Gratitude

I've had a bit of a break in writing this blog.  And I hate it. Because the longer a break you have, the harder it gets to return to the routine. I guess that's true about any habit. I've noticed the same with Toastmasters as well. We have had a few members who wanted to take a break from Toastmasters due to other commitments in their life/work. They stopped attending the meetings or did not renew their membership. I have to admit that I've had those feelings creep in as well to want to take a break from the weekly meetings. However, I've not seen those members return. I've heard it takes about 21 days to establish a 'habit' or a 'routine', and it takes one short break to ruin it!
Anyways, back to the meeting today! It was Marcia's first time as the Chair and she lived up to the expectations. I loved that she chose 'Gratitude' as the theme which was perfect for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

We are starting to see a full meeting room as more of our members have returned from their summer vacations! I am grateful that we have a supportive group of members from all walks of life. I started a new manual today - Communicating on Video. The first project required me to prepare a short editorial and present it was as if I was on Television. It didn't take me long to select the theme for my editorial. Nutrition and Health have been my priority in the last few months. I saw the documentary, Fed Up, recently that got my riled up about Sugar. I decided to dedicate my editorial to educate the audience about how Sugar affects our health.  Was I nervous or what! I had a LOT to talk about Sugar, but so little time. Plus, the idea of talking to the 'camera' was new to me. I had to ignore the presence of the club members and stare at the camera. It was a bit distracting since I tend to draw my energy from the reactions of the audience. There was a lot of improvements I can make in the next few projects. Katrina pointed out I was speaking fast and need to slow down. Well, that has been my issue since Day 1! It's a work in progress. You can watch the video here.

Sundeep added a twist to the usual Table Topics. She listed a few countries and stated a few ways people show Gratitude in those countries. The members had to associate the country with the gratitude methods and explain why they chose the answer. I thought it was an interesting change to the routine. Also, I ended up knowing a bit more about each country and their system. Karen rounded up the General Evaluation section by reminding us about the procedures of handing the gavel while Chairing a meeting. It's Thankgiving weekend and we are celebrating Toastmasters' 90th Anniversary at our next meeting! Watch this space for an update...

Table Topics Contest

"Phew! It's over!"
"Did I just say that? "
"How stupid was that!!??!!"

Those are some of phrases I say after almost every Table Topics segment. Impromptu speaking continues to be the thing I fear most in Toastmasters! It's not just about saying it right, it's also about saying the right things... and making people laugh... and making sense! Learning to drive was easier than this!

As a Toastmaster for about 3+ years, I've crossed many a hurdles - won humorous speech contests, facilitated training sessions, managed public relations, and now serving as President. But, I've always avoided participating in a Table Topics contest. It has been my biggest fear. Today, I felt like I jumped out of an airplane... again! And I landed.... safely!

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulder. To be honest, it wasn't that scary. Yes, I could've made my segment longer and better, but I managed to successfully complete the contest without breaking down or saying non-sense.

I now know why did the chicken cross the road? 
Because it was afraid of the Table Topics! *cheeky laugh* :P :P :P

If there is an image of how I felt, this is it!

Family

The Toastmasters club is like a family unit. We meet every week, share laughter, talk about each other's lives and most importantly, support one another when required. And sometimes, important decisions need to be made and there is a need for a family meeting. Today, we conducted a club business meeting to discuss a potential membership fee increase. Since Toastmasters International (TMI) has headquarters in the US, all the fees/expenses need to be paid in USD. Due to the weak exchange rate and poor CAD/USD conversion, we have been going under deficit which would worsen the situation with the impending renewals in October. As a result, I teamed up with the Treasurer and created a detailed presentation discussing the need for an increase, the potential impact on the financials and the next steps. The members were supportive, there was a spirited discussion and we voted on the increase.

Yang Sun, our newest member, delivered her first speech, the Ice Breaker! Yang has been actively participating at our club meetings and volunteering for new roles each week. I have to admit that the energy shown by our newer members has quite infectious! It helps infuse positive energy and renew the commitment to the Toastmasters journey!

Summer Social!!!

It's that time of the year when we transition to the new executive, thank the efforts of the past year and share the goals for the upcoming year at the Meridian Toastmasters Club! As the Chair for today's meeting (and as President of the Club), I decided to host the Member Appreciation Summer Social! To keep it interesting, we set the meeting theme such that everyone was required to wear their favorite summer hats!

 This is the third summer of hosting member appreciation lunch meetings. We started the meeting 20 minutes late to allow everyone to get something to eat. I was a bit disappointment to see a very low attendance. It's always a struggle during the summer time. However, we continued the meeting with our high spirits. I delivered a short talk about the history of our club, shared the achievements in the past year, and discussed the goals for next year.

