Congratulations to the winners of the recent Mary Heary Tall Tales Contest – (left to right) Keith Rabey – 3rd place; Srini Kesavan – 1st place; Richard Kitney – 2nd place.
And To All Our Competitors – It Takes Courage To Compete! – (left to right) Keith Rabey, Richard Kitney, Zehra Raza, Srini Kesavan, & Chris Roode
In November 2016, Flora Sun received her Competent Communicator designation. The Competent Communicator is the first speaking designation in the Toastmasters program and is achieved after creating, practicing and delivering 10 speeches with specific project goals. We asked her a few questions about her experience at Glen Abbey Toastmasters.
How long have you been a Toastmaster?
I have been a Toastmaster since January, 2015.
Why did you join Toastmasters?
Originally, I wanted to improve my English listening and speaking skills. With the help of Glen Abbey’s experienced club members, I improved my public speaking skills.
What have you learned from your Toastmasters journey?
I learned a lot from the Toastmasters. After every speech, I received constructive feedback from my evaluator and club members. Many experienced members took a lot of time to help me improve my tone and gestures and encouraged me to continue to practice my public speaking skills.
What surprised you about Toastmasters?
How really encouraging the environment is. After my first speech, I was waiting for the criticizing feedback, but instead – the evaluator was really encouraging and pointed out my strong points while gently and kindly mentioning areas that could be improved. This helped me a lot to continue to practice.
What do you like most about our club?
The really friendly encouraging environment. Many club members are not only excellent public speakers, but also the humorous performers.
To close out 2016, Glen Abbey Toastmasters held an improv night – lead by Toastmaster Srini Kesavan. Lots of fun. Lots of laughs. Lots of antics.
There’s always someting fun happening here.
Maybe it’s time to join?
Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Member Reema Duggal recently achieved a big Toastmasters milestone – her Distinguished Toastmaster designation.
The Distinguished Toastmaster is the highest award Toastmasters bestows. The DTM recognizes a high level of achievement in both the communication and leadership tracks in the Toastmasters education program. To be eligible for the award, you must have completed / earned the following (links take you to details at Toastmasters International):
Reema joined Toastmasters in 2010, and over the last 6 years completed over 75 speeches at Glen Abbey, at other clubs, and at District 86 events. In addition she held roles as the Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club VP PR, Club President, and Area 35 Governor. She also led the Toastmasters 86 Member Communications and Engagement Committee, and received the District 86 Legacy Award for her vision and foundational work in designing the District 86 communication strategy / channel.
Reema says “Toastmasters is one of the best things I have ever done. The program is exceptional and the peer2peer format creates a very supportive and positive environment for everyone to become better at public speaking and leadership. I encourage everyone to come to a meeting to see what it’s all about.”
Next Steps? “I’m thinking about what I have to do to become an Accredited Speaker……… but that will take another few years. I’m in no rush. In the meantime, I hope to be able to mentor new club members and help the club celebrate our 25th Anniversary in 2017.”
The Art of Effective Evaluation is a workshop designed to help Toastmasters develop the knowledge, motivation, and skills you need to become more effective evaluators.
Over two hours, we will work through these objectives:
Presenter
Congratulations Tony and Srini. You made Glen Abbey Toastmasters very proud by taking first and second place in the Area 35 Speech Contests. Good luck at District finals!
At Glen Abbey Toastmasters, people with similar communication and leadership goals and interests come together to support, guide and encourage each other. We are a welcoming, diverse community where you can make connections with friends and mentors.
With 2017 as the 25th anniversary of our founding, the club’s continued success has been the result of the contributions of talented and dedicated members and the energy and leadership of executive committee members through the years.
I’m very excited and honoured to be President for 2016/2017 year. I invite you to explore what we to offer you through our website and discover what sets us apart from other Toastmaster clubs. Want to experience one of our meetings for yourself?
Join us at an upcoming meeting as our guest and don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions.
Best Regards
Wendy Rintoul
President, Glen Abbey Toastmasters
Glen Abbey Toastmasters recently held Club Elections for the 2016/2017 season. Congratulations to the following members who ran for election and will be leading our club next year:
2016 Area 35 Contest Winners – Evaluation Contest: Reema Duggal (1st place) and
International Speech Contest: Tony Corrie (1st place)
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club International Speech Contest Winners
Srini Kesavan (3rd place), Tony Corrie (1st place), and Frederique Herel (2nd place)
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Evaluation Contest Winners
Sean Connor (2nd place) and Reema Duggal (1st place)
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club International Speech Contest Participants
Srini Kesavan, Kevin Chisholm (Chair), Chris Roode, Tony Corrie, Jack Jagernauth (Chief Judge), Frederique Herel, Mike Kozak, and Wendy Rintoul
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Evaluation Contest Participants
Jack Jagernauth (Chief Judge), Nicole Wong (Chair), Sean Connor, Reema Duggal,
Danny Zhang, and Mike Kozak
Glen Abbey Toastmasters will be hosting their annual Holiday meeting again this year – Chaired by Toastmaster Tony Corrie. This year, we’re going to be doing a spin on the popular tV series “Whose Line Is It Anyway” – the ultimate impromptu speaking event. If you’re not familiar with the program – check out these videos on YouTube
Congratualations to Toastmaster Reema Duggal on achieving her Advanced Communicator Silver award.
