Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto

Liberty Village Toastmasters meeting summary – November 16th, 2011

Posted on November 20, 2011 by libertyvillagetm

Sean, our Toastmaster for tonight, started the meeting with how decision making can affect where you are in life. He introduced us to a goal-setting technique abbreviated to SMART (goals), which stands for:
– Specific
– Measurable
– Accountable; Achievable
– Realistic; Results-oriented
– Time-sensitive

This technique, as he explained, can be used to align goals with personal values.
Today, we inducted our newest member, Marilyn, into the Liberty Village Toastmasters club. As a very eager Toastmaster, she has already completed her ice-breaker and performed a role at the club. Welcome, Marilyn!

The first speaker of the night was Maria, who completed her second speech from the Competent Communications manual, with “Cycling through Life.” She persuaded the audience to test their physical limits and capabilities, and perhaps pick up a new hobby: cycling on trails. She took us on a journey from memories of her childhood in Danforth, to undertaking risky trails (complete with wild life like bears and cougars) in B.C., to traveling down technical trails in Ontario. To her, cycling is magical to the mind and heart, and it is an opportunity that one should not miss!

Ted, our Area Governor and much advanced speaker, spoke of technology transformation using technology! His speech on “Dialogue Banking” stresses the importance of how technology can affect our interactions with others. Now, banking can be done via online, ATM, tele-banking, or even mobile banking! Ted introduced a new method called dialogue banking, which is an automated process for banking which seeks to have a more personal touch. It reduces long line ups (those can be very tedious!), provides better service to clients, and reduces transaction costs. With all these advantages, Ted is convinced that the transition to dialogue banking will happen in the near future.

Our third speaker, Jay, had attended the District-wide fall conference this past weekend and found it motivating and inspiring. He raises the idea that good speakers are made, not born, and encourages us to use Toastmasters as a way to become better speakers and to help others do the same. In order to become a great speaker, one must take advantage of what’s available (no more excuses!) and take a step towards what you want to be!

The winner of tonight’s table topics was our guest, David, who was asked to describe his personality as a farm animal. He described creatively how his work habits could best be identified with a pig: he gets down and dirty with details, he absorbs information quickly, and he is a social man.

Jay and Luke would like to remind us that the winter party is coming up soon:

What: potluck winter party filled with fun, talent, food, drink, and games!
Who: all of Liberty Village Toastmasters and guests; admission fee = $20 per person + potluck item
When: Saturday, November 26, 7-11 PM
Where: 231 Fort York Blvd (party room of Luke’s condo)
Why: why not? It will be the best party ever of this millennium!
How: Let Luke or Jay know ASAP via Easy Speak

– 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.

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Join us for our November 16th meeting on “Soulful Resonations”

Posted on November 14, 2011 by libertyvillagetm

Have you ever found yourself wondering which way to go or, afterwards if you have made the right decision? Join us for our November 16th meeting “Soulful Resonations” where Toastmaster Sean will be talking about making decisions in your life that are aligned with your core values and reflecting upon some personal experiences in his life as well.

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.

Posted in Upcoming Meeting | Tagged decision making, resonations, sean, soulful | Leave a comment

Liberty Village Toastmasters meeting summary – November 09th, 2011

Posted on November 11, 2011 by libertyvillagetm

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.

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Join us for our November 9th meeting on “Efficiency”

Posted on November 6, 2011 by libertyvillagetm

Have you ever put a lot time and effort in doing something but the results turned out to be far from what you imagined?
Do you think that only with hard work you can achieve more? Do you think laziness and achievements can’t coexist? Our Toastmaster Andreea will introduce us to an interesting principle meant to help you become more efficient with less effort.

Posted in Upcoming Meeting | Tagged andreea, efficiency | Leave a comment

Liberty Village Toastmasters meeting summary – November 02nd, 2011

Posted on November 4, 2011 by libertyvillagetm

Have you ever given advice that wasn’t well received? If that’s the case and you had attended this week’s meeting you defiantly got some great advice on this topic. Toastmaster Ian and workshop leader Jay spoke on this subject and hosted a workshop dedicated to “Constructive and Destructive Evaluations.”

Toastmaster Ian kicked off the meeting with a speech describing the importance of giving and receiving evaluations. The key take away being, done correctly evaluations are extremely useful. As Ian underscored, how else would we know where we need to improve? Next up Jay shared with us seven excellent keys to giving a constructive evaluation. They are as follows: be sincere; critique specifically to the person’s speaking shill level; consider the project objectives; listen carefully; personalize your language (example: “I feel…” rather than “you should…”); give positive reinforcements by recognizing the speaker’s strengths; and last but not least, always give a fully developed suggestion for improvement with an example. Also, he explained the no-fail Toastmasters International sandwich technique for evaluations: start off by saying something positive, what you liked about the speech, then follow this with a helpful suggestion for improvement, and the finish on a positive note by commenting on what the speaker did very well.

To test our evaluation skills, Mark presented his ice breaker speech to the group. Speaking on his passion for sports and how this relates to his current government job and his interest in political and social justice Mark did a great job presenting. Evaluating Mark was our advanced evaluator Ram, a DTM, and evaluating Jay’s workshop was another experienced evaluator John K. Both gave model examples of helpful, encouraging evaluations following the sandwich technique.

Congratulations to Mark who performed his very first speech, and to Andrew, who took on the role as general evaluator for the first time at Liberty Village Toastmasters Club. Combined with the great insights provided by Ian and Jay, I’m sure we’ll all be better evaluators the next time we’re called on. Well done, everyone!

– 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.