Sundeep took over the next session as the Table Topics masters. She projected a few creative images on the screen and asked members to provide a caption and interpret the image in 1 minute.
As part of the 'member appreciation'. we gave out 2 raffle prizes, a favorite Table Topics speaker and favorite Hat! Christine took away the 'favorite hat' prize with her hat made from coke cans!!!





At the end, I made everyone stand up, do a little stretch using a self-hug and thanked them for their contributions in the past year! I truly believe that the members are our biggest assets and I feel proud to be part of Meridian Toastmasters.

But first, let me take a #selfie! :P

 

Dreams

It was yet another beautiful day in the city. Warm summer sun with a slight chill in the wind! As I was crossing the street to go to the club meeting, I wondered how refreshing it would be to host a meeting in one of the parks! Ahhh... wishful thinking.. or 'dreaming'! Melrose chose an interesting theme for the meeting today. She opened the meeting by talking about two different interpretation of dreams. One that we have while we sleep and another about future and aspirations! Anil presented the Thought of Day by encouraging everyone to dream about the future and shared some motivations tips. He also talked about Martin Luther King and his famous speech, "I have a dream" that has inspired many people around the world. You can watch his Thought of the Day here.

We had a full house today. Sundeep and Pam delivered their Speech #3 from the Competent Communicator (CC) manual - Organize your speech. Sundeep talked about the 'selfie stick' and the much buzz around it. I thought it was very clever to bring a selfie stick and provide a demonstration. Being a selfie addict myself, I have been tempted to get one! She also showed a few photos she took with the stick and how easy it was to capture the background. Pam followed Sundeep and took up on a bike ride along the city. Her vivid descriptions allowed me to visualize as if I was taking that bike ride. An effective technique, especially for storytellers. Pam had just made a visit to the dentist and told me her face was frozen. Kudos to her for delivering the speech without any issues. You can view Pam's speech here.

I was tasked as the Table Topics master. I find the concept of dreams very interesting and have read a bit about the interpretation of dreams as well. I decided to do round robin style Table Topics where I started out by narrating the beginning of a dream I had recently and everyone else continued the story. It was impressive how all the members participated enthusiastically and I noticed a lot less usage of filler words. Somehow there were a lot of zombies in the story that finally developed!
I wish I would've recorded it view it later... But, oh well! I can tell you that our members had wild imaginations and there was a lot of laughter.

Fun in the sun!

The Gods of Sunshine have been blessing up with a lot of Vitamin D these past few weeks. I was scheduled to Chair the meeting today. However, we did not have enough prepared speakers. So we decided to host an Easy-Speak refresher course. Pam agreed to take on the role of Chair and did a wonderful job holding the fort! Christine forgot she was supposed to prepare the Thought of the Day, however he did a fantastic job delivering an impromptu 2-min speech!

Then I delivered a refresher on Easy-Speak. I'm slowly getting comfortable with the 'training' set up. Being behind the lecturn seems so easy now. Today, as I was talking about Easy-Speak, I could see myself getting used to it. It is going to be a learning curve, but it was quite rewarding to share your knowledge and see that someone else learnt something new because of you! 

Marcia conducted the Table Topics session and asked all members to share one of their memorable moments in the sunshine! Karen told us about a Christmas many years ago when she made an impromptu day-trip all the way to Atlanta with some work colleagues. Now that's a memory worth creating! Sundeep rounded it off as the General Evaluator. She was encouraging in her feedback and acknowledged everyone. My favorite part was the way Pam ended up the meeting with a poem. I borrowed it from her so I could share it with you. Here it goes -

" It holds its heads up with pride in the morning,

But flees into the dark by night,

Its beauty shines each day without warning,

Brightening the day in warming light,

Capable of burning us to ashes,

But also able to sustain all life,

Looking at its constant flashes,

The sun gleams with certain rife."

Source: unknown

Collaboration

Our meeting today was an excellent example of advance planning, collaboration, and leadership. As our Chair, Anil was proactive in ensuring that all the roles were filled. A week before the meeting, he sent out an email reaching out to our club and older guests asking for volunteers for unassigned roles. Our meeting began on time and we had new guests join us. Anil opened the meeting and talked about the importance of collaboration in our daily lives. I doubled up as the SAA and Grammarian.
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Sundeep is back from her vacation in Europe and she was smart to use her experience as a topic for her speech. Sundeep talked about her trip to Italy. Being a travel and food enthusiast myself, I am tempted to plan a trip, more so after seeing all the scenic images of Italy and the hearing about the Italian delicacies. You can watch her speech video here. I wish Sundeep also brought us back some pastries and chocolates! You know, it's all part of effective presentation skills! :P


