Cyril Chessex delivered this very entertaining speech on 4 August for his ACB8 and was awarded the trophy for best prepared speaker.

Children and problems come as a package deal.
Each package deal may have a slightly different wrapping.
However, ALL parents – irrespective of the size of their wallets – have parental problems to solve.

Some people believe that super-rich parents have no or fewer problems.
Wrong! Wrong!
Super-rich parents simply have DIFFERENT parental problems.

For example, super-rich parents face one PARTICULARLY delicate issue.
It is managing their children’s expectations in respect of money and inheritance.
It is delicate because money is to people what water is to plants.
Too little of it leads to slow growth.
Too much of it leads to rot.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have done a good job at dealing with the issue of money and their children.
Let us look at HOW both billionaires handled the matter.

First Bill Gates.
Well, he chose to be explicit on the subject of inheritance at an early stage.
He openly announced that, upon his death, most of his wealth would be donated…..
…. and that his children would inherit USD 10 mio each.
USD 10 mio is an amount he considers large enough for anyone to start up a business…..
……but too small for his children to already now rest on their laurels
and wait for him to kick the bucket.

Now, what about: Warren Buffet?
Well, Buffet is a reluctant spender by nature.
In addition, Buffet has always been inflexible about requests for money from his children.
Consequently, the children grew up without expecting money from their father.
Back then…., they knew that their ONLY chance of getting serious money from their father was by way of a financial deal.

One story goes that Buffet made a deal with his already married daughter Susy.
He felt that Susy could lose a few kilos.
So, he proposed the following deal.
Against losing a certain amount of weight, Susy could shop for clothes for one month….. with NO limit on spending.
There was a catch, however.
The catch was that Susy would have to pay him back if she regained the weight within ONE year.

Susy agreed to the deal and went on diet.
When Susy got down to the agreed weight, her mother sent Suzy credit cards with a note saying “Have fun”.
At first Susy did not dare spend a dime.
She was frightened by the thought of asking her father to pay the bills.
However, Susy, being after all a woman, eventually worked herself up and started shopping.
After thirty days she had spent a total of USD 47’000.—, which is about R 350’000.–
Susy thought her father was going to die over the amount.
But, since a deal is a deal Buffet paid the full amount without saying a word.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Children are not easy.
When it comes to money and finance, children are guaranteed problems…
EVEN for the super-rich as you heard.
So, to those of you who don’t have children YET,
I suggest you bear in mind the following words of Clarence Darrow:
“The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.”

Popularity: 17% [?]

Tonight, Wednesday evening,  25 March at 20:30 there will be a radio broadcast simultaneously from Johannesburg and Durban on regional radio. Topic: the Art of Public Speaking

• Ramon Thomas (Webmaster) will be interviewed in Johannesburg on Kaya FM (Masechaba Moshoeshoe)
  
• At the same time  Martyn Battrick will be interviewed in Durban  on Gagasi FM (interviewer Mzo)
  

Radio frequencies are as follows:

KayaFM  95.9 FM www.kayafm.co.za

GagasiFM 99.5 FM www.gagasi995.co.za

The web address is for online streaming on the respective websites – so you even if your are in Cape Town you can listen on the web. Nice, isn’t it?

Here’s some more background:

Johnnie Walker Black Label and Kaya FM and Gagasi FM will be introducing listeners to a discovery of the world around them, information that will add value to their lives in business, personal finance, investment and leisure. We seek to bring leading experts each month to help listeners discover more about the issues around them through the sharing of information, advice and useful tips.

The series began in the first week October where each week, a topic of interest to our listeners will be delved into. The show is a 30 minute Q & A session where listeners will also be invited to call in. We will prepare a guideline of questions that will pertain to the topic being discussed and we will then send it through to our guest for perusal and additions. We will also put our guest in contact with our presenters for any further queries they may have prior to the show itself. We will then ask our guest to come to the studio for the interview or have them do it telephonically.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Dear Toastmasters and Guests

You are officially invited to our club’s 35th birthday party! Please join us for snacks and cake at our next meeting on Tuesday, 26 August, where we’ll also be having our humorous competition. So bring your humour, giggles and party spirit to Old Eds next week – we look forward to celebrating and chuckling with you.

Hee hee!

Any questions? Call me, Eunice Faiga, from the CIS Toastmasters Committee on 083 458 6255

Popularity: 77% [?]

CIS Toastmasters in very proud that our very own Rob Douglas has been recognised along with the following members with the Triple Crown Challenge during 2006/07. They were an incredible 14 members who achieved 3 or more Toastmasters qualifications during the year and hence were recognised with the Triple Crown Challenge.

