Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto

Happy Birthday Canada! This year Canada is turning the big 1-5-0! Our Toastmaster Des spoke passionately about being Canadian. Oh Canada! Our home and native land. We are proud to be part of thee.

Alex hosted a workshop on core values.  She encouraged us to connect with our true values.  Many of us go through life, following other people’s pathways or values. When was the last time we sat down and thought about what we really value? In this meeting, Alex gave us that opportunity, equipping us with a list of values to muse over.

Alex also guided 2 volunteers: Amanda and Be on creating goals to their values. From Alex we learned, life is a canvas, we can paint it the way we wanted,  We just need to let our brushes (values) lead the way.

 Amanda led a fun Table Topic session, getting each participant to represent an animal and advocating for its existence on earth.    In the end, we voted for Andre (representing the moose).   Congrats Andre!

We will still be at the Lilian H Smith library next week.  It will be the last meeting before we roll over to the new executive team.  It will be just as exciting as ever, as we anticipate to hear 4 speakers! Damian, Amanda, Catarina, and Andre.

It’s time to celebrate! Let’s end this toastmaster term with a sizzling good time.

Our year end party will be on Saturday, July 8th at 4:30PM.

Location: 3rd floor party room of Sarah’s condo at 35 Bastion Street.   

To reserve, please please email James or Sarah and submit $25 per person by June 28, 2017 to James.
Guest(s) are welcome.

This will cover food and venue.

Menu: Steak, chicken wings, vegetarian burgers, roasted potatoes, vegan friendly dishes available and more  (subject to change but we will not disappoint).

Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided.  BYOB.

Please let us know if you have any food preferences or allergies.

Directions:
By car: the closest intersection is Fort York and Bathurst. Make a west turn on Fort York and turn south at Bastion Street.

For parking: Please contact Sarah at at least a day ahead.   (sarah.yang.toronto@gmail.com).

By TTC: from Bathurst subway station, take streetcar 511, OR from Union station, take streetcar 509. Get off at Bastion.

ATTENTION:  Please note that the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre will closed for the next two weeks.  Hence, our meetings on June 21 and 28 will be held at the Lillian H. Smith Library.

Address:
239 College Street, Toronto, ON
M5T 1R5 Auditorium room, basement.

6:15 pm to 8 pm

Basics! basics! basics!  The meeting began with Toastmaster James reiterating the importance of mastering the basics. For example, a few basics of public speaking include vocal variety, use of pauses, and gestures. Master these core elements, coordinate them together, and voila!

There are fundamental elements to any skill but above it all, the first step to mastery is to GET STARTED.  James concluded that all winners were once beginners.

This week’s meeting was exciting yet efficient.  We had 4 speakers:  Mike, Adrian, Catarina and Wes.

We started with Mike’s Ice breaker.  Mike gave his perspective of growing up. We learned a few things about him, some of which were a surprise to us, like English is not his first language and he is Greek. He mentioned that he has an eye for detail and we also would add that he has a great sense of humour.

The next two speakers worked on the second project – organize your speech. Adrian promoted corporate social responsibility.  He explained what the concept is and what it can do for us.  To summarize, corporate social responsibility benefits all parties involved: corporate, customers, and the community.

Our third speaker, Catarina gave us an outline of her current PhD project, which could possibly transform the world.  She described her steps in dealing with our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world.  Solving our problems come from our brains, brawns and guts.  Who knew we all have it within us to change the world?

146 billion. That’s how many emails we send a day!  Our final speaker, Wes presented project 8 visual aid (the final project from his cc manual).   Despite of this significantly enormous number, most people do not know how to write a proper email. But don’t worry, as a VP of Education, Wes is here to educate. Just like his speech, he kept it simple, professional and effective.  A few things we learned include polite command, specific subject/dates, and organized list using circular bullets (or square?).  Follow Wes’s advice and you will get a higher response rate, or at least your emails will be read (vs. not deleted or blocked).

Congratulation Wes for completing his competent communication manual!

Despite of our full schedule, were able to squeeze in a Table Topic session, which was hosted by Alex. Alex challenged us to go back to the basic starting with listening  The winner is our guest Anshula.  Congrats Anshula!