Our Division Governor, Jerako, joined us as our second speaker. Jerako selected a speech on the Advanced Manual and it's always a pleasure to watch her speak. Katrina followed as the Table Topics master today. She shared two envelopes. One of them contained a list of activities and the other one contained name of famous people. We had to pick one item from each and share our thoughts if we want or did not want to share the activity with that person. I thought it an excellent idea for Table Topics and everyone seemed to have had fun with it. Even our guests participated! I had Dolly Parton as my famous person, but I didn't get a chance to speak. Oh well, maybe next time! But any activity would have been 'interesting' with Dolly! :)

As we get closer to the transition to the new Executive, I am excited to take up the role as the President. Today's meeting theme reminds me of the importance to collaborate and ensure successful team work. I am lucky to have an excellent team and I am excited to see what the new year brings to Meridian Toastmasters.

Summer Solstice

I have to admit at the very beginning that today was very interesting for me in a weird way. And that doesn't happen to me very often... Read along!

I am so happy to see our new members stepping up to leadership roles not just within our meeting, but also executive leadership. Pam, our newer member, stepped up to Chair the meeting today. She conducted herself with such aplomb and confidence that it didn't even seem like it was her second or third time chairing a toastmasters club meeting. Pam share information about the summer solstice that was smoothly continued by Karen during her Thought of the Day. Instead of repeating what Pam said, Karen added a personal story about her childhood and how her mother would ensure the kids went to bed by 9 pm, even though it wasn't dark yet! Karen is a long time  member of our club and its a always a delight to watch her speak. I noticed there was a slight twinkle in her eyes as she fondly shared memories from her childhood. See her speech here.
Then we started with the prepared speeches section of our meeting. This is where it got really interesting! One of our members, Marcia, is always amazing us with interesting speech topics. Marcia is just 2 speeches away from achieving the Competent Communicator designation. Today, she delivered speech #9, Persuade with Power. Her title was 'They do exist'. Marcia's used her speech to convince us about the existence of supernatural powers. She used the stage and her voice extremely well to illustrate her points. With the use of personal experiences as well as stories in Toronto, Marcia laid a strong foundation to prove her hypothesis. I could sense that everyone was paying attention. I have to admit that I was left fascinated and a bit scared, since most of her Toronto stories were about buildings in my neighbourhood!!!! I don't want to give away too much, so you see Marcia's speech here.

I have one more speech to complete to finish my Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB) designation. I decided to utilize the time today to deliver a speech from the Successful Club Series (SCS)  manual. I always encourage my fellow members to explore opportunities outside our home club, so I chose the same topic from the SCS to deliver a speech today. I have benefited a lot from stepping outside our home club. I've learned about leadership, developed my speaking abilities, dared myself to go beyond my comfort zone. And I wanted to make my fellow members aware of such opportunities as well, especially since we've had many new members. You can view my speech video here.

Another day, another successful meeting. Lessons learned and laughs shared. 

Canadian Weather

What an appropriate theme selected by our Chair, Afshan, for the meeting today. Are we back in time? Is it January again? Did we skip the entire summer and roller-coastered our way to wintery times again... I am so tired of this schizophrenic weather...!

Ahh... it feels good to rant about the weather in Canada. One of the many things I enjoy as a new Canadian... I guess I forgot to mention. Last week, I took an oath to be a Canadian citizen. I am sad to lose passport of my home country, India. But, I am also excited to be welcomed as part of the Canadian family. :)

Enough about me... let's get back to the Toastmasters meeting! Our 2 speakers cancelled, but would that deter Afhsan? Absolutely not! Anil and Afshan teamed up and found alternatives to fill up the time for prepared speeches. Afshan was calm, composed and confident as the meeting chair. We did have lesser attendance than usual. However, our members double up the energy and fill the room. I was tasked to present the Thought of the Day. Instead, I converted it into a trivia of facts about Canadian weather. See my talk here. Anil showed up the video of a contestant at the 2013 World Champion ship of Public Speaking. I am always inspired to watch advanced speakers and secretly jot down tips for improving my speaking abilities! I am glad Anil shared the video with us. To add a twist, Karen suggest that we all put on the Evaluator hat and share our evaluation at the end. All our members provided valuable tips. You can view the group evaluation here. It was nice to see Terry after a long time! He was 'voluntold' to be the General Evaluator (GE) at the last minute. Pam added an interesting layer to the role of the Grammarian. She noted and shared interesting uses of the English language she observed during the meeting. Another successful meeting today, looking forward to the next one!

Elections Time

It's Elections season in Toastmasters!