List of Winners

1. Beth Thomas- Rainbow Nation Club, Div B
2. Craig Strachan- Cape Town Club, Div D
3. Frances Boshoff- Vital Communicators Club, Div A
4. Ian Bratt- Benoni Club, Div B
5. Karin Cremer- Umhlanga Club, Div F
6. Keith Bowen- Transformers Club, Div H
7. Lois Strachan- Cape Town Club, Div D
8. Ret Steyn- Taverners Club, Div D
9. Rob Douglas- CIS Johannesburg Club, Div H
10. Rod Taylor- Transformers Club, Div H
11. Susan le Roux- Vital Communicators Club, Div A
12. Trina McKinley- Rivonia Club, Div H
13. Vic Brits, President Club, Div A
14. Welma Ennsle- Windhoek Club, Div D

To achieve the Triple Crown Challenge, register any 3 of the following awards between 1 July, 2007 and 30 June, 2008: CC, ACB, ACS, ACG, CL, OCL, ALB, ALS, DTM

Popularity: 82% [?]

Many people have degrees and have done training in how to do their jobs. But anybody in business will tell you that your skills are only half the job. The other half is communicating with colleagues, suppliers and customers.

Toastmasters International offers what amounts to a masters degree in Communication and Leadership. The DTM qualification takes as long to complete as some MBA courses. But instead of focusing on case studies and theory, DTM students have to prove that they can communicate effectively and be inspirational leaders.

“It’s the most difficult kind of leadership there is,” says Keryn House.” DTMs have to start new Toastmasters clubs or rescue clubs in trouble. But unlike my day job where I am a manager and pay my staff a salary, at Toastmasters everybody is a volunteer. Only the most motivational and inspirational leaders can get things done under those circumstances.”

House, who has an MBA and is working towards her DTM says that the DTM has taught her self-motivation. “There’s a lot of encouragement from other people, but it’s up to me to manage my time and my self-motivation to get this qualification. House credits her Toastmasters studies with helping her land her role at the Parkmore Community Association, as well has her job as the CEO of an NGO promoting call centres in Gauteng.
Only around one in one thousand Toastmasters qualify as DTMs in any given year. This award is recognized internationally among over 200,000 members in 10,500 clubs around the world.

Toastmasters Southern Africa will be hosting open days in shopping centres around the country on 27 October 2007.

For further information please contact:
Rob Douglas douglas.home@telkomsa.net
Cell. 082-773-5840
www.toastmasters74.org or marketing@toastmasters74.org

About Toastmasters International
For over 80 years, Toastmasters International has been and remains the undisputed world leader in public speaking, training, with over 10,500 clubs and more than 200,000 members in approximately 90 countries. Over three million people have benefited from its Communication and Leadership programmes world wide. In Southern Africa Toastmasters is represented in nine countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Toastmasters is a Section 21 company non-profit organization.

Popularity: 86% [?]

On 14 August 2007, Douglas Kruger will represent 9 countries in Southern Africa for the third time in the World Championships of Public Speaking in the United States.Douglas hopes to make it through to the World Championships of Public Speaking on the Saturday 17th August at the 76th Annual Convention of Toastmasters International in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. This prestigious event is known as ‘The Olympics in Oratory!’ – it is attended by over 3000 Toastmasters from around the world.

Douglas is a professional speaker and trainer, author, and regular contributor to Sales Guru and Entrepreneur magazines. He has also been a radio talk-show host on SAfm, and Talk Radio 702.

A resident of Lonehill, and a member of Sandton Toastmasters, Douglas has already placed 2nd in the world in this competition before. In 2004, in Reno, Nevada, he attained the highest ranking anyone from Africa has ever achieved.

“It’s about time we bring this elusive trophy home to Africa,” Douglas says. “I’ve been working on two presentations, one for the semi-finals and one for the finals, and I believe that they are looking strong. Hopefully they have the right mix of humour, emotion and a strong message that the international judges are looking for.”

Asked if he was nervous, Douglas responded, “An audience of three thousand people and you only have to give the best speech in the world? What’s to be nervous about? Sure, the pressure is immense, and you rarely sleep before an event like this, but at least I’ve had some experience with it before. I have some idea of what to expect. And I think I know how to top my previous performance. I’m only asking to rank one place higher than I did in 2004.”

Douglas is accompanied by a team of supporters from the leadership of Toastmasters in Southern Africa. Rob Douglas, District PRO for Southern African Toastmasters says, “Douglas Kruger is an outstanding and highly experienced public and motivational speaker. We believe he stands a very good chance of winning the world championships – which would be the first time for a South African. We wish him every success.”

Popularity: 65% [?]