Toastmasters International New Logo

Toastmasters International New Logo. Every time there is a change of logo, you can react in three ways - love it, hate it or don't care. At least the complaint that the old logo only shows the map of North America and Europe will no longer be there. Any new logo will take time to get use to. And not forgetting the cost of buying a new Club banner - allow permission for local banner.

NEW:



OLD:

Know Your Lyrics

August 31, 2009 was the 52nd Merdeka Independence Day. On August 31, 1957, Malaya became independent from Great Britain. Then on September 16, 1963, Malaysia was formed with the addition of Sarawak and Sabah and Singapore. Singapore later became an independent republic in 1965. Hope everyone remember the history taught in school.

At the recent Bayan Baru Installation Dinner on August 22, the event started with the singing of the National Anthem - "Negara Ku". As any patriotic Malaysian, it is important to know the exact lyrics even if you cannot sing in tune. The words carry the meaning.

I have reproduced the lyris in case anyone has forgotten since singing it every Monday during the school years.



"Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku,
Rakyat hidup, bersatu dan maju,
Rahmat bahagia, Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita, selamat bertahkta.
Rahmat bahagia, Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita, selamat bertahta"

Translation in English:
My country, the land where my blood is shed,
The people live united and progressive,
Blessings of happiness, may God grant,
(And that) our King may reign in peace.
Blessings of happiness, may God grant,
(And that) our King may reign in peace.

By protocol, in Penang, the Penang State Anthem will be played immediately after the National Anthem at every official state event, so here are the lyrics.



"Selamat Tuhan kurniakan
Selamat Pulau Pinang
Negeriku yang mulia
Ku taat dan setia
Aman dan bahagia
Majulah jayalah
Negeriku yang ku cinta
Bersatu dan bersama
Untuk negeri kita"

Translation in English:
May God grant safety
Safety to Penang
My noble state
To which I am loyal and faithful
Peaceful and happy
May you progress and succeed
My state which I love
United and together
For our state

As Toastmasters International is an USA based organization, when you visit USA for the Toastmasters Irternational Convention or other reasons, you may attend an event especially baseball or American football game where it is customary to sing the National Anthem before the game begins. And at least be prepared to know a bit of the American National Anthem. I learned the song when I was studying in the US. There are 4 verses of "The Star Spangled Banner" but usually only the first verse is sung.



"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"

"Planning The Next Three Meetings"

Lately, there had been too many last minute emails, desperate sms and phone calls asking for role players.

In response, last Thursday, I delivered an advance project speech sharing my experience on an easier way to plan the next 3 meetings in advance. That way, we can spend less time chasing after role players and more time on preparing and fine tuning our speeches and spicing up our meeting roles.

Anything mammoth effort can be done easier if we break it down into simple steps.

As an analogy, how to put an elephant into a refrigerator. Just 3 steps - open the door, put in the elephant - close the door!

Now how about putting a a giraffe into the refrigerator. 3 steps? No, it is 4 steps - open the door - take out the elephant - put in the giraffe - close the door!

So to plan the next 3 meetings, we can use 4 simple steps with the acronym "AARR"
A - Ask, A - Assign, R - Report, R - Replace

ASK: Ask for CC and AC project speakers first. To decorate a glass container, you would put the important stones first, then pebbles, then sand and lastly the water. So handle the major roles first.

Club members planning to achieve their CC, AC or new enthusiastic members are waiting to be asked. Ask during club meeting. Allocate 5-10 minutes before the close of meeting, before everyone rush off. Ask when everyone is all charged up and more likely to just do it. Positive peer pressure helps too.


ASSIGN: If not enough volunteers, do not wait, just assign immediately.

If a member objects violently, then ask what role the member would prefer instead. Everyone has to play a role or two to help out and rotate roles so that everyone can learn and grow.

In a club meeting with five project speeches, there can be up to 20 roles requried. So just fill in the blanks with names of available club members who are actively attending meetings.

For Bayan Baru, it is great to have over 40 members. And with the usual 20 to 30 members attend, there are enough players to play magical chairs. But important is to assing the roles early, 3 meetings in advance. This will allow sufficient preparation for better learning and self-development. For new members, if assigned role in the third meeting, they have plenty of opportunity to observe how the roles are performed by others in the next two meetings before their turn in their maiden roles.


