 To another edition of Hawaii in Uniform, I'm your host, Calvin Griffin, and for those of you who may not have seen the program in the past, here on the program we talk about what's happening with the veterans, military community, and the tie-in with the rest of the state. As I mentioned before, there are a lot of talented people within the military who make a lot of great contributions. Now we know this is an all-volunteer military, and before we get into our subject matter today, I have Ms. Helen Dora Haydn, who's a veteran herself, and a couple of her friends she brought along with her from Toastmasters, and we'll be talking with them very shortly. Just want to make one comment real quick. As I mentioned in the past, there are a lot of things that go on within our country, not only here on the national level, but also on the local level, that have a major impact. Recently I got into a conversation with a couple of individuals, and one of the issues that came up, we talked about what's happening, the policies with our government house being enforced overseas, and one individual interjected that he thought that sometimes when there is something that may be, let's say, not popular with the American people, that the military is supposed to express satisfaction about it, and I disagree with that. Again, what I'm going to make it about to say right now is a personal comment. Most of the individuals, majority of the individuals who are serving the military, very dedicated. They've given many of them, given up a lot of opportunities on the civilian side, but one of the things I know that there is some concern about not only with this administration, but with other administrations in the past, but the consensus that we had arrived, this small informal group I talked with, is that the role of the individuals in uniform is to obey the laws and regulations of the military. If we do have any type of questions about some of the policies, there are mechanisms in place to make sure that they are addressed. We have people who are currently in uniform, and some of them may not agree what's going on, but as far as with the traditions and what this country stands for, what they represent, they see the big picture. They do exercise their right as a civilian when they're out of uniform to make sure that if there is something that they're not happy with, that they either support local politicians or get involved, we find that the military are very giving. With the military population over here, we have close to 120,000 vets give or take, and that has a major impact on the state of Hawaii and also on our country. But the one thing that we did agree on, the individuals I was talking about, is that, again, when there are issues, and we do speak up about it, and there's a mechanism in place, in a hostile environment is not the time to debate political issues. There's plenty of time after that, and I do believe that a lot of the individuals, don't want to be redundant about this, but one way that you can help support our military is to exercise your rights as citizens. When you get out there and you vote, you get involved in the communities and everything else, this helps to reinforce what these individuals stand for. And I'll let this one go as far as that's concerned, but the thing is exercise your rights as citizens. Get out there. There are too many people that's put their lives on the line for the principles that we all believe in and stand for, and we'll just take it from there. But right now at this point, just want to introduce Ms. Heiden to the program. Thank you, Cal. Thank you. Sorry for that diatribe anyhow, but the thing is some people do have the concern about what the military think about and the veterans. And again, as I mentioned, there's a time and a place, and most individuals who do get involved, they realize that fully. Like I say, they have a major responsibility. So if the civic inside is thinking that there's going to be some kind of dialogue that's going to be started within the military, that's not the right place. So again, there's a time and place for everything. But you're yourself, you're a veteran also. I am. I did four years in the army. My father did 22 in the army. My son's active duty Air Force currently stationed here in Hawaii. Long legacy. And I've been a veteran's advocate for the past 25 years, educating veterans on VA benefits. And what shocks me, even with the media outpouring of all the benefits out there, a lot of veterans still don't know, especially combat vets. They have five years free medical once they get out of the military. And I've met numerous veterans on Island that it impacts. And so I love the idea that we still as civilians, after we get out, still serve the veteran community and their families. Yeah. That's what, you know, we do have issues that we have to deal with, of course, with the VA and other entities out there. But the thing is, we, we all know how important those are made with the military community, how much we do give back, you know, and as far as communications, because part of what you're doing right now with Toastmasters is communicating, teaching people how to talk, how to communicate. And I think that's very important. But I think that's one of the skills that being in the military again, where these individuals, you have to take a leadership role at some time, you know, whether you're a buck private or, you know, whatever you are. At some point, you have to take responsibility for your mission and for those around you. You know, so that is a start, you know, as far as doing that. But I know also verbal communications is extremely important, you know, because the old saying sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. That's wrong. You know, we know that for a fact, you know, there's so many ways that words can be used or weaponized and all that, you know, so, you know, we'll talk more about that. I've been very fortunate to invite veterans, especially at HPU to come into Toastmasters. Many of them have had leadership in the military. The problem that a lot of veterans face when they get out into the civilian world is how to translate