This week we were back at our regular home – The Waterfront Neighbourhood Center. We had a lively meeting with a test-run of a Table Topics competition, because next week is our exciting club competition for Humorous Speeches and Table Topics!

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Andrew, who began our meeting recollecting on the recent hurricanes that affected Texas and Florida, and leaving us with a message about how even the most terrible disasters can bring out the positive aspects of our humanity.

Bob was our first speaker for the evening, and he completed an improvised speech on an audiobook set called “Your Wish is Your Command”, created by the controversial (and imprisoned) Kevin Trudeau about personal success.  It was interesting to hear about the techniques in this series.

Damien was our final speaker (who gave our club his final speech!) about his insider experience in the recruitment industry.  He had practical and relevant advice for job seeking, building resumes, and how software and managers select candidates.  We really appreciated hearing about his advice and experience.  We all wish Damien the best out west as he’s moving to Vancouver (conveniently before winter…) and hope he can find a Toastmasters group *almost* as good as ours on the coast.

For Table Topics, Andrew lead a mock competition to practice for next week.  His topic was whether technology in society is good or bad.  We had a myriad of opinions… Is it the best thing that has happened to humanity? Or will it destroy us all? We’ll never know since this was a test run, and we had no winners. Wes did a great job evaluating all 7 competitors, reminding us to greet our audience, be specific, and tell personal stories.

Overall it was a great meeting, and we can’t wait for our competition next week.

See you all there!