REPORT: Immediately email out the roles assigned to all club members.

By putting it in black and white, it will avoid forgetting who had signed up for a certain role and making it a first come first serve basis.

When in print, it is like a MOU and an IOU. It is a ROU - "Role Officially Undertaken". OK, ROU is a new term that I have coined up.

Once reported, please do not later request a member to postpone their project to the next meeting or make way for another member, This can be disheartening, devasting and demoralizing. Respect a ROU.

REPLACEMENT: Many members do not want to commit three meeetings or even one meeting in advance for fear that they cannot make it.

Reassure them to go for it as we can always have replacement if they cannot do it last minute. Every member can do any role, even double roles or triple roles. So using replacement is a great back-up plan for success.

In summary, We do not plan to fail but often fail to plan. Using 5-10 minutes of the meeting program time to plan the next three meetings when everyone is present can go a long way to plan for succes.

Use the 4 steps "AARR" to help you to plan the next three meetings. It is an investment that will bear great fruits to the club educational program and help club members to achieve their educational goals step by step. May the force of planning be with you always.

AH1N1 - No handshakes, self-quarrantine

Photo: A(H1N1)Virus, Source: Internet


Today, there are more reports of schools being closed in Malaysia due to local transmission of AH1N1 infection.

Not to create a panic, it is important to keep ourselves updated on the current situation and take public health and personal health precautions.

My personal opinion, if you feel unwell with high fever and suspect you may be having a flu, stay away from Toastmasters events and go see a doctor immediately.

According to BBC online source, "a fever - which is a temperature of 38ºC (100.4ºF) - is the key symptom, combined with other complaints which may include a cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and aching limbs. Some people with the virus have also reported nausea and diarrhoea." Symptons are known to vary in degrees and mildness from person to person.

At Club meetings, instead of the routine handshake, we can greet each other or transfer control of meeting with a warm and hearty smile and plenty of friendly eye contact.

Personally, I feel that wearing a face mask during a club meeting or sneezing and coughing continuously during a club meeting is best avoided. Just stay away until you feel better. Food for thought.

Some links I read. Just google for more....

UK National Health Service
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Pandemic-flu/Pages/QA.aspx

BBC Q&A about AH1N1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8021958.stm

World Health Organization - Latest reports of AH1N1 (Swine Flu)
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

How Fast? How Slow?

The Toastmasters program is a self-paced program. There is a saying, "Slow and steady win the race" but in this fast moving world, how long should one take to complete the ice breaker, the Competent Communicator and the ultimate Distinguished Toastmaster.

Here are following suggestions to taken with a pinch of salt.

1) A new member upon full payment and online application submission to Toastmasters International can do the icebreaker at the 1st Club meeting. A formal induction of new member can be held first and followed by an introduction to the club members with Project 1: The Icebreaker Speech.

A new member should do the Icebreaker within the first 3 months upon joining. Otherwise, it is not a good sign.

A mentor's role is to help navigate a new member through the first 3 speech projects. That can happen within the first 3 months but should not take more than 6 months. If after 1 year, a new menber still has not completed Project 3, then both mentor and new member are in trouble.

One can debate, it takes time to overcome fear, to learn the ropes or to have better confidence in delivering in English but if after paying 2 semi-annual dues and a member celebrating the 1st anniversary has still not done Project 3, it is a timley to ponder the reasons for joining in the 1st place.

Very often members continue to join just to de-stress and to have a few laughs in a friendly club but Toastmasters can offer you more than that.

2) How long should one take to complete the Competent Communicator?

The fastest has been within the first 6 months. There are 10 projects, for a club that meets twice a month, there are 12 club meetings within 6 months.

So doing a project speech at every meeting, one can complete all 10 projects. Any slips can be covered by doing a project speech at a club meeting of another Toastmasters Club.

NOTE: The rule is only 1 project speech is allowed to be credited for each club meeting and for each day.

So attending 2 different Clubs to do 2 different project speeches is in vain. Repeating the same speech project at 2 different club meetings for learning is a gain.

