Click here to view a special message from Mr. Notaro on why Toastmasters matters and how it can benefit you!

Enjoy!

“As I mentioned in my speech, my favourite travel books are from Lonely Planet, Frommers, Let’s Go, and Rough Guide. I also like Pauline Frommers’ books for more value-oriented recommendations.

On the Internet, I like doing research on Trip Advisor, Yelp, Cruise Critic, and Bed Bug Registry. I also read the forums on Trip Advisor and the Lonely Planet.

I compare airline prices on Kayak and Travelzoo; car rentals on Travelocity; and accommodation on Hotels, Venere, and occasionally Priceline and Hotwire. (Note: sites such as betterbidding.com can provide you tips on winning bids for Priceline and Hotwire!)”

Happy Holidays everyone!

This year, the Humorous Speech contest is held as part of the District Governor’s Gala. After all of us have enjoyed our dinner, we could relax and enjoy 8 humorous speeches. A quick summary of most humorous speeches (my humble opinions):

- 1st contestant (Paul Vermeer) tells us all relationships have a scoring system. From the viewpoint of Men, the points earned is varies based on level of difficulty and its effect. On the other side of the scale, Women only give out 1 point for something well done (by Men). He concludes that all we really needed in a relationship is love and balance.
- 3rd contestant (Mathew Kleinsoky) is the Champion of this contest. He opens with a very simple statement – “I am an Evaluation Junkie”. He told us how he got addicted to provide evaluation and what happened when tried to take on more chores at home. He even brought a super small t-shirt and a pair of grey coloured socks to demonstrate two most common laundry disasters. He concludes his humorous speech by repeating his opening statement.
- 4th contestant (Mina Yun from Division F) is placed 2nd at this contest. She telling us why she calls Canada her home even she is a Korean. She is very lively with vocal varieties and gesture. She told us three examples of why she love Canada – proper sit-down toilet, serve fresh “dead” meat and Canadians rank women 1st, children 2nd, dogs 3rd and men 4th (contrast with Korea – men 1st and women 2nd).
- 5th contestant (Bruce Bullock) tells us a new “Cockroach Effect” theory (similar to “Butterfly Effect”). When he found a cockroach at one of the Rogers training room, he calls Rogers Help Desk and was asked to provide the specific species of the cockroach before they could provide any assistance. This lead to everyone researching cockroaches with Wikipedia. Now, I feel better when I found out not only me getting trouble going through Rogers “Help Desk” as a customer.

From the other contestants, we also learn how not to judge others by their accents, M.O.M (Multiple Online-dating Memories), mis-interpret the number before the grocery list as quantity, how men hunt & women gather evolved, etc.

If you have fun reading this blog, you should know how much more fun you have missed. Hope to see you at the next “Human” Contest!

…./Thomas Chan

Please join us in supporting Ron at the Division Level Contest:

Wednesday October 19th, 2011 @ 5:15-8pm
44 King Street W – Scotia Plaza Cafeteria 4th Floor
Admission: Free (no refreshments)

Area Level Contest

Wednesday October 5th – Table Topics

Thursday October 6th – Humorous

Both contest are held @12 noon – 1pm
40 King Street W – Scotia Plaza – Mezz level, Laurentian Room

 Division Level Contest

Wednesday October 19th, 2011 @ 5:15-8pm
44 King Street W – Scotia Plaza Cafeteria 4th Floor
Admission: Free (no refreshments)

This year’s contest chaired by Ross Lu, included four great contestants.  Victoria, Anton, Deborah, and Shar provided entertaining speeches and had the audience laughing out loud.  Victoria’s speech ‘A Risk Manager Takes a Canoe Trip’ was the hilarious story of her last family canoe trip and getting her city kids used to nature; it was a depiction of city versus wild life, death by canoe versus death by bear! Anton’s story ‘Life as I see it’ ,as seen through his camera lens, described his family trip to South Africa and surviving a large elephant.   Deborah’s ‘Feeling My age’ was a funny story of Deborah’s life when she was younger and how things have changed as she has gotten older, feeling her age.  Shar shared her adventures on the Red Rocket and described how despite the rush hour, she enjoys the big race to get a seat and do some yoga on the train.

Chief Judge Thomas Chan led the contest and was joined by five other secret judges.
We congratulate the winners of the 2011 Humorous Speech Contest:

First Place – Victoria Barclay
Second Place – Deborah Kuo

We congratulate all contestants and wish Victoria, who will be moving onto the Area level contest, the best of luck.  

This year’s contest chaired by Deborah Kuo, included five great contestants. Thomas, Peter, Valerie, Ken, and Ronald shared their stories on the selected topic ‘Summertime’. Valerie took us back to her childhood memories of summer BBQs and quality time with her family. Ron’s humorous speech, started off with a tribute to the 80’s Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff song ‘Summertime’. Thomas talked about the benefits of others enjoying their summer vacation while he gets to take advantage of a more relaxed drive and lots of parking at work! Ken’s traveling adventures this summer to Vancouver and Alberta, left everyone wanting more vacation. Peter shared his busy summer activities which included weddings, birthdays, and more; he did manage to find some time to have fun with the road bike he bought this summer. All contestants were entertaining and did an amazing job.

External Chief Judge, our Area Governor, Melanie led the contest and was joined by four other secret judges.
We congratulate the winners of the 2011 Table Topics Contest:

First Place – Ron Tsang
Second Place – Peter Michaels
Third Place – Thomas Chan

We congratulate all contestants and wish Ron, who will be moving onto the Area level contest, the best of luck.

My mission statement for the year is: How may I help you achieve your goals?

We all joined ToastMasters – because “we wanna learn how to talk betta”

Or after being with Toastmasters a while, we could say:
We joined because we wanted to communicate more effectively and efficiently with friends, family, colleagues, peers, and management, speaking more succinctly.

We all have a message we want to communicate clearly – regardless if it is a joke, an interesting story or a work related event.

+ But communication is not just talking or speaking, it also about listening.
Listening is sometimes more important than speaking as it involves understanding the message being communicated.
If we don’t understand the message, how can we act or respond?

+But communications is also about RESPECT – If you are speaking with or listening to someone else, how do they know the message is being received? – I suggest that it is in body language – the way we react to it – and the most important way is to show respect .

How can we do this? – Well, in a Toastmaster setting, this is easy – When someone is speaking, DON’T fret, squirm, stare into space, at the ceiling or start playing with your Blackberry or phone. To show respect – smile slightly as you look at the speaker, nod your head, become engaged.

So let me close by restating my original mission statement – How may I help you achieve your goals?

President - Anton Coetzee
VP Education – Amanda Lee
AVP Education - Thomas Chan
VP Membership – Peter Michaels
AVP Membership - Deborah Kuo
VP Public Relations - Shar Noaman
AVP Public Relations - Michael Gayi
Secretary - Valerie Morley
Assistant Secretary - Andrew Cheng
Treasurer - Hondy Hung
Sergeant at Arms - Ken Yang
Assistant Sergeant at Arms - Ken Xing

We thank the out going executives for all their hard work during the past year and for all the returning members we wish you a great year going forward