Emotional Vampires

Negative people are like vampires feeding off our emotions. These negative people drain us. They are deeply unhappy with their predicaments, and want to bring us down so they are not alone. You need to understand this, because unless you are a highly attuned yourself you will be dragged down with them.

This is an extremely popular topic now, and most folks say to just drop the negative person from your life. Really?

What if the negative person is your spouse, mother-in-law, sister, boss, or oldest friend? Simple blanket solutions are not always viable. Dropping them doesn’t solve your problem in the above cases. No, it creates more problems like divorce, unemployment, etc. So how do you deal with these emotionally trying people?

Negativity is like cancer

When you have cancer do you just forget about it? No, you get treatment. So you need to treat your situation as a medical emergency. High blood pressure is not good for you and these emotional bottom feeders will raise your blood pressure. Limit contact with them to spare your senses. Try steering the conversation somewhere else. Find excuses to not have to associate with them as much. You may not be able to eliminate them, but you can mitigate their effects on your mood and health.

Don’t accept the invitation to the pity party

Negative people get a kick out of making other people fret. Misery enjoys company. It is your job not to accept the invite. When the negativity starts you need to take action some how. Time for a bathroom break, phone call, or to run an errand. Some emotional vampires are mentally ill, but some are just down on their luck and feeling sorry for themselves. The latter people are salvageable, which is why giving up on them isn’t necessarily a solution to shoot for all the time.

Like attracts Like

We enjoy associating with people who are like ourselves. If however, you are constantly a victim/target of an emotional vampire you need to look inward, and discover what it is about yourself that theses leeches find so attractive. It is almost always easier to change something we can control, than to try and change someone else. Life is complicated enough without dealing with hypochondriacs, drama queens, and the likes of Debbie Downer. Do something about it!

Toastmasters Officers Training

Presently I am the Division F Governor for Toastmasters International in District 46. Part of my job is making sure the officers of my clubs get trained so that they can better serve their members. This training comes twice a year, once in the summer, and once again in the winter.

Depending on the makeup of the division you can have a majority of corporate clubs which can pose a problem when it comes to picking a venue to host training sessions for the district membership. More and more corporations are concerned with their privacy and do not want to lend space. This trend can wear a heavy burden on the community clubs who meet in public spaces like libraries, churches, etc. because the same clubs are always playing host.

Well, this year I’m trying something a little different. I have a Toastmasters Training Institute training set at a club that meets in a library which is our Division’s Official training session. However, people need more options to insure as many officers get trained as possible. To this end, I’ve added a Bagels on the Beach training session also.

My clubs are in Nassau and Suffolk counties and we have some beautiful beaches. I thought a morning training session with some coffee and bagels at the beach seemed like a fun way to get more people to attend a training session. Clubs only need four officers to be trained to get district credit towards their DCP goals, but having all seven officers trained is optimal. I thought trying something different could be just the ticket to motivate some of the fence sitters to attend.

I’d love to hear from other Toastmasters, and any different ways they may have handled their training sessions.

Short Story: Abducted on Ocean Parkway.

Creative writing is something I enjoy to do.  Taking advantage of all the current writing venues on the internet is something that really interests me.  Getting my words out to as many people as possible is my new challenge.  I look forward to the possibilities.  I hope you will read my short story Abducted on Ocean Parkway which is my first published sci-fi piece.

Meeting the President of Toastmasters International

I got to spend time last week with the International President of Toastmasters International Pat Johnson. My District was lucky enough to host her for our conference up in Tarrytown, New York. What an inspiration she was to all of us at the conference. Pat Johnson is pleasant, elegant, and so eloquent. She gave the keynote, and motivated all of us to aspire higher in the coming year.

On the way home from the conference it hit me how lucky we were to have had this experience. Toastmasters is in 119 countries and there are thousands of clubs, so being lucky enough to have her come to the District 46 Conference is for a Toastmaster like working for Microsoft and finally getting to meet Bill Gates. It doesn’t really happen that often.

I feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful organization that fosters personal growth, and taps that potential we all possess inside. Toastmasters is so much more than just a public speaking program, it develops leaders. There is something for everyone at Toastmasters and it would be a real investment in your own capital to get involved with a local club. If anybody would like to know more here is the link to Toastmasters International . You can also email me or just leave a comment.

56th Annual District 46 Toastmasters Spring Conference

Going to the Spring Toastmasters Conference is one of the highlights of my year. The workshops are educational and informative, and the connections you make can be life long and trans-formative. You never know who will be in attendance, or how a certain workshop or speech will have meaning to you personally.

Toastmasters can change you on a core level if you are willing to commit a bit of time and energy into your biggest commodity – yourself. Really what more is there? You need to stay sharp, keep on top of your game, and you need to know people. Toastmasters can help you on all three of those points.

Here is a link to the Conference Workshops

This conference is an all day event which includes meals, and it is a bargain considering all you will take away from it. You can also go by yourself as it is a friendly and inclusive environment with people who are like minded in that they all wish to improve as speakers and leaders. They are all willing to share and include you in any discussion. It really is a fun day, but also one that can have a lasting impact. Here is a link to the Conference Registration Page.