their military skillset over to the civilian sector, especially for jobs. And Toastmasters changes lives. It helps educate you to become better leaders, better communicators, networking skills, all the things you need that are transferable for your future. So that's kind of why I got involved in Toastmasters to begin with, is to help me in those areas, effective listening, stuff like that. And I see two more sidekicks with you. You know, like they introduce yourself, so don't screw up your name and everything else. Get off to a bad start. It's not bad, but it's not good for my public image, but... Thank you so much, Cal, for having us on the show today. It's just wonderful that we're able to participate with you on transference of veterans into the world through communication and leadership skills. And Toastmasters is all about that. You headed right on point about how important it is to enhance your communication skills, become better leaders. As my children would often say that, they're so grateful I joined Toastmasters because now when they ask me something, we have more peaceful communication where we can actually expect to have some kind of resolve. So Toastmasters helps in so many levels from where you are now to where you would like to go. So we're proud to be a part of the Toastmasters organization. I think a lot of people get to hear Toastmasters, it's like people sitting around just drinking and toasting. No, I've been asked if I make toast for a living. Exactly more than that, but we do have over 68 clubs. I think now we head to the chart with about 71, yeah, 71 clubs throughout the state and they're on most of the neighbor islands, Kauai, Maui, Big Island. So everyone is welcome to come and visit, enjoy, and then hopefully they take away from that wanting to be a member. Great, okay. And Janet? Hi, Calvin. I'm Janet Andres, and I'm the Program Quality Director for District 49 Toastmasters, and basically I'm in charge of all the education and training and our conferences and speech contests. That's what I oversee. Right, okay. Again, by now, we're going to cover as much as we can right now, but again, getting back to the military, for those who may be actively serving or affiliated, what encouragement do you give as far as them to get involved and how will it help them as far as with their mission performance in any way? We have clubs that are on the military basis. Hickam, Pearl Harbor, very active clubs. Actually, Hickam Club just made presidents distinguish the highest honor you could make as a club with the leadership that they had there. And we have new officers, they just had new elections and brand new leadership coming in. And a lot of the new members that joined say, hey, I want to become a first shirt one day. Maybe Toastmasters can help me communicate better, because I know I have to do briefings, and I'm terrified. So Toastmasters is a wonderful, warm environment that's safe and friendly to practice. And that's what I call my one hour of happy. So people always encourage, and it's done at your pace, which I absolutely adore about Toastmasters. No pressure, all friendly environments. Yeah, because you have individuals, of course, within the military environment, and you have your military speaky, if you wanted to do military language. And again, it's really important as far as when you're in contact with the civilian populace. Again, there's certain words, phrases that are appropriate within the military environment. But when you get outside, when someone hears that word or phrase, whatever, it may be misconstrued. So then it has a negative blowback on those representing the military. Absolutely. That's a very good point, Cal. What has happened in Toastmasters clubs across the country? Globally, we have over 300,000 members. Toastmasters is an international organization, and it's here to empower members to improve their communication skills, enhance their leadership abilities. And what's interesting that you should bring up about the language differences. There's language differences between military, civilian, as well as foreigners. This year, for the first time, we are bringing on a new club that is bilingual. Most of the time, they all have Chinese language meetings, as well as English. So we're welcoming a culture of many ways to communicate. But for the military, you're correct. So when they belong to the military club, it's a safe environment for them where they can then speak the way they're accustomed to speaking bilingual. And then there are 60 to 70 other clubs that they also can visit and get that experience of what it's like on those premises, where you're outside of the military world. What else would you like to interject as far as what can what can what can you guys do to help improve all of our lives? And we'll be singing kumbaya at the end of the day. I'm not sure about the singing part. But it's interesting. Rose hit a point that I often forget, the interpersonal relationship. All of us interact with one another. So it's really vital that we openly communicate and Toastmasters brings a level of transparency and comfort for communication purposes. I know my personal relationship with my son who's an adult now has greatly improved because of my Toastmaster experience. I'm a much more active listener. We have evaluations at Toastmasters. When you give a speech, you get immediate feedback. And that's something very different than corporate America or military. In the military, you know, as I do one year, once a year, you get an evaluation with Toastmasters, you give a speech, you get feedback immediately. So you can improve. And that's a gift that I never got before and the effect of listening. My mind goes as fast sometimes that I can't catch up with my mouth. And Toastmasters has taught me to really pay attention to what people are saying and tricks to use like mirroring back, parroting and things like that skill sets that you can use on every level. And that's why it's so important for Janet's role because she, Janet, can explain that hope. Well, since I'm in charge of programming and the education, we are having a new platform that's coming out in September