Our Toastmaster Luke will inspire us with an age old adage “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Like Gandhi and many before him, even a small good act can add up to great positive change.
It is the little things that count and Liberty Village is counting on you to come on out and experience the small act of attending to experience the great positivity that is Toastmasters!
What is design? Is design a way of thinking, a behaviour or something more technical? This week, our Toastmaster John will be sharing with us his views and insights on the power of design. He will apply the principles of Design Thinking – as used by innovators such as like Steve Jobs and how we can use them in our speeches and presentations.
By René with cooperation of Vivienne and Ted.
We kicked off 2012 on the fancy facilities of the Centre for Social Innovation, with a robust, and energetic meeting, marked by the spirit of new year resolutions as explained by Sean on his introduction in a combined role of chair and Toastmaster.
Here is what our four speakers had to say….
Speaker 1: Vanessa Smith / Ice Breaker / The Power of Purr / Evaluated by Michelle
Vanessa has recently joined Liberty Village and her enthusiasm is contagious. The ink was barely dry on her membership dues cheque and she was right up at the podium giving her first speech at the club. Welcome Vanessa!
Vanessa is a cat lover and a self described “Cat Lady” In her first speech she shared a story of how it all started. As a English teacher in Japan in 2008 she was 6 months into her contract and having quite a time. She was learning about a new culture first hand and meeting great new friends. On a particular day Nov 1 to be exact she was a bit out of sorts – her Mom who was back home in Canada was troubled about things and Vanessa was in a difficult and unrequited romance with one of her best friends.
So she had a few things on her mind and it was a national holiday in the rural area she was staying in. So the crew deicide it was a great time to go out and celebrate but they needed to find an authentic off-the-beaten-trail-locals-only bar to do it in.
So they found a perfect spot and rolled in and grabbed a table. By all accounts it was a dusty and quirky old and out of the way place. Well as the locals began to file in they were surprised and excited to find these strangers in their bar as virtually no one but these locals ever visited this little watering hole.
As the night rolled along a women approached and presented her with a little cat named “Cat”. Just like that. It was unannounced and quite surprising. Here she was siting in this strange little sport surrounded by friends while feeling a little bummed out and poof, she has a cat on her lap.
As the night wore on her began to feel a certain calm come over her. It was then that she realized that the little feline friend she had nestled in her lap was soothingly purring away. Like a little engine it purred and purred away. It was as though this little creature was transferring positive and calm energy directly to Vanessa’s soul. Many hours later the crew left the little bar. Walking into the rising eastern sun for Vanessa at least it was indeed a different day. She was a “Cat Lady” now.
Speaker 2: Mark Kilter / Project #3 Get to the Point / Cycling through the Benefits of Commuting / Evaluated by Ram
Mark continues to pedal his way through his speech assignments and this week he highlighted that fact by sharing his love of cycling and the many benefits is provides us especially when commuting. Opening with a fun reference to the hoopla about cycling being almost as big as the hoopla that was the recent civic elections mark noted that cycling in the city is much more than a for or against proposition.
As a health issue Mark suggested we embrace any daily activity that raises the heart rate, increases your intake of fresh air and one that gets you outdoors. Then zeroing in on his personal favorite Mark outlined the key benefits of cycling.
Starting with the misconception that you have to be a athlete he pointed out that he simply rides around all the big hills. But seriously he made the point that it’s not an activity that requires supreme athletic prowess.
The next benefit of cycling was that it’s relatively quite safe. With bike lanes and more bikes means safer travel and more visibility. In fact the more traffic the better as it’s reduces the effective average speed of automobiles.
The third benefit had to do with how much fun it is. The joy or de-stressing on the way home from work is fantastic and the joy you get drafting behind a fellow cyclists is profound in Marks view.
The final benefit Mark shared is probably the number one benefit of all and is that cycling is so convenient. As a personal that works and lives in the city core it is the fastest way to travel. Shopping, visiting friends or just running errands all seem as easy as ever with a bike. No parking or Transit to deal with. Mark also noted that Toronto has the highest per capita percentage of cyclists of all the major Canadian cities so it is legitimately popular here.
In closing Mark left us with this thought. Is necessity is the mother of invention than convenience is the father of invention and that father is cycling.
They are as follows; a) you don’t have to be an athlete, b) it’s safer than you think, c) it’s totally fun, d) it’s extremely convenient.
Four easy to follow reasons!!!