Meridian Toastmasters hosted it's yearly executive elections meeting. As the past President, Christine chaired the Nominations committee. Karen and Geofferey helped out with the nominations. I am so glad that we had a full slate of executive officers for the up coming year. And I am excited to be elected as the Club President for the next year! You can watch our Elections part of the meeting here.

Keep it Simple

Anil opened the meeting today with the theme, 'Keep it Simple'. He emphasized about the importance of simplicity and narrated a story about how we tend to complicate things in our life. It was a small meeting, maybe because the weather was so gloomy! But, we compensated for lack of members by doubling our energy! Our grammarian, Karen, added an interesting twist to her role. Instead of the usual filler words, she suggested implementing more pauses during our speaking roles today. I thought it was clever and added another dimension to the duties of a grammarian.
I completed my Storytelling manual today by delivering the project #4 - A Touching Story. I recently read a book 'Five Seconds at a Time' by Denis Shackel. I was deeply inspired and motivated by the message conveyed by the author. The language of the book was very simple and conveyed the message very well. Naturally, I was inclined to use the story of Denis and share his simple mantra to overcome obstacles in our life - 5 seconds at a time. He used his own example of surviving a tragic mountain climbing accident to elucidate the concept. See my speech here. Since our second speaker had to cancel due to a work conflict, Anil made a prompt decision to show the speech delivered by the 2014 World Champion of Public Speaking. I think it was an intelligent move to use up the extra time. It was also a helpful to watch and learn from the speakers of an international caliber. You can view his speech here.
Anthony conducted the Table Topics session. His energy and enthusiasm are quite infectious. Even though I was distracted by work emails, I was drawn to the Table Topics session. He used everyday phrases and encouraged members to add their own twist to the meaning of the phrase. Everyone participated, including our guest! It's always fun to see our guests brave it out and speak during Table Topics! Marcia, our General Evaluator, provided feedback on how we ran the meeting. She made an important suggestion to move the Meridian Toastmasters banner so that it's in the 'view' of the speakers, especially when we record videos to be publicly displayed.
After the long weekend, we will return on Tuesday... And, it's Elections time again! New year, new executive!

Respect

Karen, our Chair, started the meeting narrating an experience she had last week at the local ravine. A local citizen 'disrespected' the boundaries that the City had marked out for a construction project. Karen shared her thoughts about how it's important to respect the boundaries. If we don't, we could end up hurting ourselves or someone else in the process. I could see that she was passionate about this topic. Maybe this could be a speech we could hear from Karen in the future. We had 1 new guest attend the meeting.
Our 2 speakers today, Melrose and Marcia, delivered their speech #8, Get Comfortable with Visual Aids, today. Both of them have unique styles that help them shine in different ways. Melrose talked about ANTs. I was expecting her talk to be about how ants are so disruptive and it's difficult to remove them. Her speech was all about that, however, the ANTs were Automatic Negative Thoughts that plague every one of us now and then. Her speech was inspired by a book she recently read. I thought it was very clever. With her effervescent personality, Melrose makes difficult topics quite fun to learn! Since this project was about getting creative with visual aids, I would've liked to see Melrose be more creative with the visual aids in their speeches.See her speech here. Marcia has a very professional style of speaking. She seems confident and in control of her topic. Marcia shared her experience volunteering at various organizations and encouraged the audience to consider volunteering to make a difference. She brought one of her T-shirts and shared a booklet where her name was displayed in the list of volunteers. See her speech here.
Pam conducted the Table Topics session. She posed questions to the audience keeping the meeting theme in mind. Tie added his own humorous twist to the idea of mutual respect. He shared how it's important not to have respect all the time because many jobs (e.g counselors, lawyers) make their living out of this! Needless to say, he won the Table Topics session today! Anthony rounded up the meeting as the General Evaluator. Christine and I will be speaking next week, both from our Storytelling manuals! Better get going on that!

Emergency Preparedness

Today's meeting was all about last minute emergencies. So, when I was called in Monday to be the Chair, I stepped up the game and chose the theme of 'Emergency Preparedness' for the meeting! It was one of those meetings where both the speakers cancelled and the meeting notifications weren't sent out. Despite all the 'emergencies', Meridian Toastmasters members came together as a team and pulled off another successful meeting. We had 2 new guests show up and it seemed like they had a good time.
As the Chair, I opened the meeting talking about the importance of preparing for emergencies. In the wake of the Nepal earthquake, the world was reminded that natural disasters can occur anytime, anywhere. I believe it's important to be practical about the situation and prepare your home and families for any situation.
Emergencies can happen in our Toastmasters meetings as well! Today's meeting was a good example. However, Geofferey stepped up last minute and delivered a dramatic speech about an accident from his childhood. See his speech here. To fill up the second speaker slot, Pam and I approached Anil to see if he is willing to deliver an impromptu speech. As his mentor, I am very happy to see the remarkable progress he has made in a short span of time. It can be nerve wracking for any experienced speaker to talk with such a short notice. Anil handled it very well and narrated his story about his recent travel expedition. See his speech here. Tie conducted the Table Topics session with an interesting twist. He asked the members to choose first whether they will speak 'pro' or 'con'. Once they decided their side, he then gave them the topic. I have to admit it was a clever way to keep everyone on their toes! Pam rounded up the meeting as the GE. You can view the speech evaluations here. 

