Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto

The theme of our October 27 meeting was “People”. Toastmaster Jay introduced the meeting by reminding us that no man is an island − we need people and it’s essential to interact with others. A strong mechanism that Jay uses to deal with people is his humour. We witnessed this first hand when he provided some really funny comic relief between sessions to break things up.

The format of our meeting was different from the way we typically follow meetings. The first part was dedicated to the prepared speech and the second part was a workshop.

Our first and only speaker, Priya gave us a great interpretation of “The Dream Lives On”. Many may be familiar with Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. “The Dream Lives On” is actually the original speech, which is much longer. Priya scaled the speech down a bit to 10 to 12 minutes. It was entirely memorized and her deep appreciation of the speech was immediately recognized by all.

After a short break, we had our own version of TED Talks. Advanced speaker and Liberty Village Toastmaster founder, Ted provided us with a great workshop on networking. It was engaging, interactive and very informative. People were genuinely intrigued by Ted’s expertise, humour and his ability to answer some really thought provoking questions on his feet with ease and back them up with logical facts. The workshop was free, but a lot of Ted‘s advice was quite valuable. Ted recommends that if you want to make a good impression when networking, it’s a good idea to control your alcohol intake. His suggestion what to do with a glass filled with non-alcoholic drink to get out of a tight spot is priceless.

Overall we had a great representation of guests at our meeting and we even had a new member inducted – congratulations Natalia! Overall everyone agreed that the meeting contained a lot of interactivity and there was a positive vibe and high energy level.

Hope to see everyone at our Open House on November 3. Don’t forget to pass on the invitation to your friends!

Michelle

The theme of the October 20 meeting was “Mentorship, the gift that keeps going”. Our Toastmaster Andreea gave us food for thought when she explained that mentorship isn’t something available to the rich – we can get it if we look for it.

There was no shortage of excitement during the speech portion of the meeting. Those familiar with John’s speeches know that he’s big on style and drama. John was direct when he delivered the speech “How to Kill a Vampire” with flying colours. It covered the requirements of “Competent Manual 7 – Research Your Topic”. He certainly demonstrated great depth of research that would make a veteran like Buffy the Vampire Slayer sit up, pay attention and take copious notes. Well done John! Looking forward to your next speech!

Our second speaker was Bing, whose speech was from “Storytelling 2 – Let’s Get Personal”. In her speech, Bing paid tribute to her grandmother by sharing a personal perspective. Bing’s speech was raw, genuine and had some humours moments. It was packed with a lot of vivid feelings. Bing, you really demonstrated tremendous depth in your speech. Keep it up!

Our Table Topics Master Sean put speakers on their toes when he announced that they needed to respond to job interview questions. Our speakers did quite well with their responses. Special congratulations to Vivian who provided a wonderful explanation why being very social are her strengths and weakness.

Overall we had a handful of guests at our October 20 meeting and the feedback was really positive.

Here’s a good news follow-up to last week’s summary – Ram was elected to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Diabetes Association. Congratulations! In an e-mail to members of the club, Ram praised his Toastmasters experience and the lessons from the 10 speeches in the “Competent Communicator” manual. Well done Ram! You have demonstrated what we can achieve by doing one speech at a time.

Looking forward to the October 27 meeting – Ted, one of our advanced speakers will be conducting a workshop on networking. Lots more to learn!

See you next time!

Michelle

The theme of the October 13 Toastmasters meeting was “Prepared, Unprepared.” Our toastmaster Esther kicked the meeting off by telling us some short anecdotes about how prepared she is. She stressed that it’s important to prepare for the unexpected.

We were treated to hearing speeches from two seasoned speakers from our club. John was the first speaker. His speech was not from our required Toastmaster manuals, so his evaluator Bing had flexibility in evaluating more components of his speech.

John’s speech was titled “The Silence Between Two Thoughts”. It was about broadening one’s perspective. The main focal point of John’s speech was a painting called “La mulata” by Diego Velázquez. John’s eloquent delivery was noticed by all of us. Nice speech John, and great constructive evaluation Bing!

Click here to view John’s speech on YouTube.

During the speech, John deciphers the meaning behind a painting called “La Mulata” – to view the painting, click here.

Distinguished Toastmaster, Ram followed with a five minute pitch he wanted to present as a candidate seeking to be a member of the Canadian Diabetes Board. Ram will be travelling to Alberta to make this pitch to members across the country from the diabetes community, and last week’s meeting was a great opportunity to practice the pitch. John K was his evaluator and provided Ram with some great tips. We wish Ram good luck!

For the unprepared Table Topics segment, speakers were asked to recall a time they were unprepared and what they did about it. We heard some really interesting and humorous accounts from Arvind, Ram, Andreea and John K. Andreea’s recollection of being unprepared during her high school years garnered the coveted opportunity to touch the stuffed Tiger. Great job!

Overall the night got high praises, especially from our guests, who are more than welcome to visit us again.

Hope to see you at the next meeting!

–Michelle