Speaker 3: Rose Wan / Project #5 – Your Body Speaks / Golf: a Beginner’s Experience / Evaluated by Francisco
Rose started off Speech Number five titled Golf: A beginner’s Experience by explaining how she attended an indoor golf event last November in Markham. She was extremely excited because she finally had the opportunity to participate in such an elite sport. She entered the indoor facility to be first awed by her surroundings of a large space with two wind turbines and one of the biggest driving ranges she had ever seen! After learning the difference of the clubs, she chose a mid-size club and began practicing on her stance and swing. She showed us how the swing worked and didn’t work for her. After hitting the ball a few times and much practice, she won some further free golf time at the facility (one out of five winners in a group of forty) and even made a new friend who she will be going golfing with in the future. She plans to master the sport in 2012 with some practice and positivity! Way to go Rose!
Speaker 4: Cleaver Barnes / Project #5 – Your Body Speaks / The Secret of the Martial Arts” / Evaluated by Ted
Our fourth and final speaker was Cleaver, also speaking Speech Number Five, Your Body Speaks. Cleaver shared with us how he had to stop cycling due to injury but thus began his exploration of the martial arts with his speech titled, The Secret of Martial Arts. He Originally began martial arts with the idea of learning how to throw an opponent with one finger and after trying various forms of martial arts, he settled on Thai Chi. After much practice (like the elderly in the park), Cleaver began sparring and in doing so learnt the true secret of martial arts, Focus and Calm. When you are under pressure, you dispense energy but the calm helps you keep your energy. This realization is why martial arts includes mediation and breathing exercises. These skills can also help you in business or even your personal lives and in Cleaver’s case, they have helped him with his rock-climbing! By meditating, he was able to stay clam, move forward and continue to climb up when he was stuck in a slightly precarious position. He also explained that this art caters to people from all walks of life and is based on respect and understanding so why not try a class? You would probably ace it because it is all in the mind!
Evaluation Team:
Our General Evaluator was Jullian, assisted by Mark (Grammarian), Vivienne (Timekeeper), Andrew (Quizmaster), Michelle (SE1), Ram(SE2), Francisco (SE3), Ted (SE4) and René (Ah Counter)
Our Table Topics Master as John and the Table Topics Winner was Jullian.
We hope to see you on January 11th at 6:15pm on the Harbourfront Community Centre.
Here is what happened on the last meeting of 2011…
Written by Mark K.
As if having Distinguished Toastmaster and speaker extraordinaire Ram open our meeting was not captivating enough, his message to all of us to “pay it forward” was a rousing call in its own right! Ram described the concept of paying it forward as asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead of you. Ram persuaded us all that Pay it Forward Day is a brilliant initiative which embodies the power of giving. It is amazing the difference a simple idea can have in changing the world – one good deed at a time. It is borrowed from the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde. The hero of her story is young Trevor McKinney, a 12-year-old whose idea is deceptively simple: do a good deed for three people, and in exchange, ask each of them to “pay it forward” to three more. “So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven…. Then it spreads out.” The Pay It Forward Movement is the real-life reaction to the release of the novel in early 2000.
Our first speaker was the always-informative Maria Lalla who was taking on her third Toastmaster speech. Through her speech (entitled ‘Running Prepared’), Maria provided the club with key insights and lessons on taking up running. For all of those considering taking up the activity (perhaps as a new years’ resolution, anyone?), Maria’s preparation points included the need for folks to be well-stretched for the activity, well-clothed (for the winter running conditions) and well-secured, in terms of running in well-lit areas, running with a buddy and cautioning the use of Ipod’s while running outside.
Our second speaker of the night was by the long-time member and advanced speaker, John Krissilas who shared a timely and fitting message in his speech ‘The Postmark’. Timely and fitting because ‘The Postmark’ referred to the unique stamp which Christmas Island (small island off the coast of Cape Breton) post office applies to all of the postcards that people from around the world send to Christmas Island so they can get the Christmas Island post stamp.
Our third speaker, was Mark Keating who continued his torrid career in Liberty Village Toastmasters by doing his 2nd speech at his 2nd meeting as a member. After having shared his background and experience in his ice-breaker, this week Mark provided the group with his keys to professional networking. He described how we can build a brand for ourselves through developing a biography. He followed this idea up with an interactive look at his resume and how this ‘static’ form can be refreshed and renewed through the active use of social media (such as LinkedIn). Lastly he connected these two ideas by reminding us that they are only good as so far as we can grow and nurture these networks.