You can if you think you can!

What a positive start to the meeting by introducing this quote from Henry Ford, I found this quote to be simple, yet quite powerful. It was just the right amount of pep talk needed to start the meeting. I like how our weekly Toastmasters meetings also include tit bits about motivation and self-improvement every now and then. Our members have diverse life experiences and I am often inspired when they share their stories.
Today was another special meeting. We hosted a speech marathon and our schedule was filled with 3 speakers. Azura is half way through her journey to the CC status. She kicked off the speech marathon with Speech #5, Your Body Speaks. I felt she was clever in her topic selection and speech writing. She used her cat as an example to display how to communicate with your body. I am proud to be her mentor and she continues to show improvement in every speech. See Azura's speech here. I completed one of my projects from the Storytelling manual. I decided to adopt a classic folktale story (The Hare and Tortoise) and add a twist to it to teach a very important management lesson. See my speech here. Geofferey finished the speech marathon with a very entertaining speech about laughter. During his speech, he mentioned he is not a funny guy. But I happen to disagree respectfully! I thought he had excellent punch lines, especially with stories about his cat. I hope he is able to recycle his speech and use it to compete at the net Humorous Speech Contest. Check out his speech here. Looking forward to hearing your opinion on all three speeches.

Workshop on Impromptu Speaking

We often do not give as much credit to impromptu speaking as we do for rehearsed speeches. The misnomer 'impromptu' gives off an impression that you can't really prepare for it and it gets lost in the glitz and glamour of prepared speeches. After joining Toastmasters, I realized how much practice I need with speaking off the cuff. More often than not, we are presented with scenarios that require a coherent answer. While seems to be an easy task, some of us end up struggling at the most simple situations. Just like it's important to rehearse and practice prepared speeches, impromptu speaking could also use some tools and techniques that allow us to practice and become better prepared for the next time!

Christine and I have seen this as a gap in our Toastmasters education and decided to create a workshop to share tools and techniques to help you better prepare for the next time you are called upon to speak without preparation. We attempted to make it interactive and add enough opportunities for the audience to participate and practice the tools we provided. The workshop was perceived well at the meeting. It was led to an interesting discussion about developing a culture in our meetings to prompt and encourage members to step up to speak in case their is a speaker cancellation. We also talked about hosting debate style meetings. Great ideas and lots for the executive team to work on! 

Watch the  workshop online here and feel free to provide feedback for improvement.

Spring...!

Wendy, our first time Chair, started the meeting today with a warm welcome reminding us of Spring! Wendy seemed very comfortable and confident in her role as the Chair that a set a positive tone for the rest of the meeting. It was good to see some faces return at our meetings. Due to changing workloads and schedules, we often lose sight of some of our members. I guess this is one disadvantage of hosting a lunch time club. Melrose delivered a mini speech with her spirited Thought of the Day. She talked about how it's time to spring back in action and get out of the winter hibernation. See her speech here.

Christine returned to doing prepared speeches and she came back with a bang! With her take on a Scandinavian folktale, Christine created vivid images through her acting and vocal skills. I won't say more because you can watch it here. Since our second speaker cancelled, I volunteered to step up as last minute speaker. Since launching Easy-Speak about a year ago, Meridian Toastmasters club has come a long way in adapting to the new scheduling system. Since the introduction of new members few months ago, I can see a few gaps in the knowledge transfer. I used this opportunity to talk to the members about the recommended guidelines that we follow when we are chairing a meeting. You can see my Easy-Speak byte here. Happy to hear your thoughts!

Geoffery conducted the Table Topics session and incorporated the theme of the meeting. Pam, as our Grammarian, was clever in noting interesting use of English language throughout our meeting. I liked her approach and would try to implement it next time I'm up for Grammarian. Katrina conducted the General Evaluation section of the meeting and shared her feedback about the course of the meeting. We have an exciting workshop planned for next week. Stay tuned for more details!

