District Conference

I was in Rochester, MN over the weekend for the District 6 Toastmasters Conference. I was honored along with 12 others for earning my Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award. What was especially exciting was that two other members of my club, also earned their DTMs.

I also gave a toast to the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada (our district includes a part of Canada). You would think that was easy, but it's actually interesting to experience giving a short toast that cannot have any mistakes in it in front of a large crowd. Rest assured everything went well (especially because a friend suggested I remember to bring a glass to the microphone to toast with!) It certainly gives me an appreciation of all of the details that go into planning a conference like that.

Shaun

www.guideonyourside.com

Shaun Jamison Wins Speech Contest!

Shaun Jamison, DTM won the Area 93 Humorous speech contest while representing Super Valued Speakers. He will be competing in Western Division contest on September 30th.

DTM Completed!

My Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award is on its way! Yay! I joined Toastmasters many years ago and this is the culmination of those years of learning.

The DTM is the highest award you can receive and here are the requirements I met(loosely described):

Communication:
45 (minimum) evaluated speeches from project manuals (I've done more since then)
4 educational modules presented

Leadership:
Facilitated a Speechcraft - A mini Toastmasters program to jumpstart people's communication skills.
Served as a club officer.
Served as an area governor.
Completed a High Performance Leadership project.
Mentored a new club.
Served in various roles at meetings and promoting the club.

Whew! That was an adventure!

Shaun Jamison "DTM"
www.guideonyourside.com

Jamison Honored with Toastmaster of the Year

I am pleased and honored to report that I have been selected as the Toastmaster of the Year 2007-2008 for Marshwinds Toastmasters as well as Area 92 Toastmasters. Many thanks to all of those who supported and encouraged me.

Here's an audio of my acceptance speech for the Marshwinds award.

Shaun Jamison

www.guideonyourside.com

Jamison Tapped for Time Presentation

Dr. Shaun Jamison, ACG, ALB, has been selected to present Improving Our Relationship with Time as one of the educational sessions at the Region IV Toastmasters Conference which will be held in Rapid City, SD June 26-28, 2008.

Do you feel like you do not have enough time for your personal and professional growth? Are you frustrated with time? Waiting? Wasted Time? Life and Business Coach Shaun Jamison, J.D., Ph.D., will lead an interactive session introducing ways to improve our relationship with time. How you use time is important, but so is how you choose to experience it.

The registration form appears below.

Journaling Presentation a Success!

Thank you to so many people for all of the support for my presentation Journal Your Way to Excellent Leadership at the TELI Saturday. Many of you have given me feedback on prior versions of the presentation, several came to be friendly faces, and others provided direct support during the presentation.If you have not heard, we expected 30-40 attendees and in excess of 80 people came. I appreciate the fabulous support I received.

If you are interested in presentations on journaling or journaling groups, please contact me.

Shaun

Jamison Selected to Present at TELI

I am pleased to report that my proposal to present Journal your Way to Excellent Leadership has been accepted. Here is the nutshell:

What makes excellent leaders? Listening, learning, awareness, and resilience are among the traits of an excellent leader. Reflective journaling can promote all of these skills. This session, led by Dr. Shaun Jamison, will explain benefits and best practices for journaling. There will be experiential exercises and time for questions.

I hope to see you there! The presentation will be on February 16th, 2008 at the District 6 Toastmasters TELI (Toastmasters Education and Leadership Institute). You can find the registration form here.

Shaun

Voice for Change!

Jennifer Stensrud, myself, and Jean Keating are presenting on May 17th about Toastmasters and its value to those who want to change the world for the better:

Voice for Change!

This special seminar has been created for those dedicated to making the world a better place.

Do any of the following describe you?

You want to take your cause to the next level, but public speaking is a barrier.

People in your movement understand your cause perfectly, but you have a harder time explaining it to the “unconverted.”

You want others in your organization to be able to communicate well to move your cause forward.

Three visionary voices will come together to share how Toastmasters can help you and others find their powerful voice.


Details: May 17th at 9:15am to 10:30 am at The Marsh, 15000 W. Minnetonka Boulevard, Minnetonka. Marshwinds Toastmasters meets in the Fireside Room, adjacent to The Marsh restaurant. All are welcome!

Contact: Shaun Jamison at (952) 933-1088 or shaun@ guideonyourside.com for more information or to get directions.

Reflections on being Realistic

I gave another speech today. I have lost count of the number of speeches I have given, yet each one is a special experience. Today's topic was goal setting.

While a Toastmaster member usually writes their own speech, this one was based on a pre-written speech for a Toastmasters educational program. I re-wrote it to serve my own style and one thing that begged for re-writing was the requirement that goals be "realistic."

You may be familiar with SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Time-bound. The trouble with being realistic is that you can talk yourself out just about any worthwhile goal.

My advice: Find a way to make your UNrealistic goals, realistic! Break them down into steps that you have some control over. Remember to enjoy the entire process from the idea to planning to implementation to that final success!

Do NOT be afraid to be UNrealistic!

Shaun

(c) 2007 Shaun G. Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Time, Part I

For those of you unfamiliar with Toastmasters, it is a great international organization dedicated to improving communication and leadership. I belong to a club that meets every week where we practice speaking and having well run meetings. We even time every aspect of the meeting to make sure we stay on task.

Today while I was celebrating in my mind our accomplishment of ending a little bit early, I coincidentally ran across a book called Time Shifting at the library. The book decries overemphasis on measuring time and suggests taping the word "Now" onto the faces of our watches. It does recognize that time measurement can serve an appropriate purpose in our Western, space age society, however, it must be balanced against being able to savor our experience and live in the moment . . . Later, I went for a walk in the mall and ran across a print of Dali's Exploding Clock. No doubt this story will continue. . .

Shaun