The Advanced Communicator Silver is the second highest award in the Advanced Communication Series and requires the Toastmaster to complete the Competent Communicator manual, as well as four other advanced communication manuals.
It is truly a difficult and long path that Reema Duggal has travelled!
Next stop: Advance Communiator Gold. Good Luck!
Cheers to new Toastmaster Nicole Wong as she delivered her first speech and began her journey towards Competent Communicator. Wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy your journey.
Congratulations to Toastmaster Roberto Fazio as he deliveried his tenth speech and achieved Competent Communicator. Cheering you on as you work towards the next level of certification: Advanced Communicator Bronze.
We held out annual Halloween themed meeting – Monster’s Ball – on October 28, 2015. Everyone got into the spirit wearing their orange, black, purple, and masks. As always, it was lots of fun with spooky tales, haunting music, candy – and of course great speeches from great Toastmasters!.
This is what Toastmaster Ross Cree, winner of the 2015 Club Humorous Speech Contest and runner up at the 2015 Area B-35 Humorous Speech Contest has to say about his Toastmasters experience:
“Just wanted to share my experience competing in the Humorous Contest 2015 at our club and area levels. I have to say that if you asked me when I joined GATM in 2013 that I would actually be competing in any speaking contest, I would say that you were crazy. Through the Toastmasters program and the support of a great club like GATM I had soon mustered enough confidence to sign on to compete. It was quite a surprise to myself to place first at the club level and second at the area level. I could not have done it without the encouragement and coaching of the members at this club!”
from left to right: Roberto Fazio, Ross Cree, Marika Carter, Len Liscio, and Wendy Rintoul
Huge accomplishments and congratulations to these 5 dedicated Toastmasters as they all recently completed 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual.
As Toastmasters that have completed 6 speeches, they are presented with a Certificate of Merit to commemorate their feat. In addition, they are now eligible to compete in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. Congratulation Toastmasters and keep up the great work!
Congratulations to the 2015 contest winners:
Table Topics Contest
Humorous Speech Contest
Good luck to Wendy and Ross at the Area B-35 Contest on October 5th, 2015 hosted at Trafalgar Toastmasters.
Five brave contestants battled it out at the annual Mary Heary Tall Tales Competition on Wednesday May 13, 2015. They regaled us with fantastic tales that had two things in common – ridiculous stories and lots of laughter.
Congratulations to our winner Tony Corrie who will be representing the Club at the Area contest on May 28. Thank you also to our wonderful co-Chairs Norkys Crespo and Roberto Fazio who did a great job of directing proceedings smoothly and with flair!
Hibachi Seafood and Steakhouse Restaurant at 105 Cross Street is the venue for the Glen Abbey Toastmasters 23rd Charter Party. The formalities start at 7.00 sharp (so aim to be there for 6.45!) and it promises to be a fun filled evening full of laughter, great food and great company. What will be getting up to I hear you ask? Plenty. Our current President will be welcoming everyone to the Party at the start of a packed evening. We will have the chance to welcome and pay tribute to Presidents from prior years, and have entertainment based on the night’s theme, which is Summer Fun.
We will be acknowledging those who achieved education awards this year and helped maintain Glen Abbey’s distinguished club status. We will have fantastic entertianment and a prize raffle based on the summer theme and award the Toastmaster of The Year prize for the Toastmaster who has contributed most to the huge success Glen Abbey Toastmasters has enjoyed this year.
The order of events is as follows:
7:00pm – Welcome Toastmasters and Guests – Jocelyn Millar
7:10pm – Toast –Reema Duggal
7:15pm – Education Awards –Norkys Crespo/Chris Roode
7:25pm – Acknowledgement of Outgoing Executive – Srini Kesavan
7:35pm – Introduction of Incoming Executive – Chris Roode
7:45pm – Toastmaster of the year – Presented by Srini Kesavan
7:50 – Dinner
8:45pm – Games & Entertainment – Srini Kesavan, Marika Carter
9:10pm – Summer Fun Raffle – Jocelyn Millar, Paul Dubal
9:15 – Music & Mingle
A spectacular dinner will be followed by a sumptuous dessert and tea so bring your appetite! Don’t worry you can work off those calories on the dance floor after the formal proceedings have finished.
Tickets are available from Marika Carter and Atilla Coban at the next few meetings. Remember to give your food order when you purchase tickets. Members are only $25 and non-members $30, which represents great value, so bring your partners and friends. The more the merrier! See you there!
We had a fabulous 22nd Anniversary Charter Party at O’Finns Irish Temper in Oakville
The theme for the night was Great Celebrations in celebration of another great Toastmasters year. We welcomed Presidents from prior years, and had a toast and table topics based on the night’s theme.
We acknowledged those who achieved education awards this year and helped maintain Glen Abbey’s distinguished club status. We had a guest speaker and awarded the Toastmaster of The Year prize for the Toastmaster who has contributed most to the huge success Glen Abbey Toastmasters has enjoyed this year.
A spectacular dinner was followed by a special celebration cake so bring your appetite! And then we worked off those calories on the dance floor afterwards.