Veteran Liberty Village Toastmaster Ian took the reins on facilitating this week’s table topics. Taking his cue from Ram’s wonderful introduction on Paying it Forward, Ian asked Table Topic participants what they would do to contribute to, or solve a problem in today’s society. We had a wonderful display of not only the oratory skills of Liberty Village’s members, but also of their immensely rich ideas of what they would do to pay it forward. Ted, Cleaver, Vanessa and Sean outlined their thought-provoking ideas for improving world hunger, banking, food banks and public transit, while Francisco provided ac a little levity in suggesting we watch bad television to relieve the stresses of the day! In the end, guest (and soon-to-be-member) Vanessa took home the honours of table topics master through her beautiful call to Liberty Village toastmasters to contribute money, time or perishable food items to our local food bank.
Well-conceived and constructive speech evaluations were then provided by Andrew, Sean and Rene then we heard reports from the Ah-counter, the Grammarian, the Quizmaster followed by John Kjarsgaard’s General Evaluation of the meeting, in which he called for all Liberty Village members to take advantage of the Easy-Speak link to confirm their roles and/or participation at the upcoming meeting.
Just before the meeting concluded, Club President Sean took the opportunity to wish everyone a happy holidays and new year and reminded all that the next meeting would be held also at the Centre for Social Innovation on Wednesday January 4th.
Meeting Minutes Dec 14th
The theme for the meeting was introduced by Toastmaster Paul and essentially dealt with the idea that your direction is a result of your perception. Paul used three excellent examples to illustrate the message in the theme. First was Jim Clarke who failed to summit Everest twice before finally succeeding on his third attempt. Next was Lance Armstrong who went on to not only survive cancer but to win the famous Tour de France bicycle race five times. Finally Paul spoke about his own experience with direction when he began his professional career as a PHD Engineer and ultimately landing happily and successfully as a business management consultant.
In conclusion Paul urged us to consider ours setbacks not as failures but as benchmarks for improvement and to consider the ups but not the downs in our individual Toastmasters journey.
First Speaker: Mark Keating Speech #1
Title: If Given a Chance
Mark launched his Liberty Village career in fine style with his Ice Breaker speech. We all witnessed a man with a clear sense of himself and a well developed sense of humour. A confident speaker Mark showed that he will be a great addition to the roster at Liberty Village. In his speech he talked about how we can change someone’s life by simply taking a chance on them – by believing in what’s possible.
He shared his experience when studying economics in University he interviewed for a technical IT job and got sort listed for the position despite a near total lack of technical IT skills. Ultimately it was not his lack of technical skills that was an issue for the hiring manager. It was in fact his soft skills and attitude that allowed him to overcame those obstacles and get the job. An important point he made was that the hiring manager took a chance and hired him and he succeeded beyond her highest expectations. She gave Mark the gift of belief and he never looked back. He switched to Computer Science and has had a successful career.
A husband and a father Mark has accomplished a lot so far in his career and his life and in conclusion asked us all to pay it forward by giving the gift of belief in what’s possible to another.
Second Speaker: Marilyn Volk Speech #2
Title: Christmas Cheer
Marilyn gave a rousing and seasonally inspired presentation all about the trials and tribulations of Christmas shopping. She shared that she is a chronic last minute shopper and how this has led her to some real adventure over the years. In fact this year alone Marilyn suggested that because she waits so long to do her shopping selection is always and issue and that she had to have a friend in Boston help her by purchasing a gift card from Bloomingdales for her boyfriend. Next she told us about the very real dangers of having a Martini inspired lunch before shopping and finding out that that leads to exaggerated feelings of joy and as she said “ if you want your bank account to hit rock bottom than bottoms up!”
In fact the lunch and her expanded feelings of joy led her to purchase a very, very expensive scarf for her boyfriend only to sadly leave it behind as the store was rushing her out to close for the night.
But the story has a happy ending because a man found the scarf and turned it in to guest services and all was good. So what starts with adventure ends with adventure and this speech had it all. Delivered with joy, and humour and with a sparkle in her eye Marilyn really hit her marks on only her second speech.
Table Topics by Maria
Maria took over the reins and guided us through a creative and interesting session by providing speakers with a choice of photographs from various media and had the speakers pick one and describe to the audience what was happening. Now imagine if you will the images selected that allowed Mark to talk about super models, Sean to talk about his previous life as a secret agent, Vanessa to share some tableau magic, Rachel a guest to grapple with full Nelson’s and boxing, Natalia to talk about furry surrogates and finally Rene to share his pictured narrative about dental bliss.
Speech evaluations by Ted and Jay followed the table topics session and they were at once supportive and helpful. Then we heard reports from the Au-counter, the Grammarian, the Quizmaster followed by the Luke’s positive and helpful General Evaluation of the meeting.
The meeting concluded at 8:15pm
Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto 