Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto

Meeting Minutes November 23rd

The theme for the meeting was introduced by Toastmaster Andrew and dealt with the issue of Time. Andrew shared how we all have a love hate relationship with time. And used colourful examples of this relationship with time when we rush to the bank and it’s closed and the frustration you experience when you are late for an engagement.

He noted that some cultures have no concept of time. In fact the Prara Tribe have no concept of past or future what so ever. And the Hobbe tribe perceive time in terms of sooner & later not future or past. In conclusion Andrew’s suggestion for the holidays was that we relax & enjoy time with family and friends – don’t rush around, do your best to be organized and if possible buy gifts in advance. Let time work for you not against you and to be realistic in what you can accomplish with the time available.

First Speaker: Esther Chung Speech #5
Title: Sew Be it

Esther shared the her personal story about the practical aspects of sewing. She spoke about the sense of pride and freedom you get from being able to do your own alterations and not having to pay a seamstress or a tailor to sew things for you or having to ask a family member to help.

She talked about how she took a course to learn to operate a sewing machine because she always had to hem her jeans and she decided to learn how to do it herself. She shared that it isn’t as hard as you think and that there are many advantages to doing it yourself including saving money, time and hassle. She urged all of us us to give it a try and learn to sew.

Second Speaker: Ram Kirshna Speech #4 Speaking to Inform
Title: Occupy

Ram shared that the Occupy movement started in Spain with the group know as the Spanish Indignance – a semi political group. They set Oct 15th as Occupy Day as a means of bringing attention to the nations youth unemployment rate of 20-30%. Then a Canadian media company called Adbusters globalized the movement by creating a wider proposition that the worlds 1% hold 99% of the wealth, a very real inequality.

The movement was organized in 290 cities around the world and each occupy site featured a general assembly that meet each evening at 7pm. At these assemblies anyone may bring a topic to the group for discussion.

Ram then offered examples of countries that have managed to avoid the crippling effects of unemployment through various means. Sweden has succeeded by taking a very socialistic approach where everyone pays a substantial tax rate to support the common good. And there is tiny Estonia a country of 1.3 million people that has avoided the unemployment problems associated with Occupy through innovation. Estonia has created well know software platforms Skype and Picasso and is a strong knowledge based economy.

Ram concluded his presentation with a Q&A session.

Table Topics by Luke

The speeches where followed by a very creative table topics session lead by Luke. His idea for the session was based on the premise of “a penny for your thoughts” where Luke had each participant pick a single penny and based on the year it was minted offer up a personal story from that time. Renee talked about 2011 and all that has happened. Andrew a guest this evening talked about the heat wave of 2005 and his university graduation, Mark talked about the year 1996 and his birthday party in Chicago when he partied with Dennis Rodman of NBA franchise Chicago Bulls. Jay spoke a bout a fantastical hijacking on a trip to Florida and unbelievably ending up in Brazil. Natalia spoke about 2000 and her trip to Jamaica with her family and how they were marooned on the island for a month due to a massive hurricane.

The meeting concluded with a strong evaluation session including weekly reports on our use of English, filler words, questions regarding the content of presentations and meeting timing. Helpful and insightful speech evaluations were deliver by Jay and Ted and focused on encouraging the speakers and offering special suggestions for improvement.

The meeting concluded at 8:15pm

The Liberty Village Toastmasters Group is one of Toronto’s premier public-speaking groups. Join us as a guest at our next meeting! Guests are always welcome and no appointment is necessary.

In tonight’s meeting, Toastmaster Andreea discussed EFFICENY. She told us about the Parado Principle often known as the rule of 80/20 and how we can increase our efficiency by putting in 20% effort and getting 80% results and in some cases upwards to 200%. She also mentioned that there are many fine books on the topic.

Our first speaker, Rose, completed her fourth speech from the Competent Communications manual. She talked about the joys a warm cup of tea would bring on a cold winter night, and the history/believed origins of tea, the many health benefits it reaps, and the various types of tea. She also incorporated our senses with a box of pu’er tea and fresh made shortbread style cookies featuring the bergamot flavour of Earl Grey tea.

Our second speaker tonight, Francisco, presented his seventh speech from the CC manual. In this speech, he talked about the believed end of the world, which is said to occur on 12/21/2012. He shared with us the origins of this belief – the Mayan calendar and it’s unique numbering system based on a 20 base set and discussed that after 12/21/12, there will be no more days in this calendar. However, he believes that, like the Y2K scare, the calendar will reset itself, and the world would (hopefully) not end.

Our last speaker Vivienne also spoke from the CC manual giving us her ninth speech. She began her speech by reciting a poem that spoke to the change of language in our society. She shared with us her observations that our language seems to be disappearing, and is seemingly being replaced by text speak and colloquial language. Vivienne persuaded with power that we should be aware of our use of language and grammar when speaking to others, especially new English speakers.

Table Topics Master Ted created five questions based on the theme for tonight, Efficiency. Jay was the winner tonight. When asked how he would efficiently complete his long list of tasks on Saturday, he responded unexpectedly that he will drop all planned tasks and watch the UFC match instead.

………Until next time

- Rose

The Liberty Village Toastmasters Group is one of Toronto’s premier public-speaking groups. Join us as a guest at our next meeting! Guests are always welcome and no appointment is necessary.