon was again looking at his enemy.  On his center is La Haye Sainte with heavy guns and cavalry. At the left is Mont St Jean the weaker force of only the infantry and artillery.

Napoleon confident that he can route the Allied forces, postponed the attached until 11am.  He thought that the ground was too wet and muddy for a grand frontal infantry assault.   His general tried to convince him to barrage the enemy with artillery and cannons before marching the main force.  With Napoleon’s misplaced confidence plus his arrogance, he insisted to proceed with ground attack.

Oh, this is where the phrase “Napoleonic Complex” originated.

<<Slide 8>>

1:00pm

Napoleon signal an attack

General Grouchy joined the central force and led the initial march to Mont St Jean.   Under heavy fire of cannons and artillery, Grouchy captured Mont St Jean but lost more than half of his forces.

<<Slide 9>>

3:00pm

With Mont St Jean capture and the Duke of Wellington forces trapped in La Haye Sainte like sitting ducks, Napoleon could already see victory at hand.

Again with his arrogance, he made a fatal miscalculation.

<<Slide 10>>

He ordered General Ney to launch the entire cavalry forward in his vain to show off for a grand victory.
General Ney with 25,000 cavalry thundered towards La Hay Sainte.  He easily trampled the battalion of artillery and saw from a fog of war the forces of the Duke of Wellington running and started making squares of infantry.

Confused because the soldiers were not firing their muskets, General Ney made a bad call and ordered a full attacked on the infantry.

<<Slide 11>>

The Allied Infantry knelt to the ground and used their musket with fixed bayonet as pikes to stop the charging horses.  With the horses dead, they easily shot the cavalry at point blank.
It was a very close quarter combat that the cavalry is not trained for fighting – the strength of the infantry.  As a result, there was chaos and confusion among the French cavaliers forcing them to retreat.

 
4:00pm
Knowing General Ney would lose his cavalry against the infantry of the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon ordered his main infantry in Mont St Jean to assault towards La Haye Sainte.  
Upon seeing the advancing infantry, The Duke of Wellington centralized all his infantry and took a last stand.
5:00pm
But there was too much fog of war, and too much bloody mud on the ground, the French Armee failed to rush towards the Duke of Wellington

<<Slide 12>>

6:00pm
Napoleon received news that Field Marshal Blucher is fast approaching from his right.  He readily dispatched Gen Grouchy to meet the Prussians but with only small cavalry left Gen Grouchy failed to stop the charging Prussians.

7:00pm
The French Grand Armee was caught in the middle.  In front is square infantry the British forces and at their back is the charging Prussians.

9:00pm
In less than two hours, Napoleon lost a war that was supposed to be a victory.

<<Slide 13>>

In the retrospect, Napoleon could have easily won the battle in Waterloo.  He had a brilliant strategy and he has a motivated army who is willing to die for him.  Yet it was his supreme arrogance that cost him the battle.  If only he listened to his generals..  the idiomatic word “Waterloo” would not mean a crushing defeat but a resounding victory.

How about you fellow toastmasters?  Have you met your Waterloo?  I did, and many of you know what it is. Shh… keep quiet, the first lady is here!

<<Slide 14>>

Back to you evening master