If you are doing a project speech at a different Toastmasters Club, it is important and courtesy that the member get prior agreement with the Club Vice President Education. Remember each Toastmasters Club is run differently.

If you are a dual club member, it is important to advise in advance to both Clubs in advance to which Club you will be credited your award to.

There are some Toastmasters Clubs that have meetings weekly - in Thailand and USA. If so, then technically it is possible to complete the Competent Communicator within 3 to 6 months!

Strike while the iron is hot as there are always members who have been around for 6 years and have yet to complete Project 10 - the slow coach or the perfectionist or those interested in Table Topics only.

Ideally, I would say that 6 to 12 months is a great target to complete the Competent Communicator. To be serious, focused and motivated towards self-development. There must be hard work, sacrifice and goal orientated towards the Distinguished Club Program annual time cycle.

Completing the Competent Communicator within 2 years can be considered "slow and steady".

Any self respecting Toastmaster should complete their Competent Communicator within 3 years otherwise the expiry date comes into force.

3) The "new" Competent Leadership after over three years of introduction is still a burdensome and difficult award to complete because there are so many roles to be planned and each requires evaluation.

You have to be Grammarian, General Evaluator and Toastmaster of the Meeting so many times and there are many additional different roles like in Speech Contest, Publicity and talking to guests, it requires self-discipline and energetic VPE to ensure all the "i" are dotted and all the "t" are crossed for a Competent Leadership manual to be completed.

Until it can be fully integrated into a Club duty roster, I see that Competent Leadership continues to play the role of forced fulfilment to meet the Club DCP goals and for those motivated towards their ALB, ALS and DTM.

4) After the struggle of finally completing "a less than perfect" Project 8, 9 and 10, and the delay of submission of Competent Communicator or indecision of which Advanced Manuals to pick and the gap of waiting for the Advanced Manuals to arrive, more often than not, a Competent Communicator does not progress to their Advanced projects immediately.

Going from CC to AC is a transition like going from high school to university where the subjects or projects change from mandatory to selective.

Except for highly motivated members who want to upgrade from CC to ACS, most Competent Communicators may take more than 3 years or may never ever finish their first two advanced manuals or 10 advanced projects.

To keep the momentum going, ideally, it is great to complete the Advanced Communicator Bronze within 12 months after the Competent Communicator.

It is not uncommon to see the same member completing their ACB/ACS or ACS/ACG within the same annual term just to meet the two DCP goals. Why the rush? The reason could be that no other club members is willing or able to complete the Advanced Communicator in that term.

Personally, I feel it is better for the Club to miss one of the DCP goals than for a member to rush to complete two Advanced Communicator Awards within the same term. Of course, exception can be made if the member has completed the first award at the beginning of the term and has taken another 10 or 11 months on the second award. That is going into technical details but you know what I mean.

5) How long is reasonable for a Distinguished Toastmasters?

Technically, it is a minimum of 2 years and 1 day to complete a DTM. 1 year as Club Officer and 1 year as District Officer. Of course pushed to the limit, if a member serves as Club Officer and District Officer the same year, than it is an incredible 1 year and 1 day.

For those in a hurry or commited to a limited time with Toastmasters, it is important to remember that Club Committee and roles like Assistant Area Governor or Division Treasurer does not count towards your DTM. So go for the roles like SAA or Area Governor or District Treasurer.

Realistically, I have seen the fastest new DTMs taking 3-4 years to acheive their awards. In the old DTM program, there was a requirement of 4 years of continuous membership to apply for DTM.

Personally, I took over 5 years to achieve my DTM when I was Division N Governor and was the second person in Penang to do so. Quite a number of veteran Toastmasters of over 10 years were shocked in disbelief.

Again it is not so much the time but the hard polishing and personal growth that is important. There are a few DTMs who may still speak hesistantly on the stage with glaring grammatical errors but who is to judge.

Again whether it is CC or DTM, the Toastmasters awards are a recognition of completion of program rather than a passing of grade. But are not the terms "Competent" and "Distinguished" a hallmark of excellence....