April Fool's Day

Geofferey Chen almost fooled us all today with his April Fool's Day prank! What a smart way to set the tone of the meeting! In case the members were feeling a little lost about the theme, Dragana talked about the history behind April Fool's Day and shared one of the classic pranks by Burger King. You can listen to her Thought of the Day here.



Pam, our first speaker, is quickly progressing on the Competent Communicator (CC) ladder. She completed her third project by talking about 10 reasons why we should sign up to be AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) members. Her passion about art was visible during her speech. Click here to see Pam's speech. I am considering sending it to AGO to see how they feel. I'll update our readers if anything comes out of it. Afshan, our second speaker, is close to finishing her CC manual. Afshan shared a lot of information about the characteristics of different generations. With such a diverse age range of our member base, I am confident all audience members found the information very valuable. At the end of the talk, Afshan left us with handouts with more comparative info about each generation. See Afshan's speech here.
As the Table Topics Master for today's meeting, I was inspired by the theme and decided to put my own spin to it. We converted our club meeting room to a newsroom and our members were news correspondents. Each of the members were asked to report on a news item, which is 'odd' but still true. You can see our Table Topics session here.
Christine conducted the General Evaluation section She used the sandwich style approach and offered useful tips to improve our roles. Christine also reminded us about the upcoming Elections and the importance of serving on the Executive Team. Keep reading to find out how we conduct our Elections!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Q. Why don't you iron the 4-leaf clover?
(see answer at the the end of of this article...)

Sundeep, our Chair for the meeting, chose an appropriate theme for the meeting today! We had a small crew at the meeting, but that didn't dampen our moods. Sundeep took control and started the meeting on time. Sundeep shared facts about the origin of St. Patrick's Day and Wendy informed us about the significance of the color 'green'. See her Thought of the Day here. I was the only speaker listed today, which worked out well since my speech was 12-15 min long. I completed the final project of my Interpretive Reading manual by delivering a 12-15 min Play. I chose a segment from the book 'What was She Thinking?' by Zoe Heller. The book was also release as a movie in 2006 where Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett portrayed the characters, Barbara and Sheba, respectively. I chose the segment from the book where Sheba invites Barbara for a casual Sunday lunch with her family. The segment touches upon how a casual invite takes unprecedented significance in Barbara's life as a single woman with no friends. The choice of words in certain passages is ever so haunting. I encourage you to watch the movie as well. Judi has done an incredible job at portraying the character of Barbara.
Though I've completed my Interpretive Reading manual, I feel I haven't done justice to this last project. I felt it became more of a Monologue than a Play. Maybe a segment from one of the classic plays might have been more relevant to the project. Oh well, I might re-do this project at another time! This particular manual has been quite exciting. See my speech here.
Pam concluded the meeting as the first time General Evaluator. I like how she opened her role by saying that her goal is to give power to what we have done well and feedback on how we can improve. She is also the Chair of the meeting next week. Hope to see another full house!

Oh.. and I almost forgot... Here's the answer to the question above --

Q. Why don't you iron the 4-leaf clover?
A. Because you don't want to press your luck!
(Courtesy: Sundeep, our Chair!)

Freedom of Speech

We were back to a 'full' meeting today and I was glad to be be Chair for the day. I selected the theme about 'Freedom of Speech'. I was moved, shocked, terrified and embarrassed by a recent documentary released by BBC, India's Daughter. It displays the horrific rape culture prevalent in India. The Government of India imposed a ban on the documentary stating the reason that it portrays a negative image of India. While that it true, but the image displayed by the documentary is not far from reality. This, along with the recent killings of Charlie Hebdo, inspired me to begin the meeting by talking about the right to freedom of speech.
We had a few last minute role switches, but our members gladly stepped up. Makes my job very easy! We are now 25 member strong!!! Woohoo....!
Jefferey Zhao was our first speaker. He completed Project #3 from his CC manual and talked about the importance of maintaining a calendar Jefferey has a subtle way of introducing humor in his speeches. You can watch his video here.
Our second speaker, also the President of the club, was Geoffery Chen who is working on his Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB) designation. Read more about Communication Tracks here. Geoffrey presented an entertaining speech about 'Kill the K-Cup' and the shared valuable information about the harmful effects of the K-cups.
You can watch his speech video here.

Marcia, our TT master, embraced the meeting theme and added her own creative spin to it. She encouraged the members to voice their uninhibited opinion about topics such as TTC, Justin Bieber, Mayor Rob Ford, etc.! All members participated with much enthusiasm. Tie Feng, our General Evaluator (GE), offered his feedback and supportive statements to improve our meeting structure. The Area 5 Spring Contests are scheduled for tomorrow evening. Wish us luck!