being rolled out. Basically, it's 10 different learning paths that you can choose. And you would have to take an assessment first and it'll tell you which one you should be on or you can choose your own. For example, there's one called Effective Coaching where it would focus on interpersonal communication. Also, I'm sorry, interpersonal communication, leadership and coaching skills. And within these learning paths, you have 10 required projects and four electives. So it's an individualized way of learning. And you can use whatever you learned there into your job out in the community. Great. I'll tell you what, we're going to let our viewers absorb what you had just said. We're going to take a short break and we'll come back. We'll continue. But stay tuned and keep listening. Aloha. My name is Raya Salter and I'm the host of Power Up Hawaii, which you can see live at from 1 to 130 every Tuesday at thinktechhawaii.com and then later on YouTube. I am an energy attorney, clean energy advocate and community outreach specialist. And on Power Up Hawaii, we come together to talk about how can Hawaii walk towards a clean, renewable and just energy future? To do that, we talk to stakeholders all over the spectrum from clean energy technology folks to community groups to politicians to regulators to the utility. So please join us Tuesdays at one o'clock for Power Up Hawaii. I think that's my neighbor. Sometimes I have to check my ID card to see who I am, you know. Anyhow, we'll continue our conversation with two representatives from Toastmaster. And before we took the break, one of the things that you did point out that there's, you know, the listening skills, you know, there's a difference between hearing and listening. You know, a lot of people, they get into a conversation and it's like the louder you are, the more writer you are. That's not even a word, but anyhow, you know, it's one of those deals, you know. But again, as far as if you really want to be an effective, you know, communicator, the listening skills, you know, because I've been in conversations with people or, you know, you sit down and you talk to them and they would do like 95% of the talking and then when they got ready to get up and, you know, we've been great talking to you. And the only thing you did was just sit there and listen, you know. So what are some of the other, you mentioned before we took a break, that there's some different paths that need to be taken? Yes, there are some different paths. And there's 10 of them. Should I read all 10? No. I'm sorry, it doesn't have to be it. Don't do a special program on it. Yes, it is. It's actually a half an hour. It won't take long. At least half an hour to explain. But as I said before the break, one of the paths was effective coaching, which focuses on interpersonal communication and leadership and coaching skills. Another path would be leadership development, which is building communication and leadership skills. So there are many different paths that you can take or you can take all of them if you want. But in each one, there are 10 required projects that you need to complete and four electives. And within each path, there's five levels. And each level gets more complex as you go. One question I have, a lot of questions, but this is just one of them. We think as far as with this type of group or the program that you are offering for adults, what do you have for children? Because again, you have a lot of younger people who, you know, have the problem as far as communicating. And not only, like I say, with their peers, they might have had too much, but still. But what is in place to encourage younger people to develop their verbal skills so they can be better communicators with those they're interacting with? We do have a program that many toastmasters across the state and across the world participate in youth leadership. This is where toastmaster members go out into the community into a given school that the principal might have approved that they could come in. And they present a similarity of what toastmasters is all about, giving the students an opportunity to express, to impress, giving them the opportunity to gain more confidence. And that way from there, as they make their way to further education or into the workforce, they have a touch of more than what they would have had if they just left. In the days when I went to high school, there was no one who said, this is how you can maintain your confidence and go out there and get the interview done. So that's a really good program that many of the members volunteer to do youth leadership. The other thing is that we have what is known as speechcraft, but that's more on an adult level. But for the youth, we do have youth leadership. It's an excellent program. Excuse me, Calvin. So for toastmasters, you have to be 18 years or older. And the youth leadership program that Rose mentioned, it's a shortened version, it's about a 12-week program that some schools will have it as an elective, after school elective, and that students would have to sign up. And there's only a small amount of students that would be able to sign up for that. And it's a project that a toastmaster can undertake and go out into the community and say, hey, would you like me to teach your students some leadership skills? You see all the applicable skills that are happening here. And toastmasters, we're very proud of the fact that everything you gain from it is transferable to your personal life, to your career, to everything that you possibly do. And as Helen had mentioned, it's not that expensive to be a member. Right. And so I break it down one day just out of curiosity. So it's $20 for the new member kit, and the most you'll pay every six months is $45, depending on what month you sign up. But if you break it down $45 every six months, it's $0.25 a day. Everybody's worth $0.25 a day for leadership skills. Do you need someone toast with that also? The past experiences I've had with toastmasters with youth is I've been asked to be judging some of their contests that they have at their schools. So people find out you're a toastmaster and all of a sudden you're asked to