Article One Partners

Article One Partners is a wonderful crowdsourcing community where you have an opportunity to make real earnings if you are proficient at patent searching. It has been a wonderful experience being part of the community.  They have patent studies you can work on in different fields. If you have any interest in science or engineering this is the place for you.

Check it out:

http://www.ArticleOnePartners.com/?r=d41a05e4c239d3fd3cb1b6179c7117a7

Reporting Software for Power Point Presentations

As a public speaker I need reporting software to help me design presentations that outshine the competition. Spending hours on power point presentations is something I’ve always dreaded. I need something to make it easier for me and that is still user friendly. Versatility is what I am looking for. Something that works with different formats, HTML, PDF, DOCX, XML, etc. and then goes right to my printer when done. I would l like to see reporting software that allows me to format and edit right in Microsoft Office so I can use Word, Excel and Power Point. Sometimes I do things with other people and they use Open Office so if this design tool could work there also that would be something I could really utilize.

Simplicity is what I’m looking for. Reporting software I install and then forget about. No complicating melding of all my programs. Something that can detect what I need and then automatically install on my system only what is necessary.  A neat feature would be that it takes anything I might design and then merges it with any data sources (xml or sql databases) and creates a final report by merging them together for me so I have a cohesive whole.

I would like something that anyone can use and that does not require programming knowledge. Reporting software, that is intelligent enough that programming code isn’t necessary to add bullet points. This way anyone working with me can feel comfortable enough with it. I also need something that saves me time and money and that requires no extensive training or attending workshops to learn the ins and outs of what the software is capable of doing. I would like a “What You See Is What You Get” kind of software.

When I am creating presentations I like to add pictures and presently that requires multiple steps, so I am currently looking for reporting software where I can press insert and the picture is there. Something that will also merge all my data for me, and allow me to make pie charts and graphs without multiple steps or that needs me to do sorting of all the data necessary to make the charts. I want it to be intelligent enough to anticipate what I’m looking for, and then collect it and create it in one easy step.

Currently I am spending too much time creating presentations. It is cutting down personally on my profitability, but I am hesitant to buy just any program. I would like a top of the line reporting software that will do all I ask of it, and help me to be more productive and allows me to take on more assignments. I would like to go from the simple designs layouts I am capable of now to the much more elaborate Power Point presentations I have seen.

The reporting software I have attempted to use in the past thwarted me at every turn because I did not have the training necessary to pull it off.  I want an impressive presentation and a user friendly format to get me there. Reporting software that can eliminate these pitfalls for me and can give me the competitive edge I’m looking for must be out there.

Article One Partners interviewed me.

A few months ago I joined Article One Partners because inventions and inventors have always been of keen interest to me. It really gives me pleasure to participate in the patenting process. I was awarded money for being a most valuable researcher on a study involving retro-reflective sheeting.

If anyone finds this interesting and would like to ask me some questions I would be happy to answer them. I would highly recommend that anyone with an interest in science, engineering or mechanics to check out Article One Partners.  There are financial rewards to be gained for all your hard work.

http://info.articleonepartners.com/blog/bid/56441/Article-One-Featured-Researcher-Margaret-Bennett

Reporting Software for Power Point Presentations

As a public speaker I need reporting software to help me design presentations for myself that outshine my competition. Spending hours on PowerPoint Presentations is something I’ve always dreaded and I wanted something to make it easier for me and that was still user friendly. Versatility was also something I was looking for and I wanted something that would do it all for me.  I found some reporting software that does all this, and offered nine different formats: HTML, PDF, DOCX, XML (Word),RTF, XLSX,XKS, PPTX (PowerPoint), and direct to a printer. Well, there is my solution. I need Word, PowerPoint, and straight to the printer.

This reporting software also comes with  AutoTag which is a report designing tool that lets you format and edit right in Microsoft Office so it can be used in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Installation is easy all you do is download the correct installer from the lastest vesrsion page. When the installation is complete all you need to do is add AutoTag, which can automatically detect what is on your system and will only install what is necessary. Easy Peasy.

This reporting software also works in Open Office which I sometimes utilize. The neat feature is that it takes anything you design and merges them with any data sources (xml or sql databases) and creates your final report by merging them together so you have a cohesive whole.

This short video shows you some of the functions reporting software can carry out.

Do you see how esasy it is to use this reporting software. AutoTag makes it possible for everyone to make professional presentations. Programming knowledge is not necessary which saves time and money. I definitely agree with the “What You See Is What You Get”. If you need to insert images all you do is press insert, and there is no need to add programming code to creat bullet points.

So, I’m sure you can see the benefits of using reporting software now. There is no extensive training necessary. You can easily select data and then using the chart editor make impressive charts very quickly. If you have not tried this for yourself I would suggest you do, and I will be sharing this with other speakers who I think can really benefit from this.

The only other reporting software I have attemptd to use thwarted me at every turn because I did not have the training necessary to pull it off. This reporting software eliminated that for me and now I too can have the competive edge needed to creat an impressive presentation.

Free Glossary / Dictionary

Here is a wonderful resource I found that includes English/Spanish Court Terms.

http://www.ernestoromero.net/LS.pdf