Liberty Village Toastmasters Toronto

By Clem D

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”  – Winston Churchill

We are looking forward to this year’s International Speech Competition. Tracey and Clem will present their speech in every effort to proudly represent our club in the Area competition.

We also will present the Evaluators Competition in which our featured club members, Yury and Felix will listen to a guest speaker and evaluate their speech. Once again, we look forward to one of evaluators to represent our club in the Area competition.

Good luck to all contestants!!

Hi Eriel,

Tonight we were encouraged to “Go Far” by toastmaster Felix. Felix lead us through the flight of Space Shuttle Columbia, and reminded us of what we can achieve when we put our minds to it.

Chris got us excited for next week’s International Speaking Competition by emphasizing that the importance of speech evaluators, is help “Motivate” the speaker by providing suggestions on how that speaker can improve, rather than just noting their weakness. 

Jackie shared with us her New Year’s resolutions. When prompted by Jackie, all audience members agreed, that yes, we do want to make this year better than last year! She shared with us her strategies to make that happen:

1 – Prioritize – make a list of prioritized goals and stick to it.

2 – Automatize – make good decisions automatic and take “decision fatigue” out of your day.

3 – Capitalize on Consequences – assign a consequence that will remind you of how you felt when you made your original goal.

Kelly also took us far tonight, all the way to NYC, where she plans to visit after graduation.  As a student, she is on a budget and really took her time to describe how she would get the best deal for her trip to NYC. We’re all looking forward to a re-cap of the trip upon her return.

In Karoline’s speech, “Comfort, How Far Do We Go?” She really got our imaginations going when describing her experiences at a Costco store in Scarborough, where she states that, “people park their carts like they park their cars.” Ultimately she was willing to go as far as Oshawa for her Costco run, demonstrating just how far she was willing to go for comfort. How far are you willing to go?

Alex, was our Table Topics winner

Evaluators had lots of great tips for each of our speakers, perhaps with some extra inspiration from Chris. Even for those listening, we are able to take points from each of the evaluations to make us better speakers as well. We are all here to learn and each evaluator did a really great job of helping us do that.

Thanks to everyone for coming out on such a chilly evening, the commitment to LVTM and enthusiasm at our meetings is really what our club is all about. See everyone next week at our International Speakers Competition on February 5^th!

By Clem D,

In the words of Colin Powell, “The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.”

On Wednesday February 5th, 2014 this will happen. Two fellow Toastmasters, Tracey and  Clem, will bravely compete in the effort to proudly represent Liberty Village Toastmasters at this year’s International Speakers Competition.

This is open to LVTM members who have completed at least six speeches. See Valarie S. for more details.

There is also an opportunity to compete in the Speech Evaluator’s Competition as well. See Valarie S. for more details.

Make sure you come out and support your fellow Toastmasters.

By Clem D

Felix is our evening’s Toastmaster and the theme is: “Go Far”

Our Speakers are: Jackie, Karoline, Chris & Kelly

General Evaluator is: Mohamed K

Grammarian is: Emmanuel.

By Clem D

Toastmaster for our meeting was Clem  and he encouraged us to never let the size of our “frying pan” prevent us from catching and retaining the opportunities that come our way.

Adelfettah presented his Ice-Breaker speech.  He spoke about how a mix up with school changed his plan from Law to Economics but instead of complaining that he didn’t get what he originally wanted he still pressed through and is doing very well.

Rosanne spoke about her life married to a teacher.  She touched upon the benefits and pitfalls that teachers endure and how it has affected her family.  One of the benefits is job security and a pitfall is that a teacher’s time off comes at the most of expensive time of the year to take family vacations. Summer and holidays.

Table Topic winner was Chris.

All our evaluators did a great job and we look forward to a great meeting next week.

Club News:

Feb 5, 2014 is our Club contest and we need more competitors. If you have completed 6 or more speeches in the C.C manual can enter the International Speech portion. For the Evaluation sections, it can be anyone.

Contact Valarie Skinner for more information.