International Speech Contest

Today, we hosted our second set of Spring Contests, the International Speech Contest! Christine was the Contest Chair while Tie served as the Chief Judge. In the past, we've had some trouble recruiting and encouraging members to compete at these contests. I was really happy to see that we had 5 contestants today, one of which decided to compete from the floor and deliver an impromptu speech! I wish I can get to that level of confidence as well...!
Because many of our members decided to compete, we struggled a little bit to organize the judging team. But, our members helped out by doing double duty.
The International Speech Contest requires members to have completed minimum 6 projects from their speech manual. It doesn't require speech to have a specific theme, except that it should leave the audience inspired/motivated. The contest started on time. I went first and spoke about my experience as a volutneer at a hospice few years ago. I re-purposed this speech from last year because I didn't think I did justice to it. Marcia went in next and spoke about the defining moments in all our lives and the significance of it, whether big or small. Anil inspired the audience to respect the 'gold nuggets' in our lives. Melrose spoke about what 'home' means to her, and that would be Jamaica! Anthony delivered an impromptu speech and shared a story about how moms know the best. I was so proud and happy for all contestants. We all have come a long way in our journey as Toastmasters. These speech contests further polish our speech capabilities. I am sure the judges had a hard time with the results. Melrose placed first, I placed second and Marcia placed third. Melrose will now represent our club at the Area 5 Contest!

Please click on the contestant name to view their speech:
Aanchal
Marcia
Anil
Melrose

Mardi Gras

Today's meeting started with the introduction of 'Carnival' theme! Sundeep (a first time meeting Chair) shared more info about Carnival and how it's also celebrated as Pancakes Day. Ummm, I want some Pancakes right about now...! I guess the winter blues got to some of our members. We only had about half of our members attend the meeting today. But that didn't let our spirits down. We participated in the meeting as if we were sitting in New Orleans or Rio amidst the Carnival festivities!
Azura finished her project # 3, Get to the Point, by talking about the benefits of Watching your own speech video. As her mentor, I might be biased in saying this, but I truly believe that she has come a long way with the 3 projects she has already completed. Azura paid attention to the feedback she received and implemented it in this current project by slowing down her pace and adding more of body language. She emphasized that being a Toastmasters members is a journey and that we should implemtent gradual changes for a long term improvement. She also stressed that we all have our 'shining' moments that we should continue to polish while building ourselves as a better speaker and communicator. See her speech here. Since we had 1 speaker today, Anthony expanded the Table Topics session so that everyone was able to participate. It's always fun when Anthony is behind the lectern as he brings a lot of fun and entertainment to his sessions, an extension of his personality! Marcia and Jefferey tied for the Best Table Topics Speaker for today. Afshan conducted the General Evaluation section of the meeting and Sundeep wrapped the meeting just in time.
Looking forward to the International Speech Contest next week... But before that, don't forget to LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!

Meridian Toastmasters - Speech Evaluation Contest

We kicked off the Winter Session of the contest season today with our Speech Evaluation Contest. Running a contest is a great example of showing team work and leadership skills. Our Chair, Tie Feng, and Chief Judge, Anil Lad, made sure the team was picked out well ahead of time. However, the weather got to Anil and he fell ill the day before the contest. Our President, Geoffrey Chen, stepped up the plate and filled in the role of Chief Judge at last minute's notice. Now this is what I call leadership and team work!
I always have fun competing at the contests, I guess I've become a default face! That's a good and bad thing!  :P We had 2 first time contestants and new members, Pam and Sundeep, join in and be brave to step up to participate! Jerako, our Target Speaker and Division A Governor, was a tough one to evaluate. But hey, what's the fun without a good challenge!
The remainder of the contest ran smoothly. I guess I'm going to be representing Meridian Toastmasters at the Area Contest in March. :)

Seeing is Believing

Geofferey Chen, our club President, opened the meeting today with the theme Seeing is Believing. We had 1 new guest and 2 returning guests at the club meeting. Tie Feng added an interested spin to his Thought of the Day. Tie questioned the validity of the theme and talked about the importance of questioning the status quo and curiosity, in general. He went on to say that 'seeing' should not directly translate to 'believing' without proper investigation! I guess he put on his hat as an Information Security Analyst!

Pam and Sundeep presented their second speech from the Competent Communicator manuals. Sundeep talked about conquering acrophobia, the fear of heights. Her speech was based on her recent trip to Blue Mountain where her family forced her to try Ziplining for the first time! She used an interesting set of visuals and articulated her feelings throughout the journey very well. Interestingly, Pam opened her speech by talking about her experience in Costa Rica. Her opening slide was also a shot of her ziplining through the hills. What a coincidence! Pam went on to describe her other exciting adventures in Costa Rica. She teased the travel bug in me through the vivid imagery on her presentation!