Genearlly, it is the spirit and hope of every Toastmaster and Toastmaster Club that every member will be earnest in fulfilling their all requirements for the Distinguished Toastmaster. Some times a member does not have time to sponsor or mentor or coach a club but their names has been submitted so that they can achieve their DTM award that term. That is not right. Any award should be earned and there is personal pride in earning it but we live in a complex world.

In achieving a DTM, a member would have many opportunities to polish and hone their communication and leadership skills along the journey to reach this highest individual recognition by Toastmasters International.

Achieving the DTM is a goal that not every Toastmaster may want to aspire for but for those who do and does it in earnest, the benefits are incredible. "We reap what we sow".

In short, 3 years for a DTM is possible and a bit fast. I would say that 4 to 6 years is ample time for full ripening period for any dynamic DTM who is active and committed and enthusiastic in Toastmasters.

There are a select few Toastmasters worldwide who continues to repeat their DTM several times. I have repeated the DTM once using the new format program when I was the District 51 Lieutenant Governor Education and Training.

But I feel rather than repeating the same DTM program every two years, it is more benefial to help another member to achieve their first DTM. But who am I to say as "One man's meat is another man's poison".

So if you have 5 years for Toastmasters, you can do your Icebreaker, achieve your CC, CL, ACS and your DTM and win a speech contest here and there and make many great friends.

Club Constitutional Crisis on Membership Payment Looming?

In the good old days, when Toastmasters Clubs were far and few, "exclusive and elitest" for those born with the gift of the gab, membership was seen to be a privilege and club payment was like a drop in the bucket.

In many clubs, Club constitutions were then drawn to have membership payment fully paid up by end of each December for January-June period and by end of June for the July-December period to match the term of club officers.

Hence there was also plenty of time to go to the bank to buy an international bankdraft in US Dollars and send by snail or registered mail to Toastmasters International WHQ in Mission Viejo, California, USA in time for the April 1 and Oct 1 deadline for semi-annual payments.

In contrast, Toastmasters International semi-annual membership have different periods of April-September and October-March and so there was a 3 months gap.

Fast forward to present.
- TI online payment by credit card have made semi-annual payment easy and real-time.

- Today, there are many clubs all over Penang and Malaysia and Toastmasters membership is truly open to anyone from all walks of life even if improving their command of the English language is the main reason for joining Toastmasters.

- Overall, membership is more diverse and club payment is now an important factor due to different income level including members who are still students, home makers, retirees, etc.

- Membership change is at a faster rate due to job transfers or club transfers as there are many clubs and new clubs now to join.

In such an environment, there is a loophole that can be and has been exploited. In some clubs, members do not immediately pay up their club dues at the end of December or end of June as stated in their club constitutional by-laws but rather wait and delay their payments until the deadline of April 1 and October 1.

Clubs have little choice but to continue allow "errant" members to continue enjoying the club benefits like playing meeting roles, doing speech projects, taking part in speech contest and holding club offier positions.

Reason is technically although their club due payment though may be late by 3 months, technically their semi-annual membersip at TI WHQ is still current and so are members of good standing with TI.

At times, although may not be planned, just before the April or Oct deadline, a few "errant" members may decide to discontinue their Toastmasters membership for good or transfer to another club for different reasons.

Hence the club treasury chest suffers and remaining timely paying members of the club feels cheated.

One way of plugging this loophole is a simple change of the club subscription period to be the same TI semi-annual due period, April-September and October-March each year.

This has been done by some clubs already while other clubs prefer to stay the same and keep this time bomb.

My recommendation is to change now and plug the loophole rather than wait until a crisis occur and the club and members will suffer unnecessary.

The choice is left to each individual club to consider and decide. That is the Toastmasters way and I will not say I told you so.

Judged by the content of their speeches ....

"We should not judge a contestant by just their looks, dress code, voice, body language, command of language or reputation alone but more important by the content and intent and extent of their speeches" says a wise blogger.

Tonight on February 5, 2009 Thursday, I attended our Bayan Baru Toastmasters Club at PSDC, Penang to witness the 2009 Club Level International Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest.

I tried to listen carefully and recorded some of the content of the speeches of the contestants to review and share with all.

You always find gems of wisdom at a speech contest.




Disclaimer: Using initials of contestants for partial anonymity. Club members will know who they are. Comments only on speech content and are my personal views. I was not a contestant nor a judge this time around.

A) INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST
There were 5 contestants.

#1 KKH - "My First Lecture: Pursuit of Happiness"
Human nature to seek happiness. Dictionary's definition include comfort, content and joy. Short reference to depression and sudden death of a close friend. Air, sun, stars are free and bring happiness. Want to give his first lecture of true pursuit of true happiness to his young children as soon as they have grown up to be able to understand.

#2 OSK - "A Life Story"
Analogy of life to gazelles who are constantly being chased by lions for food as the human experience constantly being chased by loans or debts. His first loan was a car. Another loan was having to settling the hospital bill first before his wife could deliver their baby - "cash before delivery". Story about a Mr. Tan who thought Mrs. Tan's favorite was curry fish head when all along Mrs. Tan actually did not care for curry fish head but had ordered it all these years knowing it was Mr. Tan's favorite dish.

#3 UK - "There Is A Reason"
Shared the moral of two stories. First was about a pious person who insisted on praying for divine intervention during a flood and rejected rescue help from three different persons as the flood got worse to wait for God's help. When he finally drowned, he asked God why God did not intervened to help and God replied that divine help was offered thrice but was refused each time. The second story was about a serious car accident caused by choice of work over family and the lack of sleep and being saved by use of seat belt and the importance of being insured to protect one's loved ones.

#4 MC - "There Is Hope"
How to deal with the prevailing negative news and current economic turmoil with HOPE. Mentioned Barack Obama about change and hope. Acronym for HOPE - H for "Help from others", O for "Optimism", P for "Perseverence" and E for "Enthusiasm"

#5 GHH - "Copycat"
The importance of imitation of values of successful people. Gave several examples of Bayan Baru club members, using modified names, to copy and learn from. "CAT" stands for "competence", "action" and "training/Toastmasters."

B) TABLE TOPICS CONTEST
There were 9 contestants answering to the topic in question:

"If you could stop time for an hour, what would you do with that hour?"

#1 JY - Stop Malaysian bad driving habits and save lives.
#2 OBS - Courageous attempt for first timer. Keep it up.
#3 UK - Be Robin Hood. Rob from the rich to give the poor. But better not to have such power.
#4 RC - Had been so busy over Christmas and Chinese New Year, great to have an extra hour to do more and live life to the fullest.
#5 KKH - Stop wars. Be like Superman and do the right thing.
#6 MC - Use the hour to prepare more for the speech contest.
#7 GHH - Go back to the time of the delivery of his baby girl.
#8 OSK - Spend time in Penang Hill. Find inner peace which is eternal and away from wife and mother-in-law for an hour.
#9 TES - A break from constant work and spend more time with his children.

"Action Speaks Louder Than Words"

I was gleaming through the sports page today and came across two Penangites who have excelled through hard work, sacrifice, dedication and perseverance to become world sport champions achieving world number one ranking!

The pride of Penang - two young Malaysians.

Our heartiest congratulations to Nicol David and Lee Chong Wei - an inspiration to all of us.


Datuk Nicol Ann David from Penang Island
- Squash Queen





Datuk Lee Chong Wei of Bukit Mertajam
- Badminton King




Photo source: Wikipedia

A Toastmaster's Glass

A toastmaster's glass is an English glass about the size of an ordinary drinking glass but with only about one-quarter of its capacity.

The glass creates the illusion of being full by means of a depression in its bowl, which in fact is almost solid.

It owed its origin to the clubs of 18th-century England, where the toastmaster had to remain sober enough to carry out his office.

Source: Britannica Online Encyclopedia

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

Source: The Star, January 4, 2009 (Photo cropped)

Stocks DOWN, Toastmasters UP?

Will the fall in stock market have an adverse negative effect on Toastmasters membership growth and renewal.

When there is uncertainty, folks will go for certainty and the regular Toastmsters club meeting can be very reassuring.

I still remember during the 1997 financial crisis when I attended the newly chartered Manjung Toastmaster Club in Sitiawan, Perak. A businessman spoke that when the economy was great, he had no time at all. But with the slow down, during this downtime he had more time for himself for self-development to be ready for the next boom time. That was why he was joining Toastmasters.

As a non-profit volunteer educational organization, Toastmasters is value for money. If your club membership is at the high end of RM240 every six months, that is only RM20 per meeting or RM10 per meeting hour which cost less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks or a movie ticket with pop corns.

Of course, if you had not been attending meetings, Toastmasters membership might be the first thing to cut. After all, the monthly magazines arrived but were never read. Think again as your continued membership is a small but important financial and moral support to a non-profit club that helps others who are trying to improve themselves and others. Alternatively, you can be active again and encourage the club to soldier on. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

At Toastmasters meetings, I have heard members who talked about how they had overcome their difficulties in personal life or business failures. It can be a great place of sharing and caring, for catharsis and theraputic healing.

Toastmasters is also where you can enhance your interviewing skills or networking or a highlight in your resume if you are seeking a new job or in between jobs.

Once a Table Topicsmaster lamented all the problems that she was facing at work, at home, with her boyfriend and her own future plans. She put each as table topic item and heard feedback, support and advice from fellow club members.

Listening to other personal stories at club meetings can be very motivating and inspiring. And while listening, you may come up with your own great ideas and get energized.

So when the stocks are down, keep your chin up. It is no time to stay away from your Club but to revitalise and make the most of your Club membership.

Why Clean Jokes Only, No Blue Ones

When it comes to Table Topics, new Toastmasters are preached, "Don't talk about politics, religion, race and sex".

The famous Beatle John Lennon who sang about a world peace would surely agree with these exclusions of "no politics, no religion, no race" except perhaps for "no sex".

But nothing makes the audience burst into laughter when we touched on the off-color topics and embarrasing taboos like restrooms, human anatomy and undergarments. Why are we depriving ourselves as Toastmasters?

Well, everyone seemed to laughing and having a great time about the fat woman, the bald man and the lying lawyer. Except for these three persons in the audience.

The old cliche is that it is all right to joke about yourself but not at the expense of others, agree?

Yes, it may be all right to make unflattering remarks about oneself if one is fat, bald or always connying, deceiving and lying. But suddenly all the humor has disappeared.

Who would want to go on stage and make a fool of themselves except for those highly paid comedians and television show hosts.

Perhaps the exceptions are those valiant Toastmasters vying for those priceless trophies that says "Humorous Speech Contest - Champion, 1st Runner-up, 2nd Runner-up" and high quality printed paper of "Certificate of Participation"

If you go the book store, all the biggest jokes are usually blue or highly discriminatory. In the end, many of us Toastmasters will go for the "safer topics " like "Before vs After Marriage", "Mars vs Venus" humor which may be straight from the internet but the winning ones are those cleverly repackaged, personalized with new found twists.

Dr. Ralph C Smedly once wrote that people will remember by what you say.
(I guess that extend to what you write on the blogs too. A gentle reminder to myself).

Some "enlightened" contest judges may mark down the judging points of contestants if their jokes are too explicit, too graphic or too insensitive.

Here the Chief Judge during the Judges Briefing can provide a balancing role. There is nothing in the contest rule for disqualification of "hilarous but real gutter" humor. After all, humor, in all forms, is another freedom of expression.

One may argue that everyone must be over 18 to join Toastmasters International. So we are sharing our humor with only a matured adult audience during club meetings.

But remember that our Humorous Speech Contests are open to the public of all walks of life, all ages and all sizes and mindsets.

There lies the challenge of a great humorist to understand the audience and to tickle their funny bones without being offensive to almost all.

Good luck to all this year's Humorist Speech Contestants. You will need it, LOL.

"Christmas Tree" Meeting Room Layout

For regular club meetings, the standard meeting layout is the recommended U-shape where the speaker can look left, right and front and everyone can see everyone.

For speech contests, the usual layout is classroom style where everyone look forward front.

For installation dinners, the layout is round tables with stage with two lecterns, VIP table/s and optional dance floor.

On October 2, I attended Bayan Baru Club meeting at a temporary venue as our regular venue at PSDC was closed due to public holiday (Hari Raya Aidil Fitri).


First time, I have seen this "Christmas Meeting Room Layout". No room for speaker to move. Something new. Something unusual. What do you think of the layout?