Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto

It was another packed evening on May 4 that was also filled with enthusiasm. Jay introduced our theme of the day – “Experiences”. An experience to Jay is a special time shared with friends. He related to his experience watching the first ever UFC in Toronto with his friends. Jay urged us to value our experiences no matter how big or small.

Ali kick-started the prepared speeches part of the meeting with his second speech from the Competent Communication manual. It was about how he got this 3rd degree black belt by the age of twelve – a true story. He led us back to his adventurous past when he started training in martial arts at age four. Ali also shared the benefits of his training: self-discipline, self-confidence, and feeling secure.

Luke entertained us with his third speech on the art of traveling lightly. In his personable and conversational tone, Luke showed us the versatile ways to travel with just one carry-on bag, whether we’re traveling for one week or even for an entire month. Citing reliable sources like onebag.com and making strong points on time as well as environmental and economic savings, Luke convinced us to resist the temptation of bringing luggage and to opt for a less taxing travel experience.

Continuing the momentum, we heard our enthusiastic (and often comical) table topic speakers share their points of view. Kudos to our three guests who volunteered to say some speeches during for table topics. We also had four members who took on new roles for the first time – Patty as Grammarian, Lauren as Ah Counter, Francisco as General Evaluator, and Tonia as Time Keeper.

This night was certainly a valuable experience.

Keep up the high energy and don’t miss out on the upcoming meeting

Lily

Julian took on the role as Toastmater for the first time at our April 20 meeting. The evening’s theme was “creative destruction”. Working on his home renovation project reminded Julian that it was similar to developing a good speech. Home renovation requires tearing down old parts of the house and replacing them with better updated parts. Similarly, developing a good quality speech can result in tearing the speech apart and tapping into creativity to build it into something newer and more interesting.

We heard three speeches during the prepared speech segment of the meeting.

Rolando gave his first speech from the “Competent Communication Manual”. He spoke about coming to Canada from the Philippines, touched on a few of his hobbies and spoke passionately about his career as an accountant.

Next we saw a very serious side of Francisco, who provided facts and anecdotes in his third speech about internet safety.

Finally, Arvind delivered his sixth speech. The memorable title “Boom, boom, boom” was a clear, distinct and strong reminder that he was doing a speech on vocal variety.

We didn’t have Table Topics. Instead, Ram did a wonderful workshop on evaluating speeches – a crucial role in all our Toastmaster meetings and an important element that helps us develop as better speakers. Ram cautioned that when evaluating our peers, we don’t want to take a page out of Simon Cowell’s book and be labelled as mean spirited and low. On the other hand, we don’t want to come across as weepy and soft like J. Lo either. Effective evaluation means we can give constructive criticism that speakers can take away to improve and apply to their professional growth. Ram focused on some great techniques and gave us a handy reference too. This workshop generated a lot of questions from the audience. Job well done Ram!

Another great meeting folks!

Until next time!

Michelle