Katrina hosted the TT session and encourage the speakers to talk about generic topics about belief. Our guests participated as well! Marcia took over the General Evaluator role for the first club. She was very specific in her feedback providing opportunities of improvement as well as complimenting the individuals for their roles well done.

The contest season begins next week! Watch out for the summary of the Speech Evaluation contest on Feb 10!

See Pam's speech here.

Old is Gold

Today was a Special Event for Meridian Toastmasters. We hosted our first Open House for 2015!

Currently, we are 23 member strong and we would like to see new faces join our club every few months. With a teamwork display promoting the Open House, we had 6 new guests join us at our Open House.

As the VP of Public Relations, I decided to Chair the meeting, plus it had been a while I took up the meeting manager role! I chose the theme of "Old is Gold" which is saying that has been around for a while. To me, it reflects the importance of valuing the 'old' things in your life. Living in the age of instant gratification, we fail to acknowledge the value of being content. I find always find myself running after the next big thing, the newest phone, the new gadgets and so on. "Old is Gold' reminds me that just like a bottle of red wine, certain things increase in their value over time. There's only so much Nicki Minaj or Jay Z or Kanye West I can listen to. The classics of Doris Day, The Carpenters and the likes are timeless. Somehow, these 'timeless' beings help me slow down when I'm surrounding by everything that is so fast paced. 

The meeting ran smoothly. Afshan present Speech #6 on Vocal Variety. She talked about her recent trip to Mexico and shared her learnings about the Mayan culture. When I hear Mexico, I think of beaches and sunshine. So, I was very educational for me to listen to the history and facts about their culture. Melrose did quite well as Table Topics Masters by bringing us fortune cookies and making the members practice impromptu speaking by sharing their thoughts on their 'fortune'. She also encourage our guests to participate and 2 of them obliged! 

The meeting seem to have ended pretty quickly. As they say, you don't realize how fast time goes when you're having fun. And I had a lot of fun indeed!

See Afshan's speech here.
See the evaluation of Afshan's speech here.

Speech Evaluation Workshop

Meridian Toastmasters Club is composed of members with varying levels of experience. Such diversity offers an interesting playground where members learn, not just from the club programs, but also through interactions with each other. I feel lucky to be part of a club that offers a warm and nurturing environment through the seasoned toastmasters. The newer members bring an influx of energy and perspective that keeps it fresh for the 'oldies'. :P

Today, our club hosted a special event to learn more about providing confidence building evaluations. Karen Goodyear, DTM has been facilitating this workshop for many years now. The workshop format was structured similar to a speech evaluation contest. Karen talked about key elements of a confidence building evaluation. Marcia was a target speaker and 3 newer members volunteered to be the test evaluators. After each evaluation, Karen offered her thoughts on the 'evaluation' itself. It was a win-win situation because the speaker received 3 helpful evaluations and the evaluators also learnt about specific techniques they could use to improve for next time.

This will be good practice for the upcoming Speech Evaluation contest on Feb 10!

Click here to view to video of the workshop.

Hakuna Matata!

We kicked off 2015 with our first meeting today! Tie Feng, our VP Education, was the Chair of the meeting. Returning to work after the holiday season is always tough. But, our skilled VP Ed managed to get all roles filled and conduct another successful meeting. I was happy to return to that familiar club environment and the welcome chatter before the meeting begins. Though, this time I was nervous because it was my turn to deliver a speech.
It was a full house as Tie hit the gavel on the lectern and started the meeting with an upbeat note of Hakuna Matata! Sherry connected her Thought of the Day very well with the meeting theme by talking about the holiday season, being conscious of healthy eating and living a happy life! I presented a Monodrama from the Interpretive Reading manual. It was the park bench scene from the movie, Good Will Hunting. It went well for most part, except when I lost my track towards the end. In a monodrama, you are required to get into the skin of the character and emulate the scene. I had to constantly remind myself not to look at the audience, but to the imaginary person sitting on my left. Melrose, my speech evaluator, picked up on this and offered a positive feedback.
We had a few firsts at our meeting today. Sherry as Thought of Day, Pam as Grammarian, Marcia as TT master and Wendy as Timer. All 4 new comers server their role very well. Marcia stuck to the theme and asked all of us about our take on the Hakuna Matata song as it relates to our life. Pam went a step further in her role and mentioned a few noteworthy uses of English language used during the meeting. Wendy was quick to understand the timing device. Karen rounded up the meeting by offering her valuable tips as a General Evaluator.
It's going to be an exciting, and busy, month at Meridian Toastmasters. Our Speech Evaluation workshop will be held next week and the Winter Open House on the 27th.

See my speech video here.