participate on different skills that you never thought you'd ever be. So I've been judging for quite a while now for youth and have done workshops for impress on teaching students what the real world is like, what to expect out there. Okay. I have a question that's been sitting off in the left field that I bring to the infield. We talk about verbal communications. All right. There's different ways of communicating. What about those individuals who have hearing impairments or like I said, sign? Is there something that's in place to help them communicate better? Absolutely. Toastmasters is for everyone. We do have on the Toastmasters international website a braille ability where you can order your books through braille. We have actually what they call the international public speaking world champion of public speaking for toastmasters and one of our world champion winners was actually blind. So we're open to everyone. In Hawaii, we are fortunate to have Willie Jones, who is the world champion of public speaking 1997 toastmaster and he is now with the Al Moana club, but we have many, many claims for him to speak at different functions as well as be part of our training. So every year toastmasters encourage us training. We have club officers training besides what the club offers. The one thing about toastmasters that's so beautiful is that when at a club level, you can be sure that it's a safe place where no one makes judgments about you. You learn as you grow and every project layers to improvement from where you were in the beginning. We've had people say they were shaking so much that their knees were knocking louder than they were speaking. So, you know, from there and now that same person we're proud to say is our humorous contest winner from the last conference, Erie Kosujie. So there's many, many opportunities there and we're extremely excited and that's why we've been in that for so long. Love it. When you join, you'll love it too, Cal. Okay. Have your people call my people. You mentioned about, you know, training, like I say, within a safe environment. Okay, the reality is once you get out there in the real world, so-called, all right, we see how the forms of communication or we see the talking heads or the people on TV and, you know, you got one person talking, you got somebody talking over them and everything else. Do you have training on how to more effectively when you're running to because it's just like a military barrage that keeps selling things at you? Do you have ways of training where you can teach them how to handle that situation where they're not being, it appears that they're being overwhelmed verbally within these form of tech? Absolutely. Some of our advanced manuals talk about public relations, talk about speeches by management. There's a barrage of different programs and one of them is about that, that interview skill set and how you don't talk over people, how you give the other person the opportunity to talk and then you actively listen and learn your skill set and then respond. So there's tons of manuals to teach you that skill set. So yes, I'm actually working on a couple of advanced manuals about that situation exactly. One is like radio talk host and you get to participate in front of a club and get feedback. One is a television interview ironically. So you learn skill sets like that. I got to take that. Before I move on, I just wanted to mention, you mentioned Willie Jones Rose. Willie is a Vietnam vet. So here's another veteran out in the community that has done amazing things and transferred his skill set using Toastmasters to become a world champion in 1997. Amazing. Great. We're getting out to the wire, but I want to give you the opportunity to go ahead and decide to read enough. Did they get anything else? We want you to know that Toastmasters stays connected with everyone through magazines as well as the website and different video. I read once. You read one of these? No, I read once. I didn't see that. Okay, we brought you a truckload of it. I'm just kidding. But I do want to say thank you so much for having myself and our other key three on your program today and on behalf of the District 49 and Toastmasters International. We thank you, Cal, for being part of helping the world communicate better and helping us all become better leaders because as all Miss America and Universe Patch and stuff often said, the key to world peace is communication and leadership. Even if you didn't hear it and even if I might make a little bit of it up, it's true. But from myself, the District Director for District 49 and Janet and Helen. Okay. Thank you so much. And as we say, I district this month. Shut up. As my position as club growth director, if anybody wants to start a club in their business or in their organization, please reach out to me. That's my role this year as club growth director is retention and marketing and new clubs. Love to hear from you. Okay. With that in mind, anyhow, yes, some of the vet organizations or, you know, even individuals can get out there and contact you guys and your organization. Excuse me for that. But yeah, I want to thank you again for coming on. But again, with the program, what we try to do here is to, you know, show the interaction between the military communities to surveying inside and how we can help to enhance our overall experiences being citizens, you know, of our country and the state. And you know, so I thank you for what you do. I think it's a very valuable service, you know, because communications is extremely important nowadays. Too many times we're talking at each other instead of listening. And as you mentioned, the skills that you help to develop, they come in handy. And again, the more we communicate, the better we can go and teach each other how to sing kumbaya. Shall we sing? I want to thank the viewers out there again for watching the program. And again, you know, the early comments I made, anyhow, we have a lot of dedicated people and help them to help you by being good citizens, getting involved. When they can't speak, you can be their voice or help to communicate for them. But thank you. God bless. And until that time